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Martyriv
Martyriv Posts: 6 Member
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Hi- just getting started again after trying numerous amount of times. I’m working out at OT 4x a week, trying to lose 25 lbs. My goal is to lose 2lbs per week. I weigh 178 and MF calories state to eat 1280 calories. I’ve been told that this is not enough calories for me. I’ve done this before in the past and lost 20lbs. However, I’ve gained it back after 3 years. I don’t think this is sustainable? Just wondering once I reach my goal, will maintenance calories be increased?

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  • MaltedTea
    MaltedTea Posts: 6,286 Member
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    At some point at the start of my journey, MFP had me at 1,200 calories. After about 18 months later, my maintenance calories are at about 1,700. Like, for life unless I want to change my body composition 🤷🏾‍♀️

    So, in short, yes - your calories will increase - but not by much. What WILL increase, however, is your ability to more often choose foods that fill you up while meeting any cravings you may have. I still enjoy ice cream, brownies, pastries, fried foods etc within moderation.

    You got this @Martyriv
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,871 Member
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    Martyriv wrote: »
    Hi- just getting started again after trying numerous amount of times. I’m working out at OT 4x a week, trying to lose 25 lbs. My goal is to lose 2lbs per week. I weigh 178 and MF calories state to eat 1280 calories. I’ve been told that this is not enough calories for me. I’ve done this before in the past and lost 20lbs. However, I’ve gained it back after 3 years. I don’t think this is sustainable? Just wondering once I reach my goal, will maintenance calories be increased?

    I'm not sure how tall you are, but I started losing at about your weight (I was 183 at 5'5") but had more like 60ish pounds to lose. MFP estimated 1200 calories per week for me. For several weeks, I ate that *plus* all carefully estimated exercise calories (the standard MFP method), and felt great, energetic, not hungry . . . until suddenly, I hit a wall.

    I lost too fast, got weak and fatigued, corrected as soon as I realized, but it took several weeks to recover normal energy and strength. I was lucky nothing worse happened (like gallbladder issues, noticeable muscle loss, etc.), though I did see some hair thinning some weeks later (that effect tends to be delayed). No one needs any of that.

    I'm not saying any of those will happen to you, no way to know. Risk management can be a reason to take a slower route, though.

    (One unfortunate woman even ended up with heart failure via eating 1200 with an aggressive exercise schedule: https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10761904/under-1200-for-weight-loss/p1 Of course, anything that severe is quite rare.)

    A common rule of thumb recommended around here is to target no more than 0.5-1% of current body weight weekly as a loss rate, with a bias toward the lower end of that (especially if someone has a stressful/active life), and maybe even slower than that if within 20 pounds or so of goal weight. An alternate rule of thumb is not to eat lower than 20% below one's all-day all-source calorie burn (a.k.a. 20% below TDEE, total daily energy expenditure).

    The idea behind any of that is that researchers believe we can only metabolize stored body fat at a limited rate per pound of body fat we have, so with fewer pounds of body fat, weight loss should be slower to improve odds of retaining as much lean mass as possible rather than losing unnecessarily much of that alongside bodyfat.

    Muscle in particular is slow/hard to rebuild, so it makes sense to keep as much as we can, while losing fat. Bone is even more difficult/unlikely to rebuild, if quality is lost. Again, I'm not saying bad things *will* happen, just that there are risks, and choices we make can reduce/increase odds of certain problems.

    Using extreme calorie reductions can increase chances of more "adaptive thermogenesis" which is a fancy technical term for our body reducing metabolic rate (BMR/RMR) a bit, via things like slower hair growth, less spontaneous movement (fidgeting, for example), slightly lower body temp, etc., not to mention too-low calories fostering less daily life activity via fatigue (which can be pretty subtle). Any of that lowers TDEE, so can slow weight loss below expected, though this is not the mythical "starvation mode" where one can't lose weight at low calories. It's just a slowdown beyond what one might have expected if better fueled/nourished.

    Some amount of adaptive thermogenesis can persist into maintenance. In addition, if more than necessary muscle loss has occurred during loss, that will also lower maintenance calories *a little*. Any habits of reduced daily life activity may also persist, as any established habit may do; and if muscle has been lost, activity may be less enjoyable so either less likely to happen, or to happen at lower intensity. Some of that may be recovered, over time, on reaching maintenance, though. (Hard to say, seems to be somewhat individual.) However, losing more slowly, and/or using periodic "diet breaks" at maintenance calories during a long loss process, can *theoretically* improve odds of a bit higher maintenance calories after goal is reached.

