Curious about day-to-day CICO in people who are maintaining naturally

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oat_bran
oat_bran Posts: 370 Member
edited July 2019 in Health and Weight Loss
I've been on and off trying to lose weight for so long that I've forgotten what it's like to not count calories and simply rely on hunger cues to maintain your weight. I have lots of friends who are maintaining a healthy weight naturally and some of them don't even know what calories really are and I've been really curious to imagine what their day-to-day CICO is like. I've been observing these people's eating habits and I imagine that they are not eating the equivalent of their TDEE every singly day and that some day they go over their TDEE and some day it's less. And that maybe there are actually small fluctuations in their weight. And I've been really curious to know by how much? Like, it would be so interesting to see a spreadsheet of a day-to-day CICO of someone who is maintaining their weight without counting calories or trying to control their intake consciously in any way. The problem with that is though that as soon as you start monitoring someone's intake, they will become conscious of it and it'll probably effect the results...

If you've maintained naturally in the past or have partners/roommates/family members who do, what are your estimates of their day-to-day CICO ?
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  • staticsplit
    staticsplit Posts: 538 Member
    edited July 2019
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    I loosely log but I'm trying to maintain. This last week especially I was eating out, travelling--kept up my exercise but wasn't really trying to control my intake. I do naturally follow IF because I'm usually not hungry before noon and I try not to eat much after 9 pm, but I'm not strict with it.

    Looking at the last week - my lowest day was around 1900 and my highest day was 2800. Average was 2,200, which is around my TDEE. Weight bounced around a bit but was between 153.6 and 155. My maintenance is 150-155. I'm 6 ft tall and do weight lifting, yoga, running, and walking.
  • oat_bran
    oat_bran Posts: 370 Member
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    staticsplit wrote: »
    Looking at the last week - my lowest day was around 1900 and my highest day was 2800. Average was 2,200, which is around my TDEE. Weight bounced around a bit but was between 153.6 and 155. My maintenance is 150-155. I'm 6 ft tall and do weight lifting, yoga, running, and walking.

    Wow this is really interesting! 1900-2800 seems like a big fluctuation! I wonder what your actual TDEE was on your highest and lowest day to see by how much you go over or under your TDEE on a given day. I know there's no way to tell for sure though. I wear a fitbit (which I know is pretty accurate after tracking my weight on a spreadsheet for a long time) so I know that my TDEE fluctuations are huge sometimes, but I've been controlling my intake for years and there's no way to tell how I would eat if I didn't at this point in relation to my TDEE.

  • staticsplit
    staticsplit Posts: 538 Member
    edited July 2019
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    oat_bran wrote: »
    staticsplit wrote: »
    Looking at the last week - my lowest day was around 1900 and my highest day was 2800. Average was 2,200, which is around my TDEE. Weight bounced around a bit but was between 153.6 and 155. My maintenance is 150-155. I'm 6 ft tall and do weight lifting, yoga, running, and walking.

    Wow this is really interesting! 1900-2800 seems like a big fluctuation! I wonder what your actual TDEE was on your highest and lowest day to see by how much you go over or under your TDEE on a given day. I know there's no way to tell for sure though. I wear a fitbit (which I know is pretty accurate after tracking my weight on a spreadsheet for a long time) so I know that my TDEE fluctuations are huge sometimes, but I've been controlling my intake for years and there's no way to tell how I would eat if I didn't at this point in relation to my TDEE.

    According to my fitbit:

    The 2800 day my TDEE was 3100 (I walked 25k steps). I went out for Thai food for dinner so I might have actually eaten more than 2800, it's a semi-educated guess.

    The 1900 day one had my TDEE also at 1950 (only walked 5k). So I was more or less following it by listening to my hunger cues.
  • kenyonhaff
    kenyonhaff Posts: 1,377 Member
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    I log at least one meal and my snacks during a day. I think it helps mentally to "check in" and consider how this food fits in my overall plan. I admit it isn't as good as loggin everything in, but I seem to be doing ok so I'm just going with it.
  • paperpudding
    paperpudding Posts: 9,023 Member
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    .and I imagine that they are not eating the equivalent of their TDEE every singly day and that some day they go over their TDEE and some day it's less. And that maybe there are actually small fluctuations in their weight. And I've been really curious to know by how much?

