Figuring out my maintenance calories

[CortieTat]

I decided to start counting calories in August last year. I was already eating well and exercising regularly for several years but I slowly started gaining weight - my downfall is huge meals, I’m a petite woman eating like a rugby player.

Losing weight has been easy for me, I’ve already had the good habits in place so it was just the matter of eating less.

My problem is that I am now on my maintenance calories (since December last year) and I am still, very slowly, losing weight. I don’t want this. I still log in everything I eat and I’m not overly obsessed with the calorie limit every day - there are days I eat less than the limit and days I eat more. Sometimes I eat my exercise calories back, sometimes I don’t. I wonder what I’m doing wrong.

I think of myself as moderately active: I exercise regularly and walk everywhere, but I also have a desk job so I sit or stand behind the computer quite a lot.
I used several tdee calculators and kind of the average figure for my age, height, weight and the activity level. It looks like it’s not working and I don’t understand why.

How old are you, how petite are you and how many days do you weight train and work out a week? I'm 5ft, 47, weigh 53kg, work out 4 to 5 days a week including a personal training weight training program, hiit, body tone classes as well. I walk 6000 steps a day minimum . I'm a size 10 pear shaped and would love to be smaller but honestly don't think I can get there. I'm very fit and can see my maintenance calories is around 1800 a day . That is not much..trainer has me on 1600 a day, high protein clean diet to slow knock of a couple of kg . For reference how does this compare to you?

I’m 161 cm, 51 kg and 46. I train six times a week, usually two classes of martial arts, yoga/stretching, one or two runs of 5K (hilly terrain) and weights - I do Les Mills classes, so Shapes, BodyPump or Strength Development. My mileage varies, sometimes I do 20K steps a day including the run, sometimes 8K. Various tdee calculators have me at 1750 and I stick to it but loosely, I go over quite often. I

I eat most things, usually 1.2-1.3g of protein per kilo but I’m not on a low carb diet. I don’t eat gluten and poultry. I consider myself quite fit.

It sounds like your TDEE and/or exercise calorie estimates are just a bit off.

No idea how to find the right ones then! Should I trust my watch? Exercise wise it seems very conservative.

These numbers are estimates which won't be 100% accurate for each individual. So if you're consistently losing a bit then probably best thing is to gradually adjust up till you reach your own actual balance point.

That’s the reasonable approach and it seems the only way that makes sense. I’m mainly worried that I spend too much time on this and on watching every adjustment like a hawk. I log everything dutifully but I try not to obsess over the limit. On the other hand I do find myself already obsessing over the limit because I don’t want to gain weight either.

I thought it would be easy, starting with exercise was easy because it has become my me time when I can switch off the constant mental chatter and be fully present.

Do you still count calories?

I think the going over your 1750 calories often is also key. I was doing the same until my personal trainer pointed out these really add up over a period of time. I hate to do it but I have now stopped all the extras, handful of nuts, stop drinking cappuccinos.

We are both petite and it is surprisingly to me to recently discover how little food we actually NEED to be at maintenance and even less for losing more weight despite being quite fit!!

Yes I count calories but now have changed my mindset. I make sure each of my meals are in proportion I.e. lunch 100g of carb, 30g of protein such as chicken, and a salad. This equates to 500 calories meal. So thinking in those terms makes it a lot easier for me

For me it’s the other way round, despite adding up over the period of time I am slowly but steadily still losing weight, I still write 51 because it’s easier than to write “50.1-50.8 depending on the day”, but I’ve been closer to 50 for over two weeks now.
I’m already lean and toned, my size 6 trousers are falling off my bum.

What I’d love to be able to do is to keep eating a varied diet without having to obsess about losing or gaining, finding a reasonable amount of calories to stick to as a reference point without worrying about going over or under the limit daily. I feel that it’s becoming a slippery slope for me, I had an eating disorder in my twenties.

Keeping the macros for each meal is doable, although tricky because I don’t eat the same things regularly, except for breakfast. I accept that I have to count calories if I want to keep the weight off, but the tdee suggested for my weight/height and activity level doesn’t work. I kind of hope that the hive mind of Mumsnet knows some excellent website that will tell me what I’m actually burning 🔥 every day.

I kind of hope that the hive mind of Mumsnet knows some excellent website that will tell me what I’m actually burning 🔥 every day.

I don't think that's possible, everyone's body is a bit different.

You're maybe overthinking a bit? You've presumably now got a reasonable idea of what types and quantities are appropriate just you can have a bit more?

