Maintaining your weight?

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maxiem7
maxiem7 Posts: 23 Member
in Goal: Maintaining Weight
I have lost lots of weight and gained a lot so I know how to do that. What I do not know is how to maintain please share how you figured it out. Did you start with the calories that MFP gives you to maintain or work your way up to that amount of calories? Thanks!

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  • WinoGelato
    WinoGelato Posts: 13,454 Member
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    How much weight have you lost?
    Over what period of time?
    What calorie deficit were you striving for during loss?
    Have you calculated what you think your maintenance cals will be?
    What is your exercise like?
    Do you currently log your intake?
    Use a food scale?
  • kcmcbee
    kcmcbee Posts: 177 Member
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    Short answer. Worked, and still working, my way back up and monitoring pretty closely day by day and week by week. Started adding about 100 calories week for a few weeks to figure out where it leveled off compared to the maintenance # MFP and others calculators were giving me. Good luck. Yes to the food scale most of the time and I also weigh every day. Good luck!!
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,055 Member
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    maxiem7 wrote: »
    I have lost lots of weight and gained a lot so I know how to do that. What I do not know is how to maintain please share how you figured it out. Did you start with the calories that MFP gives you to maintain or work your way up to that amount of calories? Thanks!

    That seems like two broad questions rolled together:

    1. How to know your maintenance calories, and transition to eating them. Maybe read this thread:

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10638211/how-to-find-your-maintenance-calorie-level/p1

    2. How to stick to that calorie level, on average, for the long haul. That's a more complicated question. I'd suggest reading other posts in the "Most Helpful Posts" section of the maintenance sub-forum, and generally reading some of the other posts here. People handle maintenance in a diversity of ways, and figuring out what works for you can be very personal.

    I've been maintaining for 4+ years now, after 3+ preceding decades of obesity. I still calorie count and log food most days (something some people don't want to do, but I find easy and freeing). I eat slightly under true maintenance calories most days ("calorie bank") in order to have more indulgent days or meals every week or so. That works for me.
  • Melolson14
    Melolson14 Posts: 147 Member
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    Hi
    I have lost 30.4 pounds
    In 6 months
    I’m trying to make sure I maintain it right and don’t gain any back.
    Can anyone give me some advice
  • Slimbymooths
    Slimbymooths Posts: 27 Member
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    Melolson14 wrote: »
    Hi
    I have lost 30.4 pounds
    In 6 months
    I’m trying to make sure I maintain it right and don’t gain any back.
    Can anyone give me some advice

    Hi, my stats are very similar to yours - 30+ pounds lost last year, in a similar time frame. I've been maintaining for 10 months. As the previous poster advises, maintenance strategies vary by individual but here's what works for me:

    - Daily weighing, using Happy Scale to track the trend
    - Daily logging on MFP: I have to admit that I rarely complete the whole diary entry, but I make a point of putting in some food and exercise every day
    - Daily bodyweight exercises: triceps dips, press-ups, squats for 6 minutes every morning
    - Building in other regular exercise to my normal week: I cycle a short distance to work and I will do a circuits session and/or a 5km run once a week. Nothing major (I don't have the time for more) but keeps me reasonably fit
    - I no longer drink alcohol at all: this was the catalyst for my weight loss (and a big cause of my weight gain) in the first place and I have seen countless other benefits from removing it from my life

    Hope that helps a bit!
  • LivingtheLeanDream
    LivingtheLeanDream Posts: 13,345 Member
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    Maintenance isn't actually that much different to when losing - we just have extra calories to work from.
    Having a weight trend of +/-5lbs for example works well for me, when I get closer to the high end of that range I work on getting back down again.
    For ages I used a trending weight app but as I've been in maintenance for almost 7 yrs I find now the occasional weigh in is enough.

    Wishing you all the best.
  • brenn24179
    brenn24179 Posts: 2,144 Member
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    It is hard but you can do it. You have to be cautious all the time. No more eating all you want when you want. To me it is the same as losing weight, they say a life style but to me it is like being on a diet all your life but the results are wonderful.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,876 Member
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    maxiem7 wrote: »
    I have lost lots of weight and gained a lot so I know how to do that. What I do not know is how to maintain please share how you figured it out. Did you start with the calories that MFP gives you to maintain or work your way up to that amount of calories? Thanks!

    The difference between losing weight and maintaining weight is a handful of calories. Also, maintenance is a range, not a set number as your body weight fluctuates naturally. Also, it is common to gain some scale weight moving to maintenance as you typically have more inherent waste in your system as well as water weight gain.

    Outside of my usual 10 Lbs of winter weight gain, I've maintained for going on 7 years. I eat in the same manner as I did when losing...nutritionally sound diet for the most part. The only difference is really a couple more snacks or an extra serving of this or that. I still exercise regularly. I monitor my weight on the scale regularly. I typically fluctuate 0-3 Lbs up or down day to day...sometimes more if I travel by air or have an extra salty meal, etc. I have an intervention point of 10 Lbs...ie, at that point I intervene so that I don't continue to gain weight and nip it in the bud.

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