Low maintenance calories?
GetThatRunnersHigh
Posts: 112 Member
Hey guys, I keep seeing posts about how people are happily maintaining on a surprisingly high number of calories. Once in a while I'll even stumble upon posts where the OP is losing on 1600 a day. While I'm really happy for those who can, I'm a bit bummed out by my maintenance of ~1350. Anyone else out there feeling the same?
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Replies
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Yes, I am! My allowance is also 1350 and I've been wondering how people lose or maintain on 2000+ cals. I want to know their method. I am still new to this. I was fiddling with my goals yesterday and it looks like maintenance for me will only be around 1500 cals.0
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I guess our bodies are just built differently. I blame my height.0
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did you get these numbers by calculating your TDEE?0
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No, TDEE gives me 1551 when not taking exercise into account. I found this when I came off of 1200/day and raised it to 1350. My weight went up 3 pounds then stayed stagnant, so I assume that's my maintenance since I was able to gain some on that amount. On the days I run I'm able to eat back 1/2 of what MFP tells me.0
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activity level plays a part too0
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Over what amount of time?GetLessFatYay wrote: »No, TDEE gives me 1551 when not taking exercise into account. I found this when I came off of 1200/day and raised it to 1350. My weight went up 3 pounds then stayed stagnant, so I assume that's my maintenance since I was able to gain some on that amount. On the days I run I'm able to eat back 1/2 of what MFP tells me.
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Accurately calculating your energy expended is important. You need to add exercise/activity cause that increases the calories your body is burning.
MFP uses BMR but I recommended using TDEE to figure out the calories you should be consuming.
BMR (basal metabolic rate) calculates the amount of calories your body is burning just to function properly during resting periods, i.e. how many calories your body uses to pump blood, for organ function, etc.
TDEE (total daily energy expenditure) includes all the calories your body are burning for organ function PLUS all the calories you are burning during your activities: BMR + activity.
TDEE will be your maintenance and it is recommended to subtraction no more than 15-20% off to get your calorie intake for weight loss.
For example:
Right now I am: 27, female, 5'6", 120lbs
My BMR is 1297 calories/day
MY TDEE is 1784 calories/day
If I wanted to lose weight I would eat 1450-1500 calories a day.
(I'm not here to lose weight, nobody freak out on me lol)0 -
Mine is similar when I calculate my TDEE. In fact my TDEE -15% is actually less than the 1350 I am eating. That number only gives me 1280! I am short and not too far from my goal. I also don't exercise which I know would help me have more calories to work with. I guess I have to earn my food!0
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StaciMarie1974 wrote: »Over what amount of time?
6 weeks. Every time I've tried to raise it my scale went up, so I freak out and drop back down again. I run 5k every other day, and I eat about 1500 on those days.
Stats:
23, female, 5'2", 128 lbs.0 -
I'm 5'2, 45 years old, my maintenance is around 2450 calories, my workout is lifting and walking.
OP do you weigh your solid food??.....measure liquids? If not, then that might be the reason. More then likely you are eating more then you think.0 -
GetLessFatYay wrote: »StaciMarie1974 wrote: »Over what amount of time?
6 weeks. Every time I've tried to raise it my scale went up, so I freak out and drop back down again. I run 5k every other day, and I eat about 1500 on those days.
Stats:
23, female, 5'2", 128 lbs.
Your young, your maintenance should be 2000 or even higher, depending on exercise.0 -
GetLessFatYay wrote: »StaciMarie1974 wrote: »Over what amount of time?
6 weeks. Every time I've tried to raise it my scale went up, so I freak out and drop back down again. I run 5k every other day, and I eat about 1500 on those days.
Stats:
23, female, 5'2", 128 lbs.
When I calculated yours w/ exercise 3x a week (you're doing 3-4) I got:
Your BMR is:
1290
Calories/Day
Your TDEE is:
1774
Calories/Day
15% off: 1507.9
20% off: 1419.2
If you gained weight when you were trying 1500 calories you were eating more than 1500 calories and weren't measuring correctly. Do you weigh your food?
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GetLessFatYay wrote: »StaciMarie1974 wrote: »Over what amount of time?
6 weeks. Every time I've tried to raise it my scale went up, so I freak out and drop back down again. I run 5k every other day, and I eat about 1500 on those days.
Stats:
23, female, 5'2", 128 lbs.
