What have people found when increasing calories

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  • SuMcP
    SuMcP Posts: 244 Member
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    Eating more allows you to zig zag and keeps your metabolism going. There is a good podcast on fat2fitradio.com which explains why - see " Break Weight Loss Plateaus".
  • bufger
    bufger Posts: 763 Member
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    I upped mine from 1600 to 1800 and lost weight more consistantly. I even fluctuate +/-200 cals intake and can get away with it as im not more active on a daily basis.

    Find your TDEE and base your intake on 80% of that. It will be more than 1200
  • bufger
    bufger Posts: 763 Member
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    Thanks for posting this comment. I know that everyone recommends upping your cals once you start plateauing, but I struggle to reconcile this in my mind. I have maintained my weight for 8 months now. Just short of the last kg I would like to lose to reach my ultimate goal weight. But generally I am very happy. Many people have advised I should be eating more because I exercise 5 - 6 times a week and have started to increase to eating back half my exercise calories, but my weight hasn't changed. I'm very nervous about upping because it seems to good to be true. LOL. Very interested to hear how long it took to start losing weight after the increase.

    You'll need to consistantly eat 1000-2000 calories over your TDEE to put on weight. If you upped yours to just below TDEE for the little amount you have left to lose then you'll get there slowly but surely and you'll be very close to maintenance which should then be easy to transition into
  • AnexRavensong
    AnexRavensong Posts: 262 Member
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    I ate at about 1300 calories a day for years (with the sporadic binging that came after)... I stayed stuck at the same weight for years or gained.

    I joined MFP and tried the generic 1200 calories it throws at everyone, I was even more grumpy and tired!
    Then I discovered
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12


    I increased my calories to 1880 (I don't always eat them all, that is the LIMIT) don't eat back exercise calories and have started losing weight. I have only done it for about a month now, but I'm much happier overall and less tired!
  • bexxxster
    bexxxster Posts: 88 Member
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    whenever I up my calories I just maintain or put on weight. I've tried 1300 a day, 1400 a day, 1500 a day... even 2000 a day. But doesn't work for me :(
  • nickyfm
    nickyfm Posts: 1,214 Member
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    I was eating between 1250-1390 and NEVER ate exercise cals back. I would get headaches, be constantly tired, craving, hungry and would almost always end up bingeing. Not to mention the fact that I would lose strength if it wasn't the day following a lift.

    Now I eat 1400-1700 depending on rest day or not, and eat 50% of my exercise cals back. I seem to be losing weight just the same, am stronger, and no longer get headaches. I have NO IDEA how I ever burned 450 cals in a cycle class and still ate that low. No wonder the weight loss has been a yo yo.

    I am 5"5 and 117 pounds
  • pkw58
    pkw58 Posts: 2,038 Member
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    I have found that the closer I got to goal weight, the more important it was to eat more calories to not only get to goal weight, but to get my energy level up.

    I think it is more than a valid argument to start at 1200 calories a day just to develop the discipline to eat within a guideline and reset your expectations on what a healthy amount of food is. (for me)...

    As I added calories, I also tracked my activity and still do. I am committed to doing this for the rest of my life. Now that I am on maintenance, my goal is to build on what I have to be stronger and increase my energy level. That will take trusting eating those calories back from exercise. And keeping in mind calorie counts both ways can be flawed, but if I monitor I will catch it.

    5'8" 129 pounds, small framed and 54 years old.
  • littlemegzz
    littlemegzz Posts: 292 Member
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    I will be interested to see what my weight is at the end of this week. I will continue to eat around 1300-1400 a day for the rest of the week.

    Only thing that might throw me off is sleeping. I am in my final week of uni and may not be getting much sleep on wednesday or thursday night.

    My main issue with eating more is that I am not hungry. I am actually forcing myself to eat because I know it is an appropriate time. I think I have been more tired because I was only eating 1200 before (due to not being hungry, not because I was forcing myself). But then I think it also has a lot to do with my stress and sleeping patterns with uni.

    I find all of this info really intriguing as this is the first time I have really been focusing on eating well. Thanks again for everyone's posts. It is really encouraging.

    btw, just as a side note, even on 1200, I don't have any problems with binge eating. I have gone cold-turkey on all unhealthy foods and increased protein. It keeps off hunger and cravings really well for me. Things only go bad if I go back to eating something bad. One bad thing a day makes me want to just be unhealthy all day. So yea, I will only have unhealthy food every now-and-then for special occasions.
  • mockchoc
    mockchoc Posts: 6,573 Member
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    whenever I up my calories I just maintain or put on weight. I've tried 1300 a day, 1400 a day, 1500 a day... even 2000 a day. But doesn't work for me :(

    When you uped your calories how long did you give it before giving up each time? With some people it take a few weeks to work. You may also have other issues with your health like thyroid problems etc..
  • bexxxster
    bexxxster Posts: 88 Member
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    whenever I up my calories I just maintain or put on weight. I've tried 1300 a day, 1400 a day, 1500 a day... even 2000 a day. But doesn't work for me :(

    When you uped your calories how long did you give it before giving up each time? With some people it take a few weeks to work. You may also have other issues with your health like thyroid problems etc..

    quite a while each time, i've always hung on to my weight though. I'm just one of those people who finds it major hard lol i lose when im on 1200.. nothing major though. most the time only 1/2 a lb a month or 1lb if im lucky
  • umachanxo
    umachanxo Posts: 926 Member
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    Did you find you gained weight over the first few weeks/stayed the same/ continued to decrease in weight?

