How do we find our maintenance spot without gaining? Help.

What do you count for maintenance?  I've gained about 13 lbs and have to figure this out.Any suggestions are welcome.

You have to figure out your maintenance calorie range...When I did it, I used the # of cals I was averaging a day during loss stage ( from my food log ), then started adding good cals on 100 increments until I leveled off and stopped losing...That worked from year 1.5-3.5 then I had to redo it again because of chgs in bodies ability to absorb, adjusted down 50 at a time until I stopped gaining...Now I know how to work out the kinks, but I'm still working on maintaining, I think it will probably be a little tweek adjustment here and there for the rest of my life as other body changes affect my body weight and image ( remember even normal people are affected by changes in their body & weight as they age and go thru "the change" )

One thing I did when I started maintenance and still have to tweek even now, is to add in full fat cheeses / gravies / dressings & real butter...I eat these now, where as I NEVER did in the losing stage...But I do limit them...

Good Luck, you've come a long way, you will figure out how to keep it going, it just takes a little practice and patience...

I just found this forum.  Your comments were very helpful.  You have obviously given maintenance full attention and have developed a really good plan.  Thank you.

The key will be to figure out what you are eating now (Food Log).

Then eat less than that to lose weight.  You can also excercise which can help you lose weight faster or allow you to eat a little more.

Easy peasy lemon squeezy.

A good place to start is to determine what you want to weigh and then multiply that number by 10.  If you want to weigh 140 pounds, then try to maintain at 1400 calories a day.  Everyone will find their own sweet spot.  Exercise is really essential if you don't want to have a flabby body.

I am 2.5 years out and maintaining a 145 lb loss nicely.  The key for me was calorie counting and food journaling.  If I bite it, I write it.  To do that accurately, though you need to calculate your own, true Basal Metabolic Rate, (BMR), then add in your activity level. Honestly is also critical in counting calories.  Don't do any fudging of the figures - it only hurts you.  Here is the equation -- it's called the Harris Benedict Equation.

Good luck to you!

STEP ONE -- Figure your BMR:

The Harris Benedict equation for males is: BMR = 66 + (6.3 x body weight in lbs.) + (12.9 x height in inches) - (6.8 x age in years).
The Harris Benedict equation for females is: BMR = 655 + (4.3 x weight in lbs.) + (4.7 x height in inches) - (4.7 x age in years).

STEP TWO -- Add in your Activity Level:

Use the activity multiplier after you have figured out your BMR to calculate the number of calories you should be eating daily, based on the amount you're exercising. Sedentary means that you get barely any exercise each day Lightly active means you get just a slight amount of exercise each day Moderately active means you average some light exercise most days of the week Very active means you get moderately intense exercise most days of the week Extremely active means people who exercise very intensely most days of the week.
Sedentary = BMR X 1.2
Lightly active = BMR X 1.375
Moderately active = BMR X 1.55
Very active = BMR X 1.725



Result is the number of calories you need each day to maintain your current weight.

I did it by slowly upping my calories from what I was eating when I was losing until I stopped losing. Since you are starting from a gain, I suggesting going the other way... slowly lowering calories until you aren't gaining.

I found the formulas to calculate your BMR to be utterly worthless for me. When I was overweight, they over-estimated my calories and I would have gained if I used them. Now they under-estimate. So I go by reality.

If I eat X calories and don't gain, then I subtract the calories I burned exercising and doing general activity and that's my BMR. (It's about 100-200 calories higher than the different BMR formulas predict.)