Loosing weight but not as much as before.

weight3049
weight3049 Posts: 72 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I been doing the eating the same amount of calories (1,500) and doing the same amount of exercises consistently for the past 8 months (walking 1hour/3miles 4-5 times a week).

The past 2 months I noticed I have not been loosing as much weight as before, about half of what I was before. Do I just need to exercise more heavily? Since my main exercise is walking I know that the more weight you put off the less calories you burn.

Any advice?

Replies

  • bmeadows380
    bmeadows380 Posts: 2,981 Member
    the less you weigh, the lower your BMR, which means your maintenance level drops. If you don't adjust your goal calories, your maintenance calories will close in on the goal and you in turn have less of a deficit than before and therefore don't lose weight at the same rate as before.

    So you either need to re-evaluate your calorie goal in light of your new, lower body weight, or you need to increase your activity in order to restore the deficit you were working at before. Also, the less you weigh, the less calorie burn you're going to get from your activities as well - you burn more calories for the same amount of exercise at a heavier weight than you do at a lighter one.

    Also note, the less you have the lose, the smaller of a deficit you should be working with, so you might need to adjust that as well and slow down the weight loss. I don't remember the exact recommendation off the top of my head, but you can easily find it here in numerous threads, especially if you browse the ones dealing with too low calorie goal/deficits.
  • snickerscharlie
    snickerscharlie Posts: 8,578 Member
    edited February 2020
    Yes, your height, starting weight, current weight and goal weight would give us what we need to help sort this out for you.

    But as noted, it's usually because the less you weigh, the less calories are needed to maintain your new current weight. If you continue eating the same amount of calories each day instead of adjusting according to your new body weight, weight loss will start to stall. :)

    What was your initial rate of loss per week, and what are you experiencing now?
  • magnusthenerd
    magnusthenerd Posts: 1,207 Member
    Losing weight is an asymptote - the less you weigh, the less your body burns to move and the less it burns to exist. Overtime, the calories you lose weight on gets closer and closer the calories you need to maintain the body weight you're at.
    You're probably going to want to lose at a slower rate over time too. The leaner you are, the more a high deficit will affect you. An obese person might being losing 2 pounds a week and notice no change in physical hunger - cravings are a bit different - but a person already at a healthy weight may feel like starving all the time to be there.

    MFP will recalculate things for you if you go into settings. Depending on how close you are to goal weight, you probably want to change the rate of lose for MFP to do the calculations.
  • weight3049
    weight3049 Posts: 72 Member
    cathipa wrote: »
    How close are you to a healthy weight/BMI?

    I am about 40 pounds from normal weight. How long does a "diet break" is recommend?
    snickerscharlie wrote: »
    What was your initial rate of loss per week, and what are you experiencing now?

    I usually lose about 5 pounds a month, now I am losing around 2.5 pounds with a 500 calorie deficit and exercise.

  • cathipa
    cathipa Posts: 2,991 Member
    edited February 2020
    weight3049 wrote: »
    cathipa wrote: »
    How close are you to a healthy weight/BMI?

    I am about 40 pounds from normal weight. How long does a "diet break" is recommend?


    So a diet break is essentially eating at maintenance. You aren't gaining or losing, but it can be helpful to give yourself a break from being in a constant deficit. There is no set time period for this. Maybe also consider changing your current calorie goal to 1 pound a week rather than just going straight to maintenance.

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