Short ladies of loseit: how do you do a successful maintenance week?

Hello all! After many weeks of 1200 cal per day and only a couple of days off I'm contemplating a maintenance week. I need advice on how to do it healthily and not gain fat. I think it would be good practice for when I'm actually at my goal weight and I think it'd be good for me--I've been tired of the 1200 cal for a couple weeks both physically and mentally. This indicates to me that it's time to switch things up.

I'm 5'2F and started my weight loss journey in earnest this January. SW: 200 CW: 159 GW: 120. I currently aim to lose 2lb/week but once I reach 136 pounds and am no longer overweight I will very likely switch to 1lb/week. My intent for the week would be to track macros heavily so that it's still a healthy week/so I can get used to that type of tracking--I mostly only look at calories right now. My questions are:

• What factors go into your timing of the maintenance week?
• Do you go based off of your current maintenance or your goal weight maintenance? (Or my sort of intermediate goal of just not overweight which is 136 pounds)
• Where do you tend to add the calories?
• Do you adjust your exercise in any way? I'd think not?
• How do you avoid worrying when you see the scale going up due to water retention? (I currently weigh every day at the moment--us short girls know how quick something can go in the wrong direction).
• Any pitfalls you've learned from?
• Did you have any difficulty adjusting back to weight loss after your maintenance period was over? (I don't even know what this might be. Hunger pangs? Large appetite?)

​

I've worked so hard to get this far and I'm terrified of the scale going up. At the same time, I know rationally that 1200 cal and a goal of 2cal/week goal is fast, so there's nothing wrong with a quick pause. I am confident to say that I figured out the weight loss thing and will one day reach my goal, but I have zero experience with maintenance yet.

submitted by /u/Resolved867
[link] [comments]

source https://www.reddit.com/r/loseit/comments/odpbko/short_ladies_of_loseit_how_do_you_do_a_successful/