Ladies - What are your maintenance calories?

havronab
havronab Posts: 40 Member
edited November 20 in Health and Weight Loss
I'm curious how many calories you guys can eat and maintain? I'm trying to calculate mine, but online calculators give me a range from 2100 to 2600. However, looking at my own data (I've been consuming 1900 calories on average and losing 2 lbs per week average over the last 3 months), I'm getting 2900ish, but that seems crazy high. So here are my questions.

What are your stats?
What is your exercise routine?
What are your maintenance calories?

I'm 5'7 and currently 173.5 (started at 295 almost a year ago).
I exercise 5 days per week, 3 days lifting heavy, cardio all 5 days (20-60 minutes at varying levels of intensity depending how my body feels). I'm fairly active during the day (lots of cooking, cleaning, & chasing after kids).
I'm estimating my maintenance calories to be at 2900, though I'm curious if that is realistic and welcome any input.
I'm curious to see other people's stats! Thanks!
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Replies

  • Need2Exerc1se
    Need2Exerc1se Posts: 13,575 Member
    I'm 5'6", 55 yo female. I maintain around 145 lbs on about 2000 a day (on average).
  • OliveGirl128
    OliveGirl128 Posts: 801 Member
    edited August 2017
    5ft, 6in
    38 years old (will be 39 next month)
    4 years, 3 months into maintaining a 50ish pound loss
    maintenance range: 120s (weigh-in this morning put me at 126lbs)

    I don't actively track my calorie intake-my maintenance plan is some mental math throughout the day, along with an IF protocol and daily weigh-ins. I've also recently started following the DASH diet protocol, for overall health. However, going by the mental math, and then periodic spot checking here on MFP, my maintenance calories are around 1,600-1,700 a day.

    I do no intentional exercise at all, though I'm more active now that I've lost the extra weight. For example this week I'm clearing tree brush from several trees we cut down-dragging branches and logs down a flight of steps, down a small hill, to the place where we're going to burn it. The previous two weeks I was uncovering hidden paths on our property-digging and raking dirt and stones, clearing debris etc (our new house is 150 years old and had extensive landscaping done when the house was first built but it's been neglected over the years). I'm sure I'm burning calories doing these types of things but I don't eat more because of it. I tend to eat higher calories over the weekend, so any extra calories that I burn go to offset this.

    Otherwise I'm a sahm to 3 kids, a homeschooling mama, and rather fond of sitting on my bum playing on MFP or reading :)
  • kathleennf
    kathleennf Posts: 606 Member
    5'8" or 5'9" - depending on who measures me. Maintaining 135lb on 1620 calories plus I eat back my exercise calories (dog walk almost every day, gym 3x/ week). It's been very accurate for a number of years.
  • animatorswearbras
    animatorswearbras Posts: 1,001 Member
    I'm 5'5" 135, maintenance is 2000 TDEE for me, I do alot less exercise than you though OP, 7500 steps a day on average (desk job) and 2 HIIT/circuit training classes a week.
  • bribucks
    bribucks Posts: 431 Member
    Unfortunately since I am so petite and pretty sedentary, my maintenance calories are pretty low. Makes keeping a deficit a real pain!

    I am 5'3'', currently 119 lbs (goal weight is 110) and 23yo. I have a desk job and don't walk around much so I am sedentary. I maintain at around 1520ish calories, excluding exercise. I aim for 1300 to lose weight. However I calculate my exercise calories separately, so often eat more than that.

    Keep in mind that as you lose weight, your TDEE will drop as well. So you will have to keep re-evaluating.
  • gamerbabe14
    gamerbabe14 Posts: 876 Member
    5'7" 181lbs, 1900 cals
  • havronab
    havronab Posts: 40 Member
    SezxyStef wrote: »
    mine vary as well..anywhere from 2k to 3k depending on activity.

    Best way to find maintenance is slowly reverse diet.

    And by that I mean you add 100 calories to your day each week until you settle out on the scale...keep in mind there will be ups and downs just like when losing but once you have gotten to lets say 2400 give it a couple weeks to see if you continue to lose...if so add in more each day...if not and maintain bam found it...if you gain cut back...

    it's a process of elimination really and your maintenance will vary just like weight loss will.

    I always give myself 5lbs either side ...some give 5lbs total...

