Maintaining a little confused :/

embeck79

morning to you all!

i hit my target weight this weekend (1lb below target weight :happy: ) hurrah! im very happy and a little shocked as i ditched the scales for a while as i was getting disheartened with it not moving, listened to my body upped my cardio and here i am now and was thinking i would kind of like to maintain now and more toning. when i hit the maintain weight button im shocked at how many calories that i can have daily ive gone from 1,370 to 1,830 which is great but i it seems loads to what im used to.

it would be great to hear from people that are maintaining and how many calories they are on daily and if you are getting the same results, little worried that im going to creep up the scales again.

thanks for reading

embeck79

Anyone out there?

KitTheRoadie

Hi Embeck,

Firstly congrats on hitting your target!

I am 5 or 6 pounds of my maintenance weight but have been wondering how many calories I should go up in my daily intake when I do get there.

I have just read a post that said to maintain you should add 20% to your BMR, which if I am correct in thinking is the amount of calories you need just to survive. If your BMR is 1370 then 20% on that is 1644, which does make the figure of 1830 a little high. As for numbers my BMR is 1730 and adding 20% to that makes 2076, which sounds about right to me.

I can't find the post again now but if I do I will post the link for you to read.

embeck79

thanks for replying, if you find the link that would be great. also well done on nearly reaching your goal! :drinker:

I am averaging 1500-1600 a day 1800 is a lot for me i dont think i could eat that much not now haha! will stick at 1500-1600 a day and see how i get on

kyle4jem

thanks for replying, if you find the link that would be great. also well done on nearly reaching your goal! :drinker:

I am averaging 1500-1600 a day 1800 is a lot for me i dont think i could eat that much not now haha! will stick at 1500-1600 a day and see how i get on

First and foremost CONGRATULATIONS! on hitting your target weight :flowerforyou:

Unless you a particularly petite and lead a sedentary life with little or no exercise, 1600 Calories a day seems to me to be a bit on the low side. I'd say the 1830 is more like it.

I think it's just a case of trial and error from here on in. Keep on going as you have been this past month and if you're still losing weight, then you need to up your calories and/or cut back on your exercise.

My plan at the moment is to eat over the course of the week, the calories I'd eat to maintain at the weight I want to be. I exercise almost every day (mostly swimming 4-5 times a week with some cycling and walking on other days) and I usually eat back about 50-70% of those exercise calories (as I don't think the swimming values MFP assigns are very accurate).

Of course that still puts me in a calorie deficit, but I'm learning to eat the amounts I need to sustain a lower weight, so that when I get to target weight, I'll already be in maintenance. :happy:

Oishii

Mfp thought I would maintain on 1700 or so... But I kept shrinking. I upped my activity level again and again, but still lost on the 1900 kcal mfp gave me if I was 'very active'. I kept adding calories until I got to somewhere between 2250 and 2500 being my maintenance calories.

If I think, that makes sense. I always lost faster than mfp said, so it makes sense that my maintenance cals are high. Have you usually lost at mfp's predicted rate?

Caitlinhappymeal

Interesting, I'll be checking this thread to see if people add more comments as I'm 2lb from target , until I get there and try it I can't really comment, but I will get back to you xx

KitTheRoadie

if you find the link that would be great

Hey! It took me a while but finally it came back up! Makes for a good read...

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/538381-in-place-of-a-road-map

Enjoy! :happy:

jj3120

Hi, Congratulations on hitting your goal weight : )

Although I am not at my goal weight I am also eating at my goal weight maintenance, still at a deficit but at a level of eating that is for life! slow and steady weight loss is my aim. eating this way is improving my eating habits - healthier and sustainable. feel free to look at my diary.

FoxyMcDeadlift

500kcals is a standard deficit, so you would add around 500kcals to maintain. As with all things, run 1800 and see where you are in a month. One of the most common things you see on here, is people being afraid to eat there calories. Dont be.