How often do you personally change calories based on your weight loss?

underratedpost

I am a 28 year old female, 5'7", in the 170 range right now, eventually hoping to reach 135. I lost weight too quickly when i was younger and understand that was the mistake of a dumb teen. My goal for now is 1lb a week.
The app I use gave me a goal of 1,570 calories initially which I raised to 1,670 to adjust for my first few weeks. I weigh what I eat for accuracy, and my primary cardio is a beginner jump rope workout. pic related is how things are going

i'm guessing i should try close to 1,800 (maybe not the week of thanksgiving and my birthday the saturday after )? would appreciate some advice, and maybe a better website to calculate calories
i have been vegan for three years, so i don't believe lower carbs would be an issue

springlering62

For me, it was a personal journey. (Well, naturally!)

I joined MFP at my dietician’s suggestion, and started at 1470, which is what I calculated here rightly or wrongly. I increased three or four months later because I was losing too fast, at the dieticians suggestion and because I was concerned after reading the possible ramifications.

I started working with a trainer early last year and she climbed my butt the first session about too much activity, not enough food. So I increased, then increased again, to 2300. Surely I’d balloon at this amount but I held steady.

Covid came, and I feared weight gain so I decreased this time to 1900, and set a daily activity goal- in stone. Weight dropped rapidly, so back up I went, and finally returned to 2300 when the gym reopened and training recommenced.

I’m right where I think I should be weight wise, so it’s often a daily up and down. If I feel too low, I allow myself the luxury of a high cal day, and then go back on track, averaging about 2700 a day when all’s told.

All this minutiae is simply to say it’s always a process. For 26 months it’s been a constant monitoring and adjustment.

Know yourself. Learn yourself. You have to get to know you, trust and not trust yourself at the same time (crazy I know!), and just treat yourself like a data point. Be strict, but make a point to eat what you enjoy so it’s all sustainable for life, and never ever beat yourself up for a day or two or three of so-called failure.

Where to be on calories? You are the best judge of your own point of balance. Kinda like that Bosu Ball I did squats on yesterday. A little this way, a little that way, you fall off, you get back on, and suddenly you realize you did ten squats without giving an inch.

SW222, CW131, 5’7”, 58yo female.

AnnPT77

springlering62 wrote: »

For me, it was a personal journey. (Well, naturally!)

I joined MFP at my dietician’s suggestion, and started at 1470, which is what I calculated here rightly or wrongly. I increased three or four months later because I was losing too fast, at the dieticians suggestion and because I was concerned after reading the possible ramifications.

I started working with a trainer early last year and she climbed my butt the first session about too much activity, not enough food. So I increased, then increased again, to 2300. Surely I’d balloon at this amount but I held steady.

Covid came, and I feared weight gain so I decreased this time to 1900, and set a daily activity goal- in stone. Weight dropped rapidly, so back up I went, and finally returned to 2300 when the gym reopened and training recommenced.

I’m right where I think I should be weight wise, so it’s often a daily up and down. If I feel too low, I allow myself the luxury of a high cal day, and then go back on track, averaging about 2700 a day when all’s told.

All this minutiae is simply to say it’s always a process. For 26 months it’s been a constant monitoring and adjustment.

Know yourself. Learn yourself. You have to get to know you, trust and not trust yourself at the same time (crazy I know!), and just treat yourself like a data point. Be strict, but make a point to eat what you enjoy so it’s all sustainable for life, and never ever beat yourself up for a day or two or three of so-called failure.

Where to be on calories? You are the best judge of your own point of balance. Kinda like that Bosu Ball I did squats on yesterday. A little this way, a little that way, you fall off, you get back on, and suddenly you realize you did ten squats without giving an inch.

SW222, CW131, 5’7”, 58yo female.

^^^ That, for sure, rock solid.

SW 183 (just over the line into class 1 obese), 5'5", at the time 59-60 y/o female, and even then an active (but obese) short endurance athlete. Now 65 in a couple weeks, 126 pounds, still very active (and 46+ years vegetarian and severely hypothyroid (but treated) if it matters - I think it doesn't).

I validated my calorie needs to start (MFP lowballed me, BTW - rare, but happens). Then I decreased calories only when need to keep *actual* weight loss rate (averaged over multi weeks) at sensibly moderate rates.

Now doing ultra-slow loss of a few vanity pounds at 1850 net (eating all exercise), 2100-2200 gross, most days.

Figure out a workable, sustainable practice; validate your process for tracking/controlling it; adjust when the totality of the data tells you it's sensible, based on your own weight loss rate (averaged over multiple weeks).

Wishing you much success!

AnnPT77

springlering62 wrote: »

For me, it was a personal journey. (Well, naturally!)

I joined MFP at my dietician’s suggestion, and started at 1470, which is what I calculated here rightly or wrongly. I increased three or four months later because I was losing too fast, at the dieticians suggestion and because I was concerned after reading the possible ramifications.

I started working with a trainer early last year and she climbed my butt the first session about too much activity, not enough food. So I increased, then increased again, to 2300. Surely I’d balloon at this amount but I held steady.

