Scared to lose progress

I know what you mean. I have been here twice before and am very close to maintenance now, losing a half pound a week, or less. What I realize now that I didn't before, is that you aren't "done" and it isn't "over". Even though you won't be losing you still need to track your calories.

If you gain beyond your 3-5# range you need to put the breaks on. You also need to go into deficit again and log and count, in case you'd stopped, to lose the gained weight. Maintenance will be an up and down thing. Twice before on the upswings I just caved into yummy foods and big portions, because I had the mentality that I was over with needing to count and log. Big mistake and 25# later I had to start again- twice.

misnomer1 wrote: »

5'3 and 103. Isn't this too low? Calorie surplus with lifting instead of maintenance IMO.

yes its low, 103 is a low weight for someone only 5ft, I'm 5ft 2 and look lean at 120-126...I daren't think how ill I'd look if I was 103...

OP, 1200 cals isn't a lot, not even sure it would be sustainable or healthy long term (I've seen too many MFP friends complain about hair loss for one thing after eating low cal for long periods).

Set MFP to maintain your weight and eat at the calories given (e.g for me, I maintain on 1900-2000, I'm 5ft 2 1/4" and active). Give yourself a maintenance range or +/-5lbs e.g.

Maintenance is no different to losing, you still need to keep a handle on calories in/out, you just get more cals to work with.