Need help on maintaining weight! ASAP!

michellediaz2409 · September 2016

I have never try to maintain my weight so now that I've lost the weight I needed to loose I'm SCARE! I'm scare if I eat a little more I'm going to gain it back ! I know it's probably all in my head I definitely need some help.

sijomial · September 2016

You trusted the mathematics to lose weight so why not trust exactly the same maths to maintain weight?

Give yourself time - just treat initial maintenance exactly the same as you did dieting, just with a different calorie goal. Maybe just add a snack to make up the difference?

A key thing to get used to is your perfectly normal weight fluctuations, don't freak out and react to weight gains out of proportion to your calorie intake otherwise you be stressed, unhappy and make it far harder than it should be.

AnnPT77 · September 2016

You can do this.

Consider adding back calories gradually, until you get to maintenance calories. Add maybe 100 calories a day, wait a couple of weeks (or more as needed) to monitor your weight, and see whether you're still on an overall losing trend, amongst any random scale fluctuations. If you are, add another 100, and repeat. Eventually, you'll find your maintenance calorie level by "reverse dieting" slowly up to it.

If you do it this way, there's no way you're going to suddenly pack on a zillion pounds overnight. Yes, it's possible that you may see a bit of a jump (<5 pounds for sure, probably no more than a couple) when you hit your maintenance calories, from water weight associated with glycogen replenishment, plus maybe a little bit more food residue still in your system on average. Don't panic. It's not fat. If you haven't eaten around 3500 calories above maintenance, it isn't a pound of fat - it's that simple.

The worst that can happen is that you'll overshoot maintenance calories by 100 a day. At that rate, it'll take you over a month to gain one whole real pound. It'll take you two months to figure out that it's real. And you know how to lose 2 pounds - you've proven it already. Just cut back a little.

If you're at goal weight now, it's most likely that this "add gradually" strategy will leave you just a tiny bit below goal weight. That sets you up well for using a maintenance weight range.

So, decide on a maintenance weight range, a few pounds plus and minus your goal weight, a range that encompasses the daily fluctuations you usually see. (I use plus or minus 3, around my 120 pound goal weight.) If you inch up above the top of the range for a few days in a row, cut back a little or add some daily activity until you drop back down below goal. If you drop below the bottom of the range, eat a little more until you come up consistently above the floor of the range again.

If you take this kind of approach, there's no way you'll add a bunch of weight. You'll stay on top of things, and your weight will stay in a healthy range.

Repeat: You can do this. For your health, you need to do this. Be brave!

Karlayito1 · September 2016

In the same boat so scared to gain the weight back. I feel like I finally did it again (be at a healthy) weight but afraid to gain it all back. Two years ago I managed to shed about 15 pounds from my 5'1 frame and it was difficult. I know to many people 15 pounds is nothing but believe me when you're short, it might as well been 40 pounds. I sadly gained the weight back because I didn't figure out how to properly maintain my weight. I really don't want to make the same mistake! I've lost 9 pounds so far. My goal is 127, currently 133 I have 6 pounds to go and I want to maintain the weight.

Need help on maintaining weight! ASAP!

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