Eat more to Lose more, explained.

HaleyAlli

I love this. I have been losing tons of fat eating approximately 1600 calories a day and I'm only halfway done And I am so much happier when I'm eating more food rather than less! Thank you for this explanation, hopefully A LOT of people will listen

Rae6503

Excellent! But I'd like to add that for a lot of people even 1200 is pretty low and they'd do better with more.

LorinaLynn

LOVE!!!!!

kelika71

Excellent!!! I was just discussing this same topic with my diabetes dr. and the dietician today. It's funny how years of bad information given to me (eat less if you want to lose) by parents, teachers, doctors who were old-school made me fail at every diet attempt. Invariably, I hit that wall and gave up.
Yeah, I hit that plateau here, too. I increased calories which was scary because it went against everything I was taught. I was baffled, shocked and happy to find that in doing so, the numbers moved again. It's still hard to grasp with the old stuff still ingrained in my head. I still do it and I still lose!
Very well written, OP!! Hopefully, it can become a sticky!

Brukiez213

I didn't really buy into this, since on week 1 I lost a lot more, and I ended my day sort of hungry, but now I know that was water weight. Just recently, I've been trying to stay under 900 calories and I am noticing lots of blemishes popping up and more hair in the shower drain and the scale isn't moving quite as much anymore. I would read all the "eat your workout calorie" debates and shake my head thinking, "All you people want to do is justify putting something else in your mouth." This post put things into perspective for me. Thanks for taking the time to write it!

SoCalSwimmerDude

i not had problims eeteng fuwer calorees and it has had no eeffect on my bran.







:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

jkcools

Thank you I needed that. May I add you to my friends list?

joysu

tHANKS FOR THE POST!

twintea

Excellent Post !!! Soooooo true and although I don't ever have a problem eating my calories on a regular basis - there are days when you don't feel hungry every hour and by the end of the day you realize you have calories to still eat.....and your post has reminded us all how important good health is along with feeling great !!! Thanks and all the best on your own journey !!!

Gemini_1980

Yay great post:bigsmile:

SiltyPigeon

Thank you all for the support and you are all so very welcome! :blushing:

Obviously I wasn't always this "rational"... I did spend 3 months averaging 900 calories per day and even went as low as 300 a day or two (or more). I am JUST A LITTLE stubborn sometimes. But I learned the hard way and hope that others can learn from my experience instead of going down that path for themselves.

Thanks again everyone. I really appreciate the daily support I get from all my friends.
& yes... you can friend me... but be warned that I usually have a twisted sarcastic sense of humor. Lol!

:flowerforyou:

mrk34

Mickmelie:

Did you experience any of the possible dangerous consequences that you described in your post during the three months period you mentioned?

looking4au

ok, it makes sense. So this is why my scale hasnt budged in 10 days. I have been coming in under my daily calorie goal and I am exercising. Will give it a try and see what happens. Thanks for the insight.

kmcginley613

awesome post, thanks for the explanation:)

brandiuntz

Excellent post.

chevy88grl

Excellent!

I've said it a million times and I will say it again - I weigh 145lbs and I am maintaining that weight eating 2200-2500 NET calories a day! When I eat less - I gain weight (slowly - not overnight so it isn't water weight). I don't care what anyone says to me about me eating too much or whatever. I know my body and I know what works for it. Eating. Now, this isn't a free for all to eat McDonald's and other junk. But, for heaven's sake people - EAT! Starving yourself isn't how you want to lose weight!

KittyMul

Just wanted to add my little piece.

I started losing weight in November last year. For about three months, I ate sensibly, gradually changed my habits and started moderately exercising. The weight fell off very quickly. Hurray!

Then I broke up with my boyfriend. I was devastated and couldn't eat for two weeks. I lost a massive amount of weight and felt good about myself. I wanted to look amazing the next time I saw him, so I deliberately stopped eating even after my appetite returned. It worked (sort of, we actually got back together before he even saw me but he was very impressed) and we got back together, but something in my head clicked and I saw the key to being loved as being in not eating.

