Trying to maintain for the first time, help please

Jamesb2405
Jamesb2405 Posts: 19 Member
in Goal: Maintaining Weight
I have been trying to eat at maintenance & not succeeding for the past 3 weeks. Using a TDEE I set my goal and began, at 17,100 a week (was 15,600 prior for 0.5 - 1ibs lost per week).

After 2 weeks my average weight was dropping still by the same amount. So I increased to 17,650 and I've still lost on my average.

I'm getting itchy feet and want to increase again but I don't want to overshoot. Should I keep at it for another week encase things even out or make another small increase now?

Replies

  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 33,940 Member
    edited June 2019
    Is that 17650 for the week? A man with a somewhat active lifestyle (like a job and kids) likely needs more than that - I maintain my weight of 140 pounds (+/-) on close to that and I'm a retired older lady of 5'7".

    It takes time to dial in Maintenance calories, but if you're unintentionally losing weight, then it is too low.

    I would suggest using this site and setting your calories at Maintenance, set a realistic/honest Activity Level, and then eat that amount PLUS exercise calories for a month or so. Keep good records, adjust at the end of that month. If you keep changing the number, you can't collect good data.
  • Jamesb2405
    Jamesb2405 Posts: 19 Member
    cmriverside wrote: »
    Is that 17650 for the week? A man with a somewhat active lifestyle (like a job and kids) likely needs more than that - I maintain my weight on about that and I'm a retired older lady of 5'7".

    It takes time to dial in Maintenance calories, but if you're unintentionally losing weight, then it is too low.

    I would suggest using this site and setting your calories at Maintenance, set a realistic/honest Activity Level, and then eat that amount PLUS exercise calories for a month or so. Keep good records, adjust at the end of that month. If you keep changing the number, you can't collect good data.

    I've taken your advice and set for maintenance on here and added 300 cals for the days I workout. Will just monitor and see what happens.

    Just nervous eating more after losing weight and getting to where I feel comfortable and happy. I guess in time I'll feel more comfortable about it all though.

    Thanks
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 33,940 Member
    Right, well you don't want to lose any more.

    Perfectly understandable that it seems weird to you. You may see a slight bump up on the scale with increased food, but trust the process.

    My other suggestion would be - if you lost a significant amount of weight and you've been logging food, you should be able to fill in the numbers yourself.

    3500 per week would be one pound loss per week. So if you have good records, you can do the math. If you don't have good records it's going to be a bit more of a rocky experiment until you DO have good records. Stay the course.
  • walktalkdog
    walktalkdog Posts: 102 Member
    Jamesb2405 wrote: »
    I have been trying to eat at maintenance & not succeeding for the past 3 weeks. Using a TDEE I set my goal and began, at 17,100 a week (was 15,600 prior for 0.5 - 1ibs lost per week).

    After 2 weeks my average weight was dropping still by the same amount. So I increased to 17,650 and I've still lost on my average.

    I'm getting itchy feet and want to increase again but I don't want to overshoot. Should I keep at it for another week encase things even out or make another small increase now?

    Do you mean 1,710 calories and 1,560 calories?

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