Have you found your maintenance calorie goal to be higher than the calculators?

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kgirlhart
kgirlhart Posts: 4,976 Member
in Goal: Maintaining Weight
Have any of you found that your maintenance calories have turned out to be higher than you expected and higher than what the calculators give you?

I have my fitbit synced to mfp and I try to eat back all of my adjustment. I do like the idea of eating more on days I am more active so I like using the mfp method of a daily goal plus an adjustment for activity. But it seems like I am not eating enough. If I look at my data for the last 3 weeks, according to what I am logging my CI average was 1937 per day. Fitbit shows that my CO averages 1876 per day. That has my CI>CO by about 60 which should have me maintaining not losing. In the last 3 weeks I have lost 2.6 pounds. I raised my calorie goal about a month ago but I am still losing a little over .5 per week. So I guess I need to raise it again. I guess I'm just nervous to increase it too much. I see so many people saying that fitbit overestimates their calories burned, but it seems to be underestimating mine. Anyone else have that problem?
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Replies

  • DonM46
    DonM46 Posts: 771 Member
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    Just the opposite. Since November of 2011, I've been about 1800 (1790 to 1805), and my weight is reasonably steady -- just daily fluctuations. MFP says I should be about 2000.
    If I followed that, I'd gain a little. Granted, very little, but certainly not static.
  • TangledThread
    TangledThread Posts: 312 Member
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    Fitbit/MFP underestimates me and I lose on the maintaining mode. The math is looking like I can eat 175 more a day than fitbit gives me. YAY!
  • cosmonew
    cosmonew Posts: 514 Member
    edited December 2016
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    Yep, I can eat more than my what MFP tells me. I am still adjusting, I adjust every month, If I am loosing over more than a pound a week on average for the month, I up my calories by 150/200 a day. I love being able to eat more and will be sad when my weight stabilizes. I also track my workout calories and eat those back as well.
  • fiddletime
    fiddletime Posts: 1,862 Member
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    When I was in maintenance I found MFP to be right on at 1350.
  • victoria_1024
    victoria_1024 Posts: 915 Member
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    Calculators say I should be at 1700 a day so that's where I have mfp set and I do maintain. But I go over my calories often. Sometimes on the weekends I go over by quite a bit. My guess is I should be more in the 2000 range so my 1700 is probably a slight deficit but I keep it there to give me some breathing room.
  • Gisel2015
    Gisel2015 Posts: 4,140 Member
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    I use my body and the results as "my calculator." So far, so good.
  • rileysowner
    rileysowner Posts: 8,116 Member
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    kgirlhart wrote: »
    Have any of you found that your maintenance calories have turned out to be higher than you expected and higher than what the calculators give you?

    I have my fitbit synced to mfp and I try to eat back all of my adjustment. I do like the idea of eating more on days I am more active so I like using the mfp method of a daily goal plus an adjustment for activity. But it seems like I am not eating enough. If I look at my data for the last 3 weeks, according to what I am logging my CI average was 1937 per day. Fitbit shows that my CO averages 1876 per day. That has my CI>CO by about 60 which should have me maintaining not losing. In the last 3 weeks I have lost 2.6 pounds. I raised my calorie goal about a month ago but I am still losing a little over .5 per week. So I guess I need to raise it again. I guess I'm just nervous to increase it too much. I see so many people saying that fitbit overestimates their calories burned, but it seems to be underestimating mine. Anyone else have that problem?

    All the calculators are based on averages. That means while they are close, they are not exact. Individuals can be above or below the mean average. You have the joy of being one of those above. If I was in the same situation I would eat more based on the number and re-evaluate in 3-4 week.
  • kgirlhart
    kgirlhart Posts: 4,976 Member
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    Thanks everyone. I think I am going to start aiming for 2000 per day even if my fitbit says I burn less. It is kind of scary. But I guess I have learned how to lose weight.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,372 Member
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    Calculators are very vague, honestly. Most TDEE calculators only take exercise into account, but not really the intensity of it (it goes from '3-5 hours of moderate exercise' to '5-7 hours of strenuous exercise', for example), and totally ignore daily activity. So it's pretty much impossible to say.

    Fitbit at the time was underestimating my daily calories by quite a bit though. I'm getting a new one for Christmas (the charge 2), so we'll see.
  • Machka9
    Machka9 Posts: 24,865 Member
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    Have you found your maintenance calorie goal to be higher than the calculators?

    Sadly ... no.

    The calculators say net 1500 ... and it seems net 1500 is it.
  • pearso21123
    pearso21123 Posts: 351 Member
    edited December 2016
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    MFP underestimates for me, as well. When I moved to maintenance it gave me ~1600. I ate that for a month and lost weight, so upped my cals to 1700 for a month. Lost weight so upped to 1800 for a month. Lost weight that month, too. Was just about to up to 1900 when I decided to try not counting calories anymore to see if I could maintain like a "normal" person :). I suspect I'm eating in the 2000 range currently and am maintaining, but not tracking calories, at least for now.

