So many calories...!
oocdc2
Posts: 1,361 Member
I'm finding it hard, on a psychological level, to totally eat my maintenance calories (1500), even working out 3x week. I'm just so nervous about weight creeping up. Anyone else feeling like this?
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Replies
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I feel you. I can eat about 1900-2000 daily with my current exercise regimen, but I'm usually eating between 1400-1800. I'd rather it be going down slowly than going up slowly, you know? I suppose you could do that, and if it dips down too far, then indulge in a pint of ice cream or a big dinner (or just do that every 2 weeks or once a month or something).0
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It's a bit of a shock to find out what your body NEEDS vs what you think you want in calories. Plus most of the things we eat in the west is very calorie dense.1
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@oocdc2 i love your profile picture!!!1
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Sort of. I have my calorie goal set about 100 calories lower than my TDEE.0
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Is this real life? I could smash 1500 calories in under an hour, easy.23 -
_lyndseybrooke_ wrote: »
Is this real life? I could smash 1500 calories in under an hour, easy.
Me too!1 -
I'm finding it hard, on a psychological level, to totally eat my maintenance calories (1500), even working out 3x week. I'm just so nervous about weight creeping up. Anyone else feeling like this?
Don't worry about it. What with less-than-precise labels and forgetting to note things you ate, you're probably eating more than you think anyway.
You SHOULD be nervous about weight creeping up. It's when people slack off that the weight comes back. You probably will internalize good habits after several years, but even if you were nervous for the rest of your life it would be worth it if you kept the weight off.
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Its not that she couldn't eat that physically, I think. It sounds like a mental road block. Try watching 10,000 calorie challenges on youtube and you might gag from how much they put down! I am partly envious because I would fear the repercussions too much.0
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1500 with exercise 3x a week sounds like still weight loss to me. I maintain on 2100-2600 and i exercise a few times a week and am only a tiny girl.0
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_lyndseybrooke_ wrote: »
Is this real life? I could smash 1500 calories in under an hour, easy.
Me too!
I'm old and slow, ladies.
I usually burn about 350/workout. 2 -
Noreenmarie1234 wrote: »1500 with exercise 3x a week sounds like still weight loss to me. I maintain on 2100-2600 and i exercise a few times a week and am only a tiny girl.
I'm pretty new to maintenance, so I may have to up my caloric intake. I can't even imagine eating 2100/day, glad it's working for you!0 -
Screw calorie counting - change the foods that you're eating. Whole plant based foods - little processed foods.
I eat around 2500 - 3500 plus calories a day, and I'm maintaining my weight. I exercise everyday or 6 days a week for 30 minutes to around 1.5 hours . Strength training and probably around 20 minutes of cardio or so.
It's the source of the calories. According to the tdee calculator I should be gaining weight, but I'm not. If I were eating 1600 calories of processed animal product heavy foods, then yes I would need to stick to that number or else I would be gaining.
The point is , yes a calorie is a calorie in a laboratory setting - but when we apply that to a living breathing organism (human beings) if we had two people and set them on two different diets for a year but eat the SAME number of calories and exercise regime, John will eat 2500-3000 calories a day of plant based whole foods, with little processed foods and Tim will eat 2500-3000 calories a day of meat,dairy, eggs, processed foods - do you think they are going to look the same ??!?? Or have the same results in terms of weight, blood tests, body fat?!?! NO.
They are going to look different by the end of the year. This is because it's about the TYPE OF food we eat.
Oh and the calorie counters - say I need around 1800 or so to maintain - I was eating this a year back with the foods I eat now and guess what , I lost weight - WAYYYY too much weight (not going to go into details about this as this was a very painful time mental/physically)
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EAT REAL FOOD and you don't need to worry about calories.
It's honestly that simple.0 -
No way, I LOVE eating maintenance calories, I eat around 2100 on average and I wish I could eat more LOL0
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Screw calorie counting - change the foods that you're eating. Whole plant based foods - little processed foods.
I eat around 2500 - 3500 plus calories a day, and I'm maintaining my weight. I exercise everyday or 6 days a week for 30 minutes to around 1.5 hours . Strength training and probably around 20 minutes of cardio or so.
