people who LOST weight eating MORE

Crazy4Healthy

Hello everyone.... I've been using calorie tracking programs for a few years (many ups and downs), but this is my very first post. I have managed to lose weight fairly quickly in the past and have been really struggling with this go around (yes I managed to gain weight back and needed to start over).

I decided to purchase a BodyMedia Fit device and this was the most insightful thing for me. When I relied solely on MFP, I would have been maybe netting 500 calories under a day. Using the BodyMedia I realized that I'm not truly burning the number of calories I thought I was. If I don't work out, I'm lucky to burn 1,700 calories total a day. This has really helped me to see where my calorie burn is and increase or decrease my calories to stay within my net. I still use MFP to track my calories as I don't like the BodyMedia's program for that, but the device has been truly eye-opening for me.

rlv2680

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Custic

Custic, you are right, you will be losing muscle with that diet. It's really not hard to eat more. Eat whole eggs instead of egg whites. Put cheese and full-fat salad dressing on your salads. Eat a whole handful of almonds instead of just 8. Eat red meat for dinner. Drink a few glasses of milk a day (even skim is 135 calories a glass, 2% would add even more). Eat fruit. Bananas are great and high calorie. Add protien shakes. You don't HAVE to have carbs if you don't like them.

This is great advice... take away - dont eat low fat low calorie substitutes. They are processed and not as good for you.

Also, stuff like avocado and cooking in olive oil or even a couple scoops of peanut butter. heck, I eat as much for breakfast as you do in a day, lol.

Thanks guys!
yeah I know, but I dont eat any low fat - low calorie substitutes. yeah I gotta find some protein shakes and eat some more almonds for snack, and maybe some more fruit. HAHAHA pretty funny. well i was very suprised that i was eating that small amout of calories a day, so i checked it more than twice, to make sure i didnt do it wrong. well.. thats why i posted it, because it sounds wrong. yeah i'll do my best to eat more. but the thing is, should i eat 1200 only or should i eat MORE when i exercise? i wanted to loose 13kg and now i weight 57. so 7 left to go. but i want to tone up and be fit.

bpurc22

So should a person NOT eat their exercise calories? Im alittle confused on that part.

I would eat 50-75% back, or all of them if you are still hungry.

You can eat more and lose weight. That's actually what I do. I've been eating about 2500 calories/day the last few months (with pig-out sessions once a week or so). The key is burning a ton. I run about 6-8 miles a day, burning almost 1000 calories per day but I eat them all back. Along with drinking a ton of water, you maximize burn efficiency of those extra calories while maintaining the extra energy and motivation to actually work out in the first place. You're going to lose more fat by eating a lot and exercising a lot than eating less. That technique burns more lean muscle, which is the stuff that makes you look good. If you're burning muscle tissue, you'll lose weight but not make any progress.

And you need fat in your diet - I have mine set at 25%/day. I have carbs at 45% because you NEED energy to work out in the first place. It's just about getting past them and burning fat after the initial burning of carbs.

Rae6503

Custic, you are right, you will be losing muscle with that diet. It's really not hard to eat more. Eat whole eggs instead of egg whites. Put cheese and full-fat salad dressing on your salads. Eat a whole handful of almonds instead of just 8. Eat red meat for dinner. Drink a few glasses of milk a day (even skim is 135 calories a glass, 2% would add even more). Eat fruit. Bananas are great and high calorie. Add protien shakes. You don't HAVE to have carbs if you don't like them.

This is great advice... take away - dont eat low fat low calorie substitutes. They are processed and not as good for you.

Also, stuff like avocado and cooking in olive oil or even a couple scoops of peanut butter. heck, I eat as much for breakfast as you do in a day, lol.

Thanks guys!
yeah I know, but I dont eat any low fat - low calorie substitutes. yeah I gotta find some protein shakes and eat some more almonds for snack, and maybe some more fruit. HAHAHA pretty funny. well i was very suprised that i was eating that small amout of calories a day, so i checked it more than twice, to make sure i didnt do it wrong. well.. thats why i posted it, because it sounds wrong. yeah i'll do my best to eat more. but the thing is, should i eat 1200 only or should i eat MORE when i exercise? i wanted to loose 13kg and now i weight 57. so 7 left to go. but i want to tone up and be fit.

