Has anyone lost a large amount of weight eating more?
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candicejn
Posts: 458 Member
I know I'm supposed to wait several weeks before making a judgement, but I've been eating at higher calories for over a month (up to 1600 from 1290 for 2 weeks, now at 2000 - netting 1850 BMR at the lowest) and still am looking at less than a pound total loss and no inches lost. I have a LONG way to go, I need to see losses soon or I'm going to go crazy.
I'm discouraged, and wondering if anyone here has lost a large amount of weight by eating more, and if so, did you get back to the 2lbs/week loss after an adjustment period? I mean lost over 50lbs+. I know any loss can be huge to an individual person, and all losses are awesome; but I need to be realistic here. I am not just looking to lose 5, 10, 20 lbs and tone up. I'm looking to drop over 85 more pounds and if I have to do it .5 per week I will go crazy. I don't mind it taking a little longer, but honestly if it's going to take 3 years, I'd rather do it using MFP numbers to lose it now - and "fix" my metabolism later.
I just need some advice. HELP me
I would prefer to eat more, I have more energy and feel stronger ---- BUT, I have to get this fat off my body. Should I maybe try using the K-M BMR of 1410 instead of the Harris 1850 and drop down? TDEE is estimated at between 2500 - 2700 depending on which calculations I use. I did a cut of 20% from 2500 to get to the 2,000 I am currently set at.
I currently exercise 5 days per week --- M/W/F I am doing C25K (on week 7), T/Th I do some toning videos, usually arms and abs w/5lb weights. I don't have a gym membership and will have to wait on buying heavier weights, so this is what I've got to work with. I have my calories set at the lightly active level (I'm a SAHM of 2 - ages 4 and 6, so I spend a lot of the day walking and cleaning stuff, but no heavy activity). I am working on getting my macros in check, most days I get my protein close to the 25% I'm aiming for.
I need help :sad:
I'm discouraged, and wondering if anyone here has lost a large amount of weight by eating more, and if so, did you get back to the 2lbs/week loss after an adjustment period? I mean lost over 50lbs+. I know any loss can be huge to an individual person, and all losses are awesome; but I need to be realistic here. I am not just looking to lose 5, 10, 20 lbs and tone up. I'm looking to drop over 85 more pounds and if I have to do it .5 per week I will go crazy. I don't mind it taking a little longer, but honestly if it's going to take 3 years, I'd rather do it using MFP numbers to lose it now - and "fix" my metabolism later.
I just need some advice. HELP me
I would prefer to eat more, I have more energy and feel stronger ---- BUT, I have to get this fat off my body. Should I maybe try using the K-M BMR of 1410 instead of the Harris 1850 and drop down? TDEE is estimated at between 2500 - 2700 depending on which calculations I use. I did a cut of 20% from 2500 to get to the 2,000 I am currently set at.I currently exercise 5 days per week --- M/W/F I am doing C25K (on week 7), T/Th I do some toning videos, usually arms and abs w/5lb weights. I don't have a gym membership and will have to wait on buying heavier weights, so this is what I've got to work with. I have my calories set at the lightly active level (I'm a SAHM of 2 - ages 4 and 6, so I spend a lot of the day walking and cleaning stuff, but no heavy activity). I am working on getting my macros in check, most days I get my protein close to the 25% I'm aiming for.
I need help :sad:
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Replies
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Yes I have lost 104 lbs never eating less than 1800-2300 cals. By the time I add in exercise I net no less than 1400-1500. I started with a paper and pen journal and just walking and dropped 40 lbs. Then I found MFP, with the numbers they gave me I GAINED 20 lbs. Even though I was still eating and tracking well. I had upped my exercise intensity A LOT. I added Zumba, kickboxing, running and heavy lifting. I was eating most of the exercise cals that MFP gave me. At first I blamed the 20 lb gain on birth control pills but after research I found my estimated TDEE and upped my cals then started losing again. Re-lost the 20 gained plus another 40ish and still losing. I have 50 more to go and I know I will get there with determination, patience and not starving myself!0
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Yes I have lost 104 lbs never eating less than 1800-2300 cals. By the time I add in exercise I net no less than 1400-1500. I started with a paper and pen journal and just walking and dropped 40 lbs. Then I found MFP, with the numbers they gave me I GAINED 20 lbs. Even though I was still eating and tracking well. I had upped my exercise intensity A LOT. I added Zumba, kickboxing, running and heavy lifting. I was eating most of the exercise cals that MFP gave me. At first I blamed the 20 lb gain on birth control pills but after research I found my estimated TDEE and upped my cals then started losing again. Re-lost the 20 gained plus another 40ish and still losing. I have 50 more to go and I know I will get there with determination, patience and not starving myself!
