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Mentally adjusting to more calories

mari5466
mari5466 Posts: 137 Member
edited November 2024 in Goal: Maintaining Weight
I reached my original weight loss goal this week of 115, and now I am gonna lose 5 more pounds to reach my new goal of 110 to have a little more flexibility in maintenance if my weight goes up. I changed my goal from 1100 to 1350, I am under 5 ft. I've learned by tracking my weight loss that 1100 net lets me lose a pound a week or so. My goal for maintenance is gonna be about 1600 so I chose 1350 as a half pound loss point. I am still not eating it most days because I think mentally I feel if I do I will somehow not reach my new goal or seeing my calories that high makes me panic a little. I know I wont gain weight but mentally I just seem to have a road block that says "Don't you dare eat that much!". I know physically I could easily eat that much. I was just curious if anyone else struggled with it mentally and what made you finally realize it was ok?

Replies

  • SideSteel
    SideSteel Posts: 11,068 Member
    Some people struggle with this.

    One thing you could do is make a smaller increase, to about 1250, and try that for 3-5 days and see how things go.
  • jyamiolk
    jyamiolk Posts: 37 Member
    I have been in maintenance for about 1.5 years after loosing 122 pounds. I have a daily struggle with increasing my calories and also adding carbs to prevent me from loosing additional weight. I maintained at 1800 calories a day but since February I started working out 4 days a week with HIIT and long runs. I have increased my calories to 2000 but kept on loosing weight. About a pound a month since February. I am down to 177 with 180 being my low end of the range. I upped my calories to 2200 and will see if my weight stabilizes. I am petrified with gaining weight which I thinks keeps my hyper focused on my caloric intake. It is something that hopefully in time will become easier and produce less anxiety.
  • LivingtheLeanDream
    LivingtheLeanDream Posts: 13,342 Member
    I actually loved having more calories and it took me no time at all adjusting. Going on for 4 years at maintenance now.
  • trigden1991
    trigden1991 Posts: 4,658 Member
    Try adding 100 per week for 4 weeks. No need to rush into it and if anything the prolonged deficit will mean that when you hit maintenance the scale will be less likely to jump up.
  • richardgavel
    richardgavel Posts: 1,001 Member
    I agree with the idea in increasing in baby steps, say each week. You may run into what I did, recognizing that even if you don't meet your calorie goal for that week that you are meeting the prior weeks goal, which likely was a problem meeting a week ago.
  • lorrpb
    lorrpb Posts: 11,463 Member
    Do the math and make your brain study it. CICO still works!
This discussion has been closed.

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