Maintain your weight, after losing it or when you train a lot

Keeping a stable weight is a goal in its own right: it is often the longest phase, and the one that decides the result. And when you train a lot, the risk is reversed: not eating enough. You set your target weight, with or without a date. Trainetic calculates your needs from your profile, adds what today's session costs, and gives you a target for calories, protein, carbs and fat. It never imposes a menu: your food log shows you where you stand.

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Five rules for maintaining your weight

They come from public health guidelines and from studies of people who kept their weight off over time.

Maintenance is a stage, not the end of a diet. The French National Authority for Health (Haute Autorité de santé) even makes it the first stage of a care pathway: stabilize before trying to lose.

Bring your intake back up to your needs. After losing weight, you go back to eating as much as you burn. No more, no less.

Stay active. Among people who have kept their weight off for years, regular physical activity is the most widely shared habit: about one hour of moderate activity per day.

Follow a trend, not a number. Weighing yourself regularly helps, as long as you look at the change over several weeks rather than your morning weight.

Eat enough when you train a lot. Unintended weight loss, with fatigue or repeated injuries, is a warning sign in athletes.

What your maintenance goal does

You choose "Maintain my current weight": the rest is calculated for you.

Benchmark	In Trainetic
Calorie target	Your needs for the day, with no deficit or surplus
Training days	Your target goes up by what the session costs on top of rest
Tolerance	A difference of half a kilo still counts as maintenance
Drift	Beyond a 2% difference from your reference weight, you are alerted
Protein	1.6 g per kilo of body weight per day

Your weight curve is smoothed in the Progress tab: it shows the trend, not day-to-day variations. Weigh-ins can be entered by hand or come from your Withings smart scale.

How Trainetic helps you stay on track

Nothing to calculate on your side: you train, you log your meals if you want to, and you follow the trend.

Needs that follow your training

A long run day is not fueled like a rest day. Your daily target includes your session, done or planned in your training plan.

Carbs matched to your training

If you train for running, your carb target goes up to 7 g per kilo: enough to get through your sessions without dipping into your reserves.

A simple log

A single field to search the Ciqual table and Open Food Facts, a barcode scanner, and your daily summary.

When this feature is not for you

If you are pregnant, under 18 years old, on medication, or if your relationship with food is difficult, talk to your doctor first: a weight goal should not be set on your own in these situations. If you think you may have an eating disorder, talk to your doctor: they can point you to the specialist support service in your country.

Five mistakes that make the weight creep back

Going back to old habits overnight. Your intake goes back up to the level of your needs, not beyond.

Becoming inactive once you reach your weight. Regular activity is what most sets apart the people who keep their weight off.

Reacting to your daily weight. An extra kilo on a Monday morning is often water. Only the trend deserves a reaction.

Going from diet to diet. The more they are repeated, the more the weight tends to come back, according to the French health agency.

Under-eating when training ramps up. A marathon or triathlon prep increases your needs. Not keeping up means risking fatigue and injuries.

Where these figures come from

Every benchmark on this page comes from a public source.

Maintenance as the first stage: the Haute Autorité de santé, the French National Authority for Health (adult overweight and obesity care pathway, 2023). The risk of repeated diets: ANSES, the French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health & Safety.

The habits of people who keep their weight off come from the US National Weight Control Registry (more than 10,000 people): about one hour of activity per day, regular weigh-ins. They are volunteers: these habits are associated with maintenance, with no proof that they cause it.

Relative energy deficiency in sport and its warning signs (fatigue, injuries, drop in performance): consensus statement of the International Olympic Committee (2023).

Common questions about maintaining your weight

Why do you regain weight after a diet?

Because your body burns a little less than before, your hunger comes back, and so do your old habits. That is why maintenance is prepared as a stage in its own right.

How many calories do you need to maintain your weight?

As many as you burn. Trainetic estimates your baseline needs from your profile and adds today's session. It is an estimate: if your trend goes up or down, you are alerted.

Should you weigh yourself every day?

You don't have to. Weighing yourself regularly helps, as long as you look at the trend over several weeks. That is what your smoothed curve is for.

What activity helps you keep the weight off?

A regular activity that you enjoy enough to stick with. A running or triathlon training plan gives your week a structure.

I train a lot and I am losing weight without meaning to: what should I do?

Set a maintenance goal: your target goes back up to the level of your needs, sessions included. If fatigue or injuries set in, talk to a sports medicine doctor.

What if I want to lose weight, or build muscle?

Same feature, different goal: lose weight or build muscle.

Is it free?

Yes: setting your goal, tracking your intake, searching for and scanning your foods. Access only requires your consent to the processing of this health data. Automatic estimation of a food or a dictated meal is included in a limited amount, with more under the subscription.