If you are scared to increase calories

mogriff1

About 2 weeks ago I increased my caloric intake to my TDEE (at my activity level) minus a 500 calorie deficit and I am finally out of my 4 week plateau! On top of it, I am less hungry and feel more energized. I now eat about 1850 calories a day. I am 5'3'', 135 pounds, excercise 6 days a week.

silvercanoe

4) Lift something heavy 3 days a week and walk five days a week.

I did go to f2f and ran the numbers and upped my calories a little bit ago. My concern is I don't have access to a gym or heavy weights at home right now. I have been using dvds to work out with hand weights. I know heavy lifting is really effective, but will this method work if I don't lift heavy?

Thanks!

ironanimal

4) Lift something heavy 3 days a week and walk five days a week.

I did go to f2f and ran the numbers and upped my calories a little bit ago. My concern is I don't have access to a gym or heavy weights at home right now. I have been using dvds to work out with hand weights. I know heavy lifting is really effective, but will this method work if I don't lift heavy?

Thanks!

Sure, just use sedentary or lightly active depending on your job.

rmac18

I also found that increasing my caloric intake helped kickstart my weight loss when I hit a plateau. I firmly there is a balance with your body and the amount of calories you eat, the quality of those calories with regard to nutrients, the amount of rest between exercising and the amount of sleep. When I have all these things in the zone then weight loss is a lot easier and I feel a lot better.

HMVOL7409

About 2 weeks ago I increased my caloric intake to my TDEE (at my activity level) minus a 500 calorie deficit and I am finally out of my 4 week plateau! On top of it, I am less hungry and feel more energized. I now eat about 1850 calories a day. I am 5'3'', 135 pounds, excercise 6 days a week.

That actually sounds like a great idea. I may do that bc quite frankly I'm still scared to up my calories by 650!

LiteBrite007

Come on guys. Play nice.

ofthevalley

Another key point when you increase your calories at first you will see an increase in weight usually first week or two. This is your bodies insulin levels and hormones getting brought back into line. MFP had me set to 1900 cals and I was stuck in a plateau. I went and got BF% measured (water dip) and metabolism measured (breathing test). Learned to be losing I needed to actually be around 2.4-2.5k to be at my 750 a day deficit I was wanting. Doing that I've been dropping and leaning up. I plan on doing those tests every 6 months or so now. Upping my calories was a bit worrisome at first because I gained around 9 pounds that first week and the week after it started coming back off but it didn't stop coming off.

If you are having problems like I've said in the past.

Contact your local universities sports department. Most of them will for a small fee/donation let you come and they then let kids practice the bf % test and metabolism test on you. Teaches the kids and you get the results much cheaper then going to say an anti-aging or sports center to get them done!

Thank you for this. I increased my calories and my workouts this week and I've put on 3 lbs. I needed to read this post.

keem88

MFP has me at 1250 for my weight and activity level.
this has me at about 1600...
i am still kinda scared to try it, afraid i will start gaining

HMVOL7409

MFP has me at 1250 for my weight and activity level.
this has me at about 1600...
i am still kinda scared to try it, afraid i will start gaining

Bc with this formula you don't eat your exercise cals back; MFP you do. Depending on how much you burn when you workout it sounds like you would even out.

shrinkinginQualicum

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muppetsbear

coming back

PickTara

Thanks for the info. I am going to give it a try. I have been working out really hard and I have found that I am starving to death lately. I will give it a try for a month or so

autumnk921

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Autry403

1200-1400 cal /day
Eat until I'm full & I'm satisfied .
MFP Says for me to eat 1200 /day but after my exercise it should be 1700/day ...
I can NEVER eat that much in one day , unless I had bad foods like pizza and fast food or something .
I haven't been eating anything 'bad' lately this past month .
I'm not to worried about my weight loss , as to my size 'inches'.
So that's why I bought 30DS , and just eat what I can .
I jog 2-4 miles / day now also , and burn 500-600 cals / day .

kfitzs

ive been thinking about increasing my calories to lose weight but im not 100% sure what my activity level would be and i was eating about 2200 calories when i put on weight and that calulator would have me eating 1932 for lightly active which i would have to be minimum as i do at least 15000 steps a day at work

belladonnablue

(Sorry, noob post incoming!)

