people who LOST weight eating MORE

concealedpearl

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alphabettie

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jaks97

This is a very interesting topic spent all morning reading this post. I too don't eat enough I can go on the weekends for hours without eating. I went to WW a few years back and had trouble eating my points, once I got to my points the weight started coming off. I went back to my old habits and after logging here for a couple of weeks, I still am not eating enough. Starting in December I started exercising something I NEVER did before, I have a desk job so not action there. The scales show a loss of 6lbs and I am going to increase my food intake this week, and see how things go. I feel different and I am sleeping less, which shows I have more energy. I am so glad to have found this site. Happy eating :flowerforyou:

CallmeSbo

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Di3012

So, were you undereating initially and then wised up? What was your intake? What did you raise it to?

How was weight loss before/after raising your calories?

I think this might help people who are afraid to up their calories--despite netting less than 1200...sometimes substantially less while working out.

Dunno about that, it was eating more that has me overweight in the first place.

There's a difference between eating a lot and sitting on your butt all day vs. exercising a lot and eating enough to fuel your body. If you create a calorie deficit by eating less and exercising more, you are potentially creating too large of a deficit. You'll lose weight quickly at first, but it will likely slow down as you continue to exercise. Setting MFP to lose 2 lbs per week, eating that calorie goal and not eating exercise calories back is creating a deficit of more than 1,000 calories. That's not good for you. And we often forget that not eating enough isn't just creating a deficit, it could potentially prevent us from getting enough of the nutrients our body needs.

I pretty much now eat about as much as I did when I was sitting on my butt and didn't exercise. And I lose weight because I create a moderate calorie deficit with exercise instead of with food (except on rest days, when I create a deficit with eating a little less). I keep my body fueled for my workouts and eat enough to help preserve my lean muscle mass. Eating properly allows me to perform better and feel better. Starving is what prevents people from maintaining their weight loss and their ability to continue with their weight loss plan.

Eh?? I used to exercise too.

I guess it was because I stuffed my face.

Topsking2010

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unicorn19girl

Just to add my input...I am 5'4" and in may 2009, I weighed 258 pounds and decided to take control of my life. I began losing on a very low calorie diet (900-1200 per day) and walking a lot (my job was in security so I was on my feet all day). In December 2010, I weighed 142 but felt so tired, depressed, and anxious. Physically, I was suffering too, my hair started falling out and I felt weak alot of the time and I wasn't sleeping well at all. I went to the Dr. in February 2011 and was told I wasn't eating enough and that I should eat at least 1800 calories. Well, I was so intimidated by this number that I would only go as high as 1700 a day, but then what did I do...I increased the intensity (added running and heavy circuit training) and duration of my workouts...and what happeded? I stopped losing and actually started gaining which I know now is easily explained by the fact that I exercise hard six days a week and live a fairly active life overall given that my BMI is around 1500 I realize that eating 1700 at max rarely and burning between 300-500 calories per workout and then factor in the calories from my active lifestyle, I was asking my body to run on a net calorie amount between 600 and 900 per day....a number way too low for my body. Now, I have decided to eat more and in the last two weeks have eaten between 1900 and 2300 calories (meaning that I am netting at least 1200) and have already lost four pounds. I already feel like I have more energy and slept better the last two nights. Now maybe its all coincidence or psychological, but if the trend continues I will be convinced that you need to eat more to lose more especially when you have that final amount (10, 15, or 20) to lose. All I know is that for the first time in a long time I feel better and am seeing the scale move in the opposite direction. Now, don't take my advice for anything, but just figured I would share my story so far. Good Luck to everyone! I will try to keep you updated if trend continues for me.

Elizabeth_C34

So, were you undereating initially and then wised up?

Yes and no. My first goal was to drop as much weight as I could, but I didn't care if it was lean mass or fat. I was borderline morbidly obese, and that was concern number one. Now that I'm just "overweight" my goals have changed to maintain my lean mass, make strength gains, and burn as much fat as possible.

What was your intake?

