How much should I eat to maintain?
chloevieira3918
Posts: 14 Member
I just went from 156 to 129 lbs. Whilst, MFP says I should consume 1700 to maintain. The actual formula used (that I calculated) says I should consume roughly 1400. I know 300 kcal doesn’t seem like a lot, but in the long wrong it would of course, result in weight gain. If anyone is my weight maybe they can fill in how much they consume? Or maybe you can let me know if your results of maintenance given by MFP was accurate. Thank youC I appreciate the help. (P.S.- if this helps for comparasion reasons, my height is 65”)
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Replies
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Did you re-adjust your activity level to when you set your calorie intake to maintenance? 1400 doesn't sound right to maintain. It sounds more like your BMR. MFP suggested 1700 calories to maintain, but what formula did you use to calculate your calorie needs?2
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Yeah I believe it is BMR but isn’t that maintenance? Maybe I’m slightly confused. I did the equation as if I live a sedentary lifestyle so then I can just add in work out excess calories after.0
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BMR is what your body would need if you were in a coma. If you're not in a coma, you need more calories.
How much were you eating to lose? How quickly were you losing? Using those numbers to extrapolate a maintenance number would be more accurate than any calculator.3 -
nutmegoreo wrote: »BMR is what your body would need if you were in a coma. If you're not in a coma, you need more calories.
How much were you eating to lose? How quickly were you losing? Using those numbers to extrapolate a maintenance number would be more accurate than any calculator.
Yes, this is what BMR is. If you are looking to maintain your weight now, you should not be eating your BMR. A sedentary lifestyle on top of BMR would be several hundred calories more.0 -
chloevieira3918 wrote: »Yeah I believe it is BMR but isn’t that maintenance? Maybe I’m slightly confused. I did the equation as if I live a sedentary lifestyle so then I can just add in work out excess calories after.
Why are you attempting to do what this tool does for you?
It estimates your BMR then applies a multiplier for your activity/lifestyle and gives you a number which would represent a day with no exercise.
Do remember to only use sedentary activity if you really are sedentary - it has absolutely nothing to do with your exercise, that's separate.2 -
chloevieira3918 wrote: »I just went from 156 to 129 lbs. Whilst, MFP says I should consume 1700 to maintain. The actual formula used (that I calculated) says I should consume roughly 1400. I know 300 kcal doesn’t seem like a lot, but in the long wrong it would of course, result in weight gain. If anyone is my weight maybe they can fill in how much they consume? Or maybe you can let me know if your results of maintenance given by MFP was accurate. Thank youC I appreciate the help. (P.S.- if this helps for comparasion reasons, my height is 65”)
how many calories were you eating to lose weight at what rate of loss?
use your real life data to figure out maintenance3 -
For estimating your maintenance then going back to estimates is a poor choice IMHO unless those estimates were spot on for you for your weight loss phase (not for other people - for you).
Comparisons with other people are pretty worthless, there's huge variations in logging accuracy so what someone else thinks is 2000 cals might actually be +/- hundreds of calories.
Quite apart from genuine huge variations of actual needs between people the same size and gender. I've got a friend your height who is a very active bundle of muscle who cycled 200 miles on Saturday - her calorie goal isn't going to be relevant to you.
Estimate your maintenance from any or all of these options:- Your recent rate of weight loss - 1lb a week would indicate you are in an approximate 500/day deficit.
- Change your goal to "maintain current" weight and you will get an estimated non exercise day maintenance amount.
- Use a TDEE estimator if you prefer to average out your exercise and eat the same amount daily.
- My favourite estimate is add up all your calories eaten in last 4 weeks, add 3500 for each pound lost, divide by 28. That automatically corrects your particular logging inaccuracy.
You can also just simply manually change your goal setting in a series of small steps to get there by trial and error. That may well be needed to fine tune anyway.
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chloevieira3918 wrote: »Yeah I believe it is BMR but isn’t that maintenance? Maybe I’m slightly confused. I did the equation as if I live a sedentary lifestyle so then I can just add in work out excess calories after.
No. BMR is what you burn merely by existing in a vegetative state. To get a sedentary calculation, multiple your BMR figure by ~1.2 (some say 1.25). So that takes you to the 1700 that MFP says for sedentary.2 -
TavistockToad wrote: »chloevieira3918 wrote: »I just went from 156 to 129 lbs. Whilst, MFP says I should consume 1700 to maintain. The actual formula used (that I calculated) says I should consume roughly 1400. I know 300 kcal doesn’t seem like a lot, but in the long wrong it would of course, result in weight gain. If anyone is my weight maybe they can fill in how much they consume? Or maybe you can let me know if your results of maintenance given by MFP was accurate. Thank youC I appreciate the help. (P.S.- if this helps for comparasion reasons, my height is 65”)
how many calories were you eating to lose weight at what rate of loss?
use your real life data to figure out maintenance
I mean it changed everyday. I ate 1200 a day standard but after physical activity I would eat a lot more. But yeah 1200 was the standard and I was loosing between 2-.5 lbs per week throughout my journey0 -
chloevieira3918 wrote: »Yeah I believe it is BMR but isn’t that maintenance? Maybe I’m slightly confused. I did the equation as if I live a sedentary lifestyle so then I can just add in work out excess calories after.
