Setting Weight Maintenance Range

AnthonyX150X · May 2016

I feel the most comfortable weighing 150 lbs, but I know I can't maintain this same exact weight every time I step on the scale. I decided I am going to cut down to 146 lbs to give me room to fluctuate around and thus giving me a 5 pound maintenance range. This will put me lower down in the BMI 22 unit and I hopefully plan to maintain within a BMI of 22.

Has anyone else took a similar approach when it comes to maintaining your weight?

srcurran · May 2016

Sounds a lot like how I approached it. I knew I wanted to comfortably be under BMI 25 so that if I gained a few I'd still be under. I first thought that 150 would be good. Then 145. Now I want to be sure I'm "around" 140 within a couple pounds over or under. That's where I settled. Don't be afraid to listen to your inner voice saying when you are comfortable and happy with your health. You can do this.

justjennnnn · May 2016

This is what I'm going to do!!!

lorrpb · May 2016

You HAVE to have a range, that's for sure. I have 10 pounds left to my goal of 150, then I will set a 5 pound range, probably 145-150 but maybe a few pounds higher.

sijomial · May 2016

An alternative to having a range is to just have an upper limit under which your weight can bounce around wherever it chooses to.
Of course that wouldn't be suitable for people with the problem of losing more weight than they intend but that's something I've never suffered from!

cnbbnc · May 2016

sijomial wrote: »

An alternative to having a range is to just have an upper limit under which your weight can bounce around wherever it chooses to.
Of course that wouldn't be suitable for people with the problem of losing more weight than they intend but that's something I've never suffered from!

This is what I do. I tend to fluctuate 3-4lbs up and down, but I won't let myself go over "x". If I start hovering right around my limit I pull the reins back a little.

zyxst · May 2016

I have a 5# range with a cap at 145. I am eating slightly less than my TDEE (working on eating when hungry and not because I have calories available), so I'm still losing but when I have an IDAF day I will gain 3#.

mburgess458 · May 2016

I started maintenance thinking my range would be 157.5 - 162.5. I hate seeing something in the 160's so I have slowly moved it to be 155-160. Not much of a difference other than mentally.

middlehaitch · May 2016

I have a 5 lbs range that I have only gone outside, briefly. 5-6 times in just over 6 years.
I have dropped too low for my own comfort, so watch both ends.

Sounds like you have the right idea.

Cheers, h.

fyoung1111 · May 2016

I am a little puzzled about what to do. I started at 190 which was borderline obese with no particular goal in sight. Over four years, learning a lot along the way, I managed to slowly but surely get down to 150 which is a BMI of 22. I would kind of like to get down to 147 which is smack in the middle of WHO's "normal range" but I have been getting a lot of grief from friends and family to the effect that I have already overdone it. My body fat (by both calipers and BOD Pod) is 14%. Doesn't seem like dropping a few more pounds and taking that down to 147 and 12¼ should be any kind of crisis. I work out pretty hard 10 hours per week and am pretty muscular but I am also 60 years old. Some people think us old farts should carry a little extra fat.

Back to the subject of this thread, I think a 5# over and under buffer is the right number. I have gained and re-lost as much as 6 lbs in a single weekend.

nxd10 · May 2016

I did that. I have a 5 pound range and have maintained in it for 4 years. Some people bounce around more, but I'm usually +- 3 pounds.

BikeTourer · May 2016

I'm +/- 5lbs. I agree with comment about watching the lower range and have a plan to deal with it. I never had a problem with losing too much until I did...

Traveler120 · May 2016

I dropped from 152 lbs last year and I'm now at 117. I've set an upper limit of 120 but because of normal fluctuations, I'm considering dropping to 115 which will give me a nice cushion.

cb2bslim · May 2016

I do the 5lbs range, too. It's a perfect range to keep me from spiraling out of control.

Christine_72 · May 2016

fyoung1111 wrote: »

I am a little puzzled about what to do. I started at 190 which was borderline obese with no particular goal in sight. Over four years, learning a lot along the way, I managed to slowly but surely get down to 150 which is a BMI of 22. I would kind of like to get down to 147 which is smack in the middle of WHO's "normal range" but I have been getting a lot of grief from friends and family to the effect that I have already overdone it. My body fat (by both calipers and BOD Pod) is 14%. Doesn't seem like dropping a few more pounds and taking that down to 147 and 12¼ should be any kind of crisis. I work out pretty hard 10 hours per week and am pretty muscular but I am also 60 years old. Some people think us old farts should carry a little extra fat.

