What are maintenance calories

B

Buzz

New Member
The subject of maintenance calories appears quite often in the posts here. What is "maintenance"? I understand each of us has a caloric balance point, a level we should determine by carefully monitoring what we eat for a period of time. When discussing eating above or below maintenance is activity considered?
Here's what I'm trying to say:
I've determined my maintenance level to be 1650 cal/day. This number keeps my weight constant without exercise. Now if I'm in the middle of a HST cycle and want to loose body fat do I still eat 1650 cal allowing for a defecit created by the exercise.I'm assuming at 165 pounds a 45 minute workout would burn about 325 calories. Adding cardio on off days for the same calorie expenditure I would then create a 325 calorie defecit daily.
I'm trusting this is the logic. Maintenance then refers to calorie intake without consideration of exercise.
Thanks...Buzz
 
"Maintenance" means essentially what you said: the caloric intake necessary for you to maintain your current body composition, considering your current weight & activity level.

So if you do cardio daily, you would want to count this toward your total caloric need; without exercise, you'd need 1650. With daily cardio of about 300 cals, your "maintenance" would go up to 1950. If you continued eating only 1650, then yes, you have a caloric deficit and should lose weight.

Be careful not to have too high a deficit; you risk losing muscle mass along with fat. It is suggested by some (Berardi) that the leaner you are, the smaller your deficit should be when trying to lose, as you would minimize the muscle loss. If you are more "fat" you can have a larger deficit & will lose more fat.

There's more to it, but hope that my 2 cents answers your question.

Good luck!
 
Your logic is correct, now you have to take the plan for a test drive. If in fact you have correctly targeted maintainance calorie intake the other variables are still to question: Exactly how many calories you are burning during HST, cardio and any other activities, and TEF of food. Plus when your metabolism adapt to these changes.

There is much lip service given to eating clean, but I think the impact of TEF can not be underestimated to see progress on any diet program.
 
Mantainence is determined by the formula:

(your current weight / 2.2) 24 hrs= X

X(activity level)= mantainence calories

so if my weight is 190 pounds, I take 190

190/2.2 = 86.3636 KG

86.3636 x 24 hrs = 2072.72

activity level 1.1 = sedentary
activity level 1.2 = sitting, some movement
activity level 1.3 = moderate amount of movement throughout day
activity level 1.4 = active, not much sitting down
activity level 1.5 = very active, lots of lifting or running

I'm about a 1.3 considering I walk my dog a lot and sit around less often

so 2072.72 x 1.3 = 2694 calories to mantain

add 400-500 to gain, subtract 200-400 to safely lose fat
 
Okay so now there is some allowance for daily activity. What about an age consideration. All other factors being equal does someone's age affect this formula.
I would think there would be. I'm 50 so at the same activity level would my maintenance be the same as a 165 pound 20 year old?
 
Age could definately be a more significant consideration if you're over 40. I'm not sure by how much. It may not be much.
 
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