Hey girls! I'm still pretty far away from my goal, but I was looking around at basal metabolic rate calculators online and most of them say I need around 1620 calories per day to maintain my 169 (I'm 5'8"). Then I got curious and typed in my goal, 150, and saw that I would need only about 1530! That seems like a really low number for every day of the rest of my life, as my goal calorie-wise now is to stay under/around 1500. I know that this doesn't include calories burned with exercise, but it seems sort of cruel that the calorie in/output will need to be the same for maintenance as "dieting."

Has anyone else encountered this problem? Any suggestions or thoughts?

Unforuntatly i think over time our "Serving sizes" have gotten larger and larger and what we eat when we diet is acutally what we shoudl be eating normally you know what i mean? sucks huh

Sigh, I was afraid of that.

BMR is only a part of the equation. Often it means what you would need if you were in a coma!

You also burn calories for daily living (brushing your teeth, driving to work)...
When I typed your 150 goal into Nutridairy (which has a BMR calculator), it said you could consume almost 2000 calories/day (see below). Obviously, that's just an estimate, but I would think if you were exercising, 2000/day is not an unreasonable number at 150 pounds.

Basal Metabolic Rate*: 1425 kcal
+ General Activity*: 570 kcal

Day Quota: 1995 kcal

Thanks for checking that for me, Wyllenn! I had forgotten that even little things like walking to the bathroom add up.

True, but keep in mind that the more weight you lose, the fewer calories your body needs. But your maintenance calories are going to depend on lots of things, including your activity level.

And also, one of the mods here (I'm sorry, but I can't remember who it was) made a very valid point about dieting and lifestyle changes - in a nutshell, when you restrict calories, your metabolism changes for life. Thin people who were once fat can never eat like thin people who were never fat. If that makes any sense.

This is one of the reasons so many people who lose weight put it back on because they think they can go back to the way they were eating before. And we simply can't. We're special. We'll have to watch what we eat for the rest of our lives. For example, my maintenance calories are supposed to be about 1700. I'll lay money that's too much. I'll never be able to eat that many calories day in and day out without gaining back weight.

It's all variable, depending on activity, etc - I'm 38 and 124# and I eat 2K-2200. Been maintaining now for almost two years after my weight loss. I do both cardio and weight training so that definitely helps!

at 150 2000 is definately too much to lose weight unless you want to lose a lb every 2 weeks. I weigh just under 150 and I keep my calories around 1200-1500 depending on how active of a day it is. Also important is focusing on your carbs to protein to fat ratios. Just my two cents.

This hasn't been very encouraging for me but I have been pretty much holdin my own (within a two pound fluctuation) for about two months
But the point of my story is that I've averaged around 1650 calories per day.
Oh and I'm only 5'3".
Hope this kind of example helps you.

Calorie ranges can vary greatly from person to person, depending on age, gender, and activity level. That is why I don't use metabolic calculators.

Basically, you shouldn't go to a metabolic calculator to figure out what you should be eating every day to lose weight, or to maintain it. There are way too many variables for them to be accurate.

The best way to figure out maintenance calories is to add calories back to your diet slowly, and see what level causes a gain. For instance, if you lost weight eating 1400 a day, then eat 1500 a day for a week. If there is a loss or no gain, then up it to 1600 for a week or two, and then weigh in. If there is no gain, then up it to 1700 calories a day for a couple weeks. If there is still no gain and you maintain your weight, then keep going. Maintenance can be anywhere from 1500 to 2400 a day for most women. Everyone is different. I must tell you though, that when you do this-do not weigh in but once a week. You have to give your body the time to stabilize and adjust to the calorie increase. This is also why you do it slowly.

Another hint-the more you exercise, the more you can eat and maintain. I can sit on my fanny and maintain a weight loss at 1400 a day...or I can exercise daily and maintain at around 1900-2000.

This point that Aphil made is very important

Another hint-the more you exercise, the more you can eat and maintain. I can sit on my fanny and maintain a weight loss at 1400 a day...or I can exercise daily and maintain at around 1900-2000.
If I sat on my fanny all day and didn't work outside the home ... mine would only be about 1250 or 1300 cals.

All very good points, and thanks for all the responses!

I do accept that I am one of those people who will need to be careful of what I eat for the rest of my life, because I certianly can't trust myself to just know when I've had enough and stop unconsciously! And that's okay, I've always disagreed with the idea that "Ignorance is Bliss." If you don't know what's going on, how can you find control?

An interesting point though is that I don't own a scale. I check my weight when I visit my mother, which is about once every one or two months, so I can't tell immediately if my weight is going up- or downhill. So maybe I'll have to buy one once I get to the maintaining phase (and I will get there, I promise!!), but I guess I'll just have to cross that bridge when I get to it.

Just to clarify -- when I made the comment about 2000 calories at 150 pounds, I was referring to maintainance, not weight loss... and that it is an estimate.

I think others have sagely commented on additional info to consider (like adding calories back in slowly and formerly fat people not necessarily being like never fat people!).