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maintenance calories

vrdz3215
vrdz3215 Posts: 493
edited September 2024 in Food and Nutrition
Okay so being the curious person I am, I went to a couple of other sites to see what they say how many cals per day I need for maintainence is, I came up with 2432 and 2250 from two different sites. When I use MFP calculator, is says maintenance is 1880. I am just wondering why there is such a difference? I am still trying to lose right now, but was wondering what the max amount of cals I can take in during a day and not gain, for those days that I know I am going to splurge a little. Just curious......any body got an answer?:huh:

Replies

  • CasperO
    CasperO Posts: 2,913 Member
    Is that maintenance or BMR? Maintenance calories and Base Metabolic Rate are not the same thing.
  • MacMadame
    MacMadame Posts: 1,893 Member
    There are a couple of calculations for BMR and MFP uses one version and other sites use other versions.

    They are all an estimate though. In the end, you'll have to figure out for yourself what your maintenance calories are. I did this by adding 100-200 calories to my daily allowance and doing that for a week or two to see if I still lost weight. Once I stopped losing weight, I stopped adding calories.

    Then, I picked the activity level that caused MFP to agree with the number I ended up with.
  • vrdz3215
    vrdz3215 Posts: 493
    Is that maintenance or BMR? Maintenance calories and Base Metabolic Rate are not the same thing.

    The website(s) that i used said that i needed to eat that amount of cals to maintain my current weight, so I'm not sure. What is the difference between BMR and Maintenance?
  • stormieweather
    stormieweather Posts: 2,549 Member
    BMR (Base Metabolic Rate) is the amount your body needs to operate if you were comatose all day/night. In other words, the minimum used for basic organ function. Maintenance is what you burn up through your normal daily activities (including BMR). Everything you do uses calories, from sleeping to watching tv, to eating dinner to washing dishes. The total of all that is your TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure).

    There are a bunch of calculators and sites, not to mention that each person's body is different. I've gotten from 2100 to 2450 as maintenance, although MFP gives me 1820. I'm currently eating 1900 and haven't gained any weight so far. I have to determine maintenance so I can find a healthy deficit so I can lose weight. How convoluted is that?? LOL.
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