This new study is saying that after one's diet (or weight loss period) is over, one will still need to eat 300 fewer calories per day than someone of the equivalent size who has not dieted - due to various reasons.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/ar...raight-on.html

That is from the Daily Mail in the UK, they publish contradicting articles about weight loss and diets etc every week so I wouldn't worry too much about what they say it may have some truth to it, but a lot of what they publish is rubbish anyway

Check out the maintenance section of the forum. There's some similar discussion about this.

From what I've read there isn't a number on the exact amount of calories, but formerly obese people generally do need to eat less than those who were never obese.

That is why we emphasize lifestyle changes, not diets. If you go on a heavily restricted plan that won't work for you for life then the chances of keeping your weight off is slim. Weight loss is actually the easy part, maintenance is the more difficult aspect.

Agree 100%.

What a depressing last paragraph. Don't worry too much. Some of those calories have to be attributed to muscles atrophying (they don't mention anything about exercise). And since most people live a sedentary lifestyle, you can make up for those 300 calories via muscle training.

Even if that was true no matter what weight loss method I do (like if I had a lower BMR even with a more moderate cal deficity diet/lifestyle change-whatever people decide to label it vs an extreme diet) the weight loss is worth it to me. For what its worth, I've dieted many times and I find that in my maintenance phase, my BMR was always "average" for a person of my height and weight, not saying that this applies to anyone!

I can't speak for anyone else, but I've yo-yoed several times in my life and have not experienced this phenomenon. I'm now 55 and eat 2,000 calories to maintain my weight. At 16 I needed 2,400 calories. The 400-calorie difference is entirely explainable by age-related metabolic slowdown.

F.

Well yo-yo dieting also encourages muscle loss so each time you lose weight, you lose muscle. From what I've read, age related metabolism slow down is mostly due to muscle loss. You start to lose muscle naturally sometime in your 30s. So the best way to combat it is weight training.

I believe there is never (ok, very very rarely, if ever) something like this that is true for everyone.

I don't let articles discourage me because I was not included in the study personally, and I may very well be special!

I wouldn't worry about that because everybody is different. I would rather have an appt with a nutritionist and have them help me come up with a healthy meal plan that fits my needs. I used to see one when I was in college and they gave me really good advice, they'd break down my meal plans into steps and work around my lifestyle to help me eat healthier. I hope this helps

It's been known for some time that people who have dieted down to a given weight have a lower BMR than those who are "naturally" that weight.

What we don't know is how much of that is adaptation and how much of that is the natural varience in BMR and one of the reasons that person became over weight in the first place.

I hope that this doesn't discourage anyone from losing weight.

yes, maintenance is hard, but the rewards of being at goal/close to goal greatly outweigh the cost.

being obese/overweight comes with a myriad of disease possibilities and carrying the extra weight always caused me physical discomfort and frustration at not being able to physically do the things that i mentally wanted to do.

By the time you reach your permanent maintenance weight, hopefully all of the work and effort and changes you made will already be in place, and it won't be as hard to maintain a little bit of a deficit. If that is even the case. The only way to know for sure is to reach that weight and figure out how many calories it will take to stay there. If you are active and employing weight bearing exercise and strength training, that can only help you as well.

I haven't found this to be true for me. I ended up being able to eat more than many of the online calories-needed calculators estimated for someone with my stats.