Just out of curiosity....how many cals do YOU need to maintain

dreamingmaid

Silver Member
As the thread states, i'm just curious to know how many calories you need to maintain your current weight.

I find it really interesting as i've read on some forums of people who can only maintain on just 1200 kcal per day, which seems low and others that can maintain on 2000. Obviously there is a lot of factors at play here, age, height, activity levels etc.

I've yet to find my maintanence level but still manage to lose on 1500cal, albeit slowly.
 
i hate to say it but its all dependent on your body and lifestyle.

To not lose weight, its usually abouy 1500-1700 cals a day i think, but you can put your details into weight loss resource website and they will be able to tell you more based on a series of questions that need answering!

hth

x
 
People can usually maintain on anything from 1600 to 2400 kcals. Most people, unless you are very small, or haven't more eaten after a dieting spell can lose on 1500.

Anyone who says they can maintain on only 1200 usually has a misunderstanding of intake or calorie values. Often what happens is that they stick to 1200 cals, have a bad day (because 1200 is rather low) and have a blow out every now and again to make up the deficit, which is often forgotten about.

Harsh but true.

I need about 1800kcals, but I'm old :D
 
To be honest, I'd find it difficult to imagine everyone who said they were maintaining properly on 1200. Maybe someone who was totally inactive but these people may be forgetting a few blowouts...

Here's another way you can calculate - this is the BMR which takes into account your activity level as well. Of course it's still not perfect because it doesn't take into build but hopefully it will help.

BMR Calculator

All I know is that thanks to leptin, my body thinks it needs more calories than it actually does.
 
Ah, thanks for your replies and for the links. Lizz, i checked out that link and i need in the region of around 1900cal to maintain. I guess it's going to take trial and error to find the amount that works for me, i'll probably increase my intake by around 100 calories per week until i find my number.

And yes, 1200 calories does seem an incredibly low maintenance level, but like you say they could be compensating for overeating at other times. I hadn't thought of that.
 
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