Major sucess with higher calories!

ninjalaura5

Sorry what is TDEE?

nhmann

Wow! Thanks for sharing this info! i am finding i don't have enough energy. i am starting to work out more consistently in the hopes that that is the piece missing. However, if after some time, that doesn't work, i'm definitely going to try increasing my daily calorie limit. How did you figure how much to increase by, if i may ask?

thetiwi1890

Congratulations! :drinker:
Just a little bump to read later!

ladyraven68

Wow! Thanks for sharing this info! i am finding i don't have enough energy. i am starting to work out more consistently in the hopes that that is the piece missing. However, if after some time, that doesn't work, i'm definitely going to try increasing my daily calorie limit. How did you figure how much to increase by, if i may ask?

HAve a look here - http://www.fat2fitradio.com/tools/bmr/

ladyraven68

Sorry what is TDEE?

This may help - http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/512956-tdee-what-is-it-and-why-you-should-not-eat-below-your-bmr?

mamoojack

You told my story, exactly!!! Today I am starting on 2025 calories a day!!!, I am terrified!! I was eating 800-1000 a day!! We will see!!! good luck!!! Please friend me, I would like to stay in touch through this new "experiment" in weight loss!!!:laugh: :laugh:

MOS3

Excellent and well put. I think for many of us we have been brought up with the myth that if you eat virtually nothing you will lose weight. I must admit I started off MFP with 1200 cals and didn't eat back excercise cals. Then I took the plunge and switched to much higher cals and ate my EC back. Success. Even when I went on the maintenance I found I could eat much more cals than I had ever dreamed.

MellowYellowGem

Great advice!

CookieCrumble

Thank you for posting this; I'm really going to take on board the advice on this thread.

MommaFuhrer

AWESOME!! :flowerforyou:

psuLemon

I am very much like Dan and consistently push people to eat more calories and stop worrying about weight so much. I lose weight and body fat still and I eat burrito's, pizza, subway, etc... but guess what. I workout so I can eat 2700 calories a day, so when I do eat a lot in one day, it doesn't' make me gain. Below is a PM I got a few days ago of a women I got to start eating 1800 calories who stuck it out.



"I just wanted to thank you for your help. You helped me a few months back and I just wanted to give you an update on my progress. 12 weeks ago I started at 154 and 28% bf. I got my bf remeasured last Friday and it was 24%. But I only lost 1 pound. It is crazy to me but I have learned to ignore the scale. You were right that keeping consistent and not giving up my body would finally adjust.

Thanks again for your help!

Stephanie"

GoThinGirl

Thank you for all the wonderful information! I'm going to give this a try.

RunHardBeStrong

I wonder if this is whats wrong for me? I eat about 1000 cals and exercise everyday, and im not even losing one pound, im scared to eat more though now, i need to lose 3stone

Yeah, I'm a little worried too, but the way I see it is like this:

What I'm currently doing isn't working, what I've done before didn't work. I'll try this for 2 weeks and see how it goes. If I lose, then I know what to do! If I stay the same or gain, then I know I need to do something else. Every BODY is different so what works for some doesn't always work for others. It takes experimentation to see what works for you. :happy:

Glad to see you are going to give it a go! Don't be surprised if you do gain a bit at first. Your body is use to storing as a defense mode from eating to little! It will store at first. After about a week you will notice that you feel so much better and have so much more energy. You will more than likely put more into your workouts causing a little gain in water weight. I honestly would give it 3-4 weeks to even out then your body will realize that this calorie intake is going to be steady and start releasing it's stores! Good luck!!

Helloitsdan

I have struggled with the cal total per day since I started and have slowly but surely increased my calorie intake. I have a goal set by MFP of 1800 but burn off +-400 cal doing exercise 4-5 times a week. Does this mean I should up my cal intake to aim higher than 1200 (I've been trying to just stay over 1200 as I understand this is the minimum); so my net should be 1800 a day?

If you are over 5'2" you should be consuming no less than 1900 cals per day to lose fat.
Anything less than that and you are just shrinking yourself.
Youll make your weight loss journey take twice as long because youll have to go through an unneeded bulk cycle then cut again.
For guys its crucial we get our Fats and Protein in order.
Fats control testosterone!!!! RAWR!!!!!
Proteins feed our muscles!

So Proteins and Fats set to 30% should be sufficient.

If you are taller than 5'5" youll have to bump cals even more!

Helloitsdan

You told my story, exactly!!! Today I am starting on 2025 calories a day!!!, I am terrified!! I was eating 800-1000 a day!! We will see!!! good luck!!! Please friend me, I would like to stay in touch through this new "experiment" in weight loss!!!:laugh: :laugh:

Good luck!
With the extra food in the system you will have some discomfort and extra water weight.
But this drops after a few days.

Helloitsdan

Hmmm.. I must be a real anamoly then. I lost weight MORE when I was on a VLCD. I'm now on 1600 to 1800 a day (net above 1300) and losing consistently but much slower than before. Granted I'm down to my last few pounds before GW but still... *shrug*

VLCD will net higher weight loss but 20-50% of that loss is lean tissue.
=(
To get that back youll have to eat above TDEE for about 3 months and gain some fat back if done incorrectly...then youll have to cut again.

when you reach Goal Weight look into www.leangains.com to learn how to get the lean mass back without gaining fat.

samanthagreen3

just come across this and now im confused. I'm eating about 1000 - 1200 calories a day and im not eating back my exercise. Been on a diet for two weeks and i have lost 11llb. Its the time of the month this week so im not expecting to lose anything because i get really bloated. I'm very nervous about changing what i'm doing because its working...for now. But if i stop loosing weight i think im going to give this a go! I might even have a 'fat day' At least i'm going to have a kitkat this week. Thanks guys!