Covid came, and I feared weight gain so I decreased this time to 1900, and set a daily activity goal- in stone. Weight dropped rapidly, so back up I went, and finally returned to 2300 when the gym reopened and training recommenced.

I’m right where I think I should be weight wise, so it’s often a daily up and down. If I feel too low, I allow myself the luxury of a high cal day, and then go back on track, averaging about 2700 a day when all’s told.

All this minutiae is simply to say it’s always a process. For 26 months it’s been a constant monitoring and adjustment.

Know yourself. Learn yourself. You have to get to know you, trust and not trust yourself at the same time (crazy I know!), and just treat yourself like a data point. Be strict, but make a point to eat what you enjoy so it’s all sustainable for life, and never ever beat yourself up for a day or two or three of so-called failure.

Where to be on calories? You are the best judge of your own point of balance. Kinda like that Bosu Ball I did squats on yesterday. A little this way, a little that way, you fall off, you get back on, and suddenly you realize you did ten squats without giving an inch.

SW222, CW131, 5’7”, 58yo female.

^^^ That, for sure, rock solid.

SW 183 (just over the line into class 1 obese), 5'5", at the time 59-60 y/o female, and even then an active (but obese) short endurance athlete. Now 65 in a couple weeks, 126 pounds, still very active (and 46+ years vegetarian and severely hypothyroid (but treated) if it matters - I think it doesn't).

I validated my calorie needs to start (MFP lowballed me, BTW - rare, but happens). Then I decreased calories only when need to keep *actual* weight loss rate (averaged over multi weeks) at sensibly moderate rates.

Now doing ultra-slow loss of a few vanity pounds at 1850 net (eating all exercise), 2100-2200 gross, most days.

Figure out a workable, sustainable practice; validate your process for tracking/controlling it; adjust when the totality of the data tells you it's sensible, based on your own weight loss rate (averaged over multiple weeks).

Wishing you much success!

springlering62

@underratedpost

Be sure to study to forum carefully. There’s a lot to learn here. Learn which posters are knowledgeable, and take much of the rest with a grain of salt.

Targets are awesome, but don’t be stuck on a target date, and frantic/discouraged when that date approaches. Remember that your caloric needs will drop as your weight drops, too.

You’ve been around long enough to have already learned that weight loss isn’t a straight line graph. It’s like the Sawtooth Mountains.

If you take the right attitude it will all be much more enjoyable than treating it as drudgery or “fat punishment”.

MaltedTea

Been here since this January so much less experienced than the great posters above.

I'm now in recomp (since mid-Oct) but will continue to recalculate monthly. Every first of the month, I head over here...

https://tdeecalculator.net

...and then plug any new numbers into MFP. This month, I got 7 extra calories/day 😭

😉

lynn_glenmont

If anything, I had to increase calories as I lost weight, because the combination of less weight and the low-level activity I started out with seemed to increase by NEAT -- I guess I was more likely to get up and move around and do things when I didn't always feel tired.

mariomicro

Usually once a month.

springlering62

lynn_glenmont wrote: »

If anything, I had to increase calories as I lost weight, because the combination of less weight and the low-level activity I started out with seemed to increase by NEAT -- I guess I was more likely to get up and move around and do things when I didn't always feel tired.

Like you, I increased a lot as I lost weight, but that’s because I added more and more exercise to my day.

I think it depends on how you go at it.

A lot of people state that they lose weight strictly via CICO and don’t increase activity. In that situation their calorie “allowance” actually goes down. It’s just something people should be aware of.

As we all know, with the whole weight loss process, YMMV.

underratedpost

MaltedTea wrote: »

This month, I got 7 extra calories/day 😭

don't go spending it all in one place
thank you guys very much. i have increased my calories by a good deal and will see how things pan out by mid december maybe

lgfrie

Been here & dieting since May 2019. I've changed my calorie quota about a half dozen times since I started, usually in 50 calorie increments, but one time it was a 100 calorie increase.

I think it's pretty useful to start with MFP's number, but that is just the output of an algorithm, not you, your body, and your needs. MFP may tell you 1600 but when you try to do less than 1700 you start binging, etc. Also, as you lose weight, things change. The obvious big change is that you burn less calories as you lose weight (to the tune of 5 calories per pound lost - it adds up, I now burn 400 calories per day less than in May 2019). But other big things change, too, especially your ability to continue adhering to a calorie target. I found that my initial calorie level became unsatisfactory after about 6 months and deeply insufficient making me really unhappy after a year. There is NO WAY I could ever go back to the 1600 calories I happily ate for the first 4-5 months, ever. I eat 1850 now, and I've been all over the map in the past 18 months, from 1600 to 2100.

I see no reason at all that the calorie quota shouldn't be an ongoing work in progress, constantly being fine-tuned to map to your weight loss goals, changes in weight, and at least for me most importantly of all, how dedicated and motivated I am at a particular point in time. If you push too hard during a time when you're not really feeling the diet thing, the end result can be a regain disaster. Better to take the foot off the gas a bit during those times, and perhaps hit the gas a little harder down the road when you're feeling ready for it.