Depressing Scientific Research about Weight Maitenance after Weight Loss

saoirsed628

So I came across this documentary ,it states individuals who have lost weight require 20 percent less calories than someone who hasn't loss weight.So someone post lost weight loss would only need 1600 calories compared to 2000.I seen this a while back and I would really like you guy's opinion on this as I am getting close to maintaining my weight rather than losing.The evidence looks very real and has a lot of backed up research.i will link the video,you can skip to 17 mins for the info I'm talking about or the second link is 20 mins about the subject in detail.(edit to add video)

https://youtu.be/hLv0Vsegmoo

https://youtu.be/2i_cmltmQ6A


Thanks

kommodevaran

Fearmongering, excuses, propaganda, raising funds and recruiting clients for bariatric surgery?

I haven't had that experience at all. I lost 50 pounds over two years ago, maintained a healthy weight, and I've eaten the amount of calories that normal TDEE calculators suggest for a woman my height, weight, age and activity level.

cwolfman13

I lost 40 Lbs 4 years ago...I've been more or less maintaining that loss since on about 3000 calories which is pretty close to what most TDEE calculators give me for my activity level...I gain a little weight when my activity level dips (like with an injury) but I don't compensate with my diet...it comes right back off when I start training again.

LivingtheLeanDream

All I know is I'm maintaining effortlessly eating more than I did in the days pre MFP! Granted I move more but I say don't listen to everything you hear.
(I eat an average 2000 cals a day but I'm only 5 ft 2 )

RAinWA

I haven't found it to be true at all personally. I lost 125+ lbs over two years ago and I maintain on pretty much exactly what the various TDEE calculators and my Fitbit tell me I will.

sijomial

Even if it's true (which I very much doubt) then what's the alternative? Stay fat and unhealthy.

By the way I eat more at maintenance than when I was 30lbs overweight.

Azercord

Some of it is true but there is context. If you lose a lot of weight really fast in an unhealthy fashion then yes you body will need less calories to maintain because it is in freak out mode trying to get the weight back. This will fade with time and you will move back towards "normal". You can skip this process by losing slowly and your body will adjust on the fly giving you that nice pile of maintenance calories

HeliumIsNoble

I heard about this nearly a year ago, a bit after I started the whole mfp thing. In the absence of spare time to gain the scientific qualifications and grant funding to investigate it for myself, I decided better safe than sorry and
1) lost weight slowly (incorporating both exercise and big portions of food!) and,
2) just in case, tracked my weight and panickedly paused the dieting and just maintained for a month or so at x% and y% of initial bodyweight lost.

As far as I can tell, my metabolism is still fine and I'm into the healthy range for my height and still losing without having to restrict myself to ridiculous amounts.

YMMV though- I'm not one of those people who says "I don't understand why I'm fat, I eat like a bird"; in fact I always found the most puzzling thing about my weight not to be that I was overweight, but to be that I wasn't fatter...
TL; DR; it's possible I had a faster than average metabolic rate to start with, which would massively affect the outcome. (Or I have a totally average metabolic rate, and I just consistently underestimate the amount of activity I do.)

HappyGrape

honestly I choose to focus on successful maintainers and their success inspires me. Unfortunately 70 % of adults in many countries are overweight, 10 % of people don't need to worry about weight. This leaves 20 that managed, with efforts to remain healthy weight. They are the group I am interested in

I went trough few ups and downs, never been technically overweight but had concerns about my metabolism. Lucky no damage done - ci co workout so well for me. I guess keeping active helps too

chunkytfg

Does it really matter how many calories you would be able to eat had you not needed to lose weight?

I'm not at maintenance yet but my god am I looking forward to the day I can up those calories and feel less restricted and guilty about the odd bad choice!

Gamliela

l'm always satisfied, full even, on maintenance calories...... and to debunk the drama crisis making video, I don't say this as an example of what to do, but while losing weight I was many times below 1200 calories for the day, yet my weekly maintenance calories are actually working out to be over what mfp recommends. Time to lose these scary 'scientific' reports IMO.

nxd10

If you pay attention to your body and your body needs fewer calories, you won't be hungry. I've maintained almost 5 years. I do eat less than I did before I lost weight. But that's why I needed to lose weight - as I got older I also needed fewer calories and I hadn't adjusted my eating enough.

