Why does eating more calories = losing more weight?
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I'm not crash dieting. I've changed the way I eat. I've slowed down. My metabolism is slower , thanks in part to cardiac drugs. I don't know why I'm here either....everyone is telling me what to do...to gain. Sorry for the inconvenience.
I didnt see anyone tell you to gain other than someone suggesting building some muscle.
The purpose of your post leaves a big question mark as to what information you are seeking, for me anyway.
If you gain weight as a semi-active man with 77lbs to lose- on 1500 calories- something is amiss and it appears you are eating more than 1500 calories. *or have a medical issue*
Do you weigh and measure all your food? Do you log activity?
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First of all, my dr. told me I could get by on 1000 calories a day. Yesterday I managed 690. I'm not a big eater, I'm 68 years old, and have very bad knees. I don't exercise because of it. I can ride my bike, except it cripples me for days...but I ride it anyway. I kayak and swim in the summer. I have plenty of energy.....at 1200 calories a day.... I practice (organ) for 3-4 hours per day....I cut split and stack wood by hand and brought home 3 truck loads last Saturday. You are worried about my energy levels and muscle mass or loss of them? I'm not. Then again, I'm not like any of you here. Let's take the testosterone away from the men and see how you function, where your weight goes.....which is one of my reasons for being a bit BLUBBERISH in the first place. Add to it drugs that drag your energy level through the mud, but you're expected to continue to function even though they've slowed you down to a snail's crawl.....and I still get up and get out. 1200 is enough really, really it is....I'm not starving, half of the time I'm not even hungry. My breakfast is my most important meal, followed by a good lunch and a light supper. When I lost 40, that's what I did, and I didn't gain it back either. I'm just trying to do it again, but its more difficult now. Hopefully better heart health and knee health will put me back on skis in the winter (cross country) and I'll be fine.
I suggested in my last reply that talking to your doctor would be good, but it seems to me 1,000 calories for a person as active as you would be too little. My SIL, who is about your age, was told she had to eat 1200 or less to lose weight. I wonder if these doctors tell people this with it in mind that most of us will end up eating more than we realize, especially if we don't weight and log our food? I don't know, your stated intake just seems too little, but I'm not privy to your health issues. Good luck.0 -
chrisssiex23x wrote: »I have this issue aswell and ivw been on it for years lol. I have eat below a 1000 to see a loss or i gain it all back. No joke. Ive tried upping my calories like everyone keep saying on here and i gain back my 3lbs that i lose and regain...
You may regain weight, but you won't regain fat. Upping your calories makes your liver and muscle store glycogen, and they pull in four times as much weight in water to osmotically balance.
So yes, it's normal to see an immediate jump in weight when upping calories, but it certainly won't keep going up, and it's a gain of lean mass, not fat mass.2 -
I would also be very worried about muscle loss. At your age, and I don't mean that in a bad way, purely a medical standpoint, eating at such a low level, I doubt very much you're getting the amount of protein you would need to maintain what muscle you have. You're going to put yourself at risk for weakness, bone loss and potential falls. You need to be very careful with this because when you eat that low you don't lose only fat.
I would too.
Frankly, if my dad talked happily about eating 690 calories or suggested eating below 1200 regularly (or even 1000, ack!), I'd be very worried. Add to that talking so positively about your wife losing 44 lbs (down to 112!) in only 4 months, due to eating difficulties (something that would be terrible for the muscle mass of an older woman), I'd be quite worried about the health consequences of this attitude for both of them. Talk about warning bells.
But it's your life and your choice. I'd recommend talking to an RD, but again, your choice.5 -
lemurcat12 wrote: »I would also be very worried about muscle loss. At your age, and I don't mean that in a bad way, purely a medical standpoint, eating at such a low level, I doubt very much you're getting the amount of protein you would need to maintain what muscle you have. You're going to put yourself at risk for weakness, bone loss and potential falls. You need to be very careful with this because when you eat that low you don't lose only fat.
I would too.
Frankly, if my dad talked happily about eating 690 calories or suggested eating below 1200 regularly (or even 1000, ack!), I'd be very worried. Add to that talking so positively about your wife losing 44 lbs (down to 112!) in only 4 months, due to eating difficulties (something that would be terrible for the muscle mass of an older woman), I'd be quite worried about the health consequences of this attitude for both of them. Talk about warning bells.
But it's your life and your choice. I'd recommend talking to an RD, but again, your choice.
Agreed. I don't mean to be the doomsayer but if this continues I see two very frail elders in the future.