I'd eat your exercise calories. The trick to losing weight while maintaining as much muscle as possible is to have a small calorie deficit, lift weights and eat enough protein. Exercising increases your calorie deficit and can make it "too big" if you don't eat the calories back.

Custic

Custic, you are right, you will be losing muscle with that diet. It's really not hard to eat more. Eat whole eggs instead of egg whites. Put cheese and full-fat salad dressing on your salads. Eat a whole handful of almonds instead of just 8. Eat red meat for dinner. Drink a few glasses of milk a day (even skim is 135 calories a glass, 2% would add even more). Eat fruit. Bananas are great and high calorie. Add protien shakes. You don't HAVE to have carbs if you don't like them.

This is great advice... take away - dont eat low fat low calorie substitutes. They are processed and not as good for you.

Also, stuff like avocado and cooking in olive oil or even a couple scoops of peanut butter. heck, I eat as much for breakfast as you do in a day, lol.

Thanks guys!
yeah I know, but I dont eat any low fat - low calorie substitutes. yeah I gotta find some protein shakes and eat some more almonds for snack, and maybe some more fruit. HAHAHA pretty funny. well i was very suprised that i was eating that small amout of calories a day, so i checked it more than twice, to make sure i didnt do it wrong. well.. thats why i posted it, because it sounds wrong. yeah i'll do my best to eat more. but the thing is, should i eat 1200 only or should i eat MORE when i exercise? i wanted to loose 13kg and now i weight 57. so 7 left to go. but i want to tone up and be fit.

I'd eat your exercise calories. The trick to losing weight while maintaining as much muscle as possible is to have a small calorie deficit, lift weights and eat enough protein. Exercising increases your calorie deficit and can make it "too big" if you don't eat the calories back.

How do you mean now with "can make it too big"? dont really understand. thanks by the way for answering

Rae6503

"Too big" is where your body starts to burn muscle instead of fat, and/or when it starts to adjust and burn less calories than it did before, OR where it just becomes mentally too hard and you give up. "Too big" is a different number for everyone. Obese people can handle bigger calorie deficits. Lean people trying to get leaner need pretty small deficits to preserve their muscles. Personally, when I was losing, I set my calorie deficit to 250 calories a day, or the equivalent of 0.5lbs lost per week.

Rae6503

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/Rae6503/view/exercise-calories-166276

Gemini_1980

:happy:

psuLemon

In a nutshell.....

If you have 75+ lbs to lose 2 lbs/week is ideal, <-- 1000 calorie deficit
If you have 40-75 lbs to lose 1.5 lbs/week is ideal,<--- 750 calorie deficit
If you have 25-40 lbs to lose 1 lbs/week is ideal, <--- 500
If you have 15 -25 lbs to lose 0.5 to 1.0 lbs/week is ideal, and < --- 250 ish
If you have less than 15 lbs to lose 0.5 lbs/week is ideal.

Kim55555

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adlwilmot

I haven't got a clue! One thing I know for sure though, is that now I'm exercising, I'm TERRIFIED of not eating enough and ending up losing muscle. Nearly as terrified as I am of putting on weight.

I find it hard to accept that my average 90 minutes a day workout (doing the exercise I'm currently doing; Zumba and brisk dog walking), I can burn around 700 calories (according to my heart rate monitor). Initially, at which point I wasn't really exercising enough, I set my calories to 1200 a day, but found that although this amount was achievable, I found myself in many risky situations where I felt like blowing it and pigging out. At 1360 I was slightly more comfortable, so it was still "dangerous". However, now I'm exercising more and have some extra exercise calories to draw from, I'm more than satisfied food wise at around the 1600 mark. BUT, despite a 660 a day deficit (1.3 lbs a week) from food alone, it freaks me out to eat 1900 calories a day although these are actually 1200 net. Also, given that I was so hungry at 1200 a day when I wasn't exercising, I'm thinking that 1200 net isn't enough for me, so should be stuffing my face even more if I'm working out e.g. 1360 goal (500 deficit a day) + 700 exercise calories = 2060.

