Eating at maintenance for my goal weight?

birdenerd

Hi! I think I have ~50 lbs or so to lose. I don't really care how quickly it happens as long as it happens in the next couple of years but I was wondering if I could calculate maintenance calories for my goal weight and just eat that to eventually get to my goal weight. My reasoning is that I want to lose in a sustainable way and this would be the same amount I'd be eating after the weight is lost. Right now I'm still working on building habits like logging everyday, eating healthier, and exercising. Is this a good idea or should I go with the mfp calculations for weight loss?

SteamPug

Assuming that your goal maintenance is lower that you current maintenance then yeah, you’ll lose, but I’m not sure you could get the whole there - I’ve lost 16lbs and my maintenance calories haven’t changed by any significant amount, so you’re likely to stop losing before your goal.

__TMac__

I lost my initial 60 lbs on a calculated deficit for my actual weight, and I switched to the method you describe here for my final 15 lbs. It’s slow going, but it is working. I like that this is my forever calorie target (assuming my activity/exercise level stays the same), and I can work on making it habitual.

AnvilHead

Similar discussion with some replies:

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10639638/eating-at-my-goal-weights-maintenance-calories

Jthanmyfitnesspal

Yeah, won't work well as you near your goal because the deficit will get very small.

The MstJ formula that everyone uses is (for women):

daily_burn = activity_factor*(10 × weight(kg) + 6.25 × height(cm) - 5 × age(y) - 161)

with the activity factor being 1.2 (which is typical), your deficit at the start would be 272kcals, which would lead to a weight loss of about 0.5lbs/week. But as you close into your goal, your daily_burn will also reduce, so that deficit will shrink to a negligible level.

Better to set up to lose at some rate that sustainable for you. 1lb/week (500kcals per day) is pretty standard. You could certainly try 0.5/week, if you like, but you want to adjust as your weight reduces such that your deficit remains constant.

You could set up for 1lb/week and then pick certain days where you allow for the extra 500kcals. (Not quite a cheat day, but a planned maintenance day.) If you did this once a week, you'd lose at a slightly lower rate than 1lb per week.

Best of luck!

Sabine_Stroehm

AnvilHead wrote: »

Similar discussion with some replies:

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10639638/eating-at-my-goal-weights-maintenance-calories

This is where I posted as well.