Maintenance Calories while on Vacation

CassondraKennedy
CassondraKennedy Posts: 229 Member
edited November 16 in Goal: Maintaining Weight
I'll be on vacation this coming week with my in-laws. I've been losing consistently and I feel it is more realistic to have a maintenance week instead of trying to stick to my usual deficit. The TDEE calculator at tdeecalculator.net suggests about 1700 calories to maintain my current weight at sedentary. Can anyone give me a more accurate estimation based on the stats below?

Height: 5'2" (probably 5'1.5" if I'm being honest...)
Age:21
Activity: Sedentary (eat back ~50% exercise calories)

SW: 183
CW: 160.8
Daily net calories: 1320ish (I recalculate every 5 pounds)
Previous daily calories: ~2100

Any help would be much appreciated! Thank you in advance!

Replies

  • Sharon_C
    Sharon_C Posts: 2,132 Member
    Did you check MFP? What does it say if you change your settings to maintenance?
  • CassondraKennedy
    CassondraKennedy Posts: 229 Member
    Just checked. MFP says 1810. That seems outrageously high! Especially for my height...
  • sbrandt37
    sbrandt37 Posts: 403 Member
    The difference between 1700 and 1810 is about a pound a month (or 1/4 pound during the week of your vacation), so they are essentially the same. I consider that confirmation of both. You have apparently been losing weight with MFP, so why not trust it and just go with MFP's number? In other words, stop worrying, you got this. Enjoy your vacation!
  • CassondraKennedy
    CassondraKennedy Posts: 229 Member
    Thank you, @sbrandt37 ! I guess it just seemed too good to be true :D
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,809 Member
    You can work it out from your own data which corrects for logging inaccuracies.

    Add up total calories eaten for last four weeks, add 3500 for every pound of weight lost and divide by 28.
    That should be pretty close to your maintenance calories.
  • victoria_1024
    victoria_1024 Posts: 915 Member
    I'm 5'2.5" and 125 lbs and maintain at 1700 a day typically. So 1800 a day at your weight doesn't seem unreasonable.

    I went on vacation for 2 weeks recently, didn't count calories at all. I know I ate way above some days. But still didn't gain any weight! You'll be ok!
  • CassondraKennedy
    CassondraKennedy Posts: 229 Member
    sijomial wrote: »
    You can work it out from your own data which corrects for logging inaccuracies.

    Add up total calories eaten for last four weeks, add 3500 for every pound of weight lost and divide by 28.
    That should be pretty close to your maintenance calories.

    Thank you, @sijomial. This is exactly what I was looking for. However, my calculations cannot be right... I got 2164... I used Net Calories though. Should I have used gross instead?
  • CassondraKennedy
    CassondraKennedy Posts: 229 Member
    victoria_1024 wrote: »
    I'm 5'2.5" and 125 lbs and maintain at 1700 a day typically. So 1800 a day at your weight doesn't seem unreasonable.

    I went on vacation for 2 weeks recently, didn't count calories at all. I know I ate way above some days. But still didn't gain any weight! You'll be ok!

    Thanks, @victoria_1024. Based on your profile pic, I'm guessing you're pretty active! I don't think I'll be able to maintain at 1700 when I'm 125 unless I increase activity by a lot. I wish though!
  • CassondraKennedy
    CassondraKennedy Posts: 229 Member
    I think I found my mistake... I summed 29 days of calories, but divided by 28. When I subtract the extra day of calories, it comes out to 1831. Woo! That'll be fun!

    Thank you all!
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,809 Member
    CassondraKennedy wrote: »
    sijomial wrote: »
    You can work it out from your own data which corrects for logging inaccuracies.

    Add up total calories eaten for last four weeks, add 3500 for every pound of weight lost and divide by 28.
    That should be pretty close to your maintenance calories.

    Thank you, @sijomial. This is exactly what I was looking for. However, my calculations cannot be right... I got 2164... I used Net Calories though. Should I have used gross instead?

    Gross - the 3500 per lb lost takes care of your exercise.
  • STEVE142142
    STEVE142142 Posts: 867 Member
    I'm going to give you a different perspective. I went on three vacations last year. Did not worry about my calorie count at all.

    Started my weight-loss Journey January 1st 2016 was 288. My current weight is 208 pounds. During that time I went on vacation 3 X and I ate what I wanted and I drank what I wantwanted. A few of those days I probably drink my calorie limit alone.

    I would not have traded those 3 vacations for anything. Don't look at this as a diet it's the worst thing you can possibly do. diets suck and you fail. You already have established the success patterns and mentality to lose the weight. It's just a matter of getting back on track. You have to enjoy the journey for this to work.
  • crooked_left_hook
    crooked_left_hook Posts: 364 Member
    I agree with the "don't worry about your calories" perspective for vacations. Eat until you are satisfied, drink alcohol moderately, and enjoy yourself. Yes, you will probably go over your normal calories, but if you are anything like me you will probably walk twice as much as normal. I never track calories when I travel and I usually maintain or lose.
  • RalfLott
    RalfLott Posts: 5,036 Member
    If you've been losing and diligently tracking, I would bet you have a pretty good idea how much you can eat in a day, whether you track or not. ??
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    It will completely depend on how active you are. I mean, your TDEE can literally go up by 500 if you just walk 2-3 hours a day (and that can include shopping, visiting the zoo, whatever).

    So my advice really is just to be as active as you can while you're there.
  • LivingtheLeanDream
    LivingtheLeanDream Posts: 13,342 Member
    edited March 2017
    The calculated maintenance cals don't seem far off, I'm also 5ft 2, although I'm active I maintain on 2000-2100 and I'm 47.
    Be as active as you can when you are away and eat 500 cals more than you currently eat per day and that will see you right.
    I personally don't worry about calorie intake when I'm on holidays, I keep active, limit breads and desserts (sometimes just eat half a dessert), I have never gained any true weight at all. Yes the scale will be up a few pounds which is perfectly normal when eating more sodium and more refined carbs than usual but when I get back it soon settles back into my normal weight range again.
    Sometimes it just nice to take a 'diet break' and then we return with renewed optimism and motivation :smile:
  • TimothyFish
    TimothyFish Posts: 4,925 Member
    I don't think you can get an "accurate" estimate. Normally, you could calculate your maintenance based on the amount you are losing each week and multiplying by 500 calories per day to give you how many calories you need to add to your daily goal. But since you are on vacation your activity level will be very different from your routine. I would go with the 1,700 calories and then deal with the results later.
  • CassondraKennedy
    CassondraKennedy Posts: 229 Member
    Hi everyone! Thank you all for your insights. I didn't realize that I had more responses until I came back to get the equation again.

    In case you're curious, I ate an average of 1750 net calories for 5 days on vacation. This is verrry estimated as I did not have a scale with me nor did I do much cooking myself. Walking was minimal, but close to my usual routine. I lost a pound that week and another 1.8 pounds after returning to my deficit this week. Pretty thrilled :)

    To those who suggested not to worry about it: My natural eating habits are far from healthy which is how I got to where I am in the first place. I understand the theory behind intuitive eating and enjoying a vacation without counting, but I'm just not there yet. Someday, maybe!
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