For those trying to figure out maintanance calories

Pineapples
Pineapples Posts: 246 Member
edited September 24 in Health and Weight Loss
Just thought to share with everyone,

Here is the current issue. Despite the exercise and watching what I eat the weight doesn't seem to want to come off. I've tried 1200 net and I gained 1lb. Then I tried 1350, lost 1lb. So then I figured lets up it a bit to 1436. Lost 2lbs. This past weekend TOM came around and I gained 5lbs which I know some is water retention but still hasn't come off yet, which I'm thinking I probably went up. But anyway I guess my obvious issue is that I'm not eating enough, but then I don't know how much should be enough.

02/15/2011-So I've decided to wear my HRM for 24hrs to get an idea of how much I'm burning in total in an effort to figured out if I'm eating enough/too much. So far I have burned 1128 calories, this of course includes some 560 calories from exercised this morning. It'll be interesting to see what the results are.

02/16/2011-As of this morning based on 24hrs of wearing my HRM I burned 3975 calories. This includes 1167 calories worth of exercise which leaves 2808 calories of regular daily activity. I've read a lot of the post and one in particular posted stroutman81; where he simply multiplies the weight times either 14-16. So if I do that my weight as of this weekend was 195 * 14(desk Job) it comes up to 2730 which is only off by 78 calories from my own experiment. So this method of calculating maintenance calories does definitely work.
Now my next step is to subtract 25% of those calories to come up with net calories I should be eating in order to lose weight.

Thank you so much stroutman81 for sharing your knowledge.

Replies

  • sanayhs
    sanayhs Posts: 9
    I'm a long way from the days of maintenance, but that's still really good to know. Thanks!
  • valleyrose99
    valleyrose99 Posts: 15 Member
    I suggest you redo your 24 hour HRM on a day when you have no excercise. Even though you recorded excercise calories, you still have "afterburn" which will increase cals burned for the day. You should fine there is a bigger gap than what you already calculated.

    Maintenance calories for a woman is your weight times 10 and for a man weight times 11. If you weigh 195, that's 1950 cals. To truly figure out your body's needs, you need to figure out your basal metobolic rate (BMR). I have a local medical weight loss clinic that has a machine that analyzes this for $50 and it's worth it.

    Good luck!
  • Pineapples
    Pineapples Posts: 246 Member
    Yes same here. I guess what I was trying to get across is that once you figured out maintenance calories you can then set your calorie goal to lose weight.
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,294 Member
    Just thought to share with everyone,

    Here is the current issue. Despite the exercise and watching what I eat the weight doesn't seem to want to come off. I've tried 1200 net and I gained 1lb. Then I tried 1350, lost 1lb. So then I figured lets up it a bit to 1436. Lost 2lbs. This past weekend TOM came around and I gained 5lbs which I know some is water retention but still hasn't come off yet, which I'm thinking I probably went up. But anyway I guess my obvious issue is that I'm not eating enough, but then I don't know how much should be enough.

    02/15/2011-So I've decided to wear my HRM for 24hrs to get an idea of how much I'm burning in total in an effort to figured out if I'm eating enough/too much. So far I have burned 1128 calories, this of course includes some 560 calories from exercised this morning. It'll be interesting to see what the results are.

    02/16/2011-As of this morning based on 24hrs of wearing my HRM I burned 3975 calories. This includes 1167 calories worth of exercise which leaves 2808 calories of regular daily activity. I've read a lot of the post and one in particular posted stroutman81; where he simply multiplies the weight times either 14-16. So if I do that my weight as of this weekend was 195 * 14(desk Job) it comes up to 2730 which is only off by 78 calories from my own experiment. So this method of calculating maintenance calories does definitely work.
    Now my next step is to subtract 25% of those calories to come up with net calories I should be eating in order to lose weight.

    Thank you so much stroutman81 for sharing your knowledge.

    FYI: HRM's will not be accurate this way. They only work, for calories burned, when your heat rate is elevated. If you want to do what you are trying to do you would need a bodybug. The other way is to go to a clinic and have them test you to get your BMR. Otherwise you will not know, the HRM will probably overestimate your burn, HRM's are not even accurate when calculating calories burned from strength training.
  • Pineapples
    Pineapples Posts: 246 Member
    I suggest you redo your 24 hour HRM on a day when you have no excercise. Even though you recorded excercise calories, you still have "afterburn" which will increase cals burned for the day. You should fine there is a bigger gap than what you already calculated.

    Maintenance calories for a woman is your weight times 10 and for a man weight times 11. If you weigh 195, that's 1950 cals. To truly figure out your body's needs, you need to figure out your basal metobolic rate (BMR). I have a local medical weight loss clinic that has a machine that analyzes this for $50 and it's worth it.

    Good luck!

    You do have a point. I will do that then. Thank you. I wish there was one of those clinics here.
  • Pineapples
    Pineapples Posts: 246 Member
    Just thought to share with everyone,

    Here is the current issue. Despite the exercise and watching what I eat the weight doesn't seem to want to come off. I've tried 1200 net and I gained 1lb. Then I tried 1350, lost 1lb. So then I figured lets up it a bit to 1436. Lost 2lbs. This past weekend TOM came around and I gained 5lbs which I know some is water retention but still hasn't come off yet, which I'm thinking I probably went up. But anyway I guess my obvious issue is that I'm not eating enough, but then I don't know how much should be enough.

    02/15/2011-So I've decided to wear my HRM for 24hrs to get an idea of how much I'm burning in total in an effort to figured out if I'm eating enough/too much. So far I have burned 1128 calories, this of course includes some 560 calories from exercised this morning. It'll be interesting to see what the results are.

    02/16/2011-As of this morning based on 24hrs of wearing my HRM I burned 3975 calories. This includes 1167 calories worth of exercise which leaves 2808 calories of regular daily activity. I've read a lot of the post and one in particular posted stroutman81; where he simply multiplies the weight times either 14-16. So if I do that my weight as of this weekend was 195 * 14(desk Job) it comes up to 2730 which is only off by 78 calories from my own experiment. So this method of calculating maintenance calories does definitely work.
    Now my next step is to subtract 25% of those calories to come up with net calories I should be eating in order to lose weight.

    Thank you so much stroutman81 for sharing your knowledge.

    FYI: HRM's will not be accurate this way. They only work, for calories burned, when your heat rate is elevated. If you want to do what you are trying to do you would need a bodybug. The other way is to go to a clinic and have them test you to get your BMR. Otherwise you will not know, the HRM will probably overestimate your burn, HRM's are not even accurate when calculating calories burned from strength training.

    Thank you for the info. I will try to find out about one of this clinics.
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