Once you start falling, your risk of death within the next year increases by about 50%. Best not to risk the weakness by starving yourself.2 -
Eating more calories equals losing more weight (up to a point) because you will be able to sustain that diet long term and over the extended time you will end up losing more weight. Not only that but you will be much healthier because you are considerably less likely to lose muscle or run into nutritional issues.
Unless you are morbidly obese losing weight at a pound a week is fast and losing weight at 0.5 a pound a week is reasonable. If you are trying to lose 2 pounds a week when you only have 25 pounds to lose you are going to cause yourself more harm than good really.
1200 calories is unlikely to be "enough for you" long term. You will have issues with hunger and you will also lose muscle eating so little.3 -
Since your NEAT can change in response to the calories you regularly consume, the activity you regularly do, and your age, it is possible to pull your NEAT down by an extended period of inadequate nutrition (which is bad). When your NEAT declines in response to your inadequate nutrition, your expectations of weight loss are disappointed because your calorie deficit is small or nonexistent. From this point you can increase your NEAT by a prolonged period of increasing your nutrition (which is good). If you pull your NEAT up enough to re-establish a weight-losing calorie deficit your expectations of weight loss regain satisfaction and you don't understand how that can happen. It's in the flexibility of your NEAT. The problem is, accurately measuring your NEAT is expensive and difficult and it is a fool's errand to think you can actually control it.0
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I'm not crash dieting. I've changed the way I eat. I've slowed down. My metabolism is slower , thanks in part to cardiac drugs. I don't know why I'm here either....everyone is telling me what to do...to gain. Sorry for the inconvenience.
You still haven't answered if you use a food scale to determine how many calories you are eating.
I'm guessing he doesn't and that he's eating more than 1,200 calories. A lot of people try to eyeball portions and miss completely. My dad was filling a huge bowl with cereal and then saying he ate one serving... it was one serving for him, it just happened to be 3 times the size of an official serving. Most people are terrible at math.
If he is losing weight at the speed he wants and is healthy he must be eating the right amount no matter how many calories he calls it. And he obviously knows it all and wants no help so no problem.3 -
Alluminati wrote: »You are , what you eat. Remember that quote? If it doesn't go in your mouth, it won't go on your *kitten*? My wife had her teeth out recently and dropped from 156 to 112 pounds in as little as 4 months. When you can't take in nourishment.....you lose.
You can also get very sick and, you know, die.
I don't know about you but skinny isn't what I'm going for. I'm going for healthy, fit and nice to look at. You can go in a concentration camp and come out plenty 'skinny', but is that the look you're going for?1 -
I am with all those who say you are eating more than you think you are. Little errors add up very quickly which is why I with many others recommend if a person thinks they are eating the right amount of calories and not losing, that they use a digital kitchen scale to weigh all their solids including those that are grated and ground.
Think it can't make that big of a difference, check out this video:
https://youtu.be/vjKPIcI51lU 4 -
mburgess458 wrote: »I'm not crash dieting. I've changed the way I eat. I've slowed down. My metabolism is slower , thanks in part to cardiac drugs. I don't know why I'm here either....everyone is telling me what to do...to gain. Sorry for the inconvenience.
You still haven't answered if you use a food scale to determine how many calories you are eating.
I'm guessing he doesn't and that he's eating more than 1,200 calories. A lot of people try to eyeball portions and miss completely. My dad was filling a huge bowl with cereal and then saying he ate one serving... it was one serving for him, it just happened to be 3 times the size of an official serving. Most people are terrible at math.
If he is losing weight at the speed he wants and is healthy he must be eating the right amount no matter how many calories he calls it. And he obviously knows it all and wants no help so no problem.
According to his posts, he's 77 pounds overweight and only lost four pounds between mid July and the first week of August. I think that's pretty strong evidence that, whatever he may think, he's eating more than 1200 calories a day.3 -
I registered to this site last week. It was recommended so I decided to give it a try. It took my profile and decided I needed to eat 1500 calories a day. Well doing that and I'm maintaining my present wt. 1200 a day and I lose. I know, I lost 40 pounds two years ago doing 1200 a day. Anything over it and I gain. So far, I lost 3 and now I'm maintaining my present wt....which isn't what the goal is. I have an additional 77 to go. So I changed the parameters this morning. 1200 cal a day which is enough for me. It also had me on 2800 mg.s of sodium. I won't do that at all. I'm no salt, no sugar....so this is going to be interesting for sure. I figure, if you don't put it in your mouth, it won't show up on the scale.
OP...the thing in your post that you're glossing over is that you gained the 40 lbs back, and are having to go on another restrictive diet to lose the same weight again. Obviously the way you are doing it is NOT working or you wouldn't be looking at that 40 lbs again.
