Need help calculating maintenance calories

emilysusana
emilysusana Posts: 416 Member
in Goal: Maintaining Weight
Every place I look to calculate my BMR gives me a different number. Could someone help me figure out net calories I need for maintenance? I haven't achieved my goal yet, but I want to eat at maintenance for an upcoming vacation.

I'm 37, female, 5'2. I'm currently at 136 lbs and have recently lost weight (about 8% of BW). I'd like to calculate for sedentary and then make adjustments from there.

I'd be so grateful for your help!

Replies

  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    I just use http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/
  • llbrixon
    llbrixon Posts: 964 Member
    Awesome link!
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    llbrixon wrote: »
    Awesome link!

    There are others out there that might be more accurate. The main issue with TDEE calculators is that, well, how much you workout really isn't a good indication of your activity as a whole, and there's no option for '10 hours of moderate exercise'. So you have to adjust depending on your results. But OP asked for sedentary, so that's probably good enough.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 33,792 Member
    If you've been calorie counting/logging, calculate the average net calories you've eaten daily for the last couple of weeks, calculate the average daily calories represented by the weight you've lost (3500 calories = roughly one pound of weight loss). Add those together to get your own, personal, customized estimate of daily net maintenance calories.

    I'm suggesting net calorie rather than gross calories because I'm assuming your exercise levels will be different on vacation. You would still want to eat back your exercise calories in this scenario.

    If you haven't been calorie counting/logging with reasonable accuracy, this idea obviously isn't going to work, and you'll have to rely on the calculators' estimates, as others have suggested. Or, you could just change your MFP settings from "lose X pounds per week" to "maintain" and use its calorie estimate.

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