199.2

Secret_Agent_007

While this is a bit of a success story in that I finally broke into Onederland, this thread isn't about me. It's about you.

I started on MFP, I think, back in September and the program put me on ~1400 cals. And while I wasn't working out everything was fine and I lost between a pound or two per week as scheduled. Well it wasn't long before I got impatient and decided that if I joined a gym and worked real hard I could do even better.

The good news is I was able to work real hard and burn between 700 and 1400 cals on any given day just with my workouts. I was thankful my body would let me go that hard. My stamina improved and so did my flexability. The bad news is the scale quit moving. And I mean it flat out REFUSED!

What's worse is that if I had a "cheat day" on a weekend or something I would actually gain weight SUPER fast. It was almost as if everything I touched may as well have been added straight to my gut. And this went on for over 2 months. My resolve is pretty strong because I still never gave up, I just worked harder occassionally adding morning cardio to my routine of afternoon cardio plus weight training.

Now this last week has been quite interesting. I found the courage to approach a super fit young woman at my gym to inquire about training. It turns out she's a fitness competitor and recently won. That quickly explained why I had seen her so much at the gym. Lucky for me she turned out to be super nice and agreed to help me and my fiance.

After one meet at her place and one training session with her the changes began again. I could just feel it. She recommended following the Canada Food Guide rather than just counting cals. It's much more of a lifestyle change than a competition type diet. Not wanting to give up MFP I kept entering my food faithfully and the cals worked out to almost dead on 2000 per day.

Less than a week later - 199.2

I KNOW it seems counter intuitive to think I can eat more and lose weight. I know you think if I eat less and work harder I can lose more. The simple fact is, you can't. I tried! Trust me, I tried. To say I failed would be an understatement. You've GOT to eat all your cals. I've even stopped congradulating people for being under their cals for the day. Everyone seems so focused on that and IMHO thats not the goal. Eat ALL your cals. Thats what the program is designed for. It WILL work and you can't lose weight faster by starving yourself.

Even if you're sitting there thinking, "but I'm not hungry and I only eat 1200 cals". Try it. I was on 1400 and thinking I'm not hungry. Now I'm around 2000 and I'm hungry almost constantly.

I've also shut down the cardio to 25 mins per day. Which is less than half of what I was doing. You CAN over train. Especially if you don't eat enough. Running is great for stripping but the down side is, it strips everything, including muscle if you over do it. Kenya builds great runners but none of them look like Bradley Cooper. You need muscle.

There have been posts like this before. I read some. Ya think I listened? Ha ha ha, No. Don't be a fool, like me. Avoid 2 months of zero results and just eat your cals.

Good luck people. Oh ... and drink your damn water too!

skittybang

Incredible job Will!!!!!!! You've worked very hard for this and should be so proud of yourself, buddy! :bigsmile:

BrettPGH

Will I'm so happy for you and I'm going to pay attention and listen. All my calories. Shouldn't be hard. I didn't get here by not eating enough...

Good job man. Be proud. You've earned it.

TerraGirl17

Great post Will, and Way To Go!! I completely agree with you, this is basically what my trainer told me last year too

dlaplume2

Great job. I am glad you came across her.

Best wishes on more success.

AlsDonkBoxSquat

Happy dance and high kicks for you, my friend!!!







I love to eat . . . and eat and eat! I was surprised at the amount of weight I lost just by eating reasonably. I kept upping my calories and kept losing, it was awesome. Word to the wise, however, 3000 calories of cookes, cakes, pies, and crab dip will help you put on some unwanted calories. LOL!

chrislin2011

""I KNOW it seems counter intuitive to think I can eat more and lose weight. I know you think if I eat less and work harder I can lose more.""

That's exactly how I feel! So scared to eat all my calories because I dont want to gain back all the weight I have managed to lose. I guess it's time to bite the bullet and trust the people that have learned from experience. Thanks!