But if you want to overthink more then I suppose you could work out what your current weight loss per week averages out at, convert that to calorie equivalent, divide by 7 and add that to your calorie allowance?

I’m not petite but I do like a rugby player.

This is great, sorry no idea how to quote just a part of your post. I’m paid for overthinking so this approach resonates with me 100%.

Interested in this thread

Not because I want to maintain weight (am trying to lose) but I'm struggling to work out what my loss / maintenance calories are.

Like OP and PP I do a lot of exercise - 4/5 hilly runs a week plus probably an hours walk every day. Easily average about 15k steps a day over a week.

I have a huge tendency to overeat and think previously I have eaten a lot because I do lots of running. I just don't have a sense of how many of those exercise calories I can eat- I'm often very hungry, and sticking at 1300/day is a) not sustainable if I want to run and b) I'm probably eating nearer to 1500 and losing weight.

But I'd love to be able to pin down slightly more precisely what my intake should be taking into account of exercise.

I’m not from around here but I am sedentary, 5’ 6.5” and last weigh in (only on 1st of the month) I weighed 168.2.

I usually get less than 5,000 steps per day but still I’m 100 pounds down from my top weight. I’ve lost 59.6 pounds since May 2023. My maintenance weight ideal would be 140 pounds. But I’m on loads of Diazepam and supplements so they tend to slow my thinking and possibly my metabolism.

@CortieTat the TDEE calculators are only ever an estimate. There are so many things that impact on your actual maintenance calories. For reference my actual maintenance calories are a couple of hundred above what the calculators say.

If your eating habits are where you want them to be but you are still losing weight why don't you add 50-100 calories per day and see where you are in 2-4 weeks? I think your maintenance is a bit higher than you think it is.

@desikated the best way is to pick a target that you think is around or just under maintenance, stick to it for a few weeks and see what happens! No calculator will give you a 100% accurate answer, it's really trial and error. Everyone is different!!

@desikated also if you are running a lot and very hungry at 1500 you're probably in a large deficit. I am very active and even 1900-2000 is a deficit for me at 63kg.

Ahh thanks @everycowandagain that's really helpful comparison.

Sorry to lean on you / this thread! But even on the days I don't run should I stick to that formula?

I can relate, I also feel more hungry after running than after any other workout. I think the only way is to be honest and thorough with logging down what you eat.

I feel much better after a strength training, have you tried adding some to the mix?

I personally hate running and I’m only doing it for health reasons.

@CortieTat ahhh well, well done for running then. I'm quite a grumpy runny. But I do it , mainly because once I've gone for a run I feel really proud of myself.

I really really need to do weight training. I do none. And I'm that age (nearly 40). I even have some dumbbells. Clearly there's some block in me because I'm pretty motivated with other exercise.

Any tips?!

And thank you ❤️

At 150cm my maintenance is 1400 of healthy food 🙄 I would have to do significant amounts of calorie burning exercise to increase.

What are you finding your calorie intake needs to be to lose? And how much activity are you doing alongside?

I’ve got a Les Mills subscription and I’m addicted to their workouts, it’s my third year with them.

First I tried their free videos on YouTube and I liked the kiwi accent and the format. I then got a free trial period, cancelled it and waited until I got a hefty discount :-)
I like the format and the variety, there are many different classes focused just on strength, including some ballet inspired ones.

I also stretch with them, do some active recovery workouts, meditation and yoga nidra. It’s my most utilised subscription - I cancelled Netflix last year to save money but I not going to cancel LM earlier than on my deathbed :-)

I like their workouts with minimal equipment, my favourite one is Shapes which also gave me the fastest visible results.

The workouts are designed to give you a nice endorphin boost afterwards, unfortunately I don’t get it anymore but it was the part of the initial charm that got me addicted hooked.

@desikated it really depends on your goals and hunger levels I think. Some people have extra calories for rest days to aid recovery, others prefer to go higher calorie on training days for energy, others eat the same every day. I am not less hungry on rest days so I don't eat less those days (although I don't run these days, I am a powerlifter but 10 years ago when I was running marathons I wasn't tracking calories at all).

Thank you! I reckon I hoped someone would write this so I don’t feel like there’s something wrong with me!

@CortieTat nothing wrong with you at all, you are just very active by the sound of it!

I do think that, for calorie counters, it's useful to spend time (ie weeks/months) tracking maintenance calories to get a good idea of where yours is. The calculators are a good starting point but some people will be above and some below.