I'm coming to the point where I'm happy with my weight and want to maintain this. I've done this through a calorie controlled diet using "My Fitness Pal" which has been pretty successful and allowed me to eat proper meals by substituting unhealthy foods with healthier ones - particularly eating a lot of high protein foods such as lean meat, pulses, fat free yogurts etc. Also I realised just how many calories I was scoffing through snacks such as crisps, biscuits etc and have pretty much cut those out.
The next challenge is how to maintain weight without eating bad foods .. According to the calculator I can eat another 500 calories per day which is about another meal!! I want to build this into my "3 meals a day, healthy snacks" lifestyle without piling it on through cakes etc. Some days I do 2 hour bike rides which gives me another few hundred (I have always done this but fallen into the trap of thinking I could eat what I want as a result and eaten more than I burned)!
So at last onto the question .... Any tips on how to do this - that is increase calorie intake without eating unhealthy foods? Are there any "key" foods - as noted I've found high protein, low fat foods to be the "key" to my weight loss, are there similar ones for weight maintenance?
I'm the type of person who needs things built into a normal lifestyle - other than tracking on MyFitnessPal or I just don't stick to it long term.
Thanks in advance,
Paul.
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pfm401
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When I've been looking to maintain for a bit, I generally have done it by including things like a spoonful of nut butter with breakfast, an extra oatcake with my soup at lunch, and some extra potatoes or a sprinkle of cheese on dinner, or by introducing an approx. 400 calorie sugar free dessert some nights. They're some good places to start.
Honestly I would use those extra calories on fat - natural fat added to meals, not cakes etc, we need fats to help absorb some vitamins, hormone production, and many other bodily functions. But if you really don’t like fat just increase your calories gradually eating slightly more of what you’ve been eating to lose the weight, and monitor over a period of several weeks to find your maintenance level. Good luck and well done on the weight loss 😀
I don't have anything to add to the excellent replies you've already had, except to add my Congratulations on your weight loss, and I hope you enjoy your Maintaining, and that everything goes really well.
Firstly, many congratulations on your great success . You must feel fantastic !
Re maintenance I tend to agree with Fran182716 about increasing healthy fats. Full fat greek yoghurt ( not low fat ones) , double cream in coffee ( it's very satisfying and stops the urge to snack) , a knob of butter on your veg. All easy ways to add a couple of hundred cals.
However I do suggest you add your maintenance calories gradually , say 100 a day this week, 200 a day next week and stop when you get to the right point to maintain. The thing about maintenance is trial and error and in my case, after 4 years of it, my maintenance level has dropped again. The body gets used to things and time affects metabolism, so you can never ever take your eye off the ball.
You may like to join the forum Maintainers Club and see what the rest of us experience . You'll find it in Pinned Posts and it posts monthly. Welcome!!
Thanks to all who responded. Upgrading to full fat Greek yogurt is something I'm very much looking forward to 🙂 Other things include replacing my snacks of carrot with nuts. I guess Magnums are out of the question due to the sugar 🙂
I'll try the Maintainers forum and specialist cycling groups for the days I go on longer rides - 2 hours is enough to burn off heavy stuff like pizza or fish and chips but there must be healthy alternatives. I'm not a fanatic I just love it but there must be ideas I can copy off the fanatics which fit with my lifestyle.
Practical tips about HOW to maintain ⚖️ your weight loss are also within these resources.
Yes, you’ll definitely be able to increase your ‘healthy’ food 🥗 intake without putting weight back on.
And, yes, we do ‘build in’ these newly acquired behaviours (habits) into a ‘normal lifestyle‘ where we no longer give them a 2nd thought 🤔 💭 💭 . . . .
[You may even find your ‘MyFitnessPal’ app 📱 ⌚️ (tool 🔨 🧰 ) has served you so well in developing your new, healthy habits that you may require MyFitnessPal ( myfitnesspal.com/ ) less & less?]
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Very best wishes in enjoyably maintaining your weight loss/ new lifestyle 🥗 🚴♂️ 😋 , Paul. 😌 🙏 🍀 🌺 🌞
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Oh . . . and, CONGRATULATIONS on putting in the hard work/ effort to achieve it.
This going to sound really sad but: My experience (after years of dieting) is that the only way to maintain a particular weight is to stick to the diet that got you there. Period. If you add calories back, even a few, you will gain pounds back. (My experience, though--I suppose yours could be different.)
It was why, for me, calorie counting never really worked. I couldn't wait to "maintain". As soon as I did, I regained. And the real diet was too brutal to stick to forever.
What has worked long term (12 years now) was IF and low carb/high fat. No portion control, no thought about calories--I eat as much as I please. Not that I lost weight "better"--it's just easier to stay on it, for me.
I maintain on two meals a day (and fast 20 hour a day).
I eat fruit, full-fat yoghurt and cereal-free muesli for breakfast.
Some of us find that what works, for weight-loss and maintenance, is a combination of The Low Carbohydrate, High-Fat (LCHF) diet (see the forum here on Health Unlocked) and Not Snacking All Day AKA Intermittent Fasting (IF). See:
I just want to say this is a great app! And some great advice! In our quest for better health, we have changed our “diet” into a lifestyle. We tried “keto” but couldn’t handle the high fats. So, we have cut out ALL corn syrup, HFCS, most sugar, kept carbs low, and increased “good fats” which are pressed or natural (olive, coconut, avocado, and/or animal fats). Fats are vital to your health. Cholesterol is good and needed by the body, contrary to what the general medical community says. For instance, where does vitamin D cone from. It does NOT come from the sun! Do some research on fats. Watch “The Big Fat Lie”.
We eat a huge salad daily with a wide variety of greens, nuts, berries. We do the intermittent fasting as Dr. Jason Fung recommends. As this gives your pancreas a break.
My wife and I are off all medications. And we supplement with natural vitamins and minerals. Especially mega doses vitamin c. Read Dr. Fredrick Klenner’s papers from the 40s to the ‘70s and how good vit C is for the body and why.
And we read ALL ingredients. Avoid anything processed! Like Dr. Berg and others have stated, “if it comes in a package, it’s probably not good”.
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