Eat more 2 weigh less! It works! (Thank God I took photos!)
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I am wondering how you are estimating your burns?? I have been plateauted for over ayeear, 18mos to be exact. i tried the whole eat more to lose concept for over 6 weeks along with my regular exercise and gained 10 pounds and believe me its not muscle. i just got more jiggly all over.
I have used a bodymedia and heart rate monitor for estimating my burns and they always give me an avg of 2500 yet if I eat more than 2000 I consistently gain.
I have chalked it up to years of calorie deficit like you, probably around 500-1000 per day for years. Twice I have tried to eat more, like around 2400, and the scale just creeps up and pics prove that its not muscle.
Any thoughts on this?
Hi! I am not 'estimating my burns' actually.
Something that really enlightened me and sparked this new mentality was when I got my BodyMedia Fit Armband. I had wanted a Bodybugg for years and couldn't afford it really, or justify it. I was almost committed to getting one, and then a friend on MFP was talking about BodyMedia and I inquired. She told me about it, showed me the website and I was HOOKED! My birthday was two weeks away and I justified getting it that way, lol.
Check out bodymedia.com
The device they have created is THE most accurate on the market: 95% accurate. It measure your caloric burn with three different sensors for accuracy. It tells you how many calories you burn down to the minute. It evaluates yours sleeping habits too. It has software much like MFP, minus the social aspect and the food library isn't as good because not as many people have used it yet. So, I use MFP to log my food and for the social aspect and I don't log my exercise on here anymore (because it was all estimations anyway, and from what I've learned - GROSSLY OVERESTIMATED).
I STRONGLY, very strongly recommend that anyone with a plateau get something like this (and a fitbit is no comparison). It is NOT a heart rate monitor (though it will sync with many different brands), it is FAR far better than a heart rate monitor.
It has been worth the money 10x over. It opened my eyes and showed me that I was underestimating myself big time. I needed this information, this clarity and the affirmation that it gave me in order to make the change that I did (to eat more and go against tried and tested knowledge of weight loss).
thanks. I have the BMF and that did not help me. In fact since I have had it I have gained 10 pounds. It seems like it must have been overestimating for me, because even eating at a deficit with that I still gained....
thanks!! I did send you a message!!!0 -
Whoop!
I'm two weeks into the same process.
Down 2 lbs!
Eating about 2100 a day, lifting more than doing cardio.
Loving it. :O)
Awesome! I am happy to see another success story! Keep packing on that muscle, buddy!
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That gave me faith, actually. Thank you! Im eating 2100 a day, and sometime i think its too much... It isnt! Thanks
The only way it is ever too much is if your body doesn't know what to do with it because the default plan is always 'save it for later' as fat. You must be working hard and showing your body who is boss! Keep up the great work!!! 0 -
Well done, you can really see the difference! I never really believed the eat more to weigh less thing but last week I decided to increase my calories only by 150 a day but I've already seen the difference. Before I only lost 0.2lbs in a week and since increasing my calories around a week ago I've lost nearly 2lbs in a week. Now after seeing your pictures I can see how much of a noticeable difference there is
This is good to hear! The more you can eat and still meet your goals, the better. Realistically, the slower the change, the more sustainable your eating habits and routines will be. And, the more healthy you will be now and in the future.
Are you taking photos of yourself too? Cuz the scale will turn on you at some point, I can almost guarantee it, lol. Make sure you're seeing the whole picture and not selling yourself short by relying on a device that only measures your weight, not your fat loss or muscle gain.
Keep doing what you're doing! 0 -
For anyone that is interested to hear more about my struggles and successes over the years, I let it all out today in a blog on MFP, no hold's barred. The good, the bad and the ugly side to losing weight, gaining weight, losing more weight and trying to figure this body out.
I talk about how the first time I lost 85 pounds, I really screwed myself up by doing a lot of things wrong. Then screwed up again and gained back 65 pounds, and then lost that same 65 pounds in a better way, still making mistakes but with good intentions and more information. I talk about everything that got me to where I am now, and in the span of 11 years of weight loss and gain (and loss), my recent success is only a small piece of the pie.
I've learned so much over the years and I hope I can help others avoid many mistakes that I made to make this process as easy and fool-proof as it can be. It's been an incredible journey that I love living, even during the downs because the ups always make it worth it.
The blog post: The Story of My Life
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/musiche/view/the-story-of-my-life-412474#comments
Here's to paying it forward.
