Where weight loss stops, it stops. Or?
birgitkwood
Posts: 486 Member
Question to all you wonderful Maintainers: I'm a 62yr old woman, and 6ft tall. In the past year I lost 104lbs, from 305 to 201. When I started out, I arbitrarily set my "goal" at 195, which - incredibly - is now a mere 6lbs away and will probably be met within a month or two. I really love my current lifestyle! I eat roughly 1600 cals/day, and I exercise roughly about an hour 5 days/wk. I really am not interested in eating less, or exercising more. It is my "plan" to keep living my life in this fashion, maybe continuing to lose weight, or maybe not. Where it stops, it stops - and be satisfied with that. Is this a reasonable plan? Have any of you done this? How did it work for you? Thanks for your help and input!
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Replies
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Sure, it sounds reasonable. There are people who do their whole weight loss at the estimated maintenance calories for their goal weight, giving them fairly rapid weight loss early and slower as progress goes on. What you're suggesting is pretty much equivalent to that. (Not what I did, though.)1
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Have you tested the idea by looking at what weight 1600 cals is maintenance for?
I'm 5'10", 206lbs. Started at 248. I was considering getting to 185, then shifting to calories appropriate for maintenance at 175, and just coasting in.1 -
Sounds brilliant honestly ( she says while computing goal maintenance calories
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Be happy! If you've got control and you're healthy, do what you want! 1
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I inadvertently lost to my maintenance goal and had the same calories throughout and then for maintenance.
I started at 130 with a goal of 100-105 lbs. I was given 1200 cals to lose 1lbs a week. I always ate back exercise cals on top of that 1200.
The 1 lbs a week gradually dropped and dropped until it was 1 lbs a month when lucky. Eventually weight loss ground to a halt at about 104 lbs.
I have been maintaining over 7 years and my sedentary goal has slowly gone up to 1350- ish. I haven't tracked calories for a long time.
My work out routine is varied but is consistently between 7-9 hr a week. That gives me roughly 1600 cals a day.
Well done on your loss so far. Your plan sound workable to me. You can always adjust it over time.
Cheers, h.3 -
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I agree with the rest. If you enjoy doing it the way you are doing it now, keep doing it and just buy smaller clothes when you need to. But, don't discard the one size bigger because life happens.5
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I personally would not be happy until I thought my body looked really great. I tend to push it, in either direction. I lose and gain weight depending on physique and fitness goals.0
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I personally would not be happy until I thought my body looked really great. I tend to push it, in either direction. I lose and gain weight depending on physique and fitness goals.
Oh to be young again! I have lost 60 pounds and am at a weight I haven't seen since my husband & I married 37 years ago. That said, my 63 year old body doesn't look really great. Too much saggy extra skin even though I'm more fit than I ever was in my 20's.
Great job, OP, if you are happy where you are that's all that matters. I am very happy with my current weight and am working on some recomp so I can meet a couple mountaineering goals this summer.3 -
It's not an elegant solution, but I play with the MFP goal settings. Set your goal to maintenance, then lower/raise your current and goal weight until you hone in on the 1,600 calories (or whatever level you're curious about).
Edit: For example, at 5'10" and sedentary, 1890 calories should have me settle at 175 lbs, assuming no confounding factors. I wonder if that 1600 cals is bit too low for a 6' person at maintenance, which is why I suggested the numbers check.0 -
At 1,600 calories per day and moderate exercise, your weight loss won't stop at a healthy BMI. 1,600 calories per day is the maintenance for an 80 lb woman who exercises. At some point you will need to increase your calorie intake.2
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I was curious so I checked. 1600 calories would settle you at 116 lbs.0
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I'm only 5'3" and I eat about 2000 calories a day (eating my exercise calories included in there) at maintenance. I'm thinking maybe 1600 at 6 feet tall is too low for you for maintenance.0
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I'm 5'4 and sedentary maintenance for me at 155 pounds (determined by food logging and weight change over ~3 years, not by MFP assumptions) is about 2,100 calories. 1600 would have me losing a pound a week.0
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TimothyFish wrote: »
Nope, skipped right over that part. Thanks for the catch.
116lbs if all exercise calories are also eaten, in addition to the 1600.0 -
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Wow - you guys are all AWESOME! Thank you so much for your wisdom and kind responses And truly, on my own I never would've thought to do the tdee calculation to see where 1600 cals/day would land me.
So I did a quick calculation, and at "sedentary," it seems that I would come in at approx 165lbs. Which the BMI tables tell me is a healthy weight. But frankly, I weighed 165 when I was maybe 13, and seriously don't see myself giing back there, lol. I am blessed with a very large skeletal frame - new doctors are always amazed by the size of my bones. So really, most realistically I think I probably can't (and don't want to) expect to go past 185 - if even. I'm already getting the "you're getting too thin" speeches from friends and relatives...
So, new revised plan is to keep living life at current levels and see where it gets me. When/if I hit 185, I'll start working on maintenance by increasing my food intake a little at a time and do my best to stay betw 185 & 190.
Plan made. But we all know what happens to plans, right? Lol
Once again, thx to all of you for your caring input. Much appreciated.8 -
@Alexson50 MFP will calculate it for you, or you could use any number of online calculators. Try this one if you don't know any others: http://www.fat2fittools.com/tools/1 -
OP, sounds like you have a fantastic healthy attitude and plan! Rock your six-foot-tall self, and keep enjoying your lifestyle and cute hair cut.5
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Couple of points to add:
- What the calculators tell you is based on averages (the mean) from study populations. Most people are close to the average (small standard deviation). If your current weight loss includes accurate food/exercise logging, you already know whether your weight loss rate corresponds with the rate predicted by the calorie estimating calculators. If it does, the calculated maintenance should be close, too.
For the same underlying reasons, other tall people's experience with their maintenance calories doesn't necessarily tell you anything about yours, either, beyond the fact that there's a range of possible caloric requirements for any one size of person, even if not a hugely broad range for most people. (A few people will be extreme outliers - I'm off by around 25-30% from the calculators - but not many.) - I'm sure it's obvious, but as you approach your new goal weight, you'll start to get a pretty good idea whether that's the right target or not, and can adjust up or down. We haven't signed a contract.
3 - What the calculators tell you is based on averages (the mean) from study populations. Most people are close to the average (small standard deviation). If your current weight loss includes accurate food/exercise logging, you already know whether your weight loss rate corresponds with the rate predicted by the calorie estimating calculators. If it does, the calculated maintenance should be close, too.
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That's how I did it (it stops where it stops). I didn't count calories but since I had maintained a healthy weight for decades as an adult I just tried to eat how I ate then and I lost until I stopped losing.
I wasn't positive that I was eating like before but I figured if I wasn't happy I could always readjust.3 -
Sounds like a good plan to me. Weight is a subjective number. What you have to do is be happy with yourself when you look in the mirror.
Just to give you an example of what I mean by weight is a subjective number. I'm a 56 year old male height is 6 feet 4 inches. My current weight is 208, according to the BMI index I'm considered overweight for me to be what they consider normal range, I should weigh 154 to 205 pounds. Putting it mildly me at 154 pounds I would look anorexic.1
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