Maintenance weight question...

chevy88grl

I've recently moved into the maintenance side of this journey after a lot of soul searching and realizing I'm happy with this weight.

MFP says I should be at 1980 calories a day to maintain. I was staying around 2000 during my weight loss phase and did well with it. I did the BMR/daily calorie intake formula and according to that I should be around 2300 calories a day to maintain.

So. Do I go with the MFP number - which is LOWER than the number I was eating during the weight loss phase? Do I stick with 2000? Or do I eat closer to the 2300?

Not sure if it matters, but I burn anywhere from 350-500 calories 3-4 days a week at the gym. I also work on my feet 5 days a week. I consider myself to be moderately active and use that when I figure calories.

lilwashee

i would go with around 2,100 or so

Tamishumate

it could be something you have to figure out on your own, or with help from your DR. I can not eat that much, even with all the calories I burn every week. MY body got use to eating a lower # that when i increased, I actually gained. It took , me talking with my DR to figure it out. I will never be able to eat that many calories on a daily basis.

you will just have to play with it. :drinker:

SimplyDeLish

If I read your ticker correctly, it appears you lost 53 lbs. in about 5 months (about 2.5 lbs per week), eating at 2000 calories a day. That gives you a deficit of over 1000 calories per day. The standard 3500 calories equal a pound math would tell you that you are most likely going to have to increase your daily calorie consumption by at least 1000 calories per day to maintain. Start by adding 500 calories per day for a week and see what happens. If you are still losing add another 500 calories a day the next week. Etc.

chevy88grl

it could be something you have to figure out on your own, or with help from your DR. I can not eat that much, even with all the calories I burn every week. MY body got use to eating a lower # that when i increased, I actually gained. It took , me talking with my DR to figure it out. I will never be able to eat that many calories on a daily basis.

you will just have to play with it. :drinker:

During my weight loss process, if I dropped my calories below 2000 - my weight loss came to a screeching halt. As soon as I upped my calories, I would lose again. MFP wanted me to eat 1720 calories to lose .5lb a week - well, I did it for WEEKS. Stayed under, worked out, etc. I didn't lose - I actually started to gain. As soon as I went back to my 2000 calories, I dropped the couple of pounds that I had gained and would lose again.

It has been trial and error with my body - let me tell you. I wanted to lose another 10lbs, but I have been seriously struggling for months to try and figure out what it wants/needs to lose more. Since 150 was my goal weight from the very start, I decided to stop obsessing over losing weight and work on toning and such. I just can't worry about it anymore. I was driving myself crazy.

chevy88grl

If I read your ticker correctly, it appears you lost 53 lbs. in about 5 months (about 2.5 lbs per week), eating at 2000 calories a day. That gives you a deficit of over 1000 calories per day. The standard 3500 calories equal a pound math would tell you that you are most likely going to have to increase your daily calorie consumption by at least 1000 calories per day to maintain. Start by adding 500 calories per day for a week and see what happens. If you are still losing add another 500 calories a day the next week. Etc.

The amount of weight I lost has not been just in the months since I started MFP. It has been a much longer process than 5 months. I'm one of those weird people who doesn't lose a 1lb or whatever a week. I hold steady at a certain weight for awhile and then literally overnight, I will drop 7lbs or more.

B2BB

I would just increase 10% for two weeks see how that goes, if tu are still losing increase 10% again and see how that goes. Continue until u reach a where u can maintain.

Tamishumate

You know your body better than anyone. :flowerforyou:

chevy88grl

You know your body better than anyone. :flowerforyou:

Ha. Sometimes I question if I do or not. Sometimes I feel like it is an alien or something. It is sooo hard to figure out. Makes me crazy, I tell ya. LOL.

Oishii

I set my calories for maintenance with moderately active and kept losing, so now I've set it at a higher activity level and I might have started to gain (other factors involved though, so I'll wait a little before I change). I'd say keep playing around with it and join the maintenance thread for support :flowerforyou: