people who LOST weight eating MORE

ladyraven68

I really needed to read this thread today. I recently increased my calories and I need this encouragement to stick with it.

I was one of those people that tried the low carb plan without success. For 10 years I was not eating enough calories. Five years ago I began regularly going to the gym and making the situation worse because I wasn't eating back my exercise calories. After joining MFP I realized that a lot of days I was only netting 500 calories!

I am 59 years old and started at 209 calories. I immediately saw success because I was finally eating enough calories. I couldn't believe how much I could eat and still lose weight. I finally felt like a normal person again. I was actually eating sandwiches! I think I began around 1350 calories (1# a week loss) and I ate back all of my calories. My recommended calories eventually went down to 1200. I lost 20 lbs. and have recently seen a stall in my progress. At the encouragement of a friend on MFP I have increased to 1540 calories (a .5# loss per week).

It is scary to increase and after a couple of weeks I am up slightly. (I also have the bad habit of weighing daily) I am in it for the long term goal so I will stick with it for a few more weeks. I am half way to my goal with only 27# to go. Originally I wanted to reach this goal by my 60th birthday but it is in a few weeks so it isn't going to happen. I will just celebrate that everyone is seeing my success so far and I know I will get there.

Well done on sticking with it.

A lot of people just don't give it time to work - they gain in the first few days, and rather than give their body time to get used to the extra nourishment and start working properly they go back to their old 1000 cal habits.

189andFalling

This 'eat more lose more' is rubbish. One person probably said it now it's 'Internet fact'.

Show me one journal/medical article that supports the theory.

Starvation mode only kicks in after 48+ hours of not eating (and that's only a 20% reduction in BMR)

Let's say your BMR is 2000, you eat 1000, where does your body get the other 1000? Magic? Your body isn't going to randomly start 'eating muscle' when there are 500,000 calories sitting there in what is essentially useless tissue.

marla_jones

I'm bumping to read later...I am interested in reading the replies here

iceandfire212

bump

MichelleRenee13

Will this work w/o exercising?

I am at a desk job on top of recuperating from a knee injury. I am eating 1450 net and am hungry most days. I have plateaued since starting about 55 days ago.

I will be introducing exercise back in to my routine in the next couple of months. I am afraid to up my calories until then.

Any thoughts?

pudgypie

I upped calorie intake from 1200-1500 net to 1800-2000 net approximately 2 weeks ago. I am exactly 2lbs up since then and it wont shift. I have about 40lbs or so to lose so I definitely have weight to shift and I am getting a bit disheartened and feel I should go back down to 1200 again as I was losing consistently on 1200.

Is it normal to gain for a few weeks? Will I eventually see the scales going downwards?

189andFalling

If you have 150lbs to lose then your BMR is going to be much lower that the calculators suggest. Your 'fat weight' doesn't increase BMR.

Stick to what worked for you before, then only change it up when it stops working for >2 weeks. 'weight' naturally fluctuates week to week, body fat is a better measure of progress.

pigwidgeon82

bump

gemiwing

This 'eat more lose more' is rubbish. One person probably said it now it's 'Internet fact'.

Show me one journal/medical article that supports the theory.

Starvation mode only kicks in after 48+ hours of not eating (and that's only a 20% reduction in BMR)

Let's say your BMR is 2000, you eat 1000, where does your body get the other 1000? Magic? Your body isn't going to randomly start 'eating muscle' when there are 500,000 calories sitting there in what is essentially useless tissue.

We're not talking about eating more than the average person- we're talking about eating enough food to maintain a sensible deficit that doesn't deprive the body of nutrients it needs. Most diets advocate restricting calories well below a thousand calories off a persons TDEE- we are saying that isnt necessary nor does it make long-term weight loss sustainable.

Starvation mode is simply a phrase- it doesn't have to do with actual starvation but a lack of nutrient delivery from food intake based on energy expenditure. That's all it means.

For those who have less to lose, they may actually not have '500,000' calories in stored fat tissue. The body has to have fuel to break down nutrients- from fat or from food, hence metabolism. We're talking about restoring metabolism through sensible eating. It's couched at 'eating more' because for most dieters eating more simply means 'high enough to fuel your body's metabolism so you'll be able to burn the fat'.

Hope that makes it more clear.

tabulator32

This 'eat more lose more' is rubbish. One person probably said it now it's 'Internet fact'.

Show me one journal/medical article that supports the theory.

http://www.menshealth.com/mhlists/lose_fat/

The article quotes the American Dietetic Association (ADA) and the International Journal of Obesity.

Starvation mode only kicks in after 48+ hours of not eating (and that's only a 20% reduction in BMR)

Let's say your BMR is 2000, you eat 1000, where does your body get the other 1000? Magic? Your body isn't going to randomly start 'eating muscle' when there are 500,000 calories sitting there in what is essentially useless tissue.

That is the short term. For consistent, long term weight loss, you need to prevent your body from trying to hoard what it has by feeding it enough. Feed yourself too little, and your body holds onto weight to protect itself.

That is why the app has a carefully calculated recommendation for calorie intake for each individual. Otherwise, wouldn't they just say eat as few calories as possible? Why don't they say that? Because starving yourself on a consistent basis does not work.

