Maintenance at 1400 Cal/day

cmcurly

After losing 40 pounds on Ideal Protein, I am now in maintenance and maintaining on 1400 calories a day plus interval running with walking and light weights.
Kind of depressing, yes?
I'm 57, 5'6" and weighing 138.

BurnWithBarn2015

Very indeed


How are you calculating your daily calorie intake? Weighing everything on a scale?
Because that TDEE is very low

middlehaitch

Are you eating back your exercise calories?
That is a low maintenance given your height and weight.
Is it what MFP allotted you?
If so, and you are not using a step counter/HMR, log your exercise in MFP and eat back 50-75%, (MFP overestimates calories burned through exercise).
MFP is designed for you to eat back exercise calories on top of your basic allowance. It is called NEAT (Non Exercise Activity Thermogenisis)

Cheers, h.

BurnWithBarn2015

she says she is maintaining So i assume she is on 1400 already and keeping her weight steady...

OP? can you en light us?
Are you already maintaining for some time or is this what MFP gave you?
When so than you ( indeed) need to eat back your exercise calories

mathandcats

If this is indeed accurate (that is, you weigh your food and have been maintaining at 1400 for awhile), I would suggest taking up serious strength training. You won't get "bulky", but putting on some more muscle will increase your BMR, and thus eventually increase your maintenance calories. It's also good for bone health to do some weight bearing exercise!

swift13b

I'm 5'4 and 105 pounds and I maintain on around 1530 calories. Pretty sure you could be eating way more!

1961dublin

I am 5 ft 4 and around 130 lbs. I maintain at 1400 calories, but I am 54 and I dont exercise. My BMI is 22.5. Swift I am intrigued by the fact that you weigh 105 lbs!!!! And yes the OP should be able to eat more at her height unless she is underestimating her intake.....

Sued0nim

cmcurly wrote: »

After losing 40 pounds on Ideal Protein, I am now in maintenance and maintaining on 1400 calories a day plus interval running with walking and light weights.
Kind of depressing, yes?
I'm 57, 5'6" and weighing 138.

that is bananas

you are active and not under 5' you should be able to eat more, much more

Are you getting messed up by swings in water weight when you increase

increase by 100 calories a day - stick at it for 2 - 3 weeks - allow your weight to fluctuate and settle - if it settles back to your 138 range (+/- 5lbs) then do it again, and again, and again until you are at a decent number of calories

also be aware if you're low carbing and then increase carbs you will get replenish your glycogen / water weight

ditch the light weights and lift heavy - you are at an age when progressive resistance is key to protecting your bone density and health into old age ..

middlehaitch

Following @rabbitjb with the advice to lift heavy. It is good for us more mature women.

Chose one of the 3x a week programmes that are compound and progressive.

Start with a weight that is heavy for you. Hand weights can be used instead of the barbell, you can progress to that if you wish.

@cmcurly I am older than you, 5'1, 100 lbs, exercise 5x60 a week and eat between 1450-1500 cals to maintain.

Try doing what rabbitjb advised and up your calories slowly over a few months.

Cheers, h.

ILiftHeavyAcrylics

I'd be really surprised if that's your maintenance. Try upping your calories gradually as suggested above. I'm much smaller than you and have a lowish maintenance compared to a lot of the women on my list, and even I maintain on 1900-2000 calories with exercise.

buffywhitney

Sounds about right. My stats are very similar. If we want to indulge, we have to make it up. I have the same battle.

Sued0nim

buffywhitney wrote: »

Sounds about right. My stats are very similar. If we want to indulge, we have to make it up. I have the same battle.

No it doesn't sound right at all

Please can you have a look at my post upthread and try it

at 5'6, 1400 calories will be close to your BMR not your TDEE

I'd imagine your BMR is around 1300 - 1350 (might want to check a calculator there)
If you walk say 4000 steps a day your TDEE would be around 1560 -1600
If you walk say 10000 steps a day your TDEE would be closer to 2100
and that's without purposeful exercise

kommodevaran

cmcurly wrote: »

After losing 40 pounds on Ideal Protein, I am now in maintenance and maintaining on 1400 calories a day plus interval running with walking and light weights.
Kind of depressing, yes?
I'm 57, 5'6" and weighing 138.

What do you mean by maintaining on, and plus? Is that level something you have landed on, by experience, weighing your food and yourself, correctly, every day, for several weeks? Or is it an estimate by a calculator? Maybe mixing up BMR and TDEE? Do you eat your exercise calories?

I'm 45, 5'3, 125 pounds, sedate, and maintain on 1775.

