[SoCalCowgirl]

Well I'm not quite a maintainer YET but I might be by the end of the month as I only have 3 more pounds to loose until I reach my goal weight. And I feel its time I start thinking about maintenance and how I"m going to keep this weight off for good. My weight loss plan has been calorie counting and having an intake of 1200 calories a day. From what I understand about maintaining is you increase your calories, which leads to a slight weight gain. But how how do you find that happy medium when it comes to not eating to little but not eating to much and gaining more than you should. I want to be able to keep between 120-125 and not go any higher than that. And as far as what foods you ate, did you eat as strict as you were on your diet or did you allow yourself to indulge a little bit in other foods that you normally would have not eating on your diet? I hope i'm making sense in my questions lol I just want to get kind of an idea of what my future will look like, I've become obsessed with counting the calories on everything I eat and keeping the portion sizes really small. So I'm hoping once I start mainting I won't have to constantly obsess over food, though still watch what I eat.

[Megan1982]

Congrats on your loss! I would suggest when you hit your desired weight, you slowly increase your calorie intake rather than jumping to a higher calorie level immediately. e.g. You eat 1200 cal/day now, try eating 1400 cals for 1-2 weeks, then 1600, then 1800... so on. That way you can narrow down what your caloric intake should be to maintain your weight. I'm not trying to speak for all maintainers, but I think most of us just kept eating the way we ate while we lost weight when we hit maintenance, just a little more of it. I do allow myself a few more treats but mostly I just eat more lean protein, healthy fats, and veggies and fruit. It truly is a lifestyle change. Check out the stickies at the top of this forum - "How Many Calories Do Maintainers Eat" and "Is There a Formula for Maintenance" might give you a broader perspective from many maintainers.

Also, stick around the forum! Don't be a stranger! We love new maintainers.

[bargoo]

Here is a reasnable estimate that I read somewhere on the internet
Calorie requirements........
Goal weight X 10 For sedentary persons
Goal weight X 12 for moderately active persons
Goal Weight X 14 for very active persons
Goal weight X 15 for extremely active persons
You might fit some where in between any of these suggestons but I find it to be pretty accutrate for me

[lin43]

I did pretty much as Megan described, i.e., increased my calories by a couple hundred every 1 to 2 weeks. I did this mainly because I kept losing and I underestimated the number of calories it would take to maintain my weight.

I eat a lot of the same foods, but I must confess that I eat plenty of goodies now, too, since my maintenance calories are a lot higher than I thought it would be. Actually, it's been tough trying to incorporate those goodies without losing control (and I'm still struggling with this).

[freelancemomma]

Originally Posted by SoCalCowgirl

From what I understand about maintaining is you increase your calories, which leads to a slight weight gain.

Where did you hear this? If you increase your calories gradually you need not gain any weight (other than the normal temporary fluctuations that everyone experiences). I suggest you increase by 200 per day and weigh yourself at least once a week. If you're still losing after a couple of weeks, increase by another 200 per day, and so on. Sometimes it takes a few months of fine-tuning to figure out your maintenance calories, but as long as you're weighing yourself regularly and making adjustments up or down in response to your weight you'll be fine. As some people have noted, maintenance isn't staying at a single weight, it's losing and gaining the same couple of pounds over and over again.

In my case, the maintenance figure ended up being around 2,000 -- 500 more than I was eating while losing weight, as it turns out. I try to eat around 1,800 to 1,900 most days so I'll have room for a couple of big splurges every month.

F.

[SoCalCowgirl]

@ Megan- thanks for the tips that seems like it will be a good place to start and i'll take a look at the other threads

@bargoo- I really like that chart and it does seem pretty acurate, I think i'll use the formula as a starting point then go from there

@lin- I have a feeling I'll be in the same boat as you. Once I allow myself to have a little bit of other foods it will be very hard to keep it in check, I may just stick with the healthy foods that way I don't risk the chance of going out of control and gaining it all back

@freelancemomma- thank you for clarifing the maintenance weight gain. I've heard that from the internet and family members who lost weight then gained like 5lbs once they reached goal and started maintaining. I'm glad it's only the normal fluctuations, now I'm not so worried And thank you also for the tips, it's going to be an interesting summer with playing around how much I can eat without loosing and gaining too much