Shorter girls, what are your maintenance calories?

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  • aNewYear123
    aNewYear123 Posts: 279 Member
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    Try entering your information with you goal weight into some of the online calculators (they give different results so try a few and take an average). Your maintenance calories are going to be a personal thing. How much you burn is going to depend on a lot of things including your height, age, and activity level.
  • Claude1985
    Claude1985 Posts: 23 Member
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    Hi,

    I'm 5'2, 119lb
    My TDEE is 1800 (with light activity)
    I eat between 1400 and 1500 when I want to lose weight + 30 min of exercise/day
  • nxd10
    nxd10 Posts: 4,570 Member
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    Use the MFP maintenance calorie calculator?

    It varies all of the place. People here keep saying they are tiny so can only eat 2000 to maintain. I'm 5'10", it says I need around 1450 and - wow - when I do that I maintain. Gender, age, weight, and height are the key determinants for their algorithm.

    Personally, I set myself to sedentary, use a fitbit to calculate my movement, and add in anything extraordinary I do in terms of eercise.
  • sassypants0923
    sassypants0923 Posts: 7,188 Member
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    5'1" 110 lbs... about 1300-1500. Crap.
  • PapaverSomniferum
    PapaverSomniferum Posts: 2,677 Member
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    Online calculators guess me (also 5'2") anywhere between 1100 to 1600. Through trial and error, I've found I maintain at about 1200-1300. I gain like crazy if I go over 1400.

    Lots of exercise for us short people, because eating that little sucks so very bad.

    edit to say that that's at a sedentary lifestyle at about 110lb. I exercise so I can eat more, but some weeks (months) exercise just doesn't happen on my schedule like it should, so it's back to ultra-annoying low intake.
  • lithezebra
    lithezebra Posts: 3,670 Member
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    I estimate my activity conservatively, which gives me a maintenance of 1520. However I exercise, and eat back those calories, so in practice I usually eat about 1600-1800 calories a day.
  • balancedbrunette
    balancedbrunette Posts: 530 Member
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    From monitoring and working out my calories I maintain at around 1680, have been since May, I'm 112lbs and 5ft3 and make sure I exercise at least 3 times a week - which I guess is not a lot compared to some but I try and set a minimum to keep me focused, anything extra is a bonus! :) Exercise helps if your concerned with going from 1200 to anything more and thinking you might gain weight, i was like this for a while, i was eating around 1300-1400 while loosing and was afraid really to go anything over 1300 when i got down to my desired weight, but gradually bring it up and you'll find your body adjusts and finds its balance, some days i'm at maintenance others i'm not and I just seem to balance out ok at the end of the week :) Also resistence training really helps! :)
  • ItsCasey
    ItsCasey Posts: 4,022 Member
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    I think a useful addendum to this thread would be the acknowledgement that if you aren't weighing and measuring your food, you probably have no idea how much you are actually eating. I pretty much don't believe anyone who says they gain a ton of weight if they eat more than 1300 or 1400 calories a day, considering that is only 100 to 200 calories more than an average-sized woman's BMR. So unless you literally do nothing all day but sit on the couch and watch TV, I don't want to hear that you're gaining weight eating 1400 calories a day.

    I used to think the same thing until I actually started weighing things and realized I was eating about 500 more calories per day than I thought I was because I wasn't weighing calorie-dense foods like peanut butter, and I wasn't logging the handful of peppermints I would eat in the afternoons at work, and I didn't even think to count the half & half in my coffee or the oil/butter I used to sear my fish or steak. It adds up.
  • kimf79
    kimf79 Posts: 59 Member
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    5 ft tall, 123 lbs. MFP put me at 1650 and that has worked so far with me eating back all of exercise calories. 2 months maintaining so far

    Thanks for your input! So you are netting 1650?

    Thanks :)
  • kimf79
    kimf79 Posts: 59 Member
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    I think maintenance calories are primarily dependent upon your weight and activity level, rather than your height, so I'll pitch in even though I'm a little taller. Plus, I've always felt short next to my almost 6' sister. :wink:

    I'm 5'7" and I'm 130 pounds. I've been maintaining (within 1-2 pounds depending on TOM) for over two years at 1700 PLUS exercise. It took several weeks to figure out the right calorie level (I had to add extra calories over what MFP gave me because I kept dropping weight) but once I did figure out the number, it just seemed to work perfectly ever since. You just make adjustments until the weight levels out. I haven't needed to, but I guess any time your weight started to fluctuate again just make more adjustments. :flowerforyou:

    ETA: I guess another good point to make (As I looked back through the responses) is that maintenance is very dependent on the individual. I weigh a lot more than some of the other posters here, so you would think my maintenance calories would be higher. They seem to be lower than some. So you can't really predict what your needs will be unless you compare with people who have similar weight AND activity level to you.

