This is irritating! (maintenance calorie count)

I am currently maintaining on 1250 calories. This is a bit lower than the calculators gave me but I haven't lost any weight in two weeks so I'm assuming this is about what I really do maintain at. It's not so ridiculous, I guess; it puts me right at 12 calories per pound. I know my metabolism is slow but this is kind of annoying especially since I'm not quite sedentary. Is it possible that I AM losing, just really slowly and thus not seeing it show up yet? Or that my metabolic rate will go up a bit now that I'm not in the weight-loss phase anymore?

I'm planning on just staying at 1250 unless something changes, since I don't need or want to lose any more but don't want to gain. Nothing's changed yet but it's only been two weeks.

If you are only a few calories off, then it takes a long time for any change to show up.

For example, if you ate an additional 100 calories every day, you would gain weight, but only at the rate of 1 pound every 5 weeks.

This is why I tend to look at how I feel more closely in maintenance.  If I feel more energetic with the 100 extra calories, I'm going to eat them and reassess five weeks later.  Play around with it a little to see what works best.

You very well may be slowly losing.

For example I was told to eat at least 2,300 a day to maintain. For about 2-3 weeks the scale didn't move. Then one day I woke up and was 2 lbs lighter. Thinking it was water weight I ignored it, then a week later I lost another lb. I ignored it again. I wound up losing 10 lbs I didn't really plan on losing because of this, then I bumped it up another 200 calories a day to prevent further weight loss.

Now it seems like I'm maintaining, but I am concerned about losing more again. 

Also consider: when one diets, depending on how long, the metabolism slows down. It's possible that NOW, with an increase in cals, it may take about 3 or so weeks to pick up.

Okay. That makes sense - I'll just stick with what I've got and keep an eye on the scale to make sure it doesn't start going down (or up) in the next month or two. I guess my maintenance number could be 1300 or something and it would take a really long time to find out. I just thought that 1250 was really low... but since it's working, I don't want to change it.

I'd actually slowly go up in calories... because 1250 is pretty low for maintenance... I mean, what was your weight-loss number? Especially when 1200 is the lower limit...

Really, I'd try for at least 1500, but make sure they are all nutrient dense foods. (i.e. veggies, fruits, etc) 

hmm... if you are at 1250 calories and that's 12 cal per pound, does it mean that your weight is about 100 lbs? Is it correct? Honestly, I have yet to meet a 100lb person who would be concerned about losing even more pounds :) Or maybe I am missing something?

I'm 104. And I don't want to lose or gain; I want to stay where I am. I'll consider intentionally building a little muscle in the future, but definitely do not want to put any fat on, and would like to just maintain first and think about how best to bulk up my arm/chest/stomach muscles after I get used to this. I got my body fat percentage where I want it, and gaining fat would put it higher, although gaining muscle, after I've maintained for at least a couple of months, might be something I'd do.

1200 might be the lower limit, but I was on 800 and inching it up. Weight loss stopped shortly after passing 1200, which is a good thing since I don't need to lose more, but I'm trying to figure out how reasonable it would be for 1250 to be maintenance cals for me.

I am not saying this will work because I haven't tried it yet, but as mentioned above 1250 cals is really low so I would look at what you were eating while you were losing and how quickly you were losing and do the math backwards.  Example, if you were eating 1200 cals a day and losing a lb. every 2 weeks, then you must have had a deficit of 250 cals a day.  Therefore you would need 1450 a day to maintain.

Edit, having just noticed your last post about eating 800 cals I don't think my example will work for you since you have been undereating for some time and your metabolism will have been adversly affected by that. 

Yeah... that's what I was afraid of. Will it correct in time now that I'm up to a safe amount?

When I was working out my maintenance calories I only weighed myself once a month at the same time in my cycle as there is always so much weight fluctuation within the month for me.

That amount of calories sounds very low!  I'm 44 years old and 120 pounds and I eat approx 2300 calories a day (with one hour of walking or dancing). 

If you have mucked up your metabolism you can increase it by building more muscle (low repetition, high load resistance exercise needed) and by eating frequently and eating lots more veges.  It has worked for me.  There's no way I thought it was possible for me to eat this amount of food every day!

If you want to maintain your percentage body fat and you want to increase your muscles then you'll have to increase in weight too or your body fat percentage will go down.

Thanks - and it looks like 1250 was actually a little low, just not by much, so it didn't show right away. Since I lost a pound in three and a half weeks, 1400 would probably be correct. So I'll try that instead... although, I have to ask this: my job functions are changing, and I have slightly less physical activity to do there and more paperwork-type tasks. It's a good thing, job-wise, but it might drop my activity level a bit. Should I only increase to 1300, or should I just pick 1400 and add a little extra exercise at home? I'm not a runner or anything but I could definitely add a couple miles of walking.

I KNOW WHAT YOU MEAN,BY THE FRUSTRATION, IT AN INTENSE FELLING ESPECIALLY WHEN YOUR TRYING "FEEL " THIN AND NOT THE  JELLY  ROLLS YOU USED TO HAVING ,THE FACT OF THE MATTER IS THAT THEY CAUSE THE FAT COME  TO A STUBBORN STAND STILL AFTER  BEING  'WATCHFUL'  ON A WEIGHTLOSS ROLL OF LOSING 10BLS! IT JUST WON'T MOVE. YOU HAVE TO  AND IT'S HARD, STAY AT THAT WEIGHT FOR ALMOST A MONTH TO LOOSE ANOTHER 10BLS ,ACTUALLY DROPPING ALOT OF WEIGHT AT ONCE IS SET UP SELF SABOTAGE. TRY TO FEEL GOOD JUST EXCERCISING  DO IT WHEN YOUR BODY IS WILLING TO PUSH THAT EXTRA MILE 3 X TIMES A WEEK. MAINTAINING  IS  THE  MAGIC  WOULD YOU  STAY AWAY FROM TEMPTATIONS? I HAVE A CULINARY ART STUDENT AND  HER BOYFRIEND  LIVING  WITH ME,  THEY BRING FOOD AND THEY'RE HABITS ARE DIFFEFRENT. I ALSO TAKE  "BOWELTROL",IT MAKES YOU FLUSH UP 2OBLS FROM THE COLON. I USE SERAN PLASTIC WRAP ON MY STOMACH & WASTE.  I HAVE A CHILD SO IT'S A FIGHT TO THE END TO NOT BE FAT. SHE LIKES THE FAT MOMMY LOOK ,TOO.I AM VERY GOODLOOKING AND LOOK ABOUT 22 AT MY BEST.

i am in the same situation as you i am only maintaining on a low number of calories as well it zig-zags between 1200-1400 even though im not complaining as i get to get alot but it annoys me though because im 17 and a girl i shoulnt really have a slow metabolism at this age should i? its not fair ! >=(  or is it because of my height at only 5 ft and im 98 lbs and with that i need a crap low number to maintain?

I'd think your numbers would be a little higher, but not a LOT. 1400 is working for me now and I'm only a teensy bit bigger. Are you active at all? If not that might explain things.