How to Find Your Maintenance Calorie Level
Replies
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So if I wanted to cut back to 10 miles per day at my the middle of my target weight range of 150 to 164 I'd need to be eating 1900 calories per day, BMR = 1427, plus 10*157*.3?
Yes. At 157 pounds, you'd burn something in the neighborhood of 50 calories per mile walked. That said, 3-4 hours of walking per day is bonkers. I can't see how that is sustainable.
You've got to learn to manage your calories by diet. As it stands now, one injury and all of that weight will come back on.6 -
That is a great post OP - havent read it before.
Not because I dont read stickies if I need to but because I was already maintaining with no issues
Fortunately for me the easiest method works - set MFP to 'maintain' and eat that number as a net calorie level.
I dont track accurately but the approximate logging I did in weight loss worked for me so I just adjusted the number and continued on.7 -
Thought I had read a lot of/most of the stickies, along with following threads, where this is discussed. But glad this was bumped today, as it was just what I needed. Clear and concise, just to refresh what I have learnt from these forums over the years. Thanks for taking the time to explain.4
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Thanks for all the advise I think I have what I need now, and the numbers make a little more sense. I was worried that the hypothyroidism was having a big affect on the weight loss but it turns out it is not. I'll be keeping up the 14 mile a day routine until a planned hiking trip in July as part of the training for the hike and then dropping my mileage after that. The eating is the hard part I just hope the days of feeling like I'm a bottomless pit that cannot be filled are over once I get a good balance/maintenance level figured out.6
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@envscuba High cardio triggers the overwhelming urge to eat. "Hiker hunger." I am fighting that battle alongside of you!1
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CoachJen71 wrote: »@envscuba High cardio triggers the overwhelming urge to eat. "Hiker hunger." I am fighting that battle alongside of you!
My obsession with SUP paddling has been a double edged sword. I can get a big calorie burn in 2 or 3 hours of something I enjoy doing and at the pace I am going, it's cardio. But man am I hungry when I finish! And not just for a little while after; pretty much until I go to sleep.3 -
My is usually the worst sitting at work (desk job). I found that snacking on fruit and veggies throughout the day is a low cal way of satisfying most of it.2
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I am about to go on a diet break and had no idea what I should use for maintenance calories other than a vague notion of using “past data.” So, thank you for this. I am bumping it up for others who may need it too (and saving it for later when I finally reach true maintenance).4
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Hi all- new here to the whole maintenance thing and I am really struggling and worried because i definitely feel like i keep losing although i really am not trying to. I have been scared to increase my calories so i am doing it very very slowly.
I am still doing mainly cardio where right now the gym's are not open- but I am starting to notice when I look in the mirror I am seeing more bones and it scares me. How do I stop my body from losing fat and muscle?
Also- it might be a silly question but when people work on maintaining, how rigid are you with tracking little things like condiments that you might eat with foods, ie: ketchup, dipping sauces, etc. Do you incorporate these and still track these in your MFP diaries once you are trying to work on maintaining? Any advice and support would be appreciated! Struggling hard core over here
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amarquis792 wrote: »Hi all- new here to the whole maintenance thing and I am really struggling and worried because i definitely feel like i keep losing although i really am not trying to. I have been scared to increase my calories so i am doing it very very slowly.
I am still doing mainly cardio where right now the gym's are not open- but I am starting to notice when I look in the mirror I am seeing more bones and it scares me. How do I stop my body from losing fat and muscle?
Also- it might be a silly question but when people work on maintaining, how rigid are you with tracking little things like condiments that you might eat with foods, ie: ketchup, dipping sauces, etc. Do you incorporate these and still track these in your MFP diaries once you are trying to work on maintaining? Any advice and support would be appreciated! Struggling hard core over here
Why don't you try increasing your calories a little if you are still losing? Are you eating back your exercise calories? If you have increased cardio you may well have put yourself back in to a deficit.
I log and weigh everything where possible and do my best to make educated guesses for meals out or meals prepared by someone else. Overall I'd say my diary is about 90% accurate logging, inclusive of little things like condiments.2 -
For me dipping sauce and condiments can be some of the most calorie dense foods I see so I am very careful about trying to be honest with logging those. Mustard, for example, is like almost nothing if I remember right, ketchup is maybe 25 calories a tbsp? But some other sauces and dips can be 100's of calories or more depending on how much is used. So I guess the answer is: it depends?
