Woman who can maintain on 2000+ calories...how?!

2

Replies

  • hesn92
    hesn92 Posts: 5,966 Member
    I’m 5’10”
  • nowine4me
    nowine4me Posts: 3,985 Member
    OP - have you tried maintaining on 2,000 for 30 days or so? You don’t really know until you try. I’m 5-7 and 122, maintain at 1900.
  • comptonelizabeth
    comptonelizabeth Posts: 1,701 Member
    edited April 2018
    I'm 5'3, 128 lbs and maintain on around 2200 even though most calculators (including mfp) put me at far less than that. I workout 3 - 4 times a week. I thought I was lightly active until I started using a fitbit and realised I'm more active than I thought so that might explain it. Basically I am on the go most of the time and rarely sit still!
    I also sometimes wonder if I am not logging accurately enough and could be eating less than I think. I prepare most meals from scratch but can't be bothered to do the whole weighing the pot thing, so I tend to just guess my portion size. I'm not a big eater so I could be overestimating
  • ChelzFit
    ChelzFit Posts: 292 Member
    I'm 5'7 135 and maintain on 2,300-2,500 calories a day. I workout for an hour 4 days a week and the other three do light walking for 45 minutes. On top of that I try to hit at least 10,000-12,000 steps a day. I know for me I could not maintain 120, my body just doesn't have it and I feel like crap. 135 seems to be my happy weight :)
  • Davidsdottir
    Davidsdottir Posts: 1,285 Member
    36 years old, 5'5", and when i was 125 I maintained at 2200 (lifting and running). I'm currently bulking at 2700 cals and have slowly gained about 10-12 lbs over the last six months.
  • _piaffe
    _piaffe Posts: 163 Member
    I have a desk job but aim for about 10k steps a day (some days are better than others).

    Dedicated and focused physical activity is my secret. At 5'11 - much taller than you - I maintain at 2300-2500, but I do intense indoor cycling 7x week and 1.5 hours of strength training 3x week.
  • bbell1985
    bbell1985 Posts: 4,571 Member
    _piaffe wrote: »
    I have a desk job but aim for about 10k steps a day (some days are better than others).

    Dedicated and focused physical activity is my secret. At 5'11 - much taller than you - I maintain at 2300-2500, but I do intense indoor cycling 7x week and 1.5 hours of strength training 3x week.

    I didn't know you were 5'11"! That makes more sense now.
  • rainbow198
    rainbow198 Posts: 2,245 Member
    I maintain around 2500 calories. I'm tall, early 40's with a very sedentary job, but I'm active and do small spurts of activity during the workday.
  • LJay89
    LJay89 Posts: 91 Member
    edited April 2018
    OP - Google Paul Nobles. Here is a link to his Eat to Perform website:

    http://www.eattoperform.com/2015/01/19/the-calorie-wave-method-by-paul-nobles/

    I think you might find what he has to say quite interesting. His method and research leans towards the encouragment of eating at maximum calories level in order to sustain progressive training such as weighttraining and crossfit type stuff.

    The idea that you at maintenance for so long while you increase your ability in your chosen area (for me its powerlifting) and then for fat loss you would do a an 8 week cycle where you cut by so many.. I have a copy of his PDF book that i can email you if you are interested.

    At the moment I am eating at 1800 calories, I am losing fat at this point but i am aiming to increase to maintenance as my fitness levels picks up. I swim 2x a week and Weight train 3x per week, plus I am trying to increase my walking to 5 miles a day (3 miles at the moment)
  • _piaffe
    _piaffe Posts: 163 Member
    bbell1985 wrote: »
    _piaffe wrote: »
    I have a desk job but aim for about 10k steps a day (some days are better than others).

    Dedicated and focused physical activity is my secret. At 5'11 - much taller than you - I maintain at 2300-2500, but I do intense indoor cycling 7x week and 1.5 hours of strength training 3x week.

    I didn't know you were 5'11"! That makes more sense now.

    Height is a huge advantage!! My BMR is something like 1400. When I have REALLY inactive days, I "should" stick to 1800 calories (TDEE), but I struggle to eat below 2000-2100.

    As an aside, I am pretty sure I am shrinking. 43 years old and I may now be more like 5'10'1/4"
  • hesn92
    hesn92 Posts: 5,966 Member
    _piaffe wrote: »
    bbell1985 wrote: »
    _piaffe wrote: »
    I have a desk job but aim for about 10k steps a day (some days are better than others).

    Dedicated and focused physical activity is my secret. At 5'11 - much taller than you - I maintain at 2300-2500, but I do intense indoor cycling 7x week and 1.5 hours of strength training 3x week.

