My maintenance calories seem so little?

ydyms

I'm 5'3" and weigh about 110 lbs. mfp gives me1430 to maintain. Does that seem too few?

Digbysmom

I'm 5'2" and 108 lbs and I just started maintenance and MFP gave me 1230. Apparently if we're petite we only get a few back

VeryKatie

ydyms wrote: »

I'm 5'3" and weigh about 110 lbs. mfp gives me1430 to maintain. Does that seem too few?

Are including exercise or adding exercise calories later and eating them back?
How old are you?

BurnWithBarn2015

Like said in the other thread Digbysmom

When you lose a half pound a week with eating 1200 a week your maintaining level is NOT 1230 calories a day. ( you said 33 lbs loss in 36 weeks so it is even more than half a pound a week)
It can not be.

You will see. When you lost that weight you will see that on 1230 you still will lose weight.

And for OP just calculate what you lost over the weeks and what you ate.
put it together and you know what your maintaining level is...aboutish....

BTW this is without exercise calories!

arditarose

Were you losing a half pound per week eating 1200ish?

007Aggie

It might be, it might not. It's really trial and error. Pick a number, stick with it for a few weeks, see if you gain/lose, and adjust accordingly.

If you are small and sedentary/lightly active, your calories might be lower than you prefer. You can't control your height, but you can change your activity level.

ydyms

When I was trying for a lb a week I was given 1250. That's why it makes no sense. I'm not gaining now and I always go over (but I don't always log everything since I hate seeing that I went over when it's unjustified!)

BurnWithBarn2015

well that means already that your data is off of course and that you indeed can eat more calories than MFP gave you

I like to be as accurate as possible so i know what my calorie intake is and what my maintaining level will approx. be

But to each their own. I am happy i did it makes it easier now. Red numbers dont bother me

Lovee_Dove7

If you are not active, that's probably right.

nxd10

Age and height matters. So does activity. Eat back your exercise calories. I'm 5'10" but 56 and my base is only around 1700. But then I exercise and eat a few hundred more than that every day.

MeiannaLee

yea thats why most people exercise, to be able to eat more. i am 5'1, 100 lbs and my maintenance calores with no activity are 1400-1600. when i workout i eat between 1600-2000 calories.

middlehaitch

@Digbysmom & @ymds.
Was your weight loss constant, or did it slow to a crawl the last few pounds?

I lost, from 130-105lb, at 1200. Starting at a pound a week, but it slowed to a crawl, then a stop. By the time I was at 105 I was maintaining at 1200 when sedentary.

Doing my own math these numbers were quite correct. I have maintained at a sedentary1200 for 6 years, 1400 active.

Look at the rate of loss over the last month of your deficit, then extrapolate your maintenance calories from that, rather than taking your loss as a constant over the whole time at a deficit, if you are not happy with the maintenance MFP gave you.

Cheers, h.

rlgreen2

ydyms wrote: »

I'm 5'3" and weigh about 110 lbs. mfp gives me1430 to maintain. Does that seem too few?

Same situation here, OP. I am 5'3" and maintaining at 120 lbs. I was at 1200 calories to lose, and MFP gave me 1430 to maintain (which surprised and frustrated me). I have been maintaining at that calorie level for about 3 weeks now, but am hoping at some point I will be able to increase the cals a little and still maintain (I haven't had the courage yet to try...).

cwolfman13

go exercise

nxd10

rlgreen2 wrote: »

ydyms wrote: »

I'm 5'3" and weigh about 110 lbs. mfp gives me1430 to maintain. Does that seem too few?

Same situation here, OP. I am 5'3" and maintaining at 120 lbs. I was at 1200 calories to lose, and MFP gave me 1430 to maintain (which surprised and frustrated me). I have been maintaining at that calorie level for about 3 weeks now, but am hoping at some point I will be able to increase the cals a little and still maintain (I haven't had the courage yet to try...).

If you get a pedometer (fitbit zip is the cheapest bluetooth one I think) and link it to your MFP account it will add in more calories for your activity. It is pretty motivating for me. I've used them 6 years I think. (first mechanical pedometer, then zip ($39 from ebay), now apple watch. I like to eat. It helps me move and eat more.

rlgreen2

nxd10 wrote: »

rlgreen2 wrote: »

ydyms wrote: »

I'm 5'3" and weigh about 110 lbs. mfp gives me1430 to maintain. Does that seem too few?

Same situation here, OP. I am 5'3" and maintaining at 120 lbs. I was at 1200 calories to lose, and MFP gave me 1430 to maintain (which surprised and frustrated me). I have been maintaining at that calorie level for about 3 weeks now, but am hoping at some point I will be able to increase the cals a little and still maintain (I haven't had the courage yet to try...).

