I wish this "eating more" thing would work out indefinitely.

Pearsquared

So, I started out eating 1290 calories per MFP (1 lb. a week), and not eating back my exercise calories. Had fairly decent losses. Net: Approx. 1100 calories.

Had a stressful week, so I started eating back my exercise calories. Had even better losses. Net: 1300 calories.

Injured myself, so I switched to 1/2 lb. a week, which gave me 1450 calories, couldn't exercise, and probably went over by a little bit every week. Didn't gain anything, didn't lose anything. Net: 1550 calories.

Got back into exercising, ate back my exercise calories (eating about 1700 calories), and had a huge loss this week. Net: 1500 calories.

In other words, I have been gradually increasing my calories over the course of these few months, haven't had major changes in exercise, but continue to have good losses. I wish I could keep upping like that, lol, but it's been nice eating so much.

I'm 5'1'', 147.3 as of this morning. (:

Also notched to a new belt hole today.

xeno8604

Excellent progress thus far keep it up

I myself am upping how much i eat to 1800 to 2000 to see what happens. Best of luck to ya

lambchristie

Good for you!

Wish I could wrap my head around the eat more to lose concept...really.

Do you just go into settings and change the calorie goal for the week or leave as is and 'eat over' your goal?

Doesn't it mess with the macros and the exercise goals (well at least that is what I've experienced) as well.

Perhaps I am doing something wrong.

Color me confused.

norahwynn

Nce! That's something for me to think about. Honestly right now, I find it very difficult to make my 1500 goal. And with all this feedback, I'm pretty sure that if I did at least do that, I'd lose weight faster.

Maybe adding a bit a week will be easier than just adding 200 more calories all at once. Genius!! :flowerforyou:

Pearsquared

Nce! That's something for me to think about. Honestly right now, I find it very difficult to make my 1500 goal. And with all this feedback, I'm pretty sure that if I did at least do that, I'd lose weight faster.

Maybe adding a bit a week will be easier than just adding 200 more calories all at once. Genius!! :flowerforyou:

Yes, definitely do a little at a time. (: Eventually, you'll get used to the extra calories, and your body will thank you for them.

Eleanorjanethinner

I guess it goes to show that everyone's different. I found that I just didn't lose weight after several weeks on the 'lose 1 pound a week thing'. It has to be set to lose 2 pounds or I don't lose a bit.

Part of that is psychological - when I felt like I was cruising, I wasn't as commited to resisting temptation.

Also, I think I need to aim lower to make up for inaccuracies in weighing, measuring, logging etc. plus I think MFP gives you way too many calories back for gentle exercise like walking. (Nothing wrong with walking, I do it as my only form of exercise at the moment).

Siege_Tank

Good for you!

Wish I could wrap my head around the eat more to lose concept...really.

Honestly, I think the eat more concept is grounded in the fact that when people cut too many calories, they tend to overportion or mini-binge at meals, having one or two more forkfulls of food than they calculated or weighed. So in reality their cut wasn't as strict as they thought, and by setting more reasonable goals for themselves

(not everyone can cut calories at a steep rate, some of us have lives you know)

They were able to stick to their plan in a more complete way.

I mean, if your goal is to eat lots of protein, but you work in an office job setting.. where are you going to get the chicken or meat for your meal? unless you bring it from home, meat is really expensive. Conversely, carbs are cheap. It's easy to see why a lot of people struggle. Protein with vegetables fills you up like none other, while snacky carbs can be eaten by the bag full before you ever get close to full.

Pearsquared

Good for you!

Wish I could wrap my head around the eat more to lose concept...really.

Do you just go into settings and change the calorie goal for the week or leave as is and 'eat over' your goal?

Doesn't it mess with the macros and the exercise goals (well at least that is what I've experienced) as well.

Perhaps I am doing something wrong.

Color me confused.

With me, I went to My Home > Goals > Change goals, and I used the guided one and just set it to 1/2 lb. a week instead of a pound. All the other changes I had were from exercise, since I started eating those back. I think if you do it manually after clicking "change goals" you can set it to whatever you want.

dmorinn

That's because you're not eating anywhere close to enough and your diet is horrible

I weight 110 and I'm 5'6 and I eat over 1700 calories a day.

You have to calculate your BMR and don't go by what MFP says because they're calculations aren't always accurate.

When you deprive yourself of food, your body thinks you're starving yourself so it stores a lot of the food you eat as fat. I used to only eat 1200 cals a day, and my weight stayed the same and I wasn't seeing any results, once I started eating more I drastically dropped body fat and gained muscle.