A drop here or a finger lick there isn't anything to throw off my day, but if I purposefully put it on or in my food? I'm trying my best to log it.
I'm moving into maintenance this week myself and trying to up my calories. It's been hard but nice. There's still that fear that if I'm not losing I'm gaining again. But I do get to eat more which is nice. I've added calories on to my breakfast and lunch (100-200 each meal) and about the same at dinner time.
I think its going to be a while until I get comfortable in maintenance, this has always been my struggle. But I'll keep trying until I get it right!
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amarquis792 wrote: »Hi all- new here to the whole maintenance thing and I am really struggling and worried because i definitely feel like i keep losing although i really am not trying to. I have been scared to increase my calories so i am doing it very very slowly.
Doing it slowly is fine. If you're concerned that your health may suffer, think about speeding up that slow increase a little, either a bit bigger calorie bump each time, or more frequent small calorie bumps.
Think about it: If you get yourself 100 calories above your maintenance level every single day, it will take over a month to gain a pound of body fat. Clearly, you know how to lose a pound, if necessary.
The risks of too-fast too-far loss are probably higher than the risks of regain that would be very slow.I am still doing mainly cardio where right now the gym's are not open- but I am starting to notice when I look in the mirror I am seeing more bones and it scares me. How do I stop my body from losing fat and muscle?
I think you know the answer to this: You need to eat more to stabilize your weight. Strength training and adequate protein (which has calories!) will help with maintaining muscle. If you don't have equipment at home, consider bodyweight strength routines, such as some in this thread:
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10332083/which-lifting-program-is-the-best-for-you/p1
If you find you're eating what MFP (or another calculator) says is your maintenance calories, but you're still clearly losing weight over a period of weeks, don't be afraid: Eat more. Calculators don't actually calculate; they estimate.
This is not a universal experience (it's fairly rare, in fact), but if I believed MFP's estimate of my maintenance calories, even eating back all my exercise calories, I'd lose weight quite rapidly. If I kept it up (which I wouldn't, probably couldn't), I'd be in the hospital in less than a year. That's unusual, but it can happen. They're just estimates. When you log carefully, your own log data is more definitive.
If you're truly struggling with eating more, you might consider speaking with a counselor or therapist. We go to personal trainers when we need exercise help, to registered dietitians when we need eating help, it should be no different to go to these professionals for help when our thought-patterns get at cross-purposes with our life goals (or especially our health). There should be no more hesitation or stigma about this than with those other professionals. And it's a thing that can be done remotely, while sheltering at home.
Also- it might be a silly question but when people work on maintaining, how rigid are you with tracking little things like condiments that you might eat with foods, ie: ketchup, dipping sauces, etc. Do you incorporate these and still track these in your MFP diaries once you are trying to work on maintaining? Any advice and support would be appreciated! Struggling hard core over here
This is a style and personality thing, I think. If you read around in the Maintaining Weight section of MFP, you'll find people maintaining (even long term) all kinds of ways.
At one extreme, some people stop food logging altogether, and watch the scale or clothing fit, doing just fine eating habitually or intuitively. At the other extreme, some keep logging every bite, lick and taste they eat, even if they have to estimate some restaurant meals or special events.
I'm closer to the latter, personally. I don't find logging psychologically obsessive, stressful or burdensome; and the whole process (in year 4+) probably takes me less than 10 minutes on a typical day, which I consider an excellent time investment for the value I get. One way in which I've relaxed my practice in maintenance is that if I hit a meal or day that would be time-consuming to log, and it's a rare thing, I'll just skip that day. (Example: Potluck dinner, meal at an Indian restaurant buffet, vacation trip.) Same if I have a rare especially busy day and feel like there's a better use for the 10 minutes on that particular day. Other than that, it's easier for me, especially when cooking at home, to just weigh everything and log it as a steady habit, without some thought process about "should I log this or not". It takes less time and energy just to log it. I like having the nutritional data (especially to make sure, as a vegetarian, that I'm hitting my protein goal), in addition to the calorie aspect.
Same with weighing myself in the morning, and putting the weight in Libra. I weighed daily for years even before trying to lose weight; the process carries no emotional baggage. To me, it's just neutral data about my body's relationship with gravity at one moment in time, not a measure of my self-worth as a human. So I do it.