If you get a pedometer (fitbit zip is the cheapest bluetooth one I think) and link it to your MFP account it will add in more calories for your activity. It is pretty motivating for me. I've used them 6 years I think. (first mechanical pedometer, then zip ($39 from ebay), now apple watch. I like to eat. It helps me move and eat more.

Thank you for this advice. I have been thinking about the fitbit, and will look into it more closely now. I would love to have a concrete reason to add more calories!

Digbysmom

Middlehaitch, my weight loss was consistent. Someone mentioned in one of my earlier posts that 1200 calories is the lowest MFP will allocate to you when you first register. Given that I'm only 5'2", I think if they could have allocated less they would have, then I would have seen the larger increase in calories on maintenance that other have seen. I'm taking it day by day and I'm fluctuating between 107.5 and 108. On the days when I workout I eat my additional calories. If I drop below 107.5 I just up my calories a bit the next day. I think it' a balancing act that will be different for each one of us.

LivingtheLeanDream

yep, that sounds more like your BMR...

fyi I'm 5ft 2 /46 yrs and my TDEE is 2200-2300 cals. I am an active gal though. If I ate any less than 1800 the weight would just fall off me.

(I'm not as light as you though, I know that makes a difference too.. )

Yi5hedr3

That sounds correct

Verity1111

BurnWithBarn2015 wrote: »

Like said in the other thread Digbysmom

When you lose a half pound a week with eating 1200 a week your maintaining level is NOT 1230 calories a day. ( you said 33 lbs loss in 36 weeks so it is even more than half a pound a week)
It can not be.

You will see. When you lost that weight you will see that on 1230 you still will lose weight.

And for OP just calculate what you lost over the weeks and what you ate.
put it together and you know what your maintaining level is...aboutish....

BTW this is without exercise calories!

.91-.92 lb loss per week x 3500cal in a pound = 3208.33-->

---

7 days in a week

= 458.33--> extra calories per day, available
1200+458.33--> = a maintenance level of 1658.33--> per day

Try 1500 to be safe if you want. It is still a lot more than 1230.

Verity1111

ydyms wrote: »

I'm 5'3" and weigh about 110 lbs. mfp gives me1430 to maintain. Does that seem too few?

You could do what I did above or have me do it if you know how much weight you lost in a certain number of weeks and how many calories per day you were limited to at that time. Although, your stats are similar, so maybe you can try 1500 as well and see if it works, for a couple of weeks.

BurnWithBarn2015

Verity1111 wrote: »

BurnWithBarn2015 wrote: »

Like said in the other thread Digbysmom

When you lose a half pound a week with eating 1200 a week your maintaining level is NOT 1230 calories a day. ( you said 33 lbs loss in 36 weeks so it is even more than half a pound a week)
It can not be.

You will see. When you lost that weight you will see that on 1230 you still will lose weight.

And for OP just calculate what you lost over the weeks and what you ate.
put it together and you know what your maintaining level is...aboutish....

BTW this is without exercise calories!

.91-.92 lb loss per week x 3500cal in a pound = 3208.33-->

---

7 days in a week

= 458.33--> extra calories per day, available
1200+458.33--> = a maintenance level of 1658.33--> per day

Try 1500 to be safe if you want. It is still a lot more than 1230.

@Verity1111

??? you are posting this to me? ( I can be wrong )
I am not saying my maintenance is 1230 calories

lol i am in maintenance and still slowly upping my calories i eat a average of 1800 calories

I just calculated roughly that when you lose so much weekly in 36 weeks ( almost a pound a week) on 1200 calories. That your maintaining level can not be 1230 ( so 30 calories more)
There is no logic in that. And that OPs calculations have to be off somewhere ( exercise food logging etc you name it.)

So if you address this post to me, i didn't ask it.
My weight loss and maintenance is fine. But ty

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Noreenmarie1234

Yeah it sucks my maitenance is about 1400-1500 with no exercise but I exercise and it is 2000-2500 a day.

MrsJ1210

I'm 4ft 11 and it's given me 1490 to maintain my weight at 7st13. I've only been trying to maintain it for a week so but so far am not finding it too bad, I guess because I was on 1200 before. That I found quite difficult at times I have to admit.

nxd10

It helps a lot to look at your big calorie soaks and deciding which ones are worth it to you and which aren't. When I was at a little over 1200 (it might have been 1230), I dropped milk, bread, and cheese and got it me most of the way there. Couldn't skip the small serving of ice cream every day. You pick your priorities and take small helpings.