Small females

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I'm the same weight and height but eat around 2000 calories a day. 1500 is my NEAT and I burn about 500 additional calories with exercise.

cnjg420 wrote: »

I want to maintain now but mfp still gives me 1200 calories a day I do strength training 3 times a week for 30 min each time I tried to up my calories to 1300 but put on 3 pounds in 4 weeks ! So now I’m at a loss

That math doesn't make sense. If you maintain at 1200, then 100 excess calories times 28 days (i.e., 4 weeks) is 2800 calories above maintenance. These are always approximations, but that would be around 0.8 pounds of weight gain (roughly 3500 calories to gain a pound).

It can be a bit inexact, but not enough to explain 0.8 vs. 3 pounds. Something else is in play - probably water weight, possibly some digestive system contents differences, that sort of thing.

I'm a little confused on your goals. Are you trying to maintain this weight, or gain muscle? Your calorie needs are going to look different depending on which is your goal.

If you want to maintain, then I'm not surprised to see MFP giving you 1200 calories pre-exercise. You are at the low end of the healthy BMI range and your calorie needs without exercise aren't going to be very high. Of course, you should also be eating back exercise calories.

If you want to gain muscle with your strength training, you'll likely need more than 1200 calories. You should check out the "gaining weight" board.

cnjg420 wrote: »

apullum wrote: »

I'm a little confused on your goals. Are you trying to maintain this weight, or gain muscle? Your calorie needs are going to look different depending on which is your goal.

If you want to maintain, then I'm not surprised to see MFP giving you 1200 calories pre-exercise. You are at the low end of the healthy BMI range and your calorie needs without exercise aren't going to be very high. Of course, you should also be eating back exercise calories.

If you want to gain muscle with your strength training, you'll likely need more than 1200 calories. You should check out the "gaining weight" board.

My goal is to just maintain my current weight

Yeah, you're probably not going to get a lot of maintenance calories, sorry I am 4' 11.75" and I maintain at 110-115 lb. on 1400 plus exercise calories. If you want to eat more, you'll need to incorporate more exercise, particularly cardio. Strength training is great for fitness, but doesn't burn a lot of calories. 1300 is probably not an unreasonable number for your measurements and activity, so I doubt your gain is fat. It's more likely either water fluctuation and/or inaccurate logging. Looking at your diary, I see some things that are measured by weight and some that are not--especially fruit, which can pack more calories than we realize. However, overall you look like you're doing quite well with meeting your calorie goal. You might be struggling because your carbs seem pretty consistently high, and some people find that fat and/or fiber help them feel full for longer.

cnjg420 wrote: »

apullum wrote: »

cnjg420 wrote: »

apullum wrote: »

I'm a little confused on your goals. Are you trying to maintain this weight, or gain muscle? Your calorie needs are going to look different depending on which is your goal.

If you want to maintain, then I'm not surprised to see MFP giving you 1200 calories pre-exercise. You are at the low end of the healthy BMI range and your calorie needs without exercise aren't going to be very high. Of course, you should also be eating back exercise calories.

If you want to gain muscle with your strength training, you'll likely need more than 1200 calories. You should check out the "gaining weight" board.

My goal is to just maintain my current weight

Yeah, you're probably not going to get a lot of maintenance calories, sorry I am 4' 11.75" and I maintain at 110-115 lb. on 1400 plus exercise calories. If you want to eat more, you'll need to incorporate more exercise, particularly cardio. Strength training is great for fitness, but doesn't burn a lot of calories. 1300 is probably not an unreasonable number for your measurements and activity, so I doubt your gain is fat. It's more likely either water fluctuation and/or inaccurate logging. Looking at your diary, I see some things that are measured by weight and some that are not--especially fruit, which can pack more calories than we realize. However, overall you look like you're doing quite well with meeting your calorie goal. You might be struggling because your carbs seem pretty consistently high, and some people find that fat and/or fiber help them feel full for longer.

Thank you so much can you recommend a way to up my fats

It depends on what you enjoy eating. More fat does mean more calories, so I would make it something you like if you're going that route. Nut butter would probably be my choice--be sure to weigh it! I would spread it on some of the fruit. You could try half an apple with peanut butter rather than a whole plain apple, for example.

I usually go for more fiber and protein for satiety rather than fat, so I mix fiber cereal and protein powder with nonfat Greek yogurt. However, it looks like you're getting plenty of protein, so that option might not work as well for you.

mom23mangos wrote: »

cnjg420 wrote: »

I’m 4”11 41 years old and weigh 95 pounds but it’s getting hard to stick to 1200 calorie limit mfp gives me anyone else about the same size do you stick to 1200 calories a day

I am close in age and size and weighed 95lbs for most of my life. If you put on muscle, you can eat more. I maintain between 1600-2000. I now weigh around 105 and can still fit into the same skirts from 20+ years ago. Pants are an entirely different matter as my quads have grown substantially.

while that is true. a lb of muscle only burns 6 additional calories. so its not a whole lot of calories. more exercise will get you more calories though.

I am just a hair under 5’2” and I am at 109lbs. I am not looking to lose reallybut maintaining is not easy either. When you are small, you don’t need much calories at all!