These are good ways for me to maintain. They wouldn't necessarily be good for others. I empathize that you're now at the point of trying to figure out what's going to work best for you, in both practical and psychological terms.
Maybe first, as long as it's not too stressful, keep tracking in fair detail until you have your true maintenance calories quite dialed in. At that point, you can think about whether you're a habitual eater (will continue eating the same amounts without detail tracking), or should track some but not all meals/days/items, or would be happier if you stop food logging altogether but feel you can use scale weight or clothing fit as a guide to "cut back a little for a while vs. routine" or "eat more for a while vs. routine" if gaining or losing. You can even try some experiments with a new routine for 2-4 weeks, to see how it goes, and if you don't like it, you can revert to some other approach that worked better for you.
It's pretty personal and individual, I think.
Best wishes! :flowerforyou:9 -
Posted this in another thread, but I think it is perhaps something I wanted to mention in this one since it is also mentioned as a potential method of finding maintenance in Ann's OP.
Ann's OP describes the process of estimating recent losses perfectly. But I actually don't see a real benefit to being coy about immediately moving to a minimal potential balancing point.
Sure, it may be scary to add so many calories (if it is a lot), and we may prefer to increase our intake gradually for various reasons. But I believe that this has to be addressed rationally and firmly from the get go.
If we're OK with continuing to lose, or even WANT to continue to lose, adding 1-200 Cal per week is an excellent strategy. But if we really do want to get to maintenance there is no reason to avoid starting with an increase equal to what our 4-6 week weight loss trend numbers indicate.
If our numbers indicate a -350 Cal loss rate, our minimal potential balancing point will be +350 Cal. And it is actually extremely likely that the ultimate actual balancing point will be higher than that, especially if we have been in a substantial, or prolonged, deficit.
Once we've cleared the "big" initial increase from our known deficit position to the minimal potential balancing point, sure, then we may want to be more cautious when it comes to further increases in intake and do so more gradually while keeping an eye on our weight trend.
But the initial increase?
What is the benefit of drawing it out?1 -
If PAV gets to repeat posts from other threads, I get to repeat answers from other threads. (I still have no major argument with what he's saying, I just think it's an individual issue. Everyone can profitably consider what he's saying, and it's a good plan if it suits your personality.)Posted this in another thread, but I think it is perhaps something I wanted to mention in this one since it is also mentioned as a potential method of finding maintenance in Ann's OP.
Ann's OP describes the process of estimating recent losses perfectly. But I actually don't see a real benefit to being coy about immediately moving to a minimal potential balancing point.
Sure, it may be scary to add so many calories (if it is a lot), and we may prefer to increase our intake gradually for various reasons. But I believe that this has to be addressed rationally and firmly from the get go.
If we're OK with continuing to lose, or even WANT to continue to lose, adding 1-200 Cal per week is an excellent strategy. But if we really do want to get to maintenance there is no reason to avoid starting with an increase equal to what our 4-6 week weight loss trend numbers indicate.
If our numbers indicate a -350 Cal loss rate, our minimal potential balancing point will be +350 Cal. And it is actually extremely likely that the ultimate actual balancing point will be higher than that, especially if we have been in a substantial, or prolonged, deficit.
Once we've cleared the "big" initial increase from our known deficit position to the minimal potential balancing point, sure, then we may want to be more cautious when it comes to further increases in intake and do so more gradually while keeping an eye on our weight trend.
But the initial increase?
What is the benefit of drawing it out?
With people who are very stressed about regain, that very probable immediate scale jump from +350 all at once (just water weight/digestive contents, not fat) can be a problem. It's a little hard to tell from a post who's in this category, but some will eat more, see that (fake) jump, and fall back to too-deep deficit because "they gain if they eat more".
I'm betting you've seen the external signs of this, in some threads in the past, with an OP who says that they lose fine on 1200 (or whatever), but anytime they go above that they gain weight: Oh me, oh my, what to do, broken metabolism, doom, stress, etc.
Sometimes, the 100 calories per day, increasing each week for 3 (and a half ) weeks will keep the scale noise-level at a magnitude that doesn't cause such a reaction. Clearly, the water/digestive-contents gain is NBD from an analytic standpoint, but it can be a BD from a gut-reaction standpoint, for some.
