Im not going to gain on maintenance ?

No, you won't gain on maintenance. With the calories you're eating now, you are slowly losing. By increasing the calories by a small amount, you will "maintain" your current weight. If you do a large increase in calories, you'll gain weight.

Cchioles wrote: »

Not Understanding You Post Fully, If You're Eating At A Maitenance Level, That's The Amount Of Calories You Would Eat To Maintain Weight. If You Add To That, That Puts You At A "Surplus"

OP means adding in the deficit calories to reach maintenance. If s/he is eating a 200 calorie deficit, will adding the 200 calories cause her/him to gain. It will, but it's water for muscles and will balance out. If you're scared of gaining, take it slow in adding back the calories.

I gained 2# going to maintenance and it leveled out.

capaul42 wrote: »

@mita271 Take things slowly. Up your calories the 200 for several weeks, at least 2 but 3 would be better. Monitor your weight during that time and if you find you are consistently gaining during those weeks, drop your calories 100 and monitor for another few weeks. If you find you're still losing, add 100 and monitor for a few weeks.

Finding your maintenance level will take a little while. Just don't panic if there's some fluctuations upward when you first add. That's normal, especially when adding carbs (water weight). Keep the added calories for at least 2-3 wks before changing them.

Why do this? If the OP is in a deficit there is no reason to add 200 calories over the course of 2-3 weeks. That just puts them in a deficit for longer. If their desire is to maintain then they can up their calories to maintenance. The only thing that would be gained would be water weight. Fat cannot be gained when eating maintenance. Why would adding 200 calories add weight? Even if the OP were eating maintenance now, and she added 200 calories to make her in a surplus it would take over 2 weeks to gain a single lb of fat assuming none of the surplus went to muscle gains. All of that will get masked by water weight shifts anyways. The bottom line is that if you are eating maintenance, you will not gain fat. If you gain any weight at all it's water/glycogen and shouldn't be worried about. So unless the OP wants to remain in a deficit for 2-3 additional weeks, there's no real benefit to adding calories back so slowly.

capaul42 wrote: »

vismal wrote: »

capaul42 wrote: »

@mita271 Take things slowly. Up your calories the 200 for several weeks, at least 2 but 3 would be better. Monitor your weight during that time and if you find you are consistently gaining during those weeks, drop your calories 100 and monitor for another few weeks. If you find you're still losing, add 100 and monitor for a few weeks.

Finding your maintenance level will take a little while. Just don't panic if there's some fluctuations upward when you first add. That's normal, especially when adding carbs (water weight). Keep the added calories for at least 2-3 wks before changing them.

Why do this? If the OP is in a deficit there is no reason to add 200 calories over the course of 2-3 weeks. That just puts them in a deficit for longer. If their desire is to maintain then they can up their calories to maintenance. The only thing that would be gained would be water weight. Fat cannot be gained when eating maintenance. Why would adding 200 calories add weight? Even if the OP were eating maintenance now, and she added 200 calories to make her in a surplus it would take over 2 weeks to gain a single lb of fat assuming none of the surplus went to muscle gains. All of that will get masked by water weight shifts anyways. The bottom line is that if you are eating maintenance, you will not gain fat. If you gain any weight at all it's water/glycogen and shouldn't be worried about. So unless the OP wants to remain in a deficit for 2-3 additional weeks, there's no real benefit to adding calories back so slowly.

I never suggested they add 200 over the course of several weeks. I said add them and then monitor for several weeks. If they're still losing, add more. If they're gaining, drop slightly.

The wording was funny, but either way, even if she gains weight after upping 200 calories, she should not drop them. She will gain some weight but it will be water weight and that's no reason to reduce calories.

mita271 wrote: »

Thank u all
Yes maintenance is more confusing that i thought !
If i make any error during a week in my logging i feel that it did not work...so im thinking maintenance will make me gain
Im just so scared of gaining after losing almost 50lbs
Im travelling next month for about 3 months and wanted to be in maintenance so I don't gain on holidays ...
Im still confused on what to do
I wanted to lose more but seems impossible, once I started working out my body changed a lot I actually like it , but the number on the scale didn't...kinda annoying
My stats in case anyone want to advice...
28 years old
139lbs
5'2
1500cals
30 min workout 5 times a week(YouTube videos)

Did low carb for a while it worked but I couldn't maintain it , i just love carbs lol
I eat all I like as long as it fits in my daily allowance, is that ok ?

Maintenance shouldn't be any more confusing then a deficit. If you were able to log calories successfully enough to lose weight then there really isn't any real reason you shouldn't be able to log them well enough to maintain weight. The scale will likely raise a bit at first, that is water weight, and it's unavoidable so be prepared. Once the initial water weight comes on, you shouldn't see significant changes in weight over time. This isn't to say that the normal fluctuations of weight won't occur. I never think of maintenance as a single number, rather a range. If I am maintaining at 200 lbs, I expect my daily weights to be anywhere from 195-205. It helps to use a site like trendweight.com to log daily weights and get an average. It will help you sort out what is actual weight gain and what is fluctuation. If you find you are gaining significant weight over the long haul, then you are eating above maintenance and either need to tighten up logging accuracy or reduce total calorie/increase activity. Again, it's not really any more or less complicated then eating in a deficit and it would take quite a long time for small inaccuracies in logging to result in significant fat gain.