Back to the subject of this thread, I think a 5# over and under buffer is the right number. I have gained and re-lost as much as 6 lbs in a single weekend.

Are you really short @fyoung1111 ? I'm 5"8 and 147lbs

nooie19 · August 2019

I know this is an old thread but just in case anyone’s still checking in here . . .

I got down to 133 pounds. I’m 5’3” so that was a BMI of 23 and a loss of 25 pounds. I decided my maintenance should be 128-133 and stayed within that range for almost six months. Then had some major stressful events and went up to 140.5 in three months. I am still within normal BMI but I don’t like the upward trend. I just started losing weight again and I am 139 today. My goal is to get back down to 133.

So, it seems like it’s more than just the range. It was clear that I needed to lose weight because I was trending upward within a few months’ time. Which was apparent in my Happy Scale app.

Is my original range of 128-133 reasonable or should I give myself a little more of a cushion? I also don’t have much problem with weighing too little, and I would have to get down to around 105 to be underweight. Should I just give myself a max of 135? And maybe keep my focus on my trends on Happy Scale? Or try to stop focusing to hard on the number and stick with behaviors (eating three healthy meals a day, avoiding stress eating, exercising, weighing weekly, mediation, etc).?

AnnPT77 · August 2019

nooie19 wrote: »

I know this is an old thread but just in case anyone’s still checking in here . . .

I got down to 133 pounds. I’m 5’3” so that was a BMI of 23 and a loss of 25 pounds. I decided my maintenance should be 128-133 and stayed within that range for almost six months. Then had some major stressful events and went up to 140.5 in three months. I am still within normal BMI but I don’t like the upward trend. I just started losing weight again and I am 139 today. My goal is to get back down to 133.

So, it seems like it’s more than just the range. It was clear that I needed to lose weight because I was trending upward within a few months’ time. Which was apparent in my Happy Scale app.

Is my original range of 128-133 reasonable or should I give myself a little more of a cushion? I also don’t have much problem with weighing too little, and I would have to get down to around 105 to be underweight. Should I just give myself a max of 135? And maybe keep my focus on my trends on Happy Scale? Or try to stop focusing to hard on the number and stick with behaviors (eating three healthy meals a day, avoiding stress eating, exercising, weighing weekly, mediation, etc).?

While I'm sure you'll get some answers (even from me

), I personally don't think the bolded are things that anyone but you can answer.

Some of the answer is in an honest self-assessment of what happened during that stressful 3 months: Was that time period unique? Can you think of ways you could avoid regain during future stress that seem realistic? Etc.

If you stuck to your 128-133 range fairly comfortably and unstressfully until your life got destabilized, then there's probably nothing wrong with that range. Even with a range, I think it's important to recognize that the rare single-day quick jump above that range is more than likely water weight fluctuation, and not over-react to it. (Unless there was a truly major overeating incident, true regain tends to be more like slow creep upward through the range and then above it. The trend line may help you visualize that, but it should be obvious even from daily weights.)

For sure, the habits/behaviors are important, if only because some of us tend to go on autopilot during times of external stress. If your healthy habits are pretty wired-in, you're at least a little more likely to stick with them.

Thanks for the report, and best wishes moving forward! :flowerforyou:

apullum · August 2019

nooie19 wrote: »

I know this is an old thread but just in case anyone’s still checking in here . . .

I got down to 133 pounds. I’m 5’3” so that was a BMI of 23 and a loss of 25 pounds. I decided my maintenance should be 128-133 and stayed within that range for almost six months. Then had some major stressful events and went up to 140.5 in three months. I am still within normal BMI but I don’t like the upward trend. I just started losing weight again and I am 139 today. My goal is to get back down to 133.

So, it seems like it’s more than just the range. It was clear that I needed to lose weight because I was trending upward within a few months’ time. Which was apparent in my Happy Scale app.

Is my original range of 128-133 reasonable or should I give myself a little more of a cushion? I also don’t have much problem with weighing too little, and I would have to get down to around 105 to be underweight. Should I just give myself a max of 135? And maybe keep my focus on my trends on Happy Scale? Or try to stop focusing to hard on the number and stick with behaviors (eating three healthy meals a day, avoiding stress eating, exercising, weighing weekly, mediation, etc).?

In general, I think the things to consider when choosing a maintenance range are:
1) Does your doctor think you're healthy in that weight range?
2) Will you be happy eating the amount of calories necessary to maintain in that range?

Only your doctor can answer the first one, and only you can answer the second one.

I think a secondary question is:
3) Are you happy with how your body looks at that weight?

