Am I missing something?

lauren3101

It's not always as simple as that. I used to eat 1800 calories a day, I stopped seeing losses. I lowered it to 1500 - 1600 a day, I saw a little loss, then stopped again. I finally read the EMTLW and upped it to 2000 - 2200 and started losing again. It's not always that they eat too much.

I also see plenty of 'I eat 1200 calories a day and exercise off 600, why am I not losing weight?' threads. Are you suggesting these people lower their calories even more?

Or the people that eat at a healthy deficit, yet when you look at their food diary they are eating triple the amount of recommended sodium a day?

Or the people that have started a new exercise regime recently and can't work out why they have gained weight?


You are correct, there are a lot of people that do simply eat too much or not weigh things, and weight loss IS generally simple - when you know what you are doing. And people don't always know what they are doing, which is why more experienced MFP members are kindly there to give them some advice.

Nope. It's pretty much calories in, calories out. If you really upped your calories by that amount and are losing weight, you must have increased your exercise. Because. You know. Physics and stuff.

Perhaps you should pop over to the EMTLW forum and speak to some of the people on there. I did not up my exercise. Too large a deficit can be detrimental to weight loss, it all depends on your bodys stress levels.

Yes, a VLCD will cause dietary stress. But you were eating 1800 calories a day, which is far from a VLCD. But, since you are sticking by your mantra:

It doesn't have to be VLC. Everyones body has different levels of stress. :huh:

When I finally worked out my TDEE to be around 3000 calories a day, it was apparent that a 1200 calorie a day deficit made me lose initially, and then I plateaued. Too much stress on MY body.

We might not be special snowflakes, but although it may be difficult for you to comprehend, our bodies are not all entirely the same.

What is apparently difficult for you to comprehend, is that actually our body's are all the same. We lose weight during calorie restriction. What is likely is that you hit a normal plateau while eating 1800/ day, decided to up your calories because you were convinced that the plateau was caused by not getting enough calories (sigh) and then continued to lose weight, because 2000 is still enough of a deficit for you to do so. If you had stayed at 1800, you still would have continued to lose weight, because of...you know. Physics, thermodynamics and calories in, calories out. Because I assure you, those starving people in Africa did not reach their state by INCREASING their calorie consumption.

The simplest explanation is really the only one required. Occam's Razor, etc.

Think you kinda missed the point there. Actually, I think you deliberately ignored it. Our bodies work the same yes, but I never questioned that, as you well know. If we were all exactly the same, we would all have to eat the same amount to lose weight, wouldn't we?

I was actually advised to up my calories when I sought advice from a long standing, respected member of this website. Before I upped my calories, I felt tired, drained, and irritated, and I hadn't lost weight for two months. I upped my calories, had an initial couple of lb gain, then lost that and more, and have lost regularly since. My energy levels improved. I actually lost more weight per week on average than I did at the lower calorie level.

There are plenty of people on here with the same experience. You can think and post as many gifs as you like, it doesn't stop the fact that this is what happened to me. I'm not trying to say it would work for everyone, or that everyone is making the same mistake as I did. My point is that people don't always lose weight because they aren't logging accurately.

lauren3101

It's not always as simple as that. I used to eat 1800 calories a day, I stopped seeing losses. I lowered it to 1500 - 1600 a day, I saw a little loss, then stopped again. I finally read the EMTLW and upped it to 2000 - 2200 and started losing again. It's not always that they eat too much.

I also see plenty of 'I eat 1200 calories a day and exercise off 600, why am I not losing weight?' threads. Are you suggesting these people lower their calories even more?

Or the people that eat at a healthy deficit, yet when you look at their food diary they are eating triple the amount of recommended sodium a day?

Or the people that have started a new exercise regime recently and can't work out why they have gained weight?


You are correct, there are a lot of people that do simply eat too much or not weigh things, and weight loss IS generally simple - when you know what you are doing. And people don't always know what they are doing, which is why more experienced MFP members are kindly there to give them some advice.

Nope. It's pretty much calories in, calories out. If you really upped your calories by that amount and are losing weight, you must have increased your exercise. Because. You know. Physics and stuff.

Perhaps you should pop over to the EMTLW forum and speak to some of the people on there. I did not up my exercise. Too large a deficit can be detrimental to weight loss, it all depends on your bodys stress levels.

Yes, a VLCD will cause dietary stress. But you were eating 1800 calories a day, which is far from a VLCD. But, since you are sticking by your mantra:

It doesn't have to be VLC. Everyones body has different levels of stress. :huh:

When I finally worked out my TDEE to be around 3000 calories a day, it was apparent that a 1200 calorie a day deficit made me lose initially, and then I plateaued. Too much stress on MY body.

We might not be special snowflakes, but although it may be difficult for you to comprehend, our bodies are not all entirely the same.

What is apparently difficult for you to comprehend, is that actually our body's are all the same. We lose weight during calorie restriction. What is likely is that you hit a normal plateau while eating 1800/ day, decided to up your calories because you were convinced that the plateau was caused by not getting enough calories (sigh) and then continued to lose weight, because 2000 is still enough of a deficit for you to do so. If you had stayed at 1800, you still would have continued to lose weight, because of...you know. Physics, thermodynamics and calories in, calories out. Because I assure you, those starving people in Africa did not reach their state by INCREASING their calorie consumption.