You also have to be eating the right maco's, keep it around 40% carbs, 30% protein and 30% fat. I looked at your diary and your diet is.... not the greatest, no wonder you're not loosing weight. You should be eating over 120 grams of protein a day... you eat no meat, fruit/vegetables and everything else is processed, chocolate, cereal, jello? There's your answer.

Oh ya and stop doing steady state cardio, because your body just burns carbs and muscle, not fat. Either do HIIT and start lifting weights. Give it time, it takes a while to start seeing results, but you need to start eating better or you won't be seeing results anytime soon.

Mario_Az

good job reverse dieting

Pearsquared

I guess it goes to show that everyone's different. I found that I just didn't lose weight after several weeks on the 'lose 1 pound a week thing'. It has to be set to lose 2 pounds or I don't lose a bit.

Part of that is psychological - when I felt like I was cruising, I wasn't as commited to resisting temptation.

Also, I think I need to aim lower to make up for inaccuracies in weighing, measuring, logging etc. plus I think MFP gives you way too many calories back for gentle exercise like walking. (Nothing wrong with walking, I do it as my only form of exercise at the moment).

That's how I figured out that I could eat more and continue to lose - I was cruising because of my injury and stress. xD

That's all I do too, is walk. I do say I walk 2.5 mph instead of 3.5 (which is probably closer to my pace) to help with the overestimating MFP tends to do.

Pearsquared

That's because you're not eating anywhere close to enough and your diet is horrible

I weight 110 and I'm 5'6 and I eat over 1700 calories a day.

You have to calculate your BMR and don't go by what MFP says because they're calculations aren't always accurate.

When you deprive yourself of food, your body thinks you're starving yourself so it stores a lot of the food you eat as fat. I used to only eat 1200 cals a day, and my weight stayed the same and I wasn't seeing any results, once I started eating more I drastically dropped body fat and gained muscle.

You also have to be eating the right maco's, keep it around 40% carbs, 30% protein and 30% fat. I looked at your diary and your diet is.... not the greatest, no wonder you're not loosing weight. You should be eating over 120 grams of protein a day... you eat no meat, fruit/vegetables and everything else is processed, chocolate, cereal, jello? There's your answer.

Oh ya and stop doing steady state cardio, because your body just burns carbs and muscle, not fat. Either do HIIT and start lifting weights. Give it time, it takes a while to start seeing results, but you need to start eating better or you won't be seeing results anytime soon.

Wait, what? I am seeing results. I lost 2 lbs. this week. O.o Not to mention the other 31 I've lost.

Pearsquared

Oop, double post.

mommy3457

So, I started out eating 1290 calories per MFP (1 lb. a week), and not eating back my exercise calories. Had fairly decent losses. Net: Approx. 1100 calories.

Had a stressful week, so I started eating back my exercise calories. Had even better losses. Net: 1300 calories.

Injured myself, so I switched to 1/2 lb. a week, which gave me 1450 calories, couldn't exercise, and probably went over by a little bit every week. Didn't gain anything, didn't lose anything. Net: 1550 calories.

Got back into exercising, ate back my exercise calories (eating about 1700 calories), and had a huge loss this week. Net: 1500 calories.

In other words, I have been gradually increasing my calories over the course of these few months, haven't had major changes in exercise, but continue to have good losses. I wish I could keep upping like that, lol, but it's been nice eating so much.

I'm 5'1'', 147.3 as of this morning. (:

Also notched to a new belt hole today.

I'm so glad we are friends! That is excellent advice!

bubblygoldfish

*[/quote]

That's all I do too, is walk. I do say I walk 2.5 mph instead of 3.5 (which is probably closer to my pace) to help with the overestimating MFP tends to do.
[/quote] *

I underestimate my walking speed too, to better compensate for the MFP exercise counter.

deksgrl

Oh ya and stop doing steady state cardio, because your body just burns carbs and muscle, not fat. Either do HIIT and start lifting weights. Give it time, it takes a while to start seeing results, but you need to start eating better or you won't be seeing results anytime soon.

Wait, what? I am seeing results. I lost 2 lbs. this week. O.o Not to mention the other 31 I've lost.

You could do 20 minutes of HIIT Training and get better results than an hour of straight cardio.

Siege_Tank

That's because you're not eating anywhere close to enough and your diet is horrible

I weight 110 and I'm 5'6 and I eat over 1700 calories a day.

You have to calculate your BMR and don't go by what MFP says because they're calculations aren't always accurate.

When you deprive yourself of food, your body thinks you're starving yourself so it stores a lot of the food you eat as fat. I used to only eat 1200 cals a day, and my weight stayed the same and I wasn't seeing any results, once I started eating more I drastically dropped body fat and gained muscle.

