Changing Goals?

jessimacar

When I began using this site I had a higher set of goals than I do now because it re-evaluated my goals once I lost some weight. My calorie goals are at 1200/day now.. What do I do when I lose more weight, and I need to re-evaluate my goals again? Will I keep losing weight? And will it take longer to lose the same amount?

mirenner

rule of thumb on this site, for every 10 lbs you lose, re-enter your goals even if you don't change them, this will keep you losing weight at the same rate...

if you don't re-enter your goals, your weight loss will taper off until you reach your goal weight, which is great if you have patience

MacMadame

Well, you're not supposed to go under 1200 without being under a doctor's supervision so you are at the bottom of the calorie range now. That means all you have to play with is your exercise.

There are a couple of reasons you lose slower on the same calories as you lose weight:
-As your body gets smaller, it takes less energy to move it around so even daily living takes less calories
-The longer you're on a diet, the slower your metabolism gets

Some other factors that come into play:
-If you don't change up your exercise routine, you get good at what you are doing so it takes less effort to do the same exercise and less effort means less calories burned. (If you constantly increase your intensity as you get more fit, this is not an issue)
-The longer we diet, the harder it can get mentally so some people find themselves eating more calories as we loosen up on the restriction

So with all that going on, if you don't want your weight loss to slow down as you lose weight, you need to up your exercise. If you up it enough, you can even UP your calories and still lose weight.

I was training for longer and longer triathlons and by the end I went from 800 calories a day (yes, I was under a doctor's supervision) to 1600 near the end and my rate of loss never slowed down and I never plateaued. Exercise is what made the difference. It was awesome especially as I didn't really plan it -- I just wanted to do harder races so I had to train more.

MacMadame

double post.