I tried to send you a private message, but it said your mailbox was full and wouldn't accept it, so I had to post to you on the boards and figured calorie-counters would be the best place

I hope you'll pardon the intrusion, but I read your post in the "fat what people don't tell you" thread (http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/showthread.php?t=109646) and it was so well-written and made so much sense that I wanted to talk to you about it. Because I too have been where I'm at for a very long time and I'm convinced my body is done losing. So I was thinking of going ahead and upping my calories, like you did, to just under maintenance level. Which, for me, is around 1700 calories. However, I'm terrified! Because I'm currently maintaining at 1200-1300. So I'm scared that if I up my calories, I'm going to start putting weight back on.

But I'm wondering if my body is doing what you said you assumed yours was; thinking it's in famine mode and not budging anymore on burning fat because it's settling.

How in the world did you incorporate more calories? Weren't you scared to do that? I'm so set in my ways and so used to my eating patterns that I'll have to really squeeze in the extra calories. I think I'll start with just a couple hundred extra per day instead of shooting straight up to near 1700. I was thinking of maybe 1500 or 1600 instead of 1200-1300.

I'd really be interested in your advice and anyone else who has done this, please feel free to chime in!

Linda, I'm just jumping in here, but I want you to know that you are not the only person terrified of bumping up their calories for maintenance! Have you checked out the Maintainers forum? Everyone there is or has experienced the same thing and the newer maintainers are still trying to find that perfect number of calories to eat to maintain. It isn't an exact science as everybody's body is different, so you have to experiment before you know what will work for you.

Linda-when I was in maintenance after losing from Jasmine (my oldest), when I was done losing weight, I SLOWLY started adding calories back in, 100 at a time. So, if I was losing at 1300, then I went up to 1400. Do this for a few weeks, and weigh in once a week. You can even do this for a month if you want to be really careful.

If your weight has still stayed the same (no gaining-besides small normal fluctuations) then add another 100 to 1500 the next few weeks. Weigh in once a week, etc. and see how that goes for a few weeks. Repeat.

This is the best way, really, to find what a maintenance level of calories is for you. For some people, like Mel, it is only a couple hundred over what they were eating to lose...and for others, they may be able to slowly go from 1200 to 1800-2000 a day for maintenance. It, just like weight loss calorie intake, is a very personal thing-and you just slowly have to work your way up to see what works for you.

I don't recommend a quick jump up though, because your body will need to adjust to more food.

Good luck to you,
Aphil

I like Aphil's method. Although I haven't gotten to the point where I'm ready to enter maintenance, that's definitely my plan once I get there.

A hundred calories is easy to find room for--it's less than 1/4 cup of nuts, 1tbsp of peanut butter, 1 oz of cheese, 2 oz of avocado, 1 4-oz banana, 1 cup of skim milk, and all those 100-calorie snack packs.

Linda- I'd definitely go in 50 or 100 calorie increments. The alternative is to give yourself a "treat meal" once a week...not a binge, just good healthy food and don't worry about the calories...then go back to what you have been doing for the rest of the week. As long as you don't eat junk or drink a lot, it's hard too consume enough in ONE MEAL to gain over the course of a week. Yes, the scale may be up a pound or two for a couple of days, but you won't gain longterm.

I really wouldn't jump up more than 100 calories at a time until you know how your body will react. And just like losing, you need to be patient and give it a week or two at each new level.

Mel

Thanks so much for everyone's responses. I think I'll try that, just upping 100 calories at a time and weighing myself once a week. I normally only weigh myself about twice a month anyway, but when upping calories I'll try and keep a closer eye on it. If I start to gain at a steady pace, then I'll obviously have to drop my calories back down again.

This is something I've always done. Since the beginning of my weight loss journey, I have one meal a week, Sunday dinner, where I eat as much as I want without worrying about the calories. I think that one meal a week is what kept me sane through all of this! LOL