    I have no idea of how much - but, yes, of course most people eat over their TDEE some days and some days less and they have small fluctuations in their weight.

    That would surely apply to just about everyone in maitenance, ( maitenance just meaning stable weight) whether they ever calorie counted or not.
    Everyone's weight has small fluctuations and hardly anybody eats exact same amount every day.
  • hroderick
    hroderick Posts: 756 Member
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    I'm hoping to go natural, but it hasn't been working out so I'm back to counting. I think finally stop falling back into old habits and psych faults I will be more successful. Maybe logging must just become my permanent replacement habit for some of the bad ones. Deeply learning about mindful eating and habit change is helping. I'm just not there yet.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,973 Member
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    oat_bran wrote: »
    I've been on and off trying to lose weight for so long that I've forgotten what it's like to not count calories and simply rely on hunger cues to maintain your weight. I have lots of friends who are maintaining a healthy weight naturally and some of them don't even know what calories really are and I've been really curious to imagine what their day-to-day CICO is like. I've been observing these people's eating habits and I imagine that they are not eating the equivalent of their TDEE every singly day and that some day they go over their TDEE and some day it's less. And that maybe there are actually small fluctuations in their weight. And I've been really curious to know by how much? Like, it would be so interesting to see a spreadsheet of a day-to-day CICO of someone who is maintaining their weight without counting calories or trying to control their intake consciously in any way. The problem with that is though that as soon as you start monitoring someone's intake, they will become conscious of it and it'll probably effect the results...

    If you've maintained naturally in the past or have partners/roommates/family members who do, what are your estimates of their day-to-day CICO ?

    I'm confused about the bolded. You can get an approximation of the CI of someone who is sedentary and maintaining by plugging their stats into MFP here https://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/change_goals_guided and selecting Maintain my current weight.

    But I don't know how this would help you in any way?

    My Mom more or less maintains a healthy weight naturally without counting calories. (She is so active that when she forgets/doesn't have time to eat she struggles to stay above Underweight.) Her weight goes up and down @ 5 #. Some days she does indeed eat more, and some days less.
  • sardelsa
    sardelsa Posts: 9,812 Member
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    I maintained within a 5-10lb range for many years (from 16-28 years old) without counting calories. To be honest I have no idea what calorie intake was but it definitely fluctuated day to day, week to week based on hunger levels and there were times of small gain and if my clothes got too tight I'd cut a snack out or something and lose a bit to get back toy normal. Maybe 2300-2700 at the time? I was very active but not consistent with regular exercise.
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 9,988 Member
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    I think it would vary a lot from person to person how much they fluctuate their CI (which really seems to be what your asking about, even though you saying CICO) when maintaining "naturally." Some people probably "naturally" like a routine, while others "naturally" have a mix of big eating days, low eating days, and maintenance days.

    I have been logging about five years past the point where I switched from a "lose-it-or-die" mentality to a "you-don't-have-to-lose-more-but-for-heaven's-sake-don't-regain" mindset. Since I'm logging, I'm not exactly maintaining "naturally," but I approach each day with a great deal of flexibility and am fine with going over on the weekends or for special events. Oddly, my lowest days are often weekend days when I catch up on sleep and catch up on errands -- I often end up eating in a fairly narrow IF-ish pattern, and don't take in that many calories.

    Anyway, with a maintenance level of 2370, my "natural-ish" variation is anywhere from around 1300 kcal to 3500 kcal per day (if I'm eating less than 1300 kcal, it almost certainly means I'm sick and not risking eating things I can't keep down; eating more than 3500 kcal for me would pretty much take a deliberate effort to try to consume energy-dense foods all day to the point of at least mild discomfort). In a typical week, however, I'd likely be eating somewhere between 1700 and 2200 four to five days a week, and anywhere from 2300 to 2800 two or three days a week.

