After loss do you cut calories further?

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Nadspee
Nadspee Posts: 79 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I've never given much thought to the idea that a smaller body needs fewer calories, but I've seen it pop up here now and then and was wondering if anyone has had the experience where their calorie allotment with deficit turned into their maintenance calories? My intake right now is 1200 (cw 222) and I'm losing 2.5-3 pounds a week (which I think is fine because I'm exercising a lot and eating back exercise calories) but I was wondering if when I lose the next 40 pounds if I should be anticipating cutting my calories back further? Is that how it works? Or will the weight loss just slow down, but continue if I keep eating 1200...forever?

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  • nowine4me
    nowine4me Posts: 3,985 Member
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    Go to TDEEcalculator.net ( or any TDEE) calculator. Punch in your stats at your goal weight and you can see an estimate of your maintenance calories.
  • FlyingMolly
    FlyingMolly Posts: 490 Member
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    Yes in theory, but 1200 is already basically the “floor” for calories, so you wouldn’t go lower than that. As you lose weight you’ll also want to reduce your deficit, though—2lbs per week or more isn’t a healthy rate of loss for a smaller body. When that happens, you’ll notice that updating your weight in MFP may result in a small drop in your calorie goal now and then.

    So your calories will go down due to your smaller body’s lower energy needs, but also up from aiming to lose less weight per week, and eventually they’ll meet in the middle and you’ll be at maintenance for your goal weight.

    Some people cut out all the middle stuff and just start with that amount, in fact.
  • MichelleSilverleaf
    MichelleSilverleaf Posts: 2,028 Member
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    2.5-3lbs a week is still kind of steep.
  • ITUSGirl51
    ITUSGirl51 Posts: 192 Member
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    I just lose at a lower rate. I started with a setting of losing 1.5 a week with MFP giving me 1370 a day and I ate back exercise. I’m down 66 lbs and and very close to my goal and I cannot live with eating less than 1400 plus exercise a day, so I lose less a week.

    Make your calories sustainable for the long run. Eating at such a large deficit to lose 3 lbs a week for a long time will cause burnout and muscle loss. If you just started a couple of weeks ago, it’s okay to lose that fast because it’s mostly water weight and it will slow down when the real fat starts coming off.
  • amgreenwell
    amgreenwell Posts: 1,268 Member
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    nowine4me wrote: »
    Go to TDEEcalculator.net ( or any TDEE) calculator. Punch in your stats at your goal weight and you can see an estimate of your maintenance calories.

    this!
  • Fitwithsci
    Fitwithsci Posts: 69 Member
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    Once you hit a weight you are happy with you will no longer need to maintain a calorie deficit so you should be able to eat a little more without gaining any weight. You will likely see weight losses slow down as your weight continues to to drop. The less weight you have to lose, the more difficult it typically is to lose said weight. I would agree that 1200 calories is about the absolute minimum you would want to consume even if you are trying to lose weight. If you are really serious, you should try and get a Resting energy expenditure test (REE) done, and schedule a consultation with a dietitian. This can probably be done for under $100 at your local hospital depending on where you live. This test will tell you your absolute minimum number of calories and a dietitian should be able to give you a pretty good recommendation of what your caloric consumption should be based on this information. I wrote a blog post about it a while back if you want to know more information about it. http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/Fitwithsci

    For a cheaper option I would check out the Body Weight Planner
    https://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/weight-management/body-weight-planner.
    This is probably the most accurate and most science backed caloric calculator available today.
  • GottaBurnEmAll
    GottaBurnEmAll Posts: 7,722 Member
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    Nadspee wrote: »
    I've never given much thought to the idea that a smaller body needs fewer calories, but I've seen it pop up here now and then and was wondering if anyone has had the experience where their calorie allotment with deficit turned into their maintenance calories? My intake right now is 1200 (cw 222) and I'm losing 2.5-3 pounds a week (which I think is fine because I'm exercising a lot and eating back exercise calories) but I was wondering if when I lose the next 40 pounds if I should be anticipating cutting my calories back further? Is that how it works? Or will the weight loss just slow down, but continue if I keep eating 1200...forever?

    Your rate of loss will slow down.

    The way it works is that a certain sized body needs a certain amount of calories to run. Right now, your body is large enough that eating 1200 calories creates a rather large calorie deficit from the total amount it would take to sustain your current weight, which enables you to lose weight.