Noreenmarie1234

Seems way too low. I am <105 at 5'6 and maintain 2200 with 1 hour cardio few days a week.

WinoGelato

Yes OP some clarity on the questions asked here would be helpful especially:

Are you weighing all your foods?
Do you eat back the exercise calories?
How long did it take you to lose the 40 lbs and what calorie level were you eating at when you did?
How long have you been in maintenance?

75in2013

I agree with rabbitjb, check your numbers! With your stats you should have a higher calorie goal for maintenance.

cmcurly wrote: »

After losing 40 pounds on Ideal Protein, I am now in maintenance and maintaining on 1400 calories a day plus interval running with walking and light weights.
Kind of depressing, yes?

I think losing weight on a diet like "Ideal Protein" is part of the problem. You are not really changing your lifestyle. You replace it with something artificial. It's difficult to go back to a normal lifestyle/diet afterwards. If you lose weight just by using MFP, by limiting your calories and "normal" food (whatever that is for you). Then maintenance is slowly adding 100kcal, 200kcal, 300kcal etc. It just gets better. Because you are used to your low calorie goal and now every additional calories feels like a bonus

Anyway ... good luck for your maintenance! Hope you find a way you enjoy it

Francl27

I'm guessing you're eating more than you think.

Scrappydo67

I am not in maintenance yet but I read this thread and I have some questions about acronyms used here. What are BMR and TDEE?

Sabine_Stroehm

cmcurly wrote: »

After losing 40 pounds on Ideal Protein, I am now in maintenance and maintaining on 1400 calories a day plus interval running with walking and light weights.
Kind of depressing, yes?
I'm 57, 5'6" and weighing 138.

hmm. How old are you?
That seems awfully low.

I'm 50, 5'6.5" right around 138. I maintain on a bit more than that. And have for years.

robininfl

Yeah, that doesn't sound right. I maintain at a lower weight than that with more calories, and do less than 1 hour exercise per day on average. You might be undereating, and body compensating for it by holding on to the fat...Try working out more and eating more.

Everdomad

What about the calories you might drink? They can add up.

Kimo159

Listen to what rabbitjb said. Your maintenance should be more than that. Also, remember, Ideal Protein is low carb so she's right on the money about glycogen, and of course eating a little more you'll have a little more food in your gut so a 3-5lb increase in scale weight when scaling calories up is completely reasonable for those 2 factors. If you are under eating (which you probably are based on your stats) your hormones will start to get seriously messed up, trust me, been there, done that, and it sucks. I also agree with everyone saying you should add progressive resistance training. It will help with bone density, joints, and the added muscle will increase your BMR and who doesn't like to burn more calories at rest?

Good luck!

callsitlikeiseeit

im 5'1, consider myself sedentary and maintenance for me is right around 1600.

i would re-evaluate your stats and take what rabbit said into consideration.

orsolya_kiss

That's just wrong... I am 5'7" and 140 lbs... I train 4-5 times a week, do light cardio 2-3 times, and my maintenece is 2200 calories.
OP, you either don't count your calories right, or that TDEE is calculated totally wrong.
How much did you eat to lose that weight? I don't even dare to imagine

psuLemon

orsolya_kiss wrote: »

That's just wrong... I am 5'7" and 140 lbs... I train 4-5 times a week, do light cardio 2-3 times, and my maintenece is 2200 calories.
OP, you either don't count your calories right, or that TDEE is calculated totally wrong.
How much did you eat to lose that weight? I don't even dare to imagine

I was wondering she uses a food scale myself. The only people I know who maintain at that level have hypothyroidism.

Also, is 1400 pre exercise? And how long have you been tracking 1400 calories to be your maintenance?


And doesn't ideal protein put you at 1000 calories or less to lose weight?

AnnPT77

+1 to "sounds low". It's possible to be an outlier to the standard stats, but by definition it's uncommon. Blood chemistry is as it should be?

My data point: 5'5" (was more like 5'6" before osteopenia), around 122 pounds, 60 y/o, eating 1700 net, quite active in terms of exercise (I eat it back), but sedentary in general non-exercise lifestyle. I'm close to maintenance, but I think I may still be losing verrrrry slooooowly on the 1700.

LivingtheLeanDream

Your maintenance is higher than that - sounds more like your BMR amount which takes no exercise or normal daily activity into consideration.

I'm smaller (5ft 2" / 46yrs/ 130lbs) and maintain easily on 2100 calories. I am active (I walk/run and lift regularly)

amyk0202

I agree, your maintenance # should be higher than that. I am 44 & 5' 2.5" & maintained for 2 years at 150lbs eating 1430. I am sedentary. You are taller & more active. How long have you been maintaining?