I'm not saying that's true for everyone, I'm just answering the bolded question with a generic possible reason. It's certainly the reason why I've sometimes suggested it to people, based on my reading of a post.
ETA: On an analytic level, what you suggest is completely logical. And for someone who's gotten substantially too thin, it's objectively a better approach, considering physical health as paramount.2 -
With people who are very stressed about regain, that very probable immediate scale jump from +350 all at once (just water weight/digestive contents, not fat) can be a problem.
<snip>
Sometimes, the 100 calories per day, increasing each week for 3 (and a half ) weeks will keep the scale noise-level at a magnitude that doesn't cause such a reaction.
<snip snip>
I'm not saying that's true for everyone, I'm just answering the bolded question with a generic possible reason.
It's groundhog day!
To clarify, the situation you describe is precisely why I said: "Sure, it may be scary to add so many calories (if it is a lot), and we may prefer to increase our intake gradually for various reasons. But I believe that this has to be addressed rationally and firmly from the get go."
Going up at ONLY 100 Cal at a time almost guarantees an extended period of continuing losses for someone at an appreciable deficit, and in a few situations it is precisely the people who can most ill afford for hormonal and neurotransmitter effects of such deficits to continue who are most hesitant at implementing a large jump to actual maintenance--even though such a jump has potential to act as physiological mitigation for some of the effects they may be experiencing.
My analogy in the other thread was the pulling of a band-aid! It has to come off either way, and sometimes doing so slowly results in more pain!0 -
With people who are very stressed about regain, that very probable immediate scale jump from +350 all at once (just water weight/digestive contents, not fat) can be a problem.
<snip>
Sometimes, the 100 calories per day, increasing each week for 3 (and a half ) weeks will keep the scale noise-level at a magnitude that doesn't cause such a reaction.
<snip snip>
I'm not saying that's true for everyone, I'm just answering the bolded question with a generic possible reason.
It's groundhog day!
To clarify, the situation you describe is precisely why I said: "Sure, it may be scary to add so many calories (if it is a lot), and we may prefer to increase our intake gradually for various reasons. But I believe that this has to be addressed rationally and firmly from the get go."
Going up at ONLY 100 Cal at a time almost guarantees an extended period of continuing losses for someone at an appreciable deficit, and in a few situations it is precisely the people who can most ill afford for hormonal and neurotransmitter effects of such deficits to continue who are most hesitant at implementing a large jump to actual maintenance--even though such a jump has potential to act as physiological mitigation for some of the effects they may be experiencing.
My analogy in the other thread was the pulling of a band-aid! It has to come off either way, and sometimes doing so slowly results in more pain!
I've said "On an analytic level . . . completely logical" and "objectively a better approach, considering physical health as paramount." That's all yer gonna get, Mr. PAV, much as I admire you.
Depite it being (you say) objectively better to rip off the bandaid and get it over with, some people's psychology is going to lead them to pull slowly.
When I was ready for maintenance, I wasn't losing fast; I was already losing quite slowly. Nonetheless, I chose to add calories slowly. Choice. Why? Because I know myself. If I added several hundred calories all in one jump, my hedonically-focused personality meant I would be likely to add a big treat every day. Analytically, that was not what I wanted. By adding 100 calories at a time, I instead made small, pleasant, nutritious tweaks to my eating routine. That, for me, was a better plan.
If losing fast, yes, then an initial big add is a better plan for physical health . . . but it's a consideration that for some it can have negative effects psychologically - drive them back into big deficit and cause bad physical effects, even. The difference between adding 350 at once, vs. 100 per week is 3.5 weeks. That's fairly unlikely to be the straw that breaks a camel's physical health.
I'm sticking with "different approaches work better for different people" in a context of "know thyself". "Big jump" is a perfectly valid approach. So is "gradual add". One or the other may be objectively better. One or the other may be subjectively better.
You do you, I'll do me.3 -
This!
"Method 4: Gradually Increase:
Another option is to gradually increase your daily calorie goal until your weight stabilizes.
Even if you have a maintenance calorie estimate from method 1, 2, or 3, but you want to minimize visible (though irrelevant ) scale jump from glycogen replenishment and/or increased average digestive system contents, and maybe ease your way into eating more, you can increase calories eaten gradually.
To start, add 100-200 daily calories (depending on the size of your estimated total gap to be filled).