As far as my weight loss in the past is concerned, I've managed it without even knowing it was happening, just by working out a few days a week and being sensible about what I ate. Because I wasn't really conscious of what I was trying to achieve, I wouldn't be able to do the same again.

I've been on MFP for about 6 weeks now, of which most of it I've been flitting between a 1200 (1.3lb) and 1360 (1lb) calorie goal. In the last 10 days or so I've really upped my fitness. BUT....I'm not seeing much of a change. I have NO ISSUES WHATSOEVER in gaining muscle weight, as long as my jeans get looser, so I am not overly reliant on what the scales are telling me. In those 6 weeks I've lost about 4lb. In terms of inch loss, well, it depends how much I breath in, so I can't rely on my measurements. My jeans.... well.... still far too tight!

I'm having an absolute fit over what I should do; eat more or eat less. My TDEE is around 1800 based at sedantary. Should I ensure my gross calories don't exceed this, or should I keep my net calories at the 1200-1360 mark regardless of how much exercise I do? Which would be the "safest" to try first?

I only have around 20lb to lose by the way, but it's all flab - cellulite city!!!!

ohmywonwon

This is why I get so confused. I've been on MFP for nearly a month and my weight hasn't changed at all. It's always fluctuating between 98-101kg. I have the time and willpower to exercise everyday and burn between 500-1200 calories. I'm not sure what I should be netting at this point, I just wish I could sit down with someone and have them tell me exactly what to do/try and explain to me what everything means and how it all works. I'm 5'3" and looking to lose about 88lbs, if anyone would like to take a look at my diary and let me know what they think I should be doing then feel free to send me a message because I definitely can't figure this out for myself.

psuLemon

I haven't got a clue! One thing I know for sure though, is that now I'm exercising, I'm TERRIFIED of not eating enough and ending up losing muscle. Nearly as terrified as I am of putting on weight.

I find it hard to accept that my average 90 minutes a day workout (doing the exercise I'm currently doing; Zumba and brisk dog walking), I can burn around 700 calories (according to my heart rate monitor). Initially, at which point I wasn't really exercising enough, I set my calories to 1200 a day, but found that although this amount was achievable, I found myself in many risky situations where I felt like blowing it and pigging out. At 1360 I was slightly more comfortable, so it was still "dangerous". However, now I'm exercising more and have some extra exercise calories to draw from, I'm more than satisfied food wise at around the 1600 mark. BUT, despite a 660 a day deficit (1.3 lbs a week) from food alone, it freaks me out to eat 1900 calories a day although these are actually 1200 net. Also, given that I was so hungry at 1200 a day when I wasn't exercising, I'm thinking that 1200 net isn't enough for me, so should be stuffing my face even more if I'm working out e.g. 1360 goal (500 deficit a day) + 700 exercise calories = 2060.

As far as my weight loss in the past is concerned, I've managed it without even knowing it was happening, just by working out a few days a week and being sensible about what I ate. Because I wasn't really conscious of what I was trying to achieve, I wouldn't be able to do the same again.

I've been on MFP for about 6 weeks now, of which most of it I've been flitting between a 1200 (1.3lb) and 1360 (1lb) calorie goal. In the last 10 days or so I've really upped my fitness. BUT....I'm not seeing much of a change. I have NO ISSUES WHATSOEVER in gaining muscle weight, as long as my jeans get looser, so I am not overly reliant on what the scales are telling me. In those 6 weeks I've lost about 4lb. In terms of inch loss, well, it depends how much I breath in, so I can't rely on my measurements. My jeans.... well.... still far too tight!

I'm having an absolute fit over what I should do; eat more or eat less. My TDEE is around 1800 based at sedantary. Should I ensure my gross calories don't exceed this, or should I keep my net calories at the 1200-1360 mark regardless of how much exercise I do? Which would be the "safest" to try first?

I only have around 20lb to lose by the way, but it's all flab - cellulite city!!!!