You also have to be eating the right maco's, keep it around 40% carbs, 30% protein and 30% fat. I looked at your diary and your diet is.... not the greatest, no wonder you're not loosing weight. You should be eating over 120 grams of protein a day... you eat no meat, fruit/vegetables and everything else is processed, chocolate, cereal, jello? There's your answer.

Oh ya and stop doing steady state cardio, because your body just burns carbs and muscle, not fat. Either do HIIT and start lifting weights. Give it time, it takes a while to start seeing results, but you need to start eating better or you won't be seeing results anytime soon.

Not sure if troll or serious...

You burn X amount of calories by existing each day. In the lone starvation study that was done during WWII, the subjects all had *ahem* "starvation mode". Their BMR's decreased by about 20%. That's it. You DO see a reduction, but that's with people who already have a low bodyfat percentage, undereating by HALF their daily needs, for MONTHS.

one diet is not better or worse than another, so no, 40/30/30 is not the only way to do it. If she's able to eat at her calorie goals for the day without having to lean on high volume, low cal foods, why do you care?

So, if I undereat, the food I *do* eat will be stored as fat? You've discovered the secret to Sumo Wrestlers and how they gain SO much weight!!! They're chronically undereating!!!

Steady state cardio burns muscle....

*facepalm*

18guyhornet

Yay for you!!! You discovered what works for you so stick with it. Don't be surprise though that as you loose a little more you'll have to tweek it a bit more.

I stopped eating for loss so I could try to reset myself and and put on muscle. . . I guess a bulking phase. Gained 10 pounds in 4 months. Now I'm eating less than I was in my bulk phase but more than I was before (2000 a day v. 1750) and I'm loosing weight (5 lbs in 2 weeks). I'm all for eating more to lose. Well done!!!!

Trilby16

Well, there has to be an upper limit, right? Like when you reach the same amount of calories that made you fat in the first place, you'll probably stop "losing more."

Pearsquared

Oh ya and stop doing steady state cardio, because your body just burns carbs and muscle, not fat. Either do HIIT and start lifting weights. Give it time, it takes a while to start seeing results, but you need to start eating better or you won't be seeing results anytime soon.

Wait, what? I am seeing results. I lost 2 lbs. this week. O.o Not to mention the other 31 I've lost.

You could do 20 minutes of HIIT Training and get better results than an hour of straight cardio.

I ENJOY walking. I do NOT enjoy gym exercises. Guess which one I'll stick with? I work a 9-5, am single, and have no children. What's an extra half-hour sacrificed to do something that helps me de-stress and gets the heart rate going at the same time? Why should I "save" an extra half-hour when I'm dreading the activity coming up, even if it is more "efficient"?

I mean, seriously. Buzzkill.

Pearsquared

Well, there has to be an upper limit, right? Like when you reach the same amount of calories that made you fat in the first place, you'll probably stop "losing more."

Yeah, that's why I said I wished it worked out indefinitely, lol. I will eventually hit that upper limit, but it's good to know the "upper limit" wasn't 1300 calories. xD

deksgrl

You could do 20 minutes of HIIT Training and get better results than an hour of straight cardio.

I ENJOY walking. I do NOT enjoy gym exercises. Guess which one I'll stick with? I work a 9-5, am single, and have no children. What's an extra half-hour sacrificed to do something that helps me de-stress and gets the heart rate going at the same time? Why should I "save" an extra half-hour when I'm dreading the activity coming up, even if it is more "efficient"?

I mean, seriously. Buzzkill.

That's fine then, if you enjoy it. Most people think you have to sweat your *kitten* off on the elliptical for an hour, just pointing out that it isn't necessarily the most efficient.

pandabear7486

Check out BMR & TDEE here

http://theskinnyequation.blogspot.com/p/weight-loss-calculators.html

Try eating at least at the BMR and no more than around 80% tdee. Use a lightly active setting and eat back exercise and you should still see a loss.

Besides this last week where I haven't logged anything, exercised at all, nor cared what went in my mouth, I was losing following that.

kgraves3

That's really great! I keep my calories pretty low, when I take them up I don't really notice any benefit. In fact, I tend to feel a bit sluggish. It's good that you've found a routine that works for you.

