How the heck do you lose weight eating so much?

oJulia

I am 5'8" and 176lbs. I'm trying to lose my pregnancy weight. I am exercising (strength and cardio) and breastfeeding. I'm eating 1400 net calories most days and eating clean. I'm barely losing. When I up my calories to 1700, I gain.

How are people maintaining at 2000+ calories? Is my metabolism just that crappy?

Willbenchforcupcakes

How long are you trying higher calories before going back down? I have very similar stats to you (I'm 5'7.5" and 173.4), and lose easily at 1800 net (over 3000 gross most days).

CalJur

Burn more.

2S_1R

I'm wondering the same thing. I've been on a 1800 calorie diet my whole life. Granted, I wasn't the best eater.. but still i'm barely reaching 1200 now!

2S_1R

Burn more.

Solid response, however... How do you eat that much and still stay in good standing with everything else? IE: Sodium.

gpstrucker

It's all about your weight and physical condition/activity. The more active you are the more calories your body needs. The heavier you are the more calories your body needs.

If you aren't that heavy or active you don't need as many calories.

Everyone is different.

The MFP numbers have been working for me. YMMV

roguestates

I'm much shorter than you (5'2), around 162# and I net between 1500-1600 calories.

I care more about fat loss. I haven't lost much weight (about 25# total, 2 since MFP), but I have lost a crap ton of inches. All of my clothes are now about 4 inches too big all around, except for the stubborn chest area >:(

secretlobster

Women eating 2000+ calories are pretty rare. When you do see them, here the one thing they have in common is the fact that they regularly lift very heavy weights. Not just casual strength training. They're not trying to lose weight, they're trying to build and maintain muscle mass on that caloric intake.

So don't eat 1700 calories if it doesn't work for you and your lifestyle, -what works for others may not work for you. no biggie.

jaireed

You may have to work in some more exercise. I am 5'6" and weighed about 170. I lowered my calories to stay around 1200-1300 and walk at 3.5 miles per hour for an hour. I've lost 40 pounds. You can do it. Keep it up!

devil_in_a_blue_dress

How accurate are you being with measuring your food and calculating your calories burned?

If you don't use a food scale, I would start. If you don't use a HRM for workouts, I would start. If you are giving yourself the max amount of calories for breast feeding (500) cut back (300).

lorifisher1962

I am such a newbie......sorry.....what are net calories???

supplemama

For me the key has been exercise.

lisamarie2181

You should really calculate your bmr and tdee to see where your cal range should be. I just started mine and i eat 2200 cals a day. My bmr is 1795 and my tdee is 2800. I have been on this approach going on two weeks, was told you may see a gain because you up your cals but it is water not fat. I drink alot of water, over 160oz a day so i didnt see a gain, just stayed where i was. Got weighed by the dr today and was down 4 pounds. I have seen alot of sucess by people the have taken this approach and so far so good for me! Check it out and see what you think, my cal range is higher because i am heavier then you, but this it will be more tailored to your cal needs. Hope this helps!

laurynwithawhy

Everyone's body is super different. I'm 5'3 156 pounds and I struggle to lose at 1200 calories. Honestly if you have less than 15 pounds to lose (i'm only trying to lose 8 more!) exercise is KEY. My advice is try to up your cardio and only eat back about half of those calories and see how it works.

2S_1R

is there such a thing as eating too few calories and not seeing weight loss?

I work out every day for about an hour... typically classes like hip hop or zumba, and i've been hovering around 1200 calories per day.

I am 175 and approx. 5'4"

If anyone can help me, you don't have to respond here. I'm good with a inbox message too!

Masterdo

Burn more.

Solid response, however... How do you eat that much and still stay in good standing with everything else? IE: Sodium.

I had trouble with that too this summer, when I could burn 3k calories in a full day of biking... I have done some 5k calories day without going over sodium, so it's possible, it's just very difficult. I mostly don't really care about it on heavy exercise days anymore.

In the end though, you are here to lose fat, not general "weight". If you don't have blood pressure condition, going reasonably over on sodium will cause you to retain water, which in the longer run you really don't care about... Anyway, heavy exercise will also cause you to retain water.

With that said, it's amazing how little sodium you intake when you eat absolutely nothing premade for you.

heybales

I am 5'8" and 176lbs. I'm trying to lose my pregnancy weight. I am exercising (strength and cardio) and breastfeeding. I'm eating 1400 net calories most days and eating clean. I'm barely losing. When I up my calories to 1700, I gain.