However, that's secondary because you can change your appearance while staying in the same weight range (i.e., through strength training).

nooie19 · August 2019

Thanks to both of you for the helpful advice.

AnnPT77 wrote: »

nooie19 wrote: »

I know this is an old thread but just in case anyone’s still checking in here . . .

I got down to 133 pounds. I’m 5’3” so that was a BMI of 23 and a loss of 25 pounds. I decided my maintenance should be 128-133 and stayed within that range for almost six months. Then had some major stressful events and went up to 140.5 in three months. I am still within normal BMI but I don’t like the upward trend. I just started losing weight again and I am 139 today. My goal is to get back down to 133.

So, it seems like it’s more than just the range. It was clear that I needed to lose weight because I was trending upward within a few months’ time. Which was apparent in my Happy Scale app.

Is my original range of 128-133 reasonable or should I give myself a little more of a cushion? I also don’t have much problem with weighing too little, and I would have to get down to around 105 to be underweight. Should I just give myself a max of 135? And maybe keep my focus on my trends on Happy Scale? Or try to stop focusing to hard on the number and stick with behaviors (eating three healthy meals a day, avoiding stress eating, exercising, weighing weekly, mediation, etc).?

While I'm sure you'll get some answers (even from me ), I personally don't think the bolded are things that anyone but you can answer.

Some of the answer is in an honest self-assessment of what happened during that stressful 3 months: Was that time period unique? Can you think of ways you could avoid regain during future stress that seem realistic? Etc.

If you stuck to your 128-133 range fairly comfortably and unstressfully until your life got destabilized, then there's probably nothing wrong with that range. Even with a range, I think it's important to recognize that the rare single-day quick jump above that range is more than likely water weight fluctuation, and not over-react to it. (Unless there was a truly major overeating incident, true regain tends to be more like slow creep upward through the range and then above it. The trend line may help you visualize that, but it should be obvious even from daily weights.)

For sure, the habits/behaviors are important, if only because some of us tend to go on autopilot during times of external stress. If your healthy habits are pretty wired-in, you're at least a little more likely to stick with them.

Thanks for the report, and best wishes moving forward! :flowerforyou:

Yes I agree. I think I’ll just give myself a little bit more of a range to 128-135, only because 135 is the cutoff before my next BMI level. And Happy Scale does help me to see general trends for the long view.

apullum wrote: »

nooie19 wrote: »

I know this is an old thread but just in case anyone’s still checking in here . . .

I got down to 133 pounds. I’m 5’3” so that was a BMI of 23 and a loss of 25 pounds. I decided my maintenance should be 128-133 and stayed within that range for almost six months. Then had some major stressful events and went up to 140.5 in three months. I am still within normal BMI but I don’t like the upward trend. I just started losing weight again and I am 139 today. My goal is to get back down to 133.

So, it seems like it’s more than just the range. It was clear that I needed to lose weight because I was trending upward within a few months’ time. Which was apparent in my Happy Scale app.

Is my original range of 128-133 reasonable or should I give myself a little more of a cushion? I also don’t have much problem with weighing too little, and I would have to get down to around 105 to be underweight. Should I just give myself a max of 135? And maybe keep my focus on my trends on Happy Scale? Or try to stop focusing to hard on the number and stick with behaviors (eating three healthy meals a day, avoiding stress eating, exercising, weighing weekly, mediation, etc).?

In general, I think the things to consider when choosing a maintenance range are:
1) Does your doctor think you're healthy in that weight range?
2) Will you be happy eating the amount of calories necessary to maintain in that range?

Only your doctor can answer the first one, and only you can answer the second one.

I think a secondary question is:
3) Are you happy with how your body looks at that weight?

However, that's secondary because you can change your appearance while staying in the same weight range (i.e., through strength training).

1. My doctor is happy with my current weight, and simply told me to avoid trendy diets that aren’t sustainable. I had good cholesterol levels. My A1C was slightly higher than last year but she said to just stick with what I’ve been doing: maintaining a healthy weight, healthy diet, exercise.
2. I can easily keep to my maintenance range when I’m not stress eating. And stress eating isn’t just bad for my weight control. I also feel strongly that it’s a habit which is not good for my emotional well being. Going down below 128 or so would be a different story. At the 128-135 range I can still eat heavier foods in moderation and occasional sweets.
3. I’m content with how I look right now which is mainly size 6, but for vanity I’d be happier with size 4 which would be in my maintenance range. I’m only 5’3” so small amounts of weight gain can really show.

Setting Weight Maintenance Range

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