Eat More, Lose More. (Really?) By Justine Holberg
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shedinches
Posts: 63
You work out practically every day and you're feeling good because you've lost some weight. Until a week or so passes and you can't get the scale to budge. It's like an invisible wrench has been thrown into the works. Now what?
You start second-guessing everything you're doing:
■Maybe I'm eating too much?
■Should I work out harder?
■Do I have to live on parsley and hot water?
So you restrategize. You slash calories and step up the intensity of your workouts. Unfortunately, after another week, you're still not losing. Now you want to give up altogether. But before you throw in the towel, ask yourself this:
Am I eating enough?
Contrary to popular belief, sometimes you have to eat more to lose weight. While that may sound counterintuitive, it often does the trick. Here's why:
1. Metabolism is the key to weight loss. If you don't eat enough, or often enough, your metabolism slows to a crawl and weight loss becomes more difficult, especially when you're exercising. That's why skipping meals isn't a good idea if the goal is to shed pounds.
Tip: Always eat breakfast to kick-start metabolism and try eating mini-meals throughout the day to keep your metabolism fired up.
2. To keep your metabolism up, you MUST eat. Conventional wisdom dictates that when you first start dieting, the less you eat, the better. While it's true that you often should eat less, eating too little can backfire over time. As your body composition changes, your body will think it's starving, which can make it hold on to fat. (The process actually has to do with excessive release of a hormone called cortisol, but you don't need to know the details, so we'll just call it fat.) To avoid this, most experts agree that over time, you shouldn't eat fewer than 1,200 calories per day for women, 1,500 for men. If your daily diet consists of fewer calories than that, consider eating more.
Tip: Keep a food diary to track calories.
3. You need more calories when you work out. If you're exercising while following a low-calorie eating plan, you'll need to take into account the calories you're burning. That's because it's now easier to enter starvation mode. Let's say you're burning 400 calories and only eating 1,200 to 1,300 calories per day. This means you're really only taking in 800 to 900 calories per day before you begin to calculate how your body composition is changing. Muscle burns more calories at rest than fat does, so as your body changes, you need to eat more to keep the weight loss coming.
Tip: Drink an after-workout recovery drink like a protien shake. After hard workouts, its calories are utilized so quickly by your body, some people refer to them as "free calories." They really aren't, but those calories will ensure that your muscles (and metabolism) recover quickly.
And remember this:
Figuring out to what to eat, how much to eat, and when to eat isn't easy. That's why people often refer to losing weight as a journey. It takes a few different paths to get there. Sometimes you have to adjust your ratio of protein, fat, and carbs to start losing again. Or adjust your calorie level, which can include eating more to lose weight.
Tip: Use a Meal Planner. It can make figuring out your calories much, much easier. You can personalize an eating plan that takes your workouts into consideration.
Finally, if you're still on the fence about needing to eat more to lose weight: You might be thinking, "How come I know some really skinny people who barely eat?"
The answer is this: You can eventually lose weight by not eating. It's called starving. Reduce calories enough and your body will start breaking down its muscle tissue, and this will result in weight loss. However, it makes your body increase its emergency hormonal responses, which also causes your body to be stressed and hang onto fat, making it.very easy to gain the weight back again.
So I hope you take this thought away with you today: The idea is to keep your metabolism revving and running. This will help you get healthy and stay strong. Eat the right amount of food to help your body continuously burn calories, and you're more likely to shed those unwanted pounds.
You start second-guessing everything you're doing:
■Maybe I'm eating too much?
■Should I work out harder?
■Do I have to live on parsley and hot water?
So you restrategize. You slash calories and step up the intensity of your workouts. Unfortunately, after another week, you're still not losing. Now you want to give up altogether. But before you throw in the towel, ask yourself this:
Am I eating enough?
Contrary to popular belief, sometimes you have to eat more to lose weight. While that may sound counterintuitive, it often does the trick. Here's why:
1. Metabolism is the key to weight loss. If you don't eat enough, or often enough, your metabolism slows to a crawl and weight loss becomes more difficult, especially when you're exercising. That's why skipping meals isn't a good idea if the goal is to shed pounds.
Tip: Always eat breakfast to kick-start metabolism and try eating mini-meals throughout the day to keep your metabolism fired up.
2. To keep your metabolism up, you MUST eat. Conventional wisdom dictates that when you first start dieting, the less you eat, the better. While it's true that you often should eat less, eating too little can backfire over time. As your body composition changes, your body will think it's starving, which can make it hold on to fat. (The process actually has to do with excessive release of a hormone called cortisol, but you don't need to know the details, so we'll just call it fat.) To avoid this, most experts agree that over time, you shouldn't eat fewer than 1,200 calories per day for women, 1,500 for men. If your daily diet consists of fewer calories than that, consider eating more.
Tip: Keep a food diary to track calories.