When I calculated yours w/ exercise 3x a week (you're doing 3-4) I got:
Your BMR is:
1290
Calories/Day
Your TDEE is:
1774
Calories/Day
15% off: 1507.9
20% off: 1419.2
If you gained weight when you were trying 1500 calories you were eating more than 1500 calories and weren't measuring correctly. Do you weigh your food?
this is a bit conservative, your TDEE is probably closer to 1830
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I'm 5'2, 45 years old, my maintenance is around 2450 calories, my workout is lifting and walking.
OP do you weigh your solid food??.....measure liquids? If not, then that might be the reason. More then likely you are eating more then you think.
Yep, use a food scale and record everything in grams/oz. I tend to stay around 800 - 1000 cals Mondays - Thursdays, then 1600 - 1800 Fridays - Sundays. My diet is pretty high in sodium and carbs. I also only do cardio. Could be genetic too, my dad's 5'7", 167 lbs, runs 6 miles a day, and maintains at 2200.0 -
Same issue here. I'm short and I'm 46 years old, hypothyroid, prediabetic. Maintenance is 1440, and if I eat more than that for even a few days, or if I get sick and can't exercise for like a week I start gaining again, then it takes forever to lose it back off. I work out regularly and hard, too! I weigh my food and blah blah blah all that stuff, very conscientiously. Lots of people here appear to lose weight on amounts that would have me being as big as a house. I just chalk it up to a medical whammy and try not to think about it too much.... and chew gum and drink tea like it's going out of style. People are all different and fairness has absolutely nothing to do with it so I try not to think about what other people can do because it just doesn't apply.0
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GetLessFatYay wrote: »I'm 5'2, 45 years old, my maintenance is around 2450 calories, my workout is lifting and walking.
OP do you weigh your solid food??.....measure liquids? If not, then that might be the reason. More then likely you are eating more then you think.
Yep, use a food scale and record everything in grams/oz. I tend to stay around 800 - 1000 cals Mondays - Thursdays, then 1600 - 1800 Fridays - Sundays. My diet is pretty high in sodium and carbs. I also only do cardio. Could be genetic too, my dad's 5'7", 167 lbs, runs 6 miles a day, and maintains at 2200.
Open up your diary, so that maybe we can pin point whats going on.
ETA: If you been doing very low calories for awhile, that also could be the reason too.0 -
GetLessFatYay wrote: »I'm 5'2, 45 years old, my maintenance is around 2450 calories, my workout is lifting and walking.
OP do you weigh your solid food??.....measure liquids? If not, then that might be the reason. More then likely you are eating more then you think.
Yep, use a food scale and record everything in grams/oz. I tend to stay around 800 - 1000 cals Mondays - Thursdays, then 1600 - 1800 Fridays - Sundays. My diet is pretty high in sodium and carbs. I also only do cardio. Could be genetic too, my dad's 5'7", 167 lbs, runs 6 miles a day, and maintains at 2200.
high sodium = water weight
that's probably what happened when you increased your intake, you increased your sodium, and your body held on to more water0 -
Same issue here. I'm short and I'm 46 years old, hypothyroid, prediabetic. Maintenance is 1440, and if I eat more than that for even a few days, or if I get sick and can't exercise for like a week I start gaining again, then it takes forever to lose it back off. I work out regularly and hard, too! I weigh my food and blah blah blah all that stuff, very conscientiously. Lots of people here appear to lose weight on amounts that would have me being as big as a house. I just chalk it up to a medical whammy and try not to think about it too much.... and chew gum and drink tea like it's going out of style. People are all different and fairness has absolutely nothing to do with it so I try not to think about what other people can do because it just doesn't apply.
You have a medical issues and much older, OP is young 1300 calories is not her maintenance calories, she is either not weighing her food correctly or her burns are not right and it's not genetic either, never heard of it.0 -
GetLessFatYay wrote: »I'm 5'2, 45 years old, my maintenance is around 2450 calories, my workout is lifting and walking.
OP do you weigh your solid food??.....measure liquids? If not, then that might be the reason. More then likely you are eating more then you think.
Yep, use a food scale and record everything in grams/oz. I tend to stay around 800 - 1000 cals Mondays - Thursdays, then 1600 - 1800 Fridays - Sundays. My diet is pretty high in sodium and carbs. I also only do cardio. Could be genetic too, my dad's 5'7", 167 lbs, runs 6 miles a day, and maintains at 2200.
high sodium = water weight
that's probably what happened when you increased your intake, you increased your sodium, and your body held on to more water
Agree, also.0 -
I thought you were supposed to raise your calories by 100 a day for a couple of weeks and ride out the weight increase then repeat until it doesn't drop down again
Did you do that?