Thats awesome!!!0 -
Yes I have lost 104 lbs never eating less than 1800-2300 cals. By the time I add in exercise I net no less than 1400-1500. I started with a paper and pen journal and just walking and dropped 40 lbs. Then I found MFP, with the numbers they gave me I GAINED 20 lbs. Even though I was still eating and tracking well. I had upped my exercise intensity A LOT. I added Zumba, kickboxing, running and heavy lifting. I was eating most of the exercise cals that MFP gave me. At first I blamed the 20 lb gain on birth control pills but after research I found my estimated TDEE and upped my cals then started losing again. Re-lost the 20 gained plus another 40ish and still losing. I have 50 more to go and I know I will get there with determination, patience and not starving myself!
That's incredible, thank you so much for posting. I need to hear stories like this so I don't give up
Congrats on your success!!! :flowerforyou:
EDITED: I should add that I'm hormonal and cranky right now, so that might add to my "freaking out" about eating more today. I'm guessing next week I'll feel more confident in trusting my body. Gotta love hormones, right ? UGH.0 -
Thank you! Everyone can get there! Trust me if I can do it, you can to. I use to be the queen of excuses and had given up and told myself I would happy being fat the rest of my life. Then one day something changed and I've been on a mission ever since. It's not easy, it's a long sometimes disheartnening road but I've never once said "I regret becoming healthier." It started as getting skinny for me but turned to health. The smaller sizes help but the feeling healthy far outweighs anything!0
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Congrats! so, how long did it take you to start losing again? and at which rate did you lose?Yes I have lost 104 lbs never eating less than 1800-2300 cals. By the time I add in exercise I net no less than 1400-1500. I started with a paper and pen journal and just walking and dropped 40 lbs. Then I found MFP, with the numbers they gave me I GAINED 20 lbs. Even though I was still eating and tracking well. I had upped my exercise intensity A LOT. I added Zumba, kickboxing, running and heavy lifting. I was eating most of the exercise cals that MFP gave me. At first I blamed the 20 lb gain on birth control pills but after research I found my estimated TDEE and upped my cals then started losing again. Re-lost the 20 gained plus another 40ish and still losing. I have 50 more to go and I know I will get there with determination, patience and not starving myself!0 -
Yes I have lost 104 lbs never eating less than 1800-2300 cals. By the time I add in exercise I net no less than 1400-1500. I started with a paper and pen journal and just walking and dropped 40 lbs. Then I found MFP, with the numbers they gave me I GAINED 20 lbs. Even though I was still eating and tracking well. I had upped my exercise intensity A LOT. I added Zumba, kickboxing, running and heavy lifting. I was eating most of the exercise cals that MFP gave me. At first I blamed the 20 lb gain on birth control pills but after research I found my estimated TDEE and upped my cals then started losing again. Re-lost the 20 gained plus another 40ish and still losing. I have 50 more to go and I know I will get there with determination, patience and not starving myself!
That's incredible, thank you so much for posting. I need to hear stories like this so I don't give up
Congrats on your success!!! :flowerforyou:
EDITED: I should add that I'm hormonal and cranky right now, so that might add to my "freaking out" about eating more today. I'm guessing next week I'll feel more confident in trusting my body. Gotta love hormones, right ? UGH.
