few questions about maintaining for some vets

I had a few questions about maintaining your weight. Can anyone give me a estimate on how much fat, calories, carbs you eat in a day...and how much excercise, what kind of excercise and how often? Do you ever give yourself a "cheat" meal or "cheat day" or I think I have seen some that reward themselves daily with a bite size sweet? what is your daily routine?

I do not track my food on Sat/Sun (although I stick with basically the same menu as every other day, so I am not too far off from my normal calorie range even then). I run three days a week, and strength train/weights and walk on the other days. 

On days I can't or don't exercise I stick to 1200 cals, 80 carbs, on the days that I do exercise hard I make sure to net around 1000 cals and around 80 to 100 carbs (depending on the exercise I am doing). I have been maintaining between 153 and 155 for almost a month now at those numbers. 

omg! I guess thats where I need to be at almost a year out?? I think I get about 600-800 calories per day, about 20-30 carbs, i dont track fat at all.....but I am around 80 grams of protein per day. I do cardio 20 min per day about 2-4 days per week and strength training on the weight bench about 2-3 days per week....I am so scared that if I up my calories or carbs that I am going to gain weight back! Do u get all your calories and carbs from "good" foods like whole grains and fruits?? whats a normal menu for u right now?

 Are you on myfittnesspal.com? I have my diary open and you can view my daily food, I try to stick pretty close to the good stuff, but I do have my days LOL It was hard for me to find balance, and it still is b/c I exercise hard (when I run it's usually for up to or close to four miles, and I burn a ton of calories and then I usually walk for another mile past that b/c I am training for a 10k). 

I am a tiny 5'2" and I weigh about 103 lbs. I eat 1200-1800 calories a day. I really don't track anymore, but would go back to tracking if my weight went up past 108 lbs. I still mostly eat protein first at every meal, followed by some veggies. I eat anytime I feel hungry but I don't graze all day long. This means that some days I eat 3 times, others I eat 5 times, it just depends on how hungry I am that day. I still don't drink my calories, except a few social drinks here and there. I allow myself to have treats quite regularly, but my treats are usually either low calorie or very small in nature. My biggest weapon is my scale. I weigh myself everyday and if I am out of my comfort zone, I dial everything back and really star****ching my carbs, proteins and calories. So far, at almost three years out, I think I got this.

I forgot to add, I really don't formally exercise, but I would advise everyone else to do it. I would advise myself to do it too, but that advice has fallen on deaf ears for now. I am looking at starting a formal weight lifting program with a trainer in the summer. But, I have never really been able to keep exercising long term. I am still a work in progress.

Holy cow u are TINY!! I can not imagine being that small and I am 5' 0. I am 147 right now and everyone is telling me I have lost too much weight. Maybe cause I have thick legs and big bones. If yuou have gone 3 years and been able to maintain with NO excercise u are lucky!! I have not ever gone yet without excercise, ever since I was told that if u dont excercise, your muscles can go to mush (my mil knows someone this has happened to) I have to continue to tell myself NOT to snack!! This was my problem before and I CAN NOT let myself go back there ever again!! I try to eat 5 meals per day about 2.5 oz per meal and I always eat protein--I dont have room yet for veggies or starches or anything.

Hi Amber.  Nope, we're not all meant to be 100 pounds!  I'm shorter than Elina (5'1") and weigh more (135-138ish).  But, the body composition test I had (bodpod) showed me at 26.2% body fat.  This % puts me in the middle of the "acceptable" category.  I'm working toward "lean" which the top % is 22.  I'll NEVER be 103 pounds.  Boo!

Sorry, this rant didn't answer your question now did it?  Good luck.

Jennifer

LOL I will NEVER be that tiny either! But, hey arent u glad we are where we are over where we were before? I will take this anyday!!!!