If I diet can I then stop dieting and maintain my weight at the lower weight

[FlowerBlowing]

Sorry I couldn't think of a concise way to write my question for the thread title.

I was pregnant recently and now weigh 13lbs above my pre-pregnancy weight (which is what I'd like to get back to). I'm not gaining or losing weight, just staying at the same weight give or take a pound.

At the moment I eat a fairly substantial amount of chocolate every evening. If I cut that out for a month or two I would lose weight and go down to my pre-pregnancy weight. Once I was at my ideal weight if I started eating chocolate again would I gain weight? Or would I just stop losing weight and maintain at my pre-pregnancy weight? I don't want to yo yo diet, would like to shift those 13lbs but also want to continue to eat chocolate.

If you were going over the maintenance calories of your tdee then yes, you would gain weight.

https://tdeecalculator.net

It’s not really about the chocolate, it’s about calories in vs calories out.

If you eat less calories or move more, you’ll lose weight.

If you eat more calories, you’ll gain weight.

If you start eating less, get to your target weight, and then start eating more calories again then you will gain weight again. To maintain, you would need to eat your maintenance calories.

Too many = up
Less = down
Maintenance = maintain

Have a look at TDEE calculator or Apple watch if you have one to work out maintenance calories, you can then do this again at target weight x

Its really fucking hard

Eating chocolate is kind of neither here nor there, its how that chocolate fits into your overall diet. IE if you eat lettuce all day, you can have at the chocolate and not gain weight. But if overall, you are not in a calorie deficit, adding chocolate to that will cause weight gain

When you loose weight, its because you've stayed in a caloric deficit for a good while. To maintain you need to make sure that your balance is good. So you can eat more than when loosing weight, but not so much as to consistenly be over.

The long and the short of it is that you need to keep tracking, but just with a slightly higher calorie limit

You will put the weight back on, if you go back to eating chocolate. I find that you can maintain for a short period, after a weight-loss diet. Then, you introduce fattening food back gradually, until you’re eating it full-time again. I lost the baby-weight, then put it all back on. This is why weight-loss programmes like Slimming World etc get repeat customers…

You can increase your calories once you've reached your target weight in order to maintain your weight. Your maintenance calories will likely be a little less than your current maintenance, so it would be sensible to increase gradually once you get to where you want to be, keeping an eye on your weight.

I was confused though because I'm not gaining weight right now so I assumed that if I ate the same amount as I currently eat once I was at my target weight then I would continue to maintain but at my target weight instead of my current weight.

@HerSisterWasAWitch 's post answers my question though. At my lower weight my maintenance calories would be 100 calories less per day. Or do 100 calories per day more exercise.

This isn’t necessarily true if done correctly and if properly educated about calories etc.

I had a baby 8 months ago and am back below my pre-pregnancy weight, I never stopped eating chocolate, crisps, sweets etc. I just had less, or planned my day of eating around knowing I’d want a bag of Malteasers that night.

Chocolate doesn’t = weight gain, you can fit anything into your diet.

Yes, you’re right Mrs. A small bit of chocolate, or any high calorie food is absolutely fine. But a lot of people have no self control around these foods. For me, I started eating more of it, unfortunately! I’m now eating better, in general, which is great.

Yes. You can't go back to poor habits without consequences.

I would focus on the loosing bit first and then worry about how to maintain afterwards. I'm currently in the losing it phase and then I'll do a bit of playing around to see how I can maintain (I'll keep a close eye on the scales to see what is working/not working). I suspect I'll do something like 1 fast day (500 calories) a week to help me be able to have slightly more treats than I've been able to have during the weight loss phase. Maybe even 5:2. I've got a long way to go though and I'll worry about that bit when it arrives.

Try having a square of 95% dark chocolate. If I eat regular chocolate, I could eat loads. The high % stuff leaves me satisfied. It’s an acquired taste, but I prefer it now.

Only way to keep weight off long term is to make adjustments, so for you, once you've lost the weight, you need to eat less chocolate or other things that aren't so good for you, increase exercise or eat smaller portions. I don't know what your call substantial, but from that I think if you consider it substantial it's a good thing to cut back on from the point of view of weight and long term health.

Well the basics should be that you lower the amount you are eating until you have lost the weight then you can increase that amount until you find you start to gain again which tells you that you have increased too much so you then slightly pull back until you don’t lose or gain.

of course exercising also changes that too.