Absolutely Cannot Make Sense of This

BurtHuttz

This is an active thread this morning: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/860592-success-with-tdee-20

"Who has had success with TDEE-20%"

I see lots and lots of threads about success on TDEE minus 10 to 20%. I have never seen threads about success eating 1200 calories a day. I've never seen threads about great results from diet pills or juicing or raspberry ketones.

Concur with blacktimber to the extent that 'eat more to weigh less' only works if you're eating too little. It is useful only as a counterbalance to the extremities of the 'move more eat less' approach, which becomes counterproductive when one takes it into the 'exercise 6 days a week and eat 1200 cals' territory.

mfpcopine

You're probably eating more than you think, or not working out as intensely as necessary.

berthabunny

I have the same problem. I am not always brutally honest about my caloric intake, but I am way below my net intake goals, and have lost next-to-nothing. Funny thing, over Christmas, that time of year everyone supposedly gains weight, I ate more and exercised less, and lost three pounds, which I have kept off going back to my normal diet, but I haven't lost more.
I would appreciate advice too.
I eat 1300-1400 calories a day and exercise about 15 hours (8-10 fairly intense swimming) a week.
How many of my exercise calories should I be eating back? I often end up with a net caloric intake of 200-500. I cannot cut back on exercising, because I ma on a team and it just doesn't work to show up to only half the practices, so should I increase to about 1500 a day and see how that works?
I would love advice and hope that you figure out what isn't working for you! Good luck.

Question, how much is it OK to increase by at a time for this to work?

tishka11

I am brutally honest with myself to the point where i think i overestimate how much i eat

I measure out what i eat on my electronic scales and never eat back any of my exercise calories

I eat a lot of protein, i am vegan but i still get heaps of protein from shakes and tofu/bean curd, to the extent of about 70-80g a day

I drink a lot of water

It is possible that its a medical condition since ive been affected by health problems since a young age Which im terrified may have flared up again

I am seriously beginning to think that it is due to inaccurately labelled foods i buy from international food stores
Thus starting today i am not going to consume any of those foods, try high intensity workouts with high intensity weight training too, and see how that goes

Fingers crossed! Because this is so incredibly frustrating! I feel like i put in so much effort and try so hard and yet dont see the results i think i deserve to see

MysticRealm

I measure out what i eat on my electronic scales and never eat back any of my exercise calories

Eat them back

misskerouac

I am brutally honest with myself to the point where i think i overestimate how much i eat

I measure out what i eat on my electronic scales and never eat back any of my exercise calories

I eat a lot of protein, i am vegan but i still get heaps of protein from shakes and tofu/bean curd, to the extent of about 70-80g a day

I drink a lot of water

It is possible that its a medical condition since ive been affected by health problems since a young age Which im terrified may have flared up again

I am seriously beginning to think that it is due to inaccurately labelled foods i buy from international food stores
Thus starting today i am not going to consume any of those foods, try high intensity workouts with high intensity weight training too, and see how that goes

Fingers crossed! Because this is so incredibly frustrating! I feel like i put in so much effort and try so hard and yet dont see the results i think i deserve to see

It is most likely none of those things.
You need to eat more.
1200 cals is not enough ESPECIALLY if you are exercising and not eating your exercise calories

alanlmarshall

Eat healthily, enough calories to maintain your weight or a little less
Gradually increase the intensity of your exercise
Forget about how much you weigh.

berthabunny

So, I posted yesterday about feeling the same way. And upped my caloric intake to 1500, but I ended up being sooo hungry! It was kinda nice to actually feel hungry again. I ended up eating more like 1700, and lost 1.2 pounds! I know I drank a lot yesterday, but still think some of it must have been water weight.
Just wanted to let you know, trying it for a couple of days might work. I have been eating very little and exercising a lot for months now, and I don't know how much that effects what happens when I add back calories, but I can tell you, seeing 140 anything on the scale was amazing!!
For all of you that might post that dropping weight like that isn't going to last, I know, but, hey, one can still enjoy it while it lasts and going with slower afterwards, right? I will also ask the EM2WL group about it.