Stay healthy and eat RIGHT, not less.

annemama

Bump for later! Thanks to everyone who told thier story!

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.

Reporting back on my original post. Ate back my calories to get my net calories up to the 1200 range and lost 2 lbs. Nice side benefit is that I am not freezing cold and snarly all day from being so hungry!

peachlow

Thanks for the advice...maybe that's my problem....

Helloitsdan

Most of my team eats 2k daily.
Some of us are up to 2500 daily to lose fat!
these are the 5'11" group with body fat % in the 40s.

If you are female 5'2" and working out 3-5 times a week you should try to hit 1600-1800 daily for fat loss.
5'5" 1800-2k
5'7" 2k-2200 daily.

For men 5'5" working out 3-5 times a week shoot for 2k daily.
The numbers go up and up!

always eat back to at least 200 above BMR for lean mass safety!

Divagettinfitin2011

Bump!

MichelleRenee13

Will this work w/o exercising?

I am at a desk job on top of recuperating from a knee injury. I am eating 1450 net and am hungry most days. I have plateaued since starting about 55 days ago.

I will be introducing exercise back in to my routine in the next couple of months. I am afraid to up my calories until then.

Any thoughts?

Anyone?

Yori1

Most of my team eats 2k daily.
Some of us are up to 2500 daily to lose fat!
these are the 5'11" group with body fat % in the 40s.

If you are female 5'2" and working out 3-5 times a week you should try to hit 1600-1800 daily for fat loss.
5'5" 1800-2k
5'7" 2k-2200 daily.

For men 5'5" working out 3-5 times a week shoot for 2k daily.
The numbers go up and up!

always eat back to at least 200 above BMR for lean mass safety!

Hi,

I'm a 5'3 female, workout out 3 days a week (strength and cardio dvds), 43 years, desk job.

Should i be eating 1600 -1800 gross or net?

Thanks.

LorinaLynn

Will this work w/o exercising?

I am at a desk job on top of recuperating from a knee injury. I am eating 1450 net and am hungry most days. I have plateaued since starting about 55 days ago.

I will be introducing exercise back in to my routine in the next couple of months. I am afraid to up my calories until then.

Any thoughts?

If you're hungry and plateauing, I'd try eating more. Worst case scenario, you might gain a little, which you'll easily take off once your knee is healed and you're able to exercise again.

When I was recovering from my stress fracture, I took an entire month off any logging. Trying to stay within my calories when I couldn't exercise like I wanted was too annoying, and I preferred to run the risk of gaining weight than feeling deprived and stressed. I was stressed enough not being able to run.

I might have gained at most one pound, and it was gone in two weeks as soon as I was able to exercise again, without trying to lose any.

kaileysgran

bump

sweetsierra

I was super sick for about a month and could hardly eat anything (probably 600 cal a day). I only lost a little bit of weight. Then, when I got better and started eating again (about 1500 cals a day), the weight just started flying off! Your body needs food! Otherwise it thinks it's starving and hangs onto everything!

cfergy

Interesting topic. bumpforlater

annalistic

bump

muffintopminx

bumping!

LM_105

bump

odonogc

This is very interesting. I'm not really trying to lose, just maintain, but increasing my calories is stressing me out. I've upped from 1200 to 1300 and I'll take it a week at a time.

I'm not a body builder like a lot of the members here, more a yoga girl, which isn't a big calorie burner.

AutumnBreeze07

Bump

Helloitsdan

Most of my team eats 2k daily.
Some of us are up to 2500 daily to lose fat!
these are the 5'11" group with body fat % in the 40s.

If you are female 5'2" and working out 3-5 times a week you should try to hit 1600-1800 daily for fat loss.
5'5" 1800-2k
5'7" 2k-2200 daily.

For men 5'5" working out 3-5 times a week shoot for 2k daily.
The numbers go up and up!

always eat back to at least 200 above BMR for lean mass safety!

Hi,

I'm a 5'3 female, workout out 3 days a week (strength and cardio dvds), 43 years, desk job.

Should i be eating 1600 -1800 gross or net?

Thanks.

Net!
But these numbers are appx...i'd need to run full numbers for more exact info.

Send me a PM.

Kim55555

If you are female 5'2" and working out 3-5 times a week you should try to hit 1600-1800 daily for fat loss.

You cant generalise though because everyone is differen!

It depends on a number of things such as how much muscle mass the indidividual has and and at what intensity they are exercising. Is it vigorous/moderate/low intensity and how regularly are they doing it

For instance I'm 5 foot 2 have a good amount of muscle and I workout intensely and I'm losing eating mostly around the 2000 k - 2200 mark. I can maintain on between 2000 - 2600.

Now another person who is my height 5 foot 2 might not have the same amount of muscle mass as me and do less intense exercise less regularly and they will have to work out by trial and error the amount they can eat to lose the fat. It depends on how much muscle they have and how fast their metabolism is.

I dont feel you can make a blanket statement on the calorie range a person needs to eat to lose.

purplerain011

bump

Mckinneysantos

I want to lose 30 lbs total my fitness pal say eat 1590 to lose 1lb a wk I am 204.4 started 8wks ago at 215 . I only lost .2 this wk am I doing something wrong