Ready to move to maintenance?

tlwshaw · September 2015

Ok, I am mainly posting this so that I can talk through it with people who will understand and not just roll their eyes and tell me how skinny I am. So, here goes.

I am 53(post-menopause), 5'5" and now weigh in at 131. I tried for 2 years to lose weight, with no success. Finally, my dr. helped me to lose 20 lbs. Based on my measurements, my BMI is 21.8 and my percentage of body fat is 21 which is at the low side of fitness (14-20 is athletic). I am thrilled with how I look and want to keep it that way. My original weight goal was 125 - 130, but now I think increasing that to say 128 - 133 is a better option. My dr. told me not to go below 125.

I have been somewhat OCD about my eating, and want to maintain my weight, but not go nuts. To lose, I kept my calories around 1200 and I exercise 4 - 5 mornings for 30 minutes. Now, MFP says my calories should be 1600. That seems like a big increase, so my plan right now is to increase my intake over time. I am trying to eat small meals, and adding snacks to gradually increase my intake. I find that way I don't feel stuffed after a meal (but this is only the second day of this routine).

Thank you for listening. Do I sound completely out in left field? My spouse loves how I look, but doesn't understand how hard I have worked to get here. I want to keep this new body and the smaller clothes size.

dawnmcneil10 · September 2015

You're on the right track to increase slowly. Also you want to give yourself a "range" not pick a specific weight to maintain. If you're comfortable where you are then pick say 130 as your goal weight and allow yourself 3lbs up or down.

I'm not sure if you were eating back exercise calories or not but that will make a difference with maintenance too. I found to stop losing I had to eat about 200 more calories a day than I did when losing and eat back about half my calorie burn.
Hope this helps and congratulations!

lauries8888 · September 2015

Wow, I could have written your post (also 53 years old, in maintenance, also 131 pounds.) I am actually 5'8' but have absolutely no chest or butt so I need to weigh less than most woman my height because body type counts. I weigh myself every day (a little OCD perhaps) and I no longer log every day -- only when I go above 133 pounds -- because my ideal range is 130 to 132. I realize that some water weight variation is normal but I reduce calories slightly as soon as I go over 132.9 because I never want to let my weight creep up again. I've been doing maintenance for 4 months now and this works for me. MFP says my maintenance is 1560 calories (plus exercise calories), which I find is actually just about perfect. Good luck.

5stringjeff · September 2015

You are right on track. Going from 1200 to 1600 calories per day seems about right. What many people do is increase their daily calorie level by 100 each week. If you did that, then in 4 weeks, you'll be eating at 1600. You'll need to pay attention to how that goes - you may find after a few weeks that you need to adjust that slightly up or down.