Can I eat more than I burn?

fryeralexandra313

Hello

I am looking for advise please!

I now weigh 7 stone 9 and I am 5ft which I am happy with and feel this weight is ideal for me height and age (27). I work out twice a day usually with one day rest and walk 10k steps a day. I burn roughly between 1850-2100 calories a day.

I have upped my calories over the last 4 weeks to 1973 (201g carbs, 65g fat and 146g protein)
However... I feel like my body is used to these calories and over the last 2 days I’ve noticed my body wants more food? If I up my calories and eat more than I burn am I going to gain weight? Ive worked so hard over lockdown to lose weight and then up my calories to start building muscle. I am now 18% body fat and I feel upping my calories will make me go back to square one.

I would really appreciate it if someone could help me please
Thank you, Alexandra

Georgeyrx

Hey! Depending on your goal if you want to lose weight or build muscle you have to adjust your calorie intake. Eating more than you burn this will be classed as a surplus which is great for putting on muscle. Eating less than you burn you’d in a deficit meaning you’ll lose weight.

Georgeyrx

Keep training hard and eating right, you’ll reach your goals/targets.

Lietchi

Eating more than you burn will lead to weight gain, yes. But the question is: how much are you actually burning?
Are you currently maintaining your weight at your current intake level?
The best way to answer your question, is to increase your calorie intake gradually/slightly, and keep an eye on your weight trend. Some people find increasing their intake gradually doesn't lead to weight gain, since their burn also increases slightly (look into reverse dieting).

I don't necessarily advocate listening to your body, since that's how many of us got overweight in the first place, having inadequate appetite cues 🙂

heybales

fryeralexandra313 wrote: »

Hello

I am looking for advise please!

I now weigh 7 stone 9 and I am 5ft which I am happy with and feel this weight is ideal for me height and age (27). I work out twice a day usually with one day rest and walk 10k steps a day. I burn roughly between 1850-2100 calories a day.

I have upped my calories over the last 4 weeks to 1973 (201g carbs, 65g fat and 146g protein)
However... I feel like my body is used to these calories and over the last 2 days I’ve noticed my body wants more food? If I up my calories and eat more than I burn am I going to gain weight? Ive worked so hard over lockdown to lose weight and then up my calories to start building muscle. I am now 18% body fat and I feel upping my calories will make me go back to square one.

I would really appreciate it if someone could help me please
Thank you, Alexandra

If you eat more than you burn - you will gain fat.
That is the fundamental of weight management - eat less, lose fat, eat same, maintain, eat more, gain fat.
Perhaps, just perhaps, with right strength training and just right amount extra - you could put on just muscle - very slowly. Odds are against that unless in a research study getting measured out the whazoo.

Now - add to the mix that how much you eat can effect how much you burn.
Undereating body will slow some things down if it doesn't like the deficit amount for fat reserves left.
Overeating body can cause you to move more and burn more, so you aren't eating more than you burn.

Add to that do you really know how much you are burning to nail that figure so exactly?
No.

Fat is neither lost or gained fast, always do the math.
If you truly ate 100 calories above maintenance (not your paper estimate) each day, it would take 35 days to slowly put on 1 lb of fat - and during that time water weight fluctuations would be more than that.

So you won't be back to square one unless you just turn a blind eye to slow weight gain and measurement gain.
Hence the reason to have a goal weight range - not set figure - drive yourself batty if you attempt that.
And measure the first place you gain fat. 1 lb is usually some decent inches in that first place.

You say building muscle so I'll assume a good progressive strength training workout - those could have gotten better now that you aren't in a diet - and body wants more to repair and recover and build stronger.
So eating more will still not be eating more than maintenance, your daily burn may have easily gone up.

If a woman @ really 18% BF (where did that figure come from?) - that is normally in a range the body will find stressful and fight to get out of, more BF for health reasons for female.

You'll need a month as a woman to discern anything from weight changes of course, so do a trending app, and do monthly measurements.
Perhaps eat 100 more.

Where did the daily burn figure come from?
Near the end of weight loss, rate you lost and amount you ate will give true deficit, which will then give amount you could have started eating more.
Unless workouts changed, then that's out the window.

cmriverside

Only you can run the experiment to find out.

If you are at your weight goal, I would increase calories to 2100 and leave it there for a month and see how you do.


It's really your race to run, so to speak - you have to play the long game and see how much you need to eat by actually doing it.

fryeralexandra313

Thank you so much everyone for replying! I don’t know how to individually thank everyone and respond but to some of your questions. I am using a fitness watch to track my calories, I do measurements once a month and I have two different scales to measure my body (which I know not all these things are accurate) and I do progress pictures etc.

ninerbuff

Georgeyrx wrote: »

Hey! Depending on your goal if you want to lose weight or build muscle you have to adjust your calorie intake. Eating more than you burn this will be classed as a surplus which is great for putting on muscle. Eating less than you burn you’d in a deficit meaning you’ll lose weight.

Well not quite. To build muscle, you have to be on a program specifically that does that. Doing a moderate weight resistance program (where there is no overload) and being in surplus will add on fat.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

westrich20940

Is your 'calorie burn' that you mentioned from just exercise that you do? In that case...you are also burning calories just by living.

Or is that your TDEE?

My suggestion would be to figure out your TDEE (use any calculator you find on Google...but maybe do a couple bc there are numerous formulas and they're all just estimates).

This *should be the amount of calories that you should eat (theoretically) and stay the same weight.

Intuitively...if you're hungry, eat more.

But to answer your question...if you eat MORE calories than your TDEE...theoretically you will gain weight.

psychod787

ninerbuff wrote: »

Georgeyrx wrote: »

Hey! Depending on your goal if you want to lose weight or build muscle you have to adjust your calorie intake. Eating more than you burn this will be classed as a surplus which is great for putting on muscle. Eating less than you burn you’d in a deficit meaning you’ll lose weight.

Well not quite. To build muscle, you have to be on a program specifically that does that. Doing a moderate weight resistance program (where there is no overload) and being in surplus will add on fat.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

Actually, you generally always add fat in a "bulk". The difference is the ratio of muscle to fat. Proper stimulation changes partitioning of nutrients. Really, when someone gains "fat" aka ,just normal weight gain, they gain lean mass as well. The proportion is just higher fat than lean. I agree with @haybales 18% is on the low side for a female. That amount of adiposity might not be a "happy" place for your brain. This might be why you have an increased hunger. Jmho.