What are your real maintenance calories?

nxd10

nosebag1212 wrote: »

MFPs maintenance cals are about 2-300 too low for me.

this, real maintenance for me = 2500 (measured using a bodymedia device and after weeks of eating at maintenance and not gaining or losing) , mfp has me at 2200, mfp consistently underestimates my tdee

MFP is made to add exercise into your baseline so it is consistently lower than TDEE, which makes different assumptions. Just curious - did you take that into account?

dunnodunno

ILiftHeavyAcrylics wrote: »

MFP's estimated maintenance is too low for me by about 150 calories.

I ended up getting a Fitbit and it seems really close for me, although others have told me that it's not accurate for them. I maintain on 1900-2300 calories, depending on activity level for the day. MFP gives me 1730 for lightly active.

For a long time though I maintained on 1900 with no activity tracker, I just adjusted my intake manually if it seemed too high or too low. I like having Fitbit because, as you can tell, it helped me to increase my maintenance calories. Basically 1900 is maintenance if I lift but don't do much else.

I got a Flex on Dark Thursday, & have a question about the activity part of Fitbit. Should I still use my HRM during exercise like riding the stationary bike & even walking/jogging on the treadmill & manually put it into Fitbit's activity log or just let Fitbit determine the calories?

nxd10

I think using the HRM during exercise that fitbit doesn't measure is a good idea. Because you log the time, it will only count one. You enter it into the MFP exericse log and fitbit will take it into account. If you do it in Fitbit, it counts twice.

Serah87

45 yrs old and 5'2

Maintenance Calories: 2400-2600

LivingtheLeanDream

forgot I'd posted a reply before! doh!!

williams969

RunRutheeRun wrote: »

forgot I'd posted a reply before! doh!!

That's okay, lol. I did, too, but it's been a whole month of attempted maintenance for me, and I'm still losing. I think I originally said 2000-2100 (according to calculator and my spreadsheet), but I'm down 3 pounds from November 1. I ate ~1900 for November (slowing upping my cals), 3 pounds is much more than projected loss, meaning my TDEE is higher.

And, the weird thing is I was "stalled" during all of September, and ate an average of 1750 that month (similar activity throughout). If I didn't trust the process of slowly increasing calories, I may of thought that 1750 WAS maintenance. That's clearly not the case.

Hmmm, this is a good example that TDEE is more of a range and our personal numbers can vary up or down, even if we use HRM's, activity trackers, etc. to get personal exercise numbers. For some of us, finding "true" maintenance can be a slow, patient process. I guess I'll up my calories another 100-150/day for December and see what happens.

KeepTheFaith9

I too am working on fine tuning my maintenance calories. I'm currently at 2,400 and not eating back my exercise calories on a daily basis to give me a little more wiggle room and flexibility for holiday events/meals. I'm 5'11, 220, (17.8 BMI measured by exercise physiologist) and 50 years old.

JustSomeEm

Hmmm.... I've been maintaining for about 3 months, and have definitely NOT followed MFPs suggested intake. MFP suggests 1600 calories for me (set at sedentary but use a synced fitness tracker, 35 y/o 130 lb 5'4" female), when my fitness tracker syncs it usually ups that by anywhere from 100 to 500 calories. Looking back at my data, I've been eating more than 2000 calories a day, and just dropped a few pounds. Yay for beer - but maybe I need to actually look at my TDEE and really figure it out. LOL! It's good to hear that I'm not the only one for whom the MFP numbers are too low, though.

gothchiq

About 1500. IF I am good and work out my 3 times a week. Pretty crappy eh?

Sadi_Kalen

hi all.

i'll add mine to this thread because i've been in maintenance now since christmas/2014. it's been a difficult journey over the last couple of months with this as i also needed to find my true maintenance. i notice that most short women like me (those barely over 5') have to eat closer to 1500 calories per day and not much more unless we are highly active. i went from working out like crazy with cardio for an hour, 6 days per week to just 30 - 45 mins cardio, 3 - 4 days a week now with plenty of leisure walking in between.

i have slowly upped my cals over the last month from 1400 to 1580 currently and i don't think i'll be upping them further. according to Scooby's accurate calorie calculator my TDEE is around 1631 calories per day going by my usual activity level (1- 3 hours weekly exercise) and i've found that since i upped the calories slowly i actually lost enough weight to reach 1 kg BELOW my goal weight! really satisfied with the results and the way i did it? slowly does it - add 50 calories every week to your daily calorie allowance until you see the scale move up or down again. amusedmonkey is correct - it's ok to expect a few pounds/kg leeway above or below your goal weight. the highest i've gained while working on maintenance was around 4 kg (8 lbs) but i'm maintaining now at a healthy BMI and feeling fantastic.

it's taken about 3 or 4 weeks for me to do this and i'm so pleased with the result. exercising LESS and eating just a tiny bit more has put me where i wanted to be when i started this journey. at this stage i'm no longer dealing with bad cravings or mixed hunger signals anymore and it's a relief to have put some of my terrible eating issues behind me. my advice to anyone struggling with exercise/cals is to embrace your fears and give your body a slight rest from the exercise while finding maintenance cals... sustainability is reached when you are most comfortable with your routine and not stressing about it all the time. some people need more exercise but i've found that getting by on the least amount that i'm comfortable with has put me exactly where i wanted to be.

nxd10

davis_em wrote: »

Hmmm.... I've been maintaining for about 3 months, and have definitely NOT followed MFPs suggested intake. MFP suggests 1600 calories for me (set at sedentary but use a synced fitness tracker, 35 y/o 130 lb 5'4" female), when my fitness tracker syncs it usually ups that by anywhere from 100 to 500 calories. Looking back at my data, I've been eating more than 2000 calories a day, and just dropped a few pounds. Yay for beer - but maybe I need to actually look at my TDEE and really figure it out. LOL! It's good to hear that I'm not the only one for whom the MFP numbers are too low, though.