    I didn't know you were 5'11"! That makes more sense now.

    Height is a huge advantage!! My BMR is something like 1400. When I have REALLY inactive days, I "should" stick to 1800 calories (TDEE), but I struggle to eat below 2000-2100.

    As an aside, I am pretty sure I am shrinking. 43 years old and I may now be more like 5'10'1/4"
    Being tall definitely has its perks! I’m 5’10” :) at my old job one of my coworkers was 4’11” and she was trying to lose weight. I felt so bad for her when she told me how many calories a day she was aiming for.
  • HoneyBadger302
    HoneyBadger302 Posts: 2,085 Member
    edited April 2018
    I'm losing very slowly (.2-.5lb/week) with 1900-2200 cal/day. 5'7", 39, currently about 153. I want to get to 140 then reassess my shape and decide if I want to lose more or not. My old goal was 128 as that's what I was in my mid 20's, BUT, I'm pretty certain I'm carrying more muscle mass now and realize that may not be a reasonable number.

    My M-F on a "normal" week is pretty boring - I get up super early, head to the gym for 2 hours of working out (my primary workout at this point is 1 hour of warm up and martial arts training, followed by an hour of lifting and then stretching).

    My job is a desk job as well, but I try to stay as active as I can by fidgeting more, not being too efficient about my trips to the copy machine, using my sit/stand and doing calf raises or balancing on one leg while working, etc. Oh, and drinking lots of water makes for regular trips across the office every couple hours or so to use the restroom LOL.

    I don't workout on my weekends, but I am at my part time job (which is on my feet all day), out riding my motorcycle, or at the track riding and/or racing, so I'm definitely not sitting around on the weekends!
  • Zodikosis
    Zodikosis Posts: 149 Member
    edited April 2018
    Be young and active (shame you can only do anything about one of those things). I am 5'1", 135 lbs, 24F, work a desk job, walk about 5k steps a day and I maintain around 1700 calories a day. If I hopped on a treadmill or elliptical for 30-45 min a day I could easily maintain at 2000 calories a day. And if I were taller I'd imagine I could maintain on 2k cal/day with less exercise than that.
  • bbell1985
    bbell1985 Posts: 4,571 Member
    _piaffe wrote: »
    bbell1985 wrote: »
    _piaffe wrote: »
    I have a desk job but aim for about 10k steps a day (some days are better than others).

    Dedicated and focused physical activity is my secret. At 5'11 - much taller than you - I maintain at 2300-2500, but I do intense indoor cycling 7x week and 1.5 hours of strength training 3x week.

    I didn't know you were 5'11"! That makes more sense now.

    Height is a huge advantage!! My BMR is something like 1400. When I have REALLY inactive days, I "should" stick to 1800 calories (TDEE), but I struggle to eat below 2000-2100.

    As an aside, I am pretty sure I am shrinking. 43 years old and I may now be more like 5'10'1/4"

    You look 30 though.

    But if you have an inactive day do you actually eat 1800 or do you just stick to your 2300-2500. Do you find weight creeps back on if you don't account for an inactive day here or there?
  • _piaffe
    _piaffe Posts: 163 Member
    bbell1985 wrote: »
    _piaffe wrote: »
    bbell1985 wrote: »
    _piaffe wrote: »
    I have a desk job but aim for about 10k steps a day (some days are better than others).

    Dedicated and focused physical activity is my secret. At 5'11 - much taller than you - I maintain at 2300-2500, but I do intense indoor cycling 7x week and 1.5 hours of strength training 3x week.

    I didn't know you were 5'11"! That makes more sense now.

    Height is a huge advantage!! My BMR is something like 1400. When I have REALLY inactive days, I "should" stick to 1800 calories (TDEE), but I struggle to eat below 2000-2100.

    As an aside, I am pretty sure I am shrinking. 43 years old and I may now be more like 5'10'1/4"

    You look 30 though.

    But if you have an inactive day do you actually eat 1800 or do you just stick to your 2300-2500. Do you find weight creeps back on if you don't account for an inactive day here or there?

    I wish!! On BOTH counts, actually... I *try* to reduce, but the lowest I manage is 2000 calories on an inactive day (they are very rare - I don’t often take a rest day).

    I am currently trying to cut but I can’t seem to net lower than 1600 a day. No discipline!
  • bbell1985
    bbell1985 Posts: 4,571 Member
    _piaffe wrote: »
    bbell1985 wrote: »
    _piaffe wrote: »
    bbell1985 wrote: »
    _piaffe wrote: »
    I have a desk job but aim for about 10k steps a day (some days are better than others).