The simplest explanation is really the only one required. Occam's Razor, etc.

stop lying, we all know that the boney, skinny "starving" people in africa got that way from increasing thier calories... if they were truely starving, they would be gaining weight and holding onto fat!

You keep throwing around 'starvation mode'; yet that term has not been used once in this thread. Starvation mode is completely misunderstood and more often than not used incorrectly.

peasantsong

Again, giving full explanations is done to educate the OP and lurkers. It helps to dispel the myths and inaccuracies surrounding weight and fitness management. That is all.

This is also a great point. I definitely think it is important to understand how easy it is to miscalculate what you're eating.

The thing that really bothers me the most and what kind of inspired this thread is one I read recently where a girl said she is in maintenance and her weight is slowly creeping up. The responses were things like "you're eating too little" (What?! How does that even make sense?!) or "You're not measuring/calculating your exercise properly - here check out this way too complicated formula for calculating your TDEE/BMR/Whatever". It seems to me the simplest answer is "Oh, your weight is slowly creeping up while you're in maintenance? Cut a few hundred from what you're eating now until you stop gaining."

I will never understand the people who tell others they're not losing or they're gaining weight because they're eating too little. That defies logic.

QuietBloom

It's not always as simple as that. I used to eat 1800 calories a day, I stopped seeing losses. I lowered it to 1500 - 1600 a day, I saw a little loss, then stopped again. I finally read the EMTLW and upped it to 2000 - 2200 and started losing again. It's not always that they eat too much.

I also see plenty of 'I eat 1200 calories a day and exercise off 600, why am I not losing weight?' threads. Are you suggesting these people lower their calories even more?

Or the people that eat at a healthy deficit, yet when you look at their food diary they are eating triple the amount of recommended sodium a day?

Or the people that have started a new exercise regime recently and can't work out why they have gained weight?


You are correct, there are a lot of people that do simply eat too much or not weigh things, and weight loss IS generally simple - when you know what you are doing. And people don't always know what they are doing, which is why more experienced MFP members are kindly there to give them some advice.

Nope. It's pretty much calories in, calories out. If you really upped your calories by that amount and are losing weight, you must have increased your exercise. Because. You know. Physics and stuff.

Perhaps you should pop over to the EMTLW forum and speak to some of the people on there. I did not up my exercise. Too large a deficit can be detrimental to weight loss, it all depends on your bodys stress levels.

Yes, a VLCD will cause dietary stress. But you were eating 1800 calories a day, which is far from a VLCD. But, since you are sticking by your mantra:

It doesn't have to be VLC. Everyones body has different levels of stress. :huh:

When I finally worked out my TDEE to be around 3000 calories a day, it was apparent that a 1200 calorie a day deficit made me lose initially, and then I plateaued. Too much stress on MY body.

We might not be special snowflakes, but although it may be difficult for you to comprehend, our bodies are not all entirely the same.

What is apparently difficult for you to comprehend, is that actually our body's are all the same. We lose weight during calorie restriction. What is likely is that you hit a normal plateau while eating 1800/ day, decided to up your calories because you were convinced that the plateau was caused by not getting enough calories (sigh) and then continued to lose weight, because 2000 is still enough of a deficit for you to do so. If you had stayed at 1800, you still would have continued to lose weight, because of...you know. Physics, thermodynamics and calories in, calories out. Because I assure you, those starving people in Africa did not reach their state by INCREASING their calorie consumption.

The simplest explanation is really the only one required. Occam's Razor, etc.

Think you kinda missed the point there. Actually, I think you deliberately ignored it. Our bodies work the same yes, but I never questioned that, as you well know. If we were all exactly the same, we would all have to eat the same amount to lose weight, wouldn't we?

I was actually advised to up my calories when I sought advice from a long standing, respected member of this website. Before I upped my calories, I felt tired, drained, and irritated, and I hadn't lost weight for two months. I upped my calories, had an initial couple of lb gain, then lost that and more, and have lost regularly since. My energy levels improved. I actually lost more weight per week on average than I did at the lower calorie level.

There are plenty of people on here with the same experience. You can think and post as many gifs as you like, it doesn't stop the fact that this is what happened to me. I'm not trying to say it would work for everyone, or that everyone is making the same mistake as I did. My point is that people don't always lose weight because they aren't logging accurately.

Seriously, I am glad you are feeling better and losing weight on more calories. But your weight loss did not stall because you were at 1800 calories. The reality is, you are able to eat 2000 and still lose because of your TDEE. And you also would have continued to lose at 1800. I can't imagine what magic effect 200 calories per day had on your constitution if you were eating a sensible 1800 calories, as that is more than ample to supply the necessary nutrients to your body. But if you are losing more on a higher calorie number, logic decrees that you must also be expending more than you were at 1800.

Eat More Weigh Less is all about eating more satisfying, filling foods while still creating a reasonable deficit. Your post did nothing to address the fact that you would also have continued to lose at 1800 calories a day once you moved through the plateau you had hit. As we all know, weight loss is anything but linear.

To automatically tell anyone who is experiencing a plateau to 'eat more' is useless information at best. I accept that you mean well. But will continue to correct such misinformation when I see it posted.:flowerforyou: