Hiw many calories per day to maintain?

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bullieforme
bullieforme Posts: 37
in Goal: Maintaining Weight
How do you work out how many calories you are allowed each day just to maintain your weight ?

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  • Graelwyn75
    Graelwyn75 Posts: 4,404 Member
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    You start here, find out your TDEE, taking into account your activity level, eat that amount each day, monitor your weight weekly, and adjust up or down as needed.
  • 47Jacqueline
    47Jacqueline Posts: 6,993 Member
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    I may eventually do a more individually rated approach, but right now I use MFP's calculator. I have my activity level set at very active and it gave me a result of 1950 + my exercise calories, which I track on an HRM. I aeem to be pretty stable.
  • shaynepoole
    shaynepoole Posts: 493 Member
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    everyone is going to be different as far as maintenance calories - it is based on your stats and your exercise level. I had to gradually step up my calories - started at 1500 - tried it for a 2 weeks and upped if I was still losing and then eventually hit the calories where I stayed fairly steady at 1800 calories a day
  • einzweidrei
    einzweidrei Posts: 381 Member
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    Trial and error. Start with a baseline and work from there.

    I used MFPs maintenance calculator and set it for "lightly active." FitBit had maintenance calories set too low for me, IMO. Then after a few weeks (even though I wasn't losing) I decided to up my calories a little more and it was fine. I actually might do that again.
  • mamadon
    mamadon Posts: 1,422 Member
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    I stated out low, then upped my calories every few weeks, until I found what worked for me.
  • nxd10
    nxd10 Posts: 4,570 Member
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    I put in my current weight and demographics into MFP, set weight gain/loss to 0 and let it calculate for me.

    I use a fitbit zip to calculate my activity and set myself to sedentary (that's what's recommended if you use that method). I log non-step exercise. I eat my exercise calories back if I'm hungry.

    Adjust as needed for your body.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,874 Member
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    plug your stats and what not into this calculator or another calculator and let it calculate a calorie goal to maintain....make adjustments as necessary....pretty much just like losing. Understand that you will get different numbers from different calculators because different calculators use different methodologies...i.e. exercise is NOT included in your activity level with MFP, but it is with many, if not most other calculators.
  • MelissaPhippsFeagins
    MelissaPhippsFeagins Posts: 8,063 Member
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    At about 15 pounds from my goal weight (coincidentally, at Christmas last year) I started upping my calories by 50/week until I stopped losing. My magic number is 2000/ day (US RDAs have to work for someone, why not me?). I'm staying 150-153 with the occasional 155 thrown in if I go heavy on sodium. I eat back 1/2 to 2/3 of my exercise (or all of it if I am really hungry) usually as a protein shake after my workout. It really is trial and error because everyone is different.

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