Increasing my calories for better fat loss

CholeRoad

@xxzenabxx
Thank you for the encouragement.

My intention was to bring calories up to 2500 and cut on 2000, however on days where I ate 2300 or so I was stuffed. I got lucky and even though I only spent 2 weeks at 2100 I am losing at around 2000 calories. I find this so amazing and am realizing how crazy cool our bodies are.

cmriverside

I'm really glad you did a diet break and that you're feeling good.

I would just say, you may or may not continue to lose at the current calories. My crazy cool body doesn't turn on a dime, fat wise. What does happen is that food passes through my system on a regular basis and it has weight, so changes in calories lead to less or more food weight and water in my body. That happens when making changes, and it's not a real fat loss.

I'd stick at 2000 (including exercising, not adding more calories on exercise days with 2000) and give that a month. The most important thing is to find that balance, not pick a number and assume it's going to stay static. When I was losing my weight, that was the most confusing part - but I still believe in eating the most food possible and still losing.

What do I win? It's often said in these forums, "She who eats the most and still loses weight, wins."

I preferred the Myfitnesspal method of eating more on exercise days and less on days with no exercise, I liked the variability and the detailed control of it.

CholeRoad

@cmriverside

I kept my calories around 2000 daily for 4 weeks.

22 March
Weight – 73.3kg/161.6lbs
29 March
Weight – 72.8kg/160.2lbs
5 April
Weight – 72.5kg/159.5lbs
12 April
Weight – 73.6kg/161.9lbs
19 April
Weight – 73.0kg/160.6lbs

My average weight stayed around 73.0kg/160.6lbs so I decided to lowered my calories to around 1800 daily.

26 April
Weight – 71.2kg/156.6lbs

My average weight for last week was 72.4kg/159.3lbs.

cmriverside

Cool.

You may or may not lose on 1800 at first, either. At least you know you're in the ballpark. Be consistent with 1800 for the same amount of time and run the experiment.

It's what we all have to do.

CholeRoad

At first I wanted to lose weight as quickly as possible but now I am finding this interesting, taking my time to get to a healthy weight. My weight isn't going up which is the best part and is lower than it was even before I increased my calories. Over the weeks of my weight not really changing, my body got smaller as my clothes are fitting slightly better now. I can also see muscle on my arms and legs, which I am very pleased about.