Miss_Chievous_wechange

Love this! So proud of you Will! You rock!

WarriorMom2012

Great job Will! I'm so happy for you!!

I'm really struggling with that mentality. It's hard not to think that if calories in is less than calories expended, I'll lose weight.

I'll try to get my head around this...

suavequeen

Awesome post! I will do my best to eat all my calories... I am approaching the "maintaining" phase soon and will need to up my calories and that is a bit scary but I can manage it..lol

OkieinMinny

I think you were in my head when writing this! Awesome thanks for the input -Im curious about the Canadian Food Guide, what does it say you need for foods, what kind of % balance of types of foods?

Thanks!

UsedToBeHusky

Yes. In the beginning, I definitely got away with not eating my cals. But here recently I have stepped up the weight training and I haven't been seeing a lot of progress. It wasn't until last week that I realized that my body just wasn't getting enough to fulfill the demand I was putting on it. What people don't realize is the body is smart. It is designed to survive so over time it will adjust to what ever you are subjecting it to. When we are grossly obese (when I started I had to lose 100 lbs just be overweight) then we can burn a whole bunch of calories and eat minimal calories and drop a bunch of weight. But the body knows that our fat stores have recently been depleted, and as it is designed to survive, it will begin to make adjustments so that it can hold on to the fat. That is when you have to eat more calories. If the body can rely on food for its anabolic reactions, then it will burn more fat carrying out its catabolic ones. I know that it sounds like I'm describing "starvation mode" but I hate that term. I like to call it "metabolic adjustments."

I may be slightly incorrect on my terminology so someone please correct me if I am wrong, but I am fairly certain this is how our metabolisms work.

vixmonsta

hey this is a great story and so true - i try and get to my calories every day - which i sometimes find hard to do - however what i do find MFP more helpful on is seeing that my diet is also balanced - i try to make sure i hit the right amounts of fat, protein and carbs as well as keeping to the calories and that alongwith some fun exercise has meant that i lost 2.5 stone (about 35lbs) in 2011... I've got another half stone i want to lose and hopefully if i get back into my 'usual' regime i think i'll do it.

V

brybre0413

Thank you! Thank you and way to go girl!

Stacera

YAAAAAAYYY you!! so proud of you!!! look at ya.. inspiring people.. doing great!!!!

kellybug123

Great job! Thanks for sharing and reminding me that all that food/energy that I put into my mouth really does make a difference. Keep up the great work!

maab_connor

this is AWESOME!! i remember how much better you started feeling with the higher calorie intake. i'm SO happy for you BOTH! yayness!!

gigiwaterloo

Thanks for posting this! It proves that MFP works & that you don't have to starve to actually lose weight! Thanks!!!

dwardkaiser

I have noticed the same results in the past week. Infact I had a cheat icecream date with my 8 year old neice last night and steped on the scale this morning and gained 1.6#s. UGHHH.

I am going to try to start eating back my calories and I hope this cures it!!

Thanks!!


Congratulations on ONE-DERLAND!!! :drinker:

anu_6986

Awesome post!

Manda_H

I totally agree with you! i had the same thing happen to me! EXACTLY the same thing!! I cut down my exercise and increased my calories and oh look, my weight is coming back off now!

dobenjam

Great story, and just what I needed to hear today. I've recently started and I've been doing well but have a long way to go. I have found the joy of running and I'm training for a few races now. I have been under my calories pretty much every day and then I had one day that I was over and gained a bunch of weight back. It has to be because I wasn't eating enough.

So were you more concerned with your NET calories to Total calories? I know I get "extra" calories from working out but I have been trying to keep my TOTAL calories at my original daily allowance. Is that ok or should I deffinately make sure I eat those calories too?

Thanks and Great Job! I real inspiration!

