How to calculate how many calories I need to maintain my weight?

hiphop10
hiphop10 Posts: 135 Member
in Goal: Maintaining Weight
I'm small boned 5'4" and lost 55 pounds and want to stay where I am at now at 127 pounds.
Does anyone know how to calculate how many calories I should have a day for maintenance?
Does MFP do it for me?

Replies

  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,809 Member
    edited November 2015
    Here's probably more info than you need! :)
    Four ways I can think of.....

    1/ Go to
    Settings / Update Diet - Fitness Profile / What is your goal = "maintain my current weight".
    Note this will give you a goal that you should add and eat back your exercise calories.

    2/ What has been your rate of loss over last four weeks? 1lb a week means you are approximately currently 500 a day under maintenance.

    3/ Add up the calories eaten over past 30 days, add 3500 for every pound lost, divide by 30 to give you your TDEE from your own data. Exercise calories already accounted for.

    4/ Go to a TDEE calculator (loads are available online) but note again exercise calories already included.


    1/ Is most simple but did MFP goals work as expected during your weight loss?
    2/ Also very simple to get a rough idea.
    3/ Best for TDEE as it automatically corrects any logging inaccuracy.
    4/ In my view the least accurate but will give a rough starting point.

    Whatever you do fine tuning may be required......
    If you want to custom set a calorie goal - Goals / Daily Nutrition Goals / Edit
  • socioseguro
    socioseguro Posts: 1,679 Member
    Hi:
    My experience has been finding the right calorie range for Maintenance by Trial and Error.
    Each week, I started increasing my daily calorie target by 50 calories. If my body weight started to increase, I decrease my daily calorie intake until my body weight stabilize to the desired weight range.
    I hope it helps
    Good luck in your healthy journey
  • hiphop10
    hiphop10 Posts: 135 Member
    edited November 2015
    Oh, this is a good idea. I will try it as it sounds logical. Thank you.
  • jeepinshawn
    jeepinshawn Posts: 642 Member
    I think buying something like the fitbit charge is worth it, just for the fact it keeps a pretty decent accounting of your calorie burn throughout the day. The TDEE it gives you seems, at least for me, to be a great place to start with the maintenance plan.
  • ljcox7210
    ljcox7210 Posts: 57 Member
    Yeh I don't know what to set for my maintenance, I'm 5 ft 2 and 100lbs, I've lost 98 lbs but am lost/ clueless when it comes to maintenance, every time I try and eat maintenance I gain a couple of lbs again and have to go back to dieting so I have no idea!
  • PinkPixiexox
    PinkPixiexox Posts: 4,142 Member
    jeepinshawn wrote: »
    I think buying something like the fitbit charge is worth it, just for the fact it keeps a pretty decent accounting of your calorie burn throughout the day. The TDEE it gives you seems, at least for me, to be a great place to start with the maintenance plan.

    Completely agree with this.
    My fitbit has really opened my eyes to my TDEE. It's very accurate.
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,809 Member
    ljcox7210 wrote: »
    Yeh I don't know what to set for my maintenance, I'm 5 ft 2 and 100lbs, I've lost 98 lbs but am lost/ clueless when it comes to maintenance, every time I try and eat maintenance I gain a couple of lbs again and have to go back to dieting so I have no idea!

    @ljcox7210
    If that's a quick jump up in weight out of proportion to your added calories then it's not (can't be!) fat.
    Give yourself a weight range and don't react to natural and normal fluctuations or you will be forever jumping calories up and down and feeling stressed.
    A slow gain over several weeks may indicate you are slightly over maintenance. That's the kind of data to trust and react to.

    Learn to ignore the daily noise of fluctuations and look for long term trends. There are trending tools that may help you.

Categories