Switching from losing weight to maintaining

September 17, 2005 6:02 PM

The switch from losing weight to maintaining weight lost is difficult. Does the Metafilter community have any tips to adjust?

I recently lost 25 pounds, dropping from 160 to 135. I am a 5' 7 teenager in the high school. I lost the weight mainly due to a change in diet- I cut out desserts, snacking, etc. Recently I have found myself eating less than I did while on the diet- the lifestyle changes I have instilled are overcoming my healthy diet. On some days I'll eat 1000 calories, although recently I have upped it to about 1300 calories a day. Has any had any experience with the guilt experienced while switching from losing to maintaining, guilt when you eat more calories than you did while dieting? I fear that it is affecting my health, as an athlete I feel tired and slower in practice than I did last year at my heavier weight. Any help is appreciated.

posted by daviss to health & fitness (17 comments total)

I just realized something I missed. The biggest guilt comes from fear, fear that if I eat that piece of fish or bowl of pasta at dinner, then I'll wake up the next morning overweight again. That the extra calories from that extra piece of chicken on the salad, even if it may be upping my calorie count of the day from 1200 to 1500, will work against me. I can't say for sure how many calories I was eating a day a year ago, but I can say it was more than 1500.
posted by daviss at 6:16 PM on September 17, 2005

Does your health insurance cover seeing a dietician or nutritionist? That would probably be your best bet. Once you have a concrete plan with a professional's stamp of approval then at least you know for sure when you have reason to feel guilty (or not) rather than second-guessing everything.
posted by winston at 6:31 PM on September 17, 2005

Second the nutritionist. For your height, weight, age, and exercise parameters, even 1500 calories may be too low (especially if you're still growing). 1200-1500 calories/day is often prescribed for dieters, not those trying to maintain weight.
posted by thomas j wise at 6:36 PM on September 17, 2005

I'm not trying to scare you, but this sounds like the beginning of an eating disorder, or at least an unhealthy relationship with food. At least, these were the kinds of fears I had that eventually led to an eating disorder. It's just not normal to fear that an extra piece of chicken will cause you to gain back a bunch of weight overnight, and a growing teenage athlete needs more like 1800-2200 calories a day, depending on sex/height, etc. 1000 borders on malnutrition, and 1300 is dieting.

Definitely see a nutritionist. Explain your fears--he/she will be able to tell if you need more help than he/she can provide. In addition, a nutritionist will be able to provide tools to help you track your food intake and weight.
posted by xyzzy at 6:56 PM on September 17, 2005

You're a teenage boy AND training, and you only eat 1300 calories per day? That is so wrong. You are tired and slow because you are starving. You need help. Do not delay.

For reference, when I was 5'7" and about 15, I weighed 140, but would easily have eaten over 2000 per day. And I wasn't an athlete either.

For what it's worth, if you are training then you should be looking at your pasta and fish as sources of energy and muscle, much to be appreciated, and certainly not to be feared.
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 7:48 PM on September 17, 2005

OK, I will second what xyzzy said. Be careful, be very careful. When I was in high school I started exactly as you did--about the same height and weight loss, actually, as well as an active athlete--and worrying about maintenance and further loss and whatnot led to bulimia (I'm cool now). So, OK, eating disorders are about a helluva lot more than just weight, but still, be aware.

So yeah, get thee to a nutritionist. And if you can't, at least get The Sports Nutrition Guidebook now. Now. Recommended to me by my nutritionist after all that bulimia shit. Actually, get it even if you do go to a nutritionist 'cause it's tremendously helpful.

It will give you everything you need to know, both on what and how much to eat and the psychology of eating and weight loss and whatnot. If you're a 5'7' 135lb athlete, you should be eating way more than 1300 calories--if you rested all day you'd need about 1350 to maintain your weight, if you worked in an office job 1350 + 1350 * 20%, and depending on how active you are that 20% can be 70-80% or more. This is especially if you're a dude.