Lifting_chick

bump

CountryGal83

Thank you so much for sharing! I def needed to read this today!! Keep up the good work!

mbrain1087

Same here. I just started this program and exercising. I feel great exercising, but terrible and afraid to eat. Id like to think I eat healthy and I do try my best, but its the little things that sneak up on you (beer). MFP has me at 1400 cals a day...but I burn about 600 so I actually have to eat 2000 a day to be where the program puts me. If i dont eat more than that, I stall out. The body needs energy, 800 calories a day isnt energy. WTG and congrats! 40lbs is my goal and I cant wait for my clothes to not fit

eatrunstretch

thanks for sharing! Am going to look into this because I am in that exact situation and it is so frustrating!

loseweightjames

Not wanting to give up MFP I kept entering my food faithfully and the cals worked out to almost dead on 2000 per day.

Less than a week later - 199.2

I KNOW it seems counter intuitive to think I can eat more and lose weight. I know you think if I eat less and work harder I can lose more. The simple fact is, you can't. I tried! Trust me, I tried. To say I failed would be an understatement. You've GOT to eat all your cals. I've even stopped congradulating people for being under their cals for the day. Everyone seems so focused on that and IMHO thats not the goal. Eat ALL your cals. Thats what the program is designed for. It WILL work and you can't lose weight faster by starving yourself.

Even if you're sitting there thinking, "but I'm not hungry and I only eat 1200 cals". Try it. I was on 1400 and thinking I'm not hungry. Now I'm around 2000 and I'm hungry almost constantly.

I've also shut down the cardio to 25 mins per day. Which is less than half of what I was doing. You CAN over train. Especially if you don't eat enough. Running is great for stripping but the down side is, it strips everything, including muscle if you over do it. Kenya builds great runners but none of them look like Bradley Cooper. You need muscle.

There have been posts like this before. I read some. Ya think I listened? Ha ha ha, No. Don't be a fool, like me. Avoid 2 months of zero results and just eat your cals.

Good luck people. Oh ... and drink your damn water too!

so you ate more and exercised less and lost weight? Geez, I've been doing that for 10+ yrs and it hasn't been helping ;-)

Secret_Agent_007

Not wanting to give up MFP I kept entering my food faithfully and the cals worked out to almost dead on 2000 per day.

Less than a week later - 199.2

I KNOW it seems counter intuitive to think I can eat more and lose weight. I know you think if I eat less and work harder I can lose more. The simple fact is, you can't. I tried! Trust me, I tried. To say I failed would be an understatement. You've GOT to eat all your cals. I've even stopped congradulating people for being under their cals for the day. Everyone seems so focused on that and IMHO thats not the goal. Eat ALL your cals. Thats what the program is designed for. It WILL work and you can't lose weight faster by starving yourself.

Even if you're sitting there thinking, "but I'm not hungry and I only eat 1200 cals". Try it. I was on 1400 and thinking I'm not hungry. Now I'm around 2000 and I'm hungry almost constantly.

I've also shut down the cardio to 25 mins per day. Which is less than half of what I was doing. You CAN over train. Especially if you don't eat enough. Running is great for stripping but the down side is, it strips everything, including muscle if you over do it. Kenya builds great runners but none of them look like Bradley Cooper. You need muscle.

There have been posts like this before. I read some. Ya think I listened? Ha ha ha, No. Don't be a fool, like me. Avoid 2 months of zero results and just eat your cals.

Good luck people. Oh ... and drink your damn water too!

so you ate more and exercised less and lost weight? Geez, I've been doing that for 10+ yrs and it hasn't been helping ;-)

Yup! Thats what I'm sayin'. You can over train and under nourish.

luvinmytwins

Thanks for sharing! I belong to a mother's of multiples group with some of the members on here. I have told them before they need to eat. I look at some of their food diaries and wonder how they even make it through the day. I am hoping they are like me when I started logging and just not entering every meal.

I do have a lot of consumed calories every day. This makes me want to go back and look at how many calories I would be eating if it wasn't for the junk I eat. I may not be doing as well as I think I am. :blushing: