Over the past seven months, I've been fortunate enough to have the self-control to ditch forty pounds on CICO. I went from 204lbs all the way down to 164lbs, and I even lost an additional pound and a half after switching back to maintenance just from a few days where I didn't feel the need to eat all my calories. I finally like the way I look in the mirror, and I can hardly believe looking back at my older photos that I didn't feel the need to start losing weight sooner.
During the initial stages of my weight loss, I was hitting the gym and lifting weights all on a 500cal deficit, and I was still making gains! However, for the last month or so, I had to cut back on lifting, and eventually stopped going to the gym entirely due to lack of energy. I would practically fall asleep when I hit the floor for my core workout, and could barely hold back my yawns when doing pullups. For my own health, I figured I would do the last five pounds by diet alone.
Now that I've been on maintenance for two and a half weeks, though, I feel like I want to start going back to the gym again. I'm sure that I've lost a little bit of strength from my lack of gym-going, and I'd like to get back that muscle-- and then some, now that I've lost enough fat that I'll probably be able to see those gains!
However, I know that once I start going back to the gym and gaining muscle, that's going to equal a weight gain-- not just from the new muscle, but from the weight of all that water and glycogen that my body is going to be retaining in order to repair my already-existing muscle and build new mass. Even at maintenance, my body will need to repair the muscle it already has-- and once I add 500cal a day to my diet for actual muscle building, I'll be gaining at the same weight I was losing.
Now, just focusing on staying at maintenance and getting back to the gym to make up for whatever muscle I've lost since I stopped going... what's a good way to make myself comfortable with the knowledge that I'm probably going to gain weight back once I start going? What's a realistic amount that I could gain back on deficit, and how long might I have to wait before it goes back down? How much will staying at maintenance and eating my gym calories impact potential weight gain? Will the god of CICO continue to keep me safe? Lend me your words of advice!
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