My maintenance number may be wrong?

healthierishappier

Hi. I joined this website yesterday but was quite confused by my number and was confused by the calorie goal I was assigned.

I'm 18, 5'4 and 111 lbs, bmi 19.1. I was at a bmi 17 through very unhealthy dieting over the summer, but I'm now back to a healthy weight. I eat 2000 calories, give or take, most days, and I've not gained any weight in a few weeks. I play tennis for two hours five days a week and run about a mile six or seven days a week. On days where I run and play tennis, I eat like 2300-2500 calories easily. Other than exercise, however, I'm a sloth.

The calorie goal I was given was 1590 calories, but I'm fairly sure I'd lost weight on that... maybe I'm just gaining slowly? I really don't want to gain more. I was eating to hunger cues, but now I don't know if I've been eating way too much.

MuseofSong

http://www.fat2fitradio.com/tools/mbf/

Calculate your body fat there.

Then plug in your numbers here

http://www.fat2fitradio.com/tools/bmr/

and include your body fat

You would be looking at the Very Active areas for your maintenance.

I also really like this spreadsheet, after you have your body fat percent, just plug in the rest:

www.karacooks.com/share/Calculations.xls‎

itsscottwilder

Keep doing what you're doing. at 2000-2500 calories based on activity. i think those numbers look good. for your TDEE

sydneyplainjane

I also really like this spreadsheet, after you have your body fat percent, just plug in the rest:

www.karacooks.com/share/Calculations.xls‎

Wow, that spreadsheet is so amazing! I felt like the MFP calculation had my carbs way too high for me and the spreadsheet has them at about where I think they should be.

Seesawboomerang

Thanks for the spreadsheet! Very useful :flowerforyou:

stevesilk

Are you trying to lose weight? It was unclear from your post and your profile. I play tennis and run. Both are very strenuous acitivites. If you are playing tennis two hours a day and running nearly every day (assuming 30 minutes), you should be adding 1000-1500 extra calories on those days, not 300-500. I would be careful, as lowering your calories when you are maintaining now at an 18 BMI wouldn't be recommended. I would suggest you talk with an expert in Nutrition about your goals and diet in order to better determine an adequate approach considering your sports and lifestyle.

stevesilk

Not trying to be a hater. I know that you posted to a maintenance board. Here are my thoughts.

You know your body. If you are maintaining at 2000 calories, then go with that. All of the numbers we get are estimations based on thousands of people.

Wear a heart rate monitor if you want to know your calorie burn during exercise. It will be an estimation as well, but this will give you an idea of the amount of burn, and will assist in determining how much extra you should be eating on thse days.

If you are in school, then you are not a sloth. You are moving around enough to be moderately active. And the additional workouts put you in very active.

Measuring can be a good thing, as long as they are accurate. But your measurements for you are the most meaningful, since you can see how your body reacts. Good luck and hope this helps.

healthierishappier

Thank you guys for replying! @Museofsong, I used the website you linked to, and it matched up somewhat closer to what I eat (though I think I'm only moderately active, as I found out that I won't be able to run as much for the rest of the tennis season.) @Stevesilk, no, I'm not trying to lose weight right now, and don't worry. You didn't come off negatively at all. I just really don't want to gain, and I've been afraid I was going to seeing other people's posts on here. I end up exercising a lot because I really love sports, and my coach is super into fitness/running. I don't really know where I'm supposed to be, but I get to eat a lot right now, so I think I'll stick with maintaining.

3dogsrunning

Is MFP the one who gave you the goal of 1590?

If so the reason for such a big difference is the MFP expects you to log exercise and eat those calories back. With your exercise, I suspect you would find the numbers match up a lot better if you did that.