Maybe a silly question: when you hit maintenance can you still have refeed/ cheat days?

If this is a weekly thing I would look at the calories you consume for the week. You can eat a little lower calories 6 days a week and eat more on the 7th. As long as you are around your maintenance calories for the week you should not gain weight. You might have a larger weight fluctuations due to the heavy day but it won't be fat gain - just water weight, extra food in your system (this may take 2-5 days to even out).

If this is a rare occasion (Thanksgiving, Christmas, Birthday) than I wouldn't worry about being over for one day and wouldn't bother adjusting for it.

It all balances out, you can eat at slight deficit for a few days a week to balance out a few days of eating slightly more. What matters that you don't eat over maintenance too often or a gain would happen.

I maintain on 2100-2300 calories. But because I like to eat more at weekends I eat 1800-2000 Mon-Fri so I can eat up to 2400 on Sat and Sun. It all balances out i.e my weekly TDEE is around 15000 calories, so as long as I stay at that amount or slightly under I maintain my weight.

sijomial wrote: »

You need to find your calorie balance so if you go over one day you have to compensate somewhere else by going under maintenance.
Regarding your calorie allowance as a weekly budget is fine.

I would feel like I was on a never-ending diet if I thought I had to stick to the same calories every day.

LOL how did this get flagged?

SMH.

OP, I keep a small deficit so I don't have to worry when I go over. But losing too much has never been a concern for me

Yup.
Maintenance for me is going up and down about 5 lbs. When I indulge in bread over veggies, hamburger over chicken, alcohol over water, and cookies and ice cream over fruit, my weight floats up. Then I go back to a stricter diet, cutting out the bread, cookies, alcohol, etc until I lose the five pounds.
Wash. Rinse. Repeat.

I eat lower in calories during the week so I can indulge without thinking too much on the weekend. Works well for me for maintaining my weight. If I want to lose I have to reign the weekends in

I have been in maintenance kode for over 6 months now. I usually have one cheat day a week where I really try not to think too much about what I am consuming on the cheat day. That single day alone can put me up 5 to 7 lbs (especially if I don't work out that day).

I have noticed that losing the weight is really nobproblem after working out the following week and sticking to a caloric intake slightly below maintenance recomme dations. I usually have anywhere from 50 to 500 calories remaining.

Main point is to enjoy a day or a few meals in your work out week. If you aren't a professional body builder and enjoy good food.... EAT! It takes a lot more bad days of eating and no exercise to permanently gain the weight you previously lost as opposed to losing the wright after just a few days of a strict diet and exercise.

RunRutheeRun wrote: »

It all balances out, you can eat at slight deficit for a few days a week to balance out a few days of eating slightly more. What matters that you don't eat over maintenance too often or a gain would happen.

I maintain on 2100-2300 calories. But because I like to eat more at weekends I eat 1800-2000 Mon-Fri so I can eat up to 2400 on Sat and Sun. It all balances out i.e my weekly TDEE is around 15000 calories, so as long as I stay at that amount or slightly under I maintain my weight.

This is exactly what I do, and my numbers are about the same! Maintenance twins!

I didn't have cheat day when I was losing or now that I'm maintaining but I do sometimes bank calories for more indulgent days.

This is opinion only of course, I too am in a similar situation, so you might not want to hear this but I found once a week for refeeds/cheat days even in maintenance mode to be a little to frequent and slowly the pounds came back on. If I did them when I was on my diet phase it seemed to take three days to get back to even which only left 3 more days to lose weight before I was back to a cheat day. Needless to say that slowed progress tremendously. I found it worked best in both the diet and maintenance phase if cheat days were every ten days, as it seemed to much easier to maintain weight with very little extra required on the non cheat days and every fourteen seemed to be to infrequent of a reward. I know most people want them every 7 days so it falls on a weekend and you can go crazy all day long. When a cheat day falls on a work day it isn't quite the extravaganza that you most likely want, which is why when it eventually falls on a weekend and you do blow it out, it isn't such a big deal from a weight management perspective. If it must be every 7 days make it a work day unless you work at an ice cream parlor or fast food restaurant. I think if you do either of those two things you will find it easier to maintain the weight. I'm sure that isn't want to hear but remember it has to ultimately be a lifestyle change not a diet or the pounds will come back on.

If you eat more than your maintenance calories, you'll gain weight. So if you want to have a high-calorie meal, you'll need to balance your intake for the rest of the week.