Those Vet's in Maintenance Who Did Low Carb......

This morning I weighed in at 154.2 pounds which puts me at about 4.2 pounds to my ultimate goal of 150 pounds. 

At 5 foot 8.5 inches that will give me a BMI of 22.5.....I figure I may drop into the 140's as I start to sort out maintenance and I am ok with that.

My question is....how did you wrap your head around maintenance?  How do you find that sweet spot without losing control?  What did you do about your carbs in maintenance? 

I won't lie I am sort of terrified of this next transition!  Eek!

I'm not too far ahead of you - I hit my goal at the end of November. So my experience is recent, and on-going. Take it for what it's worth - I don't claim to be a vet :)

#1 advice, take it slow.  Very slow.  No drastic changes. No sudden movements. 

#2 Get to your goal, see how things feel, let your weight slowly stabilize. Maybe get a few pounds under to have some breathing room so you don't panic the minute you go above that magic number.

#3 Add a few calories at a time, see what happens.  Keep in mind that if you add carbs you'll retain more water (4:1 ratio of water to carbs, so you up your carbs to 100/day, you'll put on a pound, roughly).  That's why you get a sudden loss when you cut carbs and a sudden gain when you eat them.  

#4 Consider increasing exercise at this time.  Ramp your exercise up a bit - you'll be eating more so you can sustain more exercise

#5 Continue to track everything - this is (in my opinion) highly critical during this transition phase since you need to experiment with new caloric levels and see what it does to your weight.  *Maybe* you can relax later, but this isn't the time. Vigilance is key in this transition.  If you trend up, you're going to want to know why.  Finding your stability point is key - research shows that people who've had significant weight loss usually require fewer calories to maintain their weight than common calculators would suggest.  You need to find YOUR level here.

Following the above, I've maintained below my original goal of 175 ever since hitting it, usually being 170-172, with occasional drops in the 160s.  I've slowly ratcheted my average calories per day up to about 1500-2000, but I also work out hard 3-4 times per week, so my average net calories per day is still around 1200 or less.  And I'm stable.  That's not many calories... Typical BMR calculators say I should be  burning 1800/day sitting around.  So theory would say I should still be losing at below 2000 cal/day, but I am definitely not.

Hope that helps!

Below is a chart showing calories consumed vs. burned (in exercise - not including BMR) during my "journey") - I still obsess over this stuff, as you can see :)

Tom

The Jubbster pretty much nailed it.........

Kinda anti climactic.....

You don't really change it up any for about a month after..... than maybe add a hundred calories and 10 carbs........ ride it out for a month or so and see how you do......

Mentally..... you go into protection mode......

Maybe post this question at VSGMG lots of great maintainers there.... and a daily weigh in......!!!

It is scary.... but don't be terrified, you have a very strong foundation built and the concepts will come easy for you......

frisco

Great questions ..I'm @ abt the same spot. BUT OMG... I just saw how much you lost. WAY TO GO!!!!!

You already received great advice in this.  I am not contradicting a single word, but I would like to add a few things to go with, not instead of the advice you received.

1) Don't panic.  Your weight loss might take you lower than you intended and that's OK.  You can use the bounce back room and it is going to eventually be super easy to put weight back on if you want to do it.  Don't freak out about going too low.

2) Remember that the goal number is just a number and can be adjusted to your liking at any time.  It will be up to you to either "like" the new weight or not.  You can gain or lose from there anytime you need to do it.  We forget that start to think that the goal number is everything.  It is just a really good day to say, "I've done it".  The control of where it goes from there is totally in your hands. This will keep you from stressing too much.  Repeat after me, "this is just a number on the scale and I know how to make those numbers go up or down, so it is up to me to keep this or not".  No magic, just perseverance that you already have in huge quantity.

3) Start by increasing your calories about 200 calories a day, mostly from extra protein, fat and some carbs.  See how you do.  Keep it there for a few weeks, reevaluate, add 100 more calories in at a time and keep a journal. I find that I still need to eat low carb most of the time, but not super low carb.  I can eat about 100-150 carbs a day without any issues now.  You have to find your numbers.  You are a science experiment now, keep really good data and remember that things can and will change with age, muscle mass, hormones, whatever.  What you find now only works for now, be willing to change it if cir****tances change.  That means you will still need your scale and tape measure. 

4) This brings me to my final point.... Don't ever become an ostrich.  Check your weight and measurements all the time and keep a tight acceptable range.  If you go over your range, you are no longer in maintenance and need to go back to weight loss strategies.  Do this for life and you will keep your maintenance.  It gets harder further out, so stay on top of it and don't ever forget where you came from and who you are around food.  It gets easy to forget after a few years, so build in some reminders.  Finally, one of the reasons that you have been so successful is that you have set goals for yourself, now in maintenance, it is easy to forget to set goals.  That is a big mistake. Continue to set goals around health and maintenance that are measurable and have timelines.  For example, every third Wednesday I go to my support group, I make sure that I weigh in at or under 105 lbs. on that day.  This keeps me accountable even almost four years out.  You can also do the same with exercise goals.  Goals are a huge deal of keeping maintenance. 

I know you can do this.  PM me anytime you need anything at all.  I am super proud of you and tear up when I think about all you have accomplished so far, I am a huge fan.  :)

I don't have any advice, I just came to say Holy Crap, you are amazing!!! Congratulations, what an amazing transformation!! I was looking at your photos and you look so incredible! 

I'm with MaryContrary.... you're amazing! Congratulations on your success so far and good luck on your continued success in the future! 

For someone with 200+ to lose, you're truly an inspiration!

Same here -- just cheering you on and congratulating you on how well you're doing!  You are giving me hope that I can get there if I keep going, as you did. 

Thanks for asking this important question, and thanks to the vets who are responding.  Bookmarked!!