Have you found your maintenance calorie goal to be higher than the calculators?
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WinoGelato wrote: »WinoGelato wrote: »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.
It's not the worst problem to have... especially going into the Holidays... you just have to work with the data to figure it out.
When I first got my FitBit I was set at sedentary on MFP because I thought thats what you're supposed to be set at when you have an office job. At the time I was averaging 10k steps/day and getting big exercise adjustments on MFP. I got good advice on these forums that no matter what your job is, 10ksteps/day isn't sedentary, and so I changed it to lightly active and got a bump in my base cals and lower exercise adjustments. I liked that because I felt it was more representative of my true purposeful "exercise" vs just the steps I get in daily activity. Now I average 14k steps/ day and am set at active. My base maintenance cals from MFP are 1830 (NEAT) and my FitBit estimates I burn 2200, so I tend to get 300 or so from exercise every day.
If you just changed the activity setting, I would probably give it a few weeks for the two systems to work together properly. I would increase your cals as you've suggested above and I bet the weight loss slows and levels off.
Transitioning to maintenance is an adjustment in mindset and calories and may require ongoing calibration of both.
This makes a lot of sense to me. I guess I just had not realized that I am not sedentary even though I do have a desk job. It is hard to change how you perceive yourself. I never thought of myself as active, but I guess I am. I think it has also been frustrating to me because I am getting a lot of people telling me lately that I don't need to lose any more weight. I haven't actually been trying to lose any weight since the end of July. I guess they mean well, but it makes me more frustrated.
Well and for me, at one point, I was sedentary, and those calculators were probably right. I've worked over the last 3.5 years to become more active every day, so that I now have a much higher NEAT and a higher TDEE than I did even before I lost >30 lbs. I eat more calories and more food now than I did before I lost the weight.... which is why I always try to inform people who feel that being a petite female over a certain age with a desk job is a guarantee of having to eat 1200 to lose and maintaining at 1600 or less... activity level makes a huge difference.
I've also had those comments, even though I haven't actively lost weight in over a year. Part of it is that I now am finally getting new clothes that fit me better, so that people can really see how different my body is. It hasn't changed in the last year, but the baggy clothes masked it so people now are like "whoa, you aren't still trying to lose, are you?". I am not even at the low end of my BMI, but I've hit a very comfortable range of calories and scale weight and don't really want to eat at a deficit anymore. Maybe after the first of the year, it might be fun to be the weight I was going into college, not the weight I came out of college...
I really am a lot more active now. I guess I didn't realize it would make such a difference. And I had not thought of the clothes angle. I did recently get some new clothes that actually fit.
There you go! Eat a little extra yummy food, keep doing what you're doing activity wise, and monitor the results for a couple more months. Good job on the weight loss and it's so fun getting new clothes, isn't it?1 -
Mine is lower.
Estimates vary from 2100 to as high as 2600 for the same level of activity - - lightly active based on exercise (mainly lifting 2-3 hrs/day, 5 days/wk).
I'm maintaining at 1800-1900 which I believe is due to adaptive thermogenesis.0 -
I'm kind of on the other side of the equation. When I plug my numbers into the online calculators (345 lbs, 33% BF), they always tell me that I should be eating 3300 cals per day. I feel like if I did this, I would only gain more weight.0
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Also, it might sound obvious, but I'm pretty sure that everyone eats more than they think, so even if they think that they are maintaining on 1500 calories, they're probably really eating 1600-1800 calories. I weigh everything, but even then, there's always a margin of error in packaged products etc.3
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Yes. Calculators calculate mine at ~1450 sedetary and ~1700-1900 (factoring in the exercise I do), but I maintain on 2100-2600.
I also can maintain if I drop my calories to ~1700 but I am lethargic, naturally move less, am colder, don't think as clearly, etc. All of the extra calories go towards my bodily functions working to the peak of their ability lol. I did an experiment where I maintained months at 1700 average and now I've been maintaining same weight on a much higher calorie amount. I have not deliberately changed my exercise, but have definitely self-monitored and found I naturally walk more, have more energy to do more, and get "more" out of my workouts than when I'm eating less. It is cool how the body can adapt.6 -
Flapjack_Mollases wrote: »I'm kind of on the other side of the equation. When I plug my numbers into the online calculators (345 lbs, 33% BF), they always tell me that I should be eating 3300 cals per day. I feel like if I did this, I would only gain more weight.