LOL! Yes I'm having one of those weeks myself! Even after everything I've accomplished I still have down moments. That's when I have to kick myself in the *kitten* and get over it 0 -
Congrats! so, how long did it take you to start losing again? and at which rate did you lose?Yes I have lost 104 lbs never eating less than 1800-2300 cals. By the time I add in exercise I net no less than 1400-1500. I started with a paper and pen journal and just walking and dropped 40 lbs. Then I found MFP, with the numbers they gave me I GAINED 20 lbs. Even though I was still eating and tracking well. I had upped my exercise intensity A LOT. I added Zumba, kickboxing, running and heavy lifting. I was eating most of the exercise cals that MFP gave me. At first I blamed the 20 lb gain on birth control pills but after research I found my estimated TDEE and upped my cals then started losing again. Re-lost the 20 gained plus another 40ish and still losing. I have 50 more to go and I know I will get there with determination, patience and not starving myself!
Thank you! It took about 4 weeks to start losing again, I didn't undereat for very long..trust me it didn't take long to put that 20 lbs on, it was crazy. I think had I underate for a longer period it would have taken my body longer to start releasing again. At first I lost at a rate of 1-2 lbs a week. Now I'm losing .5-1 lb most weeks. I'm also lifting very heavy (for me anyways lol) and I can tell a huge difference in my muscle. So even though the scale isn't moving as much as it use to I can tell my body is re-shaping, in a good way 0 -
I've lost ~55 pounds not eating less than 1800 (33 last year on my own, then I was sidelined by a shoulder injury so maintained for 8 months, and 22 since mid-January using MFP). I actually just increased to 2400 on rest days and 2600 on workout days and I've been dropping inches like MAD and the scale is still going down, just a wee bit slower than before as my body gets used to the increased cals (I'm still losing around 1.5-2 pounds a week). I'm a nanny by trade, so I'm playing and cleaning and walking and chasing, and I also do three days of strength training, three days of shoulder rehab (only for a few more weeks, huzzah!) and anywhere between 1 and 3 days of cardio (jogging, swimming, Zumba) depending on mood.
I used the Harris BMR number to figure out my TDEE, not Katch-McArdle, even though I started off in January a bit over 300 pounds. I figure between eating at a slight deficit and being as active as I am, I'm creating a decent deficit even if my BMR is 1735 instead of 2100, and since I'm losing inches and pounds, that seems to be holding true.
Based on your lifestyle and exercise (which looks to be similar to mine), I'd almost suggest that you should use the modifier for moderate activity rather than lightly active, but maybe stick with the lightly active for now and then increase if necessary? Also, bodyweight resistance workouts are amazing, especially when you've got a lot to lose, because you have a lot of bodyweight that can be used as resistance. I use the no-equipment workouts on virtuagym.com and swear by them, so if you want another strength training option check that out.
Oh, and one more thing - getting the fat off does not always mean the scale number going down, or at least that alone. I have only lost 22 pounds this year, but I have lost close to 30 inches from all over (and that's just the places I am actively measuring, I can see loads of other places that are smaller and less jiggly than they were before.
If you were eating super low cal for an extended period of time, your weight loss (and even inch loss) may slow down or stall for a few weeks as you adjust to increasing your intake (mine did), but then it will start going again, so you can lose weight and inches and have more energy to enjoy life as a slimmer you. My husband, my friends, and my employers have all commented on how much slimmer I look and how much more energy I have over the past couple of months.0 -
I've lost ~55 pounds not eating less than 1800 (33 last year on my own, then I was sidelined by a shoulder injury so maintained for 8 months, and 22 since mid-January using MFP). I actually just increased to 2400 on rest days and 2600 on workout days and I've been dropping inches like MAD and the scale is still going down, just a wee bit slower than before as my body gets used to the increased cals (I'm still losing around 1.5-2 pounds a week). I'm a nanny by trade, so I'm playing and cleaning and walking and chasing, and I also do three days of strength training, three days of shoulder rehab (only for a few more weeks, huzzah!) and anywhere between 1 and 3 days of cardio (jogging, swimming, Zumba) depending on mood.
I used the Harris BMR number to figure out my TDEE, not Katch-McArdle, even though I started off in January a bit over 300 pounds. I figure between eating at a slight deficit and being as active as I am, I'm creating a decent deficit even if my BMR is 1735 instead of 2100, and since I'm losing inches and pounds, that seems to be holding true.
