Can I / Should I be eating more? Maintenance help please!

jett254

I need some help figuring out this maintenance thing please!!!

I reached my weight goal - I'm 35 years old, 5'1'' and I started at 116 lbs (gradual weight gain after having 2 kids). I'm currently right around 99 lbs (+/- 1-2 lbs depending on the day) and I've been at that weight since August (I started with MFP in April). I'm *not* trying to lose any additional weight! I'm happy with my weight and my body so now it is just a matter of maintenance.

I work out 6 days per week for an hour each day (all group classes) - 2 days of cardio kickboxing, 2 days of high impact cardio classes and 2 days of more sculpting classes with a little cardio mixed in. I wear a polar HRM for my classes and typically burn only ~350 calories in the cardio/kickboxing (despite working hard and being soaked at the end) and more like 250 calories or sometimes lower in the sculpting classes. These numbers seem low to me, but maybe it is just because I am small.

My BMR is ~ 1200 according to the calculators. I've been eating 1460 calories per day for a while (although realistically, I'm really eating around 1550 calories because of the few things I don't log like some extra apple I cut for the kids or extra carrot sticks, over-measuring my popcorn each night, etc...). I eat very healthy - I love to cook so most everything is homemade. I've definitely been maintaining but sometimes feel low energy or hungry. I'd love to eat more calories if possible since I view this as a lifestyle change and not just a temporary thing. How do I know if I can eat more without just trying it and seeing if I gain? I really don't want to gain anything - I've worked hard to lose it and I plan to stay at this weight! How many calories do you think I should be eating??

I made my diary public if that helps. Thanks for the help!!!

Jen

TNR32

I'd say def yes you can eat more cal. and try to add more protein that helps keep you fuller longer. hope this helps you out.

Sabine_Stroehm

Isn't your TDEE around 1800?

jett254

RE: TDEE - I'm confused about how to use that number. If I put in Little or no exercise, it is 1440 and if I put in Moderate exercise, it is 1860. I was going with the little to no exercise because my calorie burns seemed so low using my heart rate monitor - in a sculpting class, I barely reach 200 calories so I was figuring if I went with the little to no exercise and then added 200 calories, it would be like 1650 which I'm eating close to at around 1550 (1460 tracked plus the extras I grab through the day). Do you think I could really eat closed to 1800 - that would be awesome! I seem to have no "off" button on hunger so that's why I only trust myself to track my eating - otherwise, I could easily eat 3000 calories. My husband is always amused watching me eat!

jett254

Sorry - one more TDEE question. If I set it at moderate exercise TDEE, then I wouldn't also eat my exercise calories because that would be "double-counting" them, right?

SoDamnHungry

Sorry - one more TDEE question. If I set it at moderate exercise TDEE, then I wouldn't also eat my exercise calories because that would be "double-counting" them, right?

Try setting yourself at sedentary (assuming you're sedentary when you're NOT working out) and then log your exercise individually every time you do it.

jett254

Yeah, I think I will go with that approach. Thanks!!

So if I do that, my sedentary is 1440 + (depending on the day, 200-350 calories burned)

If I set to moderate exercise TDEE, it is 1862 calories. Heavy exercise is 2072 - whoa, doesn't seem to make sense to me considering how many calories I burn in a workout.

Sounds like I can up my calories and hopefully not have an impact. I'm going to start tracking the few items I haven't been - grabbing baby carrots out of the fridge, having apple slices from my kids plates, the extra popcorn I over-measure at night and then see how many I have left to hit between 1650 - 1850 calories per day.

nguk123

After a certain point you need to shy away from 'calculator' and follow what you've learn about your own body and what you put it through.

Lets say you expect that you could be eating more, feeling better (having that excess energy be put to use by you being more active just going about your TDEE non-exercise business), you could well be right. The only thing to do is to test that theory, but sensibly so that you don't risk a troublesome gain.

Raise your calorie goal something like 75 to 100 calories per day. and maintain the new level over 4 weeks. weigh yourself over the 4 weeks. And then review what you learn from that experience. Even if you were perfectly maintaining before trying the experiment, the very absolute worst that will happen to you would be a weight gain of 4/5ths of a pound. ( A weight you could plan to lose in one solid week of traditional dieting if you absolutely had to).

Most likely you wont have to, as if your body is maintaining you currently, but with a depressed physiologial state, it would use those additional calories to fuel you and keep you feeling great, (i.e. you burn them off through an increase in your daily energettic activity), rather than storing them away as fat.

jett254

Thanks! That is my hope! I'm going to start increasing my calories today and see how it goes I set my new goal at 1640 for now and I'll plan to increase it again in a few weeks if I continue to maintain. I'll continue to log my exercise just because I like to track my calorie burn, but I'll ignore it for the purposes of eating since the 1640 incorporates exercise. Sound good?