Ladies - What are your maintenance calories?

JackieMarie1989jgw

I'm 5'5". I'm currently postpartum and overweight and trying to lose so I'm not sure of my current maintenance, but before I was pregnant I could eat about 1800 cal to maintain my weight of 130-145. (Had some fluctuations over several years). Lightly active, on my feet for my job (nurse) but not athletic or very active out of work.

JackieMarie1989jgw

In the past (again, not counting now since breastfeeding complicates things) I have always had to eat about 1450 to lose 1 lb/week

AnnPT77

havronab wrote: »

AnnPT77 wrote: »

havronab wrote: »

cwolfman13 wrote: »

havronab wrote: »

I'm curious how many calories you guys can eat and maintain? I'm trying to calculate mine, but online calculators give me a range from 2100 to 2600. However, looking at my own data (I've been consuming 1900 calories on average and losing 2 lbs per week average over the last 3 months), I'm getting 2900ish, but that seems crazy high. So here are my questions.

What are your stats?
What is your exercise routine?
What are your maintenance calories?

I'm 5'7 and currently 173.5 (started at 295 almost a year ago).
I exercise 5 days per week, 3 days lifting heavy, cardio all 5 days (20-60 minutes at varying levels of intensity depending how my body feels). I'm fairly active during the day (lots of cooking, cleaning, & chasing after kids).
I'm estimating my maintenance calories to be at 2900, though I'm curious if that is realistic and welcome any input.
I'm curious to see other people's stats! Thanks!

The math doesn't lie...the math and your real world results are more accurate than anything. It seems high because you've been conditioned that women need to eat like little birds.

My wife is short at 5'2"-5'3"...she runs regularly and lifts and chases two little boys around the house everyday (3 if you count me) and she maintains on about 2200-2300 calories.

@cwolfman13 Haha okay, that's good to know. It seems rare to see women eat more than 1200-1500 while losing weight, so I was having a hard time imagining that I could eat so much and continue to lose/maintain. It's helpful to see that it really is possible to eat a large amount of calories without gaining weight back! It's hard to get past the mental block though. I've had to up my calories several times over the past 6 months or so to respond to increased hunger. Every time I've worried that I'll stop losing or gain, but I keep losing and at a fast rate. For whatever reason I still struggle to believe I could eat more if I wanted to. I'm working on that though.

I tried 1200 net calories, eating back all exercise in top of that, and lost waaaay too fast, getting fatigued/weak . . . at age 59, 5'5", and weight (then) in the 150s.

This stuff is very individual: That's why your own data is so important!

I maintain at a weight in the 120s at something in the low 2000s net (around 2100-2300 depending on season because NEAT varies), more like 2300-2500 gross, at age 61. I'm lucky.

Maybe you're lucky, too: I see no particular reason you should doubt the 2900, especially if you plan to reverse-diet to get there. By reverse dieting, you'll give yourself the best potential for some upward NEAT creep, and have a chance to adjust in the unlikely event that that estimate is too high.

Thanks, @AnnPT77 ! That's very helpful to hear. I may very well just be lucky like you. It's hard to wrap my brain around, as I have spent my entire adult life telling myself that I'm unlucky when it comes to my weight (thinking my obesity was due in some part to bad genes, slow metabolism, etc.) when all along it was just my bad habits keeping me obese. It's very eye opening to realize that really isn't the case.

I'm right there with you, perception-wise! My mom was obese, I thought it was wired in. I guess if I'd really had the metabolism I thought I had, I would've been morbidly obese rather than just obese, maybe, on what I was eating. Sobering! Even now, I'm almost afraid to talk about it, lest I jinx it.

BTW: Forgot to mention, I'm sedentary outside of intentional exercise, which I still eat back, and hypothyroid. Very, very lucky: Calculators estimate more like 1500 net for me, not 2000+.

JaydedMiss

5 ft 3 130 pounds i walk on average 20-30k steps a day i maintain at 2200-2600- days im not active its around 1500-1600

Sp1tfire

5'7", 115 lbs maintaining at 1900-2000 a day. I work 2 jobs (one food service, 1 retail) so I'm standing and walking all day. Then at home I lift 2-3x a week and do elliptical for 30 minutes 2 x a week. Those days I may eat more.

