Fat Loss Maintenance: How to Keep the Weight Off Without Losing the Plot

ianwoodsc
2 days ago
3 min read

So you’ve hit your fat loss goal. You’ve dropped 3, 5, maybe even 10kg. Clothes fit better. Energy’s up. You finally feel like you’ve cracked it. But now you’re asking the real question: "How do I maintain this fat loss without tracking everything forever or falling back into old habits?"

Welcome to the Fat Loss Maintenance phase. The often-overlooked part of the journey that’s just as important as the diet itself.

In this post, I’ll walk you through three practical, no-BS strategies to make fat loss maintenance feel simple, sustainable, and stress-free, without needing reverse dieting, fasting, or food fear.

1. Set a Fat Loss Maintenance Weight Range

One of the biggest mistakes people make after losing weight is thinking they have to stay at one exact number forever. “I’m 70kg now. I need to stay at exactly 70kg for life.” Spoiler: You won’t.

Your weight naturally fluctuates day to day based on water retention, food volume, menstrual cycles, stress, sleep, and inflammation from training. This is why I recommend setting a maintenance weight range, not a single number.

If your goal was 70kg, then aim to stay within 68–72kg. That gives you breathing room and avoids unnecessary stress when the scale bumps up after a salty dinner or heavy training day.

Here’s the key:

If you're sitting consistently at the lower end, you’ve got some wiggle room.
If you’re regularly at the top end, it’s a sign to tighten up a few habits (without going full-on diet mode again).

Think of your fat loss maintenance range like a flexible zone rather than a prison sentence.

2. Turn the Intensity Down — Not Off

The old cliché goes, “What gets you there isn’t what keeps you there.” That might be true if you lost the weight on some unsustainable fad, keto, fasting, celery juice cleanses, etc. But if you followed something realistic (like my Start With 6 challenge), you don’t need a new plan. You just need to turn down the dial a bit.

Fat loss maintenance isn’t about quitting everything that worked. It’s about doing a little less, a little more loosely, with a little more flexibility, but keeping the core structure in place.

What that looks like in real life:

Still planning meals each week — but not obsessively.
Still doing a weekly shop with your basics — so you’ve got what you need to eat well.
Still following simple nutrition rules — like aiming for protein at every meal or saying “no” to foods that don’t get a “f*ck yes.”

You probably don’t need to weigh in daily or track every single calorie anymore. But don’t stop doing the basics that built your results in the first place.

3. Fat Loss Maintenance Is Only 10% Away

Here’s the science bit — but don’t worry, I’ll keep it simple.

Most fat loss occurs in a 10–20% calorie deficit. That means to maintain your new weight, you just need to eat about 10% more than you did during your diet phase.

You’re not jumping from 1,700 calories to 2,500 via Dominoes Pizza overnight. For most people, maintenance is just a few hundred extra calories per day, maybe an extra snack, a glass of wine at the weekend, or slightly bigger portions.

No need to reverse diet. No slow, complicated reintroduction process.

👉 Just go to maintenance as soon as you finish your fat loss phase. You'vee earned it. Your body needs it. And mentally, it’s a huge relief.

Bonus Tip:

If you’ve been dieting for 6 weeks, spend at least 3 weeks at maintenance before considering another fat loss phase.12 weeks of dieting? Aim for 6 weeks of maintenance.

Think of it like pit stops in a Formula 1 race, maintenance keeps you in the game longer and helps you avoid burnout.

Final Thoughts on Fat Loss Maintenance

Fat loss maintenance doesn’t have to be complicated. You don’t need a new diet, a new app, or to start from scratch. You just need to understand three things:

Set a flexible maintenance weight range.
Keep doing the basics — just with less intensity.
Eat slightly more — because maintenance is just 10% away.

If you’ve lost weight successfully, the next big win is learning how to stay there without feeling restricted. That’s what real success looks like.

👇 Ready to Start Your Own Fat Loss Journey?

If you’re reading this and haven’t started yet, or you’ve lost weight before but struggled to keep it off, check out my Start With 6 Nutrition Challenge.

It’s a 6-week program that teaches you everything you need to: