Maintaining

[Wood05]

Its a long while off but I like to be prepared and have something to aim for!

So Im aiming to lose 3 stone- preferably before I get married- Im due to start dress fittings in March and have already lost nearly a stone so only 2 stone and a couple of pounds to go-

Now what Im worried about is if I reach my goal weight and go for my fittings- what do i need to do to maintain my weight rather than lose or gain? once i start my dress fittings I dont want to be changing weight loads and affecting the fit of the dress!!

Any suggestions are welcomed

Thank youuu

[Zest Healthy BMI]

Hi Wood05,

I have been thinking about your post, and I have to say that I find it quite difficult to offer a helpful response to your query, because weight loss journeys aren't really an exact science, and whilst we hope to have a downward trend, it isn't possible to foresee exactly what path our personal journey will take. You've done brilliantly as you've already lost nearly a stone - and you are working on losing more weight for your Wedding. But to know at what point you'll be when you start your dress fittings in March, is difficult to know, and the maintaining is also difficult to judge - maybe you could use the Myfitnesspal app to help you to adjust your calorie intake to ensure you lose the required amount in time for the March fittings, and then you'd be able to adjust your calories to ensure you could maintain at that particular chosen weight.

I am finding that I am effectively maintaining my weight currently, and have been for the past year at least - but I'm actually trying to lose a bit more, which is a struggle for me, so I am realising that it is actually quite tough to maintain weight - and I struggle to make further progress to lose my final few pounds. Hope this makes sense to you. I realise it's possibly not making much sense - as I'm not explaining myself very well.

Hence I think it's tough to advise someone else - as you may have a completely different experience. I would suggest you continue as you are, and see how things are in March when you start your fittings, and by then you'll have a much better idea of how easy or difficult you are finding things, and you'll know whether you've reached your target or if you need to do further work or not.

I realise this probably isn't a very helpful response, but I think it's quite a tough question to answer.

Hopefully some others who are maintaining might offer some thoughts.

Good luck! Lovely that you have your Wedding to motivate you in your weight loss journey. You are doing really well.

Lowcal

[Wood05 in reply to Zest]

thank you for your reply

I was panicking that I wouldnt know what to do to maintain weight- do you increase your callories as suggested on MFP and they calculate how many you can have to maintain?

[Zest Healthy BMI in reply to Wood05]

Hi Wood05,

I don't know the answer to that question, because although I've actually 'maintained' my excess weight loss, I've not actually been actively trying to 'maintain' - I've still been trying to lose weight. So I'm not in the phase of maintaining yet. Hence, I've not used MFP in that way yet. There are some people in the Maintaining phase in the forum, so maybe they'll see this and respond to your question.

I would imagine though that it would be a process of gradually adjusting your calories to enable you to neither gain nor lose weight, and that would be dependent on the amount of exercise you do weekly (i.e. how active you are generally) and also on the calorie intake from food and drink, and so Myfitnesspal could help you by calculating these things for you, so you can keep an eye on things and adjust as per your own individual needs.

Good luck!

Lowcal

[SparklePantsJr]

Hi Wood05,

I am in a very similar predicament - I too am aiming to lose 3 stone at least and am also getting married next year (in September). When is your big day?

I have only lost 5 pounds so far so have a long way to go!

I would think that, once you reach your ideal weight, to maintain it you would need to gradually increase your calorie intake until just before the point when you start gaining weight again. I would just keep monitoring your weight and adjusting your intake until you get the right balance.

Best of luck with your continued weight loss journey and ongoing plans for your big day

X

[Wood05 in reply to SparklePantsJr]

Hello!! First off congratulations it's so exciting although a little bit stressful at times!!

I get married next June and have lost 4.5kg so far so am over the moon although a long way to go! Although not so sure how long it'll take me :/ I was aiming for March time but the closer it gets the more inrealistic it seems!!

I'm hoping once I get there it all just happens although it's getting there first!!