Maintaining

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GreatgrandmaH
GreatgrandmaH Posts: 2 Member
in Goal: Maintaining Weight
Hello, I have finally reached my goal after many months. I don’t want to lose more weight, but I don’t want to gain any either. I am only moderately active. How do I determine how many calories I should eat in a day?

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  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
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    You can estimate your need by going back to setup (like when you signed up) and enter your new stats and goal; but you don't find your true maintenance level until your weight hovers around the same numbers week after week.
  • JoeCWV
    JoeCWV Posts: 213 Member
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    Keep in mind your weight will not be static. I, and most people recommend a rage, say 5 pounds. If you go under the range up your calories a bit, if you go over the range cut a bit. You don't want to get too obsessive about a number.

    Like the prior post states you can set up your profile to lose 0 pounds and that will be a good starting point. After a few weeks you can adjust as needed to stay in your range.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,437 Member
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    If your loss rate (pound per week lost) was similar to what your MFP profile was set for, just set up your profile for maintenance and see how it goes.

    If your loss rate wasn't as predicted (or maybe even if it was), you could add 100 calories per day to your goal, eat at that level for two weeks or more, and see whether you lose, gain, or stay the same. (If you've been losing rapidly, you could start with 200, even).

    If you stay about the same weight, stay at that calorie level - it's maintenance. If you still appear to be losing, add another 100 calories a day and monitor for a couple of weeks. Repeat until you stabilize.

    As others have said, set a range that will count as stability - some weight plus or minus 3 pounds, or plus or minus 5 pounds. If you're going along eating at that level, but your weight lingers above the range for a couple of weeks or so, cut back a bit until you're near the bottom of the range. If you drop below the range, add on a bit.

    Eventually, you'll figure it out & stabilize where you want to be. It's a process.
  • Bekahmardis
    Bekahmardis Posts: 602 Member
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    I bought a FitBit and sync'd it up with MFP; it is amazing at helping me to maintain my 110 lbs (5'2", 45 years old) for the past year and a half! If I don't have it on to tell me how much or how little exercise I'm getting each day, I will guarantee I overeat and put weight back on.

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