And just by the way, if someone is telling you that you're not seeing result because you aren't doing something right, when in fact you ARE seeing results, they clearly don't know what they hell they're talking about. Don't worry about it. There are a lot of people here who are convinced that their way is THE way. Also a lot of people who seem to think that not eating certain sorts of food (jell-o for instance) is the secret, when in reality there is no secret to weight loss. It is in reality very logical and mathematical. If you're seeing good results and you aren't suffering from malnutrition, then more power to you.

ncmedic201

Great job! I've been working on increasing mine slowly. It has made a huge difference! I'm going to bump up to 1700 next week.

ncmedic201

That's because you're not eating anywhere close to enough and your diet is horrible

I weight 110 and I'm 5'6 and I eat over 1700 calories a day.

You have to calculate your BMR and don't go by what MFP says because they're calculations aren't always accurate.

When you deprive yourself of food, your body thinks you're starving yourself so it stores a lot of the food you eat as fat. I used to only eat 1200 cals a day, and my weight stayed the same and I wasn't seeing any results, once I started eating more I drastically dropped body fat and gained muscle.

You also have to be eating the right maco's, keep it around 40% carbs, 30% protein and 30% fat. I looked at your diary and your diet is.... not the greatest, no wonder you're not loosing weight. You should be eating over 120 grams of protein a day... you eat no meat, fruit/vegetables and everything else is processed, chocolate, cereal, jello? There's your answer.

Oh ya and stop doing steady state cardio, because your body just burns carbs and muscle, not fat. Either do HIIT and start lifting weights. Give it time, it takes a while to start seeing results, but you need to start eating better or you won't be seeing results anytime soon.

That's great that you found what works for you, but don't try and dictate what type of exercise and macros others should do. Not everyone enjoys the same thing. Some of us actually ENJOY our steady state cardio.

gypsyrose64

Congrats on your success! I've been at this since last October (rather unsuccessfully) and track my numbers on a spreadsheet daily. Started at 1200 and did ok for a a few months until the scales stuck at 214. Bounced around for months looking for the magic number to get me off that number. I recently said "screw it" and changed my goals to 1900 maintenance and decided I'd go a month not stressing over this. I ate between 1500-1900 a day for July and lost 3 lbs and 8 inches!

Of course I'm eating healthy stuff (most of the time) and trying to keep carbs around 150/day.... but I think it's sometimes easier on the body to create a calorie deficit from BURNING cals, while refueling. Everyone is different... you have to figure out what works for you.

NikiChicken

[/quote]
I ENJOY walking. I do NOT enjoy gym exercises. Guess which one I'll stick with? I work a 9-5, am single, and have no children. What's an extra half-hour sacrificed to do something that helps me de-stress and gets the heart rate going at the same time? Why should I "save" an extra half-hour when I'm dreading the activity coming up, even if it is more "efficient"?


[/quote]

This is me exactly - well sort of - I have a child and I walk or hike early in the morning. It's still a de-stressing time for me. I use it to clear my head, relax a little and get my heart going. I have tried the gym thing. I HATE it! HATE. it. Even if walking is less "efficient" the fact that I will stick with it is far more important.

mandeenicoleb

I wish I could up my gradually forever and ever and eat whatever, whenever lol

I'm around 1,700 now, will eventually boost that up, but yes it definitely feels good

Tessyloowhoo

On my first week of eating TDEE-25% which is about 1,500 (used to eat around 1,100) and already lost as much as i did all of July!!

firstsip

That's because you're not eating anywhere close to enough and your diet is horrible

I weight 110 and I'm 5'6 and I eat over 1700 calories a day.

You have to calculate your BMR and don't go by what MFP says because they're calculations aren't always accurate.

When you deprive yourself of food, your body thinks you're starving yourself so it stores a lot of the food you eat as fat. I used to only eat 1200 cals a day, and my weight stayed the same and I wasn't seeing any results, once I started eating more I drastically dropped body fat and gained muscle.

You also have to be eating the right maco's, keep it around 40% carbs, 30% protein and 30% fat. I looked at your diary and your diet is.... not the greatest, no wonder you're not loosing weight. You should be eating over 120 grams of protein a day... you eat no meat, fruit/vegetables and everything else is processed, chocolate, cereal, jello? There's your answer.

Oh ya and stop doing steady state cardio, because your body just burns carbs and muscle, not fat. Either do HIIT and start lifting weights. Give it time, it takes a while to start seeing results, but you need to start eating better or you won't be seeing results anytime soon.

You didn't read the post at all, did you?

OP, good on you for this post. It was a very pleasant way to highlight that gradual upping of calories is a great way to get closer and closer to healthier calories and STILL lose weight.

You had some wishful thoughts with "I hope this things works out indefinitely," and I think you might be pleasantly surprised. Many people find their losses continue even when they go to maintenance with gradual upping of calories.