Living at your new normal
Maintenance is about 80% of the effort of losing, with more room for favorites. Movement and strength stay; that is what lets you eat more.
The full lesson
When you have lost fat, your body is smaller and burns a little less, so maintenance is eating about what your new body burns. Find it by feel and trend: add a little back (a starch at dinner, a bigger breakfast), watch the weekly average for three or four weeks; if it holds, that is your normal. If it climbs, take one addition back.
People who keep weight off for years (the National Weight Control Registry has followed thousands) mostly move most days, eat breakfast, check in weekly, and catch small regains early with an "act now" line — goal weight plus five pounds, or a pair of pants. Holidays and vacations get "hold mode": keep weight steady, enjoy the food, walk daily, resume Monday. Illness gets "minimum mode." A second lap through the program after a big regain is normal, not shameful.
Remember
- Add back slowly; watch the trend.
- Set an "act now" line.