While some may see the maintenance setting as a time where no progress happens, maintenance phases are actually very important. Maintaining after a reverse diet is key for building your metabolism. Maintaining in between periods of fat loss is important as a physical and psychological break from dieting.
And keep in mind that, while fat loss or muscle gain might be the direction you feel you need to go, the place you’re trying to get to (the ultimate goal) is maintenance, when you’ve already reached your goal and want to stay there.
So, why use Avatar for maintenance? A common misconception is that, when you’re on maintenance, your macros aren’t going to change. As long as you stay inside your maintenance weight range, that’s true. However, your metabolism and energy expenditure change over time, and what may have been maintenance macros a few weeks ago may not be anymore. That’s why the system is still prepared to adjust your macros if you stray outside the maintenance range.
It’s also a good idea to keep weighing-in with Avatar because this gives the system valuable data for when you do return to a more active goal setting, like fat loss or muscle gain.