Hi all. I have posted a few times but mainly read the posts. I love the what's on your menu thread. I had my ray in March because of horrible acid/bile reflux that was causing my throat to close constantly. Too scary.  The fact that I was also overweight was just a bonus ?.

I am down 88 pounds and am feeling the need to stop the weight loss. I walk every day but that is my only exercise due to fibromyalgia and psoriatic arthritis. I am currently eating a thousand calories a day and still losing. I was wondering what the average calorie intake is for those on maintenance. I figure I would up my calories by 100 calories or so, but was curious what others have done.

Thanks!

Most people maintain at 10 calories per pound per day.  So, for example, if you want to stay at 150 you would eat 1500 calories.

I've read several times that in order to find out the amount of calories you need to maintain your weight you multiply 10 calories per pound. So if you are trying to stay at 150 pounds you would need 1500 calories/day. Hope this helps! Chris

Activity has a lot to do with it. You mentioned you don't move a lot (i.e. walking) due to pain issues.  I understand that and you appear to be doing what you can.

So to throw a monkey wrench into the system (sorry other posters), this morning I was 142.3 lbs.  Today I ate 1,858 calories.  For exercise I was in a planking challenge over lunch at the gym (100 calories), did piloxing (43 minutes and 372 calories) and still had some energy left so I jogged/ran on dreadmill for 27 minutes between a 7-9% incline (i.e. miles; I am training for a half marathon up two mountains..so crazy inclines are a part of my present and future; 245 calories).

Do I believe my fitbit exactly? No.  It is too generous with the calorie burns, but it does give me a ball park and that is what I use it for.

If I notice the scale creeping up, i KNOW that I have consumed too many calories and I will "run more toward hungry" for the follwoing week.  I try to keep the deviations between 1-2 but they can vary as much as 5 lbs (especially if I get into something salty).

Oh! I didnt finish my thought!

So in summary, since moving/exercise causes you pain, you may move even LESS than average (I did that when waiting for back surgery. I didnt want to stand, sit walk, breathe or anything. Once I found a spot where the pain was somewhat reduced I would try to hold it just to have some respite). 

Thus, I would initially calculate based upon 8 calories a pound. If you are still losing, you can add more food in easily. But trust me, taking food that you have become "used to having" out to reduce the calorie load, is harder and makes people like Skinny scientist sad AND mad (she feels entitled to that little extra...ya know?).

Before you stop - Check with your doctor.  I don't know your current weight or BMI, so you may be ready for maintanence.  But I thought I reached my goal weight 15-20 pounds ago, I'm glad I kept losing.  My knees stopped bothering me at 150- I'm glad I didn't stop at 165, which was my DREAM weight. Now, I'm staying on the plan and going for BMI of 25.

People have said that it is difficult to restart, so make sure you are at your healthiest weight.

I wanted to say this..so I am glad you did. I mulled stopping at a LOT of higher weights (i.e. the 160s and 150s). I am glad I didnt because I went down a lot of sizes in just a few pounds. 

With that said, I really hated how people kept asking me "Dont you think you should quit?  Havent you lost enough?" So I didnt want to press the issue because I just didnt like my weight being the topic of so much scruitiny!

I thought about stopping because I looked different to myself.  Then 2 things happened.

1 - I went and found my skinny pictures from when I lived in Calif - I was fine and weighed 125-130 (for a few years and maintaining that weight took an ALL CONSUMING EFFORT)

2- I saw pictures of myself at my new weight and when I covered my head, I saw someone who could stand to lose some weight, like 20 pounds or so - that was ruthless honesty.  In comparison to where I was before - I was toned and svelte!! But when I took an objective look, I could see that I could be trying for a 25 BMI.

That being said, I do not want to be at war with my body, so I am staying on the post-op diet, which has been working for me and is OK,  and the exercise is just normal now.  I will be a year out in a few weeks, so I could lose that 20 pounds over the next 6 months. I'll see what happens.

Best of everything to you!!!!

The amount of calories people need to maintain can vary greatly. In my 8+ years here the average seems to be somewhere between 1000 and 1500 calories a day. Personally I eat around 2000 calories a day to maintain my 140 pounds, but I am not the norm. When I was trying to stop losing, I consumed over 2500 calories a day. This helped me maintain for a while but when I hit the 3 year mark this no longer worked and I had to cut back to my current 2000/day. 

You've done marvelously!!!  Thanks for sharing that living like this is manageable over the longterm.