Lost weight by increasing calories? Please Respond

phdiva12

So, I've hit a plateau and I think that it maybe due to the fact that I'm not eating enough calories. I generally exercise off about 400 calories a day and have about a 500 calorie deficit each day. I'm thinking that I should start eating to up to the high range of calories, but I'm scared that I will gain. Has anyone beat a plateau or lost more weight by increasing their calories? I need the courage!

mgobluetx12

A plateau is generally 3 weeks or more without losing a pound. Has is been three weeks or more?

mantra_momma

How many calories are you eating currently? When I manually calculate my BMR and go from there to figure out how many calories I should eat to lose 1lb per week, it's around 1900. I'm not very good at explaining how it works to eat more calories and still lose weight, but this blog is great. Good luck!

http://www.thegetinshapegirl.com/you-cannot-cancel-out-food-with-cardio/

70davis

Bump

KeepGoingRhonda

I was stuck for 10 months!! I started eating more cals 2 weeks ago..and have not gained. Too soon for me to tell how it is working yet. Good luck! Check out EM2WL (eat more 2 weigh less..lots of info there!)

sunnyside1213

It never works for me.

Lennox497

Your body needs fuel. Remember that your body will burn muscle tissue and food energy before it burns fat. Give your body what it craves. The increase in quality calorie intake will also help rebuild torn down muscle tissue. When there is more muscle tissue your body will burn calories efficiently and more often.

Fuel the fitness furnace. Burn bright and hot! Ready go!

lidybug1984

I've tried before and haven't been very successful. I'm also stuck in my weightloss. I was most successful when I was exercising three to four times a week and having about 500 calories left over daily from what MFP recommended that I eat. I've also found that when I was paying the closest attention to my fat and carb intake I was the most successful... Trying to get back to that!! Hoping to see my weight loss pick back up. Good luck!!

Verity1111

What happens is that if you don't have enough carbs and calories to burn your body will start to produce ketones. Ketones can be found in your blood or urine and are there to replace carbs/protein missing from your diet. When you are low on carbs your body starts to eat away protein/muscle tissue to keep energized and often you lose more lean mass than fat or at least more lean mass than most want to lose. It is after this that ketones come into play because that can only happen for a while when your system becomes defensive, so to speak, and tries to save your fat and muscle in case of an emergency (lol sounds funny in my head, but still). It is important to eat your BMR and somewhere around your TDEE in order to make sure you have enough calories to support your bodies vital activities, such as sending blood through your system, keeping your brain working and heart functioning, not even included general exercise each day. Your BMR is what you would need even if you were in a coma or catatonic state because it is the calories/energy your body needs just to survive without using up what is saved in your system. So, you should make sure when you exercise that you eat back some of your calories if you end up with a lot of space to spare. I know some people don't believe in this, but when I was pregnant I did not eat enough and doctors found ketones in my urine. Ketones are produced by your body and can damage your liver and kidneys if you continue to "starve" or eat too little for too long of a time. It depends on the person, but for me it only took a couple of weeks for ketones to show up in my system. You could try to add 150 or so calories and see if it makes a difference. Lots of luck to you.

P.S. & I didn't answer your question, YES. I actually lost weight while pregnant, then maintained and at random gained because of not enough calories until I upped my intake! Every time I would up my intake I would drop the extra weight and then some more of it. I had this occur one time when not pregnant as well, but the results were not as dramatic. I started to lose weight again after I upped my calories. I upped my calories about 200 or so per day and it worked. Just some information from wikipedia to explain the details

"If the diet is changed from a highly glycemic (carb filled) diet to a diet that does not provide sufficient carbohydrate to replenish glycogen stores, the body goes through a set of stages to enter ketosis. During the initial stages of this process, blood glucose levels are maintained through gluconeogenesis, and the adult brain does not burn ketones. However, the brain makes immediate use of ketones for lipid synthesis in the brain. After about 48 hours of this process, the brain starts burning ketones in order to more directly use the energy from the fat stores that are being depended upon, and to reserve the glucose only for its absolute needs, thus avoiding the depletion of the body's protein store in the muscles."

Verity1111

SIDE NOTE: One idea I find even more effective is calorie cycling, during which you alter your calorie intake every day, but maintain the same AVERAGE calories per day for the week. For example:
You usually would eat 1500 calories (example) and instead you eat them this way:

Mon: 1300
Tue: 1500
Wed: 1700
Thur: 1400
Fri: 1600
Sat: 1300
Sun: 1700

etc.

1300+1500+1700+1400+1600+1300+1700=10,500 calories per week
divide it by 7 and it is still 1,500 calories per day. It is a method that confuses your system, so you don't become dependent on a certain amount of calories and you don't plateau as easily as you normally would.

If you want to try this use this link:
http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm

Enter your information and scroll down to "7 calorie cycle (zig-zag)" to see how you can do this for a week.

ceejay1982

If the extra calories ur consuming are good ones like veg and some fruits.
the calories you get from eating things like cucumber carrot or celery Sticks actually work as a negitive and U lose weight eating more of them
The calories U get from these foods you actually burn more eating them digesting and discarding them out ur system than the actual calories they give U. So make sensible choices when upping ur intake. Plus eating this kind of foods little and often also keep ur metabolism ticking over!

Hope this helps

jnp96

If calories are low fat/no fat you should lose weight. I found that when I eat wholesome, low fat foods weight comes off.

Verity1111

If calories are low fat/no fat you should lose weight. I found that when I eat wholesome, low fat foods weight comes off.

