Maintenance Caloric Intake

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Bukolab
Bukolab Posts: 6 Member
edited January 2016 in Goal: Maintaining Weight
Help!! I'm tying to figure out my maintenance calories. I tried using the Calorie calculator to get an estimate, but I keep getting different numbers. Is there a sure way to know ? I'm trying to add muscle to my lower body, but I don't want to over eat to much!

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  • sjohnson__1
    sjohnson__1 Posts: 405 Member
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    Trial and error.
  • juggernaut1974
    juggernaut1974 Posts: 6,212 Member
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    Bukolab wrote: »
    Help!! I'm tying to figure out my maintenance calories. I tried using the Calorie calculator to get an estimate, but I keep getting different numbers. Is there a sure way to know ?

    Trial and error.

    Eat the same average number of calories each day over a 3-4 week time period, and monitor your weight.

    If you lost, add a hundred calories per day and repeat. If you gained, shave off a hundred calories and repeat. If you maintain, that's probably it.
  • angellakh150
    angellakh150 Posts: 8 Member
    edited January 2016
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    what is maintenance calorie intake?
  • Bukolab
    Bukolab Posts: 6 Member
    edited January 2016
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    The amount of calories you need to maintain your current weight.
  • Bukolab
    Bukolab Posts: 6 Member
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    juggernaut1974 wrote: »
    Bukolab wrote: »
    Help!! I'm tying to figure out my maintenance calories. I tried using the Calorie calculator to get an estimate, but I keep getting different numbers. Is there a sure way to know ?

    Trial and error.

    Eat the same average number of calories each day over a 3-4 week time period, and monitor your weight.

    If you lost, add a hundred calories per day and repeat. If you gained, shave off a hundred calories and repeat. If you maintain, that's probably it.

    That's a really good idea.. Thank you!!!!
  • Springfield1970
    Springfield1970 Posts: 1,945 Member
    edited January 2016
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    Scooby's calculator came very very close to my trial and error calculations. Don't forget to change it as you lose or gain weight.

    Be specific with your 4 week trial and error. If you gained a pound, divide 3500 by 28, and there's how many calories per day you were eating too much of.

    Doing this eradicated any doubt in my mind that it all comes down to calories in calories out.

    Using my maintenance figure I was able to do a very successful bulk and cut. I HALVED my body fat %. I've also held on to any muscle I built, and boy did it take a lot of work!
  • Yi5hedr3
    Yi5hedr3 Posts: 2,696 Member
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    If you know your Lean body mass, you can find fairly accurate calculators that ask for your sex, age, height, and percent of body fat, to perform the calculation. MFP does not do this, so the estimate MFP gives is usually off quite a bit.
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,136 Member
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    should this not be in the maintenance section?
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,404 MFP Moderator
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    ndj1979 wrote: »
    should this not be in the maintenance section?

    Done.
  • Yi5hedr3
    Yi5hedr3 Posts: 2,696 Member
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    Insufficient data. specify Age, height, weight, percent body fat, current calorie intake, and goal/s.

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