1200-1300 calories per day plus 50-80% of exercise calories.

What did you raise it to?

1450-1500

How was weight loss before/after raising your calories?

Weight has been coming off a lot faster since I upped my calories, and my percentage fat loss is higher also. Two wins!

love4fitnesslove4food_wechange

Just to add my input...I am 5'4" and in may 2009, I weighed 258 pounds and decided to take control of my life. I began losing on a very low calorie diet (900-1200 per day) and walking a lot (my job was in security so I was on my feet all day). In December 2010, I weighed 142 but felt so tired, depressed, and anxious. Physically, I was suffering too, my hair started falling out and I felt weak alot of the time and I wasn't sleeping well at all. I went to the Dr. in February 2011 and was told I wasn't eating enough and that I should eat at least 1800 calories. Well, I was so intimidated by this number that I would only go as high as 1700 a day, but then what did I do...I increased the intensity (added running and heavy circuit training) and duration of my workouts...and what happeded? I stopped losing and actually started gaining which I know now is easily explained by the fact that I exercise hard six days a week and live a fairly active life overall given that my BMI is around 1500 I realize that eating 1700 at max rarely and burning between 300-500 calories per workout and then factor in the calories from my active lifestyle, I was asking my body to run on a net calorie amount between 600 and 900 per day....a number way too low for my body. Now, I have decided to eat more and in the last two weeks have eaten between 1900 and 2300 calories (meaning that I am netting at least 1200) and have already lost four pounds. I already feel like I have more energy and slept better the last two nights. Now maybe its all coincidence or psychological, but if the trend continues I will be convinced that you need to eat more to lose more especially when you have that final amount (10, 15, or 20) to lose. All I know is that for the first time in a long time I feel better and am seeing the scale move in the opposite direction. Now, don't take my advice for anything, but just figured I would share my story so far. Good Luck to everyone! I will try to keep you updated if trend continues for me.

Thanks for sharing! !

porvenir

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Maystar80

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I'm totally trying it! It's so scary, but I searched mfp for this subject and after reading so many good stories I know I need to face the fear and do it!
Thank you

elsinora

I just find it hard to believe. When I ate 1200 cals net a day, I lost around 0.8 lbs a week. When I upped to 1340, I lost about 0.6 lbs a week. I upped again to 1500 cals net (where I am now) and I have been maintaining for 2 months on that (bear in mind I have lost around 30 lbs altogether, so my caloric requirements are a lot lower now than they were when I started - I started off maintaining on 1700 cals). So raising calories has had exactly the expected effect on me - my weight loss slowed and stopped as I ate more.

As with all forum threads, most is to do with personal experience. This post sums me up to a T! Lower the calories, the more I lose and I ONLY eat my exercise calories if I'm maintaining or training for a big event but never if I am losing. Truthfully, doing this I has never plateaued unless I'm doing some serious weight training and lose inches but stay the same (which I am very happy with) I do make sure everything is eat has nutritional value but again the above post sums up the effect on me.

LorinaLynn

I just find it hard to believe. When I ate 1200 cals net a day, I lost around 0.8 lbs a week. When I upped to 1340, I lost about 0.6 lbs a week. I upped again to 1500 cals net (where I am now) and I have been maintaining for 2 months on that (bear in mind I have lost around 30 lbs altogether, so my caloric requirements are a lot lower now than they were when I started - I started off maintaining on 1700 cals). So raising calories has had exactly the expected effect on me - my weight loss slowed and stopped as I ate more.

As with all forum threads, most is to do with personal experience. This post sums me up to a T! Lower the calories, the more I lose and I ONLY eat my exercise calories if I'm maintaining or training for a big event but never if I am losing. Truthfully, doing this I has never plateaued unless I'm doing some serious weight training and lose inches but stay the same (which I am very happy with) I do make sure everything is eat has nutritional value but again the above post sums up the effect on me.

What about non-scale changes to the body?

