How many calories should I eat to maintain my weight?

Roughly your maintenance calories (TDEE) at your goal weight, which the planner above estimates from your height, age, sex, and activity. As you lose the deficit your appetite comes back, so the trick is treating that maintenance number as your new normal rather than sliding back to your old intake.

Will I keep the weight off after a GLP-1?

It is not all-or-nothing. Real-world data suggests just over half of people keep off some or all of their loss at 24 months, and the people who keep the most off protected their muscle on the way down and built durable eating and activity habits. A clear maintenance number and a weekly routine tilt the odds in your favor.

What is a regain guardrail?

It is a small buffer above your goal weight (the planner uses about 3 percent) that acts as an early warning. If you cross it and stay there for two weeks or more, you tighten up early while it is a couple of pounds, instead of waiting for a big regain that is much harder to reverse.

How often should I weigh in during maintenance?

Once a week, on the same day and under the same conditions, is plenty. Daily numbers bounce around with water and food and mostly just cause stress. A weekly trend line tells you what is actually happening.

You hit your goal. Now hold it.

How Do You Keep It Off?

Losing the weight is one job. Holding it is a different one, and it runs on different numbers. This free planner gives you the calories, protein, and guardrail to maintain your goal weight, then keeps it simple week to week.

Build my maintenance plan Free to use, no sign-up. Not medical advice.

Weight Maintenance Planner

Your numbers for holding your weight — calories, protein, and a regain guardrail.

Goal weight

lbs

Age

Height

Activity level

Enter your goal weight, height, and age to build your maintenance plan.

Estimates from the Mifflin-St Jeor equation — a starting point, not a prescription. Adjust based on your real trend over 2–3 weeks. Not medical or nutritional advice.

Why maintenance needs its own plan

Here is the thing nobody really warns you about. The mindset that got the weight off (eat in a deficit, watch the scale drop) is not the mindset that keeps it off. Maintenance is not a smaller version of losing. It is a steadier target you hold, and if you keep chasing the scale downward forever you either burn out or lose muscle you did not mean to lose.

It isn't all-or-nothing: real-world data suggests just over half of people (roughly 52–56%, depending on the drug) kept off some or all of their loss at 24 months. The keepers tend to share two things — they protected muscle on the way down, and they built durable nutrition and activity habits while on the drug.

So the goal shifts from “how fast can this drop” to “how do I hold this without thinking about it every hour”. That comes down to three numbers the planner gives you, and one small weekly habit.

Your simple weekly maintenance routine

Keep protein where it was

Do not let protein slide just because the loss phase is over. It is what protects the muscle that keeps your maintenance calories high in the first place. Hit the number the planner gives you, most days.

Weigh in once a week

Same day, same conditions, one number. You are not watching for a drop anymore, you are watching for drift. A weekly trend tells you the truth that a daily number cannot.

Act at your guardrail, not after a regain

If you cross your guardrail weight and stay there for a couple of weeks, tighten up early while it is small. Catching two pounds is easy. Catching fifteen is a whole project.

Staying on your medication, tapering, or stopping is a separate decision, and it is one for you and your prescriber. The GLP-1 maintenance guide covers maintenance dosing and how long people stay on it, and the stopping guide covers regain risk if you are thinking about coming off.

Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions and answers about our calculator

Sources

Effect of Continued Weekly Subcutaneous Semaglutide vs Placebo on Weight Loss Maintenance in Adults With Overweight or Obesity: The STEP 4 Randomized Clinical TrialRubino D, Abrahamsson N, Davies M, et al. JAMA. 2021;325(14):1414–1425. doi:10.1001/jama.2021.3224
Continued Treatment With Tirzepatide for Maintenance of Weight Reduction in Adults With Obesity: The SURMOUNT-4 Randomized Clinical TrialAronne LJ, Sattar N, Horn DB, et al. JAMA. 2024;331(1):38–48. doi:10.1001/jama.2023.24945
Wegovy (semaglutide) Prescribing InformationU.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA). 2023.
Zepbound (tirzepatide) Prescribing InformationU.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA). 2023.

Tool Information

Last reviewed

July 24, 2026

Reviewed by

Dr. Jaydeep Sanghani

Created by

Meet Akabari

Dr. Jaydeep Sanghani

MBBS, MD, DNB(Anaesth.), PDCC(CCM), DrNB(CCM)

AIIMS Bhubaneswar · AIIMS Rishikesh

Critical care specialist and anesthesiologist with advanced training from AIIMS. Reviews health calculators at Calqulate to ensure medical accuracy and evidence-based standards.

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