Still losing with the app set to maintain weight?

DianaPeneff

I'm still losing weight even though the app is set to maintain my weight. Should I up my goal from 1680 calories/day for a female 55 yrs of age? I can't seem to find a consistent website that shows how many calories I should be eating/day.

Suzanne_the_foot_lady

It depends on your height and activity levels. Do you eat all your calories and do you eat the calories earned by workouts?

middlehaitch

What are the rest of your stats?
How long have you been in maintenance?
Are you eating back your exercise calories?

Finding ones maintenance can take time. MFP gives an estimate based on your stats, but It isn't accurate for everyone.

If you are still losing a significant amount after 4-6 weeks gradually up your calories by 50 a day. Give yourself a week or 2 at each increase.

Cheers, h.

sijomial

When you are comparing your goal on here to goals elsewhere do you understand the different methodologies that different sites use?

Why not just keep it simple - if you are losing weight when you want to be maintaining then eat more.......

kgirlhart

I lose weight on what mfp gives me for maintenance. I'm 5'3.5", 49 years old. It gives me ~1625, but I usually average 1900-2200. You need to just play around with it a little. If you log exercise and do not eat the exercise calories then you should start by eating the exercise calories. If you already are eating them then look at your weight loss trend. If you are losing .5 pounds per week then you are eating at a 250 per day deficit so to maintain you need to add 250 calories per day. Calculators are just estimates. Use your own data to figure out your maintenance goal if the calculators are not working for you.

AnnPT77

kgirlhart wrote: »

I lose weight on what mfp gives me for maintenance. I'm 5'3.5", 49 years old. It gives me ~1625, but I usually average 1900-2200. You need to just play around with it a little. If you log exercise and do not eat the exercise calories then you should start by eating the exercise calories. If you already are eating them then look at your weight loss trend. If you are losing .5 pounds per week then you are eating at a 250 per day deficit so to maintain you need to add 250 calories per day. Calculators are just estimates. Use your own data to figure out your maintenance goal if the calculators are not working for you.

^^^^ This. Just start bumping your calories up gradually until you stop losing.

If I followed MFP's maintenance calorie estimate (or that of any other calculator I've tried) - even using completely accurate inputs - I'd still be losing a pound and a half a week, at least. So I ignore it, and eat my actual maintenance calories.

So: Congratulations: You've won the calorie lottery. Eat more!

PAV8888

AnnPT77 wrote: »

kgirlhart wrote: »

I lose weight on what mfp gives me for maintenance. I'm 5'3.5", 49 years old. It gives me ~1625, but I usually average 1900-2200. You need to just play around with it a little. If you log exercise and do not eat the exercise calories then you should start by eating the exercise calories. If you already are eating them then look at your weight loss trend. If you are losing .5 pounds per week then you are eating at a 250 per day deficit so to maintain you need to add 250 calories per day. Calculators are just estimates. Use your own data to figure out your maintenance goal if the calculators are not working for you.

^^^^ This. Just start bumping your calories up gradually until you stop losing.

If I followed MFP's maintenance calorie estimate (or that of any other calculator I've tried) - even using completely accurate inputs - I'd still be losing a pound and a half a week, at least. So I ignore it, and eat my actual maintenance calories.

So: Congratulations: You've won the calorie lottery. Eat more!

BOTH of the above!
What are you waiting for?
(and use a weight trend web site or app to evaluate your weight change over time)

riffraff2112

I think you know the answer to this one! It is a good problem to have, congrats

JeanCricket

I initially lost weight on my MFP maintenance calories as well. I gradually raised them until I was no longer losing. For me that meant about 1600 calories a day.

Takes some time and some trial & error, but you'll find the calorie number that works for you.

lorrpb

If you are still losing, then up your calories a bit. If you're losing .5 per week, then up your calories by a couple hundred.

spiriteagle99

I'm another whose MFP maintenance calories were too low. I raised my base calories, eat all my exercise calories, am a bit loose on my logging, and I am still slowly losing. Eventually I'll find the right balance of CICO.

cwolfman13

DianaPeneff wrote: »

I'm still losing weight even though the app is set to maintain my weight. Should I up my goal from 1680 calories/day for a female 55 yrs of age? I can't seem to find a consistent website that shows how many calories I should be eating/day.

Calculators like this aren't gospel...they're just a reasonably good estimate. No calculator is going to be able to give you your exact maintenance calories...and in reality, you don't have exact maintenance calories....you have a range of calories for which you will maintain depending on the day to day over time.

Just increase calories until you start to maintain...use your own data...you don't need a calculator to tell you anything.

LiftHeavyThings27105

Perfect examples of why these formulas are just starting points (and, to be clear, all formulas....) and why I suggest that people actually play with this (finding maintenance) based on real life experience and not 'what this or that formula tells me'!

So, if I might suggest, invest the time in weighing yourself every day (on the same scale, at the same time, every day) and after one week what does the trend tell you? If you are loosing weight - and you are eating the 1680 calories a day (and I will trust that you are actually eating 1680 calories....that might be something that you want to double check) - then maybe add 85 calories a day (roughly 5% increase) and track your weight every day. What does the trend tell you for that week? I like to make small changes....based on what you are actually doing. So, a 5% increase makes sense to me. Feel free to increase that first week 170 calories a day (roughly a 10% increase)....

When you finally find the trend where you are neither gaining nor lossing.....that is likely your maintenance. Keep in mind that your menstral cycle will - in all likelihood - throw things off a little bit. So, take that into account.

Once you find YOUR number, stay at that number (let's just say that it is 1,800 Calories.....totally made up number). So, for the next two or three weeks stay at 1,800 Calories. What does the trend tell you? BAM! There you go....you know now what your maintenance is.

Using a formula - any formula - is just a starting point. Some formulas are better than others. But, in the context of 'what works for YOU?' they are all the same: a starting point.

Once you have that number - no matter where you have it - you have to do the work to figure out how YOU fit into that formula. That is where YOUR work comes into play.....

Need2Exerc1se

DianaPeneff wrote: »

I'm still losing weight even though the app is set to maintain my weight. Should I up my goal from 1680 calories/day for a female 55 yrs of age? I can't seem to find a consistent website that shows how many calories I should be eating/day.

I'm about your age and I maintain on a lot more than that. MFP calculations put me at 17XX calories per day for lightly active. Maybe I'm at the wrong activity level but my maintenance calories are over 2000 per day.

I was over 1700 on average when losing.