Well, after patting myself on the back for having achieved my target weight of 10st.6lbs I am now wondering whether I should try to get it down even further. I have just rechecked my BMI and the result was 23.5. Still not a million miles away from the dreaded 'Over weight' section of the scale. I have been browsing other weight loss sites today and one suggested my daily calorie intake should be 1669. (How very precise!) While this site suggests 2000. I tend to think that's too much and would take forever for me to lose any weight with that sort of intake.
I have also been reading about exercise regimes as I have not been doing enough strength exercises, apart from heavy gardening! I think hoovering should be classed as a strength exercise, especially when you're cleaning up after a long-coated dog!
So, what do other folk use as a 'yardstick' to decide how much weight they want to lose? A lower BMI? A couple of dress sizes? Would love to hear your responses. By the way I got into a pair of size 12 jeans today, for the first time in about 5 years! Woo Hoooo!
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battlethebulge
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Great job on getting down to a healthy BMI. Once I get there I am going to go with how I look and how I feel, I'm not going to fret about the numbers because we're all individuals and there are variations on body shape the BMI system just ignores.
Don't forget it's not just the scales that are important. The numbers have been frustratingly static for me yet I have definitely shrunk!! I'm more toned, have more energy and I'm wearing smaller clothes.
It's a fantastic feeling isn't it? Congratulations on reaching your target. 😊
To give your body time to settle you might consider just maintaining for a few months ( it is very good practice for the rest of your life ! )
Not sure how old or tall you are, but re-check your TDEE ( maintenance level ) on myfitnesspal or google TDEE calculator. Try living with this for a while so that your metabolism settles, then if you still want to be smaller, start reducing again later on. It's more likely to work that way and you'll be training your body to cope better longterm.
For info, I maintained my target weight for several months and then in year 2 very slowly lost a further half stone, which continues to be my maintenance level in year 3.
In reality few of us are "average". I'm also size 12, BMI 22.5, but probably older than you so my maintenance level is 1550-1600 calories. I would certainly gain weight on the average 2000.
So very wise those thoughts, I too had a couple of phases of rechallenging my weight loss , my bmi is higher at 24.5, ok it's nearer the top end, I think it's a maintence level, yes a few pounds lighter might be nice, I cam live with this tho
Thank you all for your helpful comments, Moreless, yes I'd like to join the maintainers club, please! By the way, can't work out what the abbreviation WTG means.
Elliebath thanks for the suggestion of checking my TDEE, though I'm not sure what that stands for either! I'm 68, and 5'6" tall and have restricted myself to 1200 - 1400 calories over the past 11 weeks. I think 1600 is going be be about right for me to maintain my current weight and perhaps will not have so many hunger pangs on the higher allowance!
I desperately need to tone up now so will make more effort in that direction for a while.
Ok, thanks. I have just looked at a site called mytdee; nice and simple for folk like me who don't want to be baffled with science, just want the figure! I fed in the info the site required and it gave me a figure of 2195 calories per day! Way too high in my opinion! Though I do exercise 7 days per week; at least 2 power walks daily, though still not enough 'strength' exercises. I'm going to stick with 1600 cals, keep up the exercising and see how it goes. I'm just terrified that hard-won weight loss will turn into a gain!
Ok I am 3 yrs younger and an inch shorter, but you are a bit more active than me. I do walk an hour or so on 5 days a week but generally I don't eat that back. I still use myfitnesspal to diary my foods ( but logged more roughly nowadays ) so my 1550/1600 is my average over the month, not a maximum.
I'm interested to hear you still keep a food diary, I plan to maintain that habit just to keep an eye on myself. I had also intended working out my average calorie consumption over the past few weeks as my count has been jumping about all over the place so it'll been interesting to find an average. I still can hardly believe I've reached my target weight so soon, especially as my count has been so variable (though usually well under 1400).
Its really important that you dont eat too little . Try 1600 and add a few more each week until you start to gain, then you will really know your maintenance level. But it takes quite a few months to settle down and be "out of the woods" . If you look at some of our previous Maintainers articles , you'll see we are all still learning. ...here's one link thats interesting
Hi elliebath, thanks for your helpful advice, I'll play around with the calorie allowance for a while and see what happens. The article was very interesting and goes further than some English studies I've seen on the same subject. For example I have read that the BMR and the hormones which protect you from a 'period of famine', (as your body seems to see weight loss) only kick in if you lose too much weight too soon, but the American studies seem to show there are changes which make sure your body doesn't lose any weight at all! Fancy being sabotaged by your own bodily biochemistry! It seems that iron will power and a good, constant exercise regime are really the only ways to go to maintain a healthy weight.
And don't forget to allow yourself a weight range to stay within, rather than an exact weight. Everyone I know who maintains , tend to fluctuate by 1-4 lbs up and down.
Ok thanks for that. If I was to go back up by 4lbs that would still keep me within the healthy range on the BMI scale. Not that I'd want to put that much weight back on! I've had a great day today, have done loads of walking and clocked up over 16k steps! Have been snacking big-time but amazingly, still within my 1600 count!
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Understanding Counting calories and amount each day.
Newbie!
End of the 12 weeks, BMI down from 29 to 25.7 :)
I am new to this, but need some encouragement to stay on track.
Defeated but still trying. 