    As your weight decreases, the amount of calories it would take to maintain that new weight decreases, so the deficit of 1200 calories in comparison to that number is also lessened. This is what will slow your rate of loss down.

    Have you just started losing weight? 2.5-3 pounds of loss a week is quite a bit given your current weight, but if you just started, I think some of that might be fluid. If you settle into 2 pounds a week, I could see that being more realistic for where you're at now.

    Something to think about as you get closer to goal: a lot of people find that they actually increase their calories and up their activity, because hunger on a low calorie intake is real, especially over a long period of time. Yes, this is true even if you're eating back your exercise calories.

  • knightreader
    knightreader Posts: 813 Member
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    1200 is already low and very few, very few will recommend going lower. your rate of loss will slow down, which is fine as most recommend a pound per week. plus, maybe look into eating your exercise calories back, or at least some to maintain your health.
  • paperpudding
    paperpudding Posts: 9,019 Member
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    kshama2001 wrote: »
    Nadspee wrote: »
    I've never given much thought to the idea that a smaller body needs fewer calories, but I've seen it pop up here now and then and was wondering if anyone has had the experience where their calorie allotment with deficit turned into their maintenance calories? My intake right now is 1200 (cw 222) and I'm losing 2.5-3 pounds a week (which I think is fine because I'm exercising a lot and eating back exercise calories) but I was wondering if when I lose the next 40 pounds if I should be anticipating cutting my calories back further? Is that how it works? Or will the weight loss just slow down, but continue if I keep eating 1200...forever?

    If you are only 40 pounds from goal, losing 2.5 - 3 pounds per week is too aggressive a rate of loss for you. Slow it down to a pound a week.

    OP didnt say how far she is from reaching her goal, - but if she is female and her current weight is 222 lb she would have more than 40lb to lose to reach a healthy BMI

    So a rate higher than 1lb/week may well be right

    She didnt say she has only 40 to lose in total- question was 'when I lose the next 40lb then do I do....?

  • lucerorojo
    lucerorojo Posts: 790 Member
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    Yes, at every 10 lbs. I would reset my profile on MFP and the calories allotted would decrease because at a lesser weight, my body needs less calories. My TDEE at my starting weight of 237, was considerably higher than my cw of 196. I lost about 2 lbs. per week until I got to around 215-220 lbs. My calories kept decreasing and I could not sustain myself on 1200 calories, so I changed my rate of loss to 1.5 lbs. per week for a short time--probably a month, and then changed it to 1 lb. per week where I am now. I still have 59 lbs. to go. I thought I was going to be able to maintain the 2 lb. per week loss until I hit 199 (theoretically able to lose 1% of my body weight) but I couldn't. I have a demanding job where I work with the public so I could not be hungry and cranky.

    I would suggest in your case eating 200 calories more per day, which would slow down your rate of loss a bit, but continue as long as you can and still feel good losing 2 lbs. a week until you get right under 200. I don't know how tall you are, but for me it was important to lose fast in the beginning to get the pressure off my knees (I no longer have any knee issues) and potentially ward off pre-diabetes. I also had some digestive/intestine issues that disappeared after I lost that first 20 lbs. I haven't had my sugar checked since July, but I know that weight loss tends to help avoid pre-diabetes.

    But at least eating 1400-1500 calories you would still lose at 2 lbs. per week, it would be healthier and probably improve your health in a short period of time.
  • paperpudding
    paperpudding Posts: 9,019 Member
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    or did you mean when she gets to that stage????

    that would make sense - sorry if I misunderstood your post.
  • ceiswyn
    ceiswyn Posts: 2,256 Member
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    Nadspee wrote: »
    Just to answer the questions about my goal weight: I’m 5’7 and 185 is the weight I’d like to get to for now. I don’t know if I want to be smaller then that, I’ll have to see how I feel when I get there. From my perspective, going from not being on the BMI chart at all to being just “overweight” is a pretty good place to start. :D I’m only 31 so I have plenty of time. Maybe I’ll be one of those people who are in the best shape of their life in their 40’s!?! That might be a fun goal!

    Oh, hey, twins!

    I’m also 5’7 with a goal of 185. Before I started this I’d spent my entire life in the ‘morbidly obese’ category, hitting a high of BMI
    over 60 and still trending upward...

    That was 19 months ago. I’m now 41 years old, 12 lbs from goal, and have discovered an unwholesome love of hiking and gym classes. Trust me, the destination is even better than you think :)

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