Should my caloric intake decrease as I lose weight?

rachelrowls
rachelrowls Posts: 2 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I've been doing my fitness pal for awhile now and have lost a decent amount of weight, but seem to have hit a standstill with another 40lbs to go. Am I suppose decrease the number of calories I eat as my weight decreases? Maybe I just need to be patient?? Any advice would be welcome. :)

Replies

  • DragonShoe_GCole
    DragonShoe_GCole Posts: 137 Member
    Short answer is "yes"
  • ReaderGirl3
    ReaderGirl3 Posts: 868 Member
    edited March 2016
    Definitely-you should run your numbers again every few pounds lost, 5lbs is a good marker to go by.
  • GaleHawkins
    GaleHawkins Posts: 8,159 Member
    @rachelrowls welcome to MFP forums where one can read all kinds of info. While you are figuring this all out remember it can be very normal for the body want to stabilize at a new lower weight for a few months. The human body is not a linear machine but a massive computer (brain and about 30 hormones) that manages our weight over time. We can try to over ride our brain and hormones with something like CICO but that seems to lead to 100%+ regains over time for some of us. You have been very successful. Stick with your success efforts for a bit longer perhaps. Now CICO is an excellent starting point but just remember the brain and hormones have the over riding vote. Sure we can starve ourselves (for a while) to lower scales numbers.

    Best of success.
  • Mentali
    Mentali Posts: 352 Member
    My TDEE went down by around 200 calories when I lost 30 pounds. So yeah, recalculate it on MFP with your current weight and see what it gets you.
  • thunder1982
    thunder1982 Posts: 280 Member
    I am assuming you havent logged your new weight in the progress part, that will adjust your calories automatically. So yes you can reach a standstill as you lost weight your deficit decreased as you need less energy for body functions at a smaller size.

    Depending on how aggressive your initial goal was you may have hit maintenance or your deficit is now small enough that it takes very accurate logging to ensure you are actually at deficit and longer between seeing the scale move down.
  • StaciMarie1974
    StaciMarie1974 Posts: 4,138 Member
    It depends on your defict: how many you burn per day vs how many you consume.

    If your activity level remains relatively constant, as you lose weight your body uses less energy than it did at a higher weight. So in the long run, eating at a constant level you'd eventually see your TDEE reduce to the point where eating at a deficit is now maintenance. But whether you're at that point now, we don't know. Have you estimated your TDEE? 40 pounds is significant enough to impact your daily needs but not enough info provided to guess whether you need to adjust your calories, improve your logging accuracy, or just be patient.
    rachelrowls wrote: »
    I've been doing my fitness pal for awhile now and have lost a decent amount of weight, but seem to have hit a standstill with another 40lbs to go. Am I suppose decrease the number of calories I eat as my weight decreases? Maybe I just need to be patient?? Any advice would be welcome. :)

  • rosebarnalice
    rosebarnalice Posts: 3,488 Member
    Every time I update my weight, MFP adjusts my calories downward.
  • rachelrowls
    rachelrowls Posts: 2 Member
    Thank you everyone! Lots of excellent advice. MFP hasn't automatically downed my calories yet, even though I have logged my weight once a month or so, so it looks like I'm needing to be patient, and get some more exercise.
  • mitch16
    mitch16 Posts: 2,113 Member
    Yes. If you've been recording your weight loss in MFP, every now and again it will have a pop that says something to the effect of "you've lost weight, would you like to recalculate your goals?" You may still have the same ultimate goal weight, but MFP will recalculate your calorie allocation based on your new weight. It will not happen automatically.
  • benzieboxx
    benzieboxx Posts: 253 Member
    I go by every 10lbs. I just recalculated mine last week and now have a lower number, but not by much.
  • JennieMaeK
    JennieMaeK Posts: 474 Member
    I've found for me MFP doesn't automatically adjust my calories, so I do it every 10-20 lbs or so.
  • sammday5
    sammday5 Posts: 36 Member
    I am on 1200 calories and hit a standstill thinking of doing maintenance for a few weeks then dropping back down will this help me sorry to jump on the post
  • ridge4mfp
    ridge4mfp Posts: 301 Member
    I also adjust every 10 lbs or when I seem to be slowing down. Mine never did happen automatically. Must be a setting I missed somewhere.
  • Lounmoun
    Lounmoun Posts: 8,423 Member
    edited April 2016
    If your calorie goal is 1200 then no it isn't going to decrease as that is the minimum. MFP should decrease your goal for you every 10 lbs or so otherwise to maintain a deficit. If it doesn't you could lower it yourself by 50-100 calories.
    I started at 1340, went to 1270 and eventually 1200. I want to lose 10-30 more pounds butbmy calorie goal isn't going to drop any farther. As I get to a healthy weight my deficit is going to be smaller. I will lose slower and need to be more accurate.
  • RuthDuckless
    RuthDuckless Posts: 9 Member
    What if our recommended start is only 1200 calories? Will I have to keep going down with weight loss? I thought anything under 1000 was nutrient deficient.
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,294 Member
    I would argue that it is your deficit that should be what decreases as you lose. this may end up in an increase in cals, slight decrease or hold
  • robininfl
    robininfl Posts: 1,137 Member
    RuthDuckless wrote: »
    What if our recommended start is only 1200 calories? Will I have to keep going down with weight loss? I thought anything under 1000 was nutrient deficient.

    No, your weight loss will slow as you get smaller, as it should.

    1200 calories is about maintenance for a 50 year old woman who weighs 85lbs and doesn't work out, so it's unlikely you would ever need to eat less than that anyway. Unless you are dead idle and trying to get smaller than 85lb.

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