Eat that for a week, or until you satisfy yourself that you're not gaining fat (be reasonable - a weight-trending app and knowledge of your own fluctuation patterns will be helpful). Then add another 100 calories daily. Monitor again. Repeat until scale weight stabilizes.
You may find that you need to wait/monitor longer with each successive increase, in order to be sure of the effect. If so: Patience!"
When you hit 5 pounds within goal, lessen your weight loss goal per week by .5...this way you are easing into your new maintenance amount vs just diving right in.
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Can someone suggest an accurate online calculator or something to find maintenance calories? Im struggling as i I’ve done research and see that there’s so many different formulas out there and I don’t know which one is accurate? Also, I’m reading articles that are discouraging and saying that these equations aren’t accurate and have errors and that it’s better to get your resting metabolic rate? I’m just utterly confused and I’m at the point where I keep losing weight when I need to be maintaining 😢can someone provide guidance or support0
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amarquis792 wrote: »Can someone suggest an accurate online calculator or something to find maintenance calories? Im struggling as i I’ve done research and see that there’s so many different formulas out there and I don’t know which one is accurate? Also, I’m reading articles that are discouraging and saying that these equations aren’t accurate and have errors and that it’s better to get your resting metabolic rate? I’m just utterly confused and I’m at the point where I keep losing weight when I need to be maintaining 😢can someone provide guidance or support
@amarquis792
What constitutes accurate to you?
Within 50cals, 100cals, 200cals, a population average for someone your height?
What if you take an accurate formula that predicts within a few dozen calories for 90% of a sample of people and you happen to be in the 10% that are outliers?
What if you find a completely accurate formula for you but your calorie logging accuracy is off?
What happens if you get an accurate RMR but your activity level or exercise estimates are off?
I think you need to adjust your expectations, formulae can only give a suggested start point from which to adjust based on results over time. This site will allow you to get multiple formulae in one place if you like to compare or average out - https://www.sailrabbit.com/bmr/
Personally I would use my own data to get a more individual ballpark figure corrected for my personal logging accuracy.
Either from recent weight change over the last month or from the maths of calories eaten over past 4 weeks, add/subtract 3,500 cals for each pound lost/gained and divide by 28.
Whatever method you use adjustments will be required to either fine tune or to cope with changes in your calorie needs - even if you are lucky and nail down a maintenance number straight away that number will change over time.
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amarquis792 wrote: »Can someone suggest an accurate online calculator or something to find maintenance calories? Im struggling as i I’ve done research and see that there’s so many different formulas out there and I don’t know which one is accurate? Also, I’m reading articles that are discouraging and saying that these equations aren’t accurate and have errors and that it’s better to get your resting metabolic rate? I’m just utterly confused and I’m at the point where I keep losing weight when I need to be maintaining 😢can someone provide guidance or support
Did you review the methods in the OP of this thread?
Yes, calculators can be inaccurate. They're really "estimators".
They take a few pieces of personal-description data about you (age, weight, etc.), then use research-based formulas to estimate your BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate, similar to RMR (Resting Metabolic Rate), but basically the number of calories you'd burn lying in bed in a coma).
They ask you to pick an activity level from a small number of descriptions, then they multiply your estimated BMR by a numeric factor to account for your activity. (The activity multiplication factors are also research based.)
Finally, they spit out an estimate that would (loosely) be the average for all of the people of your personal description, who picked the same activity-level choice.
People are individuals, not averages. So, the estimates will be close for most people, farther off (high or low) for a few, and very far off for a very rare few. That's the inherent nature of statistical estimates.
If you are a "typical person"/"average person", the calculator estimates will be close enough to be useful, for you.
How do you know whether you're "typical" or "average"? You know that because the estimates work for you. (Yes, that's circular reasoning). So, you try an estimate for a while, and see. It's quite unlikely to be so very wrong that you either keep losing very fast, or gain very fast. Very slow, gradual gain or loss are a little more possible. So, pick an estimate, try it for at least a month, see what happens. Then adjust.
