someone, explain how eating more = weightloss? please

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  • ARDuBaie
    ARDuBaie Posts: 379 Member
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    What that means is when you eat enough, you aren't putting your body in starvation mode.

    If you drop your calorie intake by a considerable amount (like 600 calories a day in an attempt to lose weight) and start starving yourself, your body will start to hold on to every calorie you eat and store it as fat because it thinks you are starving and there is no food. However, if you eat small meals frequently and do not starve yourself, then your body has no reason to hold on to calories, thus increasing your metabolism which promotes weight loss. Of course, exercise promotes health and increases metabolism too.

    This is the best explanation.

    I burn roughly 900 calories a day. My BMR is calculated at 1352, meaning I need 1352 calories to maintain my body if I were in a comatose state. I need more to maintain my body with the exercise and other things that I do. I lift weights as well, so I need calories to repair the micro-tears in the muscles. That means I must eat more than 1352 in order to satisfy my body's need. If I don't, my body will think it is starving. Since muscle uses more energy than fat, the body will break down the muscle when it is starving in order to get rid of the one thing that uses a lot of energy. If you don't want to lose muscle, you must eat more. Additionally, if the body thinks it is starving, it will slow down the metabolism, causing it to seem like it holds on to every calorie you eat.

    Hope that helps.
  • 0namission
    0namission Posts: 70
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    Eating more doesnt equal weightloss...Eating enough and it being healthy....equals weight loss
  • PittShkr
    PittShkr Posts: 1,000 Member
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    Oh give it a rest already! please read some other stupid posts before posting this one. it has been explained 50000000000000000000000000000000000000000 times before and every time someone brings up starvation mode then someone else gets mad then the arguments start and eventually the thread will get locked... come on people please just give up on the eating more crap just read ... you know .... left to right...(.unless your jewish... right to left.)... top to bottom... words together forming sentences... sentences forming paragraphs....
  • dietingqueen
    dietingqueen Posts: 26
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    Bump for later
  • 2BeHealthy4Life
    2BeHealthy4Life Posts: 150
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    MFP pal Anewlucia started the group EAT MORE TO WEIGH LESS ....I copied and pasted this information below from one of her threads that may helpful.

    You can get your bmr and tdee number from here :http://www.scoobyworkshop.com/calculators

    What is BMR? Your basal metabolic rate, or BMR, is the minimum calorific requirement needed to sustain life in a resting individual. It can be looked at as being the amount of energy (measured in calories) expended by the body to remain in bed all day!

    What is TDEE? TDEE is the common abbreviation for Total Daily Energy Expenditure which is a metric to calculate the amount of calories your body needs to function in a day. This is quite similar to BMR; in fact, you need your BMR to calculate your TDEE; but your TDEE accounts for your average daily activity as well to give a figure truer to your specific situation. Basically, the TDEE calculation relies on categorizing your daily activity into one of the metrics' predetermined groupings:

    Sedentary - desk job and little to no exercise Lightly Active -light exercise/sports 1-3 days/wk Moderately Active - moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/wk (****SIDE NOTE - even if you have a desk job most people fit right here when you workout 3-5 days a week) Very Active - hard exercise/sports 6-7 days/wk Extremely Active - hard daily exercise/sports & physical job or training Once you have determined where you fit in on the TDEE activity rate scale, this activity rate is used to weight your BMR giving you a more accurate assessment of how many calories you really need throughout the course of the day.

    Here is a link to a site that you plug in your information and it will provide your BMR and TDEE along with your Cut value (again, if you workout 3-5 times a week select "Moderate" and the "Select Your Goal" option you will select is "Lose Fat - 15% caloric reduction.

