Want to maintain - still losing

pianoteacher30
pianoteacher30 Posts: 9 Member
in Goal: Maintaining Weight
I got to my goal weight of 119lbs (actually just under 118.5) at the end of last week so decided to switch to maintenance this week. MFP gives my maintenance calories as 1480 - I'm 5'2" female) but I've lost another 2lbs since Monday!!

I started exercising this week for about 25 minutes each day including warm up and cool down but have no idea what this is burning so didn't add it into my daily allowance - I did the nerd fitness beginner bodyweight routine 3 times (I can only manage 2 reps not 3) and the bodyblast ab exercises from the NHS website twice. I know this alone could not have caused enough of a deficit to produce a 2lb loss so I'm guessing my maintenance calories need to be higher than MFP suggests.

My question is how much should I increase my daily allowance by to maintain?

Replies

  • Lottiotta
    Lottiotta Posts: 162 Member
    This seems a bit similar to the "I've been eating at a deficit and working out for 7 days and I've not lost weight" posts, because I can imagine people can answer with the same stuff: you can't spot a weight trend over a short amount of time because weight fluctuates depending on hormones, salt, time of day, etc. So give it a month and if you're still losing, add 100 calolries, give it another month and have another look, etc.?
  • dedflwrs
    dedflwrs Posts: 251 Member
    That can vary from individual to individual as you are experiencing. Just start adding until you find the right place. Obviously you will have to first gain your weight back.

    When I first went into maintenance I lost three more lbs that I intended and then life happened and I gained about 6 then I lost back to my ideal and on and on. Our weight fluctuates for many reasons. In maintenance you will have to give yourself a couple of lbs under and a couple over to work with.
  • melindafritz1976
    melindafritz1976 Posts: 329 Member
    MFP
    'automatically increased my calories
    when i edited
    the profile
    to maintaining
  • ExRelaySprinter
    ExRelaySprinter Posts: 874 Member
    I'm no expert, but 1480 cals seems a bit low to be honest.
    Even for a 5ft 2 female.
    Maybe up your cals to around 1700 and see what happens!
  • flumi_f
    flumi_f Posts: 1,888 Member
    I'm maintaining and still want to lose a few kilos.... Wanna trade?

    Seriously...you can change MFP to maintain and eat your exercise cals back. If you gain over a period of a week or two, reduce the cals a bit again. You will probably gain some due to the body refilling water and glycogen stores in your muscles. That's normal.

    You could also set to maintain and then increase your daily cals about 100cals and stay there for a week. If you are still losing increase again. Repeat until you are no longer losing.

    We actually have the same height and you are at my goal weight. I do more exercise and maintain on an average of about 1800 a day. Just for comparisons sake.
  • pianoteacher30
    pianoteacher30 Posts: 9 Member
    Thanks for the replies. I think I'll try 1700 and see how I get on - when I was losing it was over what MFP projected so maybe I'm a little more active than their definition of sedentary! x

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