Eating more to lose more?

3dogsrunning

cwolfman13 wrote: »

DaniettaF wrote: »

I keep hearing that you need to eat more calories to lose weight, and that eating only 1300 is 'insane'.

I'm a sedentary individual due to my office based job during the day and studying in the evening but I workout twice a week moderate/high intensity for 90 minutes at my kickboxing classes. These include cardio, strength training and boxing technique conditioning. I've (under) estimated that I burn about 500 calories. I also have 30 minute walks when I can.

If I follow the guidelines that MFP set, I seem fine, I'm losing slowly because I don't always hit my calorie goal, which I'm fine with, but would I be losing more if I ate more? To me that sounds silly and 'calories in calories out' is the truth.

When people say that they need to eat more to lose, do they counteract it with more exercise?
Does anyone here have experience with it?

It's more of a curiosity thing than anything else.

There's a couple of things at play here. First off, when these people say this, they're still talking about being in a deficit...just a smaller one. For many, this has the benefit of greater dietary adherence...for most people, adhering to a modest 500 or 250 calorie deficit is going to be much easier than adhering to an aggressive 1,000 calorie deficit. So basically this leads to greater consistency...less "falling off the wagon" or binging or having cheat meals or cheat days, etc...and because they're more consistent they ultimately lose weight and a more consistent rate and thus over time often lose more.

Additionally, a more modest deficit is going to obviously provide for more energy...more energy means that people will be more inclined to move more and I often see people with, for example, a 500 calorie deficit in their diet lose more than they anticipated simply because they're moving more than they were with a more aggressive deficit...couple that with dietary adherence and over the long haul people "lose more."

I can tell you from experience, I have a buddy who started this whole thing with me about 4 years ago...I've lost all of my weight and have been in maintenance for over three years now and just rocking my fitness...he's basically still in the same place he was when we started because he reaches for the most aggressive goal possible and just can't stick to it consistently...he'll do ok and then he'll binge or have a whole cheat weekend or something and after a matter of weeks or a couple months he throws in the towel only to start up again a month or two later...and so on and so forth for the past four years.

Beyond that, aggressive energy deficits are just a huge stress on the body...particularly when you couple that with a whole bunch of exercise that doesn't get fueled. This increased stress raises cortisol levels and messes with a bunch of other hormones that can impede weight loss...it isn't "starvation mode" but hormones do play a role in losing weight and when you jack with them you're going to have some frustrating times.

I think if you're a sedentary person, you're probably just fine with where you are at.

I wanted to come back here and say all of this but he beat me to it. And said it better than I would.

The other thing I think can be at play here is that some people may have a tendency to sneak food, even just bites here and there, and not log it, particularly when on a small calorie goal. I do think that with a larger calorie goal people may become a little more honest. That also goes hand in hand with sneaking food out of hunger.

3dogsrunning

WinoGelato wrote: »

Christine_72 wrote: »

So the gist is eat more volume, but less calories.

That's not the gist at all of what I and others are saying. Some people may be saying that, but my point, in case it isn't clear:

Set a modest deficit such that you can lose weight in a slow, sustainable fashion, fueling your exercise, preserving lean body mass, and making the process as painless as possible.

AKA - "The Winner is the person who eats the most and still loses the weight".

And this.

There is an Eat More to Lose Weight group that explains the whole idea around it.

alanlmarshall

Starvation mode is a myth.

If you eat more calories, you will weigh more over time. This is an incontravertible fact.

There are other possible good reasons to eat more calories and lose fat at a slower rate. Eating more to lose more is not one of them.