    So now, you should have your BMR, TDEE, and Cut Value (TDEE - 15%)

    Here is a video that talks about this in great detail that hopefully will clear up any questions you may have: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYi9xjIRvbY&feature=g-all-u

    If TDEE is figured out correctly, then exercise cals don't *have* to be eaten back because, technically, TDEE figures them in. The underlying factor here, is that most people underestimate their activity levels, (for fear of being told to eat "too much") and then proceed to under eat. If a person is burning 1000 cals/day in exercise, then that should be figured into their TDEE, meaning their TDEE should be AT LEAST 1000 cals more than their BMR. If this is not the case then they are undercutting themselves on the cals. So a person w/a BMR of 1300, that puts up 1000 cal burns should have come up w/a TDEE calculation of 2400 or more. So any situation where a person is not getting those calculations, they should be eating back some of those exercise cals.

    So if you come up w/BMR=1300, TDEE=1800, you need to either A)eat back some cals, or B) recalculate your TDEE to include the *actual* burns that you're getting.

    So to cut using *true* TDEE figures, you'd just eat a flat TDEE (-15%), as long as TDEE is correct. It should be fine. But if you are using MFP's calculations, or are not getting a TDEE that includes the amount you burn each day *plus* BMR, you need to eat back some exercise cals.
  • suziecue66
    suziecue66 Posts: 1,312 Member
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    actually not always on those that don't eat being sticks. I had the opposite effect. I ate between 1,000-1100 calories sometimes lower than that. I went from a nice 125 pounds to a whopping 250 pounds. I was not overeating. my body was starving and it stored to fat. then when I began eat more to weigh less here on mfp I've been 4 days in already went from 191 pounds to 183 pounds where I am now. I still have to tweak my eating a bit and learn to make healthier eating choices but I am losing. I also up my work outs and included strength training.

    Thats not possible to go from 125 to 250 whilst eating 1000-1100 calories sometimes lower.
  • mphlab
    mphlab Posts: 187 Member
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    Whatever works - do it - everybody gets so worked up. EM2WL is working for me. I was skeptical at frst too- sounded too good to be true but after a little readjusting, I lost 8.5 pounds in 2 months by eating at TDEE-15%. If you believe in the deficit theory, it IS a deficit. A smaller one so it goes slow. Can you get with that? The other works too but I was so cranky trying to eat at 1300 calories. The EM2LW Group has 5952 members. So lots of people find it at least worth to check it out. I lost 24,5 pounds the Low Calorie way from January until April, So that works too but I have been yo yoing for almost 30 years and I was looking for a lifestyle that I could maintain. It is not Overeat 2Weight Less- it is about finding a deficit that works for you and you can stick to. I know it is counter to everything that we have been taught but I was taught not to criticize things if I had not at least tried it. :smile:
  • AntWrig
    AntWrig Posts: 2,273 Member
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    actually not always on those that don't eat being sticks. I had the opposite effect. I ate between 1,000-1100 calories sometimes lower than that. I went from a nice 125 pounds to a whopping 250 pounds. I was not overeating. my body was starving and it stored to fat. then when I began eat more to weigh less here on mfp I've been 4 days in already went from 191 pounds to 183 pounds where I am now. I still have to tweak my eating a bit and learn to make healthier eating choices but I am losing. I also up my work outs and included strength training.
    I find this very hard to believe. You are not going to gain 125lbs while eating 1,000-1,100 calories per day. You have grossly underestimated your calorie intake.
  • suziecue66
    suziecue66 Posts: 1,312 Member
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    actually not always on those that don't eat being sticks. I had the opposite effect. I ate between 1,000-1100 calories sometimes lower than that. I went from a nice 125 pounds to a whopping 250 pounds. I was not overeating. my body was starving and it stored to fat. then when I began eat more to weigh less here on mfp I've been 4 days in already went from 191 pounds to 183 pounds where I am now. I still have to tweak my eating a bit and learn to make healthier eating choices but I am losing. I also up my work outs and included strength training.
    I find this very hard to believe. You are not going to gain 125lbs while eating 1,000-1,100 calories per day. You have grossly underestimated your calorie intake.