It really doesn't matter all that much which calculator you pick. It's an estimate. Most of them only vary by 100-200 calories daily, as long as you compare results from calculators shooting for the same kind of estimate. (Most calculators estimate TDEE, total daily energy expenditure, the amount you burn doing everything you do. Some, like MFP, estimate NEAT, non-exercise activity thermogenesis, the amount you burn doing everything you do except intentional exercise. With NEAT calculators, like MFP, you're expected to log your exercise separately, and eat that back, too. So a TDEE estimate may be much higher than a NEAT estimate, if you're a heavy exerciser. They should be much more similar, after you add in the intentional exercise (averaged over a typical week).)
If your weight loss rate (pounds per week) from a calorie estimate by a particular calculator (like MFP) has been what the calculator told you, the maintenance calories from that calculator will probably be pretty close, too.
The most accurate approach, IMO, is to use your own logging data to estimate maintenance. That's covered in step by step detail in the OP at the top of this thread, method #3.
Another option that may be helpful (can't remember whether it was mentioned previously in this thread) would be to download and use this spreadsheet to get an estimate:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1G7FgNzPq3v5WMjDtH0n93LXSMRY_hjmzNTMJb3aZSxM/edit?usp=sharing
There's more detailed description about it in this post:
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10287502/just-my-tdee-please
If you want to use an outside TDEE calculator, I personally like this one:
https://www.sailrabbit.com/bmr/
I'm not saying that it's any more accurate than any other calculator. It is more transparent, i.e., you can see the factors it uses; it shows results from multiple different research-based formulas all in one place; and it has a larger number of activity level choices with somewhat clearer descriptions than some other calculators. If you're frustrated by having multiple answers, you won't like it . . . because it will give you multiple answers. But it will let you see where the different answers come from, and how much (or little ) they differ.
Really, there is no magical "accurate" way to do this. I understand that it can be scary. At some point, you need to just pick an estimating method, test its estimate for at least 4-6 weeks, and see what happens. You may see a water-weight/digestive-contents weight jump on the scale in the first few days, but it isn't fat regain, so ride it out. Give it the 4-6 weeks. Then adjust.
What's the worst that can happen? If you guess 100 daily calories too high, it will take over a month to regain a pound of fat. If you've lost weight, you know how to lose a pound. And, if you gain about pound in 35 days, you know the next maintenance estimate to try is whatever level you've been eating, minus 100.
Best wishes!
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Because that immediately previous post was crazy long, I'm going to pull out a shorter piece as a standalone post for the general improvement of the thread:
That nice @heybales created a very handy spreadsheet for estimating TDEE, with more and clearer options than the usual TDEE calculator.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1G7FgNzPq3v5WMjDtH0n93LXSMRY_hjmzNTMJb3aZSxM/edit?usp=sharing
There's more detailed description about it in this post:
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10287502/just-my-tdee-please
Like any TDEE calculator, it's still an estimate, not a certainty ( <== I think heybales would agree with this
).
Going back to the original post (OP) in this thread, this spreadsheet is one good option for those who choose to use method #2 in the OP to get a maintenance calorie estimate.3 -
I just improved it today (maybe) to include a little calc for using weight loss/gain and calories eaten to get your apparent TDEE.
I'll also mention the math for exercise is based on the METS database, the daily stuff is based on the same WHO study MFP used when they changed their BMR multipliers.3 -
@heybates, can you send the improved/ updated link to the spread sheet?0
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Same link same spreadsheet - just updated.2
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I am 10lbs away from my weight goal my diary is open and will appreciate any suggestions about my workout and eating habits. I used to run for several years but unable to do so now, my doc said I destroy my knees from running. My only form of exercise is walking which can be painful sometimes. For many years I was able to maintained my weight 148 to 155 but due to a running injury about 3 years ago and been inactive my weight was 202 the most I weigh. February of this year was the first time I had keep a food diary. I have loss about 30lbs. Thanks for your help1
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Curvybaja55 wrote: »I am 10lbs away from my weight goal my diary is open and will appreciate any suggestions about my workout and eating habits. I used to run for several years but unable to do so now, my doc said I destroy my knees from running. My only form of exercise is walking which can be painful sometimes. For many years I was able to maintained my weight 148 to 155 but due to a running injury about 3 years ago and been inactive my weight was 202 the most I weigh. February of this year was the first time I had keep a food diary. I have loss about 30lbs. Thanks for your help
I'm not really sure what you're asking? This is a thread about estimating maintenance calories, but it's unclear that that's where you are now?
