Goal weight reached.

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omega399
omega399 Posts: 5 Member
in Goal: Maintaining Weight
Hi all, I've reached my goal weight, 14 kg gone. Have been on 1200 calories per day, how many calories should I go up to to maintain my weight. Do I redo my goals? Does maintaining my weight just mean more calories, more carbs, more sugar etc. You input would be appreciated.

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  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,811 Member
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    Congrats!

    No-one but you knows how tall/heavy/active you are.

    Your recent rate of weight loss gives you a rough guide - if recently losing an average of 1lb a week then c. 500 cals a day more should get you close for example.

    If your rate of loss matched your expectations then setting your goal to maintain current weight will also get you close. I prefer to manually set my calorie goal which may be required to fine tune things so you stay within an acceptable maintenance weight range.

    Add in the extra calories slowly or quickly, the choice is yours but don't freak out if you get a sudden weight bounce out of proportion to your calorie increase.

  • omega399
    omega399 Posts: 5 Member
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    Thanks so much for you help. Will increase to 1500 a day for a week and see what happens.
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
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    omega399 wrote: »
    Thanks so much for you help. Will increase to 1500 a day for a week and see what happens.

    Were you losing half a pound a week? If not, 1500 isn't enough?
  • omega399
    omega399 Posts: 5 Member
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    Hi, we work in kilograms here (in New Zealand). I was losing around 500 grams a week which works out to just over 1 lb a week. What do you suggest? I get pretty full on what I'm eating now. I haven't changed the goal thing on here yet.
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
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    omega399 wrote: »
    Hi, we work in kilograms here (in New Zealand). I was losing around 500 grams a week which works out to just over 1 lb a week. What do you suggest? I get pretty full on what I'm eating now. I haven't changed the goal thing on here yet.

    if you were losing a pound a week then you need to add in around 500 cals.

    you dont need to eat more, just more calorie dense food - full fat dairy, nuts and seeds, more beef or pork over chicken and turkey, salmon over white fish, etc etc

    the odd doughnut or bowl of ice cream doesn't negate the nutritional benefits of everything else you eat either.
  • Clawsal
    Clawsal Posts: 255 Member
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    Hi. I agree with adding 500 kcal to your daily goal, BUT i would add those slowly. Eat 1400 calories a day for a week, see how that goes, then 1500 calories for a week, then... until you are at maintenance.

    If you increase your calories too fast you can see a bump in your weight than can be a bit scary.
  • trigden1991
    trigden1991 Posts: 4,658 Member
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    Clawsal wrote: »
    Hi. I agree with adding 500 kcal to your daily goal, BUT i would add those slowly. Eat 1400 calories a day for a week, see how that goes, then 1500 calories for a week, then... until you are at maintenance.

    If you increase your calories too fast you can see a bump in your weight than can be a bit scary.

    There is no need to do this. OP be aware that the scale will jump but this is caused by increased food volume inside you, water weight, glycogen etc. 100 calories a week will make no difference.
  • kzooyogi
    kzooyogi Posts: 121 Member
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    I recently hit my goal weight as well, but didn't want to just randomly be able to eat 500 more calories per day (I mean, I WANTED that, but I was afraid it would be too big of a jump, too fast). I ended up adding 100 calories back every 7-10 days until I started to see maintenance on the scale, then just kept my calories there. I still don't know what "maintenance" means for me, but my goal weight was 140, so I'm going to say anything between 139-141 is acceptable :)
  • Rocknut53
    Rocknut53 Posts: 1,794 Member
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    kzooyogi wrote: »
    I recently hit my goal weight as well, but didn't want to just randomly be able to eat 500 more calories per day (I mean, I WANTED that, but I was afraid it would be too big of a jump, too fast). I ended up adding 100 calories back every 7-10 days until I started to see maintenance on the scale, then just kept my calories there. I still don't know what "maintenance" means for me, but my goal weight was 140, so I'm going to say anything between 139-141 is acceptable :)

    This is me as well. I am being very cautious about adding calories because I know how easy eating more would lead to overeating. I'll also continue to weigh, measure and log my food. I may be a little obsessive about this, but I weigh less than I have in 35 years and never want to be heavy (and unhealthy) again.
  • nxd10
    nxd10 Posts: 4,570 Member
    edited October 2016
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    Congratulations! I maintained at current calories another few weeks and then upped by 250 until I knew I was completely stable. I also recommend that when you start to maintain and especially up calories, you add more protein and fat and fewer carbs, because you hold more water with carbs and (for me at least) they tend to make me hungrier than I was on a deficit.

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