If I were new to MFP and just starting out, I would eat what I've been eating for a week and log every morsel to see what I realistically eat to get me overweight. Then I would tweek 250-500 calories per day off of that by looking at ways that I can long term change those habits....long term, that is the most important thing.
I did that 1200 calorie thing for YEARS to lose weight over and over again.
Now at 55 and a 5' 9", 150 lb female I'm eating an average of 1800 calories a day and losing weight. Slowly sure. But...
If you can enjoy the journey, why wouldn't you?
Life is short.
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First of all, my dr. told me I could get by on 1000 calories a day. Yesterday I managed 690. I'm not a big eater, I'm 68 years old, and have very bad knees. I don't exercise because of it. I can ride my bike, except it cripples me for days...but I ride it anyway. I kayak and swim in the summer. I have plenty of energy.....at 1200 calories a day.... I practice (organ) for 3-4 hours per day....I cut split and stack wood by hand and brought home 3 truck loads last Saturday. You are worried about my energy levels and muscle mass or loss of them? I'm not. Then again, I'm not like any of you here. Let's take the testosterone away from the men and see how you function, where your weight goes.....which is one of my reasons for being a bit BLUBBERISH in the first place. Add to it drugs that drag your energy level through the mud, but you're expected to continue to function even though they've slowed you down to a snail's crawl.....and I still get up and get out. 1200 is enough really, really it is....I'm not starving, half of the time I'm not even hungry. My breakfast is my most important meal, followed by a good lunch and a light supper. When I lost 40, that's what I did, and I didn't gain it back either. I'm just trying to do it again, but its more difficult now. Hopefully better heart health and knee health will put me back on skis in the winter (cross country) and I'll be fine.
I suggested in my last reply that talking to your doctor would be good, but it seems to me 1,000 calories for a person as active as you would be too little. My SIL, who is about your age, was told she had to eat 1200 or less to lose weight. I wonder if these doctors tell people this with it in mind that most of us will end up eating more than we realize, especially if we don't weight and log our food? I don't know, your stated intake just seems too little, but I'm not privy to your health issues. Good luck.
Ya, I have two theories about why doctors would suggest such few calories:
1. They don't expect compliance and so low ball
2. The training they get on nutrition in med school is insufficient or doesn't stick
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battyfitch wrote: »I will never understand why people deliberately choose to eat less than MFP recommends. What's the point in signing up if you assume you know better than MFP's research and science-backed algorithms?
Sure, you'll lose weight on 1200 calories. But are those losses safe? Healthy? Sustainable? At some point you'll need to start eating more, and in my experience every time someone starts increasing their calories after doing a low calorie diet, they overindulge and gain it all back because they never changed their relationship with food.
When I first joined about 3-4 years ago (different account), I constantly ate under my goal by about 300 or so daily. Did I lose weight? Sure I did, but I burned out quite fast and gained around of the 100 lost. It's not recommended.
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kshama2001 wrote: »First of all, my dr. told me I could get by on 1000 calories a day. Yesterday I managed 690. I'm not a big eater, I'm 68 years old, and have very bad knees. I don't exercise because of it. I can ride my bike, except it cripples me for days...but I ride it anyway. I kayak and swim in the summer. I have plenty of energy.....at 1200 calories a day.... I practice (organ) for 3-4 hours per day....I cut split and stack wood by hand and brought home 3 truck loads last Saturday. You are worried about my energy levels and muscle mass or loss of them? I'm not. Then again, I'm not like any of you here. Let's take the testosterone away from the men and see how you function, where your weight goes.....which is one of my reasons for being a bit BLUBBERISH in the first place. Add to it drugs that drag your energy level through the mud, but you're expected to continue to function even though they've slowed you down to a snail's crawl.....and I still get up and get out. 1200 is enough really, really it is....I'm not starving, half of the time I'm not even hungry. My breakfast is my most important meal, followed by a good lunch and a light supper. When I lost 40, that's what I did, and I didn't gain it back either. I'm just trying to do it again, but its more difficult now. Hopefully better heart health and knee health will put me back on skis in the winter (cross country) and I'll be fine.
I suggested in my last reply that talking to your doctor would be good, but it seems to me 1,000 calories for a person as active as you would be too little. My SIL, who is about your age, was told she had to eat 1200 or less to lose weight. I wonder if these doctors tell people this with it in mind that most of us will end up eating more than we realize, especially if we don't weight and log our food? I don't know, your stated intake just seems too little, but I'm not privy to your health issues. Good luck.