This depends on the person because I just posted about a study and the low fat group lost the least, while low carb lost the most, but raised the risk of heart disease and the one with a more balanced diet with some fat & protein and mostly carbs lost in the middle of the other two and did not have the risk of heart disease. Also, most foods, even vegetables and fruits, do not burn off more calories than theyre worth from what I was told.

daggs95

YES, was undereating for years apparently. (sometimes it was obvious too me, others not, I really would think it was enough until I examined it better on here) it took me over a month of eating more (didn't gain) to finally start losing. I shoot for a 700 deficit most of the week. I lost the most recently when on vacation and sleeping more, eating richer meals, doing alot of walking and swimmming but less other activities and hard exerise (this I think was just what my body needed for the week).

californiagirl2012

So, I've hit a plateau and I think that it maybe due to the fact that I'm not eating enough calories. I generally exercise off about 400 calories a day and have about a 500 calorie deficit each day. I'm thinking that I should start eating to up to the high range of calories, but I'm scared that I will gain. Has anyone beat a plateau or lost more weight by increasing their calories? I need the courage!

To tell you to eat more is wrong.

To tell you to eat less is wrong.

To find the exact amount of calories for you to be in a sustainable calorie deficit is correct. Some people can handle a deeper calorie deficit than others. Some people have emotional eating disorders and it comes into play. Even a small deficit puts your body in a state of flux with hormones and such and everyone is different. Neither is right or wrong, it just is. The more stress you have the more your hunger hormones get turned on and that comes into play with what kind of calorie deficit you can handle.

You just need to find the correct calories for YOU to be healthy and sustainable and and still lose weight. It might require some experimentation and tremendous patience. You can always notch up and down by 100 until you find what is sustainable and still allows you to lose weight.

Your body loses weight in chunks, not linear. I have found that you can do everything right and your weight loss seems to plateau but if you are patient and keep exercising and eating at a deficit (however slight) you will lose it, it will suddenly "whoosh". There are so many variables for the scale; water retention, digestion, hormones, allergies, sodium, carbs, water intake, DOMS, inflammation, the list goes on. People mistakenly think they lose or gain weight when they eat more or less because of these fluctuations.

Losing weight requires tremendous patience. You will not lose it when you want it or where you want it. The body does its thing. Some apparent plateaus can last a month or so. You cannot make it happen faster. You must focus on two things; calories and exercise. Nothing else matters. Scales and metrics don't matter. The day in and day out grind of exercise and calories are all that matters. It is not very exciting until things fall into place. You get your victories and you ride one victory to the next.

The scale is a trend tool. The scale is good but put it away and only check once a week and only use it as a trend tool. It will fluctuate, it does not matter. Take front side and back progress pictures at least once a month. You will see differences that the metrics won't tell you and it's that little bit of NSV that will keep you going until the next victory.

Exercise is to make your lean body mass pretty, strong, and healthy (especially lifting weights).

A calorie deficit is to lose fat. A calorie budget keeps your fat level where you need to be, either losing fat or maintaining.

Nothing else really matters much.

CrimsonDiva7

The right balance is key. I was at 1200 calories burning 300 calories 4x a week. I was always starving so I spiked my workout and calories and broke through a 3 week plateau. Now I'm at 1550 calories burning on average 500 calories 4x a week.

pmhath

Hmmm....interesting topic. I've read dozens of posts that would lead a person to believe that all they must do is simply take their TDEE and subtract a reasonable deficit and magically watch the fat "fall off" a person. All the while eating two or possibly three times the amount of calories one is used to. I believe californiagirl hit the nail on the head. She, in my opinion, should be listened to. I too am in a horrible plateau. I need to lose fat. Lost 15 lbs then boom! Plateau. For about 3 months now. When I was in my twenties I would simply stop eating for a few days and back on track I would be. In my forties I see rules of the body have changed.--insert laughter here!!! Calorie manipulation and exercise are key. We all need to find the right combination that works for us.

ILiftHeavyAcrylics

How long is your plateau? Have you been restricting for a long time? Dan (Helloitsdan, I think) told me that what I needed to do to break my plateau was to go back to eating at maintenance for a while, and then go back to a deficit. I had been restricting for years and it just wasn't working anymore. It seemed to me that my only recourse was to cut more calories and I wasn't willing to go so low. Following the method he recommended broke my 3 month long plateau brilliantly. It was hard because it required patience to go back to not trying to lose weight for a couple of months, but it worked. Word of caution-- if you do decide to up your calories you probably want to do it gradually. Also make sure you're meticulous about weighing/measuring your food. It would be easy while trying to increase calories to increase too much and go over your goal unintentionally.

wkrd

read later

pmhath

Yes, it is 3 months long. I am slowly adding calories because I feel my body got used to the deficit. Calculated bmr,tdee etc. I'm a bit paranoid about eating too much because I had to work so hard to take it off. I fluctuate a pound here or there but no biggie. I am very sceptical about this "adding" calories, but I'm sure there's something to it. Currently doing Rushfit dvd training and their calculator/calories is identical to this site so I am open minded to try it. Approaching cautiously, counting carefully. My before/current photos show changes so others should note this as well. I mean my scale has not moved for months, but I see changes that are positive so all is not lost. (laughs) Having rough time "seeing" the fat gone but I am here for support. Thanks for the tips. Hope others hang in there to see themselves change for the better!

geekyjock76

You're going to have to eat back up to maintenance at some point, regardless of what calorie number that is. If you let paranoia control you, what's going to happen if you reach your goal and consider upping to maintain? If you lose at higher calories, why would you want to sabotage your RMR which will make it even more challenging to maintain weight later as you age?