Something to remember is if you lost weight by dramatically cutting calories is you probably lost some muscle. So yeah, you're going to do poorer in sports.

Also, people do have different body types. Some people do better with more weight. After I got over the bulimia I gained weight, and the body fat percentage tests indicated it was definitely was not all muscle. I went from an underweight BMI to just under the overweight mark. But I ran, biked, and swam faster and felt better than I did when I was 20-25 lbs lighter. Go figure.
posted by schroedinger at 7:51 PM on September 17, 2005 [1 favorite]

You're doing too much guesswork and scaring yourself. If the nutritionist doesn't pan out, do this: Use Fitday.com. Free, web-based. You list in it all the foods and portion sizes you've eaten all day; it calculates a ballpark number of calories you've taken in. Then you also make a number of choices that let it calculate your basic metabolic needs per day just to live. Then each day, you also enter your activities -- any workouts you did, how long they were, how much walking, how much sitting in class, etc. It will spit back the number of calories you've consumed. As long as your calories consumed are in balance with calories expended, it is not physically possible for you to gain weight. You probably need to be eating many more calories than you are eating - you'll be surprised. No wonder you're tired.

Fitday also will give you reports, in graph form, on whether you've met the basic RDA for macronutrients such as protein, fats and carbs, and vitamins and minerals like calcium,Vitamins C and A, etc. Since all of that affects energy and overall athletic performance, it is good to keep an eye on those as well.

I'll never understand why people try to understand what's going on with their weight without counting calories and macroniutrients. It's the only way you can know rather than guess.
posted by Miko at 7:58 PM on September 17, 2005

Holy fuck, upon visiting your website, if the dude playing the drums is you (nice drums), you seriously need to eat twice your calories. Not because you look emaciated, but you look fit and young enough that your body needs a whole lot more than what you're eating. Man, if you're working out and your diet's healthier than potato chips, pizza, and soda, you'll be fine. Seriously.

The guilt only goes away when after counting the calories and figuring out the perfect amount to eat and getting into the habit of eating that amount and eating healthier, you finally figure out it's not necessarily the numbers that are important so much as how well you play and how healthy you feel. Which isn't always easy, I know.
posted by schroedinger at 7:59 PM on September 17, 2005

I will add: You can't build any muscle at all if you don't get enough protein. And on 1000 calories a day, you probably aren't getting it. I do triathlons; I eat about 700 calories just in protein per day.

In addition, you need a decent amount (at least 40%) of your calories from complex carbs, for energy.

Check out fitday!
posted by Miko at 8:14 PM on September 17, 2005

Ask your family doctor for a referral to a dietician. 1000-1300 calories is starvation for a teenage boy (let alone most people). If you eat a low calorie diet for too long, your metabolism will be messed up. Your body will stop attacking fat and will instead go after muscle mass and tissue. You need to take in enough calories to support your basal metabolic rate -- your body needs energy to use energy! You also need fat, protein and nutrients to support the functioning of your brain. Although you may weigh less than last year, you may actually be less healthy and thus less able to carry out physical and cognitive activities. See your doctor ASAP for a referral to a dietician.
posted by acoutu at 9:39 PM on September 17, 2005

Dude, you're fine. Especially if you're the guy in that photo that schroedinger pointed out. If you feel like indulging a craving, just work it off. Go for a run or just do as many burpees as you can. Takes a lot less time, burns a lot of calories, *and* give you an useful (if unsexy) workout.

Besides, what's the difference between a hockey player and some sedentary slob? They weigh the same, right?
posted by PurplePorpoise at 9:43 PM on September 17, 2005

First of all, throw away the scale. Weight is relatively meaningless, muscle weighs more than fat, daily fluctuations in weight are more about water retention than anything else, and really its about how you look and feel not about weight. Second, I second the people saying 1000-1300 calories sounds way too low for a young athlete.