Feeling you would gain is not actually gaining. Having said that, at 345 pounds, the data to support that calorie level is probably very slim. It is probably more of an extrapolation from data of lower weight people. Also, you could eat say 2500 and be just fine because you have a lot of fat to lose.0 -
. . . I'm pretty sure that everyone eats more than they think, so even if they think that they are maintaining on 1500 calories, they're probably really eating 1600-1800 calories.
I disagree. Perhaps some but not "everyone" fails to calculate their cals accurately.
There are a lot of people on MFP who are very anal/compulsive about weighing and measuring EVERYTHING they eat down to the gram. I am not so extreme but I also weigh and measure "almost" everything I eat and I record the amount daily in an Excel sheet. When I work out, I also under report the cals burned so that I do not eat in excess.
I've been maintaining at 160# on 1800-1900 cals/day for a month. My min TDEE is 2100 and when I tried eating that much, based on how I measure my food, I immediately gained weight. Lost that weight back and have maintained at 1800-1900 cals ever since.
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. . . I'm pretty sure that everyone eats more than they think, so even if they think that they are maintaining on 1500 calories, they're probably really eating 1600-1800 calories.
I disagree. Perhaps some but not "everyone" fails to calculate their cals accurately.
There are a lot of people on MFP who are very anal/compulsive about weighing and measuring EVERYTHING they eat down to the gram. I am not so extreme but I also weigh and measure "almost" everything I eat and I record the amount daily in an Excel sheet. When I work out, I also under report the cals burned so that I do not eat in excess.
I've been maintaining at 160# on 1800-1900 cals/day for a month. My min TDEE is 2100 and when I tried eating that much, based on how I measure my food, I immediately gained weight. Lost that weight back and have maintained at 1800-1900 cals ever since.
You can weigh your food as much as you want, but if a package information is 20% off (which is totally legal), you're still eating more than you think (especially if it's something you eat regularly). Unless you don't eat packaged food, obviously, but even then, you can never really know exactly how many grams of fat your steak has compared to the USDA value...
Anyway, not sure why people get defensive when I mention this. I weigh 95% of what I eat (the 5% is when I don't eat home, and even then, I overestimate) and I'm sure I'm eating more calories than I think anyway...0 -
. . . I'm pretty sure that everyone eats more than they think, so even if they think that they are maintaining on 1500 calories, they're probably really eating 1600-1800 calories.
I disagree. Perhaps some but not "everyone" fails to calculate their cals accurately.
There are a lot of people on MFP who are very anal/compulsive about weighing and measuring EVERYTHING they eat down to the gram. I am not so extreme but I also weigh and measure "almost" everything I eat and I record the amount daily in an Excel sheet. When I work out, I also under report the cals burned so that I do not eat in excess.
I've been maintaining at 160# on 1800-1900 cals/day for a month. My min TDEE is 2100 and when I tried eating that much, based on how I measure my food, I immediately gained weight. Lost that weight back and have maintained at 1800-1900 cals ever since.
You can weigh your food as much as you want, but if a package information is 20% off (which is totally legal), you're still eating more than you think (especially if it's something you eat regularly). Unless you don't eat packaged food, obviously, but even then, you can never really know exactly how many grams of fat your steak has compared to the USDA value...
Anyway, not sure why people get defensive when I mention this. I weigh 95% of what I eat (the 5% is when I don't eat home, and even then, I overestimate) and I'm sure I'm eating more calories than I think anyway...
20% off could just as easily be lower, and many times is. In larger picture is averages out, and I have encountered enough people here whose weight loss is right in line with the changes they make in calorie consumption. They tend to be people who keep detailed long term records, and I would trust their results. I find that my weight loss when I am very careful about weighing and measuring is certainly closer than 20%.3 -
Sorry, OP. This is a bit off topic.
I've been maintaining at 160# on 1800-1900 cals/day for a month. My min TDEE is 2100 and when I tried eating that much, based on how I measure my food, I immediately gained weight. Lost that weight back and have maintained at 1800-1900 cals ever since.
Obviously I don't know anything about you specifically (height, activity level, etc) but i am suspicious in general when people say that they cannot possibly eat more because they tried it and "immediately" gained weight. The difference between 1800 (on the low end of what you say you can eat to maintain) and 2100 (what the calculators say) is 300 calories. Using the 3500 calories = 1 pound math, if you truly were overeating by 300 calories per day you would gain one pound of fat every 12 days. Considering that most of us experience fluctuations of 1 pound or more within the same week, it might take 24-36 days to actually see an upward trend. Is "immediately" three to five weeks? How many pounds did you "gain" "immediately"? Was it more than a normal fluctuation or more than 1 pound in 12 days? And did it take the normal amount of time at a deficit to lose it, or did it come back down within days?