Francl27

39, 5"4.5', 142 lbs, maintain at 2300-2400 walking 15-20k steps a day in average - typically 2 hours of purposeful walking. If I walk 3000 steps, it goes down to 1700 or something. Very sad.

Activity makes a huge difference, and obviously how accurate you are with your logging is too (I see a lot of people saying they maintain on something ridiculous like 1400 calories but they estimate everything).

OP, I'd put your stats as lightly active in a TDEE calculator and go from there.

its_me_april

I'm currently around 140 pounds, 5'6.5" and 31 years old. I lift heavy for me 4-5 days a week with a few hours of light cardio thrown in per week. I am now dieting, but prior to that, I was eating "intuitively" and maintaining my previous weight of around 144 eating about 2100-2600 calories / day (I was not tracking, but believe that to be a good estimate).

tinkerbellang83

Age 34, 5'8", 223lb - 2100 net Maintenance, losing on 1600 + all exercise calories (as much as an extra 1000 calories depending on how active a day I have had).

ChelzFit

5'7 133 Pounds and without any activity my TDEE is 1700 cals. I workout 4-5 days a week and on those days I get around 8k steps. The other days I try for 15k steps and maintain on 2,400-2,500 with that activity level.

deannalfisher

5'3", 148-150ish; maintain on about 2400 - I'm an endurance triathlete so it changes depending on the season; I also work with a RD to tailor my needs

SafioraLinnea

5'3.5" 165lbs. I lose eating 1750-2050 calories but I may need to up my calories more to continue the half to one pound loss goal, as I've recently increased my activity. I have no desire to increase my rate of loss with activity, I just really like swimming.

I nurse a baby, walk for 30-60 minutes 5 days a week, and I've just started going swimming 1-2 times a week. Otherwise I'm a SAHM who is going back to work soon as an RN (read: on my feet for 85-90% of an 8 or 12 hour shift).

need2belean

havronab wrote: »

I'm curious how many calories you guys can eat and maintain? I'm trying to calculate mine, but online calculators give me a range from 2100 to 2600. However, looking at my own data (I've been consuming 1900 calories on average and losing 2 lbs per week average over the last 3 months), I'm getting 2900ish, but that seems crazy high. So here are my questions.

What are your stats?
What is your exercise routine?
What are your maintenance calories?

I'm 5'7 and currently 173.5 (started at 295 almost a year ago).
I exercise 5 days per week, 3 days lifting heavy, cardio all 5 days (20-60 minutes at varying levels of intensity depending how my body feels). I'm fairly active during the day (lots of cooking, cleaning, & chasing after kids).
I'm estimating my maintenance calories to be at 2900, though I'm curious if that is realistic and welcome any input.
I'm curious to see other people's stats! Thanks!

I think that's very realistic if you do all that exercise on top of being active throughout the day. I'm 6'0" and I'm maintaining right now at around 2200-2300 calories but I also don't eat back my exercise calories because I never have. So, I'm probably only around 2000 maintaining on average (I usually have some sort of event on Saturdays which brings those calories close to 3000 so it averages out) but I also have a sit down job. So, besides my 80-90minutes of exercise 5 days a week, I'm sitting most of the day. I'm maintaining right now around 173lbs.

Although, after reading all your comments, it seems I should be eating back some of my exercise calories but I just a little terrified to eat around 2500. I guess I can try it out.

RedSierra

I'm 5'4", 63 year old female, 136 pounds.

I lost 41 pounds last year using MFP and have maintained since November 2016. I give myself a 5 pound range, around 140 (145 is my overweight line).

I exercise by walking every day about 60-90 minutes. Once in a while I jog.

I think my maintenance calories are 1540, but I usually eat more than that. I log everything, but I don't worry if I go over a few hundred calories -- to be honest, I have almost never measured or weighed my food, although I do read labels. I tend to eat the same simple food. I weigh myself every day, watch the scale, and watch how my clothes fit. The scale is my friend.

mfpmishka

5'8, 33 years old, 125lbs, running 30-50 miles per week, walking dog and doing house shores, otherwise resting, my maintenance is 2200-2600.

nowine4me

5-7" 145# -- maintain at 2000, burn 500 per day with intentional exercise and lift 3x/week

susanofarrell

I had myself tested at the Docs and it 1530 calories a day maintenance for me.
I'm 5 7 and 53 yo at 180 lbs. To lose weight, I go to 1250 or 1300 calories a day (which can be tough to sustain).
Good luck!

