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Eating at my goal weight's maintenance calories?

aniracace
aniracace Posts: 39 Member
edited November 2024 in Food and Nutrition

Skippity hay it's gonna be a great day today. Call me Cassiel.


Yay or nay? So instead of subtracting 250 calories from my current weight's caloric maintenance needs, I simply calculate the number of calories I'll need to maintain my goal weight.

I did the math (aka punched a bunch of numbers into calculators) and theoretically, if I continued to eat 1600 calories every day, for my height, I'll eventually reach my goal weight (1600 calories is the maintenance calories for my goal weight).

Any thoughts? Ideas? Has anyone done this?

Replies

  • AnvilHead
    AnvilHead Posts: 18,343 Member
    Theoretically, yes. But understand that it's still not a linear path and you'll experience frequent fluctuations along the way. It's also not an exact science and over time you may discover that maintenance calories for your goal weight isn't exactly 1600 calories - no problem, just adjust as you go along.
  • aniracace
    aniracace Posts: 39 Member
    AnvilHead wrote: »
    Theoretically, yes. But understand that it's still not a linear path and you'll experience frequent fluctuations along the way. It's also not an exact science and over time you may discover that maintenance calories for your goal weight isn't exactly 1600 calories - no problem, just adjust as you go along.

    Excellent! Thank you for your thoughtful answer. I'll try it out and see how it goes. I'm (finally) not in any rush to lose weight, and I now see the value in taking things slow and steady. I used to be the type of person that wanted to lose all the weight as quickly as possible, but this time I'm just taking things nice and slow.
  • apullum
    apullum Posts: 4,838 Member
    How well this will work depends a lot on the amount of weight you want to lose. If you want to lose a lot of weight, this will probably work. But if you're looking to lose, say, 5 pounds, then the number of calories you'll need to maintain your current weight will not be a lot higher than the number needed to maintain your current weight -5. In that scenario, it becomes a *very* slow process with *no* room for logging error, and you'll probably find yourself needing to cut more calories in order to get to your goal.

    I would personally just aim for the calorie goal MFP gives you when you enter your stats, rather than worrying about doing so many calculations. No need to make life more complicated for yourself.
  • Sabine_Stroehm
    Sabine_Stroehm Posts: 19,251 Member
    AnvilHead wrote: »
    Theoretically, yes. But understand that it's still not a linear path and you'll experience frequent fluctuations along the way. It's also not an exact science and over time you may discover that maintenance calories for your goal weight isn't exactly 1600 calories - no problem, just adjust as you go along.

    THIS. It's a good theory, and it's kinda...nice... psychologically. If you can comfortably eat at future maintenance, you know you can eat that way long term, right?
  • AnvilHead
    AnvilHead Posts: 18,343 Member
    edited February 2018
    Sabine_Stroehm wrote: »
    AnvilHead wrote: »
    Theoretically, yes. But understand that it's still not a linear path and you'll experience frequent fluctuations along the way. It's also not an exact science and over time you may discover that maintenance calories for your goal weight isn't exactly 1600 calories - no problem, just adjust as you go along.

    THIS. It's a good theory, and it's kinda...nice... psychologically. If you can comfortably eat at future maintenance, you know you can eat that way long term, right?

    Exactly. While losing weight, you're simultaneously developing a strategy for long-term maintenance. You're learning how to best structure both satiety and adherence into your diet, and what foods work best for you in that regard.
  • middlehaitch
    middlehaitch Posts: 8,488 Member
    I inadvertently did this.
    To lose 1lbs a week at my start weight was the same calories as my goal weight maintenance, not including exercise.

    It took a year to lose the 30lbs, the last 5-8lbs were slow, then just drifted into maintenance.

    Try it, if it doesn't work, revert to the more conventional method.

    (I just used sites calories, and added my exercise calories, eating them all)

    Cheers, h.
  • Sabine_Stroehm
    Sabine_Stroehm Posts: 19,251 Member
    AnvilHead wrote: »
    Sabine_Stroehm wrote: »
    AnvilHead wrote: »
    Theoretically, yes. But understand that it's still not a linear path and you'll experience frequent fluctuations along the way. It's also not an exact science and over time you may discover that maintenance calories for your goal weight isn't exactly 1600 calories - no problem, just adjust as you go along.

    THIS. It's a good theory, and it's kinda...nice... psychologically. If you can comfortably eat at future maintenance, you know you can eat that way long term, right?

    Exactly. While losing weight, you're simultaneously developing a strategy for long-term maintenance. You're learning how to best structure both satiety and adherence into your diet, and what foods work best for you in that regard.
    Worded MUCH more clearly than my post. Thanks Anvil.
  • Sabine_Stroehm
    Sabine_Stroehm Posts: 19,251 Member
    middlehaitch wrote: »
    I inadvertently did this.
    To lose 1lbs a week at my start weight was the same calories as my goal weight maintenance, not including exercise.

    It took a year to lose the 30lbs, the last 5-8lbs were slow, then just drifted into maintenance.

    Try it, if it doesn't work, revert to the more conventional method.

    (I just used sites calories, and added my exercise calories, eating them all)

    Cheers, h.

    I did as well. I wasn't counting calories then, but one day I stopped losing. I was happy with my weight, so I figured I'd hit maintenance calories and just kept eating that way.
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 10,132 Member
    apullum wrote: »
    How well this will work depends a lot on the amount of weight you want to lose. If you want to lose a lot of weight, this will probably work. But if you're looking to lose, say, 5 pounds, then the number of calories you'll need to maintain your current weight will not be a lot higher than the number needed to maintain your current weight -5. In that scenario, it becomes a *very* slow process with *no* room for logging error, and you'll probably find yourself needing to cut more calories in order to get to your goal.

    I would personally just aim for the calorie goal MFP gives you when you enter your stats, rather than worrying about doing so many calculations. No need to make life more complicated for yourself.

    Even if you have a lot to lose when you start, eventually you will be in the position of only having another 5 lbs to lose to get to goal. So no matter where you start, it will eventually become a very slow process with no room for logging error.
  • AnvilHead
    AnvilHead Posts: 18,343 Member
    edited February 2018
    lynn_glenmont wrote: »
    apullum wrote: »
    How well this will work depends a lot on the amount of weight you want to lose. If you want to lose a lot of weight, this will probably work. But if you're looking to lose, say, 5 pounds, then the number of calories you'll need to maintain your current weight will not be a lot higher than the number needed to maintain your current weight -5. In that scenario, it becomes a *very* slow process with *no* room for logging error, and you'll probably find yourself needing to cut more calories in order to get to your goal.

    I would personally just aim for the calorie goal MFP gives you when you enter your stats, rather than worrying about doing so many calculations. No need to make life more complicated for yourself.

    Even if you have a lot to lose when you start, eventually you will be in the position of only having another 5 lbs to lose to get to goal. So no matter where you start, it will eventually become a very slow process with no room for logging error.

    Good point. The beauty of the whole process is that nothing is written in stone. So if you're going along and find that it's not working for you, it's simple enough to change up what you're doing.

    Too many people (not singling anybody out here) have the mindset as if once they choose a calorie goal or macro composition or workout routine, that's it - it's immutable and they have to stick to it come hell or high water. This is a flexible process - if what you're doing isn't working, change it and try something else. If you're logging reliably and weighing consistently, you're gathering valuable data points along the way - don't ignore them and keep plugging blindly along if you're not getting the results you should be getting. The numbers are all estimates anyway and CICO is an inexact science, so it's quite possible that the number a TDEE calculator spits out for you could be off by a significant amount as far as real world results go.
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