It's the source of the calories. According to the tdee calculator I should be gaining weight, but I'm not. If I were eating 1600 calories of processed animal product heavy foods, then yes I would need to stick to that number or else I would be gaining.
The point is , yes a calorie is a calorie in a laboratory setting - but when we apply that to a living breathing organism (human beings) if we had two people and set them on two different diets for a year but eat the SAME number of calories and exercise regime, John will eat 2500-3000 calories a day of plant based whole foods, with little processed foods and Tim will eat 2500-3000 calories a day of meat,dairy, eggs, processed foods - do you think they are going to look the same ??!?? Or have the same results in terms of weight, blood tests, body fat?!?! NO.
They are going to look different by the end of the year. This is because it's about the TYPE OF food we eat.
Oh and the calorie counters - say I need around 1800 or so to maintain - I was eating this a year back with the foods I eat now and guess what , I lost weight - WAYYYY too much weight (not going to go into details about this as this was a very painful time mental/physically)
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EAT REAL FOOD and you don't need to worry about calories.
It's honestly that simple.
@mlee981 Sorry to burst your bubble but if your maintenance was really 1800 and you ate 3000+ you would gain even if you ate 3000 kcal of broccoli. You cannot defy laws of physics no matter how hard you try. There is NOTHING wrong with meat, dairy, eggs. Stop demonizing food. If you want to eat plant based that is fine. Imposing your (wrong) opinions on other is not fine. Also 2 people will never look the same...but that has more to do with genetics and exercise routine rather than food choices. Usain Bolt eats burgers. He looks fine to me :P18 -
@KorvapuustiPossu "Imposing your (wrong) opinions on other is not fine."
WOW.. since when did someones opinion become right or wrong.. isnt that what an opinion is, someone else views.. whether or not they agree with yours??0 -
@KorvapuustiPossu "Imposing your (wrong) opinions on other is not fine."
WOW.. since when did someones opinion become right or wrong.. isnt that what an opinion is, someone else views.. whether or not they agree with yours??
@cglogosh Her opinions are wrong because they defy laws of physics and logic as well. Her opinions are scientifically wrong. If I think elephants can fly does it make it true? No. Because it defies logic and laws of physics.10 -
Screw calorie counting - change the foods that you're eating. Whole plant based foods - little processed foods.
I eat around 2500 - 3500 plus calories a day, and I'm maintaining my weight. I exercise everyday or 6 days a week for 30 minutes to around 1.5 hours . Strength training and probably around 20 minutes of cardio or so.
It's the source of the calories. According to the tdee calculator I should be gaining weight, but I'm not. If I were eating 1600 calories of processed animal product heavy foods, then yes I would need to stick to that number or else I would be gaining.
The point is , yes a calorie is a calorie in a laboratory setting - but when we apply that to a living breathing organism (human beings) if we had two people and set them on two different diets for a year but eat the SAME number of calories and exercise regime, John will eat 2500-3000 calories a day of plant based whole foods, with little processed foods and Tim will eat 2500-3000 calories a day of meat,dairy, eggs, processed foods - do you think they are going to look the same ??!?? Or have the same results in terms of weight, blood tests, body fat?!?! NO.
They are going to look different by the end of the year. This is because it's about the TYPE OF food we eat.
Oh and the calorie counters - say I need around 1800 or so to maintain - I was eating this a year back with the foods I eat now and guess what , I lost weight - WAYYYY too much weight (not going to go into details about this as this was a very painful time mental/physically)
...
EAT REAL FOOD and you don't need to worry about calories.
It's honestly that simple.
This is complete BS.9 -
KorvapuustiPossu wrote: »@KorvapuustiPossu "Imposing your (wrong) opinions on other is not fine."
WOW.. since when did someones opinion become right or wrong.. isnt that what an opinion is, someone else views.. whether or not they agree with yours??
@cglogosh Her opinions are wrong because they defy laws of physics and logic as well. Her opinions are scientifically wrong. If I think elephants can fly does it make it true? No. Because it defies logic and laws of physics.