    In terms of gaining weight back over 3 years, I suspect that's more a matter of having established habits to stay at a healthy weight relatively easily long term, or not. IMO, a slow loss gives more opportunity to experiment, find those sustainable long-term kinda-easy habits as a gradual off-ramp into maintenance, rather than encouraging thinking of weight loss as a quick project with an end date. That's all pretty individual, though.

    So much of this is about personalization, IMO: Figuring out what will work best for you, given your lifestyle, preferences, strengths, limitations. There's also, as I said before, a lot of tradeoffs involving odds and probabilities and risks vs. benefits, which is about personal decisions.

    Wishing you great success, no matter your chosen route!
  • MargaretYakoda
    MargaretYakoda Posts: 2,857 Member
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    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    Martyriv wrote: »
    Hi- just getting started again after trying numerous amount of times. I’m working out at OT 4x a week, trying to lose 25 lbs. My goal is to lose 2lbs per week. I weigh 178 and MF calories state to eat 1280 calories. I’ve been told that this is not enough calories for me. I’ve done this before in the past and lost 20lbs. However, I’ve gained it back after 3 years. I don’t think this is sustainable? Just wondering once I reach my goal, will maintenance calories be increased?

    I'm not saying any of those will happen to you, no way to know. Risk management can be a reason to take a slower route, though.

    (One unfortunate woman even ended up with heart failure via eating 1200 with an aggressive exercise schedule: https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10761904/under-1200-for-weight-loss/p1 Of course, anything that severe is quite rare.)

    Yowza. I knew bad stuff could happen. But I hadn’t seen that thread before.

    Thanks for reminding me my 1.75 pounds a week average is juuuuust fine for now.
  • callsitlikeiseeit
    callsitlikeiseeit Posts: 8,627 Member
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    MargaretYakoda wrote: »
    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    Martyriv wrote: »
    Hi- just getting started again after trying numerous amount of times. I’m working out at OT 4x a week, trying to lose 25 lbs. My goal is to lose 2lbs per week. I weigh 178 and MF calories state to eat 1280 calories. I’ve been told that this is not enough calories for me. I’ve done this before in the past and lost 20lbs. However, I’ve gained it back after 3 years. I don’t think this is sustainable? Just wondering once I reach my goal, will maintenance calories be increased?

    I'm not saying any of those will happen to you, no way to know. Risk management can be a reason to take a slower route, though.

    (One unfortunate woman even ended up with heart failure via eating 1200 with an aggressive exercise schedule: https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10761904/under-1200-for-weight-loss/p1 Of course, anything that severe is quite rare.)

    Yowza. I knew bad stuff could happen. But I hadn’t seen that thread before.

    Thanks for reminding me my 1.75 pounds a week average is juuuuust fine for now.

    I dont know how I haven't seen that one before.

    I'm currently on a med that has all but taken away my appetite and my Doc wont ALLOW me to go to the gym (nor would I with as little as I'm eating). And im pretty darn short- barely over 5'. As closely as I am monitored (weekly video check in and weight update and monthly blood work), the fact her doctor ignored her is absolutely horrifying to me... her entire story is so sad
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,867 Member
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    Martyriv wrote: »
    Hi- just getting started again after trying numerous amount of times. I’m working out at OT 4x a week, trying to lose 25 lbs. My goal is to lose 2lbs per week. I weigh 178 and MF calories state to eat 1280 calories. I’ve been told that this is not enough calories for me. I’ve done this before in the past and lost 20lbs. However, I’ve gained it back after 3 years. I don’t think this is sustainable? Just wondering once I reach my goal, will maintenance calories be increased?

    2 Lbs per week is aggressive and equates to a 1,000 calorie per day deficit from maintenance...so theoretically MFP is estimating that your maintenance target is around 2300 calories as per the math. Note also that those targets are before intentional exercise as exercise isn't included in your activity level...so if you're working out regularly you would want to log that and eat those calories back or at least a good portion of them. 1,000 calorie deficit built into your diet before exercise is already big...you don't want to make it bigger with exercise and not accounting for exercise with more fuel.
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,811 Member
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    "MF calories state to eat 1280 calories."
    Nope - that's the choice you made, not the app. It's really important to realise the consequences of the decision you make about rate of loss selected. The app calculates your maintenance level (for a day with no exercise) and after that it's all down to you.

    "I’ve done this before in the past and lost 20lbs."
    You would have to reflect if that was actually a successful weight loss as it was only temporary. To me success is losing and then keeping the excess weight off. You can make that experience helpful by learning lessons from both the weight loss phase and the reasons behind why you regained.

    "I don’t think this is sustainable?"
    Agreed!
    Actively try to avoid making a hard job even harder.

    "Just wondering once I reach my goal, will maintenance calories be increased?"
    Yes of course - by you changing your goal to maintain instead of lose weight.

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