My head is in a really bad place this week, and I’m feeling like there’s just no way I can keep doing what I’ve been doing without further tangible reward in the form of losing more pounds. And the reason I am so desperate to lose weight is NOT because I am still at an unhealthy weight (which would be a GOOD reason to feel this way), or even because I hate what I see in the mirror (a less good reason, but at least still justifiable), but because by holding steady for well over a month now, I have proof that my current calorie/exercise regimen is what I need to continue forever JUST IN ORDER TO MAINTAIN, and I feel completely cheated, defeated and disappointed that my forever-and-ever maintenance range is a wholly unsatisfying 1300 cal/day on top of an hour of heavy exercise 5 days/week (yes, I’ve read the sticky threads in the Maintainers forum on this subject). In my current bleak mindset, I’m convinced that this is unsustainable for me in the long run (even though I’ve been doing it successfully for a year now); like the men in that long-ago nutrition study on the effects of semi-starvation and resulting abnormal weight loss, I obsessively think about food and what I’m planning to eat that day, feel weak and shaky after my more-intense exercise days, and I am constantly cold. 1300 cal/day in perpetuity feels unsupportable, BUT SO IS REGAINING THE WEIGHT.
Questions for you long-term maintainers:
1. Did any of you actually get to raise your calories after you finished the weight-loss portion of your journey? By how much? If you did, how old were you when you did this, and what BMI or body-fat percentage did you choose to maintain at? Have you had to lower or raise your daily calorie total subsequently to continue maintaining that same weight in subsequent years?
2. Alternatively, did you choose your maintenance weight essentially based on what weight you randomly end up at when you eat the number of maintenance calories you can live with long term? Or do you eat in starvation-mode forever in order to maintain a lower weight? I’m particularly thinking now of some posts by Bright Angel, in which she notes that she currently maintains on a (for me) unthinkable ~1000 calories a day. If the latter, do you ever get used to it (stop feeling like you’re starving, cold all the time, thinking food-thoughts obsessively)?
3. If you were me, what would you do next? The 2 options I’ve considered are (a) give up on attaining my real goal weight, declare that I’m officially maintaining and confirm that I am truly stuck with 1300/day by trying to increase calories by 1-200/day and seeing if I start to gain again or (b) drop my daily calories to ~1100 to see if I can lose the last 7 pounds, and risk a further downward resetting of my metabolism. While I know it may seem like a “no brainer” to most of you to choose the comparatively easier option (a), for me that actually feels like the bleaker, more hopeless option because I am NEITHER at goal, NOR eating an acceptable daily calorie intake (I told you I’m feeling really bummed out). At least option b has me (maybe) achieving my goal, though I would never be able to maintain that weight if it required me to eat 1100 cal/day forever. Is there any other option out there I’m not seeing?