Has anyone increased their diet and LOST weight doing that?
laurenpcatchu
Posts: 16
Yesterday I went to a doctor who gave me a website, similar to this, to track my health (Cornerstonewellness.md)
I've been tracking my calories, and I'm always way under what I should be eating... So I force myself to add in calories (http://gyazo.com/f75c60b64ffe753d4bf04e88c92c33fe http://gyazo.com/d9c598767d14f817daede723a7c05bc5 here is an example of my meals )
I use to be vegetarian and probably only got 1000 calories a day for 2+ months .. didn't lose a single pound
I feel like I'm eating so much.. and don't understand how I'm going to become more fit eating this much.. I felt like I ate less than this for 4 months and never lost more than 5 pounds..
Has anyone had the issue where 'their body was in starvation mode', increased and improved their diet.. and actually lost weight doing that? I feel like that's impossible.. (btw I gym for an hour+ 5-6 times a week )
I've been tracking my calories, and I'm always way under what I should be eating... So I force myself to add in calories (http://gyazo.com/f75c60b64ffe753d4bf04e88c92c33fe http://gyazo.com/d9c598767d14f817daede723a7c05bc5 here is an example of my meals )
I use to be vegetarian and probably only got 1000 calories a day for 2+ months .. didn't lose a single pound
I feel like I'm eating so much.. and don't understand how I'm going to become more fit eating this much.. I felt like I ate less than this for 4 months and never lost more than 5 pounds..
Has anyone had the issue where 'their body was in starvation mode', increased and improved their diet.. and actually lost weight doing that? I feel like that's impossible.. (btw I gym for an hour+ 5-6 times a week )
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Replies
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I am waiting to see if you get an answer on this. Bump.0
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Weight loss takes a whole lot of trial & error to find what works for you. Your goal should be to find the maximum number of calories at which you lose weight, not the minimum.
Trust the system & follow your MFP calorie goal for two weeks. Log everything you eat & drink accurately & honestly. Weigh your food. Log your exercise & eat back your calories. Reevaluate. If you haven't lost, follow your MFP goal for another two weeks, but eat back half your exercise calories. Reevaluate.
Read this: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants0 -
starvation mode is a myth.
As for your intake do you weigh your food?
Chances are if you aren't losing weight you are eating more than you think.0 -
Yes, I wasn't eating enough calories and hit a wall after the intial newbie weightloss. Upped my cals to 17-1800 and bang, the weight started dropping off. The same applied to my daughter too, so its no coincidence. The maths and science are pretty simple and the results always speak for themselves.0
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starvation mode is a myth.
As for your intake do you weigh your food?
Chances are if you aren't losing weight you are eating more than you think.
^This. Most people who say "I'm only eating X number of calories a day and not losing weight" are usually not weighing their food or recording every single piece of food that goes into their mouth. I HIGHLY doubt you're actually eating 1000 calories a day and not losing weight unless A) you have a metabolic condition that you don't know about or
weigh 100 lbs and you just lie in bed all day and never move. 0 -
Yes, I wasn't eating enough calories and hit a wall after the intial newbie weightloss. Upped my cals to 17-1800 and bang, the weight started dropping off. The same applied to my daughter too, so its no coincidence. The maths and science are pretty simple and the results always speak for themselves.
Science does not support what you just said. Increasing calories never leads to faster fat loss. It may be that you hit a plateau or your weight loss stalled due to too much sodium or not enough water or a combination of the two or a change in carbohydrate intake. It could be a number of things but there is no "starvation mode". Your increase of calories that lead to "faster weight loss" was a coincidence and it DID NOT lead to faster FAT LOSS.0 -
I ate nothing but lettuce for a month so I doubt I was eating more than I thought I was..
the whole starvation mode is a myth seems silly since every doctor seems to say other-wise.0 -
Thank you! This helps give encouragement...
I'm not use to eating so much protein and 1400~ cals a day but I'm going to try for two weeks to see if I get better results0 -
This is a lot longer than I expected it to be. So, if you don't want to read the whole thing, long story short I'm eating 300-800 more calories a day and still losing weight.
I was eating 1200 calories or less for about 2 years, I lost about 35lbs doing so, but after literally passing out at random times a few times my doctor told me I was eating too little. So since about last June I slowly increased my calories to 1500 on a non active day and 1750-2000 calories on a day when I workout. I try very hard to keep my net calories above 1200, even when I burn 1000 calories from working out (eating back all those calories is REALLY hard sometimes).
When I first upped my calories I kept working out 2-3 days a week, like I did when I was eating 1200 calories... and I gained about 15lbs back. I wasn't really thinking about the fact that I was eating more, so I needed to workout more because my body wasn't used to the extra calories.
