Reached my goal now need to maintain!! opinions please...

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lucylou91
lucylou91 Posts: 16
in Health and Weight Loss
hey people, well ive been at my goal of 125lbs for a week (well changing by going up or down a pound daily)..

my goal has been 1200cals for the past few months whilst losin and now ive reached my weight goal MFP are suggestion i consume 1700 a day! that sounds alot 2 me and im scared of gaining if i eat thatmuch everyday!

what does every1 else suggest i do? stick to 1200? do what MFP say? or make my own inbetween goal?

thanksss xx

Replies

  • srandle175
    srandle175 Posts: 112
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    I don't have any suggestions. I just wanted to say congrats on reaching your goal. I wish you all the success at keeping it off!!!
  • russelljclarke
    russelljclarke Posts: 836 Member
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    I'm the same - today! The (good) advice I've received is that you should increase your calories gradually. I'm starting my maintenance at 1500, then I'll go to 1750 etc. Everyone will have a different maintenance level, so that seems sensible to me.
  • robin52077
    robin52077 Posts: 4,383 Member
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    raise it a little every few days till you reach a comfortable level. finding your maintenance number can be hard. I am 5'2" 109 lbs and mine is 2000.
    Don't freak if you gain a pound or 2, it will take a few weeks to get used to it and even out.
    Definitely don't stay at 1200. But don't immediately jump to 1700 either, you'll feel full, bloated and gross. Ease into it. Change to 1400, then in 4 or 5 more days, go to 1600, stay there for a week or so, monitor the scale and how you feel, then add if needed.
  • lucylou91
    lucylou91 Posts: 16
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    thats great thank you :) il up it to 1400 then! thanks guyss :) xxx
  • LaMujerMasBonitaDelMundo
    LaMujerMasBonitaDelMundo Posts: 3,634 Member
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    We are on the same boat. All I can say is to stick watching out what you eat, eating whole foods & with more fruits and veggies. You up your cals intake but as much as possible consume those extra cals through good foods & not from those junk foods. In my case I still log everything I eat, weigh myself everyday every morning & making sure that I won't be going way over my limit. This way, I become more disciplined as many of us tend to become too complacent when reaching our goal weight. Congratulations on reaching your goal!!!
  • lp0007
    lp0007 Posts: 125 Member
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    Hi lucylou!
    I am slowly upping my cals. I started at 1450 and have just gone up to 1525. I am going to slowly get to 1700 depending on how my weight goes :smile:
  • lucylou91
    lucylou91 Posts: 16
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    ye im gonna keep logging and weighing in like i do now..gonna carry on doing everything the same as i have been but ive just upped my cals to 1400. still gonna do my workouts aswel but it just gives me a bit more freedom by addin that extra 200cals :) x
  • kirsty0911
    kirsty0911 Posts: 54 Member
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    Just wanted to say well done on reaching maintenance! x
  • CARNAT22
    CARNAT22 Posts: 764 Member
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    My maintenance cals are only 1450 (so not much difference really)
  • MiNiMoNkI
    MiNiMoNkI Posts: 447 Member
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    Hi, firstly very well done, doesnt it feel ace to be at this point?

    I reached my goal a month or so back, i had the same issue! basically i was at 1200 when losing and now find it very difficult to justify eating any more than that as its been drilled into to be for all this time. I am still exercising infact even more so than before as my other half has now started this journey too. I have upped my calories to 1240 although i admit i do go over some days but it balances out over the week.

    Its a scary place to be as youve done so much to get to where you are and dont want to undo it. I think you should up your cals very little every week, maybe an extra 100 a week for a few week and so on, are you still working out?

    I have small weight window which sees my weight go from 110llbs to 113lbs, then i know if my cals are too high if im going over this and try to adjust accordingly.

    Feel free to add me and we can help eachother out :) xxx
  • Robin1117
    Robin1117 Posts: 1,768 Member
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    Hi! Well done! definitely up your calories gradually.....I think one of the hardest things is to find the right maintenance calorie level, it is different for all of us.

    There is a maintenance thread you could check out w/questions...a good little group of us who like to talk about maintenance issues.....

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/191617-maintenance-thread

    And I wrote about how I maintain a few months ago on my year anniversary, if you are interested in reading. Good luck with everything!

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/Robin1117/view/one-year-ago-this-week-maintenance-106486
  • bbbbb33333
    bbbbb33333 Posts: 1,107 Member
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    bump
  • OliveJuice821
    OliveJuice821 Posts: 34
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    Might I suggest a "red flag weight"? If you do go with MFP's suggestions for calories per day, but you're worried about gaining weight back. Continue weighing yourself. If you reach a certain weight (the red flag weight), you know to drop your calories. Drop it by a hundred every two to three weeks until you stop gaining weight, but you're no longer losing weight either.

    Congrats on reaching your goal, and I wish you the best of luck at maintaining!
  • katkins3
    katkins3 Posts: 1,360 Member
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    I was discussing this exact topic with my husband yesterday.
    He has overshot his weight goal and now our doctor wants him to Gain 10 pounds.
    The one thing we didn't think about while concentrating on weight loss was weight maintenance. Since we plan to make our fitness a permanent part of our lives, how to maintain must be at least as important as how to lose.
    Thanks for addressing this aspect of our fitness lives.
  • mrsgolfie
    mrsgolfie Posts: 42 Member
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    Congratulations! I would go with MPF's suggestions. If you keep on the lesser amount you most likely would keep loosing and you probably don't want to do that. To maintain you would need the little bigger calorie count.
    Keep up the good work and hope you maintain for years!
  • Crystalchaos72
    Crystalchaos72 Posts: 531
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    I have been on maintainence for a little while and have had to tweak my calories. If I ate accorning to mfp, I would still be losing drastic weight. It suggests I eat 2000 for maintainence. I did a test of sorts. For 3 weeks I ate 2500-2800 cals a day, with no exercise , first 2 weeks stayed the same, the 3rd week, I lost. I have an active job and don't exercise as intensely as I used to, but I still do something most days of the week. I am now trying to find my happy calories, so to speak. You will figure it out, it just takes some tweaking.
    Yes I eat my exercise cals back as well.
    Good luck and congrats on meeting your goal!
  • keiraev
    keiraev Posts: 695 Member
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    I am almost at Maintenance and mine is 1710 and it's definitely not too high! I have my activity levels set at lightly active so I will also need extra calories when I workout.

    I am looking forward to getting to this stage but I am going to do what you have done and increase slowly, 1400, 1500, 1600 etc

    Add me if you like as we have same-ish goals and I will be maintaining soon :)
  • dls06
    dls06 Posts: 6,774 Member
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    Congratulations on your success!:heart:
    Because of my age ( menopause) they have me set at 1410 and I have been maintaining for about 6-7 months. I go over sometimes but for the most I stick to it. I think I will as long as its here.
    Don't stop logging. It keeps you on track. It's too east you go over little by little if you don't.
  • bbbbb33333
    bbbbb33333 Posts: 1,107 Member
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    I just reached my goal of healthy BMI. I reset my calorie from loos 2 lbs a week to loose 1/2 lb a week and it gave me 1980 calories. It seems like so many calrories after exercise. Kind of hard to up the calories since I am used to eating a certain amount. I lost a ~ 69 lbs about 2 or 3 years ago and just ate what ever I wanted (while still exercising). I gained ~ 1/2 back, so maitenance is hard. I plan to stick to the plan and keep counting this time. We will see how the new cal level goes and if it is good I may change my profile to maintain and get a few more calories.

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