Maintenance calories: 1420?

whmscll
whmscll Posts: 2,255 Member
edited December 21 in Goal: Maintaining Weight
If I were to begin maintenance today, MFP gives me 1,420 calories (before exercise cals, which I always eat back). Can that be right? I’m 59, 5’ 4.5”, and I currently weigh 126.6. I work from home and am pretty sedentary when not actually doing a workout. Still, that seems incredibly low.

Replies

  • jan110144
    jan110144 Posts: 1,281 Member
    I am at 6 mo in maintenance now and keep upping my intake a bit at a time.

    I have found that determining the amount I need to eat in maintenance has been challenging. My issue seems to be determining what percentage of my exercise calories to eat back as I have dropped a bit under the low end of my maintenance range and I don't want to lose more.
  • jrwms714
    jrwms714 Posts: 421 Member
    It takes a while to figure it out ... sometimes the numbers are close but not exactly where you end up. I am 5'0" and 72 and I work out 5x/week and my number is 1500-1800, so yours seems low for your age and height, but if you are sedentary more than active, it could be accurate.
  • spiriteagle99
    spiriteagle99 Posts: 3,748 Member
    At 62, 5'6" and 131 lbs., I was given 1400 or so. When I continued to lose weight, I changed it to 1600. Reality is I am eating at least 1700-1800 (since I don't weigh anything or include cooking oil/spray), plus exercise calories, and maintaining at 121-125 for several years. You have to adjust based on how your body works. In my case, although I spend most of my day sedentary, I do break it up with exercise - a dog walk in the morning, a run in the afternoon, another dog walk before bed, plus some yoga and calisthetics after my runs. I also live in a somewhat hilly area, so walks and runs are a bit more work. As a result, my body burns more than mfp states.
  • neldabg
    neldabg Posts: 1,452 Member
    It sounds right to me. It's always quite a reminder to see just how little food some of us have to eat to stay a healthy/ideal weight.
    MikePTY wrote: »
    That's what the math says. Your BMR is 1142 and with a 1.25 sedentary multiplier, that puts you at 1427 (which I guess they rounded to 1420).

    But remember these amounts are just estimates. You can often get better results by looking at your weight loss. How much did you eat, and how much did you lose on average? Let's say you ate 1200 calories a day and lost a pound a week, that would imy that your maintenance calories are more likely to be 1700 than your current goal. So you may want to customize based on past results. It usually takes some time and tweaking to figure out an exact maintenance number.

    I agree with MikePTY. No matter what calculators predict, real results are the most accurate.
    I'm a female over 30 years younger and 2.5 inches shorter. If I'm sedentary, ~1400-1500 calories is my maintenance to stay in the lower/middle range of 110-120 lbs. 1500 is even a bit too much depending on my step count and NEAT for the time period. I've been logging since the summer of 2015, so I know my numbers pretty well at this point.

    This thread provides methods to help calculate your TDEE based on past weight and calorie recordings:
    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10638211/how-to-find-your-maintenance-calorie-level/p1
  • apullum
    apullum Posts: 4,838 Member
    whmscll wrote: »
    If I were to begin maintenance today, MFP gives me 1,420 calories (before exercise cals, which I always eat back). Can that be right? I’m 59, 5’ 4.5”, and I currently weigh 126.6. I work from home and am pretty sedentary when not actually doing a workout. Still, that seems incredibly low.

    The bolded is the important part here. Those of us who have lower maintenance calories than we'd like often work out so we can eat more (among the other benefits of exercise, of course). As someone who maintains on 1400 without exercise, I am *really* unhappy when I can't exercise and therefore have to scale back my eating.
  • w8goal4life
    w8goal4life Posts: 1,375 Member
    Started with MFP in 2017 when caloriecount.com discontinued service for its customer base. I have, effectively, been in maintenance for 8 years. Maintenance calories are personal to each individual based on age, gender, activity level. I am 69 years young with maintenance calories at 1400. Adding exercise or increasing activity level is the only way to also add extra calories. It's all CICO and tracking is critical. There's no room for complacency in maintenance.
  • Tolstolobik
    Tolstolobik Posts: 78 Member
    edited July 2019
    spiriteagle99 wrote: »
    At 62, 5'6" and 131 lbs., I was given 1400 or so. When I continued to lose weight, I changed it to 1600. Reality is I am eating at least 1700-1800 (since I don't weigh anything or include cooking oil/spray), plus exercise calories, and maintaining at 121-125 for several years. You have to adjust based on how your body works. In my case, although I spend most of my day sedentary, I do break it up with exercise - a dog walk in the morning, a run in the afternoon, another dog walk before bed, plus some yoga and calisthetics after my runs. I also live in a somewhat hilly area, so walks and runs are a bit more work. As a result, my body burns more than mfp states.

    I find your post very inspiring. So you are maintaining @ 121-125 eating 1700-1800 NET being sedentary most of the day and eat back calories you burn through purposeful exercise? Can you describe your definition of sedentary?
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