Now, I'm working out 4-6 times a week for at least half an hour and I'm losing about a 1lb a week. I don't ever feel hungry or like I'm depriving myself of anything. I think of it as a lifestyle change, not a diet. I know my body needs more calories to thrive, and at the end of the day my goal is to live a LONG healthy life.0 -
I used to eat 1350 calories a day...I went to 1800 calories a day and my plateau was broke!0
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I know that i"m 41 yrs old and maintain my weight loss at around 1800-2000 cals per day. I do not have a naturally fast metabolism but I eat several times per day and have built muscle, but you can most definitely put your body in starvation mode by eating too little and overtraining. Not to mention making yourself sick and exhausted!0
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I upped my calories to 1800-2000 and gained 15lbs. That was a couple years ago and I have yet to lose even one pound. I eat healthy foods, just a lot of it- quinoa, veggies, legumes, nuts, etc. I'm cutting back down to 1400 and see where it gets me. I was also doing a lot of healthy fats like coconut oil, nuts, etc. I'm reducing those also. So instead of 20 almonds for a snack, it's now 6 plus a grapefruit, for example. I'm also removing the oils unless I need it for cooking. No more coconut oil in my smoothies.0
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I ate nothing but lettuce for a month so I doubt I was eating more than I thought I was..
the whole starvation mode is a myth seems silly since every doctor seems to say other-wise.
You're kidding right? How much protein and fat do you usually eat a day? In grams...0 -
bump0
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I increased from to 1200 to 1500-1600 calories and today I dropped another pound0
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Check out the group Eat More to Lose Weight. They have a ton of great information and advice on their stickies. Good luck!0
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Yup. I was netting around 800 for a few months and hit a wall. As soon as I started to slowly increase the cals the weight started to come off again. I instantly felt better and I stopped falling asleep all through the day. My body had the energy to do what I wanted it to do rather than just trying to keep my organs functioning. I'm currently up to 1600-1750 most days. The last couple of weeks I've been lacking energy again and yesterday I had a cheat meal which took me way over my calories and today I feel great and have my energy back so I'm planning on really trying to hit the 1750 this next week to see what happens. Upping the calories was a real chore as I wasn't used to eating much but it gets easier with time.0
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I can honestly say that this did happen for me, but in a shorter tome frame. It was not an extreme. Not knowing too much about stuff like TDEE or what a proper caloric amount would be for me, I started at about 1310, and stayed that way for like over a month. 1310 was an amount set by MFP by the way. I lost weight but wasn't really happy with the amount of food I was eating. So I increased my intake by about 500 cals, and I didn't gain weight, actually lost weight initially, but the immediately after, the scale did not budge for like a month. Now I am back to losing weight again, but it was stressful wondering whether it was the wrong move.0
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I increased mine and didn't lose anything. Doing TDEE so now I'm doing MFP again.0
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i lose more when i eat more. i also have more energy.0
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Yes. I was netting anywhere from 1000-1200 calories a day and completely stalled. Decided I'd take the typical eat more MFP advice I'd been ignoring and "caught up" so to speak. I didn't work out for a day and ate around 1700 calories. Dropped 2 pounds overnight. Obviously that wasn't all fat but it broke my plateau and I have been consistently losing since upping cals. Bodies are weird and you never know how they're gonna respond.0
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I quit...
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starvation mode is a myth.
As for your intake do you weigh your food?
Chances are if you aren't losing weight you are eating more than you think.
Starvation mode is not a myth, because if it were a myth people wouldn't die of starvation. Starvation mode is very much so 'a thing', but people tend to not really comprehend what happens to the body in such a state, which is why they use it fluidly with the notion of a slowed metabolism. That being said, starvation mode is greatly exaggerated, and (in my opinion) used as a scare tactic.
At 1,000 calories per day for two months, your body was not getting the adequate amount of fat/carbohydrates in, so it's totally likely that you caused your metabolism to go a little screwy. You can easily repair that if you eat enough calories (as a net total that is), and eat the proper ratios of macronutrients.
Somebody mentioned using MFP- be sure to calculate your daily caloric needs somewhere OFF this site, since this site's estimates are often really inaccurate. Use the customizing functions to input your caloric needs (along with your macronutrient needs), and you'll be ready to go! If you go according to your estimated BMR (how you would get your caloric needs calculated), you should in theory lose weight, until you hit your body's natural set point.0 -
I don't think you can starve so you survive. Like if there was too little food, someone who ate 100 kcal a day wouldn't live longer than someone eating 1000 kcal a day due to "starvation mode", just doesn't make much sense to me.0
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Yes, on other programs (because this isn't my first time on this merry-go-round) when I ate more, I lost weight. And we're talking 50 lbs or more while being active on the program (most recent was in 2007 - 2008 through Weight Watchers, making sure to dip into my additional weekly points). When I followed the program to a "T" and didn't dip into the additional points, then I stalled out or gained weight.
