When my TDEE decreases ...

Ameengyrl

I'm afraid I'm gonna be famished! Right now my TDEE is very high, about 3000. Once I knock off another 40 lbs, it's going to drop.

If my TDEE is less calories, and technically I "need" less calories, will I be less hungry too? Throughout your own weight loss, was this the case?

malibu927

That's why it's recommended to recalculate your needs for every 5-10 pounds lost, because your body won't require as much. At that point, you only lose 20-50 calories, so it probably won't be as noticeable as it would if you recalculated after a 40-pound loss.

Ameengyrl

malibu927 wrote: »

That's why it's recommended to recalculate your needs for every 5-10 pounds lost, because your body won't require as much. At that point, you only lose 20-50 calories, so it probably won't be as noticeable as it would if you recalculated after a 40-pound loss.

Ameengyrl

Okay I had never heard that you should recalculate that often! Thanks!

lemurcat12

I don't know how long you've been doing this, but it's likely you'll get used to eating less. My difficulty at first was simply wanting food at times I'd been used to eating, and once I broke my bad habits of snacking I wasn't really hungry eating less. I found that for me volume matters too--if I include lots of veggies with my meals so the plate looks as full as before, I would be perfectly satisfied with far fewer calories.

So I suspect if you decrease gradually as you lose you'll adjust and be fine and it won't seem so low.

DeguelloTex

I recalculated every time I hit a new low weight, so pretty often.

My deficit stayed relatively constant and my hunger stayed relatively constant... at least until I got down to a 1630 calorie goal. That's as low as it's feasible for me to go, without giving up exercise.

Mr_Knight

The TDEE you're using right now is likely an over-estimate of what your body actually needs. This is true for almost everyone who starts out with considerable weight to lose, because most calculators don't take body composition into account. The recalculating is just bringing the over-estimated number into closer alignment with reality - think of it as slowly fixing an error.

Yes, your actual daily burn will also come down a bit, but the effect is far less pronounced than the TDEE calculators suggest.

The better answer of course is to use a better TDEE calculator - one that incorporates body composition - and then the adjustments over time are much smaller.

segacs

The TDEE you're using right now is also an average. Your TDEE is not 3000 every day. It's more on some days and less on others, because, to put it simply, you move more on some days than you do on others.

And yes, your body is consuming less energy to stay alive and do the same things when you're smaller. Therefore, you will feel less physically hungry on the same amount of food.

This of course doesn't count the psychological hunger that you might have because you've trained your body to eat certain amounts of food out of habit. That will be overcome by building new habits. For instance, I never used to feel full on anything less than a full plate of food. Now I feel full easily on half that, and I'm not *that* much smaller; I was just eating more than I needed to before.

Francl27

I'm hungrier now than I was when I was 80 pounds heavier, and I eat more than I did when I started losing, unfortunately! The closer I got to my goal weight, the harder it has been.

flumi_f

My maintaince cals have gone down from 2000 to 1600... This is before exercise. I'm short and now of normal weight. So one reason for me to exercise regularly is to be able to eat more....or better said to feel satified with the amount of food, I can have. I also exercise to be fit and strong and because I like it But nothing wrong with earning a few extra cals, especially on the weekends

Recalculate your TDEE regularly. You will get accustomed to the smaller amount of food, if you gradually decrease it.

Vailara

I think I have got a little bit less hungry - at least I try to tell myself I have! But what's strange is that on the occasional days when I go all out and eat what I like, I eat much the same amount of calories as I did at my biggest. So I'm still "hungry" for the same amount that I always was.

It's certainly more difficult to fit in foods you want to eat when you have a smaller calorie allowance - I suppose that's what I notice. For instance, a glass of wine takes up a bigger proportion of my daily allowance now. Two glasses, and I've pretty much wiped out the day, whereas when I was bigger, I would quite often fit wine into my calories.

ruggedshutter

I just set my current calorie goal 2000. My maintenance at my goal weight without exercise will be 2150 so there's not much difference once I reach my goal. I still plan to do cardio, just not as regular as I am now once i reach goal. Trying to be realistic...

scorpiophoenix

I recalculated after every 2lbs or so. 10cals less every so often was a lot easier to get used to. I kind of panicked when I first started ("OMG 1560 instead of 1580 I'm going to STARVE"), but it wasn't really that bad. Also, once you get closer to your goal you decrease your weekly loss (1lb/week instead of 2; or .5 instead of 1) and you actually get more calories so that's fun.