    I increased mine quite a while back from 1200 to 1800 slowly. I would eat maybe 100 calories more, and then continued to increase. I've now decreased again to 1400-1500 because I have a lower BMR than I used to.

    I think I may have gone up on the scale but it came off very fast. I think it was more water weight than anything. The best thing to do is find what works for you, and go with it.
  • msaestein1
    msaestein1 Posts: 264 Member
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    Upping my calories gave me more energy during the day and more motivation to push myself during workouts.

    This. I tried 1300 calories and ate half my exercise calories back. It did work, but then after a while, I didn't want to exercise at all. Exercise if very important for me. So, I have been eating 1500 calories now and eating back half of the exercise calories which puts me at 1300. The scale has not moved but I have lost an inch in my waist and thighs. That's more important!
  • mschickiepoo
    mschickiepoo Posts: 91 Member
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    bump
  • WendyTerry420
    WendyTerry420 Posts: 13,274 Member
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    So we hear time and time again how increasing your calories can lead to better weight loss (rather than doing only 1200 cal a day). I was wondering if people who have increased their intake from 1200 could tell me what they found weight wise over the course of increasing.

    Did you find you gained weight over the first few weeks/stayed the same/ continued to decrease in weight?

    I increased mine on my first day. Since I know that if I do nothing but sit all day, then I would burn 2100 calories, I set mine to 1700. A couple months ago, I increased it to 1800, and I always eat back my exercise calories. I'm glad I did. If I had to eat 1200 to lose weight, I would have given up a long time ago.
  • neverstray
    neverstray Posts: 3,845 Member
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    What I love about the IPOARM method, is you simply eat at your goal weight TDEE, so when you get there, there's nothing to change. You just keep doing what you've always done.
  • Ann1964x
    Ann1964x Posts: 76
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    This!
    I started eating back my exercise calories, about 200 a day, so went from 1200cals to 1400 cals a day. I never ate my exercise calories back, but since I started losing again. Now average about 1.5 lb weight loss a week.
  • Skratchie
    Skratchie Posts: 131 Member
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    I'm new to MFP, and I have a lot of weight to lose, but it hasn't always been that way - a few years ago, I was a decent weight and I worked out regularly. I found then that in order to lose weight, I have to eat. I eat around 1900 cals a day when I'm not working out, and up to 2400 when I am working out, and I lose weight at a fairly quick rate. But in order to make it work, I can't eat a lot of junk - I think the sodium kills me. I'm still not great with sodium, and I've never been the type of person who salts my food much, but it's amazing how much sodium you can pick up from the oddest places. My best weight loss "zone" is to work out for 30-45 minutes six days a week and eat between 2200-2400 cals a day. I'm never hungry, I have energy and the weight seems to melt off - some weeks, as much as 3-4 lbs. I will lose 3-4 lbs one week, then maybe half a lb the next - it's not consistent, but it often adds up to a 6-8 lb loss per month.

    But the most important thing I have found is to not eat the same exact foods every single day, and to not eat the exact same number of calories every single day. If I vary the foods I eat and if I fluctuate 100-200 cals a day, I get my best results. My body has to be "constantly guessing" for me to see any real results. Oh, and I dropped regular soda - I still drink a couple of diet drinks a day, and I don't plan to ever give them up - they are my "treats" and keep me from going stark raving mad. LOL People will say that diet drinks have a lot of sodium, but a 12 oz can of Diet Dr Pepper has 50 mg of sodium. True, if it didn't drink it, I wouldn't have any sodium, but then again, I probably wouldn't stick with just water either. This is a nice compromise for me.

    YMMV. :-)
  • haroon_awan
    haroon_awan Posts: 1,208 Member
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    Please let us know how tomorrow goes, if you don't mind.

    I increased my calories last week, but lost nothing. However, I did have one bad day at the start of the week. I have been eating more than 1200 still, but not eating all of my exercise cals back.

    This is the mistake most people (women especially to be honest) make ALL the time. Getting fit isn't a one week or two week process. It takes MONTHS and YEARS for some people. Have some patience. You can't spend 1 year eating junk and not workout out and then expect results in a one week of hard work or one week of experimenting a new workout or diet for that matter. It doesn't work that way.

    Eat healthy
    Lift weights
    Do some cardio
    Relax
    Stick with it

    It's not that hard.
  • rose313
    rose313 Posts: 1,146 Member
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    I increased my cals from 1200 to 1500 when I started lifting. I lost 10 pounds over the next few months, then plateaued no matter what I did. I increased exercise, nothing worked, I didn't lose any inches anymore, everything just stopped. So I'm back to low cal again and losing again.
  • gingerjen7
    gingerjen7 Posts: 821 Member
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    No, my weight loss did not increase when I increased calories. And I felt like crap when I did it, too. I'm much happier sticking between 1200 and 1300 gross. Trying to eat back exercise calories was worthless for me too. I don't care if I net under 1200; it feels a whole lot better than trying to fill myself up with stuff I don't even want.

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