Is it true that you have to decrease your calorie intake as you lose weight?

[debate507]

I feel like I keep reading about people who hit a plateau have to decrease their caloric intake. For example: their initial caloric intake would be 1700-2000 after they lost 10 lbs and then they would further decrease it to 1300-1500.

I’m 4’11.5 and I’m currently eating 1350 calories. I can’t imagine decreasing it any further once I lose 10 lbs

I haven’t hit a plateau yet but I’m absolutely terrified to because I’m unsure how to overcome it since I’m already working out 5-6 days a week and hit roughly 8-10k steps daily

 

[california1der]

@debate507 Sadly, the math is mathing. Your TDEE will decrease as you lose weight. That being said, you can add more movement/exercise/lift weights to increase your TDEE so that you can eat a reasonable amount of calories and still lose. Plug your weight into a TDEE calculator as you lose to stay on track. Don't get discouraged.

 

[lin]

@california1der I’ve struggled with this as every TDEE calculator I’ve used gives me wildly different numbers. Do you know one that’s very accurate?

I’ve also been using MacroFactor, which I’ve been inputting data into for several months, so it’s basing its assessment of my TDEE of off months of information. But it has my TDEE the highest of any calculator I’ve ever used (2100), all other online calculators tell me it’s anything between 1400-1900, which is a huge range, and nowhere near 2100. I’m really unsure.

 

[graemehoodless]

@lin Did you set a goal/program in MF? It will adjust over time based on your food tracking/weight and your goal deadline. I've noticed my TDEE in MF will swing quite a bit depending on my activity. It can tell when I suddenly start running daily while lifting a lot (my TDEE shot up to 2500 as a 5'1" woman, yay) or when I stopped any exercise besides walking (my TDEE plummeted to 1600, so sad).

 

[promisespromises]

@lin I would trust MacroFactor. It’s using the data you’re tracking (weight and daily caloric intake) to calculate your TDEE.

 

[butterfly2222]

@lin The best way to figure it out as accurately as possible is to track as much data as possible: your caloric intake, your calories burnt and your weight. From these info, you can get a fairly good idea of your TDEE. For your calories burnt from activity, your best bet is to use a smart watch (and assume it exaggerates how much you burn) but you can also write down how much activity you did on a daily basis.

Honestly, I’ve found that the first calculator that pops up on google is pretty close to accuracy (https://tdeecalculator.net/). The thing is, your TDEE varies on daily basis (depending on if you work out or not). Anyway, I’m very diligent with tracking and it’s pretty accurate in my case, but the only way I was able to know is by tracking everything.

 

[intermediary]

@lin I use MacroFactor for the past 60 days and it has my TDEE at 1503. Once I gave in and started working off their number, I started loosing weight at 1350 calories. I feel like it’s pretty accurate.

 

[loveyhwh]

@debate507 Yes it’s true. This is why you never start a cut at super low calories. This is also why holding onto as much muscle mass as possible is important when cutting.

 

[louis2017]

@loveyhwh Whether you start the cut super low or not doesn't make a difference : your rate of loss will be faster (but you will feel hungrier/more uncomfortable). It goes without saying that extreme weight loss is undesirable and counter productive.

 

[loveyhwh]

@louis2017 If she starts super low and hits a plateau she’ll have no where to go. So it’s best to start on as high of calories as possible. Also cutting on higher cals is more beneficial for retention of muscle mass.

 

[louis2017]

@loveyhwh That doesn’t make sense. If she decides to adopt aggressively low calorie targets, the plateau she may eventually hit will be lower than the one she would have hit at less aggressively low targets.

If you start with “sensible” targets, let’s say you plateau at x kg before your goal. You lose weight, and then get to this plateau in a month, let’s say. From then, you decide to adopt the “aggressive” target.

If you start with “aggressive” targets, not only do you not plateau at x kg, you get there in two weeks (for example), and no modification to your target is necessary to get to your goal because the aggressive target is sufficient to induce further weight loss.