I went on maintenance in October, gained some weight, and I'm smaller now. Enough to make me give my scale the middle finger. If I wasn't monitoring my progress with photos, and just going by the number on the scale, I might have been disappointed. This blog post shows my progress since last March, which was only an 8# loss total, and my progress since May, which is only 4#. http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/LorinaLynn/view/just-8-pounds-214409

Granted, it's not like I went on maintenance and quit. I'm eating more, but I'm working just has hard, if not harder because I have more fuel for energy.

GetThinKim

MFP originally put me at 1200 and I didnt lose a THING..then I noticed that my friends had higher goals and were losing, so I upped them to 1400 and began losing

Yasmine91

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Sabresgal63

I am having a hard time believing you can eat more calories than your goal and still lose weight. When I eat more calories I GAIN weight. Isn't that the reason we keep track of calories? Just sayin'

My goal calories per day is 1380. After I lost 20 lbs, MFP wanted my goal to be 1200. I upped it back to 1380 as I was just too hungry. My calories per day just to exist and not gain or lose is 1700. As long as there is a deficit, you will lose weight in the long run. A year ago I lost over 40 lbs by zigzagging the calories. Just my input:bigsmile:

paulamhunt

I'm interested to hear responses. I'm 5'4" and eating 1200 calories now, but I was thinking of upping it to 1300.

I am 5'3" and MFP started me at 1200 calories. I lost weight the 1st week, but then gained the next 2 following weeks. Alot of times I ate under my calorie goal and days went by with out any structured exercise. I bumped my calorie intake to 1300 this week and have lost. (This included 2 days of not tracking due to college visit and no computer access. There was also no structured exercise those days.) I am going to try the 1300 a day for 1 month and go from there.
I hope my experience has been helpful.

i_miss_donuts

In the same boat. Trying to up my calories. I am really active and my Fitbit tells me I earn about 500- 800 calories from exercise. I tried to eat near the amount it told me yesterday and couldn't sleep last night because I was awful, bloated and gross from overeating (maybe TMI but I eat LOADS of veggies and fiber). This week I am going to focus on eating back 50-75% of my exercise calories to stay up near 1200-1300 net and see what happens.

kittyneutron

I was chronically under eating for over a year (without knowing it; I was not counting calories). I managed to gain 15 lbs. over the course of that year, all the while I was working out daily and eating probably fewer than net 700 cals a day; sometimes probably negative calories.

The reason you can gain when you chronically undereat is bc you slow down the metabolism so much that whenever you have a little splurge (like say a piece of cake--extra 500 cals over your normal whatever -- 500 total), your body grabs it and stores it, and boom. you gain. In my case, the more I gained, the more I worked out, and the more I restricted food (I was doing absolute minimum weight watchers points and never eating back exercise points).

I have now lost all the weight that I gained and these days I eat bt 1800-2400 cals a day, depending on exercise. Net 1390.

You can read more about my specific situation on my profile, but I want to include here a fantastic article that really helped me understand what was going on. I hope it helps you too.

Edit: I am 5'4, 127 lbs, and 43 years old. I am a mom of 4.

blessings.


Living With Obesity At 700 Calories Per Day!
By: David Greenwalt

I want you to consider a common female client. She's a woman about 5'5" and 185 pounds. A combination of a mostly sedentary lifestyle, quick-fix, processed foods and consistent excessively low calories has resulted in an incredibly stubborn fat loss scenario. Not only has it created a stubborn fat loss scenario but her ability to add body fat is remarkably strong.

Most would believe there is simply no possible way she could be 185 pounds eating mostly low calories. While it's true the average obese American created their own obesity by being a huge over consumer, a sedentary glutton if you will, many are able to maintain their level of obesity with the following formula in very precise ratios: starvation + binges + sedentary lifestyle.

