To maintain your weight, you may need to consume the same amount of calories you burn. It can help to use an online calculator or learn the equation to determine the amount. Your metabolism and the quality of the food you eat also play important roles.
Maintaining the recommended weight for your age and height is important for your overall health and can help you avoid health challenges.
However, it’s not always easy to stay at your current weight. Factors such as age, sex, metabolism, activity levels, and health conditions can make long-term weight maintenance difficult.
Knowing how many calories you need to stay at your current weight, if that’s what you need, can help. While constant calorie counting isn’t usually needed, being aware of what you’re eating can help you make adjustments.
Weight maintenance is when you keep your weight within a certain range over the long term.
Different opinions exist on how to achieve this. The most popular one is that you need to balance the amount of energy you get from food with the energy your body uses for basic functions and activities. This “energy in, energy out” concept is your
However, other experts have noted that the type and quality of food you eat, your metabolism, and your gut microbiome (gut bacteria) also play a role. Not every body responds in the same way, and what may work for someone else may not work for you.
If you’re not maintaining your weight despite your efforts, consider consulting a healthcare professional. They may explore the root cause of fluctuating weight. A registered dietitian can also help you determine which dietary changes, if any, are needed.
In general and without accounting for individual differences, to maintain your weight you need to eat as many calories as you burn every day. If you burn more calories than you consume over time, you’ll likely lose weight. If you eat more calories than you eat over time, you’ll probably gain weight.
You burn calories by moving and also by simply being alive. Basic functions like breathing, heartbeat, and even thinking, burn calories. All this also determines how much you should eat per day.
Your energy balance doesn’t need to be the same every day for weight maintenance. The balance between your calories burned and consumed over time is what may help you maintain your current weight. As mentioned before, the quality of your food and how your body breaks it down may also affect your weight.
You also may need to revise your weight maintenance plan as your body changes. Some of those changes include:
- Age: Metabolism can slow down with age, causing your body to need fewer calories.
- Hormonal changes: Hormone production decreases with age, which can have an impact on your overall weight. You may lose or gain weight more easily than usual.
- Body composition: Muscle mass can decrease with age, which can slow down metabolism. This will affect how much you lose, gain, or maintain your weight over a period of time.
- Activity levels: Any prolonged change in your activity levels can significantly influence your caloric needs, and hence, your weight.
To calculate the amount of calories you need in order to maintain your weight, you need to determine your basal metabolic rate (BMR). This is your body’s rate of metabolism (how many calories you burn) at rest.
Then, you multiply your BMR number by a numeric factor related to your overall activity level.
You can use this
- Females: 10 x weight (kg) + 6.25 x height (cm) – 5 x age (years) – 161
- Males: 10 x weight (kg) + 6.25 x height (cm) – 5 x age (years) + 5
Once you’ve calculated your BMR, you can multiply it by a number that relates to your general level of activity:
- 1.2: Sedentary life, almost no exercise.
- 1.375: Light exercise, 1 to 3 days per week.
- 1.55: Moderate exercise, 6 to 7 days per week.
- 1.725: Intense exercise every day.
- 1.9: Very hard or intense exercise or very physical job.
For example, a 40-year-old woman who weighs 150 pounds (68 kg) and is 5 feet 7 inches (170 cm) tall, with a light level of exercise, will need to eat 1,898 calories per day to maintain her weight.
This number of calories is a starting point because everyone’s caloric needs are different. It’s possible that some people eat more or fewer calories and still maintain their weight.
Weight fluctuations are natural, and should be expected. Here are some things to keep in mind for maintaining a healthy weight:
- Choose nutrient-rich foods, especially lean protein to maintain muscle mass.
- Fill your plate with a variety of fruits and vegetables to get enough fiber, vitamins, and minerals.
- Maintain a balanced eating plan over time.
- Aim for at least 150 minutes of moderate activity each week.
- Monitor your calories (energy balance) over time (energy in versus energy out).
- Stay hydrated.
- Get enough sleep (7 to 9 hours every day).
- Reduce sitting and screen time by taking short, active breaks every hour.
- Keep track of your alcohol intake.
Maintaining your weight depends on your individual caloric needs as well as your metabolism and diet quality. In general, eating the same amount of calories as you burn will help you maintain your weight.
While it’s important to know how many daily calories you need, focusing on nutrient-dense foods, moving regularly, and staying hydrated are also essential in weight maintenance.
