Perhaps your calorie intake should be higher.....

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fozzy33
fozzy33 Posts: 72
in Food and Nutrition
Good morning everyone!

So I was stalled at 168lbs for about two weeks. I was taking in 1340 calories or less with a burn of 600 from exercise 5 days a week. I could NOT believe I was not losing anything....MFP said that is what I should be taking in.

A woman I follow on twitter, and I believe moderates JillianMichaels.com msg boards and I started talking, I actually messaged her and said to her hey what is my problem....im doing this and that etc....

She told me my calorie intake was WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY off my base should be around 1700 but to play with it to keep my body guessing. One day do 1700 the next day 1500 then 1800 and so on. She told me to come back into MFP and readjust my settings by customizing them. I did this to 1700 a day and am also doing 30% fat, 30% carbs 40% protein.

I spoke to Sandy on Thursday and started doing this immediately. I mean I was stuck and had nothing else to lose...if it didnt work or I gained a pound so be it, I had to try something!

I have lost 4lbs since thursday and Im eating nearly 4000 calories more a day!

Maybe my body was in starvation mode!
Whatever the case its working and im losing weight again quickly like I was in the beginning

Replies

  • chgudnitz
    chgudnitz Posts: 4,079
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    4000 calories more a day?
  • StrengthInPain
    StrengthInPain Posts: 155 Member
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    I have lost 4lbs since thursday and Im eating nearly 4000 calories more a day!

    Maybe my body was in starvation mode!
    Whatever the case its working and im losing weight again quickly like I was in the beginning

    Congrats!! i think a lot of people on MFP have had similar success by increasing their calories, and keeping your body guessing seems to be a successful way for weight loss - whether it be nutrition or exercising - it's the basis of P90x. I haven't been losing much weight either lately, and i'm thinking about increasing my calories as well. I'm not going to get a lot of exercise in this week though, so i'm going to wait until next week when i can be sure i'm burning the extra calories if it backfires lol

    by the way i think you meant you are eating 400 more calories a day. 4000 is way too high lol
  • fozzy33
    fozzy33 Posts: 72
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    ooops sorry I did meant 400 I added in an extra 0 LOL!!!!
  • chgudnitz
    chgudnitz Posts: 4,079
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    ooops sorry I did meant 400 I added in an extra 0 LOL!!!!
    :laugh: It happens... I think it's suggested that you do that too. Upping is good, makes a more gradual loss and easier for your body. Good job. :drinker:
  • lt_mrcook
    lt_mrcook Posts: 389 Member
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    Your body wasn't in starvation mode. It had adapted to what you were doing. So you needed to change something. Changing you calories is a good idea, but you don't need to do it daily. Change the workouts you are doing. Do your workouts at a higher intensity. Just change something every 5-6 weeks and you should be fine.
  • kateyb
    kateyb Posts: 138 Member
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    oooh I'm inspired by this - I too recently decided after 3 weeks of stagnation, to up my calorie intake slightly, I was on 1200 a day and as of Saturday have upped it to 1600 - or at least that's what I'm aiming for. I'm not doing as much exercise as you are but hope to see some results anyway. Pray for me x
  • bebhinn
    bebhinn Posts: 198
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    I did the exact same thing to get over a plateau - +500/day for about 4 days did the trick - but that put me at about 2000/day which was like a full time job of eating! I'm glad that I got over the hump and now I can cut back a bit because I just can't do that 2000/day business anymore (strange thing to say considering my frequent 4000+/day days before I started this journey!)
  • RedneckWmn
    RedneckWmn Posts: 3,202 Member
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    I guess this may be what I need to get over my plateau as well! Try increasing my calories by a little bit and see what happens!! Is everyone eating between 1400-1600 without exercise calories?
  • LittleSpy
    LittleSpy Posts: 6,754 Member
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    So you're now eating 1700 calories a day PLUS your exercise calories? That part was unclear to me.

    Because MFP recommends you eat your exercise calories, so if you were eating 1340 and none of your exercise calories before, you were not, in fact, doing with MFP suggested. :wink: If you were doing what MFP suggested, you would have been eating 1940 calories a day on those days you burned 600 calories with exercise.

    I recently hit a plateau and broke it by beginning to eat 50% of my exercise calories. It's awesome that eating more can be the solution to a plateau. :smile: It's too bad no one believes anyone else when they tell them they need to EAT to lose weight and be healthy. :ohwell: Why would we lie to you? :laugh:
  • kateyb
    kateyb Posts: 138 Member
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    thats what im doing, 1400-1600 not incl. Exercise cals x

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