Living Maintenance - Worried about maintenance (and how to do it)

Hello all!

I'm new to the maintenance forum. I'm finally just 5 pounds away from my goal weight (hoping to hit it by the end of October) but I've started to freak out about maintenance. How do you find the balance to maintain your weight loss after you reach goal?

Right now I work out a lot which has become part of my lifestyle and I'm not planning to give that up after I reach goal...because of my workouts I probably EASILY burn about 1,000 more calories then I take in. That said, I've lost weight at a healthy rate (about 2 pounds per week).

If I were to add in 1,000 calories I'd balloon like crazy. So how do I do it? Do I add in just a few calories to start and then add to that? How many do I add? How often do I increase it?

Thanks for your help!

I wondered the same thing when I was getting close to goal. I did the same thing you are doing, asked those who had lost a lot of weight and kept it off. They told me the most amazing thing......they keep it off by doing the same thing they did to lose it . What a concept ! SO, I continue to count calories, continue to plan my meals ahead of time , continue to keep a food journal.
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I slowly added calories (100 extra per week, a few weeks at a time) until I found the "sweet spot" for maintenance. It was a very long drawn out process, moving into maintenance was nerve wracking. Worked out great.

Thanks for the feedback! Glory: 100 calories per week - that's less than 20 per day - how did you go about incorporating those? I was thinking about adding an afternoon snack per day (something in the 50-100 calorie range - a banana, fat free yogurt or other fruit, hummus and veggies, etc.) but am wondering if that is too much at the start?

Hopefully Glory will pop back in, but I think she meant 100 calories a day, added at weekly intervals.

That makes sense - thanks Julie!!

I added in 100 calories per day for a week, stayed for a little while, added 100 more, stayed for a little while, eventually hit my balance. Or what I think is my balance, I don't know. I've stayed in roughly the same place with a pretty decent calorie swing some days. I tend to average about 1900 per day. I kept my exercise pretty much the same, have actually increased the intensity of some of the exercises. I still log everything, weigh everything, etc. It was, and still is sometimes, nervewracking though!

Adding the afternoon snack is a great plan - you mentioned exactly what I added. A banana, a few nuts, peanut butter, those kinds of things.

Hopefully Glory will pop back in, but I think she meant 100 calories a day, added at weekly intervals.

Yep!

And I'm sorry, it was 5 years ago, so I can't quite remember how I did it 100 calorie increments. I know that I really wanted to make sure I stayed focused on healthy eating, so the majority of new calories were HEALTHY calories. It was great to have a little extra leeway to add cashews to a salad or dressing made with real olive oil. I didn't have to choose between a yogurt or a string cheese, I could have both in a day (for example).

Or - a little treat :) 100 calories of dark chocolate has been a very very welcome addition, or the occasional glass of wine.

There is really no right or wrong answer. Just keep tracking and watch the scale like a hawk. If your weight goes up and STAYS up (ignoring the usual bobble here and there), re-work your plan to compensate.

Thanks guys! I'm starting to feel better about this. :)