    Yeah, thanks for the suggestion. I think that's what I will do when I get to goal (reverse diet). I still have about 25-30 lbs to lose to get to my goal weight. I'm just trying to figure out maintenance to see how much I can eat right now and still lose.
  • ISweat4This
    ISweat4This Posts: 653 Member
    I'm 39yrs, 5'2", 125lbs & my maintenance calories is 1700. I am trying to get lean so I'm currently consuming 1475 cal/day and exercising 4-5x/wk (weights & cardio). I do not eat my exercise calories back.
  • CoachJen71
    CoachJen71 Posts: 1,200 Member
    edited August 2017
    Congrats on your amazing success!!

    I can eat about 1300 for a sedentary (5K steps) day, but I can eat 2100 or so if I get over 25K steps walking or hiking. I'm 45, 5'2.5”, 120-123lbs. Not very muscular. Only do small weights and body weight exercises on weekdays because of my arthritis and poor posture. Weekends are all about hiking or snowshoeing for me. Wish I could lift heavy and run. Also wish for my misspent youth back!! LOL
  • quiksylver296
    quiksylver296 Posts: 28,439 Member
    42 years old, 5'9", haven't hit maintenance yet currently 173 pounds. Based on my observations so far, I believe my maintenance is ~2300 calories. I lift heavy 5 days a week.
  • SuzySunshine99
    SuzySunshine99 Posts: 2,989 Member
    5'4", 127-ish pounds.
    I am lightly active...try to do 10,000 steps a day and cardio for 30-60 min about 4 times a week.
    I maintain around 1,700 calories on non-gym days and 1,900-2,000 on gym days.
  • BusyRaeNOTBusty
    BusyRaeNOTBusty Posts: 7,166 Member
    2300 to 2500 not including exercise calories.

    I am 5'9", 157lbs and 37 years old.
  • Malethyst
    Malethyst Posts: 18 Member
    1540 Calories not including exercise - (Just going to work in an office environment)
    28 years old 5'3" 125 lbs
  • RebeccaNaegle
    RebeccaNaegle Posts: 236 Member
    edited August 2017
    Everyone has a different metabolism and it depends on your muscle mass etc. I am a 5'3" 34yr old woman and 120lbs, with a decent amount of muscle, and my maintenance is around 2300. The best way to play with it like mentioned above. Add 75-100 calories to your diet on Monday or whatever, one week at a time. IE: 1600 this week... see what the scale does, if still losing, go to 1700 the next week, and so forth.
  • cheryldumais
    cheryldumais Posts: 1,907 Member
    Mine is estimated at 1550 for a 60 YO female sedentary 5"5" 135 pounds. I'm on my last 7 pounds to lose and based on current calories I think that is pretty accurate. I expect with exercise to add 100 to 150 more per day.
  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
    I'm 5'5.5" and 157 lbs and maintain on around 2400 calories. I lift 4x/wk on an upper/lower split. I aim to walk 8k steps on those days and at least 10k on other days. Other than that, I try to stay active around the house, take a longer walk/hike or bike ride with my family on the weekends. I work in an office where I am sedentary during the week.
  • Noreenmarie1234
    Noreenmarie1234 Posts: 7,492 Member
    5'3 105 2100-2600 is maintenance depending on how hungry I am. I exercise 4-5 times a week burning 300-400 calories
  • havronab
    havronab Posts: 40 Member
    CoachJen71 wrote: »
    Congrats on your amazing success!!

    Thank you!

  • not_a_runner
    not_a_runner Posts: 1,343 Member
    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    havronab wrote: »
    I'm curious how many calories you guys can eat and maintain? I'm trying to calculate mine, but online calculators give me a range from 2100 to 2600. However, looking at my own data (I've been consuming 1900 calories on average and losing 2 lbs per week average over the last 3 months), I'm getting 2900ish, but that seems crazy high. So here are my questions.

    What are your stats?
    What is your exercise routine?
    What are your maintenance calories?

    I'm 5'7 and currently 173.5 (started at 295 almost a year ago).
    I exercise 5 days per week, 3 days lifting heavy, cardio all 5 days (20-60 minutes at varying levels of intensity depending how my body feels). I'm fairly active during the day (lots of cooking, cleaning, & chasing after kids).
    I'm estimating my maintenance calories to be at 2900, though I'm curious if that is realistic and welcome any input.
    I'm curious to see other people's stats! Thanks!

    The math doesn't lie...the math and your real world results are more accurate than anything. It seems high because you've been conditioned that women need to eat like little birds.

    My wife is short at 5'2"-5'3"...she runs regularly and lifts and chases two little boys around the house everyday (3 if you count me) and she maintains on about 2200-2300 calories.