3. You need more calories when you work out. If you're exercising while following a low-calorie eating plan, you'll need to take into account the calories you're burning. That's because it's now easier to enter starvation mode. Let's say you're burning 400 calories and only eating 1,200 to 1,300 calories per day. This means you're really only taking in 800 to 900 calories per day before you begin to calculate how your body composition is changing. Muscle burns more calories at rest than fat does, so as your body changes, you need to eat more to keep the weight loss coming.
Tip: Drink an after-workout recovery drink like a protien shake. After hard workouts, its calories are utilized so quickly by your body, some people refer to them as "free calories." They really aren't, but those calories will ensure that your muscles (and metabolism) recover quickly.
And remember this:
Figuring out to what to eat, how much to eat, and when to eat isn't easy. That's why people often refer to losing weight as a journey. It takes a few different paths to get there. Sometimes you have to adjust your ratio of protein, fat, and carbs to start losing again. Or adjust your calorie level, which can include eating more to lose weight.
Tip: Use a Meal Planner. It can make figuring out your calories much, much easier. You can personalize an eating plan that takes your workouts into consideration.
Finally, if you're still on the fence about needing to eat more to lose weight: You might be thinking, "How come I know some really skinny people who barely eat?"
The answer is this: You can eventually lose weight by not eating. It's called starving. Reduce calories enough and your body will start breaking down its muscle tissue, and this will result in weight loss. However, it makes your body increase its emergency hormonal responses, which also causes your body to be stressed and hang onto fat, making it.very easy to gain the weight back again.
So I hope you take this thought away with you today: The idea is to keep your metabolism revving and running. This will help you get healthy and stay strong. Eat the right amount of food to help your body continuously burn calories, and you're more likely to shed those unwanted pounds.
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Replies
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Wonderful, simple explanation. Thanks for sharing.0
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BRAVO!!!! So nicely explained! This needs to be required reading for all new MFP members before they can use the site!! :drinker:0
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i totally agree0
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BRAVO!!!! So nicely explained! This needs to be required reading for all new MFP members before they can use the site!! :drinker:
Most definitely! There needs to be some kind of "handbook" that opens up automatically before you get to do anything after signing up. You have to read the pages before it will let you do anything and there's a handy-dandy link on your homepage in case you want a refresher
Could be a great idea! 0 -
A link, to debunk most of the OP's posting:
http://www.leangains.com/2010/10/top-ten-fasting-myths-debunked.html
Effect of high meal frequency on blood sugar and insulin secretion:
http://www.e-spenjournal.org/article/S1751-4991(10)00054-5/abstract
In short: the popular recommendation to eat small meals often may actually make you more hungry, not less so and may easily increase blood sugar and so insulin secretion over the course of the day. One of the effects may be that you start storing fat. This happening is often attributed to "starvation mode". However, starvation mode does only set in if you are severely underweight: at less than 6% body fat. Overweight people who bring down their weight will really find that their BMR is lower, with the weight come off. This makes sense, as you now have to expend less energy simply to carry your weight. This means that people at a lower weight really do need fewer calories to maintain, and that may be below the 1200 Calories recommended by MFP. Especially women will have these issues because they're less tall to begin with.0 -
LOVE it!!!0
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So well explained - :drinker: Thankyou ! 0
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A link, to debunk most of the OP's posting:
http://www.leangains.com/2010/10/top-ten-fasting-myths-debunked.html
Effect of high meal frequency on blood sugar and insulin secretion:
http://www.e-spenjournal.org/article/S1751-4991(10)00054-5/abstract
In short: the popular recommendation to eat small meals often may actually make you more hungry, not less so and may easily increase blood sugar and so insulin secretion over the course of the day. One of the effects may be that you start storing fat. This happening is often attributed to "starvation mode". However, starvation mode does only set in if you are severely underweight: at less than 6% body fat. Overweight people who bring down their weight will really find that their BMR is lower, with the weight come off. This makes sense, as you now have to expend less energy simply to carry your weight. This means that people at a lower weight really do need fewer calories to maintain, and that may be below the 1200 Calories recommended by MFP. Especially women will have these issues because they're less tall to begin with.
Thank you for sharing this, as well! Answered a question I'd been pondering for a bit.0 -
A link, to debunk most of the OP's posting:
http://www.leangains.com/2010/10/top-ten-fasting-myths-debunked.html
Effect of high meal frequency on blood sugar and insulin secretion:
http://www.e-spenjournal.org/article/S1751-4991(10)00054-5/abstract
In short: the popular recommendation to eat small meals often may actually make you more hungry, not less so and may easily increase blood sugar and so insulin secretion over the course of the day. One of the effects may be that you start storing fat. This happening is often attributed to "starvation mode". However, starvation mode does only set in if you are severely underweight: at less than 6% body fat. Overweight people who bring down their weight will really find that their BMR is lower, with the weight come off. This makes sense, as you now have to expend less energy simply to carry your weight. This means that people at a lower weight really do need fewer calories to maintain, and that may be below the 1200 Calories recommended by MFP. Especially women will have these issues because they're less tall to begin with.
