do you burn more calories when you lose weight??? or does it get harder to lose calories faster as you lose weight??? I know it's confusing I'm just wondering if someone has the answer....

Hmmm...from what I've seen, read, etc..the more weight you have the faster you lose it at first. For example, if someone weighed around 200lbs, like me I would lose 10lbs faster than someone who weighed 125lbs. The more you lose the slower it gets. I'm thinking maybe a person who weighs more burns more cals from carrying the weight. Good grief, I feel like I"m sounding really uneducated. Please someone who really knows their stuff respond and set me straight too. I just know I've always lost faster when I'm heavier. When I get smaller it slows down. I hope I didn't confuse you more...or give you the wrong answer which is possible also, hee hee.

yep, more or less what butterfly said. If you're just losing fat, then you'll burn fewer and fewer calories doing what you normally do as you get smaller, so below 200, weight loss can get pretty slow.

However, if your weight loss is mostly because you've been working out and now you've gained a bunch of muscle, then that will help you keep burning a lot of calories and losing at a pretty quick rate.

i have nothing to base this on, but perhaps it works more in terms of percentage? So someone who weighs 200 pounds loses 10% of their body weight just as fast as someone who weighs 125 pounds, but 10% of 200 pounds is more than 10% of 125 pounds?

Everyone is accurate. A person at 300 pounds burns more calories just existing than someone at 200 pounds, and someone at 200 burns more than someone at 150. The reason is because your body is carrying around your weight. If you weigh a larger amount your body has to work harder just to exist to carry your weight around.

At my weight (232lbs) I burn 1843 calories just existing. Whereas a female of the same age, and height as me who weighs 150 pounds burns 1486 calories by existing. Look here to figure yours out.

The best way to work with this is to start out with a higher caloric intake (You don't want to start out at 1300 calories and find it impossible to decrease your calories as you lose weight and your body gets adjusted to your calorie intake) and a lighter workout regimen. As you start to lose weight, decrease your calories, and improve your workout regimen.

Thanks for that calculator Gretchy!! That's really interesting, and something that I've wondered about for awhile!

Also, the more weight you lose the more efficient your body becomes. Check out the maintainer's section - they have some great stickies about that very topic.

So when you lose weight, you need less calories just to exist as a smaller person, and your body becomes more efficient using those calories. On the plus side, losing 5lbs is much more noticeable when you're smaller!

It also depends on how much muscle you have (men tend to burn more calories just living), and how old you are.

Gretchy Thanks good info! I just figured out mine and my BF's!

That's awesome, thanks a lot guys!

That calculator was really neat!! Good luck lora!

I'm just adding layers of information/confusion so feel free to skip it if you want.

Another thing to keep in mind is that if you're exercising, your body gets more efficient over time... both in that particular exercise (ex. running, biking) and in general getting-blood-and-oxygen-to-the-right-places type stuff. Therefore, as you get fitter, you'll burn LESS calories doing the same exercise at the same speed/resistance/etc. Most people will handle this without consciously thinking about it, by bumping up the mph on the treadmill or whatnot as they FEEL able to do more, so that's not really a problem.

One caveat is that building muscle means you'll burn slightly MORE calories -- muscle burns more calories than an equal amount of fat just during day-to-day activities (it takes more resources to maintain). It may not be a noticeable difference, but it's just another reason that strength training is important!!

ditto mayness - I remember reading it somewhere too that you need to keep varying your exercise to avoid your body becoming efficient at your usual routine

Good luck