How do you guys successfully maintain?? I am 5'3, 106lbs, very active( never sit) and I've always counted calories( I eat whole foods only) and exercised through my weight loss journey. I checked several websites to see how many calories I should be eating to maintain. Almost every one says a different amount, I know it really depends on the person, but it should at least help you know where to start. I lost the weight a year ago and started maintaining using binging once or twice a week to keep from losing more weight. Really bad idea, don't ever start! I didn't know any other way and I was afraid to increase my calories on a daily basis. I went on w/ binging for 11 mo. I was gaining 3 to 5 lbs after a binge, only to cut my calories to 950-1050 a day( this is how I lost all the weight) for 4 or 5 days so I could lose it again, and I did. I am now binge free for 11 days and binges are getting farther apart( this is really difficult, it's like an addiction) as I am trying to maintain the right way. I gradually increased my calories over the past 2 weeks and am up to 1600 w/ 2 days a week closer to 2400 cal a day. I would like to maintain at 105lbs. (this is my feel good weight), I walk/jog for 40 min. every morning after my huge breakfast to jump start my metabolism, seems to work because I am not gaining weight at these high calorie limits, I seem to go up and down between 105- 106lbs. My concern is that i will get on the scale in the morning and suddenly gain 5 lbs or something, will these high calories catch up with me, I'm so scared to gain weight and am now used to eating this much. I know it's stupid but that's how I feel. I feel guilty, like I should go back to 1050 cal. a day just to feel comfortable with myself. I was always satisfied at that amount, whole foods really keep you full. I just feel like I'm overeating even though I'm really not that hungry. Does this make sense?? I need your wisdom! Thanks to all!

I would ask a nutritionist or a doctor how many calories you need a day to maintain. Then eat what you were comfortable eating while you were losing and add a few healthy snacks like an apple and peanut butter or a handful of almonds a day to get to the right amount. Good luck!

You may want to try to add calories back a little more gradually. If you add a lot too quickly you may have overshoot your maintenance range and start gaining which may freak you out and start the cycle all over. This will also get you more used to more cals so that you don't feel like your overeating. Sometimes to me even an extra 100 cals can feel like a lot of food. Most maintainers seem to start with a 100 cals every few weeks or so until they stop losing. Good luck!

Thanks everyone, I figured all you successful maintainers could share with me your way of maintaining, what works best for you?? I'm just lost.

Hi fruitlady-
You say that you are doing it the wrong way, but there really is no right way or wrong way. If your weekend binges are true binges that make you feel out of control, sick, unhappy or guilty, then that is "the wrong way". If you just eat more and enjoy it on the weekends, then what is wrong with that? I used to beat myself up that I wasn't maintaining "the right way" because I eat squeaky clean during the week and have more social food and drinks on the weekends, but hey- it's worked for over 8 years now, I don't feel deprived, and I've come to terms with the knowledge that I am NOT a moderation person. This works for me.

Whatever works and you can live with is the right way to maintain: as long as is doesn't involve destructive behaviors or leave you feeling miserable about yourself.

As for calorie guidelines, they are all over the place. Only you know your body.

Mel

Hi Mel, Thanks, the binging I did was so bad I got sick and even had night sweats from it, they were 5000 cal binges. I know it wasn't good for my body, but I did it anyway. It was the wrong way.

Fruitlady - I am two years in and still don't know if I'm maintaining the 'right' way or not. I don't think there is a 'right' way.

I second what Mel said - as long as what you are doing isn't damaging to your body or making you miserable and is keeping you where you want to be then you are maintaining the right way for you. Now, it sounds like what you were doing in the past was making you miserable, so now is the time to tweak a little. Good for you for recognizing that and trying to adjust before you made yourself crazy.

I am not one of the stricter maintainers - I might have a 1300 calorie day, I might have a 2500 calorie day. I still overindulge on food sometimes, I might go light several days in the week to have a blowout weekend meal. I might have that blowout meal and then go light the week after. Like Mel, I felt at the beginning like that was cheating, but I realize now that is just who I am. I like the things I like and am not willing to give them up. I try to target 1850-1900 as my normal day. I am 5'5", 38 years old. I currently weight 129 pounds, want to be back down to 127. I had too many of the 2500 calorie days the last two months. Now, I will tell you this - even when I am at my absolute best 125 pound mark I can get on the scale the next day and be 5 pounds heavier if I eat too much salt or sugar one day, or if I have my evening snack too late at night. I have a range and have to stick in that or the fluctuations drive me nuts. I exercise 5-6 days per week. 7 if you count my daily 20 minute yoga goal (on the 7th day I do a light 'no sweat' flow, compared to power flows the other days.) I target three days of running, three days of strength training w/ a cardio chaser on those days. And the daily yoga, which truth be told has been more like 6 days per week than 7.

If you were eating 1000 cals per day and then having 5000 cal binges on the weekends then you were probably eating around 1800-2000 on average? And now, with 1600 per day & 2 days at 2400 you are still only averaging about 1825. That could very well be your maintenance level. You aren't much shorter than I am and I maintain nicely at 1850-1900. I say give yourself another two weeks at the level where you are and see what happens. Realize that a 5 pound fluctuation isn't a gain - no one gains 5 pounds overnight - and that it is a water blip that will settle back out. Take a deep breath. You will figure it out.

And like Mel & Bright Star said, those calculators are just generalizations based on averages. Everyone is different.

Well the past 3 days were interesting, on 6/30 I was at 105.5lbs. I started to try to maintain that weight. 7/1- I weighed 106lbs, 7/2 - I weighed 105.9, and today I was 106.7lbs. I think my calories are to high, I'm at 1600 cal. since 7/1. The week before I think I even had more than that and I lost. My question is- should I stay at 1600 for another week to see what happens? or should I lower my calories now before I gain too much weight? Help??

To maintain 105 pounds you should be eating 1260 calories a day. Charts I have read say multiply your ideal weight by 12 to get the calories you need to maintain. The lower your goal weight the less calories you need to maintain.

I hear your dilemma, but I think you're just making yourself nuts to try to stay at an exact weight every single day. Most maintainers pick a range - typically 5 lbs - they want to stay at. So say your ideal is 105, you might say I want to stay between 104 and 109. That would allow you to not freak out the morning after you had a meal higher in sodium, or if you were on medication that caused you to retain water (Advil, for one). You can then play with adding 100 or 150 calories per day for a week or two and see what happens. If you stay the same (i.e. in your range), then add another 100 or so, and so forth until you find yourself being closer to the top of your range, then know that you need to be just under that calorie level as a maintenance. There will always be times you eat more, and you can balance those times out with lower calories for a few days. Shannon is right, you can't put on 5 lbs overnight. But it's a balancing game.

Does this take into account exercise?? I'm at about 151, and I lose steadily at 1700. There's no way I'd maintain my ideal weight of 145 at 1760 calories a day--I'd keep dropping.

Read all the posts....

Basically we are all our own experiments. Only you can find the point at which you maintain rather than lose or gain. ANd you may have to keep finding it over and over....

What if you added up a week or months worth of calories, binge days and make-up-for-binge days included and use the average per day?

I'm no one to be giving advice on maintaining--but I did want to share the thought that sometimes the weight we mentally want to weigh isn't the weight our body wants to sustain.

I'd suggest that you talk with a Registered Dietitian about your weight loss and maintenance just to see what a professional has to say. Be sure to include your daily target intake and the binges, how big they are, etc.

Jay