Eating 1700-1800 for maintanence and gaining? :(

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  • jenilla1
    jenilla1 Posts: 11,118 Member
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    1700-1800 seems like a lot of calories unless you are excercising every day.
    On those days that I do not exercise I am only allowed 1350.
    This is only after I got to maintenance mode when I hit my desired weight. Before that it was 1200.
    Now, on the days I exercise, I still am only allowed 1500-1700 depending on what exercises I am doing that day.
    It might be a good idea to look/set your goals on MFP if you haven't already.

    Best to you on the journey.


    1700-1800 is most certainly not a lot for someone in maintenance. That is what a female of 130Ibs or so is set to maintain on, when set to sedentary, as an example. It does not take much activity to bring a person's base calorie allowance, without exercise, up to around 1800-1900.

    To the OP, a little gain happens to most once they go into maintenance from weight loss mode. There is even a post here somewhere about it. It is just glycogen and water, most likely and really, weight will fluctuate around a bit anyway, so it is best to have a range you consider to be maintenance, not a set number.

    I'm 130 pounds and have been maintaining at 1700 PLUS exercise calories for 3 years now and I'm sedentary. It took a couple of months for me to level out when I got to goal. A couple of pounds up or down isn't really a big deal while your body is adjusting. Be patient. If you keep slowly gaining, maybe you need to drop it by a 100 for a few weeks and see if that works. It could take a while to find that sweet spot. If the previous poster is eating 1350 to maintain, she must be absolutely teeny tiny. That's weight loss calories for most people.
  • Itskaleena
    Itskaleena Posts: 157 Member
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    Remember our bodies naturally fluctuate through out the day and week. Also once you move to maintenance your body will find what weight it wants to sit at naturally. It may not be the weight you had in mind but it is the healthy weight for you personally.
  • chrisdavey
    chrisdavey Posts: 9,834 Member
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    That's a lot of calories. I weigh over 200 right now, and if I were maintaining, I would need to eat less than your calorie limit. A friend of mine is a personal trainer and went from 180 to 136. Her maintenance calories are about 1300 and she works out several hours per day. Sadly, once we've been big, we will usually need fewer calories to maintain a lower weight than someone who has been at that lower weight and never been big.

    Your friend doesn't accurately measure her calorie intake.
  • StacyPhillipsTSFLcoach
    StacyPhillipsTSFLcoach Posts: 83 Member
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    If you went straight from your weight LOSS calorie level to your MAINTENANCE calorie level then that could explain it. The body likes to have a little time to adjust by adding back extra calories slowly over time, for example 100 extra calories for a week, then 100 more for the next week, and so on and so forth until you are at your maintenance calorie level.

    That said everyone IS different and although we all have the same "machine" we come in different "models" and our bodies may fall slightly LOWER or slightly HIGHER than the formulas would suggest. The formulas are GUIDELINES not absolutes.
  • krawhitham
    krawhitham Posts: 831 Member
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    I dunno your height, but I'm 5'4" and 160 lbs (easily 20-30 lbs overweight) and my maintenance is currently ~1800 and I work out intense 1 hour every day. Once I get to 130 lbs, I'm sure maintenance is going to be much lower than 1800. I imagine I'll be eating 1500 calories a day for the rest of my life to stay thin!
  • mamadon
    mamadon Posts: 1,422 Member
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    1700-1800 seems like a lot of calories unless you are excercising every day.
    On those days that I do not exercise I am only allowed 1350.
    This is only after I got to maintenance mode when I hit my desired weight. Before that it was 1200.
    Now, on the days I exercise, I still am only allowed 1500-1700 depending on what exercises I am doing that day.
    It might be a good idea to look/set your goals on MFP if you haven't already.

    Best to you on the journey.

    1700-1800 is most certainly not a lot for someone in maintenance. That is what a female of 130Ibs or so is set to maintain on, when set to sedentary, as an example. It does not take much activity to bring a person's base calorie allowance, without exercise, up to around 1800-1900.

    To the OP, a little gain happens to most once they go into maintenance from weight loss mode. There is even a post here somewhere about it. It is just glycogen and water, most likely and really, weight will fluctuate around a bit anyway, so it is best to have a range you consider to be maintenance, not a set number.

    I agree, I generally burn about 1800 a day (I have a fitbit) and that is without any formal exercise, just running around doing my usual thing.
  • 1963norm
    1963norm Posts: 2
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    Be cautious of what macros you use to comprise the 1700 1800...not all are equal
  • ChristineRoze
    ChristineRoze Posts: 212 Member
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    1700-1800 seems like a lot of calories unless you are excercising every day.
    On those days that I do not exercise I am only allowed 1350.
    This is only after I got to maintenance mode when I hit my desired weight. Before that it was 1200.
    Now, on the days I exercise, I still am only allowed 1500-1700 depending on what exercises I am doing that day.
    It might be a good idea to look/set your goals on MFP if you haven't already.

    Best to you on the journey.

    it's not a lot, I've worked out my maintenance at my goal weight on many different calculators and it's always at 1900 calories. I'm only set to lightly active with small amount of exercise like the OP. Bare in mind, the OP is only 21 years old.

