Increasing calories to lose weight?

Vickie96

So I've seen a lot of people say that only when they upped their calories their weightloss started again, if you're following MFP calorie goals then is it actually necessary to increase your calories?
I'm trying to understand how that would work but it's quite confusing, could someone explain this please?

malibu927

If you aren't losing weight over a period of several weeks, then you're eating more than you think and increasing your calories is NOT the solution

ogtmama

Eating more does not cause more weight loss.

hollyrayburn

Weight loss is= eating less calories than your body Burns

There's no such thing as starvation mode that most people preach about.

MissusMoon

Personal anecdotes don't trump established science. When people think they are hitting a plateau other changes happen. They tighten up their logging. They buy or remember to use their food scales. They may be adjusting from portion creep because the losses stopped, consciously or not.

demsjtk

As long as you're not undereating and eating less than than the calories you burn, you should be losing weight.

From my personal experience, I ate under 1200 cal in beginning of my weight loss journey. It worked for the first couple of weeks and then my weight wouldn't budge after I lost the first 10 lbs. I also experience malnutrient signs (hair loss, muscle fatigue, and delayed period).

So I started to utilize MFP and follow the recommended 1200 min calorie intake. I got out of my plateau, started losing weight again, plus my period come back.

I think what matters is as long as you're eating healthy (achieve minimum calories/ nutrients and exercise/ keep moving to create more deficit/ increase metabolism), you should be losing weight. Minimum calories suggested depends on your activity level since your body needs more input to helps you burn more calories.

This is just a brief observation that I had. There's a lot to weight loss and each of our body responses differently. There are websites online that helps me discover more to weight loss. I hope this is helpful. Here's one link related to your question.

http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-20163/why-eating-more-not-less-can-help-you-lose-weight.html

distinctlybeautiful

I'd just like to say that MFP doesn't necessarily always get it right. I'm set for maintenance, and even averaging more days over that (like, significantly over) than at or under it, I've slowly lost weight over a year. It's possible I've underestimated my activity level or my calories burnt through lifting, but it's also possible that MFP hasn't accurately calculated what I should be eating.

lauraesh0384

I know people on here will disagree with me, but the scale did start shifting for me again when I had increased my calories and backed off my exercise a bit. I was eating 1800 calories and even dropped down to 1700 and my weight wouldn't budge. I was averaging around 17-20k steps a day. I decided to try and eat back my exercise calories to see what happens and my weight started shifting again. I ate around 2000 calories. I have read a few articles on various websites that if you don't eat enough to fuel your body through daily activities and exercise your body can actually retain water. I do believe that's what occurred with me. Now I'm not saying that's always the case. I'm very OCD when it comes to weighing and logging so I knew it wasn't a matter of my logging not being accurate. In addition, I keep my sodium in check every day so I knew that wasn't the issue.

Maxematics

lauraesh0384 wrote: »

I know people on here will disagree with me, but the scale did start shifting for me again when I had increased my calories and backed off my exercise a bit. I was eating 1800 calories and even dropped down to 1700 and my weight wouldn't budge. I was averaging around 17-20k steps a day. I decided to try and eat back my exercise calories to see what happens and my weight started shifting again. I ate around 2000 calories. I have read a few articles on various websites that if you don't eat enough to fuel your body through daily activities and exercise your body can actually retain water. I do believe that's what occurred with me. Now I'm not saying that's always the case. I'm very OCD when it comes to weighing and logging so I knew it wasn't a matter of my logging not being accurate. In addition, I keep my sodium in check every day so I knew that wasn't the issue.

I'm going to second this as far as body functions are concerned. I'm 5'3" and weigh 112 pounds. Sometimes I wasn't hungry and was pulling 700 calorie deficits but didn't see much of a loss on the scale. Instead I'd retain water and I had terrible insomnia. Now I'm eating 2000+ calories per day and the maximum deficit I'll have is like 300. I sleep better and I have more energy. I've eaten 1000+ calories over on several days recently as well due to a series of back to back work events/parties. I didn't gain any weight at all; in fact I lost half a pound. I'll take that over anything else.