It seems more likely that if you "immediately" gain weight by increasing calories by a few hundred it is a result of water, glycogen restoration, additional food in the colon, hormonal changes, etc rather than 200-300 calories in a day "immediately" causing noticeable fat gain.
If you didn't give it several weeks and watch the trend, you might be able to eat more than you think. Only you can decide if you want to try increasing a little bit for a couple weeks at a time to see if you can do so without gaining.5 -
benevempress wrote: »Sorry, OP. This is a bit off topic.
I've been maintaining at 160# on 1800-1900 cals/day for a month. My min TDEE is 2100 and when I tried eating that much, based on how I measure my food, I immediately gained weight. Lost that weight back and have maintained at 1800-1900 cals ever since.
Obviously I don't know anything about you specifically (height, activity level, etc) but i am suspicious in general when people say that they cannot possibly eat more because they tried it and "immediately" gained weight.
. . .
If you didn't give it several weeks and watch the trend, you might be able to eat more than you think. Only you can decide if you want to try increasing a little bit for a couple weeks at a time to see if you can do so without gaining.
If find it interesting that some people can't seem to accept my report that I am maintaining at 15% less than the calculated TDEE for me and try to "explain" why I'm wrong and why I should try to eat more, even when I gain weight and cannot maintain at my desired weight if I do.
I weigh myself and log everything I eat daily and I record all of this data on an Excel spreadsheet that now goes back 6 months. The trend of the data is very clear.
If I eat 1800-1900 net cals/day, my weight now stays at 160 +/- 2#. I've been doing this for over a month already. The only time my weight has exceeded +2# was when I raised my cals to 2100 as calculated and I didn't need several weeks to figure out that this was too many cals for me
Believe it or not, as you choose, but I'm not going to fight the data or the scale. It is what it is and I'm going to do what is right for me.
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You can weigh your food as much as you want, but if a package information is 20% off (which is totally legal), you're still eating more than you think (especially if it's something you eat regularly). Unless you don't eat packaged food, obviously, but even then, you can never really know exactly how many grams of fat your steak has compared to the USDA value...
Anyway, not sure why people get defensive when I mention this. I weigh 95% of what I eat (the 5% is when I don't eat home, and even then, I overestimate) and I'm sure I'm eating more calories than I think anyway...
Perhaps it's because you are over-generalizing from your personal experience and expecting people to believe your unsubstantiated statements, particularly when they are inconsistent w/the experience of others.
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born_of_fire74 wrote: »Most TDEE's recommend ~2000 cal but I maintain at 1700. Sad panda.
TDEE is individual and cannot be a recommended value.3 -
You can weigh your food as much as you want, but if a package information is 20% off (which is totally legal), you're still eating more than you think (especially if it's something you eat regularly). Unless you don't eat packaged food, obviously, but even then, you can never really know exactly how many grams of fat your steak has compared to the USDA value...
Anyway, not sure why people get defensive when I mention this. I weigh 95% of what I eat (the 5% is when I don't eat home, and even then, I overestimate) and I'm sure I'm eating more calories than I think anyway...
Perhaps it's because you are over-generalizing from your personal experience and expecting people to believe your unsubstantiated statements, particularly when they are inconsistent w/the experience of others.
Statement that is obviously impossible to verify one way or another because it's not exact science. And by the number of posts on MFP about people who 'gain weight on 1200 calories' or 'can't lose weight' or 'I gain weight as soon as I eat more than 1500 calories', I'd wager that I'm probably correct in assuming that most people eat more than they think.
I'll save myself the time and won't bother looking up all the numerous videos on youtube about it either.1 -
Interesting that folks can wrap their heads around "I need more calories than average" but not "I need fewer calories than average" given the population exists with a distribution that goes both ways.7
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Interesting that folks can wrap their heads around "I need more calories than average" but not "I need fewer calories than average" given the population exists with a distribution that goes both ways.
I've always found that very odd, too. I can assert on a thread that I maintain on like 25% more calories than MFP suggests (before exercise) and no one bats an eyelash, but let someone claim to be 10% low, and at least a few people jump all over them. The graphs I've seen look like a (narrow) normal distribution, so I'd expect to find a small number of people out in both tails.5 -
No. Mine seem about right or lower. I don't do cardio so when I set MFP to maintain, that's my TDEE. Sucks. 1800 calories to maintain weight while I'm trying to deadlift almost 300lbs and train 4x per week. fml.0
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Yes. I sync my Apple Watch to MFP and record everything. I eat over my MFP goal, but have been plateaued for 3 weeks and not gaining0
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No. Mine seem about right or lower. I don't do cardio so when I set MFP to maintain, that's my TDEE. Sucks. 1800 calories to maintain weight while I'm trying to deadlift almost 300lbs and train 4x per week. fml.