    Thanks for your answer! In terms of activity level I do cardio at the gym about 4-5 times per week, burning about 400 calories each workout. I still actually want to lose a few pounds but sometimes when I go over I just want to make sure I am not getting into weight gaining territory and just eating at worst at my maintenance level.

    So you are eating 1700 net calories, or 1700 includes your workout calories?

    Thanks dear!
  • kimf79
    kimf79 Posts: 59 Member
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    I'm 5'3, around 114lbs and I maintain on around 2500-3000, I don't know if this is normal or not though!! It hasn't always been this way and it's only through eating 'real' food that this has seemed to happen!

    Wow that's awesome! Those are about my stats, for height and weight!
  • kimf79
    kimf79 Posts: 59 Member
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    I think a useful addendum to this thread would be the acknowledgement that if you aren't weighing and measuring your food, you probably have no idea how much you are actually eating. I pretty much don't believe anyone who says they gain a ton of weight if they eat more than 1300 or 1400 calories a day, considering that is only 100 to 200 calories more than an average-sized woman's BMR. So unless you literally do nothing all day but sit on the couch and watch TV, I don't want to hear that you're gaining weight eating 1400 calories a day.

    I used to think the same thing until I actually started weighing things and realized I was eating about 500 more calories per day than I thought I was because I wasn't weighing calorie-dense foods like peanut butter, and I wasn't logging the handful of peppermints I would eat in the afternoons at work, and I didn't even think to count the half & half in my coffee or the oil/butter I used to sear my fish or steak. It adds up.

    I hear what your saying, I do weigh and track my food pretty accurately. Sure there are times I go out to eat and I'm estimating portion sizes but after being acquainted with portion sizes for awhile, I think I'm pretty decent at determining how much I'm eating.

    I am pretty active also but its been doing a lot of cardio which burns calories but I haven't necessarily built lean body mass, which maybe I need to. I think since I have started eating more I may have gained but I have splurge nights sometimes which may add up. Anyways I need to get back to losing a few lbs, and then find my right maintenance level. Thank you for your input!! :-)
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,874 Member
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    Thanks. I will take a look at this link. I have looked this information up before, and the number I come up with for maintenance is 1800 calories. I just get worried to trust this number, is it correct? That is why I am asking other people what their maintenance calories are.

    Nobody has a TDEE of exactly XXXX calories...any of these calculators are good starting points...you have to make adjustments as per real world results. Also, you're really going to have more of a maintenance range than one specific number. For me, I maintain pretty much any calorie amount between light active and moderate active on these TDEE calculators. I've been maintaining for 6 months easily...you just have to do some trial and error.

    Also recognize that your maintenance weight isn't going to be static...people freak out and start cutting because they gain a couple pounds when they go to maintenance...when all you are doing is replenishing your chronically depleted glycogen stores. Also, you're going to have natural fluctuations up and down...on average I weigh about 183 but get as low as 178 and as high as 186 from day to day throughout any given week. These are just normal BW fluctuations, not fat.
  • xLaPetiteFille
    xLaPetiteFille Posts: 76
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    My doctor told me not to eat over 900 calories for maint...I'm doing this all wrong, aren't i
  • nvpixie
    nvpixie Posts: 483 Member
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    I'm 4'11" and about 110. Maintenance calories for me are around 1600. I don't exercise much.
  • Amym26
    Amym26 Posts: 83 Member
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    I am 5 foot 3 and half (that half is important!) and I eat between 1850 to 2200. But I don't how helpful that is as I still drop weight! I think you just have to play around with it.
  • walleyclan1
    walleyclan1 Posts: 2,784 Member
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    5 ft tall, 123 lbs. MFP put me at 1650 and that has worked so far with me eating back all of exercise calories. 2 months maintaining so far

    Thanks for your input! So you are netting 1650?

    Thanks :)

    yes ma'am!
  • viglet
    viglet Posts: 299 Member
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    My doctor told me not to eat over 900 calories for maint...I'm doing this all wrong, aren't i

    If I had to eat 900 calories a day for the rest of my life, I would just off myself (not at all saying you should).

    I honestly hate my life if I eat anywhere close to 1200. But that is just me.
  • gsager
    gsager Posts: 977 Member
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    Get a fitbit one and then you will know your calorie burn since your activity probably varies from day to day. I'm 5'2" and weigh 118-120. Been at that weight for probably a year. Some days I eat 1400 calories and some days 3,000 but that is just maybe once a week.
  • She_Hulk
    She_Hulk Posts: 277
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    I'm 5'2, 115 lbs. To maintain I eat around 1750 calories a day. Usually less (around 1600-1650), but no more than 1750. I may be able to go over that, but I have never tried. Sorry. Right now, I'm cutting, so my cals are much lower. Good luck!

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