How many calories do YOU eat to maintain around 130 lbs?

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  • trina1049
    trina1049 Posts: 593 Member
    edited August 2015
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    66 in a couple of months, 5'2.5", 129-130lbs almost to maintenance with TDEE around 1700-1750 cals; work out 4Xs per week, weightlifting and some cardio. Staying under TDEE so eating around an average of 1450-1650 depending upon calorie burn with exercise. Body Fat % around 25.3 (caculator guess).
  • Pinnacle_IAO
    Pinnacle_IAO Posts: 608 Member
    edited August 2015
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    Just my thoughts on weight maintenance in general...

    I have been in maintenance mode going on 3 years now after losing a ton of weight.
    My maintenance at 180 is around 4000 calories per day, so it would not be productive to use other guys' intake at this weight. Most people maintaining at 180 are way below me. I have a crazy metabolism and am very active.

    I suppose if I were just curious, sure, but the key to finding my "zone" for weight loss and maintenance was through trial and error, using MFP's recommendations as a guide.
    Maybe that helps, and sorry if I seemed to butt in.

    Good luck to you!
    :)
  • stenisch
    stenisch Posts: 1 Member
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    Wow so many are able to maintain a good weight with decent amount of calories! I'm jelly...I'm almost 5'5 and 28yrs old and cant go above 1400 cal to maintain 130ish to 133 and thats with exercise and weights 4 times a week. Maybe it's because i only stick to it 6 to 12 months at a time and could maintain lower weight sticking to it for good? And my life and job are already a constant motion...no sitting.
    Also sleep is part of maintaining also!
  • annette_15
    annette_15 Posts: 1,657 Member
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    5'1, exercise 5x a week, mix of weights and cardio, maintaining 107lbs or so at 1700ish/day
  • gothchiq
    gothchiq Posts: 4,598 Member
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    Five three, age 46, 120 lb, 1450 cals a day. I work out every other day doing both cardio and weights for at least one hour.

    Kinda sucky really.
  • gothchiq
    gothchiq Posts: 4,598 Member
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    Also a lot of women's thyroids tank around menopause time. If you burn way too few cals, get your thyroid checked. Mine was dead as a doornail.
  • airangel59
    airangel59 Posts: 1,887 Member
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    Eager to follow this thread...I'm 55 (56 on Friday) and 5ft 5.5 inches. I have no clue what my BF% is unfortunately.

    I am trying to maintain (it's not working, am still losing it seems) ...only thing I do religiously is walk (at least 10K steps daily on my trackers)....currently sitting at #122....my MD would like to see me at #130. Eating about 1700-1800 a day if I can find enough hours to eat but some days I'm under that so no shocker I'm still losing.

    I really don't trust the calories from working out and my past history is a yo- yo dieter so trying to avoid putting the weight I lost (#150) back on ...am sure that's affecting me trying to maintain vs lose.
  • arditarose
    arditarose Posts: 15,575 Member
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    I'm a little younger (29) but 5'4", 130-133 lbs. I seem to maintain on 1800-1900 calories. I haven't pushed it to 2000 yet but am curious to try. From the data I have, I don't think 2000 is going to work. I lift 4 days a week and do no cardio. Lightly active.
  • LKArgh
    LKArgh Posts: 5,179 Member
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    I maintain around 120-125 and am in my 40s. Around 1700 on average, gross, not net. With on average 3-5 hour exercise per week. Used to be a lot higher when younger, although how much is caused by ageing alone or because of spending more hours at work (desk job), I could not tell.
  • jenilla1
    jenilla1 Posts: 11,118 Member
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    I've been maintaining for well over 4 years now. I'm over 40, 5'7", between 130-133 depending on time of the month. My maintenance calories are set to 1700 plus exercise calories. I don't exercise every day, so 1700 is what I shoot for, then I give myself extra when I work out. :)