  • oat_bran
    oat_bran Posts: 370 Member
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    WinoGelato wrote: »
    Many people find it necessary, or at least helpful, to continue to log calories in order to successfully maintain. These boards are filled with countless folks who thought that once they hit their weight loss goal they would switch to “naturally maintaining weight relying on hunger cues” only to find that the weight creeps back on and they find themselves in the position of having to lose again.

    Perhaps that’s the reason you feel you’ve been on an endless weight loss journey? Maybe instead of trying to figure out how to maintain without tracking, accept that for at least a considerable time after hitting goal that you will continue to log and track just as diligently as you are now, only with a few hundred extra calories to play with.

    I wasn't asking for advice on how to maintain without tracking. Where did you get that from my post? Like I said, I am simply curious (because I am a curious person) how a person's daily intake can vary day to day and how it corresponds to their TDEE and in a way that they end up maintaining without doing it consciously. I am curious because human body is interesting to me and I am wondering how it regulates energy intake. That's it.

    Oh and I've been trying to lose weight unsuccessfully because I overeat, plain and simple (knowingly and while tracking), for reasons that are completely irrelevant to this thread.
  • oat_bran
    oat_bran Posts: 370 Member
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    Tolstolobik wrote: »
    WinoGelato wrote:
    Just focus on your plan, not what other people do or can do “naturally”

    This^.

    Umm.. I wasn't asking for advice actually.
  • oat_bran
    oat_bran Posts: 370 Member
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    kshama2001 wrote: »

    I'm confused about the bolded. You can get an approximation of the CI of someone who is sedentary and maintaining by plugging their stats into MFP here https://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/change_goals_guided and selecting Maintain my current weight.

    But I don't know how this would help you in any way?

    I went back to reread my post trying see where it may sounded like I was asking advice about maintaining and I didn't find anything. I'm not asking for advice. I'm not even trying to maintain right now. I am simply curious. And not about how much any given person needs to eat to maintain. This is easily done with any TDEE calculator. I am wondering what a person's day to day deficit/surplus could be, OK? Say 2300 in/2500 out one day, 2200 in/2100 out the next etc. That kind of stuff. And of course there is no way to know for sure! This is why I was asking for estimates. Again, out of pure curiosity about the human body.
  • staticsplit
    staticsplit Posts: 538 Member
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    What I've found interesting about logging while maintaining is how good the body can be about balance. Like if one day was very carb heavy, the next day I fancy things with more protein or fat without realizing.
  • liz0269
    liz0269 Posts: 139 Member
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    I never had a weight problem until I quit smoking seven years ago.
    In my 20s, I ate whatever I wanted. I know I drank 3-6 regular sodas per day, I drank a lot of coffee with creamer and sugar. I am estimating 500-800 calories just in beverages.
    I didn't eat breakfast but I would snack. Lunch sometimes was soup and sometimes a burger. I would guess 500-800 calories for those two meals.
    Overall I am guessing that I ate 1500-2500 calories a day. I am 5'7" and I weighed 115. After I had kids, I weighed 135.
    In my 40s, I ate paleo just before I quit smoking. Breakfast was eggs with butter - 250 calories. Lunch was usually either two hamburger patties or a can of chicken plus an avocado or a ton of almonds - easily 800 calories. Dinner was usually just as big as lunch. Overall 1800-2200 calories. I weighed 140.
    When I quit smoking I ate a lot more and packed on 60 pounds in less than a year. Ouch.
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 13,740 Member
    edited July 2019
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    After a considerable effort to lose weight and a couple of years more or less maintaining, I've found that I actually *am* _aware_ as to whether I have eaten enough or not, and that my body also does regulate ittself a bit by prompting me to be more, or less active based on recent energy balance!

    That said... I am also, personally, extremely good at ignoring any and all such cues for a variety of reasons. Or forgetting what happened yesterday.

    A friend of mine is perfectly willing to put down his fork or spoon in the middle of delectable food consumption just because he is no longer hungry. I rely on logging instead....

    As to the variance it would be hard to measure for people who don't log

    Personally, nowadays, being ~30% over calories on one day (and depending on timing) usually means I start my next day with less desire to eat and perhaps more energy. I can't say that I feel a difference when I am 5% or 10% over :blush:

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