    Dedicated and focused physical activity is my secret. At 5'11 - much taller than you - I maintain at 2300-2500, but I do intense indoor cycling 7x week and 1.5 hours of strength training 3x week.

    I didn't know you were 5'11"! That makes more sense now.

    Height is a huge advantage!! My BMR is something like 1400. When I have REALLY inactive days, I "should" stick to 1800 calories (TDEE), but I struggle to eat below 2000-2100.

    As an aside, I am pretty sure I am shrinking. 43 years old and I may now be more like 5'10'1/4"

    You look 30 though.

    But if you have an inactive day do you actually eat 1800 or do you just stick to your 2300-2500. Do you find weight creeps back on if you don't account for an inactive day here or there?

    I wish!! On BOTH counts, actually... I *try* to reduce, but the lowest I manage is 2000 calories on an inactive day (they are very rare - I don’t often take a rest day).

    I am currently trying to cut but I can’t seem to net lower than 1600 a day. No discipline!

    But you should be losing at a decent rate on 1600, no?
  • PokeyBug
    PokeyBug Posts: 482 Member
    I'm 5'1.5", and my TDEE at my perfect weight of 125# (not there yet) will be 1632 calories without exercise. If I spend an hour walking on the treadmill (3.7 mph, 5K, 15% incline), I burn an additional 584 calories. If I walk 5 days a week, that's easily 2050 calories a day, 7 days a week. Sure, it takes a chunk of time, but I listen to audiobooks and pretend it's "me" time. Until the kids interrupt 20 times. :D
  • laura9503
    laura9503 Posts: 43 Member
    5'7, 125.6 lbs. I workout (on average) 4 times a week. Apart from my workouts, it really varies how active I am during a week, however my large appetite remains the same. MFP calculates my daily need at 2160, but I eat around 2300-2400, because I feel like it really is best for me. I used to have an eating disorder, and during the last weeks I've gained 2.2 lbs, which makes me feel a bit sad but those are just the old thoughts. I am doing more strength training lately, so I should be happy with it I guess and it explains my appetite maybe
  • LivingtheLeanDream
    LivingtheLeanDream Posts: 13,342 Member
    laura9503 wrote: »
    5'7, 125.6 lbs. I workout (on average) 4 times a week. Apart from my workouts, it really varies how active I am during a week, however my large appetite remains the same. MFP calculates my daily need at 2160, but I eat around 2300-2400, because I feel like it really is best for me. I used to have an eating disorder, and during the last weeks I've gained 2.2 lbs, which makes me feel a bit sad but those are just the old thoughts. I am doing more strength training lately, so I should be happy with it I guess and it explains my appetite maybe

    Yes you should be happy at your weight, it must be at the low end of BMI at your height. I'm shorter and maintain the same weight, I'm lean so you must be very lean.
    And strength training definately increases the appetite, that's the body just asking for more fuel because it needs it.
    It's highly likely that 2.2lb gain is just a fluctuation.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    PokeyBug wrote: »
    I'm 5'1.5", and my TDEE at my perfect weight of 125# (not there yet) will be 1632 calories without exercise. If I spend an hour walking on the treadmill (3.7 mph, 5K, 15% incline), I burn an additional 584 calories. If I walk 5 days a week, that's easily 2050 calories a day, 7 days a week. Sure, it takes a chunk of time, but I listen to audiobooks and pretend it's "me" time. Until the kids interrupt 20 times. :D

    Something must be very wrong with me because I can't even do 3mph at 3% for 1 hour every day without getting a constant ache in my legs.
  • LivingtheLeanDream
    LivingtheLeanDream Posts: 13,342 Member
    Francl27 wrote: »
    PokeyBug wrote: »
    I'm 5'1.5", and my TDEE at my perfect weight of 125# (not there yet) will be 1632 calories without exercise. If I spend an hour walking on the treadmill (3.7 mph, 5K, 15% incline), I burn an additional 584 calories. If I walk 5 days a week, that's easily 2050 calories a day, 7 days a week. Sure, it takes a chunk of time, but I listen to audiobooks and pretend it's "me" time. Until the kids interrupt 20 times. :D

    Something must be very wrong with me because I can't even do 3mph at 3% for 1 hour every day without getting a constant ache in my legs.

    have you never got that checked out @Francl27, you mention it during different posts, I thought it might have eased or things might have changed by now :/
  • _piaffe
    _piaffe Posts: 163 Member
    edited April 2018
    bbell1985 wrote: »
    But you should be losing at a decent rate on 1600, no?

