Maintenance advice please - cals for 5ft5” female

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  • HealthyBodySickMind
    HealthyBodySickMind Posts: 1,207 Member
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    I'm just under 5'5" (actually 5'4.75"), 117 lbs, and 32 years old. My experimentally determined maintenance is about 1950 calories per day. I lift weights twice a week and have started to throw in some body weight accessories.

    One thing that really helped me nail down my TDEE more accurately was a step counter. If you do a lot of walking, but it varies (for example school days vs. nonschool days), having a step counter might help you adjust your intake based on what you're using for each day. Many of them sync up with myfitnesspal and will adjust your calories for you.
  • kimny72
    kimny72 Posts: 16,013 Member
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    lauraemily84 wrote: »
    Hi everyone - haven’t used this app for a while so I know everyone differs but just interested in roughly seeing how everyone else manages to stick within maintenance cals and what they are etc. I lost just over a stone over a year ago but my weight has crept back a little as I struggle with maintaining - I think most online calculators willest I need around 1500-1650 for my height at 5ft5” but this seems very low to be able to function on? I don’t work out at a gym but I’m a mum of two young children and do walk school/pre school daily and around shops/ house work etc but I get so drained then eat more then gain. Any tips would be great x

    You are going to get a wide range of numbers varying based on the responders chosen weight, activity level, logging accuracy, and other factors. Probably everywhere from 1500 - 2500. If you haven't been logging for awhile, put your stats into MFP to get your calorie goal. Any time you do get a chance to do some extra exercise, log that and eat back those calories. As someone else mentioned, with small children and day to day stuff keeping you moving, do NOT choose sedentary. Then give it at least 4 weeks and tweak from there if you are still creeping up or perhaps it is too low and you start losing too much.

    If you find you feel hungry, check out your diary and see if there is anything obvious you're missing.
  • mamadon
    mamadon Posts: 1,422 Member
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    I am 5'4 and 1/2. I maintain at around 1700 to 1850 depending on my activity level. I am not really active and I also use a fitbit. Like its been said, we all differ and it took several weeks of maintaining and tweaking before I knew my average. I am 150 pounds.
  • animatorswearbras
    animatorswearbras Posts: 1,001 Member
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    I'm 35 5'5" and as of today 9stone 9 walk a mile to work and back but mostly sit at a desk. I also work out 3 times a week 1x low intensity 2x very high intensity. My maintenance is 1890 + eating back exercise calories which is basically puts me around 2000 calories a day on average. I probably average 7500 steps a day too.

    I would also say my metabolism is a damn sight better than it was this time last year when I was 17 pounds heavier because of strength work.

    If you can get hold of a pedometer you can make a good guess at your activity level, mine seems about right as lightly active at those steps if you're knocking out more than 10000 a day with running around your kids you may be classed as moderately active or higher.

    1650 does not seem out of order maintenance for someone who is sedentary though, it really depends on how active you are.

    The most effective way to find out though is to get some food scales and measures, measure absolutely everything including cooking oil, beverages and condiments and see if you lose or maintain on the figures you've been given, if you lose you're probably more active then you have stated in the calculators.
  • MelanieCN77
    MelanieCN77 Posts: 4,047 Member
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    I'm 5'5 and 136 and MFP tells me I need 1640 at maintenance. I find it's quite accurate. I work out every day and eat the most of them so generally am actually eating probably 1900 a day.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
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    I'm 5'5", 150 lbs, and 39 and on days when I mostly do things around the house and don't purposely get on the treadmill, I typically get 5000 steps, and my maintenance would be around 1800 calories. You're probably a bit younger so I'd say 1900 or so, depending on how accurate you are. 1600 does seem low (that's my maintenance if I'm completely sedentary).
  • marieamethyst
    marieamethyst Posts: 869 Member
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    When I reached goal weight before (120 lbs) I maintained at 1500-1600 as a 5'5" stay at home mother. If I regularly exercised though it went up closer to 2000.
  • butlermmc1950
    butlermmc1950 Posts: 2 Member
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    I just want to add age makes a huge difference. I use to maintain my 116lbs 5'5 frame at 1900-2100 cals a day, pretty sedentary but did move around with kids. Not a lot of actual exercise though, between 30-36 years old. Now I have put on 13 pounds over the the last 2 years. I am back here to loose it. Now that I am 38 things have gotten harder, especially over the last year weight is creeping quicker. So age accounts for something as well. SO NOT FAIR.. My husband can eat 2500 cals and still loose weight.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
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    ladyhusker39 wrote: »
    butlermmc1950 wrote: »
    I just want to add age makes a huge difference. I use to maintain my 116lbs 5'5 frame at 1900-2100 cals a day, pretty sedentary but did move around with kids. Not a lot of actual exercise though, between 30-36 years old. Now I have put on 13 pounds over the the last 2 years. I am back here to loose it. Now that I am 38 things have gotten harder, especially over the last year weight is creeping quicker. So age accounts for something as well. SO NOT FAIR.. My husband can eat 2500 cals and still loose weight.

