So I've been calorie counting for 2 years now. I started in the 180s and this morning Im 114.4. While I was in serious weight loss mode I did about 1,000 calories a day. Lately I've been doing about 1,200 or a bit more a day. Sometimes closer to 1,400. I eat alot but very healthy, low calorie foods, lots of veggies, fruit and usually 2 proteins a day. I've felt very weak and unable to do lots of physical activity. I've lose so much weight and my skin sags and Im starting to look, well gross. I want to stay at a low weight but dont want to lose anymore, I really dont want to see a big gain on the scale, mentally it will upset me so much after working so hard.

Im joining a gym this week to start building some muscle back and plan on drinking a protein drink every day after working out to give me some more protein and a few more calories in my diet.

So here's my question, I know alot is based on finding "your number" and trying different things to figure out what your maintenance intake is, but I just would like to know what you all think I should aim for, calorie wise to maintain?

Each "calculator" says something different! One BMR calculator says that I need 1347 a day just to function. Thats laying in bed all day. Since I am basically sedentary this sounds right, but I dont do physical activity so wouldnt adding more calories to this make me gain?

Any tips or advice would be great, I am really trying to make sure I stay healthy and do the best thing for my health!

I think it would be best to slowly raise them. Try sticking to 1300-1400 for 3-4 weeks and see if you lose or gain and see how your energy levels are. Then go to 1500 and see if you lose or gain. I think if you add too many at once you might gain. The calculators are confusing, I think some do tend to overestimate.

As has been stated many times before, those calculators are nothing but an average, and yours can be much higher or even lower. But do bear in mind that the bmr really does mean just lying around. We are talking comatose or sleeping. Just sitting up burns more calories. For sendentary level, you would multiply that number times 1.2. This puts your sendentary maintain at a bit over 1600 calories, which seems to me to be APPROXIMATELY right. However, yours could be higher, and it could be lower. I agree with the previous post that you just need to figure what makes you feel satisfied, and keeps you within your comfort range as far as weight goes. Odds are good it will be in the 1600 to 1700 range, but it could be as high as 2000. I doubt it will be much below 1600 if it is even that low however.

Yes, just add slowly. It's possible you were actually under eating at 1000, and would have actually lost faster at 1200. I know that's probably not what you want to hear, but when we're losing we often always think cut cals to lose more and that's not always the case. I'd start at an extra 100 cals a week until you stop losing. You will likely see a small blip in the scale as you close in on the magic number but it should level out after a few weeks. When I took q maintenance break I gained a few and then lost them plus one more and maintained that for around 6 weeks before I decide to start losing more. If you start excessing you will need to eat more as well. You'll actually likely need to eat back what you burn so be aware of that too. Good luck!

I agree with what's been said above -- add a couple hundred calories, and stick with it a few weeks at a time. Don't get scared if you get a bit of a bump at first.

It helps to think of maintenance as a range. My range is 119-123 - if I get up to 123 (my "redline"), I know it's time to buckle down and eat cleanly. I don't really want to go below 119. If I get there (and I haven't yet) it's time to add a few hundred cals.

If you go to the maintainer's forum and check out the stickies, you can learn a ton from others who have been doing this a lot longer than I have. There is a wealth of information there!