Well if you want to maintain muscle and get the most out of it, then you need to eat more. Also if your tdee is 1900 and you burn 660, your true tdee is 2560. And if you want to do true body recomposition then you need a smaller deficit. You should be eating around 2000-2200 calories a day. Anything less and youre body is feeding on the muscle. Also you cant gain muscle, its impossible to do that on a defecit. So eat up.

psuLemon

This is why I get so confused. I've been on MFP for nearly a month and my weight hasn't changed at all. It's always fluctuating between 98-101kg. I have the time and willpower to exercise everyday and burn between 500-1200 calories. I'm not sure what I should be netting at this point, I just wish I could sit down with someone and have them tell me exactly what to do/try and explain to me what everything means and how it all works. I'm 5'3" and looking to lose about 88lbs, if anyone would like to take a look at my diary and let me know what they think I should be doing then feel free to send me a message because I definitely can't figure this out for myself.

My suggestion drop your goal to 1 lb per week, and eat back 50-75% of your exercise calories back. Try that for a month and them come back with an update.

sms1986

I think undereating is one of the reasons why, before joining this site, I didn't lose much of my weight. I used to just try to eat healthily without really considering calories or even things like protein or sugar, so for much of the past few years I've moved up and down between 200lbs and 220lbs. I think the lightest I've been in the past ten or so years is 180lbs, and that was a long time ago. Now that I'm using this site, I know that I need at least 1600-1800 net calories in order to be healthy and to lose excess weight.

kristinkt

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Going4Lean

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Julie2402

Hi, it is recommended that you eat back your calories that you burn, i have increased my intake by 300 and i feel much better for it. Everyone is different and i think it is a trial and error process to see what works best for you!

adlwilmot

I haven't got a clue! One thing I know for sure though, is that now I'm exercising, I'm TERRIFIED of not eating enough and ending up losing muscle. Nearly as terrified as I am of putting on weight.

I find it hard to accept that my average 90 minutes a day workout (doing the exercise I'm currently doing; Zumba and brisk dog walking), I can burn around 700 calories (according to my heart rate monitor). Initially, at which point I wasn't really exercising enough, I set my calories to 1200 a day, but found that although this amount was achievable, I found myself in many risky situations where I felt like blowing it and pigging out. At 1360 I was slightly more comfortable, so it was still "dangerous". However, now I'm exercising more and have some extra exercise calories to draw from, I'm more than satisfied food wise at around the 1600 mark. BUT, despite a 660 a day deficit (1.3 lbs a week) from food alone, it freaks me out to eat 1900 calories a day although these are actually 1200 net. Also, given that I was so hungry at 1200 a day when I wasn't exercising, I'm thinking that 1200 net isn't enough for me, so should be stuffing my face even more if I'm working out e.g. 1360 goal (500 deficit a day) + 700 exercise calories = 2060.

As far as my weight loss in the past is concerned, I've managed it without even knowing it was happening, just by working out a few days a week and being sensible about what I ate. Because I wasn't really conscious of what I was trying to achieve, I wouldn't be able to do the same again.

I've been on MFP for about 6 weeks now, of which most of it I've been flitting between a 1200 (1.3lb) and 1360 (1lb) calorie goal. In the last 10 days or so I've really upped my fitness. BUT....I'm not seeing much of a change. I have NO ISSUES WHATSOEVER in gaining muscle weight, as long as my jeans get looser, so I am not overly reliant on what the scales are telling me. In those 6 weeks I've lost about 4lb. In terms of inch loss, well, it depends how much I breath in, so I can't rely on my measurements. My jeans.... well.... still far too tight!

I'm having an absolute fit over what I should do; eat more or eat less. My TDEE is around 1800 based at sedantary. Should I ensure my gross calories don't exceed this, or should I keep my net calories at the 1200-1360 mark regardless of how much exercise I do? Which would be the "safest" to try first?

I only have around 20lb to lose by the way, but it's all flab - cellulite city!!!!

Well if you want to maintain muscle and get the most out of it, then you need to eat more. Also if your tdee is 1900 and you burn 660, your true tdee is 2560. And if you want to do true body recomposition then you need a smaller deficit. You should be eating around 2000-2200 calories a day. Anything less and youre body is feeding on the muscle. Also you cant gain muscle, its impossible to do that on a defecit. So eat up.

Thanks! I shall give that a go and see what happens!