@cglogosh Having an opinion is not wrong. I think what @KorvapuustiPossu is saying is that imposing it on others is wrong. Especially when the opinion you are giving is incorrect. I was kind of wondering where the research that backed @mlee981 post was. That sounds like anecdotal evidence to me, nothing scientific. And I don't really believe that she is eating that much more than her TDEE and not gaining weight. But that is my opinion. I don't actually know how many calories she is eating. But if she says screw calorie counting I have doubts if she knows how many calories she is eating either. I think I'll stick with my calorie counting and my meat, dairy and processed foods. It is working for me.
The OP came here wondering if others are having trouble eating up to their maintenance calories after being at a deficit. She didn't come here to be lectured about her food choices. I know how you feel @oocdc2 . I'm not quite at maintenance yet. I have 6 pounds to my goal, but I am having a hard time thinking about upping my calories. Right now I am focusing on eating back all of my fitbit adjustment, but it is hard. I'm so used to eating at a deficit and I am afraid that I will gain when I eat more. That is why I've been reading on the maintenance forums. To get advice about maintaining, not about food choices.4 -
@KorvapuustiPossu "Imposing your (wrong) opinions on other is not fine."
WOW.. since when did someones opinion become right or wrong.. isnt that what an opinion is, someone else views.. whether or not they agree with yours??
Well, what she said wasn't even an opinion. It was actually a false claim. Big difference...8 -
Back to the question from the OP..
I'm in the same boat, especially now that my exercise burns more due to increased length and intensity (summer = outdoor exercise). So I struggle with eating enough to maintain. I upped calories very slowly, say +100 a week or so. At first I wondered how I could regularly eat 2000, then when I upped it to 2100, I wondered about that and realized I was consistently eating 2000. Don't try to add 500 calories at once.
I added a cereal/milk night time snack for no other reason than to add more calories (found that easier than increasing meal size). I added afternoon snacks. Find ways to add just a little more into your daily diet.5 -
richardgavel wrote: »Back to the question from the OP..
I'm in the same boat, especially now that my exercise burns more due to increased length and intensity (summer = outdoor exercise). So I struggle with eating enough to maintain. I upped calories very slowly, say +100 a week or so. At first I wondered how I could regularly eat 2000, then when I upped it to 2100, I wondered about that and realized I was consistently eating 2000. Don't try to add 500 calories at once.
I added a cereal/milk night time snack for no other reason than to add more calories (found that easier than increasing meal size). I added afternoon snacks. Find ways to add just a little more into your daily diet.
Cereal and milk is so easy and perfect, agreed--that's the first thing I did. Thanks for the 500/cal tip.
And @kgirlhart, glad I'm not alone.0 -
1300 to 1600 is what I consume before dinner and I keep it to a light dinner at night and a snack0
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besee_2000 wrote: »Its not that she couldn't eat that physically, I think. It sounds like a mental road block. Try watching 10,000 calorie challenges on youtube and you might gag from how much they put down! I am partly envious because I would fear the repercussions too much.
I have no idea how they put away all that food. As for the weight gain, well, many of them are YT fitness gurus so they know how to get it off. Plus when you do the math, let's say your TDEE is 2400 a day. You eat 10000 calories. You have to subtract 2400 from 10000 to get the net calorie count, so 7600. 7600/3500 is 2.17lbs. Of that, some low, but not completely irrelevant, percentage will actually go to building LBM. It won't go every penny to fat.
To lose 2.17lbs (assuming that is the goal and this wasn't part of their bulk to end bulks), you could lose that in a little over 2 weeks with a 500 cal a day deficit. Sucks for the time, but won't set you back for life either.0 -
Noreenmarie1234 wrote: »1500 with exercise 3x a week sounds like still weight loss to me. I maintain on 2100-2600 and i exercise a few times a week and am only a tiny girl.
Depends on age and other factors. I am 69-5'2"-and only get 1420/day to maintain 115 lbs. plus any added exercise. We old and petite ladies don't get many cals.
