Does eating more to weight less work for everyone?

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  • kayleesays
    kayleesays Posts: 564 Member
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    Worked for me! Went from 1450 cals to 1850 and lost steadily.
  • BeccaAnderton
    BeccaAnderton Posts: 80
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    I've been eating more for two-three weeks now and my weight has not gone down. I don't know how long it takes for our bodies to adjust. I was eating 1200 for about a year then stalled. I've tried eating more and nothing yet. I keep going between the same two pounds. It's frustrating.

    This was pretty much me! So I started eating more, and I've been dropping weight again, for pretty much the first time in September. It's different for everyone of course, and it'll take different time frames for different people's body's adjusting too it. Best plan is to step away from the scale for a while and go with it. And then if that doesn't work, play around with it a bit more :)
  • AlayshaJ
    AlayshaJ Posts: 703 Member
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    I eat 2,000+ cals a day before exercise and I have lost three lbs in the last month. Unintentionally. Works for me. I'm not everyone though.
  • pnut80
    pnut80 Posts: 77 Member
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    i was scared out of my mind to try it, but its def working for me! and im so excited about being able to eat a little more and still lose weight! its a great feeling :happy:
  • m2kh
    m2kh Posts: 17
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    It generally hasn't worked for me. I try to still eat close to 1200-1300 calories and not worry about how many extra I have from exercising. I have found that I might go 2 to 3 weeks now without losing but then will have a week where the weight drops of quickly. I have to keep reminding myself that this is going to happen during those weeks where nothing happens or I slightly gain.
  • nickyfm
    nickyfm Posts: 1,214 Member
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    Not for me :(
    Starting easing into maintenance a bit too quickly apparently, and I could already see it going straight to my hips :(
  • WhitneyAnnabelle
    WhitneyAnnabelle Posts: 724 Member
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    At this stage in the game, for me, no. If I were training really hard right now, though, it would probably benefit me.
  • cannonsky
    cannonsky Posts: 850 Member
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    go to the group Eat More to Weigh Less and read their threads
  • therealangd
    therealangd Posts: 1,861 Member
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    Yes. It works for everyone. Unless you have mutant DNA.
  • jsapninz
    jsapninz Posts: 909 Member
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    It works if you work out more.
  • tigerblue
    tigerblue Posts: 1,525 Member
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    I eat 2,000+ cals a day before exercise and I have lost three lbs in the last month. Unintentionally. Works for me. I'm not everyone though.

    Okay, would you mind sharing your stats? I would love to know that I could increase calories and maintain my weight but that doesn't seem to work for me. I'm trying to figure out if I'm making a mistake in calculations, or if this is just my body!

    I'm 5'3", 44 yrs., 115 lbs., and female. I seem to have a body fat percentage somewhere between 23% and 26%.
  • OccupyFitness
    OccupyFitness Posts: 147
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    I think it really depends on your body type and your exercise routines. My BMR is 1370 and my TDEE is 1837 so my range is pretty small. So it's not like I have a lot of room for eating more unless I really ramp up my exercise or grow taller.

    I was eating about 2200 a day and I gained and the weight slowly crept back on me over a year or so.

    So for me I there really isn't eating 'more'. I really have to stick in the 1300-1400 range for loss and in the 1800-1900 for maintenance.
  • SexyMidnight
    SexyMidnight Posts: 72 Member
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    bump
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
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    Not for me :(
    Starting easing into maintenance a bit too quickly apparently, and I could already see it going straight to my hips :(

    That's the whole point of doing the journey starting with high metabolism. Coming up is always harder and bad results that can be discouraging. But going lower is always easier with better results. And being able to add back with no negative results.

    See, if you added on 200 cal a day, and it actually led to fat stored on hips, then you were obviously already eating at maintenance level.
    That is the definition of TDEE or maintenance level. More is stored, less burns stores.

    I'm going to bet your weight loss at the end has been very slow, because of slower metabolism, not because of intentional effort. Or else you increased cal's to supposed maintenance level by an increase of 500 or more.
  • TheFitHooker
    TheFitHooker Posts: 3,358 Member
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    I think it depends on where the person is at, I don't believe eating more calories is right for everyone. I refuse to switch things up till what I'm doing now stops working for me.
  • rychma
    rychma Posts: 47 Member
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    I have been eating more on this round of MFP. I was feeling hungry all the time before which really put a damper on my motivation. I didn't adjust my MFP goal at all but I did do the calculations on BMR and TDEE. I guess I don't follow the eat more, weigh less exactly. I just try to eat back all of my exercise calories and at the end of the day, try to net 1400-1500 calories. I have lost 2.5 the last 2 weeks so it seems to be working.
  • heatherrose86
    heatherrose86 Posts: 43 Member
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    It worked for me, I was at 1300 - 1600 (so grumpy!) and then I upped to 1800 and have been losing steadily and consistently each week, aside from weeks where I eat out and retain water (but the next week I am down more to make up for it).

    The 1800 comes from homemade cooked food, and lots of vegetables/huge salads.

    When I initially upped my calories I just ate whatever I wanted the first day (2300 calories) and then went to 1800 from there on out and didn't gain. I'm not recommending this but it worked for me.

    My BMR is 1300 or so (using one formula, 1888 using the other) and TDEE is 2300 + any exercise I do because I'm set to sedentary (I work at home).
  • rebeccasedwards
    rebeccasedwards Posts: 208
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    I upped my calories from 1200 to 1350 a couple of weeks ago. The first week I lost 3 pounds. This week I lost 1/2 pound. So I'm not so sure. The middle of this week I upped my walking from 30 minutes a day to at least 60 minutes a day due to school being out for summer break. We will see if I continue to lose.
  • neverstray
    neverstray Posts: 3,845 Member
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    Some thing I learned.

    It doesn't work for me because:

    Getting more calories when I exercise is a crazy amount of motivation for my to work out. I didn't realize how true this was until I tried to flatten out my calories. It completely demotivated me to exercise.

    When I realized this, after a few weeks, I decided to set my TDEE at the sedentary level. When I calculated it, it was right at where MFP sets it. So, I went full circle. When I exercise, I eat the appropriate amount. In other words, either way, for me, it works the same. The difference is that using the "eat more to weigh less" method, I lose motivation to exercise. But, using either method, it actually works out exactly the same. The biggest inference is when I don't work out, I eat less. Which, makes sense to me.

    I gained 2.5 lbs after a few weeks and it never came off. However, there were other changing variables that makes it hard to really evaluate. But, I kinda of stopped working out and hat is bad. The MFP method gives me great motivation to exercise. So, I'm sticking with it.
  • Kittie_Kat
    Kittie_Kat Posts: 101
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    I tried everything but cutting my calories alot and it didn't work, no weight came off no matter what (like I'm talking months!!). I finally cut back to 13-1400 calories and exercise 4 days a week and the weight is coming off. But its different from person to person, and I'm one of the people who needs less calories.

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