Why are you attempting to do what this tool does for you?
It estimates your BMR then applies a multiplier for your activity/lifestyle and gives you a number which would represent a day with no exercise.
Do remember to only use sedentary activity if you really are sedentary - it has absolutely nothing to do with your exercise, that's separate.
I mean I don’t play sports or anything of that sorts. I solely do some cardio and strength training so I usually ONLY add those calories I lose into the calculator, that’s why I bought I would be considered sedentary. But I am not really sure now what I would be considered. Thanks for the reply.
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chloevieira3918 wrote: »chloevieira3918 wrote: »Yeah I believe it is BMR but isn’t that maintenance? Maybe I’m slightly confused. I did the equation as if I live a sedentary lifestyle so then I can just add in work out excess calories after.
Why are you attempting to do what this tool does for you?
It estimates your BMR then applies a multiplier for your activity/lifestyle and gives you a number which would represent a day with no exercise.
Do remember to only use sedentary activity if you really are sedentary - it has absolutely nothing to do with your exercise, that's separate.
I mean I don’t play sports or anything of that sorts. I solely do some cardio and strength training so I usually ONLY add those calories I lose into the calculator, that’s why I bought I would be considered sedentary. But I am not really sure now what I would be considered. Thanks for the reply.
Again you are confusing your activity with exercise - they are completely and utterly separate, no overlap at all.
When I had a sedentary job that was my activity setting, but I was training 7 days a week including 100+ miles a week cycling.
That is why you log exercise after the event, because it is not part of your activity setting, whatever setting you are from sedentary to highly active it's still added on top of your daily goal.
That is also why the activity setting questions make no mention of exercise. Set your activity according to your job and lifestyle.
PS - you would still be better off using your own data as per my previous post.2 -
chloevieira3918 wrote: »TavistockToad wrote: »chloevieira3918 wrote: »I just went from 156 to 129 lbs. Whilst, MFP says I should consume 1700 to maintain. The actual formula used (that I calculated) says I should consume roughly 1400. I know 300 kcal doesn’t seem like a lot, but in the long wrong it would of course, result in weight gain. If anyone is my weight maybe they can fill in how much they consume? Or maybe you can let me know if your results of maintenance given by MFP was accurate. Thank youC I appreciate the help. (P.S.- if this helps for comparasion reasons, my height is 65”)
how many calories were you eating to lose weight at what rate of loss?
use your real life data to figure out maintenance
I mean it changed everyday. I ate 1200 a day standard but after physical activity I would eat a lot more. But yeah 1200 was the standard and I was loosing between 2-.5 lbs per week throughout my journey
So you can easily work out a good starting point for maintenance?
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chloevieira3918 wrote: »TavistockToad wrote: »chloevieira3918 wrote: »I just went from 156 to 129 lbs. Whilst, MFP says I should consume 1700 to maintain. The actual formula used (that I calculated) says I should consume roughly 1400. I know 300 kcal doesn’t seem like a lot, but in the long wrong it would of course, result in weight gain. If anyone is my weight maybe they can fill in how much they consume? Or maybe you can let me know if your results of maintenance given by MFP was accurate. Thank youC I appreciate the help. (P.S.- if this helps for comparasion reasons, my height is 65”)
how many calories were you eating to lose weight at what rate of loss?
use your real life data to figure out maintenance
I mean it changed everyday. I ate 1200 a day standard but after physical activity I would eat a lot more. But yeah 1200 was the standard and I was loosing between 2-.5 lbs per week throughout my journey
If you look at your averages overtime, it should give you a pretty good starting point. Then adjust up or down based on results.0 -
this is a great thread to read, I personally liked the gradual increase by 100 every week or so method because it seemed like I ended up with a lot more than I originally thought based on calculations done during loss. Best of luck and congratulations!
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10638211/how-to-find-your-maintenance-calorie-level/p13 -
chloevieira3918 wrote: »Yeah I believe it is BMR but isn’t that maintenance? Maybe I’m slightly confused. I did the equation as if I live a sedentary lifestyle so then I can just add in work out excess calories after.
BMR is the calories you burn merely existing. Everything you do beyond existing burns more calories. You burn calories brushing your teeth, driving your car, going about your day to day humdrum, and deliberate exercise.3 -
SummerSkier wrote: »this is a great thread to read, I personally liked the gradual increase by 100 every week or so method because it seemed like I ended up with a lot more than I originally thought based on calculations done during loss. Best of luck and congratulations!
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10638211/how-to-find-your-maintenance-calorie-level/p1
How did u do it? Just by increasing every week and seeing whether u gained or not? Thanks for the reply0 -
Hi there. Lots of details. Click on the link. Best of luck!
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