    This is along the lines of what I was thinking.
    Generally you can reverse the math: 2 lbs per week is a 1000 calorie deficit. Add that to the 1900 you've been eating and you get 2900.
    You mentioned that you have 20-30 lbs to lose still, so this number will likely decrease a bit as you get lighter.

    I'm 5'1'', 175 lbs, my maintenance is around 2400 with 4-5 days of lifting and little to no cardio. If I added several days of cardio or a lot of activity during my day (I mostly sit at work) my maintenance would go up quite a bit more.
  • havronab
    havronab Posts: 40 Member
    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    havronab wrote: »
    I'm curious how many calories you guys can eat and maintain? I'm trying to calculate mine, but online calculators give me a range from 2100 to 2600. However, looking at my own data (I've been consuming 1900 calories on average and losing 2 lbs per week average over the last 3 months), I'm getting 2900ish, but that seems crazy high. So here are my questions.

    What are your stats?
    What is your exercise routine?
    What are your maintenance calories?

    I'm 5'7 and currently 173.5 (started at 295 almost a year ago).
    I exercise 5 days per week, 3 days lifting heavy, cardio all 5 days (20-60 minutes at varying levels of intensity depending how my body feels). I'm fairly active during the day (lots of cooking, cleaning, & chasing after kids).
    I'm estimating my maintenance calories to be at 2900, though I'm curious if that is realistic and welcome any input.
    I'm curious to see other people's stats! Thanks!

    The math doesn't lie...the math and your real world results are more accurate than anything. It seems high because you've been conditioned that women need to eat like little birds.

    My wife is short at 5'2"-5'3"...she runs regularly and lifts and chases two little boys around the house everyday (3 if you count me) and she maintains on about 2200-2300 calories.

    @cwolfman13 Haha okay, that's good to know. It seems rare to see women eat more than 1200-1500 while losing weight, so I was having a hard time imagining that I could eat so much and continue to lose/maintain. It's helpful to see that it really is possible to eat a large amount of calories without gaining weight back! It's hard to get past the mental block though. I've had to up my calories several times over the past 6 months or so to respond to increased hunger. Every time I've worried that I'll stop losing or gain, but I keep losing and at a fast rate. For whatever reason I still struggle to believe I could eat more if I wanted to. I'm working on that though.
  • MelanieCN77
    MelanieCN77 Posts: 4,047 Member
    I'm 5'5 and 40 years old, hovering around 135 since March. MFP says my maintenance is 1610. I set myself to 1550 and eat back most of my exercise cals which are between 250-600 a day depending.
  • fitmom4lifemfp
    fitmom4lifemfp Posts: 1,572 Member
    5'7", 61, currently about 145 lbs. I maintain at around 1200 -1300 calories a day. If I have a extra-active day, I will eat a little more.
  • ShibaEars
    ShibaEars Posts: 3,928 Member
    edited August 2017
    5'2", 32 year old female, approx. 143 lbs (heavier than I'd like but it is what it is for now). Maintaining on somewhere between 2300-2500 calories a day.

    I did heavy weight lifting for about a year, but my focus shifted about 6 months ago. I teach a high intensity group fitness class so between teaching, practicing & my own workouts I work out hard 4 or 5 days a week, plus walk my dog (almost) every night.

    I'm sure I could lose weight if I dropped my calories a bit... but I like food :neutral:
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,610 Member
    havronab wrote: »
    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    havronab wrote: »
    I'm curious how many calories you guys can eat and maintain? I'm trying to calculate mine, but online calculators give me a range from 2100 to 2600. However, looking at my own data (I've been consuming 1900 calories on average and losing 2 lbs per week average over the last 3 months), I'm getting 2900ish, but that seems crazy high. So here are my questions.

    What are your stats?
    What is your exercise routine?
    What are your maintenance calories?

    I'm 5'7 and currently 173.5 (started at 295 almost a year ago).
    I exercise 5 days per week, 3 days lifting heavy, cardio all 5 days (20-60 minutes at varying levels of intensity depending how my body feels). I'm fairly active during the day (lots of cooking, cleaning, & chasing after kids).
    I'm estimating my maintenance calories to be at 2900, though I'm curious if that is realistic and welcome any input.
    I'm curious to see other people's stats! Thanks!

    The math doesn't lie...the math and your real world results are more accurate than anything. It seems high because you've been conditioned that women need to eat like little birds.

    My wife is short at 5'2"-5'3"...she runs regularly and lifts and chases two little boys around the house everyday (3 if you count me) and she maintains on about 2200-2300 calories.