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Bump to come back and read this again. Thank you, I'm working on increasing calories and have never done that to lose weight before
:-)0 -
Amazing story!!!!!! GOOD FOR YOU!!!!! I noticed when I had back pain and started working out, it stopped. You story is inspiring me to stay off the scale. You gained a little and look soooo much better and thinner!0
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Niice job! Congrats! Keep it up ( :0
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Amazing story!!!!!! GOOD FOR YOU!!!!! I noticed when I had back pain and started working out, it stopped. You story is inspiring me to stay off the scale. You gained a little and look soooo much better and thinner!
It's good to hear that you took control of your health and fixed your back pain!
As much as I wanted to toss my scale a few months back, I just couldn't do it. I sell weigh myself every day, I can't help it, lol. When I gained back 65 pounds I'd previously lost, I was in denial for years simply because I never, ever weighed myself. I decided if I was going to keep the scale around, that I would have to make peace with it, and it took weeks, but I did eventually. I learned not to care about that particular number anymore, largely because photos proved to me that the scale was lying - I WAS changing in great ways when the scale told me I wasn't changing at all. :P
If you manage to toss your scale, you'll accomplish something I haven't been able to yet, lol. 0 -
You look amazing!!! I've been doing the EMtWL strategy for quite some months without the success you have (I've gained, and starting to drop the gain but...), but I know it works, and your story proves it beautifully. Thank you for the added boost of confidence that it is the right thing to do - it's just a matter of finding the right numbers.
Your comment about it coming down to nutrition.... that is a great way to look at it, and I'm going ot keep it in mind rather than focus quite so much on the calories. Thank you for sharing! :drinker:0 -
Great story...thanks for sharing!!0
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Looks and sounds like you are doing great, thanks for sharing.0
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Congrats and you look great!0
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Way to go, looking great!! 0
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OP, we need to be friends because what I just read sounded so eeriely like my OWN STORY I think I have goosebumps!
Seriously, I have the same story... My profile pic shows my body comp changes from just April to now... and I gained one stinkin pound.
And I am not going to be ashamed to show my mid-drift on a fitness site either, even if I don't look like Ms. Hottie McHotpants.
EATERS UNITE! :drinker: :flowerforyou: :drinker: :flowerforyou:0 -
Great job! I am definitely a believer in having photos. I am so glad to hear though that you didn't see a change in measurements. :laugh: I haven't seen a change in measurements or on the scale since I have been eating more but I think I look better and am seeing more definition. People always say take measurements since the scale doesn't always tell the truth but honestly sometimes the measurements don't tell the whole story either!! Thanks for your post!
I've been feeling the same way. My measurements have gone up and down a little bit, despite how much I try to measure with consistency.0 -
You look amazing!!! I've been doing the EMtWL strategy for quite some months without the success you have (I've gained, and starting to drop the gain but...), but I know it works, and your story proves it beautifully. Thank you for the added boost of confidence that it is the right thing to do - it's just a matter of finding the right numbers.
Your comment about it coming down to nutrition.... that is a great way to look at it, and I'm going ot keep it in mind rather than focus quite so much on the calories. Thank you for sharing! :drinker:
Hi!
Thank you!
I am sorry to hear you're having mixed results. I wanted to see if I could offer you any more tidbits of advice that might tweak things in the right direction and get you some more concrete results.
When I decided to start eating more, I had to console the part of my brain that truly believed that eating with a deficit was the only way (the part of me that had lived like that for years and years and years). I really just wanted to repair my metabolism and everything suggested eating more. To me, it seemed logical that if I had adapted to fewer calories, that more calories WOULD turn into fat and I obviously didn't want that. Many other articles suggested that the second best way to increase your metabolism was to increase your muscle mass. So, those two principles in hand seemed a fitting pair! Also, everything I read said that it is next to impossible to put on muscle with a calorie debt. So, I decided I needed to change my focus from losing weight, to eating more and building muscle.
I researched body building and learned a few key things, for example:
- eat more protein. Try to eat 0.5g of protein per pound of weight you have. I eat between 0.5 and 0.75g per pound. Don't limit your carbs, and I say this ONLY because eating that much protein means you are naturally going to cut your carbs anyway or else you would eat too much. Initially, I went protein crazy and was eating too much protein and not enough complex carbs and I got, um, backed up, if you know what I mean. I needed to increase my carb intake a bit and stuck strictly with complex carbs for 'bowel regularity', lol. Fibre keeps the system running efficiently and we want that for sure!
