Will going back to maintanance make me gain?

carljaxx005

New member
I,ve decided to take the advice of some of my responses to go back on maintanance calories to reboost my metabolism. I've been cutting now for about two months, and for the past two weeks I've been at 1340 calories on a moderate carb intake of around 100 grams per day. I'm 5'9 at 131 lbs. I've decided to go back to maintanance calories which seem to be around 1830 cals. I'm afraid by doing this, my progress over the last couple weeks will diminish, and I'll gain.......any advice??
 
are you going to diet for the rest of your life? eventually, youre going to have to eat at/above maintenence.
 
i'll throw in my 2 cents:

just be sure not to jump right back to maintenance calories from where you are.

option 1: continue eating as you are, but throw in maybe 2 cheat meals a week for a couple weeks.

option 2: continue eating as you are, but take one day a week as a free eating day. (just don't go ballistic and spend the whole day driving from one eating locale to the next. trust me, i'm speaking from experience on this. :rolleyes:

option 3: continue eating as you are, but increase portion size so that you are taking in and extra 200 kcals or so per day for two weeks, then up it by another 200 for the next two weeks, and then by about 100 which should get you to about maintenance intake.

if you boost yoru kcals while your metabolism is indeed suffering, then you will surely gain weight back. the key is to boost the metabolism along side of the kcals.
 
I forgot to mention that I have thrown in a cheat day every Sunday........and it's at the point where I take in approx. 3,000 calories for the day. If I add in an extra whey shake every day, will I see a significant gain with the cheat day???
 
if you're already taking a cheat day and your weight is still stable, then that is where your metabolism is set. adding 100 kcals a day to what you are already doing (including the cheat day) would be unlikely to cause a weight gain, in my opinion. if your maintenance is around 1830 kcals/day, then that is 12,810 kcals for the week. if you are currently taking in 3000kcals on sunday plus 1340 on the other 6 days, then right now you are taking in 11,040 kcals per week. so you are still at an 1800 kcal deficit for the week. if you up your intake by 100 kcals/day, that is still only 700 additional kcals for the week, taking you up to 11,740. try staying there for 2 weeks and see if your weight holds. if it does, then up your intake another 100 kcals a day, which will put you near maintenance.

this isn't the only way to do this. i'm just trying to illustrate one approach. as long as you incrementally increase back toward your maintenance kcals, your metabolism should chase your intake. keep in mind though, that if you've lost a fair amount of weight, your NEW maintenance level will be lower than before. what did you weigh when you started your cut?
 
SCG2 said:
if you're already taking a cheat day and your weight is still stable, then that is where your metabolism is set. adding 100 kcals a day to what you are already doing (including the cheat day) would be unlikely to cause a weight gain, in my opinion. if your maintenance is around 1830 kcals/day, then that is 12,810 kcals for the week. if you are currently taking in 3000kcals on sunday plus 1340 on the other 6 days, then right now you are taking in 11,040 kcals per week. so you are still at an 1800 kcal deficit for the week. if you up your intake by 100 kcals/day, that is still only 700 additional kcals for the week, taking you up to 11,740. try staying there for 2 weeks and see if your weight holds. if it does, then up your intake another 100 kcals a day, which will put you near maintenance.

this isn't the only way to do this. i'm just trying to illustrate one approach. as long as you incrementally increase back toward your maintenance kcals, your metabolism should chase your intake. keep in mind though, that if you've lost a fair amount of weight, your NEW maintenance level will be lower than before. what did you weigh when you started your cut?


nicely explained
 
When I started to cut, I was taking in 1700 cals. and my weight was 140....so I've come pretty far, but as far as losing any more I believe by going back to maintenance cals. I'll see an increase in strength and still be able to put on a little mass, then go back to cutting.....
 
carljaxx005 said:
When I started to cut, I was taking in 1700 cals. and my weight was 140....so I've come pretty far, but as far as losing any more I believe by going back to maintenance cals. I'll see an increase in strength and still be able to put on a little mass, then go back to cutting.....

Actually when we started training together last Oct. her weight was at 148 and pretty soft. She is now a very firm 131 lbs. That was a very good explaination of how her cheat day and her weekly intake figures into her maint cals.
 
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