Maintenance?

maruby95

Over the past few months, I've been trying to find my real TDEE/ maintenance calories. I weigh in daily and use the Hacker's Diet website to watch for trends. I like it because it keeps me from freaking out about daily fluctuations in weight. I really just look at the trends over time.

This works well when I've been losing or gaining, but I'm having a little more trouble determining how 'stable' maintenance should be. For example, if my weight trend over a two week period goes up .5 pound, can that still be considered maintenance? or is that really 'gaining'? In my way of thinking it is gaining, because of course over time that .5 pound every 2 weeks adds up. I'm really not trying to be a pain or split hairs. I have a history of ED, so I truly do not know what is normal maintenance. I can't ever remember not trying to lose weight :0. I've always been either trying to lose weight, or recovering (actively gaining).

For the month of May, I averaged 1830 cal/ day and my average weight stayed the same (of course it varied within about a 3 lb window). But I wanted to see if my metabolism could handle a few more cals, so 2 weeks ago (june 3) I slightly increased my calories to average 1900/ day. Same wokouts. Same macros. No biggie. No immediate big jump on the scale. But my average weight has steady gone up a bit each day for a total of .5 lb in 2 weeks. This alone does not bother me. But I've also gained .5 inch in my wasit and an inch on my hips in the same time. And if you ask me, I look fatter. Can 50 cals a day really make that much difference?? Or am I over-reacting?

Wait it out longer? Drop back down? Accept it as normal maintenance variation??

Thoughts appreciated.

SideSteel

Over the past few months, I've been trying to find my real TDEE/ maintenance calories. I weigh in daily and use the Hacker's Diet website to watch for trends. I like it because it keeps me from freaking out about daily fluctuations in weight. I really just look at the trends over time.

This works well when I've been losing or gaining, but I'm having a little more trouble determining how 'stable' maintenance should be. For example, if my weight trend over a two week period goes up .5 pound, can that still be considered maintenance? or is that really 'gaining'? In my way of thinking it is gaining, because of course over time that .5 pound every 2 weeks adds up. I'm really not trying to be a pain or split hairs. I have a history of ED, so I truly do not know what is normal maintenance. I can't ever remember not trying to lose weight :0. I've always been either trying to lose weight, or recovering (actively gaining).

For the month of May, I averaged 1830 cal/ day and my average weight stayed the same (of course it varied within about a 3 lb window). But I wanted to see if my metabolism could handle a few more cals, so 2 weeks ago (june 3) I slightly increased my calories to average 1900/ day. Same wokouts. Same macros. No biggie. No immediate big jump on the scale. But my average weight has steady gone up a bit each day for a total of .5 lb in 2 weeks. This alone does not bother me. But I've also gained .5 inch in my wasit and an inch on my hips in the same time. And if you ask me, I look fatter. Can 50 cals a day really make that much difference?? Or am I over-reacting?

Wait it out longer? Drop back down? Accept it as normal maintenance variation??

Thoughts appreciated.

I think this is a complicated situation because there are several variables that have to be taken into play when trying to assess maintenance, but overall I'd say the biggest thing you need to allow is more time in order to make assessments.

Food weight in your system and fluid weight can very easily account for a few lbs of variance alone, and add to this that maintenance is a moving target on a daily basis. Granted, you are trying to get an average maintenance level but even taking that into consideration, I don't think you're going to nail down an exact TDEE. The goal should be to just get close.

If I were you I would give it another couple of weeks and focus on being very accurate with your intake measurements via using a food scale and accurate logging/tracking, and see how well you can regulate activity to keep it consistent, and see what happens.

maruby95

Thanks, SS! I do hear what you are saying about it being a moving target. As for the food and fluid weight, I would have thought those sorts of variables would get washed out in looking at the trend. For example, if I saw a drastic gain one day (for me that might be 2 lbs), I knew it was most likely food/ fluid. That's why I mention that the trend average was consistently going up. That being said, the entire range is within 3 pounds- which doesn't sound like much, but for me that's 3% of my body weight.

Anyway, I'll keep at it, and we'll see what happens in the next couple of weeks. Part of me thinks it might just be easier to bulk/ cut than to try to find maintenance...

Sarauk2sf

Locking so we can keep track of active threads. When you wish for the thread to be unlocked so you can update us or have further questions, please feel free to PM either myself or SideSteel, including a link to this thread and we will unlock it so you can.

Just to add to SideSteel's comment though - it is challenging trying to find the right caloric intake with all the changes in water weight and food weight (different macro mix can impact it as can hormones and sodium levels), some of which make no sense looking at it in the short term. You just need to stick with the plan, be patient and look at the longer term trends (at least 4 week 'chunks').