Based on your lifestyle and exercise (which looks to be similar to mine), I'd almost suggest that you should use the modifier for moderate activity rather than lightly active, but maybe stick with the lightly active for now and then increase if necessary? Also, bodyweight resistance workouts are amazing, especially when you've got a lot to lose, because you have a lot of bodyweight that can be used as resistance. I use the no-equipment workouts on virtuagym.com and swear by them, so if you want another strength training option check that out.
Oh, and one more thing - getting the fat off does not always mean the scale number going down, or at least that alone. I have only lost 22 pounds this year, but I have lost close to 30 inches from all over (and that's just the places I am actively measuring, I can see loads of other places that are smaller and less jiggly than they were before.
If you were eating super low cal for an extended period of time, your weight loss (and even inch loss) may slow down or stall for a few weeks as you adjust to increasing your intake (mine did), but then it will start going again, so you can lose weight and inches and have more energy to enjoy life as a slimmer you. My husband, my friends, and my employers have all commented on how much slimmer I look and how much more energy I have over the past couple of months.
Congrats on your accomplishments! Yes, great point about the inches...measure, measure, measure! You will see inches go down much faster then scale when lifting and eating higher cals! Which the inches lost and body recomposition are way more important imo.0 -
Yes I have lost 104 lbs never eating less than 1800-2300 cals. By the time I add in exercise I net no less than 1400-1500. I started with a paper and pen journal and just walking and dropped 40 lbs. Then I found MFP, with the numbers they gave me I GAINED 20 lbs. Even though I was still eating and tracking well. I had upped my exercise intensity A LOT. I added Zumba, kickboxing, running and heavy lifting. I was eating most of the exercise cals that MFP gave me. At first I blamed the 20 lb gain on birth control pills but after research I found my estimated TDEE and upped my cals then started losing again. Re-lost the 20 gained plus another 40ish and still losing. I have 50 more to go and I know I will get there with determination, patience and not starving myself!
That's incredible, thank you so much for posting. I need to hear stories like this so I don't give up
Congrats on your success!!! :flowerforyou:
EDITED: I should add that I'm hormonal and cranky right now, so that might add to my "freaking out" about eating more today. I'm guessing next week I'll feel more confident in trusting my body. Gotta love hormones, right ? UGH.
Speaking of hormones - please be patient and DON'T drop your calories. I have been a yo-yo dieter all my life. I never thought I was starving myself. The times that I lost weight I tried doing lower numbers and it would work and then I'd either give up and binge because I was hungry a lot or I'd gain it all back once I started eating a normal amount. My hormones are out of whack. I am hypothyroid. I had to take progesterone to keep my last pregnancy. Eating under BMR has long term consequences. I wish I had known about BMR and these issues when I was younger. I can understand wanting to lose a bit more than .5 pound a week. It might take a bit of practice, perhaps some journaling to notice patterns, etc...to play around with the numbers and find the right amount for you. Those calculators are estimates. You might need to move up or down by a hundred cals or so, but don't go down to the MFP amount - it's just too low - especially given your level of activity.
Having lost all my weight several times, I'll be honest. I don't care at this point if it takes me three years as long as it stays off forever this time. I don't think it will take three years, but at the rate I'm going it will likely take between 1 1/2 - 2 years. I'm losing roughly a pound a week, maybe a touch more.
Please hang in there. I would be frustrated too if I was in your boat, but if I could go back in time I would've gone this route the first time. Perhaps my thyroid wouldn't be screwed up and perhaps I wouldn't have gone through a year and a half of infertilty. I will never know that for sure, but I do know that eating under BMR can jack your body up.0 -
I've lost ~55 pounds not eating less than 1800 (33 last year on my own, then I was sidelined by a shoulder injury so maintained for 8 months, and 22 since mid-January using MFP). I actually just increased to 2400 on rest days and 2600 on workout days and I've been dropping inches like MAD and the scale is still going down, just a wee bit slower than before as my body gets used to the increased cals (I'm still losing around 1.5-2 pounds a week). I'm a nanny by trade, so I'm playing and cleaning and walking and chasing, and I also do three days of strength training, three days of shoulder rehab (only for a few more weeks, huzzah!) and anywhere between 1 and 3 days of cardio (jogging, swimming, Zumba) depending on mood.