    It's so interesting how we are all so different when it comes to maintenance. You just have to find your own sweet spot through experimentation, and then you should be set. Tweak the numbers as needed. I haven't had to change my maintenance calorie goal since I set it years ago...
  • dmitriy0851
    dmitriy0851 Posts: 6 Member
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    What you could do is add 50cal when a new week comes around eat that 50cal more all week see what your scale says if it doesn't go up ad another 50cal the next week around stay there and just keep doing that until the expected calorie intake...what this method is called is reverse dieting and what it says is actually raises your metabolism until your eating the actually needed maintenance calories, good luck!
  • runningforthetrain
    runningforthetrain Posts: 1,037 Member
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  • firebloom
    firebloom Posts: 109 Member
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    I also find that it's lower than what calculators predict. I'm not quite at goal yet but I recently maintained at 149 lbs for 6 months eating 1650 calories net per day give or take a little. Definitely lower than what calculators say I should be able to eat.
  • aqualeo1
    aqualeo1 Posts: 331 Member
    edited August 2015
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    I'm 34 5'2 & maintain 125-128 on around 1700 cal without excersise. I get around 13,000 steps a day
  • tigerblue
    tigerblue Posts: 1,525 Member
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    Pinnacle_Fitness wrote: »
    Just my thoughts on weight maintenance in general...

    I have been in maintenance mode going on 3 years now after losing a ton of weight.
    My maintenance at 180 is around 4000 calories per day, so it would not be productive to use other guys' intake at this weight. Most people maintaining at 180 are way below me. I have a crazy metabolism and am very active.

    I suppose if I were just curious, sure, but the key to finding my "zone" for weight loss and maintenance was through trial and error, using MFP's recommendations as a guide.
    Maybe that helps, and sorry if I seemed to butt in.

    Good luck to you!
    :)

    I think you are exactly on point as far as using your own records! That is what I have been doing, but my TDEE seems a bit low for my age, activity level and weight, so I wanted to compare. . . .

  • tigerblue
    tigerblue Posts: 1,525 Member
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    Okay, the main theme here seems to be. . . . . No theme!

    This seems to be very variable, even taking into account activity and stats. That is very comforting to me. I seem to be on the lower end of metabolism, but not out in left field! (And I'm not hypothyroid--had that checked in the spring--but I am perimenopausal!). Some of the info online starts to "play with your brain" if you are not careful (both on MFP and on other sites), and when you buy into one line of thinking--i.e. everyone who is the same weight is the same and should eat the same cals--it can make thinking clearly about something difficult and lead you down the wrong path.

    Thanks again everyone for sharing.
  • spicy618
    spicy618 Posts: 2,117 Member
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    Great Post. I'm also 47 at 5'4 and found this very interesting.

    What I noticed is that everyone who is able to eat more, is doing Weights in some way. Young or Older. Hmmm.. another sign I must really get into 5x5 again.

    Thanks OP, for asking this.

    Have a great day!
  • arditarose
    arditarose Posts: 15,575 Member
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    spicy618 wrote: »
    Great Post. I'm also 47 at 5'4 and found this very interesting.

    What I noticed is that everyone who is able to eat more, is doing Weights in some way. Young or Older. Hmmm.. another sign I must really get into 5x5 again.

    Thanks OP, for asking this.

    Have a great day!

    I don't know if that's true. I lift weights and still can't eat 2000 to maintain. It's a combination between height and overall activity level. We don't know each other. Some people on here not only lift weights, but do their cardio, and have an extremely active life style. Of course they are going to be able to eat more than someone who only lifts weights but is sedentary, or who only does cardio but no weights. There are a lot of variables.
  • lngrunert
    lngrunert Posts: 204 Member
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    44 years old, 5'2", body fat probably around 30-35%. I maintain at 134 on about 2000 calories a day working out 3-4x per week doing a mix of cardio and strength training.
  • tigerblue
    tigerblue Posts: 1,525 Member
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    arditarose wrote: »
    spicy618 wrote: »
    Great Post. I'm also 47 at 5'4 and found this very interesting.

    What I noticed is that everyone who is able to eat more, is doing Weights in some way. Young or Older. Hmmm.. another sign I must really get into 5x5 again.

    Thanks OP, for asking this.

    Have a great day!

    I don't know if that's true. I lift weights and still can't eat 2000 to maintain. It's a combination between height and overall activity level. We don't know each other. Some people on here not only lift weights, but do their cardio, and have an extremely active life style. Of course they are going to be able to eat more than someone who only lifts weights but is sedentary, or who only does cardio but no weights. There are a lot of variables.

    I think the biggest game changer is non exercise activity. (And probably body fat/lean muscle mass-but that is hard to pinpoint without testing).

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