Did you increase your calories with positive results?

ehg87

I didn't have a whole lot of weight to lose when I started.....just 30lbs. Lost the first 18 with no problem....a pound a week....and then the past two months I stalled, started exercising more; still the scale wouldn't budge; tried eating even less, still no budge. Finally posted on here about how to get out of a plateau, and was told to eat more. Of course that's in total contradiction to what I feel it takes to lose weight, but I was like I haven't lost weight in 2 months what do I have to lose?! MFP had my calories set at 1320 a day, and I was one of those that tried not to eat back exercise calories....so I was actually netting around 1100 cals a day.....For the last two weeks I actually just stopped logging, ate more, but have followed when my body is actually telling me I'm hungry and amazingly the scale has moved again 1.2 lbs the first week and 0.6 the second (and that was after a week full of bad decisions) If I had to guess I would say I'm eating probably 1600 - 1800 calories a day.

kellyhighhopes

Bump, thanks.

Victoria2448

Yes, and it's worked for all my clients as well. You just have to make sure the foods you eat are quality foods...not just eating anything to reach a certain number of calories. Undereating will not get you healthy, and long term it WILL end up biting you in the butt. I know...because I lived it.

I am upping my cals again here as soon as I start my new mass building program.

BSchoberg

It really is counterintuitive to UP calores to lose weight. I have run the numbers a half dozen times with "in place of a road map 2.0" - referenced earlier in this thread. I FEEL better when I up my calories, I have more energy, better workouts, better sleep - and then I'll hit a couple of days where I'm all freaked out by the calorie count. I just haven't been able to fully commit to more calories - and have paid the 3 week plateau price. Finally lost 1 pound this past week and am now done messing around. I am 5'4", 162.5 lbs currently and looking to get to 140-145 (at which point I will re-evaluate... if I'm good there, I'll stay there; if not, I'll set a new goal).

I am going from 1200 net to just below 1600 gross. What that means is I will not be eating back my exercise calories each day, but evening out my dialy calorie intake whether I have a heavy lifting/heavy cardio day or a rest day. If I maintain my current workout schedule, this should work out perfectly.

Wish me luck! I will be checking back here to see how everyone is doing - and will post updates of my own.

bushidowoman

I once tried to follow the Jillian Michaels diet, keeping my calories around 1400 a day. I was doing martial arts workouts, and in addition, I added the30 day shred. A whole month of that, the scale barely budged, and I couldn't see any results.
When I went to see my MD about a knee injury, I asked him to check my thryroid and some other labs, telling him about the struggles I was having with losing weight. He asked about what I was eating and what kind of exercise I was doing. Then he told me I needed to eat more. He said that at my weight, with the amount of exercise I was doing, I should be taking in around 1800 calories a day. I thought he was crazy, and dismissed his advice. If I wasn't losing weight, then there was no way I was going to eat MORE.
But he was right. After my last baby, I quit counting calories for awhile, instead trying to stick to "whole" foods, eating when I was hungry. I tried to make sure I got in 5 servings of raw fruits and veggies, tried to get in more lean protein, drink more water, etc. Doing that slowly took off about 25 pounds. Then when I got on here and started logging my calories and exercise, I saw that around 1800-2000 calories on heavy exercise days (1600 on rest days) was enough to keep me *slowly* losing. But losing nonetheless. I also felt great and had more energy.
I'll take a slow weight loss feeling great over a rapid weight loss that's hard to stick to.

Oh, yeah, I also got below my goal weight eating that many calories! After being overweight to borderline obese for years while trying to "diet".

Mustangsally33

bump for later !

RUNN3Rmom

I have tried the low calorie diets and found that I was crabby, slow moving, and just plain old bummed feeling. I have since learned a lot about health, fitness, and how to properly fuel my body and why I need to so I upped my calories to 1600 and on lifting days about 2000. But I also know not all calories are created equally so I try to eat healthy, too.

I have lost 4.5 inches since July 9th, 2012 but have gained 4lbs. I am heavy lifting so I'll take the poundage and the inches lost!!

I hope you are able to test it out & see what your body wants/needs & what makes you feel the best!!

Elen_Sia

I did with positive results. Used to net 1000 calories in the pre-lifting period. Now I net 1500 minimum, with protein making up most of the increase.

mellabyte

Bump for future reading.

