Maintenance woes

[JasmineMeyers]

A big hello to you all!  

Just as a little background information I am 33 years old, female, 5'6 and currently hovering around the 120 ibs range. I dropped around 75 ibs in weight last year, and have been doing all I can to maintain since. But I get confused how much/ littleI can eat for maintainence calories.

I bought a fitbit zip March this year, and have gotten to the point where I make 20,000 steps a day, every day without exception. This usually consists of doing day to day activies, and at least half the steps are from a long morning walk involving steep hills. I don't tend to run/ jog as I just love walking. I tend to just stick an audio book on my iphone and use this as "me" time as I've always adored walking.

In addition to the walking, I also have a part time job for 16 hours a week which involves a lot of standing and moving about. I volunteer for two mornings a week, mainly doing administration work for the local council. I also have begun a weight training programme at my gym - three times a week (it's fairly basic as I've never lifted weights before, but it does tire me out a lot).

Usually I log around 1850-2000 calories a day on MFP. I do weigh everything I eat without fail. My average calorie burn on my Zip seems to come to around 2400-2500 a day, and I try to log what I deem acceptable/ modest values for my time at my gym. Usually around 100 extra calories, including a 10 min warm up on the cross trainer, various leg/ arm/ core weight exercises, and a ten minute cool down on the rower. I still get my 20,000 steps on gym days.

The issue I have is I have no idea if this is enough. My fitbit claims I burn 2500 a day sometimes, but I was told to calculate calorie burn as 0.3x body weight x miles. For me this would be 324? (my fitbit tells me I walk around 9-10 miles a day). Although this value seems low, considering my Fitbit and others sites day for my weight. height and activity I am burning anywhere from 6-1000 calories. I doubt 1000 is likely for a 5'6 female weighing 120ish ibs somehow...

I have had a constant cold/ flu thing since I started the gym, which is concerning me. I'm just trying to mainstain my weight without gaining or losing, and just looking to improve my body conposition and strength before concerning myself with building muscle.

I guess I'm just at a bit of a loss. I don't feel I'm all that active personally, as I'm just starting at the gym and the walking is casual at best. At the least I feel I can justifiy a maintainence of 2000 calories a day, but am concerned as this cold/ flu thing won't shift (its been almost three weeks - again literally caught it the week I started out).

I'd be thankful of any thoughts on this, and thank you.

[GershonSurge · Accepted solution]

Congratulations on your weight loss!

I have a Zip and a Surge attached to different accounts. I also have an Aria scale.

The Zip consistently understates calories and the Surge overstates them. My exercise profile is similar to yours except that I've been trying to break out of a period of laziness during the last month. I've been maintaining my target weight since July 16th.

The Zip measures the calories used during weight lifting and other similar exercises accurately enough. There is no need to try to make it more accurate unless you enjoy doing it. 

The simplest method of weight control is to stand on the scale each morning. If you are above 120, eat a little less. If you are below, eat a little more. The Aria scale is convenient, but a small notepad by the scale would work just as well.

Any illness or pain is a suggestion from the body to reduce our activity or perhaps increase our intake for those on calorie restricted diets. I don't include normal fatigue from a good workout in the definition of pain. It doesn't sound like you are restricting your calories. The body repairs itself best while we are sleeping. My recommendation is to reduce your exercise and increase your sleep for a week or so until your cold disappears.

[tamado · Accepted solution]

Well, I am kind of in the same boat but I will share where I am at so far.  I have lost just over 100lbs in the past year and am working at finding that maintenance balance as well.  I am finding that if I eat the same foods I ate while losing and stay active, my body is pretty much maintaining itself.  Give yourself a weight range, not an actual number (I am aiming for 165 +/-5lbs) and allow for a little fluctuation.  I actually stopped logging.  I know how to eat and what to eat and I am now in a phase where I want to take off the training wheels and see how I do free feeding with my new healthier habits.  I have been in my target range for about 12 weeks now and it is feeling good to not obsess but still stay focussed on health and healthy eating.  Increasing your activity level will allow you to increase input - just stick to the same healthy foods.

I have a friend who has lost about 60 lbs over a couple of years and is now working with a trainer at the gym.  She has gained 7 lbs in the last couple of months and was panicing until the trainer compared her body fat measurements.  She had dropped 8% in the same amount of time.  So, if you are hitting the gym, be careful not to beat yourself up over scale numbers if you are building some muscle.  I just ordered a body fat caliper from amazon for about $10.  I look forward to tracking that as well.

Cheers.

[JasmineMeyers]

A big thanks to you both. I just wanted to double check.

The thing is I did the bad thing of losing too much weight too soon last year. I did alternate day fasting and ate 1200 on my non fast days... so netting a grand total of 800sh calories a day on average. Not too proud of it but 1) I had no clue what I was doing, 2) I was very sedentary with a fair bit of weight to lose and 3) now I know better. I don't want to rebound and gain back too much (bar the obvious water weight and any eventual muscle gains), but at the same time I have a fair bit to lear.

:GershonSurge - grats on your losses. I'm sure you'll get there soon enough. For what its worth it took me a lot of time getting motivated. Once I started getting off my backside I'd always wonder if I could justify the expense of a gym membership. I looked up bodyweight exercises, but for some reason I don't keep motivated if I'm not going somewhere (ie going to the gym, going out for a walk). The comfort of home just got me into the mindset of "after this coffee" or what have you. My revelation came with the realisation I've lose a lot of muscle through the past year, and I'll only lose more when I get older, as happens sadly enough.

More than likely what I'll do is take a 2000 calorie average a day and see how things go from there. Gaining on the scale doesn't bother me much - I weigh myself but I'm used to hormone/ DOMs fluctuations. I have a tapemeasure and can go by clothing, but gaining a couple of pounds whilst I experiment with calories won't faze me much - I've weighed a lot more! I'm just fairly certain I don't burn around 2400-2500 a day merely walking and doing weight training x3 a week.

You're right - the cold's gone now, but I'll keep it in mind that sick feeling = bad. I've also had issues sleeping due to finishing work late and a fondness for getting up early in the morning. Fitting in a nap here and there is helping until I figure out a more permanent solution.

tamado - I tend to eat the same sort of things too, for no other reason there's certain things I enjoy eating too much daily to give up. I still weigh things like dark chocolate, greek yogurt, fruit etc but accept that single servings will be largely accurate. I don't wish to bring scales etc round to friends etc, so aiming for 2000 cal daily might help if I go a bit over/ under and happen to burn a little more/ less than I'm meant to. Again if I need to alter things a little I will do. The weight range doesn't bother me, I'm closer to 122 ish ibs now as I've started exercising, yet my clothes are a little looer. I'm not really that bothered by the numbers I see, but I don't really want to lose vigilance and end up back where I started (fortunately - or perhaps unfortunately - I like fitted clothing so I shall take not fitting into exercise leggings as a sign I need to be a little more strict).

Again thanks to you both. I think I know what I'm doing now (maybe...lol).