If you've lost 30 pounds in around 5 months, that's a fairly fast rate (around 6 pounds a month, a little over a pound a week), with only 10 pounds to go. If it were me, I'd slow down from there by adding some calories (that's what I did, in fact, at around 10 pounds to go).
If you're looking for alternatives to running, then (if you haven't already), I'd suggest asking your doctor for a referral to a good physical therapist who can look at your movement patterns, help you adjust any imbalances or disfunctions to reduce pain/limitations, and if necessary help you identify other types of exercise that would be less stressful, but still beneficial/enjoyable. I did that after being diagnosed with a torn meniscus (on top of some osteoarthritis), and found it very beneficial. The PT helped me identify some joints that needed more mobility (and gave me exercises to do for that), plus taught me how to minimize stress on my knees from walking and (especially) using stairs.
As far as what you're eating, it looks pretty nutritious and well-rounded. There are things that wouldn't work for me personally as an eating pattern (example: I need more protein at breakfast for appetite control), but if they're working for you they should be fine. I'd want a little more protein overall, but I'm weird that way, and you seem to be in a reasonable range. Do you feel good (other than the knee problems)?
I would note that you seem to be leaving a lot of calories of your goal uneaten most days, which matches up with your still relatively fast loss.
If your question is about something other than estimating your maintenance calories, you might want to start your own thread with a clearer question in it. If your question really is about transitioning to maintaining your weight, clarifying your exact question(s) would still be helpful.
Best wishes!6 -
Curvybaja55 wrote: »I am 10lbs away from my weight goal my diary is open and will appreciate any suggestions about my workout and eating habits. I used to run for several years but unable to do so now, my doc said I destroy my knees from running. My only form of exercise is walking which can be painful sometimes. For many years I was able to maintained my weight 148 to 155 but due to a running injury about 3 years ago and been inactive my weight was 202 the most I weigh. February of this year was the first time I had keep a food diary. I have loss about 30lbs. Thanks for your help
I'm not really sure what you're asking? This is a thread about estimating maintenance calories, but it's unclear that that's where you are now?
If you've lost 30 pounds in around 5 months, that's a fairly fast rate (around 6 pounds a month, a little over a pound a week), with only 10 pounds to go. If it were me, I'd slow down from there by adding some calories (that's what I did, in fact, at around 10 pounds to go).
If you're looking for alternatives to running, then (if you haven't already), I'd suggest asking your doctor for a referral to a good physical therapist who can look at your movement patterns, help you adjust any imbalances or disfunctions to reduce pain/limitations, and if necessary help you identify other types of exercise that would be less stressful, but still beneficial/enjoyable. I did that after being diagnosed with a torn meniscus (on top of some osteoarthritis), and found it very beneficial. The PT helped me identify some joints that needed more mobility (and gave me exercises to do for that), plus taught me how to minimize stress on my knees from walking and (especially) using stairs.
As far as what you're eating, it looks pretty nutritious and well-rounded. There are things that wouldn't work for me personally as an eating pattern (example: I need more protein at breakfast for appetite control), but if they're working for you they should be fine. I'd want a little more protein overall, but I'm weird that way, and you seem to be in a reasonable range. Do you feel good (other than the knee problems)?
I would note that you seem to be leaving a lot of calories of your goal uneaten most days, which matches up with your still relatively fast loss.
If your question is about something other than estimating your maintenance calories, you might want to start your own thread with a clearer question in it. If your question really is about transitioning to maintaining your weight, clarifying your exact question(s) would still be helpful.
Best wishes!
@Annp77 thanks for your reply. My question is when do I start maintenance should I wait until I reach my goal weight or can I start now.
I was on another thread and this link was in one of the answers and this is now I came to met such a wonderful person who answered all my questions.
* My diagnosis was bilateral torn meniscus, osteoarthritis and hypothyroidism add to the mix.
* I did see a PT and his recommendations were using exercise bike and elliptical no walking on treadmill.
* I am usually full after having so much fruits and vegetables and most of the time I am unable to eat all my calories.
* I am working on adding a bit more protein to my meals. I am doing okay beside the knee pain which has decreased as I loss the weight.
Once again thanks for your help and have a Great day.
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@AnnP77 thanks for your reply. My question is when do I start maintenance should I wait until I reach my goal weight or can I start now.
I was on another thread and this link was in one of the answers and this is now I came to met such a wonderful person who answered all my questions.