    Not sure why you are gaining, I generally only see that much gain when i over eat past 2000 calories haha
  • conniekat8
    conniekat8 Posts: 64 Member
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    Fluctuation of several pounds can also happen throughout the day depending on how hydrated you are, and being a female, on the time of the month.
    You want to monitor those fluctuations for a while (few weeks or longer) before you can decide if you are really gaining the weight, or if it is just a normal little fluctuation.
    When I was in my 20's and in shape and exercise a lot, at 5'9" and 145lb, depending on whether I was hydrated or not, my weight would fluctuate easy 5 pounds throughout the day.
    One pound is only 16 ounces of water - a bladder full. If you are paying attention to staying hydrated, you probably have a bladder full plus two to three times that inside you body. If you ate things with more sodium, you body may take a bit longer to get rid of the water (an extra day or two)

    Few times I weighed myself before and after the shower (your skin gets very hydrated after the shower) and would see a 3-4 lb difference (heavier). Consider this, average person has about 18 square feet of skin. That is three feet by six feet. Imagine a box of that size and pour two glasses of water on the bottom... it won't look like much, our skin, if slightly dehydrated can easily absorb that much water. I read somewhere that our skin can absorb glasses of water in a shower (that can be up to 4 pounds)

    Those are all pretty normal fluctuations that shouldn't alarm you.

    What to watch for is that If you are slowly gaining over a period of several weeks, then you may need to look at your caloric intake and do slight adjustments. If you are eating 200 calories per day more then you need (let's say 1800 instead of 1600) it will take you about 3000/200=15 days to gain a pound, 30 days to gain two pounds, 60 days to gain 4 pounds, 120 days to gain 8 pounds.
  • Sarauk2sf
    Sarauk2sf Posts: 28,072 Member
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    1700-1800 seems like a lot of calories unless you are excercising every day.
    On those days that I do not exercise I am only allowed 1350.
    This is only after I got to maintenance mode when I hit my desired weight. Before that it was 1200.
    Now, on the days I exercise, I still am only allowed 1500-1700 depending on what exercises I am doing that day.
    It might be a good idea to look/set your goals on MFP if you haven't already.

    Best to you on the journey.

    That really is not that many calories.


    OP: 2 weeks is too early to tell. Water and food weight fluctuations can distort what is really happening. You need at least 4 weeks to see what is going on to at least take into account our cycle.

    Are you weighing your food? Are you logging everything?

    Has your activity level changed in the last few weeks?
  • whitebalance
    whitebalance Posts: 1,654 Member
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    OP, please do two things:
    1. Listen to Sara, above.
    2. Read this post. http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1071202-why-you-gain-weight-if-you-eat-more-than-your-cut
  • Achrya
    Achrya Posts: 16,913 Member
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    Huh. This thread is shorter than I remember.
  • SugaryLynx
    SugaryLynx Posts: 2,640 Member
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    Huh. This thread is shorter than I remember.
    Yes it is.

    Sorry, I ran out of gelato. . .

    At least I'm not a world eater?
  • SugaryLynx
    SugaryLynx Posts: 2,640 Member
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    Huh. This thread is shorter than I remember.
    Yes it is.

    Sorry, I ran out of gelato. . .

    At least I'm not a world eater?
    Ran out of gelato??????????

    BLASPHEMY!!!!

    34t4f7r.gif
  • jollyjoe321
    jollyjoe321 Posts: 529 Member
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    I wouldn't worry about it, like the first person said, the glycogen stores are probably now replenished.

    I actually gain 4/5 pounds when I switch to maintenance, so I wouldn't worry too much about a couple of pounds difference!
  • lynn1982
    lynn1982 Posts: 1,439 Member
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    All these replies from people telling the OP that either she's eating too many calories or not enough are HILARIOUS. Did anyone bother asking the OP her height?? That will play a big role...At 5 feet tall and 110 pounds, my maintenance calories are 1420.... that's not a lot, so I also workout daily.

    OP, as others have said, a 2 pound gain isn't a big deal. If it keeps happening, then either eat less or increase your exercise. It could just be your body leveling out.

    I'm not sure anyone told her she's not eating enough. I think you've confused '1700 is not a lot of food' with 'you need to eat more'.

    I think it's implied. But that really wasn't my point... which you obviously missed. Not my problem.

    Oddly enough I'm also of the opinion that you've missed a point or two.

    Fancy that. :ohwell:

    Well, you're the one who first started picking on my post. Grow up.
  • SugaryLynx
    SugaryLynx Posts: 2,640 Member
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    All these replies from people telling the OP that either she's eating too many calories or not enough are HILARIOUS. Did anyone bother asking the OP her height?? That will play a big role...At 5 feet tall and 110 pounds, my maintenance calories are 1420.... that's not a lot, so I also workout daily.

    OP, as others have said, a 2 pound gain isn't a big deal. If it keeps happening, then either eat less or increase your exercise. It could just be your body leveling out.

    I'm not sure anyone told her she's not eating enough. I think you've confused '1700 is not a lot of food' with 'you need to eat more'.

    I think it's implied. But that really wasn't my point... which you obviously missed. Not my problem.

    Oddly enough I'm also of the opinion that you've missed a point or two.

    Fancy that. :ohwell:

    Well, you're the one who first started picking on my post. Grow up.

    You started in guns a blazin mocking people's posts? Who exactly needs to grow up?

    Height doesn't always mean lower calories. I'm 5'3.5" 119 lbs and my maintenance is 2200?

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