JessicaMcB

5'10", 26, 130. Very active outside of intentional exercise (15-20k steps a day because children), 100+km running a week, maintained between 3,300 and 4,000 for the last year.

newheavensearth

First, congratulations on your weight loss and you look super!

My stats: 5'3", still losing

SW 208
CW 138
GW 125 (pending dietitian consult next week)
Current calories w/o exercise 1320 (1/2 lb per week)
Maintenace calories w/o exercise 1570

Exercise: 1 hr daily cardio. Weights, 1 hr, 3-4 times per week. Sometimes I do extra cardio for stress stress relief and to avoid binge eating so its not unusual for me to have a 1000 calorie burn here and there. I do eat some back.

Graelwyn75

At present it seems to be between 2000-2800 including exercise. I am tall however and have quite a high lean mass.

Rashawnab

havronab wrote: »

I'm curious how many calories you guys can eat and maintain? I'm trying to calculate mine, but online calculators give me a range from 2100 to 2600. However, looking at my own data (I've been consuming 1900 calories on average and losing 2 lbs per week average over the last 3 months), I'm getting 2900ish, but that seems crazy high. So here are my questions.

What are your stats?
What is your exercise routine?
What are your maintenance calories?

I'm 5'7 and currently 173.5 (started at 295 almost a year ago).
I exercise 5 days per week, 3 days lifting heavy, cardio all 5 days (20-60 minutes at varying levels of intensity depending how my body feels). I'm fairly active during the day (lots of cooking, cleaning, & chasing after kids).
I'm estimating my maintenance calories to be at 2900, though I'm curious if that is realistic and welcome any input.
I'm curious to see other people's stats! Thanks!

5 ft 2 in, 124 lbs, maintaining at 1720 (exercise not included)

MakePeasNotWar

42, 5'9" 148 lb

40-60 minutes cardio 3 days a week, 40-ish minutes weights plus 20 minutes cardio 3 days a week, lightly active outside exercise bouts

Maintain at about 2700

PowerliftingMom

58 YO, 5'0", 137lbs. and maintenance cals are between 1600-1800. I'm a powerlifter and lift 4x/week and do minimal cardio

bbell1985

5'4"
140
1800
Lifting and no cardio, lightly active

I might be able to push it to 1900, or it could be 1900. But I'm a crap logger these days.

tomteboda

5'9", 39 years old
155 lbs
Sedentary: 1400 calories
15K+ steps: 2000 calories

Frankly this seems grossly unfair to me, but what can you do?

Keapix

I went into maintenance on Saturday, and MFP has given me - at 5' 6" - 1640 calories per day. Disappointingly, it's not many more than my weight loss phase! I typically earn around 300 activity calories, so my guess is that it will be about 1900.

SmithsonianEmpress

bbell1985 wrote: »

5'4"
140
1800
Lifting and no cardio, lightly active

I might be able to push it to 1900, or it could be 1900. But I'm a crap logger these days.

Nothing to do with this thread....I just love your profile pic...it speaks volumes

brznhabits

5'4
41
Female
210 lbs
Maintenance is around 2200 - I fit right in between what calculators say for sedentary and lightly active. I manually override my target in settings.
For slow loss my target is 1800 (before added activity cals). I have a desk job but walk about a mile and do the stairs a couple times a day which I don't add separately. If I exercise in the evening it's usually light, walking/yoga, and I add the activity separately and typically don't eat those small cals back.

My activity sky rockets on most weekends and I log those separately. I typically log only half the minutes and often eat all those cals back.

bbell1985

SmithsonianEmpress wrote: »

bbell1985 wrote: »

5'4"
140
1800
Lifting and no cardio, lightly active

I might be able to push it to 1900, or it could be 1900. But I'm a crap logger these days.

Nothing to do with this thread....I just love your profile pic...it speaks volumes

Thank you:) It's the new look I decided to wear. Easier to maintain.

trjjoy

SOOOOO many! I'm breastfeeding and I'm still losing weight at 5.5 months post-partum. I am 1.63m and 61kg. I can get away with, at bare minimum, 2500+ calories without doing intentional exercise.

singingflutelady

41, 5'8, 121.5, sedentary due to illness/recovering from major surgery and still have open wound, 1500-1600. I basically lay in bed all day as sitting is painful. Only intentional exercise is 30 minutes walking around 4 days a week.