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

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Replies

  • sgt1372
    sgt1372 Posts: 3,997 Member
    benevempress wrote: »
    Sorry, OP. This is a bit off topic.
    sgt1372 wrote: »

    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.
  • sgt1372
    sgt1372 Posts: 3,997 Member
    Francl27 wrote: »
    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.

  • trigden1991
    trigden1991 Posts: 4,658 Member
    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.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    sgt1372 wrote: »
    Francl27 wrote: »
    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.
  • bbell1985
    bbell1985 Posts: 4,571 Member
    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.
  • Heartisalonelyhunter
    Heartisalonelyhunter Posts: 786 Member
    tomteboda wrote: »
    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.

    QFT. It's as if people don't understand what a median is...
  • Bridogg72
    Bridogg72 Posts: 45 Member
    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 gaining
  • Noreenmarie1234
    Noreenmarie1234 Posts: 7,492 Member
    bbell1985 wrote: »
    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 sorry
  • findingone
    findingone Posts: 31 Member
    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!
  • WinoGelato
    WinoGelato Posts: 13,454 Member
    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.

  • bbell1985
    bbell1985 Posts: 4,571 Member
    Noreenmarie1234 wrote: »
    bbell1985 wrote: »
    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 sorry

    Well that didn't make me feel much better either
  • findingone
    findingone Posts: 31 Member
    edited December 2016
    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. :smile:

    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!
  • nxd10
    nxd10 Posts: 4,570 Member
    No. But I wore a fitbit and then an apple watch to make sure I counted my exercise calories.
  • WinoGelato
    WinoGelato Posts: 13,454 Member
    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. :smile:

    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.

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