Eating more

Ashleys0981

I'm looking for anyone that can help me, I have 100 pounds to lose and I hate that mfp says I should eat 1300 calories. Is there anyone out there that lost a lot of weight by eating more? I workout at least 4-5 times a week.

janejellyroll

Did you put down that you wanted to lose 2 pounds a week? If you make your goal more reasonable, you'll get more calories. Plus, if you're working out, you can eat back the calories you burn through exercise.

Jayco141

Whats your workout plan? How many calories do you burn while working out. Key is being honest with the amount of effort and the amount of time. If your calories needed to use weight is 1300 and you work out...You can eat more. I know you know that... If your using Apps like MFP the only way it works is to be honest with yourself! Good luck!

hiyomi

With a 100 lbs to lose, I'm surprised MFP has your calorie goal that low o.o How much do you weigh now? I've eaten 1600 calories before with 30 mins of daily exercise, and lost about 30 lbs in two and a half months that way. Right now I'm eating about 1300 calories but not exercising, and have lost 13 lbs since March.

AmyRhubarb

I didn't have as much to lose, but I had my best success when I went from minimal cals to 1800-2000 per day. The fat and inches came off & have stayed off because eating more (yet still slightly less than what I burn all day long) has been sustainable for me.

My goal is to eat as MANY calories as I can while still losing weight. It's sustainable, fits into my lifestyle, doesn't leave me feeling hungry or deprived, allows for birthdays, celebrations, vacations, holidays and any other occasion that might be a higher cal day to fit into my goals.

Ashleys0981

Thanks everyone. I have my settings set to losing 2 pounds a week and sedentary. I have been doing that for 6 weeks and lost weight but I'm miserable. I go to the gym 3 times a week and do a HIIT class and the rest of the week I'm walking for 30-60 mins. I would like to eat more but I guess worried that I won't be successful. I have the mindset that if you aren't starving or depriving yourself, you won't lose weight.

rkcampbell

Are you eating back exercise calories? If you are working out you should log those workouts and eat back maybe half your exercise calories.

capaul42

Don't forget, you are supposed to eat back a portion, or all, your exercise calories. It's how MFP's designed.

StacyChrz

Addy09 wrote: »

Thanks everyone. I have my settings set to losing 2 pounds a week and sedentary. I have been doing that for 6 weeks and lost weight but I'm miserable. I go to the gym 3 times a week and do a HIIT class and the rest of the week I'm walking for 30-60 mins. I would like to eat more but I guess worried that I won't be successful. I have the mindset that if you aren't starving or depriving yourself, you won't lose weight.

I have learned over many years of 'diets' that this is a mindset that will set us up for failure. The thing that is keeping me going this time around is remembering that I am making a change in my lifestyle that needs to be sustainable. 1200-1300 calories/day is not sustainable for most people, even small people. I have my settings at 2 lbs./wk as well so I have a 1200 calorie net goal. I eat back pretty much all of my activity calories and sometimes go over and I am losing at a safe pace ( I eat anywhere between 1400-1800 calories gross on average). I would suggest trying to eat back 50% of your activity calories to start with, and add from there to see how you feel.

And remember, 1 meal or even 1 day will not completely undo all of the good work you have been doing. If you go over be sure to log it and move on. You will be happier and healthier for it.

Spliner1969

I set my base goal to what MFP suggested without exercise figured in, and calculated as sedimentary lifestyle. For me that was 1550-1600ish for you 1300. Then I log all my exercise and allow MFP to up the calories I had available day to day. But I figured that my calorie burn estimates using apps were only about 70% accurate, and only allowed myself to eat back half of that.

For instance, I set myself at 2lb loss/week which set me at 1600 calories per day.
I would do 1000 calories a day of exercise
I figured it was really 700 calories a day
I ate back half of those calories, so adding 350 to my calorie goal got me to 1950 a day and I finished my day under my calorie goal.

I lost over 2lb a week and sometimes had to eat more. The only big issue I had doing this was that on my 1 rest day a week I was stuck at the base calories with no exercise. So I would sometimes make it an "active" rest day and do something like a long walk or body weight stuff on my rest day to add a few calories.

A better way, and I wish I had done this before, would probably be to use IIFYM.com's calculator to figure in my weekly exercise and my weight loss goals/macros, then turn off MFP's exercise tracking. Live and Learn, what I did worked for me. But in the end it required eating back some of my exercise calories to be happier in the process. I still lost my weight though.