- zigzag your calories. Every day eat a different amount of NET calories. And have your higher calorie days on your harder workout day. Also, eat the majority of your calories before and after your workout. Before, so you can fuel an awesome, intense workout, and after to help repair and build muscle. Try to eat protein and complex carbs within 30 minutes of a good muscle-burning workout. When I say zigzag, I love this philosophy because plateaus are all about our body ADAPTING to our lifestyle. We need to keep it guessing. I ate a constant 1600 every day for ages and my body knew it and worked according to that. Increasing my calories and eating, say, 3000 one day, 2700 the next, 3200 the day after, 3000 the next, 2600 the day after, etc.. And TIMING those calories so my body has more calories to fuel workouts and become stronger, means that I am now telling MY BODY what I want it to do with those calories, and that is not to store them for later! Lol
- sleep enough. This is the predominant time that our body uses to build muscle. Make sure it has that chance
- with increased calorie output, our need for nutrients (the building blocks for creating new cells, i.e. muscle fibre) also increases. If you suspect at all, that you are not getting enough nutrients (and this can be possible with even the best of diets, because of day-to-day differences) then maybe consider a multivitamin. Take half in the morning, half at night because we can only use about that much at a time and after about 12 hours we've used up all that half-pill has to offer. If we're going to build, we need the tools to do it, not just the energy.
Oh boy, there are so many things I've learned... I wish I could remember them all! But these are some of the most important. Hopefully, with a few tweaks you can get EM2WL working for you efficiently! I am CERTAIN you can. Keep me posted!!
~ Krystal.0 -
Success!
You look amazing!0 -
WOW looking good 0
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OP, we need to be friends because what I just read sounded so eeriely like my OWN STORY I think I have goosebumps!
Seriously, I have the same story... My profile pic shows my body comp changes from just April to now... and I gained one stinkin pound.
And I am not going to be ashamed to show my mid-drift on a fitness site either, even if I don't look like Ms. Hottie McHotpants.
EATERS UNITE! :drinker: :flowerforyou: :drinker: :flowerforyou:
Well, Ms. Hottie McHotpants!
I am super-pleased to meet you! That is so crazy that we've traveled the same path in life. YOU LOOK SOOOO GOOOD!!!
I friended you a while ago. So glad you managed to defy stupid dieting 'wisdom' too! 0 -
Hard to tell the difference when you aren't standing in the same angle. I don't notice a huge difference, then again you did gain a small amount, but congrats anyway and good luck on your future progress...you can do it!0
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OH friend me too!!!
For the last year and a half, I've been trying so hard to learn about nutrition and bodybuilding. I'm on bodyspace, and I just joined on here a few days ago.
I started with CronOMeter, and it was telling me to eat a certain amount, but when I plugged it in.... I could never seem to eat enough. I was stuffing myself. I hit plateau after plateau... and even gained weight.
I did a program I came up with on my own for 12 weeks (from research) and I lost around 15 pounds, but then I started the "Kris Gething hardcore 12 week" program... and went to failure on everthing... tore up my shoulders and almost had to have surgery. I ate the fistsize portions like he said to do, but my body wouldn't drop the weight. I stayed at 220.2 as my lowest ever.
After a 6 month lull of eating very badly and not working out due to moving, and recovering etc etc... I started the 12 week program again, but this time... going to burn and not to failure. I weighed in at 245 UGH
I learned that I had DOMS badly... I literally couldn't feel pain and over did my strength training the last time. I would feel it a couple days later though.
This go around, I ordered "Scivation's Xtend" for intra-workouts and my DOMS has completely turned around! I can actually feel my limits now when I weight lift.
I'm on the 6th week and have lost around 13 pounds now. I'm hoping I'm on the right track now... but I need to learn more about rotating my calories and when to increase them etc etc...
Thank you so much for making your post and YOU LOOK AWESOME!!!!!0 -
I've been asked a lot of questions as this thread goes on. Mostly a lot of 'hows'. So, I put some thoughts in a blog for anyone that wanted some insight on how I made EM2WL work for me. There are soooo many skeptics out there and the negativity I find just unnecessary, but I guess you are doomed to get that when you put yourself out there. Take the good with the bad, right? Thank you to all the positive and supportive people, you make all the haters seem insignificant.
I want people to understand that if you just eat more and change nothing else about your lifestyle, you will probably gain fat. You can't change something about your lifestyle, throw off the balance and expect it to just fix itself without a bounce back somewhere else. Everything in life is a balance, and you must compensate in some areas when you make changes in others. For the most part, it was all about timing and adjusting how and when I did things, rather than a huge life change. All in all, the changes I made were positive, beneficial and easy because they were not restrictions like every diet out there is. It was just doing things differently, and the smart way.