I'm so glad I read this thread. I was starving on 1300 calories and losing nada, so I just increased my calorie intake to 2000 (following Coach Calorie's advice to find my weight gain threshold... I'm a stay-at-home, nursing mom, so I've been really foggy on figuring out how many calories I really burn a day) and after a week of 2000 calories, I put on over a pound. I was really concerned that it only took 2000 calories before I started gaining weight, even with regular exercise, and if I continued gaining at that high I was worried I'd have to cut down to starving-to-death levels before my weight would budge.

Secretly, I was hoping that the weight gain just represented a system reboot of my body adjusting to the higher energy and following weeks would be different. I'm happy to read that this may indeed be what happened.

InnerFatGirl

Thanks for this post, it's very helpful.

I followed the instructions, and got a result of 2090 p/d for the lightly active option. That is certainly good for me.

However, please excuse my ignorance but I have a few questions;

A) If I don't stick to the routine and lift 3 days p/w etc, will I put on weight or stay at maintenance? Should I eat less on the days I don't exercise? I do work as a Barista 4 days a week, though, so I am active from that.

I am currently at 1690 calories per day. I am making changes to the types of food I eat, but for the past two weeks or so, I didn't eat very well. Not only that, but I was over my calories. So I was probably averaging out around at the amount of calories fat2fit is recommending. I seemed to have put on a lb (but TOM is due, so it might be that), and haven't lost anything for two weeks now. Is eating 2090 calories a day REALLY going to make me lose weight? Again, does the 2090 p/d include exercise (lifting and cardio), or just my normal daily activity (I.E working)

Sorry if I sound sceptical, I don't mean to be. I am just a bit nervous about increasing my calories. Been really ****ty to not lose for two weeks, and I am worried about putting on some of the 11lbs I worked so hard to lose.

Thanks in advance!

tryinghard71

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ironanimal

Thanks for this post, it's very helpful.

I followed the instructions, and got a result of 2090 p/d for the lightly active option. That is certainly good for me.

However, please excuse my ignorance but I have a few questions;

A) If I don't stick to the routine and lift 3 days p/w etc, will I put on weight or stay at maintenance? Should I eat less on the days I don't exercise? I do work as a Barista 4 days a week, though, so I am active from that.

I am currently at 1690 calories per day. I am making changes to the types of food I eat, but for the past two weeks or so, I didn't eat very well. Not only that, but I was over my calories. So I was probably averaging out around at the amount of calories fat2fit is recommending. I seemed to have put on a lb (but TOM is due, so it might be that), and haven't lost anything for two weeks now. Is eating 2090 calories a day REALLY going to make me lose weight? Again, does the 2090 p/d include exercise (lifting and cardio), or just my normal daily activity (I.E working)

Sorry if I sound sceptical, I don't mean to be. I am just a bit nervous about increasing my calories. Been really ****ty to not lose for two weeks, and I am worried about putting on some of the 11lbs I worked so hard to lose.

Thanks in advance!

Just to answer these real quick before bed;
a. It's just a guideline exercise plan - do what you can and use the appropriate activity level for you.
b. You don't eat exercise calories back using this method UNLESS you pick sedentary and then exercise vigorously. Your calorie goal is high because you're young - use it to your advantage!

You may gain some water weight as you up your calories, but remember the maths - you need an excess of 3.5k to gain a lb of fat. It takes a few weeks for the hormones to adjust.

InnerFatGirl

Thanks for this post, it's very helpful.

I followed the instructions, and got a result of 2090 p/d for the lightly active option. That is certainly good for me.

However, please excuse my ignorance but I have a few questions;

A) If I don't stick to the routine and lift 3 days p/w etc, will I put on weight or stay at maintenance? Should I eat less on the days I don't exercise? I do work as a Barista 4 days a week, though, so I am active from that.