    Yeh, thats what I said. No way to have gained weight on that calorie amount and so much weight at that.
  • ItsPheebs
    ItsPheebs Posts: 127 Member
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    actually not always on those that don't eat being sticks. I had the opposite effect. I ate between 1,000-1100 calories sometimes lower than that. I went from a nice 125 pounds to a whopping 250 pounds. I was not overeating. my body was starving and it stored to fat. then when I began eat more to weigh less here on mfp I've been 4 days in already went from 191 pounds to 183 pounds where I am now. I still have to tweak my eating a bit and learn to make healthier eating choices but I am losing. I also up my work outs and included strength training.
    I find this very hard to believe. You are not going to gain 125lbs while eating 1,000-1,100 calories per day. You have grossly underestimated your calorie intake.

    I'm sure the calorie count was underestimated, but when you starve yourself you end up being prone to gain weight eating LESS calories.
  • albayin
    albayin Posts: 2,524 Member
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    actually not always on those that don't eat being sticks. I had the opposite effect. I ate between 1,000-1100 calories sometimes lower than that. I went from a nice 125 pounds to a whopping 250 pounds. I was not overeating. my body was starving and it stored to fat. then when I began eat more to weigh less here on mfp I've been 4 days in already went from 191 pounds to 183 pounds where I am now. I still have to tweak my eating a bit and learn to make healthier eating choices but I am losing. I also up my work outs and included strength training.
    I find this very hard to believe. You are not going to gain 125lbs while eating 1,000-1,100 calories per day. You have grossly underestimated your calorie intake.


    I'm sure the calorie count was underestimated, but when you starve yourself you end up being prone to gain weight eating LESS calories.

    I don't know about that...well, using an very inappropriate example (please don't beat me. just take the core from it) we don't see anybody in africa or death camp dead being over weight. They all died in bones. :( I bet they were all in "starvation mode" but they didn't gain weight, did they?
  • mcarter99
    mcarter99 Posts: 1,666 Member
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    actually not always on those that don't eat being sticks. I had the opposite effect. I ate between 1,000-1100 calories sometimes lower than that. I went from a nice 125 pounds to a whopping 250 pounds. I was not overeating. my body was starving and it stored to fat. then when I began eat more to weigh less here on mfp I've been 4 days in already went from 191 pounds to 183 pounds where I am now. I still have to tweak my eating a bit and learn to make healthier eating choices but I am losing. I also up my work outs and included strength training.

    Thats not possible to go from 125 to 250 whilst eating 1000-1100 calories sometimes lower.

    You just don't believe hard enough. :happy:
  • suziecue66
    suziecue66 Posts: 1,312 Member
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    actually not always on those that don't eat being sticks. I had the opposite effect. I ate between 1,000-1100 calories sometimes lower than that. I went from a nice 125 pounds to a whopping 250 pounds. I was not overeating. my body was starving and it stored to fat. then when I began eat more to weigh less here on mfp I've been 4 days in already went from 191 pounds to 183 pounds where I am now. I still have to tweak my eating a bit and learn to make healthier eating choices but I am losing. I also up my work outs and included strength training.

    Thats not possible to go from 125 to 250 whilst eating 1000-1100 calories sometimes lower.

    You just don't believe hard enough. :happy:

