maintaning at 1400???

2»

Replies

  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    Christine_72 wrote: »
    I guess the moral of this story is to exercise more so you can eat more.

    I think it's that OP is probably underestimating her maintenance calories
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
    TavistockToad wrote: »
    Christine_72 wrote: »
    I guess the moral of this story is to exercise more so you can eat more.

    I think it's that OP is probably underestimating her maintenance calories

    Yeah i hope so..
  • ericatoday
    ericatoday Posts: 454 Member
    That makes little sense to me. Im 5'7" and i have my stats set to sedentary even though im an active person and my maintenance is 1750
  • Noreenmarie1234
    Noreenmarie1234 Posts: 7,492 Member
    ericatoday wrote: »
    That makes little sense to me. Im 5'7" and i have my stats set to sedentary even though im an active person and my maintenance is 1750

    What is weird is I am all about science and math and believe the calories in vs calories out because it is FACT. But using calculators my maintenance should be ~1450 sedentary plus my exercise (300-500 calories) a few times a week. However, I do maintain on that amount, but I have no energy and feel sluggish. When I increased to see if I could maintain on more, I found out I gained like 2lbs initially, but then maintained at 2200-2600 a day (depending on hunger).

    Calculators are probably accurate for 95% of the population as I have seen though.
  • dykask
    dykask Posts: 800 Member
    edited August 2016
    Noreenmarie1234 wrote: »
    ericatoday wrote: »
    That makes little sense to me. Im 5'7" and i have my stats set to sedentary even though im an active person and my maintenance is 1750

    What is weird is I am all about science and math and believe the calories in vs calories out because it is FACT. But using calculators my maintenance should be ~1450 sedentary plus my exercise (300-500 calories) a few times a week. However, I do maintain on that amount, but I have no energy and feel sluggish. When I increased to see if I could maintain on more, I found out I gained like 2lbs initially, but then maintained at 2200-2600 a day (depending on hunger).

    Calculators are probably accurate for 95% of the population as I have seen though.

    You are probably at a weight your body is happy with. When you eat more your metabolism just increases some to keep you from gaining too much. 2600 kc is a lot, more than I typically eat and I'm a man that often works out pretty hard!

    There have been studies that support what you are saying:
    http://archive.unu.edu/unupress/food2/UID08E/UID08E05.HTM
  • sugaraddict4321
    sugaraddict4321 Posts: 15,838 MFP Moderator
    A few thoughts. First, a lot of people set a goal of X kilos or pounds and once they hit it they expect the scale to not move an ounce.

    Maintenance is actually a range of a few pounds/kilos, depending on how much one is consuming, how much sodium is in that food, the time of the month (for the ladies), how active one is, and how much one is eliminating. I have a range of about 10 pounds - 5 pounds on either side of my maintenance number. As long as I'm within that range, I don't change anything except increasing water intake. If I seem to stay on the high side of the range for more than a week, I drop my calories for a few weeks and it usually comes back into line.

    Second, the online calculators are just rough estimates based on statistics. We all have different body compositions, even two people at the same height and weight. Both the MFP and IIFYM calculators give me at least 100 more calories than I really need. It took me months of trial and error to figure out the right number, but the calculators got me in the ballpark.

    OP if you've been doing 1400-1450 for 3 weeks and the scale stays the same, that could be your maintenance level and that's okay. If you feel like you want more, try 1450-1500 for another few weeks and see how it goes. :)
  • Gamliela
    Gamliela Posts: 2,468 Member
    It seems low. Sometimes its because you have slowed down your everyday activity, in other words, you don't go about your activities with the same vigour and so you actually require less energy now. Or you have some glitch in calorie logging and there are some hidden calories creeping into your day?

    Best wishes as you continue the adventure of maintenance!
  • Maxematics
    Maxematics Posts: 2,287 Member
    Noreenmarie1234 wrote: »
    ericatoday wrote: »
    That makes little sense to me. Im 5'7" and i have my stats set to sedentary even though im an active person and my maintenance is 1750

    What is weird is I am all about science and math and believe the calories in vs calories out because it is FACT. But using calculators my maintenance should be ~1450 sedentary plus my exercise (300-500 calories) a few times a week. However, I do maintain on that amount, but I have no energy and feel sluggish. When I increased to see if I could maintain on more, I found out I gained like 2lbs initially, but then maintained at 2200-2600 a day (depending on hunger).

    Calculators are probably accurate for 95% of the population as I have seen though.

    I agree with this. I'm 5'3" and 108 pounds. Most people think that requires a tiny amount of calories to maintain. I've been eating 1800 to 2300 calories for the past few weeks in order to maintain my weight with at least three or four days where I've eaten 1000+ calories over my TDEE due to insatiable hunger. I started at 108.5 and the scale slowly crept up every day to a final high point of 112.5 during my TOM. I trusted in my Fitbit and hunger levels since they haven't failed me in the past and didn't freak out or come here talking about how I've gained weight. As of this morning I'm 108.2 pounds even though I'm still on my TOM, so I ended up losing a bit more weight even with all that going on.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 33,792 Member
    ericatoday wrote: »
    That makes little sense to me. Im 5'7" and i have my stats set to sedentary even though im an active person and my maintenance is 1750

    It's impossible to generalize from personal experience. The calculators give one a mean value from a statistically-justifiable sample from a population. Even though the resulting bell curve is fairly narrow (i.e., small-ish standard deviation), there is variation around that mean for individuals, in the research results, and in the population at large.

    You're 5'7", and have to set MFP to sedentary even though you're active. I'm 5'5", plus old (60), and have to set MFP to active to get close to the right net calorie goal, even though I'm sedentary (outside of intentional exercise, which I eat back separately). I'm maintaining somewhere around 2100 net, perhaps a bit more, at 120 pounds.

    No way to know where OP falls on that bell curve. To figure maintenance calories, one can start from the calculator values, and adjust over time based on experience; or add deficit calories (of actual loss rate) back to one's deficit-based calories eaten; or 'reverse diet', adding daily calories until weight stabilizes.

    Other people's experiences are just points somewhere on the bell curve. They can be very interesting, but aren't really predictive.
  • LivingtheLeanDream
    LivingtheLeanDream Posts: 13,342 Member
    This same thread appears elsewhere and OP has still not turned up in over a week... guess they don't need our advice...
  • tybrummilehigh2016
    tybrummilehigh2016 Posts: 65 Member
    It's tough
  • Noreenmarie1234
    Noreenmarie1234 Posts: 7,492 Member
    RunRutheeRun wrote: »
    This same thread appears elsewhere and OP has still not turned up in over a week... guess they don't need our advice...

    I hate when people post then leave lol

Categories