    @cwolfman13 Haha okay, that's good to know. It seems rare to see women eat more than 1200-1500 while losing weight, so I was having a hard time imagining that I could eat so much and continue to lose/maintain. It's helpful to see that it really is possible to eat a large amount of calories without gaining weight back! It's hard to get past the mental block though. I've had to up my calories several times over the past 6 months or so to respond to increased hunger. Every time I've worried that I'll stop losing or gain, but I keep losing and at a fast rate. For whatever reason I still struggle to believe I could eat more if I wanted to. I'm working on that though.

    I tried 1200 net calories, eating back all exercise in top of that, and lost waaaay too fast, getting fatigued/weak . . . at age 59, 5'5", and weight (then) in the 150s.

    This stuff is very individual: That's why your own data is so important!

    I maintain at a weight in the 120s at something in the low 2000s net (around 2100-2300 depending on season because NEAT varies), more like 2300-2500 gross, at age 61. I'm lucky.

    Maybe you're lucky, too: I see no particular reason you should doubt the 2900, especially if you plan to reverse-diet to get there. By reverse dieting, you'll give yourself the best potential for some upward NEAT creep, and have a chance to adjust in the unlikely event that that estimate is too high.
  • MegaMooseEsq
    MegaMooseEsq Posts: 3,118 Member
    I agree that your own numbers are the best - it's so hard to accurately calculate CICO, but the trends will show you about how you're doing. I'm 5'2", 188 lbs and moderately active - based on my tracking I maintain at around 2400. I lost about three lbs last month averaging 2000-2100 calories, am aiming for 1850 this next month.
  • havronab
    havronab Posts: 40 Member
    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    havronab wrote: »
    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    havronab wrote: »
    I'm curious how many calories you guys can eat and maintain? I'm trying to calculate mine, but online calculators give me a range from 2100 to 2600. However, looking at my own data (I've been consuming 1900 calories on average and losing 2 lbs per week average over the last 3 months), I'm getting 2900ish, but that seems crazy high. So here are my questions.

    What are your stats?
    What is your exercise routine?
    What are your maintenance calories?

    I'm 5'7 and currently 173.5 (started at 295 almost a year ago).
    I exercise 5 days per week, 3 days lifting heavy, cardio all 5 days (20-60 minutes at varying levels of intensity depending how my body feels). I'm fairly active during the day (lots of cooking, cleaning, & chasing after kids).
    I'm estimating my maintenance calories to be at 2900, though I'm curious if that is realistic and welcome any input.
    I'm curious to see other people's stats! Thanks!

    The math doesn't lie...the math and your real world results are more accurate than anything. It seems high because you've been conditioned that women need to eat like little birds.

    My wife is short at 5'2"-5'3"...she runs regularly and lifts and chases two little boys around the house everyday (3 if you count me) and she maintains on about 2200-2300 calories.

    @cwolfman13 Haha okay, that's good to know. It seems rare to see women eat more than 1200-1500 while losing weight, so I was having a hard time imagining that I could eat so much and continue to lose/maintain. It's helpful to see that it really is possible to eat a large amount of calories without gaining weight back! It's hard to get past the mental block though. I've had to up my calories several times over the past 6 months or so to respond to increased hunger. Every time I've worried that I'll stop losing or gain, but I keep losing and at a fast rate. For whatever reason I still struggle to believe I could eat more if I wanted to. I'm working on that though.

    I tried 1200 net calories, eating back all exercise in top of that, and lost waaaay too fast, getting fatigued/weak . . . at age 59, 5'5", and weight (then) in the 150s.

    This stuff is very individual: That's why your own data is so important!

    I maintain at a weight in the 120s at something in the low 2000s net (around 2100-2300 depending on season because NEAT varies), more like 2300-2500 gross, at age 61. I'm lucky.

    Maybe you're lucky, too: I see no particular reason you should doubt the 2900, especially if you plan to reverse-diet to get there. By reverse dieting, you'll give yourself the best potential for some upward NEAT creep, and have a chance to adjust in the unlikely event that that estimate is too high.

    Thanks, @AnnPT77 ! That's very helpful to hear. I may very well just be lucky like you. It's hard to wrap my brain around, as I have spent my entire adult life telling myself that I'm unlucky when it comes to my weight (thinking my obesity was due in some part to bad genes, slow metabolism, etc.) when all along it was just my bad habits keeping me obese. It's very eye opening to realize that really isn't the case.
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