I'm only 5 pounds from my goal...

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NJCJF
NJCJF Posts: 134 Member
in Goal: Maintaining Weight
Hi, I'm only 5 pounds from my goal weight. I've lost about .5 to 1 pound a week over the last couple of months. I only wanted to lose 15 pounds. I'm confused about calories for deficit vs. calories for maintenance. I know that to lose you need to eat at a deficit and to maintain you need to eat the amount you are burning. ie... calories in would equal calories out. If I want to weigh 125 pounds wouldn't I be able to just eat at maintenance for a 125 person all along? I know it sounds confusing and it's hard to explain. Right now I am eating around 1500 calories a day and exercising 6 day/wk. Maintenance for 125. is around 2000 cal/day! If I ate that now I would gain. I don't know if anyone understands what I'm trying to say and I don't know how to explain it any clearer. If I ate like a 125 person at 2000 cal a day wouldn't I lose weight?

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  • maxit
    maxit Posts: 880 Member
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    NJCJF wrote: »
    Hi, I'm only 5 pounds from my goal weight. I've lost about .5 to 1 pound a week over the last couple of months. I only wanted to lose 15 pounds. I'm confused about calories for deficit vs. calories for maintenance. I know that to lose you need to eat at a deficit and to maintain you need to eat the amount you are burning. ie... calories in would equal calories out. If I want to weigh 125 pounds wouldn't I be able to just eat at maintenance for a 125 person all along? I know it sounds confusing and it's hard to explain. Right now I am eating around 1500 calories a day and exercising 6 day/wk. Maintenance for 125. is around 2000 cal/day! If I ate that now I would gain. I don't know if anyone understands what I'm trying to say and I don't know how to explain it any clearer. If I ate like a 125 person at 2000 cal a day wouldn't I lose weight?

    What you don't really know yet is what YOUR maintenance will be. What will happen if you bump up your calories by 500 or so all at once is that you will retain more fluid (processing more food, which will also be remaining in your system as digestion ensues) and you might not actually show a scale loss for a few weeks (& also might even show a gain) even if you are still eating at a deficit.
  • TimothyFish
    TimothyFish Posts: 4,925 Member
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    Yes, if you were to eat at maintenance for the desired weight, you would eventually reach that weight. This is kind of the concept behind the idea of a "set weight." There is some amount that you normally eat and that will lead you to a set weight that you don't go above or below. The problem is, when trying to do with for weight loss, it can be a very slow process, not to mention, it is difficult to know what your maintenance should be. One week, you'll burn a lot of calories, the next week you'll burn a low number. It is only by checking your weight on the scale that you can see whether you are eating more or less than maintenance. But yes, you could take the estimated TDEE for a given weight and eat that amount and get close to that weight, eventually.
  • KrunchyMama
    KrunchyMama Posts: 420 Member
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    How many calories should you be eating for maintenance at your current weight? Compare that to maintenance at your goal weight. There should be a calorie difference between the two. It's probably a small difference though, because you only have a little to lose. Wanting to lose it at a faster rate is what makes the larger calorie gap.
  • NJCJF
    NJCJF Posts: 134 Member
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    TimothyFish wrote: »
    Yes, if you were to eat at maintenance for the desired weight, you would eventually reach that weight. This is kind of the concept behind the idea of a "set weight." There is some amount that you normally eat and that will lead you to a set weight that you don't go above or below. The problem is, when trying to do with for weight loss, it can be a very slow process, not to mention, it is difficult to know what your maintenance should be. One week, you'll burn a lot of calories, the next week you'll burn a low number. It is only by checking your weight on the scale that you can see whether you are eating more or less than maintenance. But yes, you could take the estimated TDEE for a given weight and eat that amount and get close to that weight, eventually.


    Thanks for your explanation and for understanding what I meant. I get it now.

    I'm doing great with eating around 1500 cal/day. This is the first time I've actually stuck with it. Trying my best to hit my macros, measuring and logging EVERYTHING I eat, workout out, and not depriving myself. It took me a long time to get out of the good food bad food mode.

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