The wisdom of putting yourself 5 pounds below goal for wiggle room. A nod to the vets.

I have been in maintenance for about 6 months now an doing great.  It occurred to me today when my "fatty rule" got triggered again that probably the best piece of advice I have seen on the board about maintenance is to go 5 pounds below your goal, an when you gain a specified amount put yourself back in weight loss mode.  I call this my fatty rule.  The fatty rule has been triggered twice now, and resolved in under a week the first time.  We will see how much this time, but I suspect a couple pounds is from water weight due to my sky high carb intake over the last few days.  But, back to the gym I went and working on ramping down the eating again.  I know many can just go cold turkey, but I seem to do best taking 2-3 days to work back into the lower calorie plan, stay there for 2-3 days, and that seems to put me back to my target weight.  Anyway, thank you to the vets for posting this advice.  

I agree!  I've been in maintenance about 3 months now and my original goal was 175.  I got to 170 and set as my maintenance standard a 5 pound band between 170 and 175.  That approach has been successful for me so far.  

 

I wasn't happy at a normal BMI goal of 155ish as I still had more to go from what I could see, so I ended up going down another 20lbs.. a bit too low and got spooked.

I look best at about 138-142ish at 5'6.5" (much below 140 and my face gets too gaunt, but above and my belly sticks out- can't win, face looks best at 150, bod at 135!) I prefer to be mid/high 130's to low 140's. I have a 5 lb float or so, and can reign it in when vacation/off plan eating pops my weight out of range without throwing myself into super-low cal diet mode.. just a few small tweaks, dropping carbs back- focusing on meats & fats & veggies and things right themselves usually within a few weeks. It's a long-term balancing act, and keeping on the right path without wild swings one direction or the other is the healthiest imo, both mentally and physically!

I'm far from maintenance  and goal, but I do agree with the concept. My goal has 10 pounds of padding below where I want to be...this gives me a little wriggle room once I get to goal.

 

I absolutely agree with maintaining a few pounds under goal. Even though I'm only 3 months into maintenance, I've stayed pretty consistent within a 2-3 lb range even thru the holidays.

Yesterday was one of those where i wanted to 'eat everything in sight' days. Today I had to pull the reins in.