Wow, you poor girl that is really low for all of that. I am so sorry0 -
What do you guys think maint calories are for a 6'1 41 year old 188 pound guy would be? Medium to large frame build?
1800? 2000? Just want to start maintaining as close to the real target number as possible.
Thanks!0 -
findingone wrote: »What do you guys think maint calories are for a 6'1 41 year old 188 pound guy would be? Medium to large frame build?
1800? 2000? Just want to start maintaining as close to the real target number as possible.
Thanks!
Um no. I'm a 5'2, 42 year old, 120 lb female and my maintenance calories are 2200 (I'm pretty active but still). Yours will not be under 2000 cals, even if you are sedentary.
Put your stats into a TDEE calculator like this one:
http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/
Or use your own data points which I think is more reliable. If you are actively logging and accurately tracking your CI and have good estimates on your CO, as well as your overall results (are you losing? How much? How fast? How consistently?) then you can calculate your own maintenance calories after enough data points.
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WinoGelato wrote: »findingone wrote: »What do you guys think maint calories are for a 6'1 41 year old 188 pound guy would be? Medium to large frame build?
1800? 2000? Just want to start maintaining as close to the real target number as possible.
Thanks!
Um no. I'm a 5'2, 42 year old, 120 lb female and my maintenance calories are 2200 (I'm pretty active but still). Yours will not be under 2000 cals, even if you are sedentary.
Put your stats into a TDEE calculator like this one:
http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/
Or use your own data points which I think is more reliable. If you are actively logging and accurately tracking your CI and have good estimates on your CO, as well as your overall results (are you losing? How much? How fast? How consistently?) then you can calculate your own maintenance calories after enough data points.
I'll check out the calculator. My PCP told me to try and stay around 1500 calories to maintain. But he is a PCP and not a nutritionist. Honestly, I have existed at 1200 calories with 0 issues for the past 3 months and hit goal. If you are telling me that you, at 5'2 120 pounds, and a female...have 2200 as your maint calories? I am going to be eating like a fat king soon going from 1200 to whatever a 6'1 188 pound guys is supposed to get.
I will check out that link you posted. Thanks for that.
Edit: Ok so that calculator cannot be right. It is telling me that in order to maintain my weight at 188 pounds 6'1 with moderate exercise, I eat 2900 calories???!!!!
Where da cheetos at!0 -
No. But I wore a fitbit and then an apple watch to make sure I counted my exercise calories.0
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findingone wrote: »WinoGelato wrote: »findingone wrote: »What do you guys think maint calories are for a 6'1 41 year old 188 pound guy would be? Medium to large frame build?
1800? 2000? Just want to start maintaining as close to the real target number as possible.
Thanks!
Um no. I'm a 5'2, 42 year old, 120 lb female and my maintenance calories are 2200 (I'm pretty active but still). Yours will not be under 2000 cals, even if you are sedentary.
Put your stats into a TDEE calculator like this one:
http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/
Or use your own data points which I think is more reliable. If you are actively logging and accurately tracking your CI and have good estimates on your CO, as well as your overall results (are you losing? How much? How fast? How consistently?) then you can calculate your own maintenance calories after enough data points.
I'll check out the calculator. My PCP told me to try and stay around 1500 calories to maintain. But he is a PCP and not a nutritionist. Honestly, I have existed at 1200 calories with 0 issues for the past 3 months and hit goal. If you are telling me that you, at 5'2 120 pounds, and a female...have 2200 as your maint calories? I am going to be eating like a fat king soon going from 1200 to whatever a 6'1 188 pound guys is supposed to get.
I will check out that link you posted. Thanks for that.
Edit: Ok so that calculator cannot be right. It is telling me that in order to maintain my weight at 188 pounds 6'1 with moderate exercise, I eat 2900 calories???!!!!
Where da cheetos at!
Without plugging any of your numbers into any website, at first blush, a 6'1 male weighing 188 lbs - absolutely 2900 cals/day could be reasonable.
You've been eating 1200 cals? And your doctor suggested 1500? That is far too low for an otherwise healthy male just looking to lose some weight - how much are you trying to lose? Have you plugged your numbers into MFP with a reasonable goal rate of loss (no more than 1 lb/week) and gotten a NEAT (exercise not included) calorie goal from that?
I eat cheetohs fairly regularly.0
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