To maintain or to lose those last 15...

I've been maintaining my weight easily for the last 18ish months... (stopped losing spring 2018 sometime). I lost 115lbs over about 3 years using MFP.

I'm 28F, 29 soon, 5'5" and 165. My goal had been to lose into a healthy weight range, but early 2018 decided to take a break for maintenance while I worked on figuring out my low blood pressure. My dr. doesn't think I need to lose more weight necessarily and is unsure how it will effect my blood pressure moving forward. I am on medication now which keeps it high enough for the most part...

I do mostly weight lifting 5-6 days a week, following a program with a coach that focuses on progressive overload. It's 3 lower body days, 2 upper body and 1 full body cardio type workout a week. I also walk between 10-15,000 steps a day (have three dogs, one is a young mini Aussie with too much energy so we are constantly on the go with him).

Currently maintaining my weight on 2300-2500 calories a day average.

Here's my problem... I keep mentally thinking I want to get into the healthy weight range, or at least try and see how my blood pressure responds... HOWEVER every time I try to cut I feel like my energy levels and workouts take a huge dive...

I managed a consistent deficit for 6 weeks earlier this year and felt like absolute crap... workouts suffered, my muscle recovery tanked and instead of recovering I was just sore all the time, wasn't sleeping well, constantly had headaches. It just...SUCKED.

I seem to be able to manage a 300 calorie deficit for a few weeks before I start to feel negative side effects. I'll be honest I didn't track much while in maintenance so my calories are estimated. It's possible I was eating more and therefore trying to lose on 2000 is a steep cut but realistically it should be 300-500 calories from my TDEE.

I know how to lose weight, now that I've committed to tracking the last month I track accurately, weigh everything, even prepacked items, hit my protein, know what macros I feel good on. I just can't figure out how to make workouts not suck in a deficit and don't want to compromise my lifting... I enjoy my activity level and am not willing to cut any of that out, so I don't know how to make losing these last few lbs work form...

I genuinely don't know what to do and am just looking for suggestions/advice/experiences from other long term maintainers...kind of trying to avoid the other forums...

Replies

  • maybe1pe wrote: »
    I've been maintaining my weight easily for the last 18ish months... (stopped losing spring 2018 sometime). I lost 115lbs over about 3 years using MFP.

    I'm 28F, 29 soon, 5'5" and 165. My goal had been to lose into a healthy weight range, but early 2018 decided to take a break for maintenance while I worked on figuring out my low blood pressure. My dr. doesn't think I need to lose more weight necessarily and is unsure how it will effect my blood pressure moving forward. I am on medication now which keeps it high enough for the most part...

    I do mostly weight lifting 5-6 days a week, following a program with a coach that focuses on progressive overload. It's 3 lower body days, 2 upper body and 1 full body cardio type workout a week. I also walk between 10-15,000 steps a day (have three dogs, one is a young mini Aussie with too much energy so we are constantly on the go with him).

    Currently maintaining my weight on 2300-2500 calories a day average.

    Here's my problem... I keep mentally thinking I want to get into the healthy weight range, or at least try and see how my blood pressure responds... HOWEVER every time I try to cut I feel like my energy levels and workouts take a huge dive...

    I managed a consistent deficit for 6 weeks earlier this year and felt like absolute crap... workouts suffered, my muscle recovery tanked and instead of recovering I was just sore all the time, wasn't sleeping well, constantly had headaches. It just...SUCKED.


    I seem to be able to manage a 300 calorie deficit for a few weeks before I start to feel negative side effects. I'll be honest I didn't track much while in maintenance so my calories are estimated. It's possible I was eating more and therefore trying to lose on 2000 is a steep cut but realistically it should be 300-500 calories from my TDEE.

    I know how to lose weight, now that I've committed to tracking the last month I track accurately, weigh everything, even prepacked items, hit my protein, know what macros I feel good on. I just can't figure out how to make workouts not suck in a deficit and don't want to compromise my lifting... I enjoy my activity level and am not willing to cut any of that out, so I don't know how to make losing these last few lbs work form...

    I genuinely don't know what to do and am just looking for suggestions/advice/experiences from other long term maintainers...kind of trying to avoid the other forums...

    You just described cutting while maintaining a high activity level and strength training 😉
  • Maxxitt
    Maxxitt Posts: 1,281 Member
    maybe1pe wrote: »
    slbbw wrote: »
    I was going to ask about BF% or waist size which you responded to above. It definitely sounds like you are at a healthy weight. If you want to try and get under 150 (also 5'5") working to do it very slowly sounds like the right idea. I have run into the same issue myself. I did get under 150 but my body reacted and I got super hungry and gained back to 150. I am trying to get back to 145 now very slowly. Good luck and try not to let BMI get you down since every other health marker looks good.

    Thanks, for the response. It's kind of nice to know I'm not just losing my mind.

    I've decided on .5 lbs a week for two weeks and then two weeks at maintenance to see how that plays out.

    So far my first couple of weeks have been good and I've lost slight over .5 lbs each week. I'm getting ready to switch back to maintenance this coming weekend, just in time for my birthday.

    I definitely think slow is the way for me to approach it.

    Thanks!

    I'd also suggest that you generally target the deficit weeks to those weeks of your menstrual cycle when you feel the best overall if you are among the women who find that hunger levels tend to rise after ovulation.
  • cheryldumais
    cheryldumais Posts: 1,907 Member
    This was facinating to me. I agree you probably are already at a healthy weight. I am 5'5.5" and weigh 155 and my waist is around 35 inches. I am fat. You are not. I think you just have more muscle than most. If you feel good and look good then don't worry about the numbers. Congratulations on your weight loss and double congrats on the muscle building. That inspires me.
  • jatin8721
    jatin8721 Posts: 1 Member
    Actually i am 5'4 with 188 pounds want to cut it down to 154pounds tried keto a lot of times but after a month it doesn't show any effect on fat loss want to know how to adjust macros to achieve this goal in span of 4 months as i have to get married and only have this time to look good, every time i get confused with my macro: i have tried low carb high protein low fat diet i have tried low carb high protein high fat diet but my body hits pleateau very soon, so if anybody can give me a good advice i'll be very thankful!
  • lorrpb
    lorrpb Posts: 11,464 Member
    edited October 2019
    You could consider looking at your macros. Sometimes a different macro split on the same calories can make a huge difference. Usually it means 5-10% more protein and 5-10% less carbs (not “low carb” though).

    Although meal timing doesn’t directly affect weight loss, it CAN affect energy levels, so that’s something else to look at/tweak.
  • kcmcbee
    kcmcbee Posts: 177 Member
    lorrpb wrote: »
    You could consider looking at your macros. Sometimes a different macro split on the same calories can make a huge difference. Usually it means 5-10% more protein and 5-10% less carbs (not “low carb” though).

    Although meal timing doesn’t directly affect weight loss, it CAN affect energy levels, so that’s something else to look at/tweak.
    Just some input here on the last part about timing, as I battle being a late night snacker. I’ve read lighten up on evening meal as bodies generally slow the metabolism down prior to and during sleep time. Heavy late meals and late snacks, even keeping within ones calorie range, impacts weight loss as our body doesn’t burn calories at an even rate for the 24 hour period. Just a thought. Seems to be working well for me to lighten up my late calories.
  • fitqueenbess
    fitqueenbess Posts: 372 Member
    @maybe1pe - I've toyed with this idea myself... If you set your calories to the desired goal weigh you'd just float down and have an easy landing. Plug in your goal weight into setting and see what it says to maintain. For me that's a decrease of 6 calories per pound which would give a deficit of 90 calories. In 18 months you'd be at goal and well adjusted to the new life.