It is possible that a further plateau arrives before your goal weight, but as you can see, in both scenarios you would be obligated to adopt “aggressive+” targets to overcome it.

In summary, the only upshot is taking the weight off faster, and the downsides are the hunger, stress and mood levels that you have to deal with.

 

[loveyhwh]

@louis2017 But hunger mood and stress are the reasons people fail at dieting and keeping weight off long term. It has to be sustainable to be successful. The harder the diet, the harder the rebound.

 

[louis2017]

@loveyhwh No argument there, I just wanted to add nuance to your original comment.

 

[angelonline]

@debate507 The smaller you are, the lower your BMR becomes. Theoretically if you are metabolically healthy then your appetite may decrease somewhat to reflect this, and you may find it is more comfortable to eat under 1350 In sedentary days, especially if you eat for volume.

If 1350 is less than your TDEE then you will continue to lose weight as you will be a calorie deficit, albeit a small one. So you also have the option of just slowly but comfortably losing that last bit of weight. It may also make it much easier to transition to maintaining when the time comes.

Yet another option would be to add in some more activity to elevate your TDEE a bit. With that said, bear in mind that fitness trackers tend to overestimate calories burned, so don’t use those as a precise basis to estimate your needs.

 

[benaiah2015]

@debate507 It’s called metabolic adaptation but it’s not as drastic as people assume. It’s unlikely to happen after losing just 10lbs. For people at already low calories, it may be beneficial to increase daily movement a bit instead of cutting more (ex add a couple thousand steps a day average) or really dial in that precision and honesty with consistency with nutrition. In most cases it’s the former that’s more the issue rather than a dramatic adaptation.

 

[amersjo]

@debate507 I've been recomping, building muscle while losing fat, managed to get my TDEE up to 2000 cal even though I've lost about 8.5kgs since sept.

Body fat sitting at 18%. I'm eating at ~1600cals at the moment and losing about 400grams per week. So for me, my TDEE has increased since beginning my recomp, but that's because I'm lifting as heavy as I can and am changing my fat to muscle ratio.

Your TDEE decreases if your muscle decreases with your weight loss. If you can preserve your muscle, or even gain muscle mass while losing, then your TDEE should not decrease so drastically. If you lose significant weight, and don't focus on preserving the muscle you have then your TDEE will decrease.

 

[robbm77]

@debate507 Lifting weights makes a serious difference in your calorie allowance. I'm maintaining at 118 (and 5'1") after a massive 100+ pound weight loss. I've always lifted heavy, and I had some metabolic and other health issues that prevented me from losing any meaningful kind of weight. I kept up the heavy weightlifting during my weight loss period and- while my TDEE did drop- I've been working on body recomposition now that I'm not in a weight loss period. I've managed to get my calories up to between 1600 and 1800 a day without screwing up my progress.

 

[inneed87]

@robbm77 Congrats on the weight loss!

 

[tdagfg2011]

@robbm77 Yeah I think this is super important. I started cutting at 1300-1400 calories but the heavier I lifted, the more I ate (1800 calories) , and I lost even MORE weight actually. It melted off at 1600-1800 calories with consistent weight training. But when I was heavy cardio focused and 1300 ish calories progress was slow and I was hungry. I’ve been eating 2100 ish calories just to see the last 2 weeks and I’ve gained weight. So clearly that’s too much, 1300 was too little. I think my sweet spot for weight loss is 1500-1800 WITH exercise consistently. But when I lost 20 pounds, I actually ate more. For my body it seemed the more I ate the more I lost (with exercise). But if I eat 1800 calories without exercise I’ll go back to my original weight. Hope this makes sense. This is all to say, don’t worry about it if you plan to maintain muscle mass. I know a lot of short girls who maintain weight lifting and eat 2000 calories and stay lean and trim. But if you plan to exercise less or stop after your weight loss, then yes of course you’d need to eat less.

 

[tdagfg2011]

I am 5ft for reference!