Calculating your Maintenance Calories while being active - How?

inglysh731

As I approach my target weight, I am beginning to wonder what my maintenance calorie budget is going to be.
At the moment I have settings derived from MFP at 1350 a day and I eat back about 80-90% of what I burn. I've been losing about a pound to a pound and a half a week... feeling pretty OK too. (5'6", 167 lbs, sedentary, target weight of 155-160)
Not sure what to expect or change once I begin to maintain.
Is it as simple as adding 3500 calories to my weekly budget? (which would be 1800+ 85% of activity calories)
What got me in the past was that I would eat for a ride but then get caught up with work and not be able to burn the expected calories. (Never tracked calories in the past, just tried to eat sensibly and it was enough)
How do you arrive at that figure?
I'm sure there is going to be some monitoring/management involved.
So far, losing the weight has been easy... keeping it managed, I know, is going to be the most challenging.

cwolfman13

If you know your rate of loss, just do the math...if you've been losing about 1 Lb per week just add back 500 calories...from there, yes...you have to monitor and manage it. I've been maintaining going on three years...I don't log...but I do monitor my weight and make adjustments where I need to based on whatever the trend is.

Keep in mind that your maintenance is going to be a range...body weight isn't a static figure. If I'm maintaining at 180 Lbs, I will generally fluctuate anywhere from 178 to 183 with the average over weeks being about 180. When I see that average start to trend up, I just take a quick look at what I'm doing and adjust.

I do usually put on a little weight in the winter as I spend less time on my bike and winter and holidays, etc...but I cut it pretty easily in the spring. I just started my cut Monday for my 8 Lbs (real fat Lbs) of winter weight to get ready for the summer.

robertw486

It seems like you have the right idea. Add back the average of your deficit vs actual loss rate, and go from there. Use your actual weight as the feedback loop, and as a general suggestion, just don't set your goal range so small that it makes it impossible to account for small fluctuations.

As for before the exercise fact fueling, I do it at times now, but as you said it can come back to haunt you if you don't get the exercise session in. But in the long run, you can readily alter course to make up for that regardless. I tend to look at things as a trend of the week rather than daily, and really even looking at a two week trend is fine for most. Even if you are off by 500 calories a day, you will have only gained a few pounds if all error was towards gaining. Given time, most error goes both ways.