If you're synching it and adding in your exercise calories you sound like you are doing what MFP suggests.

Phill2488

I never count calories. To me, calorie counting is boring and takes the enjoyment out of eating. I just eat whenever I'm hungry, and eat whatever I feel like and weigh myself everyday to make sure that my weight is still in check. And I only log in my weight once a week as weight can fluctuate on a daily basis

SarahHowells1

Interesting read! As medium build, 5'4 women (about 150lbs) I have lost weight over the past 18 months eating an average of 2,740 calories daily.... I have recorded almost everyday in excel and I try to record everything even if I "pig out". I think my maintenance is about 2,800 -3,000. MFP is way to low for me unless I put it on active and eat my exercise calories, which I do every day! :P Ooops I better add that I am fairly active (running + active job) and have a good amount of muscle, which may be why I can maintain easily on this amount of calories.

ROBOTFOOD

26yo distance runner 6'0 144lb. Around 4000. Run 80mi+/ week.

steff274

Myfitnesspal gives me 2010 to maintain with my active lifestyle and gym activities it is more like 2500.. I am 5ft 2 btw.. I log mucking out and sweeping when I am working.. So if I muck out a yard of horses I count this as excersize but if I just muck out one horse on my days off I don't.. I also log my gym activities

danawhitmore1

how do u calculate the maintenaince calories? thanks

actually ignore me, just seen the post above lol

melimomTARDIS

I am 5'4, 115-120 lbs. I average about 1750 over the course of a week. I dont eat back excersize calories right away, but I kind of save them back for a later indulgence.

twhaley1990

1750 was recommended, but I gained 5 lbs. So I'm back at my deficit (3 lbs to go!) and am going to try 1500 for maintenance. Honestly, though, sometimes I'm not the best logger, so I wouldn't be surprised if I was going over 1750 more often than eating exactly that

Danilynn1975

1450 per day is my maintenance.

Which is about 500 lower than MFP says for me.

Shouliveshappy

I'm doing 3 days split + 1 day cardio. I climbed from 1400 - 1600 (still losing weight),today I just started at 1800.

Shouliveshappy

Danilynn1975 wrote: »

1450 per day is my maintenance.

Which is about 500 lower than MFP says for me.

What's your height and weight? I think 1450 is low... Do you feel hungry?

bunnypy

Around 1400 calories @5'1, 110-105lbs

Danilynn1975

Shouliveshappy wrote: »

Danilynn1975 wrote: »

1450 per day is my maintenance.

Which is about 500 lower than MFP says for me.

What's your height and weight? I think 1450 is low... Do you feel hungry?

5'7", 40 years old. 154pounds.

Everything weighed on a scale. typical day clocks in about 5 miles minimum.

I have medical issues, confirmed. my metabolism is slower.

Very rarely hungry. if I am I go over calories and eat.

takeeverythingandrun

For the past while I've maintained on about 2400-2700 calories a day- MFPs recommendations are FAR too low for me, off by about 700! Though to be fair I run about 35 miles a week, and go to the gym a couple of times as well. Otherwise I'd be a complete potato

DeeTee68

firebloom wrote: »

A lot of people find this TDEE calculator more accurate for estimating maintenance calories.

http://iifym.com/tdee-calculator/

Thanks for that gave it a go and some good info.

ryry2169

I've learned that I may be hungry at times, but not ALL the time.

bwogilvie

Based on what I'm eating to maintain right now, my real maintenance calories are 1800 plus whatever I burn exercising, usually 400-500 calories a day on average. I'm 47 years old, 5' 10" (178 cm), and weigh 150 lb. (68 kg).

MFP thinks I need more like 1950 or so to maintain. Perhaps I'm missing some calories when logging, but I'm also fairly laid back and not at all fidgety, so it's likely that I just don't burn as many calories as some people. The 12-18 miles of running and 30-100 miles of cycling I do every week make up for that, though.

tomatoey

I have no idea. I maintained 124 lbs +/- 2 lbs (F, late 30s, 5'7, moderately active) on 2200-2400 for four years. I gained 18 pounds due to inactivity, maintained that weight on same. I am working out again (4-5 days/week, bodyweight and minimal strength + interval cardio with resistance) and somehow losing with intake varying from 1900 to as high as 2700 (I think today was close to 3000!), averaging 2200- 2400. I am confused. I don't know if the 3-lb loss I registered today was water, however. Probably it was.