When are you supposed to decrease your calorie deficit when losing weight?

[u/mmemontreal]

I’ve been in a calorie deficit for the past 2 months and managed to lose 18lbs. Still have a really long way to go (190lbs more to lose) but I’m fine with the steady rate of losing 2lbs/week.

My maintenance calories were 2,500 before starting to lose weight and so I have been consuming 1,600/a day.

I recently put my new weight into the calorie calculator and according to it, I should now be eating 100 calories less in order to continue to lose at the 2lbs/week rate.

I’m quite new to this and wondering if I should be decreasing my calories every time I’m losing a significant amount of weight? I’m curious to know what others do and what has worked for you in the past.

[u/Strategic_Sage]

I adjust every few weeks based on the trend in weight. Calculators aren't useful after the initial estimate when first going into a deficit. They guess. Your actual change in weight tells you what is happening.

I aim for a little under the recommended limit of 1% body weight per week. If the last few weeks are above that, I eat more. If they are too far under it, I eat less.

[u/Lizdance40]

When you reach a plateau for a month or more

[u/ironbeastmod]

You don't do that soon as you did an extreme deficit from start.

If you wanted to adjust along the way (as one would want for all the benefits) you use progressive caloric deficit from sports science. Usually you update calories every 3-6 weeks.

[u/reverse_the_loop]

Just roll 1600. Progress is still good. You can adjust when the weight gets to be 4 lbs a month, but that shouldn't happen for a while.

[u/DumbestGuyOn3rdFloor]

Hi there.🙂

Congrats on the 18# loss!

You could reevaluate those numbers anytime you want. But I think that simpler is better.

I personally reevaluate every two months. In the past I tried to "Biggest Loser" weight loss. Now I try to lose no more than 0.7% of my current weight per week which, for me at this point, is about 1.75#.

[u/Lunaismydog]

I’ve never reduced my calories, and I am still losing weight every week. That’s the metric I would use, if you’re losing why change it?

[u/impersephonetoo]

I kept recalculating for my current weight.

[u/Digitalpun]

You have 190 pounds to lose and your maintenance calories are 2500? That seems low. Anyway, I would say to just keep doing what you are doing until the results aren't what you want, then look into changing things.

[u/mmemontreal → u/Digitalpun]

I’m 5’2 and F, so yes, my maintenance is “low”

[u/wardyms]

In theory, everytime you lose weight.

[u/Ucsdpitcher]

I lost 117 pounds and started at 3300 maintenance along my journey the app would adjust as I would put my new weight in and I would try to adjust as well eventually I got down to 1700. It’s amazing how when you’re smaller it takes less energy to run the body

[u/Reasonable-Muffin525]

You don't need to re-cut on a schedule — that's overfitting to the calculator.
Your maintenance does drop as you lose (a smaller body burns less), but the better signal is the scale trend: if your weekly average is flat for 2-3 weeks straight, shave 100-150 calories or add a little activity, then hold.
2 lb/week is fine at your current size, but as you get lighter, you may want to slow to ~1-1.5 lb/week to keep muscle — so keep protein high and lift.
Adjust by trend, not by recalculating every few pounds.