My maintenance calories can't be true! =(

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kerrbear79
kerrbear79 Posts: 229 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I'm 5 ft tall. My original goal weight was 120, just because that's what I averaged most of my adult life, just never thought I could do any better. Once I reached that then my goal changed to 115. I thought wow if I can get back to 120 after gaining a ton of weight during my pregnancy (not just "baby" weight but actual fat) then I might as well keep going. Well once I got to 115 I started slowly increasing my calories by like 50 every 2 weeks, very slowly. I was still losing like 1/4 lb every week while doing this. I had worked my way up to 1350 about a month ago, but have not increased it anymore. Some days I still don't meet that, but I always have at least 1200. Well what scares me is I have been at 1350 for awhile now and have not lost any more. I figured that if I wasn't at my maintenance calories yet then I should still be losing some. Could it be possible that my maintenance IS 1350?!!!!!! I thought it would be around 1500, which is completely life sustaining/managable for me, so now I am worried about maintaining this weight as a life long goal because to me 1350 calories is still "diet" like. I have lost a few inches in the past month though so am I worrying for nothing and maybe i've been replacing fat with muscle and that's why the scale hasn't gone down? I'm scared to go up on my calories. =0 Any body have a similar experience?

Replies

  • kennie2
    kennie2 Posts: 1,171 Member
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    well one of the key points for maintenance is that you must still exercise! so if you exercise i guess it would be around 1500? see what mfp calculates for you. and if you gain weight with that just go back to what you were doing before.
  • jpeebs88
    jpeebs88 Posts: 81
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    You can see what your allotted maintenance calories are by changing your goal to "maintain" instead of lose weigh through MFP.
  • daisymae9801
    daisymae9801 Posts: 208 Member
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    I'm 5'2" and my goal is 110. Right now I'm at 130 and my maintenance calories are 1600. So I think that 1500-1600 would be around the same for you as well. Check it out and set your goal to maintenance and see what the calories are.
  • mharbaug
    mharbaug Posts: 9
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    This website is excellent about calculating your lifesustaining calorie needs based on your body fat, etc. Try it and see if it agrees with MFP.

    http://www.bmi-calculator.net/body-fat-calculator/
  • bwelltoday
    bwelltoday Posts: 4
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    Exercise is the key. I have been working on stabilizing my weight and I started by not exercising...just regular life routine to see where I am at. My weight is 175 Lbs and I lost 46 lbs since Feb 7, 2011.My goal is to get to 135 lbs but in this diet program...I do phases...and I am in the keeping the weight stable phase. I have maintained at least 3 days same weight so now I am going to increase my exercise and see how many calories will be necessary to add. I am at around 1400 calories...so you see...everyone's body is different.Your body works differently than mine...but you are doing the right things...you will be fine:)...Betty
  • Lovelymarebear
    Lovelymarebear Posts: 5
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    I would say losing inches at this point is more important cause that shows you are BURNING CALORIES :) and muscle increases our metabolism which burns more calories something i just read on ABOUT website perhaps why u'd feel hungry or the need for more calories:
    "strength training is incredibly important for losing fat and keeping your body strong and healthy. Just some of the benefits include:

    •Increased after burn - High intensity strength training can actually help you burn extra calories for hours after your workout
    •Prevents loss of lean body mass that happens from dieting and/or aging
    •Burning calories - While strength training doesn't burn as many calories in one sitting as cardio, it does contribute to your overall calorie expenditure "

    as long as you con't strength training and keep up with toning or core strength i would assume increasing calorie intake slowly wouldn't even effect ur inches lost
  • CARNAT22
    CARNAT22 Posts: 764 Member
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    I am 5ft 1in and if I went to maintanence today without exercise I'd be on 1480 cals per day.
  • kerrbear79
    kerrbear79 Posts: 229 Member
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    Thanks for the responses. I just checked and MFP says to maintain my current weight of 112.8 I need to net 1440 calories. So yeah that's not as high as I would like it to be, but it's still higher than the 1350 i've been netting. I guess I do just need to focus on the inches & not the weight now, but I'm still scared to bump up to full maintenance calories! I do exercise 4 to 5 days a week and burn an average of 200 calories those days, so I know that means I eat more like 1550 when I exercise. I've always eaten my exercise calories. I guess when i finally get the guts to increase my calories more if I gain weight then I'll know MY body needs less. I blame my hypothyroidism haha.
  • kdiamond
    kdiamond Posts: 3,329 Member
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    Thanks for the responses. I just checked and MFP says to maintain my current weight of 112.8 I need to net 1440 calories. So yeah that's not as high as I would like it to be, but it's still higher than the 1350 i've been netting. I guess I do just need to focus on the inches & not the weight now, but I'm still scared to bump up to full maintenance calories! I do exercise 4 to 5 days a week and burn an average of 200 calories those days, so I know that means I eat more like 1550 when I exercise. I've always eaten my exercise calories. I guess when i finally get the guts to increase my calories more if I gain weight then I'll know MY body needs less. I blame my hypothyroidism haha.