For the next three/four months I survived on eating about 300 calories a day and burning off about 400. I lost really well at first but I felt awful. I cried all the time, I was constantly anxious about food and being 'made' to eat, exercising was like dragging myself through mud. I thought it was ok because I still have a fair bit of fat on me, but I was very unhealthy. My skin was flaky, my nails were constantly tearing back to bleeding, my cuticles bled, my nails were blue, my hair was falling out, I'd get dizzy all the time and I either couldn't sleep at all or would sleep for days. I burst in to tears at my brother's birthday dinner because my Dad made me eat a tiny piece of birthday cake.

Soon I was losing less than ever and I didn't understand why. The less I ate, the less I lost. If I had one indulgent night out I'd instantly put on a kilo or more. I went to see a personal trainer, thinking I just needed to exercise harder. He took one look at my food diary and refused to train me until I was eating over 1000 calories a day and had been signed off by my doctor, including a signed note that we'd discussed my recent eating habits.

Since then, I can't say I haven't struggled with eating more. I eat very cleanly and often find it hard to hit my calorie goals, but I get better every week. I go out with friends again, my nails are growing back, my hair's getting thicker and I have some colour in my face. I don't spend every waking moment thinking about food and eating/not eating. I see it as a bonus that I'm losing weight again! But yes, I am losing and in the last six weeks of training I've dropped a whole dress size even though I'm eating more than ever.

Sorry, a bit of a ramble but the moral of the story is you do need to eat more to loss consistently! And, if someone loves you, it's because of who you are, not what you weigh (for the record, we ended up breaking up again anyway, but I know now it has nothing to do with my weight!).

SiltyPigeon

Mickmelie:

Did you experience any of the possible dangerous consequences that you described in your post during the three months period you mentioned?

Yes I did. Not right away. It took over a month. I quickly attributed them to "stress".

Some of this is really embarrassing, but in the spirit of full disclosure and hopefully helping others make healthy decisions:

I'm not bald or anything, but my hair started thinning. I saw a lot more on my brush and going down the drain.

My nails, which have always had nice, long, strong nails; became brittle, started peeling, and would break easily. Honestly, they still have not recovered.

My toe nails turned yellowish orange... something I have never experienced before. <Gross, right?

I started NEEDING a nap in the afternoon. Again, I told myself it was stress.

I stopped going *ehem* for days at a time. Even when I started using laxatives I couldn't go... just gave me a BAD stomachache.

I became very irritable and sometimes felt like I was in a fog. Interestingly, I never denied that this was because of not eating enough. I considered it a "necessary evil".

During my third month, I stopped losing weight for 3 weeks. This is DESPITE only consuming 300-500 calories a day at that time. 3 weeks may not be a long plateau, but since increasing my calories I haven't plateaued in the four months since.

When I did finally increase my calories (went up to 1000 at first) I GAINED weight the first two weeks. Up 5 lbs. After that I began to lose regularly again. The same average of 2 pounds per week as I was losing on 500-900 calories per week.

Hard to say about most of the other stuff, I didn't measure my mucus or anything. I didn't notice any issues with my skin.

I was able to get up, exercise, and do my day to day activities just like usual... I was just a little more irritable while doing them.

Nothing was SERIOUS... but it certainly could (and probably would) have gotten serious had I continued down that path.

SiltyPigeon

RE: Kittymul

I totally forgot about the dizzy spells until I read that in your post. I had that, too... and I told myself it was because I wasn't drinking enough water!! How easily we delude ourselves!

So.... out of the science stuff and into the emotional:
I also struggle most days with meeting my calorie goals. I no longer delude myself, but the fear of food has its finger on me and I have troubles sometimes. It's totally about control, and sometimes about punishment. Sometimes I need to sit myself down and have a talk with myself. I need to remind myself where that behavior got me.

This is me having a talk with myself.

sleepytexan

excellent.

sonnyless

Great info! Thanks!

erinkeely4

Thank you Mickmelie and KittyMul for sharing your stories! This explains some problems I've had in the past.

