What is 'optimum extent' in losing weight?

[MythSpentYouth]

I was just looking at the 'smart BMI calculator' www.smartbmicalculator.com/ as I am trying to maintain a healthy weight after a good loss last year. Because I had been on a 'reduction' diet (basically eating less / fewer calories) , the following advice came up:

When on this diet, it is important to reduce meals to the optimum extent, but not beyond. Too great a reduction could induce the body to consume less energy and store more of it in fat deposits.

What is the optimum extent? How can you tell? What if you need to lose a few more Lbs - how can you continue to lose a bit of weight but not induce lower energy consumption? How do you know if your body is doing that?

It's new jargon for the old idea that if you restrict calories too far, your body goes into 'starvation mode' and you find it harder to lose weight.

This is largely bollocks - it has to be very severe deprivation over prolonged time before there is an effect at all. And even then, the first part of the body's reaction is to become very thin (consuming fat and may be even muscle when fat stores depleted) with changes to metabolic rate being later and lesser (it is nirmalmfir thinner people to,have lower metabolic rates)

TL:DR - this is not something to worry about

In my own experience, if I try to reduce my calories too much, I get insanely hungry & eat everything in sight (under about 1300 cals for me), so I'd say try moving up/down with your calorie levels in 100 cal increments and see what happens... but record it so you can see the patterns

I can lose v well at 1350-1400 or so, dropping more is counterproductive, and to maintain I would AIM to eat 1500-1800 cals a day (realizing that I might end up having more eg if dinner out - a few times a month)

TBH - I think if you weigh regularly and track THAT is the key to maintaining. Whenever I have gained weight its when I have stopped monitoring it

Thank you!

NiceViper that makes sense. I couldn't see how anyone could lose significant weight if the body just stored all food as fat...in which case you would have no energy and wouldn't be able to move!

10k I was losing weight very gradually, about 4-6lbs a month on a managable level of eating, so I can now just be a bit less strict.

And use my new scales every so often.

@MythSpentYouth - maybe make sure to weigh every week/month... I didn't and that's why I'm on this board!!

@10kaDay Thanks for the warning! And good luck!

That's a very good point from @10kaDay

If I don't eat enough lunch, I get hungry at about 3:30 and intention to just have small snack to stave off until dinner almost invariably goes horribly wrong