Have you been following low carb and started introducing higher carb because you've got up to 10lbs of water weight just sitting there0 -
GetLessFatYay wrote: »StaciMarie1974 wrote: »Over what amount of time?
6 weeks. Every time I've tried to raise it my scale went up, so I freak out and drop back down again. I run 5k every other day, and I eat about 1500 on those days.
Stats:
23, female, 5'2", 128 lbs.
In bold is what you need to stop doing, it could be you are over reacting to a water/glycogen bounce plus extra bulk of food.
Small increase and keep it there for a few weeks to see the real trend rather than fluctuations.0 -
Diary now open. For the foods I couldn't find, I noted the weight in my food notes and tried to find something close in the database. I have a tendency to stress out over anything more than a 1/2 pound fluctuation, so I immediate cut my intake whenever I see an increase.0
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GetLessFatYay wrote: »StaciMarie1974 wrote: »Over what amount of time?
6 weeks. Every time I've tried to raise it my scale went up, so I freak out and drop back down again. I run 5k every other day, and I eat about 1500 on those days.
Stats:
23, female, 5'2", 128 lbs.
In bold is what you need to stop doing, it could be you are over reacting to a water/glycogen bounce plus extra bulk of food.
Small increase and keep it there for a few weeks to see the real trend rather than fluctuations.
Thanks, I'll keep that in mind.0 -
I thought you were supposed to raise your calories by 100 a day for a couple of weeks and ride out the weight increase then repeat until it doesn't drop down again
Did you do that?
Have you been following low carb and started introducing higher carb because you've got up to 10lbs of water weight just sitting there
I didn't, kept below 1200 throughout my journey and "celebrated" by eating 1800 calories in pure junk. Weight jumped up the next day, decided dropped down to 1350 from there.0 -
Your stats and activity all play a roll. My TDEE varies with the season...it is lower in the winter months as I still work out and I'm active, but don't get out and ride as much...so in the winter I might maintain on 2600 - 2800 calories per day whereas the rest of the year I can maintain on 2800 - 3000 calories per day because I'm simply out there doing more.
Also, going up three pounds when you increase calories isn't unusual...think about it logically...you are inherently going to have more waste in your system at a higher intake than at a lower intake...waste has mass and thus weight. Also, you do have to consider glycogen and other fluid retention. Not all weight is fat mass.GetLessFatYay wrote: »StaciMarie1974 wrote: »Over what amount of time?
6 weeks. Every time I've tried to raise it my scale went up, so I freak out and drop back down again. I run 5k every other day, and I eat about 1500 on those days.
Stats:
23, female, 5'2", 128 lbs.
You need to stop with the knee jerk reactions to the scale. Hell, I can be up or down 3-5 Lbs day to day just with natural body weight fluctuations...I'm up 2 Lbs from yesterday and I can guarantee you that I did not put on 2 Lbs of fat overnight.
Personally, I'd do a little research in regards to weight fluctuations...body weight isn't static.0 -
Quick update, just whooshed this morning. You guys were right, water weight and etc. Going to take a sanity break from the scale for a week or two..0
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I have been on MFP for about 7 weeks doing maintenance. I eat 1800 a day but I have lost 2lbs so I could probably increase to 1900. I exercise 3 days a week and burn about 600-700 calories on my exercise days. It's all about finding out what works for you.0
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GetLessFatYay wrote: »Diary now open. For the foods I couldn't find, I noted the weight in my food notes and tried to find something close in the database. I have a tendency to stress out over anything more than a 1/2 pound fluctuation, so I immediate cut my intake whenever I see an increase.
anything up to 4 pounds is a natural fluctuation... you are WAY over reacting over half a pound.0 -
I think it's your weight fluctuating? It usually does that throughout the day (Mine is usually at the 105-108lb range). I'm 5'4, 18 years old and maintaining at 1,750 a day (And that's without exercise). Am still experimenting with these numbers and will either cut down or increase it after a week or two, depending if I gain or lose. When you try to increase your calories, how long do you stick with it? You should probably increase it by 100 calories a day for a week or so, without looking at the scale until the week ends. It's most likely water weight. Think about this: A pound is 3,500 calories. Unless you ate 3,500 calories the previous day, you will NOT gain0
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