How are people maintaining at 2000+ calories? Is my metabolism just that crappy?

Yes, it is probably that crappy right now. If you just increased your calories to 1700 from 1400, your body probably didn't have any time to see this was for good and start increasing metabolism. Probably thought, wow, in case the craziness continues, I better pack this on for later.

Would be better to increase about 200 per day for a week. Then another 200, ect.

Also, most you see doing the over 2000 calories and losing weight, that is a deficit off a TDEE that includes exercise - so they don't eat back their exercise calories, they included planned exercise in their total then took a deficit.

But the MFP method done correctly as it sounds like you have been, is a deficit is taken off daily maintenance with no exercise included, and you eat it back later.

If you want to go the TDEE deficit route, then use the spreadsheet linked to in this topic post.
There is a better TDEE calculator at the bottom of that BMR/TDEE tab too.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/717858-spreadsheet-bmr-tdee-and-deficit-calcs-macros-hrm

Crayvn

Burn more.

Solid response, however... How do you eat that much and still stay in good standing with everything else? IE: Sodium.

Its best to take baby steps...always watch your calories then pick one other thing you would like to focus on.fat...protein, sodium etc.....once you master that, then pick another... it takes some time and thought for a while..but then before you know it, it will be natural for you

Masterdo

is there such a thing as eating too few calories and not seeing weight loss?

I work out every day for about an hour... typically classes like hip hop or zumba, and i've been hovering around 1200 calories per day.

I am 175 and approx. 5'4"

If anyone can help me, you don't have to respond here. I'm good with a inbox message too!

Yeah, there is such a thing as that. I don't think it's all doom and gloom with starvation mode hanging over your head, but it's definitely a counter productive way to approach weight loss. If you are to succeed at this, you will do it all your life. It's not about punishing yourself or depriving yourself, it's about learning how to properly fuel your daily activities, balance everything out and feel great all the time.

Search around for nice threads by Helloitsdan or heybales, or for keywords like TDEE, BMR. Learn stuff and take control Or check their user accounts, they have nice information in their profiles.

Good luck!

Edit to add : BAM, heybales gave you the tool directly That guy rocks!

heybales

is there such a thing as eating too few calories and not seeing weight loss?

I work out every day for about an hour... typically classes like hip hop or zumba, and i've been hovering around 1200 calories per day.

I am 175 and approx. 5'4"

If anyone can help me, you don't have to respond here. I'm good with a inbox message too!

Most definitely.

The 1200 recommended minimum safe level is first of all that, lowest for safety sake. Not best for performance, longevity, or aesthetics.
And it's also intended for those not exercising but sedentary lifestyle.
And even then, those following that with no exercise lose muscle mass.

You are making the effect worse yet with cardio and eating so low, stop burning off your muscle!

Unless you are correctly eating back your exercise calories as MFP is intended to be used, then good job.

If under too much stress, and body wondering why it has so few calories left over after exercise to work with, it will just slow everything down.

So your estimated BMR is 1526, by age, weight, height. Estimating bodyfat% could make that more accurate.
With that workout routine, when you say everyday I'm guessing that means every day so 7 hrs weekly, or do you mean workdays, so 5 hrs weekly?
So your estimated TDEE would then be 2500 (putting you between 5 and 7 hrs weekly).

A 20% deficit to that TDEE, appropriate for amount to lose right now, is ..... drumroll - 2000 calories daily.

Every day, you do not eat back exercise calories in this case because it's already included.

Miss a workout, skip 250 cal's that day.

If you are working out to assist weight loss and not just because you enjoy the class, if you really want to see body improvement, then skip 3 cardio sessions and lift weights for 1 hr. And include 2 rest days after 2 of the lifting days.

So with 5 hrs of exercise, TDEE is 2300, and 20% deficit is 1840.
If you make those 3 days heavy weight lifting and the 2 days lighter cardio, you can do 1705 as daily goal.

See spreadsheet reference above for storing your stats, and how I got these figures.

Edit: BAM - did it again, we are on the same wavelength Masterdo!

runfreddyrun

So with 5 hrs of exercise, TDEE is 2300, and 20% deficit is 1840.
If you make those 3 days heavy weight lifting and the 2 days lighter cardio, you can do 1705 as daily goal.

why is it the case that you reduce calories by 135 if you are heavy lifting 3x a week? i saw this on your spreadsheet and it seemed weird to me. don't you need more calories when lifting heavy, if you're modifying them at all?