I've upped from 1200 to 1300 - but still rarely net that (with continued high energy levels and feel good vibes). (Consistently losing, at about .5lbs every week or every two weeks, but only 7lbs left.) But still considering increasing cals to speed up lean muscle building.

sgarrard01

I started off on 1400kcal daily and ate back all my all exersize calories, after about 20lbs lost (2lbs a week) i pleateaued for 3 weeks. After much deliberation i decided to up my calories to 1600 (net)... and WOW, i dropped about 4lbs in one week and i've been again loosing 2lbs a week, sometimes more.. not only that i'm able to work out alot harder than before!... with my exersize added in, most days i eat around 2200kcal and on days when i swim (3-4per week) that can take it up to 3200kcal

I'm actually planning to up one last time to 1750 next week, again eating back all my exersize calories to coast down to around 82-84kg before starting p90x where i will be eating at level 2 which gives me 2400kcal per day inclusive of exersize (so around 1800 net)!....

Hope that helps some of you to make that decission that uping calories is the right decission..! afterall would you like to live on 1200 per day for life???!

Favor_fire

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12

Yes, still losing (more inches than pounds), exercising smart, eating healthy, never hungry anymore. The best benefit? If I had to do this for the rest of my life? I definitely could. And I definitely will.

Check this site out. All are welcome.

I think I'm going to try this. Just for clarification -- is TDEE the number in the final chart that takes into account your activity level?

literatelier

I was netting about 1200 calories from May through the end of July. I lost the first 10 pounds pretty quickly, but then nothing for a verrry long time. It was super frustrating! Started researching and began upping my calories. I eat now about 1600 to 2000 per day depending on how much I exercise - but rarely less than that. I've been consistently losing 2lbs per week for three weeks now, so I'm a believer!

beachlover317

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12

Yes, still losing (more inches than pounds), exercising smart, eating healthy, never hungry anymore. The best benefit? If I had to do this for the rest of my life? I definitely could. And I definitely will.

Check this site out. All are welcome.

I think I'm going to try this. Just for clarification -- is TDEE the number in the final chart that takes into account your activity level?

TDEE is the number of cals you need to maintain your present weight. IT does take into acount your activity level. Dan (helloitsdan) has also started a group on MFP (In Place of a Roadmap) and it lets us be able to get questions answered by people who have been doing this for a while - including Dan. If you working on your numbers from the site and hit a snag, you can pm Dan and he will help! Good luck!!!

Onaughmae

Increasing my calories and protein seems to have helped me break that stubborn plateau I was on. I think just mixing it up in general helps. Keeps your metabolism on its toes! :happy:

geebusuk

Oh, I meant to say that increasing my calorie count did slow my rate of loss a little; as I expected.

monicalosesweight

I've been eating what Myfitnesspal tells me is appropriate for my fitness level. I'm on my feet all day and was really surprised at how much walking I'm doing here at work. The Fitbit was an eye opener. In fact, I discovered I was definitely not eating enough (and the right foods too) and now that I'm doing that I'm slowly losing weight. I suspect before I started this I was actually starving my body and hadn't realized it. The good foods though do make a big difference.

cappri

After 5 months of losing weight steadily at right around a 2 pound a week average, my weight loss then sputtered and stalled for most of the summer. Honestly I felt like I was fighting the scale to get the weight off. Two weeks ago I made the decision to start eating my exercise calories, I had been totally afraid to do this. I use WW so I switched my tracker to using my Activity Points first but only on the day I earn them. I then committed to eating at least half of all AP I earned. I also signed up for MFP and began tracking here to get a better look at my nutrition and have a back up calorie count for those exercise calories.

So far it's been a huge success, I've lost 6 pounds in the last two weeks. The nice thing is I can see the scale moving steadily down again on a daily basis. I workout almost every day, and I eat almost all of my calories back. I've only had one day when my WW points and my MFP calories didn't really jibe, which happened to be yesterday when I was at work for a meeting and filled up on a lot of fruit at lunch. Usually even with fruit and veggies being zero points, the two trackers are pretty similar in calories/points used for the day.

PrincessNikkiBoo

Bump

rlwart

There's a group here on MFP called Eating for the Future You (or me) I don't remember exactly, and we do just this, we eat the calories for maintaining the goal weight. More than 1200 in most cases, I assume.

rlwart

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/3088-eating-for-future-you