MJ7910

You told my story, exactly!!! Today I am starting on 2025 calories a day!!!, I am terrified!! I was eating 800-1000 a day!! We will see!!! good luck!!! Please friend me, I would like to stay in touch through this new "experiment" in weight loss!!!:laugh: :laugh:

Good luck!
With the extra food in the system you will have some discomfort and extra water weight.
But this drops after a few days.

yes i noticed this too. i gained a few lbs a few days after upping the calories. i momentarily freaked out. but what happens is your body figures out you are eating more food. the water weight starts to drop off and you can eat more and be comfortable. that's why when you do up calories, don't freak out and check in 2-4 days after starting it. because you will see a gain of a few lbs. and then you may freak out and restrict again. you need to give it a good 3 weeks... personal experience over the last few months of freaking out, gaining, restricting, trying it again, etc etc.

JenChis22

I too eat a high calorie/high protein diet consisting of ONLY organic whole foods and have ommitted gluton and dairy from my diet. I have had so much success in the 2 weeks since making this lifestyle change. I have lost 12 lbs and 11 inches all over, mostly from hips, waist and stomach.

emeraldowl

I am really trying to follow this thread but I am struggling. My weight loss has slowed down recently and I want to give it a kick start again. What is the best thing for me to do? If anyone can give me my magic calorie allowance to stick to using this method, it would be greatly appreciated. I am 5ft 5 and have a sedentary desk lifestyle. Thanks!

scubahsteve69

Bump

AmyRhubarb

I love all this info! I found a site that walked me through calculating my BMR & TDEE (BMR was pretty close to MFP's number for me). After doing all the math it shows my TDEE at 2155. It says to lose weight I should subtract 500, which leaves me at 1655 calories per day (MFP has me at 1580). I usually burn anywhere from 300-500 calories per day in workouts, and I eat my calories back when I am hungry. But I'm not always hungry! Not sure I could consume 2155 of healthy calories per day! Or should I aim for 1655? I will figure this out, I am determined! LOL

Like yesterday, I consumed 1903 in calories, but had a net of only 1337 due to exercise...I was FULL at bedtime, and ate healthy foods all day. Am I on the right track?

I have been eating this way for awhile. I am near my goal weight and sort of to the point where I don't care about the scale numbers as much as my shape and inches coming off. So it's slow going. But I do have fat to lose for sure. I work out 6 days a week, rotating various DVDs, some more cardio, some more strength, and alternate days of walking 4 miles and going through the c25k program. But I feel like I'm stuck - trying to ignore the scale, but I seem to fluctuate between the same two or three pounds every week, up and down.

I'm so thankful for MFP and all the help & support here! I feel like I have a much better handle on my health & fitness & so much more knowledge about these things than I did even a year ago. :flowerforyou:

vanella90

I am new here (started 1 week ago) and I haven't really had much success with my 1200 calories so I will take this advice and up my calories to 1500. ALSO, what I found out after reading your post and doing some research on how many calores i should be eating to lose weight based on my BMR and activity level, i found out that you need to decrease your carbs intake. so while I'm upping my calories, i also decreased my carb intake to 25% (94 grams) in MFP because research shows that you lose weight fast this way (I'm just gonna try it out for a week) then I'll go from there and adjust it to a realistic level so I can maintain a healthy lifestyle. I thank you so much for posting this because I hope to see success with these two combinations instead of being depressed on why I'm not losing weight after following my 1200 calorie diet limit. Wishing you more success in your future

Ilovedrinkingtea

Bump!xx

runbyme

I am REALLY excited. I got out my old data, (last spring and summer) and looked for months with big losses or gains and compared that to food diaries of roughly the time frame that I thought should be appropriate.

*Last June I lost 6 lbs and a good many of those days were around the 1900ish calorie range with a couple of 2200ish highs thrown in!
*In September I lost 5 lbs and there were 3 days where I ate over 3000cals, I had a few in the 1200ish and a lot in the 1900ish range.
**and for the grand finale-- In May I buckled down and stay very low calorie all month long and gained 1 pound!!!

(why couldn't I see this then? I think I probably spanked myself for those higher days thinking I had ruined everything)

Spanking yourself would be counted as cardio! Don't forget to eat those calories back! Good luck to you!

tcat2012

bump

funkycamper

Very interesting topic, I've been hearing a lot about eating higher calories and changed my goal to lose 1.5lbs a week instead of 2, which is much better... haven't been at that long enough to see the results, though.

Question- when you decide to up your calories, do you change your settings to reflect that number? I've only tweaked percentages (carb/fat/protein) and my fiber goals, it hadn't even occurred to me to change the calories.

You can go in and change the net calorie goal. The number of grams per macronutrient will automatically readjust based on the percentages you've chosen.

femmi1120

I recently upped my calories too, except now I seem to be hungry all of the time! Is this normal? Does it mean my metabolism is speeding up?

shapoe

bump

MrsZMartin

Awesome! I recently decided to up my calories, as I'm trying to increase muscle mass. The scale hasn't gone down, but I can already tell I'm increasing my strength. Food is fuel! :happy: