Hello! I'm a newbie and have some important questions...

zoed
zoed Posts: 8
edited September 19 in Health and Weight Loss
Hello! I'm a newbie, well sort of, I joined ages ago, but haven't really used this website up until now.

I have a couple of questions which I am hoping someone might care to help me with:

I have been looking on a number of websites and they all say different things.

I am looking to find a really good calculator to find my maintenance calorie intake, does anyone know a good one that's free? They all seem to tell me different things which range over about 600 calories!!!!

Then, is it better to take 500 calories off your maintenance calorie intake, like what lots of websites say, or is it better to be more conservative and take off 15-20% of your maintenance.

I need to lose weight fast because I am going back to Australia to visit my family, but I don't want my metabolism to slow down too much so I plateau.

If I drop 500 calories a day now, is this going to pile on again once I start eating a regular diet again (but obviously remaining careful)?

Sorry for the boring questions, but I am sure they will help a lot of us out!!!

Cheers and thanks!

Replies

  • zoed
    zoed Posts: 8
    Hello! I'm a newbie, well sort of, I joined ages ago, but haven't really used this website up until now.

    I have a couple of questions which I am hoping someone might care to help me with:

    I have been looking on a number of websites and they all say different things.

    I am looking to find a really good calculator to find my maintenance calorie intake, does anyone know a good one that's free? They all seem to tell me different things which range over about 600 calories!!!!

    Then, is it better to take 500 calories off your maintenance calorie intake, like what lots of websites say, or is it better to be more conservative and take off 15-20% of your maintenance.

    I need to lose weight fast because I am going back to Australia to visit my family, but I don't want my metabolism to slow down too much so I plateau.

    If I drop 500 calories a day now, is this going to pile on again once I start eating a regular diet again (but obviously remaining careful)?

    Sorry for the boring questions, but I am sure they will help a lot of us out!!!

    Cheers and thanks!
  • kerrilucko
    kerrilucko Posts: 3,852 Member
    Hello! I'm a newbie, well sort of, I joined ages ago, but haven't really used this website up until now.

    I have a couple of questions which I am hoping someone might care to help me with:

    I have been looking on a number of websites and they all say different things.

    I am looking to find a really good calculator to find my maintenance calorie intake, does anyone know a good one that's free? They all seem to tell me different things which range over about 600 calories!!!!

    Then, is it better to take 500 calories off your maintenance calorie intake, like what lots of websites say, or is it better to be more conservative and take off 15-20% of your maintenance.

    I need to lose weight fast because I am going back to Australia to visit my family, but I don't want my metabolism to slow down too much so I plateau.

    If I drop 500 calories a day now, is this going to pile on again once I start eating a regular diet again (but obviously remaining careful)?

    Sorry for the boring questions, but I am sure they will help a lot of us out!!!

    Cheers and thanks!

    Hi, MFP will calculate your maintenance calories for you, and it will also subtract a deficit so you can lose the amount you'd like per week (example: 1 lb per week) How large of a deficit you have should be based on how much you need/want to lose. If you are already in the healthy BMI category for your height, or would like to lose 10lbs or less, I suggest having your settings at .5lb per week. This will make your deficit 250 calories a day instead of the usual 500 (which would be a 1 lb loss per week). But like I said, MFP does the calculating for you, all you need to know is how much you'd like to lose over how much time. :flowerforyou: hope that helps
  • zoed
    zoed Posts: 8
    Yes, thanks! Great help, and yes, I'm still within the healthy BMI range, just wanting to shift a few stubborn wobbly bits, so your advice is great. :flowerforyou:
  • songbyrdsweet
    songbyrdsweet Posts: 5,691 Member
    Whether you gain weight again once you've reached your goal depends on what 'normal' eating is for you. You still need to monitor your calories to stay within your maintenance range. If you stop entirely and just eat whatever, whenever, the chances are that you'll gain weight because you'll be overeating.
  • zoed
    zoed Posts: 8
    I probably should have been more clear when I asked
    'If I drop 500 calories a day now, is this going to pile on again once I start eating a regular diet again (but obviously remaining careful)? '

    I meant to ask, is a 500 calorie a day drop too much for the metabolism? Will this lower my metabolism so much that when I am back to maintaining my 'new' maintenance calorie intake (based on BMR), it will be next to nothing?

    Does slowing down the calorie drop i.e. 250 as opposed to 500 actually help lose weight over a longer period of time? I have read that if you reduce your calorie intake too much, your body will go into starvation mode which slows the metabolism. If I drop my calories by only 250, then this process would be slower and I won't slip my body into 'starvation mode'.
  • songbyrdsweet
    songbyrdsweet Posts: 5,691 Member
    I probably should have been more clear when I asked
    'If I drop 500 calories a day now, is this going to pile on again once I start eating a regular diet again (but obviously remaining careful)? '

    I meant to ask, is a 500 calorie a day drop too much for the metabolism? Will this lower my metabolism so much that when I am back to maintaining my 'new' maintenance calorie intake (based on BMR), it will be next to nothing?

    Does slowing down the calorie drop i.e. 250 as opposed to 500 actually help lose weight over a longer period of time? I have read that if you reduce your calorie intake too much, your body will go into starvation mode which slows the metabolism. If I drop my calories by only 250, then this process would be slower and I won't slip my body into 'starvation mode'.

    Ohhh I see, I did misunderstand you.
    We always will experience a decrease in metabolism with caloric restriction, but it won't be as marked with a 250-500 cal. deficit as it would be if we were in a 1000cal. or more deficit.
    I don't really like the term 'starvation mode'...I used 'depressed metabolic state,' because some people take the 'starvation' part too literally LOL. :wink: You're right that extreme restriction would do that, but 250-500 calories is fine for most people. If you like, you could start with the 15-20% restriction, and then increase it to 250 and then 500 calories as you need to if you plateau. That'll give you wiggle room.
  • zoed
    zoed Posts: 8
    Cheers, I have already started plateauing, so I'll probably just drop 500 cals, as I want to lose it quite fast!
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