About this "maintenance" thing....
 

According to the calorie counters, I could eat around 1900 calories a day to maintain my weight....This doesn't make sense to me because I've been doing the zig zag thing, basically a different calorie count every day that adds up to 1400 a day by the end of the week.

The problem is, if I do 2 lower days (around 1200-1300), I will lose a pound, but then as soon as I do one high day (around 1500), I gain that pound right back....That fast!! So by the end of the week I'm always breaking even.

I think I'm going to stop zig zagging and just stay at 1400 a day and see what happens. Because on the 1200 days I am STARVING, but if I do 1400 I feel pretty good...But I keep wondering, how could I possibly maintain with 1900 calories, if 1500 makes me gain??

Mama2Five, the online calculators are based on an imaginary person, not you. The standard used for those calculators is a made-up someone who has a completely different bone structure, lean body mass, food and weight history, genetic make-up, and metabolism than the person using the calculator.


No calculator, software, book, or other person can ever know how much you need to eat to lose weight or maintain. I look at those calculators now and then. The recommended range of calories varies quite a bit.

There are many threads on this subject.

We all have to find out what works for us through experimenting, the old-fashioned trial and error. I cycle calories. There are several threads regarding calorie cycling (aka zigzag). Many of us find it helps.

Also, the less we weigh, the fewer calories our bodies need.

If you're interested, have a look using the search engine. I think I read the entire Living Maintenance section my first week on this forum. It helped me a great deal. For one thing, reading that forum helped me give myself permission to eat much less than the online calculators "said".

All the best to you! :)