I am in that longitudinal study of successful maintainers. I read the scientific research before I started loosing. I followed the directions. I still log. I walk every day. I don't eat more than I should. I'm comfortable. I eat everything I really like - but less than I used to. And I've learned to listen to my body and stop eating when I'm not hungry. I have also learned that I continue to feel fuller and fuller for at least an hour after I eat. So if I don't stop before I'm full I full lousy afterwards.

I find an exercise tracker invaluable because it adds in calories for my movement. I've used a pedometer and fitbit. Now I have an apple watch.

saoirsed628

Glad to hear all of your experiences maintaining and that this video may not be necessarily true.Btw being fat and unhappy would not be a good alternative even if it was true.

piperdown44

I guess I'm a bit confused about how this is a question?
If you lose weight you need less calories to maintain that weight.
For instance at my heaviest I was 226lbs and eating around 3600-4000 cals a day and that kept me around that weight.
I dropped weight down to 182 a couple years ago and only needed about 2400 cals to maintain that weight.
I'm bulking around 3000 cals right now and slowly gaining weight.
TDEE cals (remember they are educated guesses) puts me at 2500 to maintain.

If you're smaller than you were to begin with you will need less calories to maintain.

seska422

piperdown44 wrote: »

I guess I'm a bit confused about how this is a question?
If you lose weight you need less calories to maintain that weight.
For instance at my heaviest I was 226lbs and eating around 3600-4000 cals a day and that kept me around that weight.
I dropped weight down to 182 a couple years ago and only needed about 2400 cals to maintain that weight.
I'm bulking around 3000 cals right now and slowly gaining weight.
TDEE cals (remember they are educated guesses) puts me at 2500 to maintain.

If you're smaller than you were to begin with you will need less calories to maintain.

The stated issue is that you would need fewer calories to maintain the same weight as someone who'd always been that weight.

For example, a person who'd always weighed 165 might maintain with 2100 calories but someone else who'd once weighed 275 pounds but now weighs 165 (the same weight as the first person) would need to eat 1750 in order to maintain 165.

Geocitiesuser

My understanding is that metabolic slowdown is temporary, and even in extreme cases only slows metabolism by 100-200 kcals per day. Eating at a maintenance level should bring it back up.

I suspect the real reason people fail to maintain weight is that psychologically they feel like "the diet" is over and bad habits begin creeping back into their routines.

cwolfman13

OP, another thing you have to consider is that a lot of people lose weight without doing resistance training and otherwise making efforts to minimize loss of lean mass...lean mass requires more energy (calories) and thus someone with more lean mass would have a higher calorie requirement...in many cases, the person who lost weight also lost a lot of lean mass as compared to someone who was always at that weight...and in that case, yes...that individual would have a lower calorie requirement than the individual who was always at that weight.

The good news is that you can mitigate loss of lean mass by not having too steep of a deficit, getting adequate protein, and doing resistance training.

ThatUserNameIsAllReadyTaken

A rolling stone gathers no moss. Don't allow this to discourage you. That goes for everyone. Once a person has lost the weight they want to lose they can easily tweak their intake through trial and error. More muscular people and more active people tend to burn more. It is not out of your hands.

CaptainJoy

In this documentary Nola was given a liquid diet of 800 calories. She was on a very low calorie diet of liquid. Of course she would need fewer calories than another person of her size when she started maintaining on solid foods.

I've lost around 105 pounds in less than a year eating good foods but ensuring I burned more calories than I took in. I was aggressive, losing 2lbs/week. I made sure to get enough protein. For me, a low fat higher protein diet worked. Now in maintenance I must eat 300-500 calories more than My Fitness Pal or Fitbit recommends or I continue to lose weight. I believe this documentary is not typical of what My Fitness Pal promotes. A 1200 calorie (for women) diet with extra calories for exercise caused me to maintain a good metabolism. If I only had 800 calories of liquid I'm sure I would have slowed down because our bodies need the energy from food to stay at optimal performance.

californiagirl2012

I lost 85 pounds almost 6 years ago and have maintained all this time. My maintenance calories are the same. I ate a normal diet, not a fad diet or liquid diet. My own body gave me the truth. Yours will too.

Alamo0809

Every body is different. On a BBC research program they discussed "low responders". That is definitely me!! I can relate to this research. Exercise does NOTHING to help my weight loss. Here is a link to the BBC series that tried out varied weight loss programs and reported his results. http://www.pbs.org/program/michael-mosley/

But... we all know what to do for our hearts, our joints, our brains, our muscles, our balance... so just eat healthy and exercise. period. :-)