Just started trying to maintain... need advice please.
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dawn0293
Posts: 115 Member
I've finally hit my goal weight and I'm ready to move on to maintaining this weight. I've recalculated my RDI and TDEE for a few different places and I've gotten vastly different numbers ranging from 1400 to over 1800 when I input the exact same data. So, I'm not sure if the smartest thing to do is just use the lowest number and see if I continue to drop weight and adjust accordingly or split down the middle and see if I gain. Maybe there's a calculator that's more highly recommended than others? I did try scooby's but there is no maintenance option from what I have seen, just loss or bulk. Any suggestions for me would be appreciated.
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Replies
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Try the one at iifym.com. There are options for loss, bulk, & maintain there.0
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You can use any calculator you want, but I had pretty good luck just adding a hundred calories a week for a month to see how my body reacted. In addition to how many calories I need, I had to learn to get comfortable with the scale going up and down a few within range.0
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You can use any calculator you want, but I had pretty good luck just adding a hundred calories a week for a month to see how my body reacted.
I jumped from 1200 daily to 1400 daily this week. I know I won't gain fat as long as I'm not going over maintenance calories, I'm just confused about the baseline for finding the optimal calorie goal I should be shooting for.
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One difference is that calculators like MFP don't include exercise and others like TDEE do. So they're often off by several hundred calories from each other.0
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How many cals were you eating to lose? And with that number how much were you losing over week? If you were losing around a pound you need to add around 500 cals, if it was less than add less...0
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TavistockToad wrote: »How many cals were you eating to lose? And with that number how much were you losing over week? If you were losing around a pound you need to add around 500 cals, if it was less than add less...
Agree! No need for calculators - the data you need is in your food diary and your rate of weight loss.
Another benefit is that it will compensate for any food and exercise logging inaccuracies.
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TavistockToad wrote: »How many cals were you eating to lose? And with that number how much were you losing over week? If you were losing around a pound you need to add around 500 cals, if it was less than add less...
500 cals a day?0 -
TavistockToad wrote: »How many cals were you eating to lose? And with that number how much were you losing over week? If you were losing around a pound you need to add around 500 cals, if it was less than add less...
500 cals a day?
Yes. If you were losing about a pound a week?0 -
I second the advice to go over your MFP data to estimate how many you need to maintain and then fine-tune it with feedback from your scale and clothes.0
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I'm going off MFP's number which I have set for TDEE. I did see a 3# jump the first 3 weeks (my period starting didn't help), but I seem to have settled (weight is back to what it was when I began maintenance). I'm staying on this until March to get a better baseline for when I go back to weight loss.0
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You'll have to play with the numbers. I do best eating at a slight deficit most of the week, then having a few "eff it" meals during the week.0
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First of all CONGRATS!!
Maintaining can be a little tricky. Don't be afraid to experiment to see what works for you. Most will say increase calories slowly until you stop losing.
In my personal experience since I'm 'fun size' (4'10") I made very minimum adjustments because I was not struggling with what I was doing and have maintained two yrs this Aug. SO everyone will be a little different and it will be a bit of trial & error before you find something that will work for you.
You can also get a second opinion here: iifym.com/iifym-calculator/ If you scroll down you can actually see variations of macros also ... pretty nifty - this is what I use.
Good luck!0 -
TavistockToad wrote: »How many cals were you eating to lose? And with that number how much were you losing over week? If you were losing around a pound you need to add around 500 cals, if it was less than add less...
Agree! No need for calculators - the data you need is in your food diary and your rate of weight loss.
Another benefit is that it will compensate for any food and exercise logging inaccuracies.
Belaboring both of these points, you have all the data you need...you don't need a calculator to tell you...you have real world results to work with.0 -
Adopt a strategy of trial & error. Adjust as needed. I am going on 4 months now. My mental range is 125-129. I'm eating around 1800 - higher on days I'm overly active. I'm now hovering near the low end of that range. Which is kind of nice - as days when I 'want' or feel the need for more food/more splurge foods, its fine.
I still log. I still weigh some food, but now estimate portions more than when I was losing. I have physical activity goals to help keep me focused. I'm doing a 1/2 marathon on Sunday. And a 5k in March, the Peachtree Road Race (10k) in July. May seem a bit wonky but I don't expect to run all of the 1/2, while it is my goal to run the entire 5k, 10k. So Tue/Thur and either Sat/Sun are my run days. Having a structured routine is good for me, as otherwise I'd put things off. Instead I actually go out and run at 8am on Sunday morning even if its 28 degrees! And I enjoy it.0 -
HappyCampr1 wrote: »
Another vote for looking at your own data. It's so much better than an online calculator. You know this is specific to you. Look at how much you were eating over the past couple months and how much weight you were losing each week. One pound a week is 500 calories a day. A half-pound is 250 per day. It should at least get you started toward the right number for you. Be aware that if you increase 500 all at once, you will gain water weight at the beginning. This is not fat and you shouldn't panic. It goes away after a couple weeks. If you want to avoid that, then start increasing your calories by 100-150 each week until you get to your maintenance total. And congratulations!TavistockToad wrote: »How many cals were you eating to lose? And with that number how much were you losing over week? If you were losing around a pound you need to add around 500 cals, if it was less than add less...
Agree! No need for calculators - the data you need is in your food diary and your rate of weight loss.
Another benefit is that it will compensate for any food and exercise logging inaccuracies.
Can't emphasize this idea enough!
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