Thread: Anyone find maintaining harder than losing? Whats my body playing at?!

Hello good people of the maintainance forum! I'm new but have lurked for a short while and looked through a lot of posts.

I am joining as I need a bit of support and reassurance. Also in the hope I can offer the same in return!

I have lost 42lbs over 2 years. 35 or so in the last 18 months though. I was always stalling or going back and forth before then. I settled on CC and it worked. I lost my weight I'm proud of myself and I'd like to stay here thankyou!

But HOW DO WE DO IT?!

My BMR works out to somewhere around 1250 (forgive me forgetting the exacting figures - thats rounded) and my Harris Bendict to about 1720.

I ate 1200 evened out over 7 days to get where I am. Now I want to maintain I am trying to up it to my HB level in the same way - over 7 days. One day I might have 2200 as I've been hungry - one day I might have 1000 because I'm not. But always make sure I right it out over the 7 days.

But I seem to put on weight everytime I try and raise my levels. Its so disheartening - and as I result I rarely reach more than 1400 over the week.

If I lose on 1200 - how can 1400 extra over 7 days make me gain?

Given that I worked so hard to get this far and am happy with myself for the first time in years, I am scared of sabotaging my efforts whilst trying to maintain.

At least I knew where I stood whilst losing! In fact, in accordance with my HB - I should still be losing now?!

Is it a case of just sticking with and commiting to the 1400/1500 calories for a few weeks and hoping my body adjusts and evens out? But then what if I gain in that time... I'm back above goal? *shrugs*

Any advice here? I've gone for 1450 over 7 days this week and am dreading 'weigh in' on Monday!

I'm no where near maintaining... sigh... but I think from the advice I've read you should increase cals slowly, this is because your metabolism has become used to functioning on less cals and is on guard for reduced cals in th future so it will store more energy more quickly.

Keep active and try increasing cals gradually so your metabolism can get used to functioning on more again. Also keep drinking the water, really supports effective body functioning.

Good luck x

Hi Mermaid,

If you've been effectively under-eating for two years, that's going to have impacted on your metabolism. Expecting your body to adjust back to normal eating in a week is quite a big ask! I'd give it at least a month before you start worrying. I recommend upping your calories gradually, and if you're worried about gaining weight in that time, then try and up your exercise. Also, you might want to look into building some muscle in the form of weights. I'm not talking about going for a body builder look, but getting some lean muscle does increase your overall metabolism and how many calories your body needs every day. It'll also make you stronger

Hey there

Id very slowly increase your calories if i was you. One thing that tends to happen when dieting and losing a lot of weight is you lose muscle with the fat.

Id gradually increase the calories (say 100 calories a week) but id also consider doing resistance work a few times a week as well...that will raise your base metabolism back up with time.

If anyone ever wants help organising resistance workouts feel free to pm me btw.

Your body gets used to working at a certain weight. It works really hard to not lose weight, and now it's trying to get back to where it was. It's likely to fight you for quite a while, but being careful about it will help. I've managed to maintain, and if I can do it anyone can!

You need to expect a certain amount of weight regain after ending a long term diet: a lot of it is just water weight. Don't worry about it unless the weight loss continues more thana month after refeeding. I agree that increasing calories by a small amount at a tme may be the best way forward.

Hiya Mermaid88,

Im was having the same problem I reached my target and found it hard to maintain, I just tried different things like putting in another Heb which didn't work, so now I stick to just red and green and to maintain I have Green days Fri, Sat and Sun and Red days Mon, Tue and Wed, Thurs is weigh in day so tend to have a treat and not follow any plan but this has worked for me, I hope it helps.