* My diagnosis was bilateral torn meniscus, osteoarthritis and hypothyroidism add to the mix.
* I did see a PT and his recommendations were using exercise bike and elliptical no walking on treadmill.
* I am usually full after having so much fruits and vegetables and most of the time I am unable to eat all my calories.
* I am working on adding a bit more protein to my meals. I am doing okay beside the knee pain which has decreased as I loss the weight.
Once again thanks for your help and have a Great day.
0 -
Curvybaja55 wrote: »@AnnP77 thanks for your reply. My question is when do I start maintenance should I wait until I reach my goal weight or can I start now.
I was on another thread and this link was in one of the answers and this is now I came to met such a wonderful person who answered all my questions.
* My diagnosis was bilateral torn meniscus, osteoarthritis and hypothyroidism add to the mix.
* I did see a PT and his recommendations were using exercise bike and elliptical no walking on treadmill.
* I am usually full after having so much fruits and vegetables and most of the time I am unable to eat all my calories.
* I am working on adding a bit more protein to my meals. I am doing okay beside the knee pain which has decreased as I loss the weight.
Once again thanks for your help and have a Great day.
When to go to maintenance?
Simplistically: When you start eating (true) maintenance calories, you stop losing weight, and you don't gain any weight. So, at that cartoon-simple level, you don't want to start eating maintenance calories until you reach goal weight.
But . . .
* Pinning down true maintenance calories involves estimating and confirming the calorie level, so it may take some noodling around to get it right
* Some people prefer not to go to maintenance calories all at once, in a big jump
* Some people who kinda freak out about scale jumps, and plan (sensibly) to use a weight range to manage maintenance, may decide to lose to the lower boundary of their goal weight range, before starting to eat maintenance calories. (Example: Someone wants to weigh 140, maybe plans a maintenance range of 137-143, loses down to 137 to leave some wiggle room while they figure out maintenance calories.)
All of those are individual preferences, except the first one. So, you would decide what to do, based on your personality and preferences.
With say 10 pounds to go, if you'd been losing sort of fast (1 pound a week or more), you could - if you wanted to - start tapering your loss rate by increasing calories gradually. For example, just making up data, if you'd been averaging losing 1.2 pounds a week, that's about 4200 calories per week of deficit, so about 600 calories deficit daily. If you wanted to go to maintenance gradually, you could add back 300 or so calories daily, wait a couple weeks, add another 100, wait a few weeks then add 100, etc., continuing to look at your average weekly weight loss, and timing things so you end up at your goal weight and your estimated maintenance calories at about the same time.
At the other extreme, you could continue as you are (as long as not losing dangerously fast now!) until at goal weight or lower end of goal range, then go to maintenance calories in a single bigger jump (which will tend to have that water-weight jump in weight show up on the scale, as discussed in previous posts on this thread).
Does that answer your question?
ETA: If you like, you can take a "diet break" at any point, where you eat at your estimated maintenance calories for a couple of weeks or more, then - possibly renewed and refreshed - go back to a bit of a calorie deficit for a while, to lose a few more pounds.
Keep in mind that those readjustment decisions are always open to you: I've been in maintenance, at a healthy weight, for 4+ years now, but had let my weight drift up a little. I few months ago, I started trying to lose a few more vanity pounds ultra-slowly, which has been going well . . . I still consider myself to be "in maintenance" because my high weight in the fall was still around BMI 23, normal range, health markers good . . . but now it's around BMI 20.5, which I'm happier with.2 -
With say 10 pounds to go, if you'd been losing sort of fast (1 pound a week or more), you could - if you wanted to - start tapering your loss rate by increasing calories gradually. For example, just making up data, if you'd been averaging losing 1.2 pounds a week, that's about 4200 calories per week of deficit, so about 600 calories deficit daily. If you wanted to go to maintenance gradually, you could add back 300 or so calories daily, wait a couple weeks, add another 100, wait a few weeks then add 100, etc., continuing to look at your average weekly weight loss, and timing things so you end up at your goal weight and your estimated maintenance calories at about the same time.
@AnnPT77 thanks again so may options, I decide to go with this one. I now know where you reach you and I can post my progress and seek your opinion from time to time. I forget to mention I am on a gluten free, low sugar and diary diet and this is going to be a challenge.
Good Day to you my friend and be safe.
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