getting higher maintenance calories

samanthamuredda
samanthamuredda Posts: 16 Member
edited April 2020 in Goal: Maintaining Weight
hello, i am currently just maintaining right now with exercising 5-6x a week. i have not been tracking like usual. I want to get my maintenance calories to like 2200. I am 5’5 134 and 19 years old. I weight lift and get 10,000 steps in a day but i am not sure how to raise my calories without putting on fat because i am not trying to bulk. Please any tips and advice on how to go about this and what to do.

Replies

  • cupcakesandproteinshakes
    cupcakesandproteinshakes Posts: 1,092 Member
    Well you could try a bit more cardio.
    What’s your maintenance cals now?
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,012 Member
    Maybe there are still other ways you could increase your non-exercise activity (NEAT), too. Discussion of ideas in this thread:

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10610953/neat-improvement-strategies-to-improve-weight-loss/p1
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,811 Member
    Be more active, do more exercise will give you a higher calorie allowance without weight gain. Duration of exercise is far more significant than intensity by the way.

    My sedentary calories without exercise are c. 1,960
    Lightly Active without exercise c. 2,190
    Active without exercise c. 2,510
    With a reasonable amount of mosty indoors exercise in winter c. 3,000
    Rest of the year when I can cycle outdoors and duration of my exercise plus outdoor activity shoots up c. 3,500

    I'm an average sized 60 YO who gets to eat a lot because I move a lot.
  • saraovoxo
    saraovoxo Posts: 44 Member
    Muscle burns more than fat. The more muscle you have, the more calories you burn. Build muscle by weight training and eating the right amount of protein. The scale may go up but itll only be due to the new muscle you are growing since it weighs heavier than fat but looks more lean.
  • amarquis792
    amarquis792 Posts: 6 Member
    Hi, I am new to recently hitting my goal weight and am struggling with maintenance. I am nervous to up my calorie intake to what it says i need to for maintenance and people are telling me if i keep at a low cal intake/ what i was consuming initially, i will keep losing weight. Has anyone found when they change their settings in here to maintain current weight, are the calories accurate in terms of keeping the weight at your maintenance number?
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    amarq792 wrote: »
    Hi, I am new to recently hitting my goal weight and am struggling with maintenance. I am nervous to up my calorie intake to what it says i need to for maintenance and people are telling me if i keep at a low cal intake/ what i was consuming initially, i will keep losing weight. Has anyone found when they change their settings in here to maintain current weight, are the calories accurate in terms of keeping the weight at your maintenance number?

    I have found MFP's estimate how my maintenance calories to be accurate.
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,811 Member
    amarq792 wrote: »
    Hi, I am new to recently hitting my goal weight and am struggling with maintenance. I am nervous to up my calorie intake to what it says i need to for maintenance and people are telling me if i keep at a low cal intake/ what i was consuming initially, i will keep losing weight. Has anyone found when they change their settings in here to maintain current weight, are the calories accurate in terms of keeping the weight at your maintenance number?
    @amarq792
    I flipped straight to maintenance based on my actual recent rate of weight loss not going back to estimates.
    Maintained at first but then started losing weight again and had to up calories by another 200/day.

    It's Ok to be nervous but it's really not ok to let that anxiety prevent you maintaining at the weight you want.

    Many people simply up their daily calorie allowance by 100 week on week to make the transition a series of small (less scary?) steps rather than a big jump.

    Trust the process.

    And congrats on your achievement by the way! :flowerforyou:
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,876 Member
    samanthamuredda wrote: »
    hello, i am currently just maintaining right now with exercising 5-6x a week. i have not been tracking like usual. I want to get my maintenance calories to like 2200. I am 5’5 134 and 19 years old. I weight lift and get 10,000 steps in a day but i am not sure how to raise my calories without putting on fat because i am not trying to bulk. Please any tips and advice on how to go about this and what to do.

    I would imagine that with 10K steps per day and exercising 5-6 days per week that your maintenance calories are already likely 2200 calories or more and since you haven't been tracking, you don't really have any idea.

    Beyond that, the only way to increase maintenance calories is with increased activity.
  • briscogun
    briscogun Posts: 1,135 Member
    samanthamuredda wrote: »
    hello, i am currently just maintaining right now with exercising 5-6x a week. i have not been tracking like usual. I want to get my maintenance calories to like 2200. I am 5’5 134 and 19 years old. I weight lift and get 10,000 steps in a day but i am not sure how to raise my calories without putting on fat because i am not trying to bulk. Please any tips and advice on how to go about this and what to do.

    If you aren't tracking then how would you even know where you are now, and how would you know that you reached 2,200 calories if you did get there?

    If 2,200 calories truly is your maintenance level then by definition you would NOT gain and weight/fat because you are eating as much as you burn.

    As far as raising calories, there are LOTS of things you can do to add a calories to what you are already eating. Use oils in your cooking. Use full fat versions of things instead of "lite" or "low cal" options (mayo, dressings, breads, etc). Add a tbsp of peanut butter to a favorite snack. You don't need to do much to add a few calories here or there.

    Start adding a 100 calories or so each week and see how you react until you find your balance. I'm right there with you trying to figure out my balance point as well, just started adding in extra calories myself. I'll probably be doing this the rest of my life but better than the alternative!

    Good luck!
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,012 Member
    amarquis792 wrote: »
    Hi, I am new to recently hitting my goal weight and am struggling with maintenance. I am nervous to up my calorie intake to what it says i need to for maintenance and people are telling me if i keep at a low cal intake/ what i was consuming initially, i will keep losing weight. Has anyone found when they change their settings in here to maintain current weight, are the calories accurate in terms of keeping the weight at your maintenance number?

    MFP is pretty terrible at predicting my calorie needs, but my own personal logging experience is practically perfect for estimating weight loss or maintenance calories. There's more than one way to reach maintenance (which, yes, you need to do, or you'll keep losing weight).

    There's a whole thread with people discussing how to estimate maintenance calories, and how to get to that level once you do. Perhaps you'd find something useful to you in it:

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10638211/how-to-find-your-maintenance-calorie-level/p1
  • cupcakesandproteinshakes
    cupcakesandproteinshakes Posts: 1,092 Member
    OP I’m 138, get about 7k steps a day, lift 5 days a week plus 2 or so hours of steady state cardio and my maintenance calories are about 2200. Some calculators have me at 1900 to maintain but they are wrong, I lose slowly on 1900.

    Only way to really find out is to track your intake for a few weeks/months unless you have access to a metabolic chamber.

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