I am currently at 1690 calories per day. I am making changes to the types of food I eat, but for the past two weeks or so, I didn't eat very well. Not only that, but I was over my calories. So I was probably averaging out around at the amount of calories fat2fit is recommending. I seemed to have put on a lb (but TOM is due, so it might be that), and haven't lost anything for two weeks now. Is eating 2090 calories a day REALLY going to make me lose weight? Again, does the 2090 p/d include exercise (lifting and cardio), or just my normal daily activity (I.E working)

Sorry if I sound sceptical, I don't mean to be. I am just a bit nervous about increasing my calories. Been really ****ty to not lose for two weeks, and I am worried about putting on some of the 11lbs I worked so hard to lose.

Thanks in advance!

Just to answer these real quick before bed;
a. It's just a guideline exercise plan - do what you can and use the appropriate activity level for you.
b. You don't eat exercise calories back using this method UNLESS you pick sedentary and then exercise vigorously. Your calorie goal is high because you're young - use it to your advantage!

You may gain some water weight as you up your calories, but remember the maths - you need an excess of 3.5k to gain a lb of fat. It takes a few weeks for the hormones to adjust.

Thank you, thank you! So sweet of you to reply :-)

In response;

Ah, I see. So it's just a case of eat that daily, and if you exercise, don't eat them back?

I will be mindful of the water weight and not weigh myself for a while. Been having a nightmare with the scale for a couple of weeks and it's really getting me down

ExplorinLauren

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microburst20

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llmichalek

Ugh I'm completely and totally lost. I need to be rich so I can hire someone to tell me what to eat and what exercise to do. I've been trying to lost this last 10 pounds of baby weight for 6 months with no success at all.

christinehetz80

I would love this to be the automatic welcome email that people get when they join mfp!!!!! I was one of those people...I stalled from January to about 2 weeks ago. after I stalled and wanted to cry for 2 months a friend recommended fat2fitradio.com I listened and upped my calories up by 1000 more than I was eating. I ate at that level for about a month, (never gained never lost) when on vacation ate above that maintenance level, came back home reset my calories to 1900, and eat above my bmr every day regardless of exercise or rest day. FINALLY started losing and feel so much better!!!!!!

Kincar

Ok- I have read everyone's post and I just want to confirm for myself:

If My BF% is 46.8% that makes my goal weight 139 (which is lower that what I was shooting for but no biggie)

the Katch-McArdle says my BMR is 1391

The chart I get for lightly active says I need to eat 1939 calories a day

So, I keep doing what I'm doing exercise wise and DON'T eat my exercise calories back? Just stick with the 1939 total?

Is the 1939 my tdee? If so, than if I'm eating this but burning lets say 300 cals, then my deficit is 300 cals a day? Which in turn make it a 2100 deficit per week? Which is not even a pound?

Oh golly! I've been on a plateau for 5 wks now and I really want to get this right.

I'm fairly new to this but didn't want your question to go unanswered. I know how confusing it is when you start.

1939 is your TDEE. That number includes your exercise calories so no, you wouldn't eat them back following this plan.

If you burn 300 then that would be your deficit. The 3,500 cals burned to lose a pound is an estimate. I've had weeks where I lost more when I ate more (that was before I increased my calories).

If I'm wrong someone please correct me.

zyxst

So I'm confused do I use the Katch-McArdle BMR (1342) or the Harris-Benedict BMR (1604)?? Will that affect the TDEE (2130)??
Becasue the site is telling me the Katch-McArdle is more accurate....but the TDEE is measured based on the Harris-Benedict BMR.....

And that's what confuses the hell out of me.

tanyaleighcummings

Interesting.

Kincar

I've increased my calories (as scary as it was to commmit to doing it). I gained about 2.5 lbs. It took three weeks to come off. I had to keep reminding myself that there was no way I ate enough calories to put on that much weight so quickly. During the three weeks, my clothes fit the same and I actually lost inches. That helped me stay strong.

I haven't done anything differently to make those 2.5 lbs come off. I even increaseed my caloric intake even more during that time since I hadn't wanted to jump up so much all at once when I started.

To anyone who tries this - you have to give it time to work. Not everyone sees results in one week.

starsnyc21

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Fieldsy

I just made a blog post about this