Several years prior to that, when a nutritionist gave me a recommended plan (which had me eating more than I was eating), again I lost weight but when I tried to go back to the "diet/depravation" mentality that I'd already done so well about cultivating, then I had no energy, I stalled out on weight loss.
And I can let you know more recently in a day or two since yesterday was a really bad food day for me. But I've been stalled out which I blame on not really exercising so I'm trying to keep to the 1270 calories recommended by MFP or even just under. If I drop anything, then I'll have proven it again that I need to eat a little more. BTW - I also eat back at least 1/2 of my exercise calories because I do use the MFP recommendations.
Unless you have a metabolic condition, usually upping your calories causes weight loss. Remember that it's not recommended to drop below 1200 calories daily. It has to do with how your body functions and reacts. Some people (usually those that have been diagnosed with a metabolic condition) do have to go below that to lose weight but normally that is not the case.
If it's recommended to up your calories, I'd say try it for a few weeks. Lifestyle change (because you can go off a "diet) is all about trial and error, finding what works for you.0 -
starvation mode is a myth.
As for your intake do you weigh your food?
Chances are if you aren't losing weight you are eating more than you think.
Starvation mode is not a myth, because if it were a myth people wouldn't die of starvation. Starvation mode is very much so 'a thing', but people tend to not really comprehend what happens to the body in such a state, which is why they use it fluidly with the notion of a slowed metabolism. That being said, starvation mode is greatly exaggerated, and (in my opinion) used as a scare tactic.
At 1,000 calories per day for two months, your body was not getting the adequate amount of fat/carbohydrates in, so it's totally likely that you caused your metabolism to go a little screwy. You can easily repair that if you eat enough calories (as a net total that is), and eat the proper ratios of macronutrients.
Somebody mentioned using MFP- be sure to calculate your daily caloric needs somewhere OFF this site, since this site's estimates are often really inaccurate. Use the customizing functions to input your caloric needs (along with your macronutrient needs), and you'll be ready to go! If you go according to your estimated BMR (how you would get your caloric needs calculated), you should in theory lose weight, until you hit your body's natural set point.
Starvation mode in the context that 99% of people on this site use it is a myth. People on here think that if you have a low calorie intake for a few days or a few weeks that all the sudden your metabolism shuts down and you start burning drastically less calories than you were over a matter of days or weeks and that a quick increase in calories will repair that "starvation mode" condition and you will begin losing weight again. That is a joke. The truth is that the larger your calorie deficit is, the more your body wants to close that gap so over the course of months you will begin to slowly burn less calories at rest than you would have otherwise and if this accumulates you could do some "damage" to your metabolic capacity. It is very slow and very gradual and people keep perpetuating the myth that it is fast and sudden. IT IS NOT0 -
I also had to up my calories in order to lose pounds because what I was eating was not balanced. I went to a guy that was refered to me by the trainer at my gym and he put me on the right path. I learned that I knew how to EAT but not how to feed my body the right way. you need to learn a little more about balancing your meals and how to eat properly. It took me awhile but here I sit 36lbs lighter and coming closer to my goal. I wish you luck and good heath just remember it is a not a race but a journey and you'll be just fine.0
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I quit...
I will too after this one last post
Eating more food does not mean more weight loss...chances are you were more careful with your portions due to the fear you would gain.
I mean come on people...math is math...
to lose one pound you need to expend 3500 calories or create that deficet by eating less...
If you are logging 1200 and not losing but then start logging 1800 and wham start losing it's not the additional food that made you lose weight...that is a mathematical impossiblity.
And I don't care how many people come in here and post that it happened to them...
Imperical evidence proves you wrong...
/end thread.0 -
Well I'm going to start strictly logging in my calories to make ure I'm eating atleast 1300-1500 now! ( I work out 6 times a week for an hour+) so the doctor I went to said this will be fine.
I'm going back for a check-in in two weeks.. I'll update if I lost or not... and then we can see if I was really not losing because of eating too little or not : )0 -
Eating more food does not mean more weight loss...chances are you were more careful with your portions due to the fear you would gain.
....I love this site...
"I can't lose any weight! Help!" :sad:
"That is because you are too stupid to know how to use a measuring cup and a food scale..." :grumble:
"Really???..." :huh:
"Oh wait, lost weight when I upped my cals" :laugh:
"ugh, no you didn't...you just got better at using a measuring cup" :grumble:
"........." :huh:0
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