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.
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Calorie-counting
Figuring out my maintenance calories
CortieTat · 27/03/2024 20:44
ErrolTheDragon · 27/03/2024 21:18
It sounds like your TDEE and/or exercise calorie estimates are just a bit off.
ErrolTheDragon · 27/03/2024 21:35
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.
CookieDoughKid · 28/03/2024 10:06
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
ErrolTheDragon · 28/03/2024 11:18
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?
desikated · 28/03/2024 11:32
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.
CookieDoughKid · 28/03/2024 10:06
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
desikated · 30/03/2024 10:20
@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 ❤️
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everycowandagain · 30/03/2024 08:11
@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.
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