Should calories decrease as weight does?

jennp1313

Hello,

I'm pretty new to the site and I'm wondering if my daily calorie limit should decrease as I lose weight in order for me to continue losing weight. If so, will the site automatically adjust my limit, or is there something I need to manually adjust? Also, once I reach my goal, do I still need a calorie deficit in order to avoid regaining the weight? Or can I cut myself some slack once the lbs are off?

Thanks!


Created by MyFitnessPal.com - Free Calorie Counter

spammyanna

bump, I am getting close to my goal weight and wondering if I should adjust too.

Athena413

MFP will adjust your calories as you lose weight - I think mine re-adjusted about every 10 lbs or so. Once you reach your goal, you don't need a calorie deficit because you're not trying to lose weight anymore. You'll then be in maintenance and will just need to net whatever your maintenance calories are.

21karensmith

You can go in and change/update it...go to your home, then goals and click change goals, there you can adjust your weight and it will adjust you calories I do mine like every 10lbs, its never much like 30 calories I think lol. Good Luck !!

jennp1313

to spammy:
congrats on doing so well! Have you adjusted the calories at all along the way? I have about the same starting weight and goal weight as you :-)

SunshineKisses_2012

Mine prompt me every 10 lbs to readjust my calories/goals. This last time took 50 calories/day with it. My body has a problem with that. It's still adjusting, but today was my first day where I wasn't in total freak out mode.

PhiMuHoney

I know MFP just reduced my calories because I had lost weight.. I think it told me (yelled at me in red is more like it) when I logged on one morning. They also sent me an email, so they'll let you know when you need to go in and re-do your fitness goals. All I did was click submit again and it re-figured everything for me. As for maintenance, what I understand is that once you reach your goal weight, it will tell you how many calories you need to net per day to maintain that weight. This is why I love MFP.. they tell me what I need to do.. otherwise, it would never get done!

jennp1313

ok, thanks for the helpful info!!

j99li

Hi everyone,

So I tried this tonight, I set my starting weight at 300 and to lose 2 lbs a week, I need to eat 1940 calories a day. Then I "weighed" in at 190.4, and my calories didnt change :noway:

Also, I've never gotten a "red warning" that my goals should change or what not and I've gone down by 40 lbs. So is it something that has to be manually done? Or....

spammyanna

I have never adjusted my calorie intake. I have been at 1200 the whole time. I've never had MFP suggest that I adjust my intake at all.

ONE03

I have been at 1200 the whole time. I've never had MFP suggest that I adjust my intake at all.

That will be the case for me as well. I think the amount loss/week just goes down as weight goes down? For instance, right now, I'm set at a .35lb/wk loss at 1200 cals. Can't go lower than 1200 cals. I assume as my weight decreases, the rate of loss/wk also decreases while the goal net cals. stays the same.

j99li

I have been at 1200 the whole time. I've never had MFP suggest that I adjust my intake at all.

That will be the case for me as well. I think the amount loss/week just goes down as weight goes down? For instance, right now, I'm set at a .35lb/wk loss at 1200 cals. Can't go lower than 1200 cals. I assume as my weight decreases, the rate of loss/wk also decreases while the goal net cals. stays the same.

I havent gotten any of that :S Mine was still set at 2lbs a week at 1300 calories per day....

SheilaSisco

I have never adjusted my calorie intake. I have been at 1200 the whole time. I've never had MFP suggest that I adjust my intake at all.

That's because 1200 is the minimum daily recommended for weight loss. If you drop below that number of calories, you're entering unhealthy weight loss territory. When you get within 10-15 pound of your goal weight, it IS highly recommended that you reset your goals to 1/2 pound weight loss per week as you body will lose the last little bit much easier and more efficiently that way. I've already done this and it's working quite well for me.

spammyanna

I have never adjusted my calorie intake. I have been at 1200 the whole time. I've never had MFP suggest that I adjust my intake at all.

That's because 1200 is the minimum daily recommended for weight loss. If you drop below that number of calories, you're entering unhealthy weight loss territory. When you get within 10-15 pound of your goal weight, it IS highly recommended that you reset your goals to 1/2 pound weight loss per week as you body will lose the last little bit much easier and more efficiently that way. I've already done this and it's working quite well for me.

When I first started, I had it set for 2lbs per week, and my intake was set to 1200.

I adjusted to 1lb per week, and my intake was set to 1200.

I am still losing .9 lbs per week, and I eat 1200.

I was kind of hoping that if I adjusted it to less than 2/week that my intake would get pushed up. But that hasn't happened at all.

If my weight loss slows down significantly, I plan on adjusting to 0.5/week, but I have a feeling my intake will still be set at 1200.

SheilaSisco

I have never adjusted my calorie intake. I have been at 1200 the whole time. I've never had MFP suggest that I adjust my intake at all.

That's because 1200 is the minimum daily recommended for weight loss. If you drop below that number of calories, you're entering unhealthy weight loss territory. When you get within 10-15 pound of your goal weight, it IS highly recommended that you reset your goals to 1/2 pound weight loss per week as you body will lose the last little bit much easier and more efficiently that way. I've already done this and it's working quite well for me.

When I first started, I had it set for 2lbs per week, and my intake was set to 1200.

I adjusted to 1lb per week, and my intake was set to 1200.

I am still losing .9 lbs per week, and I eat 1200.

I was kind of hoping that if I adjusted it to less than 2/week that my intake would get pushed up. But that hasn't happened at all.

If my weight loss slows down significantly, I plan on adjusting to 0.5/week, but I have a feeling my intake will still be set at 1200.

How tall are you??? I'm 33 yrs old, 4'11" tall and currently weigh 123.7 pounds and at 1/2lb per week, it set my calories at 1340...

Schwiggs

Yeah, you should redo your cal goal as it goes down.

Athena413

A lot of it depends on how your account is set up, as well. When I first started I think it allowed me around 1,400 calories. I'm not down to 1,220. I have my activity level set at sedentary because I'm an accountant and sit at a desk all day and have my weight loss goal set to 2 lbs per week. There's a spot in the settings that asks you if you want to set your own goals or have MFP calculate it for you. If you set your own at the beginning, it may not ever prompt you to update it - I don't know. I typically go with what MFP calculates and have tweaked it a little along the way.

aippolito1

The opposite. Typically you eat more the closer you get to your goal. I started at 1200, went up to 1400, now I'm down to 1370. That's BASE and I also eat my exercise calories.

ONE03

How tall are you??? I'm 33 yrs old, 4'11" tall and currently weigh 123.7 pounds and at 1/2lb per week, it set my calories at 1340...

:noway: :noway: :noway: :noway: :noway: :noway: :noway:

What?!!! Oh now I'm confused. I'm taller, weigh more and MFP has me set at .35/wk loss at 1200 cals. :laugh:

Maybe because I set it at sedentary?

spammyanna

I'm 5'4" tall, and I have my activity level set at sedentary because I have a desk job.

Schwiggs

BBump