The trick to fueling athletic performance, is to eat for what you are about to do, not for what you just did. Eat a little extra carbs the night before a big day, and pack an energy bar or three for the event. Down a recovery drink (like gatorade) after a workout, and try to have a little bit of protein in your system all the time. Eat more and smaller meals than the standard three a day if you can manage it.

Don't be obsessed with daily fluctuations in eating and weight. Weight gain is fairly slow, and loss should be. If you find yourself packing a little bit on, it should be fairly easy to correct with a dieting phase. Many athletes (and models/bodybuilders) deliberately go through phases of weight gain where they eat heartily while adding muscle through resistance exercise (and incidental fat) , and then periods of weight loss where they lose the fat and minimize the muscle loss by a high carb/protein diet and minimal fat intake (don't go lower than 20% calories or so).

The bottom line is though, youth is on your side. Concentrate more on what you are eating. Stay active, and how much should take care of itself.
posted by Manjusri at 11:13 PM on September 17, 2005

You are not eating enough. If you were an inactive 85 lb. 4'8" teenage girl, you would still not be eating enough. A 1000 Calorie a day diet was a terrible choice for a weight loss regimen; 1300 Calories a day for maintenance is worse.

Let me put this in the most persuasive way I can think of:

if you continue eating this little, you will stunt your growth.

That includes your dick.
posted by Zed_Lopez at 11:18 PM on September 17, 2005

1. Up your calorie intake to 2200 calories/day immediately.
2. Weigh yourself first thing every morning and record your weight.
3. At the end of a couple of weeks, see if your weight is going up, down or has stabilized.

You need to be aware that, on a day to day basis, your weight will fluctuate quite wildly. This is due to water-retention and not the amount of fat you are gaining or losing. To see what the true trend is, you should put your daily weight measurement in a column in an Excel spreadsheet then, in an adjacent column, work out the average for the last 10 days. If you now make this trend column into a graph, you should see a steady weight gain, loss or, if 2200 calories what you burn off each day, a flat horizontal line.

If the graph shows you're losing 1 pound per week, this means that you're running at a calorie deficit of 3500 calories/week. You should therefore add 500 calories/day to your daily intake to maintain your current weight. Conversely, if you're putting on 1 pound per week, you should eat 500 calories fewer each day.

Full details here
posted by PurpleJack at 12:59 AM on September 18, 2005

Ask your parents to bring you to your family doctor. Talk with him about your concerns. Teenage boys (I am the parent of two boys, one no longer a teen) have huge caloric and nutritional needs. There could be another reason that you lost weight--I know you were eating better. I have to wonder if there might be an underlying medical condition. Best of luck!
posted by 6:1 at 8:02 AM on September 18, 2005

As to your actual question, exercise is what enables one to maintain weight loss. You should know that if you eat too little your body will go into starvation mode and slow your metabolism down. If you are working out you especially need to eat enough carbohydrates...eat whole grains and such instead of white flour and sugar, etc.

I just lost 30 pounds and am a middleaged woman, and if the above helps ME you should be just find. But I do agree with all the folks upthread too.
posted by konolia at 1:25 PM on September 18, 2005

Lots of advice--some good--some not so good--I go with the folks who said--don't panic. stop worrying and move ahead cautiously--every one who loses significant weight (through exercise and diet) goes through a period of guilt/fear/doubt--I can personally attest to that--do not get weighed every day--you are obviously bright and are sensitive to the issues you could face--pay attention to how you feel--you know rationally that you will neither lose/gain a pound over an extra piece of cake/chicken--one pound = 3,000 calories--wait a month or so and see what is going on--enjoy your athletics, music and eating--if you are still concerned in a month, have lost weight or continue to feel lethargic take the excellent advice offered in many of the responses--BTW--you do need to eat a bit more--post in a month a let us know how you are doing or e-mail one of us--Take Care
posted by rmhsinc at 3:51 PM on September 18, 2005