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5.65 female - maintenance calorie goal?

unknown

Hello,

I'm 169cm (5.65 ft.inches) and currently weigh 58.3kg (128.5lbs), female, 41 years old. I'm still losing weight though I went into maintenance some 2kg ago. I don't want to lose more weight, but I also don't want to go into useless binging or eating sweets just to fill up with more calories. Upping calories slowly clearly hasn't worked yet.

So, scooby and this website give me 1600kcal per day for maintenance, which clearly is far too low. I run a few times a week and do some strength training whenever I feel like it. For running I eat back all calories that I calculate. This number is below what this site gives me. Yesterday I used 173kcal for a 28 minute slow run (12.8miles/km).

Is there someone with similar stats here? What is your maintenance allowance?

unknown

I think the calculation is off there. I'm 47 and a little bit shorter than you and my TDEE is somewhere between 1900-2000 cals. Are you sure 1600 isn't your BMR?

unknown

Yep, all calculators give me a TDEE of around 1600 for a sedentary lifestyle. To that I'd add 70-350kcal for exercising should I decide to do something.

If I chose 1-3 hours of exercise per week I get a TDEE of 1757 and with 3-5 hours of exercise I get 1980. I must admit I'm not quite happy with the TDEE calculation method and prefer MFP's and eating back exercise calories because if I do strength I might be in the gym for an hour, but in fact I only lift for around 12 minutes. It's different when I run, but I run so slow that I find it again difficult to quantify it with the TDEE method.

unknown

Your best bet is to keep adding calories until you find your maintenance amount. You don't have to fill it with sweets, but choose higher calorie foods that can boost your number.

I am 34, 5'7 and I am still losing while eating 2250 calories a day but many calculators say I should be maintaining at that level. Its all about playing around and finding the number that works for you.

unknown

I'm not sure why you think 1600 per day is way too low, but I've maintained for 3 years by staying below that number if I'm not exercising. I'm 46 and 5'7" at 122 pounds with calculated maintenance calories of 1540, but I've found that I really need to stick to around 1450 + exercise calories (~100 calories per mile of running). You'll have to see what works for you, but the less you weigh and the older you get, the fewer calories you can eat to maintain.

I just manage it like a budget and decide what foods are worth it to me. I typically say no to breakfast and snacks, but I consistently indulge in my daily Mocha Frappuccino Light and after dinner ice cream cone. No food is off limits, but some are just not worth it to me based on the %-age of overall budget they would require. It's a whole lot easier to say no when I think about how many miles it would take to run off a McDonald's shake!

Best wishes in finding your balance and sticking with what works to make you successful!

unknown

Hi kluvit,

I'm still losing weight, and not slowly either. Thus 1600 must be way too low for me, regardless of what calculators say.

Zelinna: yes, I have to increase until I find the right mumbers. I stopped lising a bit too late and since then lost another 2 kg. I think I do look too thin for my liking with my wide pelvis.

unknown

I'm 5'6", 57.7kg and this past month I've been losing ~0.5kg/week at 1550 calories, which is oddly fast, and would put my TDEE at over 2000 calories..
I am a programming student, artist and gamer soooo.. Yes. Very senedary lifestyle.
I lift 3x/week though, and I try to take at least like a 10min walk/take my bicycle to the supermarket/something equevalent every day so that I don't sit still all the time except for at the gym.
I live on my own so asides from being on my pc, I cook and do dishes and such, but nothing big.

I don't think it's unlikely that you can raise your calories a bit, in other words!

unknown

I'm younger than you, so that will make our numbers a little different, but I'm 36 years old, 5ft, 6in and my TDEE a little over 1,700 calories, and I don't do a lot of exercise (if I remember correctly I entered in 3 days a week). I walk 2-6 miles a week, and then do 3 days a week of body-weight strength training, but it's only about 30 minutes a time (doing push-ups and squats challenges right now).

My maintenance range is 120-125lbs.