KittyMul

RE: Kittymul

I totally forgot about the dizzy spells until I read that in your post. I had that, too... and I told myself it was because I wasn't drinking enough water!! How easily we delude ourselves!

So.... out of the science stuff and into the emotional:
I also struggle most days with meeting my calorie goals. I no longer delude myself, but the fear of food has its finger on me and I have troubles sometimes. It's totally about control, and sometimes about punishment. Sometimes I need to sit myself down and have a talk with myself. I need to remind myself where that behavior got me.

This is me having a talk with myself.

Yes, the fear of food is still very strong! I was talking with my trainer today about my favourite foods and I said I don't have one. Food's not enjoyable to me at all anymore, which makes me really sad. I used to be a really good cook and I'm slowly getting back in to it. I still tend to restrict when I'm feeling stressed or emotional and like you, I have to have little talks with myself about how food is fuel and emotional undereating is just as bad as emotional overeating. Slow process but it's an improvement every day!

lisadhancock

very interesting, thank you, will try it.

JAllen32

That was a great post, thanks so much for sharing! You really put it in a way that could be understood!

spgabby86

I would just like to take a moment to correct a logistical error I regularly see. I think it confuses people more than it helps...

Most of us who have around the MFP block a few times will tell you: You need to eat more to lose more. This is absolutely true. It's the reason WHY this is true that can be confusing and is often stated wrong by well meaning fitness palls.

When you eat too few calories (not enough to fuel your body) over a long period of time your weight loss can (and eventually will) stall. You can call it "starvation mode" or whatever you want. However, it is NOT because your body "stores more fat at lower calorie levels" Your body needs all those calories and it uses all those calories. It does not and cannot afford to store them!

The reason why you will plateau is because your body thinks you are in famine. In order to "help" you through these rough times of drought and food scarcity, your body will SLOW DOWN. The natural day to day processes your body undertakes without your conscious knowledge turn down a notch so that you can survive on less.

We're not talking about exercises and such... you can continue to force yourself to do the same amount of exercise on 500 calories as you did on 2000 calories. Your body has other, tricky, ways of slowing down that you cannot control. It expends less energy on the daily functions like mucus production, digestion, hair growth, skin regeneration, and so forth. Under normal circumstances, your brain is a major energy suck (some pplz more than others, hehe). In order to conserve energy, your brain slows down. Who wants that? You might fidget less, sit more often, and sleep in a little longer. You might have less enthusiasm when exercising. All of these things add up to requiring less (AND BURNING LESS!) calories during the day. POOF! Plateau!

Now think about what would happen to your body if all these processes were to slow down for an extended (months, years?) period of time. You'd become more prone to infection and illness. Those processes are in place for reason. They keep your body healthy and running the way its supposed to. Hair loss, brittle nails, bad skin, listlessness, and so forth are very common side effects of not properly fueling your body... ask any long-term ED. You're probably not going to die... but you can become very sick.

This doesn't happen in a day, but over a long period of time, IT WILL HAPPEN. It happened to me and to a lot of others here on MFP. So what's the solution? Well DUH! EAT FOOD!

Some extra food for thought.... I ate an average of 900 calories per day for 3 months. I lost the same amount of weight per week as I have eating 1200 calories per day for the past 4 months.My skin is better, my nails are better, my mood is better, I have more energy. It wasn't worth it. But MAYBE being able to share my story and help others will make up for it.

Well, thanks everyone for reading. I love you all! NOW EAT UP, DAMMIT!

When you say 1200 or you talking about 1200 net or 1200 total calories? Or are you saying it 1500+ depending on your exercise for the day, just as long as you net 1200 calories a day?

theseagull

Gteat information.

THANX

methetree

awesome goodness!!

A sensible, logical explanation!

Very well done!

carmenstop1

I can relate so well to this post! I also have the mindset that thin=starving myself! I am trying to eat more, but is still a mental battle! Great post!

JenFer5

Great info! Thanks for posting