Hit goal....but how do I to avoid losing more and change my eating?
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kds10
Posts: 452 Member
I work out a lot...so now that I hit goal I have to start eating a little more, how do I do this? I am so used to eating a certain way scary to change!
5
Replies
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Look up the maintenance thread5
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You really shouldn't be making any drastic changes when transitioning to maintenance. Set MFP to maintain instead of lose and see how many calories it gives you. Depending on what your deficit was, it's probably only a few hundred more calories.
You can up your portion sizes, or have a few extra snacks, but I would not change the way you are eating too much, or you might fall back into the habits that lead you to have to lose weight in the first place. Eat the same food you do now...just a little more.7 -
I'm assuming you were eating your exercise calories anyway, as that's how MFP is designed.
I'm also assuming that you'd adjusted your rate of weight loss in MFP as you got closer to goal, such that you were losing the last 20 or so lbs at a slow rate.
If so, your deficit would only have been about 250 recently, so it's actually not that many more calories to eat to get up to maintenance.
As SuzySunshine says, eat a little more of the foods you eat now. You could also look at having a handful of nuts as a snack/post lunch dessert and maybe a hard-boiled egg with your breakfast. Depending on what you normally eat, you could sprinkle some seeds onto muesli or yoghurt in the morning or in to a lunchtime salad. Adding 250 a day isn't a lot.4 -
I think this may cover part of the questions:
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10638211/how-to-find-your-maintenance-calorie-level/p1
Personally, I increased calories gradually, which let me lose ultra-slowly down to the bottom of my maintenance weight range. (Strongly suggest you set a maintenance range rather than a single weight, which can be +/- whateer number of pounds would be slightly more than the typical fluctuations you see day to day. Trying to maintain at one single exact weight is a recipe for frustration, IMO. So, better to use a range, then adjust eating downward if at/over the top end for a few days in a row.)
By adding calories gradually, I was more likely to make small, pleasant nutritious tweaks to my eating, rather than adding one big daily treat. (Different strategies might work better for you, but this was good, given my personality, goals, inclinations).4 -
Only you know what "eating in a certain way" actually means and your food diary is private.
Only you have an idea roughly how much more you need to eat to eliminate your recent deficit to hit maintenance calories.
You should have been eating back your exercise calories while losing weight - only you know if you did or if you used exercise to boost your weight loss.
"Work out a lot" means what?
To get relevant and personalised advice you really need to open up a bit.
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I work out a lot...so now that I hit goal I have to start eating a little more, how do I do this? I am so used to eating a certain way scary to change!
I'm not at maintenance yet but i've lost 50lbs so far by having 4 meals a day of 375 calories, recently dropping to 350 each as i push to another 20lbs to lose. My plan for maintenance is to stay with the same regimen and slowly increase the per meal calories 2 weeks at a time until i hit a steady state.1 -
@AnnPT77 is right about having a range rather than an EXACT maintenance weight. Mine spans about 5 lbs. To answer you question, increase your daily caloric intake by 200 calories. Leave it there for a week. If you're still losing raise it up 200 again for the next week. Usually within 2 - 4 weeks you'll find your maintenance level.2
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