How to maintain weight after big weight koss

rmiller2312 · February 2023

I was close to 200 pounds a few years ago. I am a 27 year old female, 5’4. I lost a lot of weight and was at 115 pounds. I wanted to gain about 10 pounds because I felt that I was “too skinny”. I did that, but for the past year or so, I have struggled with not constantly thinking about food and gaining some of the weight back. I am 139 pounds now. The biggest issue I have is getting intensely hungry right before bed. I’ll get hunger pangs and eat several hundred calories of ice cream, chocolate, chips, and other unhealthy foods, erasing my work for the day. I start my day off by going for an hour jog (I take 2-3 rest days a month). I work from home, so during lunch, I’ll walk to get something to eat or just go for a 45 minute walk to kill time, so I’m active for about a couple hours a day (even on my rest days, I will walk about 40 minutes). Before my jog in the morning, I’ll have some yogurt and granola or a bowl of Frosted Flakes. After, I’ll have a bagel or some eggs and sausage or bacon. I eat a couple snacks during the day. For lunch, I usually have half a Chipotle bowl or a frozen Lean Cuisine or other meal. For dinner, I’ll have the leftover chipotle or pasta or subway, etc. Any tips or advice on what I need to be doing differently? Before I have my nightly hunger pangs and go crazy with the junk food, I am at about 2,000 calories. I use a fitness tracker app that says that I burn about 500 calories a day, so how many calories should I be eating to lose about a pound a week?

mtaratoot · February 2023

I have read some people suggest using alternate snacks that won't wreck your work. Two or three carrots or maybe an apple. If you aren't hungry enough to eat carrots, you aren't actually hungry, and you're eating for another reason. It might just be habit; you're used to eating around then. If you can change that habit, it is likely to become easier over time.

Sinisterbarbie1 · February 2023

You may be thirsty rather than hungry. Try having a big glass of water, or getting into the habit of making yourself a cup of mint tea before bed. I suggest mint in particular because it has no caffeine and the flavor might also signal to your tastebuds that the time for eating is over. You could also just brush your teeth after you are done eating for the day, I find i don’t want to mess up the clean taste in my mouth with food after brushing.

On your daily diet - is there any chance you have the time to cook more whole foods for yourself rather than relying on processed foods and fast foods? Can you cut out super sweetened things like frosted flakes? My guess is that you may also be undercounting calories if you are having frosted flakes, plus a bagel with bacon or sausage, a few snacks (not specified) a chipotle bowl and a subway sandwich. That seems likely to be more that 2K calories, but I may be misunderstanding. Regardless of the calories, all of these foods are foods that are highly engineered by food companies to make you want more of the flavor and salt and sugar so that is why I am suggesting that you might feel fewer cravings if you cooked more fresh foods for yourself if you have the time.

On exercise — I am not an expert on fitness trackers, but many people here report that they are not terribly accurate and can give a false (higher) sense of calories burned. I know that when I was training for marathons and running regularly I was always careful not to overeat to “refuel” because unless you are super fast running is not that much better than walking as a form of calorie burning exercise. Many people actually don’t run a lot faster than people who are determined exercise walkers — not strollers. So I would enjoy it and do it for the pleasure of movement and the joy of accomplishing fitness goals rather than as a means of eating an extra serving of ice cream etc. Sometimes taking the approach of exercising to “earn” a treat or to “work off” what you consider to be poor eating choices the night before actually gets you into a cycle where you are exercising to exhaustion and percipitating more bad eating choices either because you feel like you have now earned them, or because you are just so tired that you don’t care so you binge.

Good luck though — it sounds like you have the tools to figure this out and have done this before so just need some tweaking.

Strudders67 · February 2023

Firstly, congratulations on losing such a huge amount of weight. However, as you're finding, transitioning into maintenance and not going back to old habits can be difficult.

Have you gone through the Guided Setup and put in your current info / stated that you now want to lose 1lb a week? If not, that should be your first step as that will tell you how many calories you now need to be eating. However, if you're 139lb and are trying to get back to 125lb, once you've lost 4lb (and only have 10 to go), you should re-adjust and aim to be losing at only 0.5lb a week instead*. It may even be sensible to select that anyway so that you get a few more cals a day to eat, as that may reduce the urge to binge.
Assuming you were doing so whilst you lost weight, are you still logging everything that you eat or drink and is absolutely everything weighed or measured for accuracy?
Are you actually logging your exercise and eating those calories too?

You say that you're at about 2000 cals before your hunger pangs kick in, but is that how many cals MFP said you should be eating to maintain your weight, with the amount of exercise that you do? If so, and you were still gaining again, clearly something's not quite right - either your logging is a little off or MFP is under/over-estimating something and you'd need to adjust your food intake until you figure out how many calories to eat to maintain your goal weight. I had the opposite - when I first switched to maintenance I was eating what MFP set me, but I kept losing weight (albeit very slowly). As I'm quite sure my food logging is accurate, I concluded that I'm actually more active than I think I am. I just allow myself a few more cals than MFP suggests.

Assuming you are doing the above, how are your macros? Common advice on these threads is that you should be eating 0.8g of protein per lb that you weigh. You may find that bulking out your meals with more veg and also adding more protein may fill you up more. If you play around with different foods and try to get your macros on target, you may find you have less need to binge at the end of the day. Could you cook an omelette for lunch and have a side salad with some additional protein, a few times a week, instead of walking to get something? It'll reduce your exercise, but will increase your protein intake. Try different things and see how it affects your appetite.

