A system and method for producing an image of a subject with a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system using an adaptive gating window with constant gating efficiency is provided. Navigator data is acquired from the subject and used to produce a gating window having a defined gating efficiency value. Image data is acquired with the MRI system while measuring a position of an anatomical location within the subject. Image data is accepted or rejected based on whether the measured anatomical location is within the gating window. The gating window is updated using the measured position of the anatomical location such that a substantially constant gating efficiency value is maintained. Imaging is repeated with the updated gating window, after which the gating window is again updated. When the desired amount of image data has been acquired, an image of the subject is reconstructed.