EVERYONE PLEASE READ THESE LINKS!!!!
The 'mini-meal/starvation mode/metabolism revving' is all basically a bunch of crap designed by companies that sell 'diet food' to get you to buy more if it. Yes, it does work for SOME people, but just read the other side of the coin please.
Do yourselves a favor and honestly get educated.0 -
Thanks for the feedback, glad it was able to help many of you.
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Thanks for the feedback, glad it was able to help many of you.
I think your advice holds true for a lot of people, but not for people who are insulin resistant already. And because of our reliance on a diet that is high in carbohydrates, that number of people is surprisingly large. In their case, the recommendation to eat small meals often will actually increase blood sugar and insulin even more. In their case, reducing meal frequency (fasting even) and reducing the glycemic load in every meal by cutting down on carbs would make more sense.
Usually, people who find themselves "plateau-ing" do so because their caloric intake is too high in changed circumstances after weight loss. They should determine their caloric intake according to a changed, and lower, metabolic rate. This is not caused by "starvation mode", but by the fact that now your body really does need fewer calories to function. The lighter you become, the smaller the margins will be.0 -
They should determine their caloric intake according to a changed, and lower, metabolic rate. This is not caused by "starvation mode", but by the fact that now your body really does need fewer calories to function. The lighter you become, the smaller the margins will be.
This is true, but if you (as in everyone) update settings in MFP frequently, MFP decreases cal goals and exercise burns automatically, according to weight loss.
You have to not only "check in" for your weigh in, but also then go to Goals, Change goals, Guided (if you are using MFP's calculations) and just hit enter. It then recalculates your daily cal goals and exercise burns based on your lower weight.0 -
Yes, MFP recalculates, however, I did find that the guided calculations had my carb goals back in the recommended, high, MFP recommendation, so I went in and manually adjusted these too (30% carbs)
The one thing MFP won't do is let you get below the holy 1200 Calories/day. Whereas in smaller, lighter people, their maintenance Calories may actually be below this number.0 -
Yes, MFP recalculates, however, I did find that the guided calculations had my carb goals back in the recommended, high, MFP recommendation, so I went in and manually adjusted these too (30% carbs)
The one thing MFP won't do is let you get below the holy 1200 Calories/day. Whereas in smaller, lighter people, their maintenance Calories may actually be below this number.
Yes, there's definitely tweaking needed for a lot of people.
There are certainly people that can/should be slightly under 1200. But it's a pretty small percentage, and I think MFP's main goal is to provide moderate guidelines based on a bell curve - obviously some people don't fit into the model exactly, but it fits the vast majority. And I think they've tried to do what they can to discourage the development/enabling of eating disorders and using the app in an unhealthy way. It's kind of difficult to create a model that works for every specific situation, but I think they've done pretty well in allowing for individual needs, IMO.0 -
Yes, I absolutely agree with that.0
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I learned this the hard way.... I always thought the way to lose weight was to eat less period. I have starved myself or deprived myself of carbohydrates only to lose weight quickly and then gain it all back and then some quickly. MFP is for me I only wish I had found it sooner. Personally I don't eat 5 meals a day , but I do make sure I have 3 decent meals and then fruit or nuts in between because that is what seems to work for ME. MFP gives you a model, its up to YOU to make it your own!0
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I hit a plateau earlier this year because I wasn't eating enough. I was eating around 1350 calories and losing about 1.5 pounds per week, and then nothing for 2 weeks. I started eating 1550 or so a day and I started to lose again. I have now lost almost 2 inches from my waist by eating MORE.
I changed my goals manually on MFP for carbs, protein, and fat. I think they give you too many carbs and fat and not nearly enough protein. But, I eat 3 meals and 2 snacks total.
Eating less caused my weight loss to stop. Eating more caused my weight loss to start again.0 -
I started this this week, its a lil rought cuz I feel so full, but just gotta do it cuz the same thing happedned to me!!!
quote]
I hit a plateau earlier this year because I wasn't eating enough. I was eating around 1350 calories and losing about 1.5 pounds per week, and then nothing for 2 weeks. I started eating 1550 or so a day and I started to lose again. I have now lost almost 2 inches from my waist by eating MORE.
I changed my goals manually on MFP for carbs, protein, and fat. I think they give you too many carbs and fat and not nearly enough protein. But, I eat 3 meals and 2 snacks total.
Eating less caused my weight loss to stop. Eating more caused my weight loss to start again.
[/quote]0 -
This week I made a lil change that has made a great difference. This change has been to my advantage too, I am eating a lil more. My weight was not changing at all and I realized I was missing out on a few calories that where making all the difference...so my friends calculate your daily calories and make sure you eat them!!!! Make them good calories of course 0
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This week I made a lil change that has made a great difference. This change has been to my advantage too, I am eating a lil more. My weight was not changing at all and I realized I was missing out on a few calories that where making all the difference...so my friends calculate your daily calories and make sure you eat them!!!! Make them good calories of course 0
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