Sudden shock! Lost 10lb and suddenly my daily calorie allowance has dropped by 250 per day!!!

Sarahpooh71
Sarahpooh71 Posts: 2 Member
edited November 2024 in Introduce Yourself
Hello

I was thinking My Fitness Pal was fantastic, I had set it to lose 1lb a week and resigned myself to slow but steady progress, thinking THIS time I will keep it off, all going well, taking one day at a time and I have lost 10lb but MFP has asked if I want to reset my goals because of that loss so I said yes but it has reduced my calories from 1710 per day to 1450 and I don't think I can sustain that; it was working for me because I didn't feel like I was "on a diet" but sticking to 1450 (and presumably less than that in the future as I still have 50+ lb to lose) is going to be a lot harder - can I set my goal back to what it was? If I'm going to end up surviving on 1000 calories a day to be slim then forget it - that will never be sustainable for me. I feel like MFP has just given me a slap in the face! Any suggestions, please?

Replies

  • barbiecat
    barbiecat Posts: 17,890 Member
    :) First, you can reset your goal to losing half a pound a week. Second you can get more active...walk more, spend a little more time at the gym, add an exercise class or swim. Third you can examine your food diary and leave out all the empty calories so you can eat more real food for the calories you're allowed. Do not be discouraged. This is possible.
  • fourathomej
    fourathomej Posts: 4,568 Member
    @Sarahpooh71 If you were losing and happy at 1710...I would just change them back. You can make that number whatever you want...The MFP number is only a suggestion...
  • __TMac__
    __TMac__ Posts: 1,669 Member
    Also, MFP will never drop you below 1200, so no need to worry about that. :)
  • GlassAngyl
    GlassAngyl Posts: 478 Member
    I agree with fourathomej. If you are still losing, don't worry about what MFP says. Change it back and stick with that until you hit a plateau for a week or two or aren't satisfied with the weight loss rate, then drop it by 50 every two weeks until you see progress again. I say two weeks to give your system a chance to register the difference. This will be less of a shock to your system as well as it gives you two weeks to get use to eating 50 calories less each time.. a sudden 250 calorie drop is just crazy!
  • Olivia
    Olivia Posts: 10,132 MFP Staff
    Congratulations on losing 10 pounds! Thanks all for the above great advice on how to handle or adjust the calorie changes.
  • Sarahpooh71
    Sarahpooh71 Posts: 2 Member
    Thank you lovely people! It's really encouraging to have received such helpful replies and so quickly too - makes me feel I am not alone after all... I think I will follow the advice to adjust it back to what it was as I do still appear to be gradually losing, which is what I want. Thank you - I'm glad it's not just me that thinks a 250 cal drop is a bit much!
  • livingleanlivingclean
    livingleanlivingclean Posts: 11,750 Member
    Sarahpooh71 wrote: »
    Thank you lovely people! It's really encouraging to have received such helpful replies and so quickly too - makes me feel I am not alone after all... I think I will follow the advice to adjust it back to what it was as I do still appear to be gradually losing, which is what I want. Thank you - I'm glad it's not just me that thinks a 250 cal drop is a bit much!

    Do you understand why you need less calories?
    As your body becomes smaller, and there's physically less of you, you need less energy to keep your body going.

    To create the same deficit required to maintain the same rate of loss, you get a calorie drop. You can keep eating more calories, but your rate of loss will be slower, as your deficit is smaller. Accepting a slower rate is fine (and completely normal), or adding exercise to increase your deficit may help maintain a faster rate of loss.

    Needing less energy at a lower weight is partly why people put weight back on after dieting - many people stop logging and go back to "normal eating". Normal eating usually involves eating food in amounts they ate before losing - as they are smaller, this good provides a bigger surplus of calorie.
  • Agent_Freckles
    Agent_Freckles Posts: 79 Member
    barbiecat wrote: »
    :) First, you can reset your goal to losing half a pound a week. Second you can get more active...walk more, spend a little more time at the gym, add an exercise class or swim. Third you can examine your food diary and leave out all the empty calories so you can eat more real food for the calories you're allowed. Do not be discouraged. This is possible.

    I'm realizing all of this is true. :) The other week I had a huge salad (WITH black olives), a piece of wheat toast with peanut butter, AND soup....it came out to be about 500 calories. I was amazed. You really really don't have to starve to meet your calorie goals.
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