How do I eat when I hit my target weight?

Question:

How do I eat once I've hit my target weight?

Short Answer:

With some slight tweaks to your daily intake, you can shift your goals to more of a maintenance, rather than deficit, mode. 

Longer Answer:

First of all, major kudos are in order to you for reaching your goal weight! It takes supreme discipline and dedication to alter your life in an effort to reach your goal so that is quite the accomplishment. When you eat at a caloric deficit (meaning you have been burning more calories through your normal bodily functions + exercise than the amount of calories you are consuming) you will lose weight. However, for those like yourself that have reached your target weight, some modifications are necessary in order to stop losing so you can either move forward with maintaining your weight, or adding on weight if increasing muscle is your goal.

Fortunately, we have just the calculator for you: our Total Daily Energy Expenditure calculator that takes into consideration your gender, age, height, current weight, and activity level to determine how many calories you'd need to eat just to maintain at your current number (baseline). The calculator also displays the number you'd need to eat to lose at a safe rate (if you decide to head back down that road one day) as well as giving you a general baseline to know where to start if additional calories are needed to add muscle. 

Now obviously this is a ballpark number as your activity/intensity level will fluctuate and can't be pinpointed exactly but with some trial and error, you can monitor your caloric levels as you proceed through other programs and can add/subtract calories as need be throughout the coming weeks. If you'd rather not count every calorie, it might take a little longer to determine but you can simply add on a little more at each meal. For example, if you have been eating about 1/2c of rice at meals, increase it to 3/4c or if you've been skipping a snack, add one in during your longest eating window. Simply play around with increases and find an amount that fits your daily/weekly activity level and needs. And lastly, if looking to add muscle, we recommend a calorie cycling protocol where you eat a surplus of calories (over your baseline) on your lifting days only, to help ensure you accumulate more muscle than body-fat.

Yours in Health & Friendship,

- The Fit Mother Project 
Customer Success Team