I always gain on my maintenance calories?!

Scalesareforthefishes

I eat a very healthy diet.
I cheat once a week ( nothing crazy. usually 2,000 calories or less then that even )
By just living I burn 1,300 calories ( sucks to be short )
I stretch daily, do yoga, do pilates, jump rope and squats. everyday.
I don't eat crap. I'm VERY accurate with my calories and calories burned.
Why do I gain on my maintenance calories ):

bms34b

Bump...I'm curioso on this also

LexyDB

Deleted due to bump being included.

Scalesareforthefishes

I had a family member say it could be because I'm naturally a higher weight or something?
It's so upsetting ):
I usually have to eat below what I should just so I don't gain
I am a little low on the BMI chart. I guess it wouldn't hurt to gain a little but I really don't want to at all.

psuLemon

Who is estimating your maintenance? Is it mfp? If so, then it could be over estimating based on your stats. People who have greater body fat percentages as compared to the average would have slower metabolic rates. Also, medications or medical conditions can lead to a slower metabolsim. Or mfp is over estimating your exercise calories.

If you want post your height weight age and exercise routine and i can run your numbers for you.

Scalesareforthefishes

I'd rather not give out my stats because I'll get crap for it.
I'm a low weight and people will come at me, but I'm still HEALTHY.
I've already checked my calories on a calculator and all that crap..

psuLemon

I'd rather not give out my stats because I'll get crap for it.
I'm a low weight and people will come at me, but I'm still HEALTHY.
I've already checked my calories on a calculator and all that crap..

If you want, you can PM me the information.

I won't give you crap for it, but maybe it's your bodies way of tell you it wants to weight more. It's always possible to gain weight and then cut body fat. This way you will have a tighter body while your body is comfortable with the weight.

mturgeon05

Your actual maintenance very possibly is not the same as your calculated maintenance. It is all about trial and error. Experiment with eating at a certain number of calories for a couple of weeks and seeing where you stand. If you gain weight your maintenance is lower than that number. If you lose weight your maintenance is lower than that number. Keep adjusting your numbers until you find your actual maintenance.

happyfeetrebel1

If you gain on your 'maintenance' calories, then they're being estimated too high. That's just simple fact.

To find a more accurate number, take the highest number you lose on, then add 100 per week til you stop losing. THAT would be your maintenance calories. After all, these are just sites, your actual body may differ

iWaffle

I'd rather not give out my stats because I'll get crap for it.

Rubbish. As long as you can't count all your ribs I'm not going to judge. I know people under 100 pounds that are quite healthy.

I just switched to maintenance this last week and so far I've had the experience that I need to eat all my calories or I'll lose weight. Of course I'm still doing cardio and heavy strength training. Not sure what your exercise regimen is paired with your diet but you're going to just have to find what works for you. Also I wouldn't try to keep your weight dead-on your goal weight. Imagine it's like steering a car. You're always making slight adjustments to the left or right to keep it about in the middle of the road. If you gain a couple pounds one week, then just work on getting them off the next. It's not as if adding a pound is a huge deal. It wouldn't take much time at all to drop that.

Depending on your body composition if you're a smaller person you might want to think about trying to add on some muscle which could help give you a bigger window between your TDEE and your BRM. Take me for instance. My maintenance calorie requirement is 2470. I honestly have about a 1000 calorie a day window I can play around with. 2000 is a little low but not horrible if I do it a day or two. Eating 3000 calories in a single day won't break the bank either. It makes life much easier. If I gain a pound (and I will. Had pizza last night) then I just give it a day or two of being more strict on calories.

Sure you probably can't get that big of a window if your smaller but I bet you can swing it 250 calories in either direction one day and not be that far off. Just tweak it from one day to the next and don't sweat it if you gain a pound. That's nothing.

nrdoty

I'd rather not give out my stats because I'll get crap for it.

Rubbish. As long as you can't count all your ribs I'm not going to judge. I know people under 100 pounds that are quite healthy.

I just switched to maintenance this last week and so far I've had the experience that I need to eat all my calories or I'll lose weight. Of course I'm still doing cardio and heavy strength training. Not sure what your exercise regimen is paired with your diet but you're going to just have to find what works for you. Also I wouldn't try to keep your weight dead-on your goal weight. Imagine it's like steering a car. You're always making slight adjustments to the left or right to keep it about in the middle of the road. If you gain a couple pounds one week, then just work on getting them off the next. It's not as if adding a pound is a huge deal. It wouldn't take much time at all to drop that.

Depending on your body composition if you're a smaller person you might want to think about trying to add on some muscle which could help give you a bigger window between your TDEE and your BRM. Take me for instance. My maintenance calorie requirement is 2470. I honestly have about a 1000 calorie a day window I can play around with. 2000 is a little low but not horrible if I do it a day or two. Eating 3000 calories in a single day won't break the bank either. It makes life much easier. If I gain a pound (and I will. Had pizza last night) then I just give it a day or two of being more strict on calories.

Sure you probably can't get that big of a window if your smaller but I bet you can swing it 250 calories in either direction one day and not be that far off. Just tweak it from one day to the next and don't sweat it if you gain a pound. That's nothing.

Well said.

You mentioned that you do stretches, yoga, pilates, jump rope & squats. I can assume based on the other exercises you mentioned that you're not taking about squats with a barbell. None of your workouts are geared toward increasing muscle much, only toning & general strengthening. So if you don't strength train & you are as you said "a low weight" it is fair to assume you don't have much muscle mass.

Try & change up your training to incorporate muscle building exercise a couple times a week. Something as simple as holding a couple dumbbells while you do your squats can help a ton. If you are used to doing a few dozen squats at a time with no weights, then you want to shoot to for an amount of weight where you can only do 6-9 at a time.