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MyFitnessPal Community

Experiment - Eat More or Eat Less?

vesperpt

So I decided that I was going to experiment with my calorie intake. I currently weigh 140, starting weight 155. I lost my first 8.5 pounds in the first month, then only 2.8. I had set my caloric intake to lose a pound per week and my max right now is 1390.

Before I was simply eating under my calories and not paying attention to where I was as long as I was under. I usually eat back some of my exercise calories. So last week I decided to eat as close to 1200 as I could, weigh in on Monday morning, and then eat as close to my max for a week, and weigh myself to see what is working for me.

In retrospect I should've eaten more FIRST. Because I weighed myself yesterday and I lost 3.6 in a week! Now the kicker is that I'm so pumped up about it, I'm terrified to eat my max this week because I don't want to gain anything back!

What do you guys recommend?

Replies

lyfurlong

Very interesteing. I just lost 24 pounds eating 1200 cals and eating back some or all of my exercise calories. just up my cals to 1550 this week and weigh in on friday. It will be interesting to see what the scale says given all the advocates for eat more, weigh less. 1550 is still below a cut of 15% from my TDEE and what MFP allows for my maintanence cals.

babygurl48

You should at least net 1200 calories or above your BMR.

amnsetie

You won't put all of that back on when you eat your higher amount.
You can do the lesser from time to time but staying on the 1200 is not recommended unless you are about 5' or smaller.

eat your at least BMR regularly (you can find BMR in your tools tab)

vesperpt

I almost always ensure my net is minimum 1200. I am a hairstylist and its tough some days getting in my calories because I don't have time to eat! That's why I was famous for binge eating at night.

I just feel nervous to chance losing progress if it doesn't work well for me to increase calories. Especially when at 930 at night I have almost 800 or more to play with because I worked all day.

ironanimal

I almost always ensure my net is minimum 1200. I am a hairstylist and its tough some days getting in my calories because I don't have time to eat! That's why I was famous for binge eating at night.

I just feel nervous to chance losing progress if it doesn't work well for me to increase calories. Especially when at 930 at night I have almost 800 or more to play with because I worked all day.

Research Lean Gains Intermittent Fasting

DavPul

Personally, I do better when I eat more. Unless it's some crazy day where I show 1800 exercise calories, I eat them all back and then some. Of course, as I get closer to my goal, I may have to be more strict. But like you, when I ate under my number, I would lose less than when I hit or exceeded my number. We're only talking about a .5 or .8 of a pound difference, so could be fluctuation. But I say go for it.

CoderGal

I almost always ensure my net is minimum 1200. I am a hairstylist and its tough some days getting in my calories because I don't have time to eat! That's why I was famous for binge eating at night.

I just feel nervous to chance losing progress if it doesn't work well for me to increase calories. Especially when at 930 at night I have almost 800 or more to play with because I worked all day.

Research Lean Gains Intermittent Fasting

Yeah I'm not one for that kinda thing but it seems to be right up the original posters ally. Look it up!

I net my TDEE till I got to my goal weight. I highly recommend eating more then nothing. Which is what I consider 1200

LadyBug56711

It's true.

Charismasme2

When I started on here MFP recommended 1200, I lost 3lbs at first, and then quickly stalled out, then asked around and was told to up them to 1600, and that's when I started to lose consistently. I'm down almost 20lbs now. I recommend eating more.

kandrews24

Great news! I suspect it was the mixing it up that did the trick. So do that again. Eat less for a week. Then eat more for a week. Congrats!

CoderGal

When I started on here MFP recommended 1200, I lost 3lbs at first, and then quickly stalled out, then asked around and was told to up them to 1600, and that's when I started to lose consistently. I'm down almost 20lbs now. I recommend eating more.

^This

mcarter99

I think the idea of experimenting is good but I think you need to give each method like 3-4 weeks because sometimes your deficit one week is what causes your loss the week later. I think it'll be hard to tell what caused what. (Plus I think the EMWL people will tell you 'you didn't give it enough time' if it doesn't work, unless you give it a good couple months.)

Plus then you can keep at your low intake without worrying about blowing it immediately. :happy:

If you're like me you won't lose anything for a couple weeks now due to that nice loss, no matter which method you pick. :grumble:

tenunderfour

I think the idea of experimenting is good but I think you need to give each method like 3-4 weeks because sometimes your deficit one week is what causes your loss the week later. I think it'll be hard to tell what caused what. (Plus I think the EMWL people will tell you 'you didn't give it enough time' if it doesn't work, unless you give it a good couple months.)

Plus then you can keep at your low intake without worrying about blowing it immediately. :happy:

If you're like me you won't lose anything for a couple weeks now due to that nice loss, no matter which method you pick. :grumble:

This sounds like great advice!

CoderGal

I think the idea of experimenting is good but I think you need to give each method like 3-4 weeks because sometimes your deficit one week is what causes your loss the week later. I think it'll be hard to tell what caused what. (Plus I think the EMWL people will tell you 'you didn't give it enough time' if it doesn't work, unless you give it a good couple months.)

Plus then you can keep at your low intake without worrying about blowing it immediately. :happy:

If you're like me you won't lose anything for a couple weeks now due to that nice loss, no matter which method you pick. :grumble:

This sounds like great advice!

Yeah I kept my mouth shut but I'll say it now. If you go from eating a bunch to very very little, the first thing to usually go is glycogen. So what most people find is when they suddenly up their calories, they get their glycogen back, and assume the weight they are putting on is fat, which it definitely isn't. If they stick with the small deficit, most usually find the weight they gained and more comes off within the first 2 weeks. I don't think you can say a specific diet is working because you tried it for a week. Especially if the weight you're losing isn't fat or muscle initially.

vesperpt

I spent the last couple days looking at a couple different things.

The very few basics that I looked at regarding intermittent fasting seem interesting, but I'm not sure how long I could keep that up for. My work schedule varies a lot, and when/how much I eat varies depending how busy I am at work. Where I struggle is when I have a very busy day full of appointments at work, finish up at 9:30 pm some nights, and then I'm tired and don't want to have to get another 600-1200 calories in for my day before bed.

I've also been looking into the Eat More to Weigh Less thing. It sounds great in theory, but then again, how do I find the time to consume that many calories??

MFP has me set to lose 1 lb per week at 1390 cals.
MFP BMR calc tells me my BMR is 1386 (so I'm set at barely above BMR for some reason??)
Scooby's Workshop tells me my BMR is 1460
Scooby's Workshop tells me my TDEE is 2263.

I set my activity to 3-5 hours of moderate exercise per week. I also get stuck here regarding what to do, because one day I never stop running around at work, and another I could be sitting for more than half my shift!

Tashmayes

I think we all need to do what works best for our bodies. For some..it's eating mroe...for others, it's not. There are so many factors at play. I was consistently eating my BMR and not really losing so I dropped down a little and have seen 13 lbs gone in the last 7 weeks. It's working for me for now so I'm not going to mess with it. My trainer doesn't seem to think it's too little so if the man who is trained in sports nutrition is giving me the green light to keep my calories a tad lower, then I'm going to. Oh...and just for your info...at my biggest I weighed 250lbs...I lost almost 100 lbs eating a daily allottment of 1200-1300 calories. I did gain some back but not because of laziness ... it was two pregnancies! So I did manage to keep that weight off when i up'ed my calories for the couple years before kids!