Moving onto maintenance - would love advice

bgardiner49

Hi, I have just reached my goal weight of 126lbs. Very pleasing.
When I started on this journey (mid January) I weighed 148lbs, and my body fat (according to my scales) was 37%. According to the same scales, BF is now 24%. I have lost on average 1lb pw.

I am 5'3"' slight build, and aged 49.

I have been eating 1230 calories recently - calculated as TDEE minus 20%. I eat back exercise calories.

Re macros, my diary isn't accurate because I do a lot of home cooking and so calories are recorded, but often not protein etc. I eat a good diet, with a lot of protein (meat, fish, eggs, yogurt) and a lot of fresh fruit and veg.

My question is about maintenance. I have just calculated my TDEE as 1515, calculated on a sedentary lifestyle (I work long hours at a desk job). This is what I have done throughout, then I record all exercise and add those calories.

I run two or three times a week, and cycle a couple of times a week.

So, do I gradually build up to 1515, still eating back exercise calories on top? Or should I work out an average exercise calories over the week, and so eat more than 1515 a day?
And how gradually should I increase my calorie intake?

I am planning to keep recording calories for a few months more, until I am confident that I can maintain this weight and exercise routine.

Thanks for any advice you can give me.

SideSteel

As a manner of simplicity I would just recommend that you take your previous intake (I'm going to assume here that you've been eating at a set caloric intake over the past several weeks) and add 50-100 calories.


Monitor your results for a week. If you do not gain weight, add another 50-100 calories.


Your average intake over the past 2 weeks has been 1479 and your average for the month is over 1550 but you've had 1 or 2 high days that may be pulling that average up a bit.

I would set your intake to about 1550 and don't eat back exercise calories (or, eat more on exercise days but AVERAGE 1550 for the week) and monitor any changes in bodyweight over the course of the next week. If you do not gain weight, repeat the process and increase again (and yes, you can go beyond your estimated TDEE as that is an estimate.

bgardiner49

Thanks for that - the averages for the month are high because I recently recalculated tdee for the first time in a while and it was much lower than it was before - I've actually been pretty good at sticking to my target, honest!

Thanks for the advice, I will follow it.

And have a great vacation!

SideSteel

Thanks for that - the averages for the month are high because I recently recalculated tdee for the first time in a while and it was much lower than it was before - I've actually been pretty good at sticking to my target, honest!

Thanks for the advice, I will follow it.

And have a great vacation!

I'm not concerned about your theoretical target and neither should you really.

What matters is what you are actually consuming and what it does to your total weight. So basically, all I did was run an average for the month and an average for the past two weeks. Your average intake actually went down in the latter half of the month and I'm using the past two weeks as a baseline from which to start adding calories.

Sarauk2sf

Tagging in case of any follow up from OP.

Sarauk2sf

Locking in order to keep track of active threads. Feel free to PM either myself or SideSteel, including a link to this thread, if you wish to add any comments or questions, and we will unlock so you can do so.