Here's a link to the blog:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/musiche/view/making-em2wl-work-be-smart-about-it-4128200 -
OH friend me too!!!
For the last year and a half, I've been trying so hard to learn about nutrition and bodybuilding. I'm on bodyspace, and I just joined on here a few days ago.
I started with CronOMeter, and it was telling me to eat a certain amount, but when I plugged it in.... I could never seem to eat enough. I was stuffing myself. I hit plateau after plateau... and even gained weight.
I did a program I came up with on my own for 12 weeks (from research) and I lost around 15 pounds, but then I started the "Kris Gething hardcore 12 week" program... and went to failure on everthing... tore up my shoulders and almost had to have surgery. I ate the fistsize portions like he said to do, but my body wouldn't drop the weight. I stayed at 220.2 as my lowest ever.
After a 6 month lull of eating very badly and not working out due to moving, and recovering etc etc... I started the 12 week program again, but this time... going to burn and not to failure. I weighed in at 245 UGH
I learned that I had DOMS badly... I literally couldn't feel pain and over did my strength training the last time. I would feel it a couple days later though.
This go around, I ordered "Scivation's Xtend" for intra-workouts and my DOMS has completely turned around! I can actually feel my limits now when I weight lift.
I'm on the 6th week and have lost around 13 pounds now. I'm hoping I'm on the right track now... but I need to learn more about rotating my calories and when to increase them etc etc...
Thank you so much for making your post and YOU LOOK AWESOME!!!!!
Hi!
The true measure of success to me, is not giving up and pushing until you find something that works. Sounds like you tried a lot and finally found what works for you!
PS - embrace the DOMS, it won't always show up, but when it does, you know you've worked damn hard and you should be proud. No matter how much it hurts, it IS a good pain and you should try to love it, lol.
I think maybe you could find some useful information in the post I just put in my blog, the link should be just above this reply. If you have more questions, feel free to ask!
Keep pushing, you sound like a very determined and strong woman and that's exactly who you need to be to get where you want. Be patient and stay positive, that's the hardest part by far! 0 -
Thanks, Krystal. I am going to PM you a full response, as I don't want to sidejack the thread But for here, I will say that most of what you mentioned I already do: higher protein (though that can be difficult), lifting, cardio, multi-vitamin... sleep can be an issue simply because of staying up too late to get too many things read/done, but I try.
Your approach to it being a matter of confusing your body so it can't anticipate what you're going to net in calories (like changing up exercises) is interesting and something to ponder. I'm finishing up week 2 of a hamstring injury that has sidelined me, so things are a bit off now, anyway.
Thanks, again!0 -
Thanks, Krystal. I am going to PM you a full response, as I don't want to sidejack the thread But for here, I will say that most of what you mentioned I already do: higher protein (though that can be difficult), lifting, cardio, multi-vitamin... sleep can be an issue simply because of staying up too late to get too many things read/done, but I try.
Your approach to it being a matter of confusing your body so it can't anticipate what you're going to net in calories (like changing up exercises) is interesting and something to ponder. I'm finishing up week 2 of a hamstring injury that has sidelined me, so things are a bit off now, anyway.
Thanks, again!
No problem! I struggle with sleep too. Life is busy, barely anyone sleeps enough these days. But we keep trying!
Glad you are doing so many good things for yourself. If it takes maybe tweaking one little thing, who knows, that could be exactly what you need! You never know, and we can always be better, so always aim for more and better! In the mean time, stay positive and proud for all that you've done and continue to do. 0 -
OP, we need to be friends because what I just read sounded so eeriely like my OWN STORY I think I have goosebumps!
Seriously, I have the same story... My profile pic shows my body comp changes from just April to now... and I gained one stinkin pound.
And I am not going to be ashamed to show my mid-drift on a fitness site either, even if I don't look like Ms. Hottie McHotpants.
EATERS UNITE! :drinker: :flowerforyou: :drinker: :flowerforyou:
Well, Ms. Hottie McHotpants!
I am super-pleased to meet you! That is so crazy that we've traveled the same path in life. YOU LOOK SOOOO GOOOD!!!
I friended you a while ago. So glad you managed to defy stupid dieting 'wisdom' too!
So, I changed my profile pic... I do that a lot, I bore easily
But the one I was referring to (and another with all 3 views) are in my pics on my page. And THANK YOU! Its all that delicious nutrition and hardcore workouts that are doing it! 0 -
Thank you SOOOOO much! I will definitely read your other article!!!!0
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Wow, thanks for sharing :-)0
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Amazing! That is why I am constantly taking pictures. As you get closer and closer to your goal only pics will tell the story.0
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