I used the Harris BMR number to figure out my TDEE, not Katch-McArdle, even though I started off in January a bit over 300 pounds. I figure between eating at a slight deficit and being as active as I am, I'm creating a decent deficit even if my BMR is 1735 instead of 2100, and since I'm losing inches and pounds, that seems to be holding true.
Based on your lifestyle and exercise (which looks to be similar to mine), I'd almost suggest that you should use the modifier for moderate activity rather than lightly active, but maybe stick with the lightly active for now and then increase if necessary? Also, bodyweight resistance workouts are amazing, especially when you've got a lot to lose, because you have a lot of bodyweight that can be used as resistance. I use the no-equipment workouts on virtuagym.com and swear by them, so if you want another strength training option check that out.
Oh, and one more thing - getting the fat off does not always mean the scale number going down, or at least that alone. I have only lost 22 pounds this year, but I have lost close to 30 inches from all over (and that's just the places I am actively measuring, I can see loads of other places that are smaller and less jiggly than they were before.
If you were eating super low cal for an extended period of time, your weight loss (and even inch loss) may slow down or stall for a few weeks as you adjust to increasing your intake (mine did), but then it will start going again, so you can lose weight and inches and have more energy to enjoy life as a slimmer you. My husband, my friends, and my employers have all commented on how much slimmer I look and how much more energy I have over the past couple of months.
So awesome, thank you so much for posting and for the tips, I'll check out your suggestions 0 -
'Speaking of hormones - please be patient and DON'T drop your calories. I have been a yo-yo dieter all my life. I never thought I was starving myself. The times that I lost weight I tried doing lower numbers and it would work and then I'd either give up and binge because I was hungry a lot or I'd gain it all back once I started eating a normal amount. My hormones are out of whack. I am hypothyroid. I had to take progesterone to keep my last pregnancy. Eating under BMR has long term consequences. I wish I had known about BMR and these issues when I was younger. I can understand wanting to lose a bit more than .5 pound a week. It might take a bit of practice, perhaps some journaling to notice patterns, etc...to play around with the numbers and find the right amount for you. Those calculators are estimates. You might need to move up or down by a hundred cals or so, but don't go down to the MFP amount - it's just too low - especially given your level of activity.
Having lost all my weight several times, I'll be honest. I don't care at this point if it takes me three years as long as it stays off forever this time. I don't think it will take three years, but at the rate I'm going it will likely take between 1 1/2 - 2 years. I'm losing roughly a pound a week, maybe a touch more.
Please hang in there. I would be frustrated too if I was in your boat, but if I could go back in time I would've gone this route the first time. Perhaps my thyroid wouldn't be screwed up and perhaps I wouldn't have gone through a year and a half of infertilty. I will never know that for sure, but I do know that eating under BMR can jack your body up.
I am also hypothyroid, so thank you for this 0 -
So you have only been at 2000 for 2 weeks? I would definitely stick it out to 4 or 6 weeks before panicking. Your body is probably still adjusting. All the best to you! 0
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So you have only been at 2000 for 2 weeks? I would definitely stick it out to 4 or 6 weeks before panicking. Your body is probably still adjusting. All the best to you!
Thanks! 0 -
Congrats! so, how long did it take you to start losing again? and at which rate did you lose?Yes I have lost 104 lbs never eating less than 1800-2300 cals. By the time I add in exercise I net no less than 1400-1500. I started with a paper and pen journal and just walking and dropped 40 lbs. Then I found MFP, with the numbers they gave me I GAINED 20 lbs. Even though I was still eating and tracking well. I had upped my exercise intensity A LOT. I added Zumba, kickboxing, running and heavy lifting. I was eating most of the exercise cals that MFP gave me. At first I blamed the 20 lb gain on birth control pills but after research I found my estimated TDEE and upped my cals then started losing again. Re-lost the 20 gained plus another 40ish and still losing. I have 50 more to go and I know I will get there with determination, patience and not starving myself!
