Maintenance Calories?

sarahbeth17

I'm still close to 30 pounds from my goal, but I looked up what my calories should be at for maintenance once I reach my goal and it said about 1700. That confuses me because for about 3 days in a row I went over my calories and had around 1700-1800 and I ended up gaining 4 pounds, and it took a week to get those 4 pounds back off. I feel like 1700 is a lot of food and on some days I feel like the 1200 I aim for is a lot even though I know it's not. I eat a lot healthier now than I used to, so I guess it's easier to find low calorie options when there's hardly ever fast food or junk in the mix. I did not have an active day today, I went over my calories by about 200 and I feel VERY full, so when I reach my goal weight should I still continue to only eat 1200 calories on inactive days? I'm afraid to eat 1700 and gain weight. I don't want to drop the rest of the weight and then gain it all back because I'm eating what I thought I'm supposed to. I am semi-disabled so some days I just can't get in exercise, otherwise I would just try to be active to try to help it stay off. I just feel like whatever I lose I will gain right back cuz that's what keeps happening to me.

JNick77

I'm still close to 30 pounds from my goal, but I looked up what my calories should be at for maintenance once I reach my goal and it said about 1700. That confuses me because for about 3 days in a row I went over my calories and had around 1700-1800 and I ended up gaining 4 pounds, and it took a week to get those 4 pounds back off. I feel like 1700 is a lot of food and on some days I feel like the 1200 I aim for is a lot even though I know it's not. I eat a lot healthier now than I used to, so I guess it's easier to find low calorie options when there's hardly ever fast food or junk in the mix. I did not have an active day today, I went over my calories by about 200 and I feel VERY full, so when I reach my goal weight should I still continue to only eat 1200 calories on inactive days? I'm afraid to eat 1700 and gain weight. I don't want to drop the rest of the weight and then gain it all back because I'm eating what I thought I'm supposed to. I am semi-disabled so some days I just can't get in exercise, otherwise I would just try to be active to try to help it stay off. I just feel like whatever I lose I will gain right back cuz that's what keeps happening to me.

Can you post your statistics?:

Total Weight:
Body fat %:
Activity level estimate (10, 11, or 12) with 12 being very active (daily exercise, fairly intense, with a physical job), 10 for being semi-active (exercise but a sedentary job).

sarahbeth17

weight 166, i cant find 2 websites to say the same thing one said 27.8 another said 33 for body fat. I'm 5'5, lots of muscle in my legs. activity level: 10? It just depends some days are a lot more than others but I'm a stay at home mom with a toddler, most of my activity is chasing her!

JNick77

weight 166, i cant find 2 websites to say the same thing one said 27.8 another said 33 for body fat. I'm 5'5, lots of muscle in my legs. activity level: 10? It just depends some days are a lot more than others but I'm a stay at home mom with a toddler, most of my activity is chasing her!

Being a mom is definitely hard work! Bodyfat is really hard to gauge unless you get some good calipers and know how to take good measurements.

One of the formulas I use is Activity Level x Lean Body Mass. Another trainer posted something similar in another thread. So let's try:

(166lbs - (166lbs x .278))*10 = 1198.52 calories. Probably just round it up to 1,200. That may be too little for you, especially if you do exercise and then having to chase around a toddler. If you feel too fatigued use the above formula but multiply by 11 instead and then see how you feel, if not then 12. You'll have to judge for yourself if you're feeling fatigued because you're eating less calories or if you're just completely friggin' burnt out, you don't want the latter.

The calorie counter on this site is very cool but I question the macro nutrient breakdown. If you're trying to drop weight I would suggest not following the macro nutrients here. I'm guessing they're standard for each person but I don't know for sure. This is what mine looks like. They suggest my calories come from, 55% carbs, 30% fat, 15% protein. No no no no no...

Your body uses carbs first to fuel activity before it will burn fat for energy and you don't want to burn muscle. Carbs that don't get burned get stored. What you might want to try is adjusting your macro nutrient ratio. Based on what I see with mine, for 1200 calories it's telling you, 165 grams of carbs, 40 grams of fat, 45 grams of protein. I would suggest trying something more like 40% protein, 30% carbs, 30% fat, or 40% protein, 20% carbs, 40% fat. The cool thing is that as you hit plateaus in weight loss you can mess with these ratios and even do some slight increases to your calorie intake to shock your metabolism.

Hope some of this helps.

sue26

When you get to maintenance you can just play around with it. Try 1700 for a couple of weeks and if you feel its too much or if you put a pound or two on, then lower it to 1600. Its trial and error with calories, what works for one may be too much or too little for others