Ya, I have two theories about why doctors would suggest such few calories:
1. They don't expect compliance and so low ball
2. The training they get on nutrition in med school is insufficient or doesn't stick
I think both are likely suspects, and that (1) is probably particularly common, especially when someone claims already to have not been losing on what should be a deficit. The doctor doesn't care if the counting is right, but just says (in essence) okay, eat less, with the view (correctly) that many people aren't willing to be totally open with their doctors about these things and even those who are often underestimate what they are eating.1 -
For nearly 3 years I've been in deficit. I did WW for 6 months then found MFP. I did 1400 cal at first and lost another 10lbs but after that I started losing extremely slow. I dropped to 1200 then to 1100 or less the last year. At that point I'd lost 40lbs. In March I completely came to a stand still. I had surgery in June so my diet increased to 1500 or less that month. Well I gained 4lbs. I dropped calories back down in July and also started methotrexate for Rheumatoid Arthritis. I was very nauseous so it was easy to not eat. Well, over that month I gained another 3 lbs to my disbelief! Over the last 2 weeks I tried Keto. I tweaked my proteins to 60g carbs to 15g and the rest was fat. It was hard because eating that much fat was difficult for me and the limited carbs and protein made me feel very hungry because I felt empty i guess. Oh and moody! I just got by between 1200-1300 cal. My body felt horrible so I added potassium, magnesium and extra salt due to Keto induced electrolyte imbalance. The experience ended when my hubs took me out for our anniversary dinner. Now since I've been doing this for so long I'm pretty good at it. I'm very strong willed as well. I also weigh and measure my food as not to deceive myself. I drink about 64oz of water a day and keep my carbs usually less than 100g. Since the RA I have is not controlled it is difficult to get standard excersize routine but I do clean, cook and chores every day and walk with my daughter when I can. I put down sedentary as my physical frequency. I also am hypothyroid and my last TSH was .87. I'm exhausted and my hair has thinned as well as constipation. Very classic symptoms. I need to lose 30 more. My doc said drop my calories. I said I've done the 800 cal a day thing intermittently just to kick myself into loss mode but going down further seems extreme to me. I really don't know what else I can do. I'm planning on going to a nutritionist in October. But for now I'm reading about nacent iodine and selenium added to my regiment. I know there are folks who can't believe weightloss won't happen if you drop CI but the fact is it is happening to me right now and I'm petrified! Im going to bump my calories up to 1300-1400 for a week or so then start over AGAIN. I pray I don't gain more! My only hope is to keep going. Keep measuring, weighing, logging. Keep the faith you guys who struggle.0
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@e9196tep I'm not sure if this article would apply to you, but it may help if you want to up your calories and get your weight loss moving again.
http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/refeeds-for-fat-loss-the-science-behind-leptin.html1 -
Down another pound this morning. Doing wood now. Picking up truck loads and dropping them in our back yard. Next I'll pull out the splitting maul and start splitting and stacking. September starts bear season. I shoot a 70 lb. longbow. Muscle mass and strength needed. However I've been shooting it now for 40 plus years. If you don't have muscles, you won't pull it back. I'm doing 1250 calories a day....mostly protein. I ride my bike, I kayak, and I lift wood. I used to lift weights, years ago when working in the hospital. So nothing new here. The only difference is I'm not running in the hospital. I'm retired and home. can't run anywhere anymore. oh well...its not stopping me any. I have plenty of energy, I sleep well (7-8 hours per night), I'm up early out in the garden. Today I'm soliciting businesses for the Lions. Off to a Lions meeting and barbeque tonight. I'm bringing desert....watermelon. Have a nice day!0
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I got sent to a nutritionist 3 times for weight loss and each time, following their plan, I gained. Blew their minds!!0
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You come up with a plan, and everyone tells you that there is something off because it doesn't add up, so instead of looking into that, you go onto a whole woe is me thing about your special circumstance where you don't exercise at all, and you have low testosterone, and a list of other problems, but when someone asks you about your energy because of the low calorie it's all of the sudden but I do bike every day, and kayak, and cut wood, and shoot bow and arrows.
It's ok to admit that you are just calculating your food wrong, nobody is going to hate you for it. You’re eating more than you think, which in your case is good because if you were eating 600-1200 calories every day for somebody your size you would have lost 30-40lbs already in the 2 months since you started this post, and probably wouldn't be feeling very well, but you have lost what 4-7lbs? And don't me wrong this is how a lot of us got fat, we think we are eating way less than we are, until we decided to weigh and measure everything, and notice that the peanut butter we just ate is 600 calories by itself, and then the glass of milk we just drank to wash it down is 175 calories because even though we think we are having one glass of milk, that one glass is a 16oz glass we have in our cabinets.
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