I have just learned I have to leave off the empty calorie foods in my diet. Like not drinking my cals and non-nutritious junk food.3 -
YT fitness gurus???????
How about just overweight and we learned how to pack it away over the years.
If the daily allotment on this site is 2400 and you burn off 300 cals, its better to eat back some of those exercise calories. The site already subtracts the deficient for you automatically.
2 tablespoons of peanut butter or 1/4 cup of nuts is 200 to 250 calories depending on what the nut is or if it's a trail mix of some kind. Some trail mixes can go as high as 300 to 350 for a small amount of food.
It's not very hard to consume calories if you know which kinds of good food is in the high calorie percentage vs low calorie percentage. Sometimes it doesn't take much to go above your daily allotment for the day.
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YT fitness gurus???????
How about just overweight and we learned how to pack it away over the years.
If the daily allotment on this site is 2400 and you burn off 300 cals, its better to eat back some of those exercise calories. The site already subtracts the deficient for you automatically.
2 tablespoons of peanut butter or 1/4 cup of nuts is 200 to 250 calories depending on what the nut is or if it's a trail mix of some kind. Some trail mixes can go as high as 300 to 350 for a small amount of food.
It's not very hard to consume calories if you know which kinds of good food is in the high calorie percentage vs low calorie percentage. Sometimes it doesn't take much to go above your daily allotment for the day.
You misunderstand what we are discussing - 10k+ calorie challenge videos on YT have nothing to do with people gaining weight the usual way.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgK0fPV6jlI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzjLJS71g70
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7OqkMtG0fo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1etzQKxBR68
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdUnzwKtoFQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAEjD5cDslM
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OP, how much were you eating when you were losing? How much did you lose, how long did it take you, was your rate of loss steady?
Making the jump to maintenance can be a little scary, but 1500 is likely only 300 cals above what you were eating when losing, is that right? A lot of people add cals back in slowly, 100 or 150/week for a few weeks. This helps get your body used to additional food (although really 300 cals is not much, that's a bowl of cereal!) and it helps avoid a big spike in water retention from glycogen stores being replenished (similar to the quick weight loss that people see when they initially cut their calories, losing water weight). Things usually level off, but it can be a shock if the scale goes back up.
Another thing to keep in mind is that maintenance is a range, both in the weight you'll see on the scale, and the calories you can eat to maintain that range. My maintenance weight is 120 +/- 2 lbs, and my calories are anywhere from 2100-2300 usually based on how active I am that week. So while it is good to figure out a target number, it is also helpful to do some trial and error and make sure your maintenance level is actually what the calculators suggest.
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_lyndseybrooke_ wrote: »
Is this real life? I could smash 1500 calories in under an hour, easy.
yup very easily lol
OP just try i understand the fear but you are going to love eating more , add in snacks ,have bigger meals and desserts
eat back all your exercise calories and enjoy1 -
CrabNebula wrote: »YT fitness gurus???????
How about just overweight and we learned how to pack it away over the years.
If the daily allotment on this site is 2400 and you burn off 300 cals, its better to eat back some of those exercise calories. The site already subtracts the deficient for you automatically.
2 tablespoons of peanut butter or 1/4 cup of nuts is 200 to 250 calories depending on what the nut is or if it's a trail mix of some kind. Some trail mixes can go as high as 300 to 350 for a small amount of food.
It's not very hard to consume calories if you know which kinds of good food is in the high calorie percentage vs low calorie percentage. Sometimes it doesn't take much to go above your daily allotment for the day.
You misunderstand what we are discussing - 10k+ calorie challenge videos on YT have nothing to do with people gaining weight the usual way.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgK0fPV6jlIhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzjLJS71g70https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7OqkMtG0fohttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1etzQKxBR68https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdUnzwKtoFQhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAEjD5cDslM
oh never mind,. yeah I misunderstood... from some of those vids, they're eating stuff I'm trying to avoid but 30.000 cals in two days there's no way I even could do that. I barely get above 3500 on a complete cheat day let alone 10,000 plus. I would be sick really sick and it can't be that healthy for you...0
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