I have always said, follow your Doctor's Advice, but...

My doctor wants me on maintenance now! um, I am not even in the healthy weight range category yet. She says, "you're active enough. You'll still lose." WTF does she not get about maintenance? Root word, MAINTAIN? As in, stay the same, hold your ground...

This was the result of my appointment today, where we discovered that I only lost 2 pounds in the last 3 weeks. She says that probably means that I don't have much left to lose, and should just be toning now. I think it means I should not have had salty fries or yummy brownies last week.

but but but....

what would you do?
for reverence, I weigh 164, 5'7", healthy weight range is 118 to 159. my BMI is 25.7.

You know, even if you maintain, and eat more, you will probably still lose weight, and maybe even a bit faster if you up the cals just a bit too. I hit 155 and decided it was fine, bought 1200 bucks of clothes, and continued to work out. I upped my cals by 600 a day and within four moths lost another 10 lbs without trying.

But yes, I agree, I'd want to be a healthy weight too.

perhaps she means you're not eating enough. Do you know about BMR? TDEE? Sometimes bumping your calories up to maintenance actually increase your weight loss.

This may or may not apply to you:

Here's one of my old posts from a similar topic:

OK. I'm gonna give this a shot. I am an avid lifelong athlete. I have never been overweight, however, I used to eat too few calories (without knowing it), and a couple years ago, I actually GAINED weight bc of having slowed my metabolism to the point that every little extra treat I ate caused a weight gain, even though overall my calories were too low. THIS DOES HAPPEN.

It is also the reason so many fat people stay fat. They restrict their calories so low, slow their metabolisms, binge (even a little), gain weight, restrict more . . . . and so on and so on. But they are still fat.

It is also the reason most people can't lose that last 10-20 lbs. For real.

1. MFP has a deficit built in. Let's say you're trying to lose 1 lb/ week. That is a 500/day deficit from your BMR (the amount of calories your body needs to complete basic functions.

2. You exercise and burn 500 calories. Now you are at a 1000 deficit. If you eat back those 500 exercise calories, you refuel your body and you still have a 500 deficit for that 1 lb loss. If you DON'T eat back those calories, you have too little fuel. This is bad. This is too much of a deficit for basic functions. If you do this for a long time, you will STOP LOSING WEIGHT. Why? bc your metabolism will slow down -- it's like a brownout--not quite enough electricity to make the whole city (your body) run, so it has to slow down some things. You will probably start being tired a lot, your skin and hair might start to look worse, and you might even gain weight. But you might NOT be hungry -- your body is getting used to fewer calories. That's bad.


That's when you start to gain weight. Let's say you're running along, eating 1200 calories a day, and exercising 400 calories a day, so net is 800. You're losing, you think this is great. You keep doing it, but after a while you stop losing. hmmmmm. One weekend you go out to a special event and have a slice of pizza and a beer. 1 slice of pizza and 1 beer. So you ate maybe 2000 calories that day and exercised off 400, so net 1600. BOOM! You gain 3 lbs! What?!

Next, you freak out and restrict yourself down to 1000 calories a day and work out extra hard, burning 500 calories. Great, netting 500 now. You don't lose any weight, but you sure feel tired. Better get some red bull.

Are you getting the picture?

EDIT: When you work out, you need fuel. Food is fuel. If you don't eat back those exercise calories, you will not only have a big calorie deficit, you will have an ENERGY deficit. Remember, the calorie deficit for weight loss is built in when you use MFP. Exercising basically earns you more calories because you must refuel.
--

There are many people who will tell you not to eat exercise calories. Before you take their advice, you might want to see whether they are at goal, have EVER been at goal, or have ever been able to maintain at goal. If anyone says to you 'THE LAST TIME I LOST WEIGHT", just stop listening right there.

Ask some athletes whether or not they replenish their bodies with food equal to the calories they burn. Ask people who are fit and have achieved and maintained a healthy weight for some years. Don't ask people who count walking across a parking lot as exercise.

Here's an interesting case study about how to stay fat while consuming only 700 calories a day. Take a moment, you'll be glad you did:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/3047-700-calories-a-day-and-not-losing

blessings.

ps...sleepytexan, I don't see your ticker :P (kidding)

Lots of good advice, you can eat plenty of food and lose weight. EATING ENOUGH IS SO IMPORTANT. If not for you for me. When I see people who aren't eating enough I tend to want to eat a sandwich, and then you're just putting my calories up, and I'm already at 1,902, and haven't eaten supper and I'm sedentary...and I don't want to make a sandwich.

Try being open to suggestion and see what happens. Perhaps try eating maintenance calories and not eating back exercise calories.

in all honesty, BMI doesn't mean anything anyway. stop when you are ready.

Doctors don't know jack squat about nutrition and exercise. It's like a contractor telling you how to build a car. IGNORE!

HUGE PET PEEVE: When things say, check with your doctor before doing this. ...like a doctor knows anything about exercise or nutrition. Stupid.

Unless you have other reasons to see this particular doctor, then find another one.