Amazing. I can't believe there was an article written about this. I thought I was the only one. This is absolutely exactly my past history of eating. It explains A LOT....why I struggled (and still struggle) with eating enough calories every day. I never really understood how I could continually see my weight go up even though I knew I was barely netting 700 calories a day. Combine that with chronic illness that often left me bedbound...recipe for disaster. I'm so glad that I did not let it get any worse and have corrected that destructive behavior and try to do my best eating my daily calories, including healthy, fresh foods. Thanks so much for your post!

cakeums

I was losing slowly set to 1850/day, about 0.5lbs every TWO weeks. I was always making sure my net was at or close to that. I upped to 2000/day, some days I am under and some I am over, and stopped logging activity to eat more. I lost 2.8lbs in the last two weeks. I bought a FitBit and it looks like my TDEE on fairly active days is around 2700, so no wonder I feel better and have dropped a bit more by just increasing a bit. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it continues. I do not worry about netting 2000, I just try to consume about that much, give or take a couple hundred calories.

I am 5'10 and 198lbs (SW when I rejoined MFP in Jan was about 207lbs) and I don't have time to work out - I take 11 credits at a local university and work 4-5 shifts a week waiting tables, plus I have two small children. If I had time to work out I would probably still stay around 2000 cals.

Ladeda1

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love4fitnesslove4food_wechange

In the same boat. Trying to up my calories. I am really active and my Fitbit tells me I earn about 500- 800 calories from exercise. I tried to eat near the amount it told me yesterday and couldn't sleep last night because I was awful, bloated and gross from overeating (maybe TMI but I eat LOADS of veggies and fiber). This week I am going to focus on eating back 50-75% of my exercise calories to stay up near 1200-1300 net and see what happens.

Less bulk and more healthy fats will make you feel much better--less bloating and over fullness. Fat is GOOD for you if from healthy sources.

BeautiflyThin

I always loose weight the more I eat (Awesome right)? But i always end up feeling bloated and gross after =(

Mcctin65

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Very interesting

badgerbadger1

I stalled at 1200 after an initial big loss, and then upped my cals to generally over 1400, give or take. The weight has been falling off since then, too much so, I've lost 4 lbs in the last week. So I think I'm going to up my cals even further. My cals are set to maintenance on my diary (per Olivia's Method) and my actual deficit is the green number. I lift heavy three times a week, and do 30 mins on the elliptical 2-3 times a week, other than that I'm sedentary as all get out.

mocha76

great topic!

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Taffyali

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birdieintx

This is a great thread! Like most of y'all I came to MFP thinking I want to lose 2lbs a week, put in all my info and was given a 1200 calorie goal before exercise. I steadily have lost a pound a week. Now If I'm eating 1200 calories to lose 2lbs but am only losing 1 why not change my goals to 1400 calories which MFP says will give me a weight loss of 1lb a week? So I changed my settings today and am hoping to see good results.

(I also eat back a good portion of my exercise calories)

gleechick609

MFP started me out on 1470 calories back in July. After 3 months and only 7 lbs lost, I found the "Appzilla 2 App" on itunes and used their BMR calculator. I plugged in my numbers and found out how many calories I should be eating according to my activity level. I made my own 500 calorie deficit and wound up eating around 1850-2000 calories (not including eating exercise calories back). 5 months eating higher, I lost 40 lbs! Since upping my calories, the weight has been falling off. The weight loss is now stalling since I am very close (7 lbs) away from goal. Right now, I am just letting the weight come off on its own. Stepping away from the scale for a month. Not stressing over natural flucuations. Going to keep eating my calories, focus on hitting my macros, stay active and strength train.

I sit at a desk all day but my fitness activity includes: running 3 times a week (45-120 minutes/short run-long weekend run), walking twice a week for 60-90 minutes and strength training 2-3 days a week

There is life over 1200 calories. You just need to run your numbers!! Just remember that when you eat at TDEE and hit your macros, you will maintain your current weight. Eat 20% less than TDEE to burn fat (not lean muscle) at a sustainable pace.

http://www.fat2fitradio.com/tools/
Military Body Fat tool and then BMR tool (they give you a chart of how many calories you should be eating according to activity)

MFP member helloitsdan sent me that link and my numbers from my bmr app were only off by 40 calories. It does work!

Good luck everyone!

lleabrooks

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