I was listening to a talk at UC Davis by an MD/Obesity Researcher/Professor who said that one of the top ten myths about weight loss is that you can increase calories to a normal level once you reach your goal. He said that whatever caloire you diet at is the one that you will have to eat for the rest of your life and that any increase will cause a rebound weight gain so if you diet at 1400 then you will maintain on 1400 as well.
So, this is kinda depressing. I thought that once you got to goal you could increase calories to a more normal level. I would assume maybe a 10% decrease but I didin't think that you had to live at whatever calories you diet at (with some exceptions like PSMF).
Hi Eve! It's not true in my case -- I lost at 1200 calories and maintain at 1400 - 1600 calories (with the same amount of exercise). Not a huge difference but very liveable.
Maybe what he meant is that we aren't going to be able to maintain a weight loss at what would be the "normal level" for someone who had never lost weight? In other words, someone who had always been at the normal weight that they're trying to maintain? I think that's true because our metabolisms are affected by large weight losses and so, metabolic calculators are generally too high for those of us maintaining weight losses. But gosh, eating at weight loss levels forever? I'm glad it's not true for me!
That can't be true because that doesn't take into account the activity you do. I have friends that work out all the time but eat pretty high calorie for their weight and they aren't gaining. I believe my friend is around 130 and eats about 1500-1700 calories a day but she's active. She runs and does yoga and all sorts of other activities...
And guys seem to be able to eat more too. My husband is 190 lbs and eats more than 2000 calories a day.
1500-1700 seems so low to me! I would assume that most active women need at least 2000-2200 cals a day. Atleast, that is what the ADA recommends and what most calculators give me...I am actually kinda relieved. I thought there was something wrong with me bc I had to eat 1400 or lower to lose weight and will easily gain back the weight by eating just a few hundred more (1800 or so).
Maybe, I am not so different
This is a limiting belief that I have had my whold life (slow metabolism) but I think I have just had the wrong information regarding calories needed to maintain.
I lost eating around 1400-1600 calories and maintain around 1800 a day (with a weekly treat meal - wine, split dessert, etc etc). And I'm a total slacker about exercising, so it's not like I have SO MUCH MORE activity as a maintainer.
It's so sad that UCDavis researcher just cant find any maintainers to ask. Where, oh where could he find some.
Eve, calories are such an individual thing that it's really tough to say. When labels report the RDA % of nutrients, they are based on a 2000-calorie diet. That doesn't mean that they recommend that everyone eat a 2000 calorie diet, it is just so that you can judge the proportion of nutrients relative to some standard.
A young, healthy, active woman should be able to eat about 2000 calories per day. There are a lot of qualifiers in that sentence. The older you are, the fewer you need. If you have health problems, the number may be different. If you are sedentary, you will need fewer calories. Personally I lose weight at 1400/day and maintain at around 1800-2000 with exercise 3-5 days per week. However, I work at a desk job, so for the bulk of the day I do not really move at all. I would bet if I worked doing something more active I would be able to eat more calories.
I don't follow the the "Rules" of the brilliant professor either. I lost on 1200-1500 calories/day (average 1325daily). I now eat 1500-2000 daily to maintain, (average around 1850). I average about 500 calories more each day to maintain, than I did to lose. Though to be honest, many of those extra calories come in the form of some kind of weekend treat...I guess you can say I'm one of those people who yo-yo diet on a very short string. I am also pretty active, and don't really sit much...though I never did the intense cardio/strength training that many do. I mostly just move.
Eve, calories are such an individual thing that it's really tough to say.
When labels report the RDA % of nutrients, they are based on a 2000-calorie diet.
That doesn't mean that they recommend that everyone eat a 2000 calorie diet,
it is just so that you can judge the proportion of nutrients relative to some standard.
This is very true.
While 2000 calories to maintain might be "normal"
for an average-sized or large, young, active woman,
running the same MR formula for a "normal"
small-sized, older, sedentary woman
shows a Result of between a 1200 - 1350 daily calorie burn.
I lost the last 75 lbs to my goal (from 190 to 115) over a 16 month period
by eating an average of 1250 calories,
and losing an average of about 1 lb per week.
My personal 4 year experience in Maintenance has taught me that it takes
about a 1000-1200 daily calorie average to maintain my current weight including my activity of 1 hr of daily low-impact exercise,
and a bit of strength training 2-3 days a week.
I lost at 1200-1500, maintain at 1700-2000. I do a pretty intense level of exercise, so the extra of the last new months has stayed pretty static - I've had some weeks that came in on the high side for the average over the holidays.
If I ate 2000 calories a day I would soon be at a level of needing to diet. I am short, small boned and if I want to maintain a weight of 115 I need to eat about 1400 calories a day to maintain. The lower your goal weight the fewer calories you need to maintain. Exercise has a bearing, too. But in general I stay right around 1400.
I'm 122 right now and maintain at an average of 1800ish, sometimes 2K. I do a lot of activity, however. I dieted at 1300-1500. I'm 5'4, 42 yo, for what that's worth.
Calories to maintain