    I don't buy it. Unless you are almost in a coma, 1440 cannot be your maintenance. Try increasing to 1600 and see what happens. I bet you'll be pleasantly surprised...the last thing you want to do is eat at a lowered level over a large amount of time and decrease your metabolism...I've been there and it is no fun to come out of. It took a good year but now I eat 1800-2000 a day and some weeks I lose 1/2 pound or so (depending on my activity level that week). So I'm pretty sure you are not eating to maintenance.
  • kerrbear79
    kerrbear79 Posts: 229 Member
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    Thanks for the responses. I just checked and MFP says to maintain my current weight of 112.8 I need to net 1440 calories. So yeah that's not as high as I would like it to be, but it's still higher than the 1350 i've been netting. I guess I do just need to focus on the inches & not the weight now, but I'm still scared to bump up to full maintenance calories! I do exercise 4 to 5 days a week and burn an average of 200 calories those days, so I know that means I eat more like 1550 when I exercise. I've always eaten my exercise calories. I guess when i finally get the guts to increase my calories more if I gain weight then I'll know MY body needs less. I blame my hypothyroidism haha.

    I don't buy it. Unless you are almost in a coma, 1440 cannot be your maintenance. Try increasing to 1600 and see what happens. I bet you'll be pleasantly surprised...the last thing you want to do is eat at a lowered level over a large amount of time and decrease your metabolism...I've been there and it is no fun to come out of. It took a good year but now I eat 1800-2000 a day and some weeks I lose 1/2 pound or so (depending on my activity level that week). So I'm pretty sure you are not eating to maintenance.

    Yeah it doesn't seem right to me either, thank you!! I was really hoping to get to 110 by the time I reached my maintenance level though. =( I just don't feel like going back to 1200 just to get rid of a few pounds. Maybe I will try increasing a little and see if that kicks up my metabolism.
  • daisymae9801
    daisymae9801 Posts: 208 Member
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    You're 5'0 so if you set it for sedentary it's definitely possible. But if you go to an outside source, they calculate in how many times you work out. So "lightly active" would be works out 30 minutes 3x a week and that bumps up your calories significantly more than MFP allows.
  • kklindsey
    kklindsey Posts: 382 Member
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    1440 could very well be your maintenance. The shorter you are it seems the less calories you get. When I lost all my weight I was down to 135 and working out 5 days a week. I am 5'3". I could not maintain 135 on any more than 1100-1200 calories and I wasn't willing to eat that low for the rest of my life. So I started lifting weights 3 days a week and doing cardio 5 days a week. I gained 10lbs but was still the same size as I was at 135. At 145 with a healthy amount of muscle I could eat right around 1600 average to maintain my weight. Basically some days I was in the 1100 range, sometimes 1400 -1600 and very rarely(onece or twice a month) I ate 1800 or 2000.

    Don't be afraid to up your calories and see what you can get away with though. If you gain then readjust, it all takes time to figure out and unfortunately it doesn't stay static, you might have to constantly readjust. I always left myself a 3lb window. If I gained 3lbs I went back to loss calories until it was off and then was more careful after that.
  • kdiamond
    kdiamond Posts: 3,329 Member
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    1440 could very well be your maintenance. The shorter you are it seems the less calories you get. When I lost all my weight I was down to 135 and working out 5 days a week. I am 5'3". I could not maintain 135 on any more than 1100-1200 calories and I wasn't willing to eat that low for the rest of my life. So I started lifting weights 3 days a week and doing cardio 5 days a week. I gained 10lbs but was still the same size as I was at 135. At 145 with a healthy amount of muscle I could eat right around 1600 average to maintain my weight. Basically some days I was in the 1100 range, sometimes 1400 -1600 and very rarely(onece or twice a month) I ate 1800 or 2000.

    Don't be afraid to up your calories and see what you can get away with though. If you gain then readjust, it all takes time to figure out and unfortunately it doesn't stay static, you might have to constantly readjust. I always left myself a 3lb window. If I gained 3lbs I went back to loss calories until it was off and then was more careful after that.

    I'm 5'4" and 109-110 pounds and my maintenance is 1900+. My guess is that you underate for so long you slowed your metabolism down to a crawl. You made the mistake most people do - they see a gain on the scale, freak, and then start eating at low calories again. Again I was there and it took a mind *kitten* (for lack of better words) to get out of it - I was 105, then gained 5 pounds on purpose (muscle for the most part) then I started eating less (prob 1300 a day) even though I was working out a ton. I wound up at 114 and wasn't happy. After researching I decided to up my calories to 1800 for a few weeks and wa la I lost the weight to get back to 110...some weeks I lose more if I don't eat enough, so there is definitely something to it.

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