maintaing on 1800-1900, advice on my plan!!

4'11, slender, low range of healthy BMI, usually eat around 2000-2100 but I gained 1/2 a pound these past 2 weeks so i think that's a bit high for maintenance so I'm going to shoot for more like 1800-1900 from here on out, if i gain on that then i'm going to welcome the gain until my weight stabilizes to the point where 1800-1900 is my maintenance intake.

is this an okay plan?

i workout 6 days a week..

m: spin for 45 minutes

t: stair master thingy for about 45 minutes and 10 minutes strength

w: spin for 45 minutes

t: elliptical for 45 minutes, 10 minutes strength

f: 20 min run and elliptical for 25 minutes

s: day off, pilates for 25 minutes and walking

s: 35 minute run and maybe 15 minute pilates

i walk in addition to all of this, but burn roughly 300-400 a day through exercise. my bmr is about 1100 or so i think. so i figure it would be about 1300 RMR, so if i add in the exercise i should really be eating 1600-1700, but i figure all the walking to and from class and what not would probably make maintenance around 1800. any advice? critiques? similar stats?

Original Post by chrissy1988:

4'11, slender, low range of healthy BMI, usually eat around 2000-2100 but I gained 1/2 a pound these past 2 weeks so i think that's a bit high for maintenance so I'm going to shoot for more like 1800-1900 from here on out, if i gain on that then i'm going to welcome the gain until my weight stabilizes to the point where 1800-1900 is my maintenance intake.

is this an okay plan?

i workout 6 days a week..

m: spin for 45 minutes

t: stair master thingy for about 45 minutes and 10 minutes strength

w: spin for 45 minutes

t: elliptical for 45 minutes, 10 minutes strength

f: 20 min run and elliptical for 25 minutes

s: day off, pilates for 25 minutes and walking

s: 35 minute run and maybe 15 minute pilates

i walk in addition to all of this, but burn roughly 300-400 a day through exercise. my bmr is about 1100 or so i think. so i figure it would be about 1300 RMR, so if i add in the exercise i should really be eating 1600-1700, but i figure all the walking to and from class and what not would probably make maintenance around 1800. any advice? critiques? similar stats?

 

Here is a simple formula for figuring out how many calories for maintainence of weight. Take your weight multipy by 15 that will equal the amount of calories needed to maintain weight.

that formula is soooo inaccurate...for very short individuals, they can be below 95-100 pounds and very active but that would only estimate 1425-1500 calories max for them. Their BMR would still be roughly 1100-1200, so an extra 300 calories for maintenance seems like a very small amount, considering that can be burned in 1 workout alone and that doesn't take into account the little activities that we don't really add into it, like cooking, eating, grocery shopping, playing with kids/pets/etc. That seems like a weight loss diet considering i'm eating 2000 at least and only gained about .4 pounds in one week. cutting to 1500, would yield a 3500 calorie deficit, which would be 1 pound "lost" if i were theoretically maintaining at 2000 calories, which would be a net of .6 pound lost, instead of the .4 I gained. 

any other thoughts? oh, and i'm not trying to be combative but that recommendation seems so arbitrary to me.

Your point about short people is taken. Have you tried using the burn meter tool on this website. It takes into account height, weight, activity level. And it tells me that at 5'6", age 45 weight of 152 with a sedentary life style I need between 1600 and 1700 calories to maintain weight. I am not sedentary as I work out 4 times a week - each session consisting of 30 minutes cardio and 45 minutes of weights, with stretching before and after.

Maybe the ratio of cardio and strength training is where the change needs to be and not in the calorie intake. Also consider that if you have been following the same routine for a while the body has a tendency to get used to it and will not burn calories as efficently.

I'm 5'1" and also on the slimmer side and I can't eat less than 2,200 even when I'm sedentary. Most days my minimum is around 2,600 or 2,700.

Original Post by zebulancherry:

I'm 5'1" and also on the slimmer side and I can't eat less than 2,200 even when I'm sedentary. Most days my minimum is around 2,600 or 2,700.

zebulan aren't you gaining though?? if not then how much activity do you get?