    Editing to add that I was very careful with tracking and also eating back 100% of my exercise calories.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,154 Member
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    The calculators underestimate significantly for me, too. I'm truly sedentary (retired, sedentary hobbies) outside of intentional exercise, but I have to set my MFP activity level to "active" (not just "lightly active") to get a calorie estimate that's even close to aligning with my loss rate.

    Most calculators suggest I'd be at around 1500 before exercise to maintain around 120 pounds; I think reality is 2000 or even a bit above, based on experience.

    (I don't know why, really, but I've been active for years at reasonably high intensity, even while fat, so at 61 I think I'm probably more muscular than most women my age, so that may be part of it - but only a small part, I'm sure.)

    If you look at data from some of the studies, most people cluster close to the mean (i.e., small standard deviation) but the bell curve does have a few folks out in the tails.
  • nxd10
    nxd10 Posts: 4,570 Member
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    I did that for a while (I dropped almost 10 pounds lower than my goal over 2 years), but then it came back up. If you're hungry eat a little more. Just watch the scale.

    Also, make sure you're not double counting your steps on calories (I was). You're set to sedentary here. Then follow the instructions meticulously to make sure you're getting the right number of steps and not double.
  • ARGriffy
    ARGriffy Posts: 1,002 Member
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    I certainly don't average my recommended cals. I know I undereat some days but I also know I binge out more than that and alcohol is a factor. My maintaince cals are 1800 ish but I would for sure say I go over that in a week when averaged out. But then again my activity level can vary massively, from a Monday day sat in the office allll day then on my backside at home in the eve, to a Saturday when I spend 15 hours on my feet running the restaurant floor with essentially no food in me. I have discovered that maintenance is a complex beast and over time I learn to listen to my body rather than count cals too much. I've not gained any real life weight in over a year now in fact I sit at the lower end of my range as opposed to the top at the start of the year. Each body is different and in my opinion, it's harder than just breaking down to activity level and CICO!
  • WinoGelato
    WinoGelato Posts: 13,454 Member
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    The calculators underestimate my TDEE by about 300 or so, but my FitBit has always been a pretty accurate predictor. It estimates my daily burn at around 2200, and I lost weight eating back those cals and have been maintaining for a couple of years. I'm 5'2 and 120.
  • zyxst
    zyxst Posts: 9,134 Member
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    I am the average person TDEE calculators are for. My Fitbit seems to be on target with maintenance/weight loss.
  • kgirlhart
    kgirlhart Posts: 4,976 Member
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    I thought that my fitbit was pretty accurate. I have had good luck eating back most if not all of my exercise adjustment while losing. I have been trying to maintain for 19 weeks but I have lost about 8 pounds since trying to maintain. My rate of loss is only about .5 per week, but I would really like to level out. About a month ago I switched my activity level from sedentary (I have a desk job and sit a good part of my day) to lightly active. That took me from 1550 to 1710 plus exercise. Then I really tried to eat all of my adjustment for the month. Most days I did. My average intake was about 60 calories higher than what my fitbit showed I burned so I would think that would have me holding pretty steady. I looked at my goals again today. Now since I am down 2.6 pounds since I changed my goal, mfp gives me 1510 for sedentary, 1690 for lightly active and 1930 for active. Most of the TDEE calculators give me about the same numbers if I put in sedentary and then add for exercise. I do exercise usually 6 days per week, but I wouldn't consider my exercise all that intense. I do beginning yoga dvds on weekday mornings (usually about 30 minutes) and I walk about 3 miles per day 6 days a week. I did do C25K recently and have started running on 3 of those day. So I guess 5 days a week I do about an hour and a half of exercise, but yoga is not a big calorie burner. I guess my walks/runs may be burning more than I think. I do walk outdoors at a park and it is pretty hilly. I think I will set to active and see how that goes for a few weeks. Thanks for all your input.
  • Gamliela
    Gamliela Posts: 2,468 Member
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    I'm eating more than the mfp setting says is my maintenance. Its closer to what maintenance levels were when I was 5 years younger, which is about 200 more. I'm still not completely stable on calorie intake and my excersize fluctuates too, I eat back th excersize calories. I have lost since beginning maintenance, but only a few pounds.
  • kgirlhart
    kgirlhart Posts: 4,976 Member
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    My data seems to suggest that my maintenance calories are around 2000 - 2300 or so. I switched my goal to active so it shows 1930, but I am going to try to hit at least 2000 everyday even if that says I am over my goal. And I will eat back all of my adjustment. I just think I might be getting negative adjustments. But even if I do I will try to hit 2000. I knew maintenance would be a range, not just a specific weight. I just didn't expect to still be losing after 4 months of trying to maintain.

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