    That's not a very big age difference. It shouldn't be accounting for much of a calorie difference at all. Are you sure there isn't something else going on? It's far, far more likely that you're slightly less active and/or eating slightly more on average and a small possibility that something hormonal is going on. Just a thought...

    Guessing the kids are moving less too, but it's maybe 100 calories difference a day..
  • gvizzle74
    gvizzle74 Posts: 123 Member
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    i used this calculator http://www.health-calc.com/diet/energy-expenditure-advanced when i transitioned to maintenance and it helped a lot. i still had to tweak the numbers but the results i got from this calculator were the closest to my actual maintenance calories than any other calculator. give thought to the intensity and duration of your activity - saying your walk is brisk instead of leisurely makes a difference.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,481 Member
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    I found maintenance via two methods (just to cross check).

    One was using my weight loss data to estimate. Oversimplifying and just using round numbers as an example (not my numbers), if I lost a pound a week at 1500 net calories in the last phase of loss, I'd probably maintain at about 2000.

    The other way was "reverse dieting" to find maintenance calories: Add a hundred daily, wait a couple/few weeks to see a clear trend, add another hundred if still losing, repeat until stable. Each add takes longer before the trend clarifies. This avoids a big scary scale jump from glycogen replenishment and increased digestive contents.

    For me, it also helped me increase eating in small, satisfying additions, like some hemp/flax seeds in my oatmeal. If I'd added 500 daily calories all at once, it would've been a temptation to add some single bodacious daily treat food, which would make me less happy in the long run.

    I'm 5'5", goal weight 120 (a few pounds up from that post holidays, currently dropping slooowly), age 62, sedentary outside of intentional exercise. I maintain in the low 2000s net, usually mid-2000s gross. (Eating about 1850 net most days right now, to lose 0.5lb/week or less - depending on how often I exceed the 1850 ;) ).

    MFP estimates around 1500 net for me to maintain. I have no idea why true maintenance is so much higher.
  • spiriteagle99
    spiriteagle99 Posts: 3,682 Member
    edited January 2018
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    It depends on your weight, not your height. Also your age and activity level. I am 5'6", 121 pounds. At age 61 and mostly sedentary, my maintenance is 1470 calories. Fortunately, I exercise a lot, so my actual calorie count is more like 2200+. I've been maintaining 119- 125 for a year.
  • Davidsdottir
    Davidsdottir Posts: 1,285 Member
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    I'm 5'5"ish, 134 lbs (currently bulking up from 126 to 145). I lift 5 days a week and average asteroid 12,000 steps a day. I maintain my weight on 2200 cals.
  • BlondeNYC2018
    BlondeNYC2018 Posts: 1 Member
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    I am about 5 foot 5.5 inches 125 ish pounds. They have met set to 1500. I'm highly active throughout the day bc my job requires a lot of walking. I also take workout classes each day and try my best to eat healthy. I found out I have a thyroid condition which can make my weight go up and down a bit. I'm trying to stabilize as I'm getting ready for pregnancy. I find it hard to be at 1500 calories net when I don't exercise. Does anyone else feel this way? Doesn't seem like a lot to eat. I have the activity level set to 'active' and also losing 1 pound a week.
  • ZetaEtaTheta
    ZetaEtaTheta Posts: 22 Member
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    1500-1600 sounds right for your stats if you're sedentary (I'm 5'5" as well and get the same results on most TDEE calculators).
    On a really lazy day I can eat 1300 calories and not feel hungry but that is rarely the case. Most of the time I'm on my feet all day too (teacher) and I need closer to 1800-1900 to not feel ravished, and that still puts me at a deficit of about 750 calories give or take. I imagine you're far from actually being sedentary with your kids. If you don't have a smart watch, fitbit, etc. I would suggest downloading a pedometer or running google fit (or whatever your phone came loaded with) and keeping your phone in your pocket for a week or so to get a better estimation of your activity level. I bought a smart scale as well that I have found to be pretty accurate (I got the cheaper one on amazon - Renphro $28) it includes BMR in the stats which I have found to be pretty consistent, you might be interested in something similar as well.
  • Davidsdottir
    Davidsdottir Posts: 1,285 Member
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    ajdwyer89 wrote: »
    I am about 5 foot 5.5 inches 125 ish pounds. They have met set to 1500. I'm highly active throughout the day bc my job requires a lot of walking. I also take workout classes each day and try my best to eat healthy. I found out I have a thyroid condition which can make my weight go up and down a bit. I'm trying to stabilize as I'm getting ready for pregnancy. I find it hard to be at 1500 calories net when I don't exercise. Does anyone else feel this way? Doesn't seem like a lot to eat. I have the activity level set to 'active' and also losing 1 pound a week.

    At 125 lbs, you can't have much weight to lose. I 1 lb per week deficit is too high and will cause more muscle loss. If you drop down to .5 lbs per week it should help. What's your goal?

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