How to Maintain (The Underrated Phase)
You don't always have to be gaining or losing. Sometimes the goal is just... staying here.
Why Bother Maintaining?
Here's what nobody tells you: maintenance is when the magic happens. It's when your body actually settles into your new physique, your metabolism normalises, and your relationship with food becomes... normal again.
People who yo-yo between cutting and bulking forever never give their body a chance to find equilibrium. They're always fighting, always stressed about food, always on or off.
Maintenance is permission to just exist at a weight you like.
Finding Your Maintenance Calories
Your TDEE is a starting point, but it's not gospel. The real way to find maintenance? Track your weight for 2-3 weeks while eating a consistent amount.
The simple test: If your weight stays roughly the same (within 0.5kg fluctuation), you've found maintenance. Going up? Eat slightly less. Going down? Eat slightly more. Adjust by 100-200 calories and test again.
Coming from a cut, your true maintenance might be higher than you expect. Your metabolism adapts down when you diet, so you may need to slowly increase calories over a few weeks (sometimes called a "reverse diet") to get back to normal.
The Freedom of Flexible Tracking
Maintaining is when you can finally relax a bit. You don't need to hit macros perfectly every day. Weekly averages matter more than daily precision.
Some people stop tracking entirely once they know what maintenance looks and feels like. Others keep loose track. There's no wrong answer—find what works for you without obsessing.
A useful mindset: You're aiming for maintenance over weeks and months, not days. A big meal out on Saturday doesn't matter if the rest of your week balances it out. This is sustainable eating.
Making Maintenance Work Long-Term
Keep protein consistent
Even at maintenance, 1.6g per kg helps preserve muscle and keeps you full. Let carbs and fats flex around your day.
Weigh yourself occasionally
Once a week is plenty. You're not looking for day-to-day changes, just making sure you're not slowly drifting in either direction.
Don't fear carbs or fats
At maintenance, you have room for everything. Enjoy food. That's kind of the point.
Keep training
Maintenance calories assume your activity level stays similar. If you stop training, your maintenance drops. Simple as that.
Use hunger cues
At maintenance, your hunger signals actually work properly again (unlike cutting, where you're often hungry, or bulking, where you might need to eat past fullness). Trust them more than the numbers.
Set your environment up for success
If your cupboards are full of crisps and biscuits, you'll eat crisps and biscuits—especially at 11pm when willpower is low. Get your household on board with keeping mostly whole foods around. You can't eat what isn't there.
When to Stop Maintaining
There's no rush. Seriously. Some people maintain for months or even years between phases. That's not laziness—that's sustainability.
Good reasons to start a cut: You genuinely want to get leaner, your body fat has crept up, or you have a specific event/goal.
Good reasons to start a bulk: You want to build more muscle and you're lean enough that extra calories won't just become fat (roughly under 15-18% body fat for men, 22-25% for women).
No reason at all: Also valid. You can maintain indefinitely if you're happy where you are. Fitness doesn't have to be an endless project.