My only advice for maintenance is based on my own experience after my first round. Put very simply, if you go back to eating what you were before, you will regain the weight- so in many ways the maintenance is harder than the 800 calories days. It’s about finding a balance that you don’t need to find when you’re on the 8 weeks because you can’t have any of it. I’m basically maintaining at the moment, and I’m going to have another blast at focussed weight loss once this holiday is over, until the summer.
So maintenance for me looks like this:
Still no pasta/rice/potato/bread/grains and sugar- 99% of the time. Maybe a very occasional treat (ie. I had cake about a month ago)
Exercise
Keeping up the healthy habits- water, steps, more sleep, less alcohol (hahahaha)
A few good calorie counted days to an acceptable low limit (for me it’s under 1000 but that does take my running into account) in a kind of 5:2 style. Not really counting on the other days but being mindful of portions, and^ keeping off the carbs. Once i go off piste and not cal count and^ eat carbs or sweets, then that’s me basically not following this lifestyle.
Importantly for me, it’s about keeping my finger on the pulse- not going off piste too often or for too long. Planning my treats. Still following the principles. Dealing with my ‘eating issues’. This has basically maintained my weight for the last month- I wanted to lose actually, but this has worked well enough to keep me ticking over. This wasn’t a planned maintenance phase, it’s a sort of natural plateau that I’ve found myself in and after analysing it I’ve worked out how I can maintain in future.
I’d recheck your tdee every few months as your bmr will reduce as you lose weight.
I now know that to lose these last 10lb I need to tighten up my game- more days at low calories, less days of no counting, less alcohol. I’m going to try a few tips from the guts book and also try to have significantly reduced carbs on a day or two a week
And importantly, stay on the thread!