    If I could muster the discipline of 1600 gross cals for even a week, I'd feel lighter and drop a scale weight. The cut I want to do is: net 1300 calories for 2 weeks with ON POINT logging (not my current 75%-of-the-time 100% accurate logging and "meh, who cares?" dinner / evening snack approach).

    My problem is that I'm impatient and too active. I choose a super aggressive 1.5/week fat loss goal, which requires a major calorie reduction. My activity level is too high and intense though (and I don't want to cut back right now - we're in a challenge month). That requires extra discipline I don't seem to have right now. Really, I haven't committed. The problem isn't the cardio. It's just me dragging my feet.
  • LivingtheLeanDream
    LivingtheLeanDream Posts: 13,342 Member
    _piaffe wrote: »
    bbell1985 wrote: »
    But you should be losing at a decent rate on 1600, no?

    If I could muster the discipline of 1600 gross cals for even a week, I'd feel lighter and drop a scale weight. The cut I want to do is: net 1300 calories for 2 weeks with ON POINT logging (not my current 75%-of-the-time 100% accurate logging and "meh, who cares?" dinner / evening snack approach).

    My problem is that I'm impatient and too active. I choose a super aggressive 1.5/week fat loss goal, which requires a major calorie reduction. My activity level is too high and intense though (and I don't want to cut back right now - we're in a challenge month). That requires extra discipline I don't seem to have right now. Really, I haven't committed. The problem isn't the cardio. It's just me dragging my feet.

    But if that's you in that profile pic, 1.5lb is far too aggressive a loss and you'll end up losing muscle...
  • carolsoules
    carolsoules Posts: 34 Member
    You gotta lift weight and build muscle mass. That's pretty much all there is to it. Muscle mass burns calories even at rest, so the more muscle you have, the higher your BMR.
  • deannalfisher
    deannalfisher Posts: 5,600 Member
    LJay89 wrote: »
    OP - Google Paul Nobles. Here is a link to his Eat to Perform website:

    http://www.eattoperform.com/2015/01/19/the-calorie-wave-method-by-paul-nobles/

    I think you might find what he has to say quite interesting. His method and research leans towards the encouragment of eating at maximum calories level in order to sustain progressive training such as weighttraining and crossfit type stuff.

    The idea that you at maintenance for so long while you increase your ability in your chosen area (for me its powerlifting) and then for fat loss you would do a an 8 week cycle where you cut by so many.. I have a copy of his PDF book that i can email you if you are interested.

    At the moment I am eating at 1800 calories, I am losing fat at this point but i am aiming to increase to maintenance as my fitness levels picks up. I swim 2x a week and Weight train 3x per week, plus I am trying to increase my walking to 5 miles a day (3 miles at the moment)

    Do you ETP? Cause I do :)
  • angelb1983
    angelb1983 Posts: 160 Member
    Im much heavier than you but I can lose by eating 2500+ on my very active days. Im not sure what my maintenance would be. I think if I'm not active at all its usually 1500+/-. This is why I hate rest days because I like food lol
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    _piaffe wrote: »
    bbell1985 wrote: »
    But you should be losing at a decent rate on 1600, no?

    If I could muster the discipline of 1600 gross cals for even a week, I'd feel lighter and drop a scale weight. The cut I want to do is: net 1300 calories for 2 weeks with ON POINT logging (not my current 75%-of-the-time 100% accurate logging and "meh, who cares?" dinner / evening snack approach).

    My problem is that I'm impatient and too active. I choose a super aggressive 1.5/week fat loss goal, which requires a major calorie reduction. My activity level is too high and intense though (and I don't want to cut back right now - we're in a challenge month). That requires extra discipline I don't seem to have right now. Really, I haven't committed. The problem isn't the cardio. It's just me dragging my feet.

    try and work on the impatience, that's too aggressive a cut...
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    Francl27 wrote: »
    PokeyBug wrote: »
    I'm 5'1.5", and my TDEE at my perfect weight of 125# (not there yet) will be 1632 calories without exercise. If I spend an hour walking on the treadmill (3.7 mph, 5K, 15% incline), I burn an additional 584 calories. If I walk 5 days a week, that's easily 2050 calories a day, 7 days a week. Sure, it takes a chunk of time, but I listen to audiobooks and pretend it's "me" time. Until the kids interrupt 20 times. :D

    Something must be very wrong with me because I can't even do 3mph at 3% for 1 hour every day without getting a constant ache in my legs.

    have you never got that checked out @Francl27, you mention it during different posts, I thought it might have eased or things might have changed by now :/

    I should, but not really in the budget to spend hundreds of dollars in tests now.
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