In the interim, it may be sensible to stop buying ice-cream, chocolate, chips etc and buy popcorn (pre-bagged into portion sizes, not family-sized bags), apples and other things that won't totally de-rail you if you do feel you need 'something'. Hard boil some eggs too, so that you can grab one of those as a snack if needed.

*if you lose your last few pounds at a slow rate, you're essentially easing yourself into what Maintenance will look like.

MadisonMolly2017 · February 2023

I agree with the above posters. Salt can kick up our “mouth hunger.” I also got in a habit of before bedtime eating in maintenance..however..do some experiments.I often find I’m not hungry when I wake up. (So I cut back nighttime eating until I am)

If that’s too difficult Try the water (and carrots 🥕 if you really need the crunch.)

I don’t keep ice cream (because the additives cause IBD, Crohn’s etc - based upon recent scientific research)

Or cookies - tried for years to manage, finally admitted I couldn’t. Ditto crackers, chips, pastries…)

I call the combo of salt, fat, and sugar a Triple Threat & I don’t keep them in the house. The test: If they “call to me from the freezer/cupboard.

I’m not going to let them
Jeopardize my
Maintenance, Better health, increased Fitness…

momlongerwalk · February 2023

How did you lose your weight in the first place? If you were using a lot of willpower instead of "forever habits " you may need to think about using the latter. If you are thinking about food constantly, craving, there's perhaps more at work here than just calories. The other comments here are spot on if you aren't doing emotional eating.

sollyn23l2 · February 2023

My gut instinct is maybe you need to try upping your protein a bit throughout the day. Also, if you have dinner really early, make sure and save one of your snacks for after dinner. There's definitely something to be said for the idea the alot of what we think of as hunger is really just our body saying "hey, it's eat-o-clock. Feed me now!" In which case, create a new routine for your body (no, it's not eat-o-clock, it's time for bed, or reading a book, or whatever your routine becomes). Routine really is everything.

spiriteagle99 · February 2023

I eat a snack before bed, sometimes two if I've done a lot of exercise that day and I'm still hungry. Snacks may be fruit (banana or apple) or cheese and a slice of whole wheat bread. I try really hard to keep my snacking healthy rather than just another dessert.

Restaurant meals are usually high calorie, even Chipotle. Frozen dinners may not be very satiating. You might do better to fix your own lunch and dinner, focusing on more protein and veggies.

sonjalewis622 · February 2023

Science says that eating in the evening is more likely to be fattening than eating earlier in the day. I stop eating at 7pm, after reading up a lot on this. I hope this helps.

mtaratoot · February 2023

sonjalewis622 wrote: »

Science says that eating in the evening is more likely to be fattening than eating earlier in the day. I stop eating at 7pm, after reading up a lot on this. I hope this helps.

I don't think science says that at all. I think science says that eating more calories than you expend over a given time leads to fat gain and eating fewer calories than you expend over a given time leads to fat loss. It's actually an energy balance equation. The only way time comes into the equation is counting the amount of time that you are using to determine if you are in calorie balance, in calorie surplus, or in calorie deficit. That could be a day, week, or month. The tools on MFP allow us to track by days, but it's longer term calorie balance that matters, not what time of day you eat.

AnnPT77 · February 2023

sonjalewis622 wrote: »

Science says that eating in the evening is more likely to be fattening than eating earlier in the day. I stop eating at 7pm, after reading up a lot on this. I hope this helps.

Who is "science" in this context, specifically? Since you mention a lot of reading, there must be sources?

I haven't had any difficulty losing or maintaining weight while eating from shortly after I get up in the morning to shortly before bed at night (sometimes actually in bed!). I was overweight to obese for around 30 years eating that way, got thin in less than a year eating that way, have stayed thin for 7+ years since still eating that way. If there's an effect, I think it must be either small, or not universal.

It does help some people manage calories if they limit eating hours, some people sleep better on an empty-ish stomach (others better with a full one), and other effects, so I'm not saying I think stopping eating early is a bad thing. It's a good thing if it helps a person in any respect. But I don't think it's universal important thing.

SummerSkier · February 2023

Just a quick comment but sometimes the MORE I eat at night the hungrier I am in the am. Not sure why that is but for me at least it is true. I like to snack in the evening so I tend to manage my calorie budget to allow for post dinner treats.

TexasBlaze · February 2023

I don’t necessarily not eat a high protein snack before bed, IF and only IF I really am hungry. I avoid anything in my house that I know I will binge on, because I know if it’s in the kitchen, I will talk myself into eating it, even if I am not hungry.

My first go to, when I feel slightly hungry, is a bottle of water. If I still feel truly hungry 30 minutes later, then I will give into a healthy snack. I try not to take anything to bed as a snack, especially IF I haven’t pre-measured it ( otherwise my one serving will turn into three.

Another thing, is possibly you are eating dinner too early? You could try pushing it back 30 minutes to hour maybe? Try to get more lean protein at your last meal? I have to be careful to not have the majority of my protein at lunch, or I won’t be hungry for dinner.

I like to keep light yogurt and cottage cheese for my snacks. I also absolutely love the no sugar diced peaches at 30 calories a container for a sweet snack. And occasionally I will indulge in the zero sugar fudge ice cream bars at 40 calories, when I am craving an ice cream fix.

Don’t get me wrong I will indulge with family and friends, if we are going out for a weekend dinner. But I try to log as accurately as possible afterwards.

Good Luck on your weight loss journey! You have lost the weight before, so I am sure you know what you need to do to get back on track. 😊😀

How to maintain weight after big weight koss

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