Thank you! It took about 4 weeks to start losing again, I didn't undereat for very long..trust me it didn't take long to put that 20 lbs on, it was crazy. I think had I underate for a longer period it would have taken my body longer to start releasing again. At first I lost at a rate of 1-2 lbs a week. Now I'm losing .5-1 lb most weeks. I'm also lifting very heavy (for me anyways lol) and I can tell a huge difference in my muscle. So even though the scale isn't moving as much as it use to I can tell my body is re-shaping, in a good way
Awesome !!!! Your experience needs to be a " MUST READ" !!0 -
I am still progressing. But I've been targeting 1600-1800 calories (I recently upped mine to beat a plateau) and I eat around 50% of my exercise calories. Down 35 YTD. I am also hypothyroid. I have a very inactive job (I work at home on my computer). So I'll continue to monitor. The first 25 came off in about 2 months. The next 10 have been on pace a little closer to 1-1.5 pounds a week so far. I am about 4 weeks in on upping my calories another 150, and after a 3 week lull, I had a 5 pound loss in short succession. I have continued to lose inches the entire time. You can ready my blog and I have some stats up.0
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Thanks everyone for sharing. Congrats on your amazing success! I lost the first half of my weight doing very low calorie. But as some of the above posters mentioned, that backfired to the point where no matter how much I exercised or how little I ate, I was GAINING weight. Seriously. Who GAINS on 1000 calories a day?!? In addition to that, I was weak, dizzy, irritable, my hair was falling out in huge chunks, and I was afraid I was going to go bald. Sad it had to take that. But when I started eating more, I did start losing. For me, my weight loss has really slowed down. At 5'5", I currently weigh 170ish...oh wow that was hard to type...but am wearing mostly size 6's and I own a few 4s. Just a few months I was a few pounds lighter and wearing size 8s. When I met my husband 12 years ago, I weighed the same but wore a size 12-14. I realize that according to the BMI, I am way too heavy for my height, but I am happy about the changes I am seeing in my body even if the scale is not moving much right now. I would technically still like to lose another 20-30 pounds, but I am getting to a place of being SOOOO OVER THE SCALE. I would rather be heavier with more muscle than lighter with a higher percentage of body fat. I am loving the place where I am at now. I still have my struggles, but I feel strong and healthy. I am able to lift much heavier than I ever thought possible-something that would never be possible if I wasnt properly fueling my body. I share all this to say that the scale is so overrated. It is a measure of progress, but we have to remember it is only ONE measure of progress. And yes, eating more really does work. I will never go back to those old ways!0
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Should I maybe try using the K-M BMR of 1410 instead of the Harris 1850 and drop down?
There shouldn't be that much difference in the different BMR calculators. If by K-M BMR you mean the number that MFP calculates for you, that is a calorie deficit calculation from TDEE. Not a BMR calculation. They call it BMR on the tools here and they tell you which formula they use but then they ask your activity level and then they deduct based on how many pounds per week you tell it you want to lose. This is not BMR, it's a number with calorie deficit built in.
Understanding this concept is important.0 -
At 5'5", I currently weigh 170ish...oh wow that was hard to type...but am wearing mostly size 6's and I own a few 4s. Just a few months I was a few pounds lighter and wearing size 8s. When I met my husband 12 years ago, I weighed the same but wore a size 12-14.
WHAT?????? Girl I could just slap you, you are 170ish and wearing SIX'S...YOU ARE ALL MUSCLE!!! You got me WHIPPED!!!! BECCA if you were sitting beside me right now...LOL0 -
At 5'5", I currently weigh 170ish...oh wow that was hard to type...but am wearing mostly size 6's and I own a few 4s. Just a few months I was a few pounds lighter and wearing size 8s. When I met my husband 12 years ago, I weighed the same but wore a size 12-14.
WHAT?????? Girl I could just slap you, you are 170ish and wearing SIX'S...YOU ARE ALL MUSCLE!!! You got me WHIPPED!!!! BECCA if you were sitting beside me right now...LOL
Lucia! I seriously doubt that Ms. Fitness Model!!! I think my body is just strangely shaped, not much booty, its all in the belly! But Im still excited about my size 6s no matter what the reason!!!0
