Setting weight loss goals

[SunsetRunner]

Hello folks -- this is my first time posting, I think, but I've used Fitbit for a while and I'm happy with it so far. I understand how to set up weight loss goals and the different calorie deficit choices to lose .5-2lbs a week. I've lost about 5 pounds so far. But I'm thinking about setting up my goals a little differently at this point to lose weight. I'm currently at 215lbs and would like to drop another 20 lbs to 195. What I'm thinking of doing is inputting my current weight as 195 (actually my goal weight) and setting Fitbit to "Maintain Weight." I assume Fitbit would set my daily calorie intake to support 195 lbs, and that the number of calories would be smaller than the daily calories intake for my actual weight of 215 lbs, and that over time I would lose weight. Is there something I'm not considering? I'm not in any great hurry to lose the weight. Very slowly would be fine.

[Dominique · Accepted solution]

A bit unusual, but I think it should work. You may want to use an online calculator such as this one in order to see the kind of deficit you would create by eating at a maintenance level calculated according to your lower target weight. 

[A_Lurker]

@SunsetRunner- that's basically what this site recommends:  http://www.fat2fittools.com/tools/bmr/

[UVcat]

Yes, as @A_Lurker points out, this is a thing. There are potentially a lot of benefits of setting your calories in goal this way (no "diet" mentality, learning to eat the amount that you will eat at mainentance, etc.). 

Keep in mind that with this approach your deficit will slowly decrease as you approach your goal weight. You might find that when you get close to goal weight, the deficit is so small that it's lost in the noise (we can't be perfectly accurate about how many calories we are consuming and burning) and you essentially stop losing weight. At that point, you might decide to manually drop your calories 100-200 lower to get rid of the last few pounds. 

On the other hand, since one's weight is not a single number (fluctuates day-to-day), it makes more sense to have a maintenance range than a maintenance number anyway. So, maybe you want to set your calorie goal to the maintenance calories at the bottom of your desired range? 

I had about 15-20 pounds to lose when I first got my fitbit and I lost them by just setting a 0.5 lb/week goal (250 cal deficit), but had I known about (or thought of!) this option, I might have tried it. I would be  curious how it ends up working for you!

-UVc