How many calories to maintain now that I’ve reached my goal?

[Anonymous]

After 3 months of eating 1,000 calories a day, I finally lost the last stubborn 10 pounds. I’m 50, so it took some extreme measures to lose the weight. I’m only 5’3” and am now at 115. It might not seem high to have been at 125, but I have a small frame, and every bit shows. It wasn’t particularly tough to eat 1,000 calories, since I only eat 6 PM to midnight (I’ve done IF for 5 years).

Anyway, here I am. I’m at my goal (yay!) and happy with where I am.

How many calories do you think I can reasonably eat either to stay at 115 or not go over, say, 117? I’ve read about eating 10-12x your goal weight, which means I’d need to eat 1,150-1,380 calories. I’ve read never to go below 1,200, which clearly wasn’t going to be effective for losing weight, but should that be my maintenance level? I’ve heard to add back a little bit every week and gauge your progress, but I want to have some idea of what the “right” number should be.

[Anonymous]

If it took you 1000 calories to get to this weight and this is what you want your weight to stay, 1100-1150 max would be your maintenance. A 200+ calorie increase would be a gain.

[Anonymous]

At 1000 calories a day, you lost 10 pounds in ~13 weeks. So you were 35,000 calories below maintenance. That works out to 385 calories a day that you can theoretically add back to your diet, but round down because you’re at a lower weight than when you started.

Maybe 1300 calories and see how it goes.

[Anonymous]

OP here. Awesome, thanks for the input! It sounds as if 1,200 or so would be my sweet spot.

[Anonymous]

OP, what app you used to track calories?

[Anonymous]

I used the free version of MyFitnessPal.

[Anonymous]

1000 calories per day seems very low and unsustainable in the long run. Have you considered the types of food you eat rather than calories? 400 calories of sweet potatoes and broccoli is different than 400 calories of cookies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:1000 calories per day seems very low and unsustainable in the long run. Have you considered the types of food you eat rather than calories? 400 calories of sweet potatoes and broccoli is different than 400 calories of cookies.

DP - OP is clearly not trying to sustain 1000 calories in the long run. Hence, her post.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Awesome, thanks for the input! It sounds as if 1,200 or so would be my sweet spot.

It really is trial and error. Add back in some calories weight yourself regularly and track the trend over the course of a month to see if you are maintaining on those calories or still losing. Adjust accordingly.I like weighing daily and tracking the trend over time as weight fluctuates all the time, but that isn't usually real weight gain.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Awesome, thanks for the input! It sounds as if 1,200 or so would be my sweet spot.

It really is trial and error. Add back in some calories weight yourself regularly and track the trend over the course of a month to see if you are maintaining on those calories or still losing. Adjust accordingly.I like weighing daily and tracking the trend over time as weight fluctuates all the time, but that isn't usually real weight gain.

+1 exactly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:1000 calories per day seems very low and unsustainable in the long run. Have you considered the types of food you eat rather than calories? 400 calories of sweet potatoes and broccoli is different than 400 calories of cookies.

Yup, I eat mainly healthy foods. I do enjoy the occasional Trader Joe’s mini mint mouthful, though—60 calories for one of those yummy treats. I also love homemade banana bread, and I never shy away from carbs. But I don’t eat junk food because I don’t want to waste calories. Oh yeah, I also have a couple of wine nights each week, but I always count those calories.