    That's my problem. LOL!
  • 2BeHealthy4Life
    2BeHealthy4Life Posts: 150
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    I totally agree with eat more to weigh less FOR MYSELF It keeps me from yo yo dieting !! I stalled out in April and lost 2 lbs the entire month... Increased cals and lost 7in a half this month. This might be too slow for some but Im in this for life....tired of eating like a bird then ravenous hunger comes out of know where and takes away the progress....smoothh sailing now...
  • threedaydiet
    threedaydiet Posts: 16 Member
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    Hi, I just joined today to track the calories I eat on my phone. However, I am surprised by the low number of calories to eat per day to lose 2#s per week (1300), and then the large amount of calories they say I have burned for a 40 minute walk. I walk regularly (at least three hours per week), but I find I only lose weight by limiting my calories. I'm experimenting now with dieting three days a week on (1000 calories) and the other days 1600-1800.
  • jetabear10
    jetabear10 Posts: 375 Member
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    bumpity bump bump
  • jmbrown727
    jmbrown727 Posts: 3 Member
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    I have been on MFP for 10 weeks. Lost 4 pounds in first 2 weeks and then have lost hardly anything since even though I am working out 6 days per week and staying within my calorie goals. Only down 6 pounds. I finally had a chance to meet with a nutritionist today and am really excited about some changes he suggested. I was getting the ratios of carbs / fats / proteins that were recommended, but we changed those to more like 40% carbs, 30 protein and 30 fat. I was bunching carbs together in big meals then would have nothing but protein in another meal to make up for it. He gave me guidelines and meal suggestions to try and keep all of the meals and snacks similar to these ratios and believes the weight will start to come off. It was well worth the visit!

    I am anxious to see what happens.
  • AntWrig
    AntWrig Posts: 2,273 Member
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    actually not always on those that don't eat being sticks. I had the opposite effect. I ate between 1,000-1100 calories sometimes lower than that. I went from a nice 125 pounds to a whopping 250 pounds. I was not overeating. my body was starving and it stored to fat. then when I began eat more to weigh less here on mfp I've been 4 days in already went from 191 pounds to 183 pounds where I am now. I still have to tweak my eating a bit and learn to make healthier eating choices but I am losing. I also up my work outs and included strength training.
    I find this very hard to believe. You are not going to gain 125lbs while eating 1,000-1,100 calories per day. You have grossly underestimated your calorie intake.


    I'm sure the calorie count was underestimated, but when you starve yourself you end up being prone to gain weight eating LESS calories.

    I don't know about that...well, using an very inappropriate example (please don't beat me. just take the core from it) we don't see anybody in africa or death camp dead being over weight. They all died in bones. :( I bet they were all in "starvation mode" but they didn't gain weight, did they?
    I was thinking the same thing when I was taking a shower. Perfect example.
  • tamba01
    tamba01 Posts: 110 Member
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    I believe that your body will go into starvation mode. But if it continues for a long time then it's ability to hang on to the fat that it is trying to store (starvation mode) will be unable to continue. Starvation mode is temporary.
  • half_moon
    half_moon Posts: 807 Member
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    actually not always on those that don't eat being sticks. I had the opposite effect. I ate between 1,000-1100 calories sometimes lower than that. I went from a nice 125 pounds to a whopping 250 pounds. I was not overeating. my body was starving and it stored to fat. then when I began eat more to weigh less here on mfp I've been 4 days in already went from 191 pounds to 183 pounds where I am now. I still have to tweak my eating a bit and learn to make healthier eating choices but I am losing. I also up my work outs and included strength training.

    Thats not possible to go from 125 to 250 whilst eating 1000-1100 calories sometimes lower.

    This is impossible. Simply put. And ridiculous. Sorry to be so short, but. I mean. Come on.

    Also.

    Will you guys stop throwing around "starvation mode"? You WILL NOT STARVE on 1200 calories a day. Maybe on 0 - 50, YES. You are an ani? You don't eat? You will starve, and die, if you don't get medical attention.

    What happens is you STILL lose weight, just at a slower pace. Your metabolism slows down--- incrementally. It does not KILL your metabolism. Instead of losing 3 pounds a week (which is what you'd expect if you ate less than what it would take to lose 2 pounds a week), you would lose 2.5. It wouldn't go straight to three, because your body isn't burning as much energy. It's not a good idea, and in some people, this can cause thyroid-- though that hasn't happened to anybody I know. The best way to is to, at the minimum, intake 1200 and lose around 2 pounds a week. Some weeks you will lose faster, some weeks you will lose more slowly, and when you plateau (or slow down enough that you are unsatisfied), it's time to up your calories.

    LDSKFJDLSKFJDSLKFJ.

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