how many more calories is maintenance than losing?

ObsidianMist

is there a way for me to know what the margin of error between the amount of calories MFP tells me to eat to lose weight vs. how many it would tell me to eat to maintain my weight, other than going in and messing around with all my numbers then going in and changing it back again? is there a general approximate amount for most people? just curious to know, if I go over my calories for the day, how many more I can eat before I hit maintenance, and then gaining.

cafeaulait7

Put your stats into here:

http://scoobysworkshop.com/accurate-calorie-calculator/

If you want to know what your maintenance calories at your goal weight will be, that's easy there, too.

Just remember that TDEE includes intentional exercise, so when it asks about activity it means everything. MFP does exercise calories separately instead.

M30834134

Have you lost any weight? Take your weekly weight loss and multiply it by 3500 to get your weekly calories you will get to eat extra when you're in maintenance; or, divide that number by 7 and you get your additional daily calories.

Nony_Mouse

What have you selected as your weekly weight loss goal? Assuming you've chosen your activity level correctly (ie you are losing at the expected rate for what you selected) it's fairly easy to get a rough idea. If you chose 1 lb per week loss then your daily deficit will be 500 calories, if you chose 2 lb it will be 1000 calories. So if you are aiming for 1 lb lose per week, and one day eat 500 calories more than your daily limit, you've eaten at your predicted maintenance level for that day (and if the rest of the week you stick to your calorie allowance you will still lose weight).

erinc5

.5 lbs loss per week is 250 cals under maintenance daily
1 lb loss per week is 500 cals under daily
1.5 loss per week is 750 cals under daily
2 lbs loss per week is 1000 cals under daily

This info is based on the fact that 1 lb loss is a deficit of 3500 calories.

shadow2soul

2 lbs per week = -1000 calories per day (-7000 per week)
1.5 lbs per week = -750 calories per day (-5250 per week)
1 lb per week = -500 calories per day (-3500 per week)
0.5 lbs per week = -250 calories per day (-1750 per week)

If you were given a calorie goal of say 1300, then:

1300 + 1000 (2 lbs per week) = 2300 calories to Maintain before exercise based on MFP's estimate
1300 + 750 (1.5 lbs per week) = 2050 calories to Maintain before exercise based on MFP's estimate
1300 + 500 (1 lb per week) = 1800 calories to Maintain before exercise based on MFP's estimate
1300 + 250 (0.5 lb per week) = 1550 calories to Maintain before exercise based on MFP's estimate

^ That's how to figure out what MFP is estimating. Problem with this is it doesn't necessarily apply if your calorie goal is 1200. Why? Because 1200 is the calorie goal MFP bottoms out at for women. An example using my stats:

MFP estimates 1812 to maintain with Lightly Active setting.
2 lbs per week (-1000 per day) = 1200 calorie goal (-612 per day/1.2 lbs per week) before exercise
1.5 lbs per week (-750 per day) = 1200 calorie goal (-612 per day/1.2 lbs per week) before exercise
1 lb per week (-500 per day) = 1312 calorie goal (-500 per day/ 1 lb per week) before exercise
0.5 lb per week (-250 per day) = 1562 calorie goal (-250 per day/ 0.5 lb per week) before exercise

So with the way MFP is designed even if I picked to lose 1.5 or 2 lbs per week, the highest deficit I can have at the lightly active setting is 1.2 lbs per week. If I choose sedentary, I can't even have a 1 lb per week deficit.

However, MFP's maintenance number could be more or less than what you actually need to maintain. After all it's just an estimate based on your stats and what you said your activity level was.

Once you have a couple weeks of loss and intake data, you can figure out your approximate maintenance calories.
I personally like to use a months worth of data.
Add up your logged calories for 30 days.

Total loss for 30 days in LBs * 3500 = 30 Day deficit
30 day deficit / 30 = Average daily deficit
30 day total calories consumed / 30 = Average daily calorie intake
Average daily intake + Average daily deficit = Approximate Maintenance level calories

ObsidianMist

wow thanks for all the replies! that's super helpful

bmwny1

I eat about 1,210 and this fancy scale at my doctors office says if I eat 1650 I will be at maintenance. I weight 178 at 5' 4". And since I've been losing the maintenance cals have been going down.

shadow2soul

@bmwny1 - Any idea how it comes up with that number?

I'm also 5'4.5", but I'm trending 123.8 lbs currently and my approximate sedentary maintenance is around 1630 or so.

Actually are you sure that isn't your BMR? Those wouldn't be your maintenance calories, but the calories you burn at complete rest. Any movement adds more calories too that.
I ran your stats through here:
http://scoobysworkshop.com/accurate-calorie-calculator/

came up with:
BMR: 1663
Sedentary TDEE: 1854

shadow2soul

@bmwny1 - this is from MFP's BMR calculator:

bmwny1

Hmmmm I'm definitely gonna look at my print out again. Don't have it on me right now. Thanks for the info!

shadow2soul

No problem. I was that weight once too and I definitely was losing weight while eating close to 2000 calories on average. Your BMR will decrease (just like maintenance level calories do) as you lose weight. Mines approx 1297 calories right now and I know there is no way I'd maintain on that.

Also, keep in mind your activity level directly influences your maintenance level of calories. Unless the scale knows that information, I find it hard to believe it could accurately predict a maintenance level of calories. BMR though would only require age, weight, height and gender to come up with an approximate estimate.