Maintenance advice please - cals for 5ft5” female

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..

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.

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.

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.

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?

Wow I envy you young ones.... I'm 61 5'5" and 145 pounds. I get 8000 steps plus 6 days a week. I maintain at 1350. Sigh, I've lost 105 pounds and probably some of that was muscle. I'm joining a gym this year and hoping for something better.

cheryldumais wrote: »

Wow I envy you young ones.... I'm 61 5'5" and 145 pounds. I get 8000 steps plus 6 days a week. I maintain at 1350. Sigh, I've lost 105 pounds and probably some of that was muscle. I'm joining a gym this year and hoping for something better.

I agree . Im 53, 5ft 5 have always been a runner, but as I am aging it harder to keep the weight on. Started lifting about a year ago and lOVE the increased muscle mass as well as the definition it has given my body.

I think that for anyone it indeed would be best to just start at a certain amount such as 2000 kcal. If this is too much, eat a bit less until you find what works for you (and vice versa if you loose weight on 2000 kcal). As others have already said, there are so many factors that determine your required intake. For instance, I have had an eating disorder, I work out a lot, I am very active and am still studying. If I would throw all my data in a online calculator, it states 1800 kcal. Well, I eat 2200-2400 kcal a day and I am maintaining my weight. And indeed, your weight can fluctuate a lot. For myself (5 feet 659⁄64 inches to be exact, I use the metric system usually), I see my weight as stable as long as it is between 123.5 and 127.9 lbs. I also feel most healthy on this weight, which is the most important thing after all.

cheryldumais wrote: »

Wow I envy you young ones.... I'm 61 5'5" and 145 pounds. I get 8000 steps plus 6 days a week. I maintain at 1350. Sigh, I've lost 105 pounds and probably some of that was muscle. I'm joining a gym this year and hoping for something better.

I feel you. I lost around 1 lb week on 1200 cal a day average. But I didn’t eat back my steps ( 12000/ day average) or eat my exercise calories ( usually 2-3 miles swim, 3 hiit sessions, 2 weight sessions + misc a week). So I’m guessing (just started maintenance and haven’t pinned it down) that my maintenance calories are somewhere around 1280 + 200 ish for activity and exercise, 5’3, 53 yr old 147 weight.

Frankly, it just sucks. Using 5:2 IF to try to make it suck less. 3+ mos weights ( but only 2x a week) makies no noticeable improvement in increasing TDEE department. I doubt it will, anyway, doing weights for strength - TDEE improvement would be welcome bonus but I’m not expecting anything.

5'5 and 135. I've been hovering around 135-138 for the last 9 months. MFP gives me 1610 currently, and it seems right. I do a lot of deliberate exercise and eat most of those cals back, except for if I track strength stuff as I am suspicious of that burning as many cals as my watch says. For most of January I have been 1-200 cals under maintenance to get back to the 135 from the 136/7 mark and I got results. I can't imagine seriously trying to lose more. 5'5ers at 125, you crazy!

pkweier wrote: »

Melanie,
I'm the same height and weight and MFP only gives me 1490 to eat. What setting do you have MFP set for? Could be your younger than me so gives you more. I agree 125 is to small for me.

I'm 40 and have it set to sedentary, and I add exercise from my Watch.