How long does the body need to adjust to a calorie increase?

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  • Mom0819
    Mom0819 Posts: 77 Member
    bump
  • TallGlassOfQuirky
    TallGlassOfQuirky Posts: 282 Member
    1) YAYYYYYYYY for eating more than 1200 calories!
    2) Bodies are weird. Some people have no problem with a sudden increase or decrease, but most do better to gradually adjust their intake (by around 100 each week or so).
    3) Did I mention YAYYYYYYYYY for eating more? :)
  • MariaChele85
    MariaChele85 Posts: 267 Member
    I followed IPORM and I gained about 10lbs over 4 weeks. Then my body started to slowly adjust and I started to drop again. Don't get discouraged. It's part of the process. I do heavy weight lifting and there is no way 1200 cal is enough.
  • cindybpitts
    cindybpitts Posts: 213 Member
    I've just started upping my calories too!!I'll keep a close eye on this thread!!
    Me too!
  • nomorechub68
    nomorechub68 Posts: 42
    I can assure you that if I did not find these posts I would have probably been very very discouraged. I too was a member of the 1200 club for a long while. I lost over 50 lb since Aug 2012, but stalled out...OMG, I have been stalled for WEEKS. I have recalculated my BMR and TDEE and I should be at about 1700 so I increased or I am doing my BEST to eat that for the past 1.5 weeks or so. I also adjusted my macros (higher protein)...wow, that is really hard. I am finding that the only way I will be able to get 40% protein in each day is to do protein shakes. I am not a weight lifter...although I would love to....I am just a walker...yawn...boring, I know. I am SOOOOOO afraid to get on the scale.... I have 20ish to go....
    At any rate, thank you for all of your valuable input! I really needed it!
  • claireD82
    claireD82 Posts: 1
    Thanks for this information, I only started in January and lost a lot of lbs in the 1st few weeks. I got dropped down to 1200 very quickly and weighing 114 kg I knew it wasn't enough as now I've not lost for around 3 weeks (although I've been no Angel food wise recently). Over the next few weeks I'm going to gradually up my calories. I've started today with 1410 and I'm going to try and increase weekly.
  • MrsTheunissen
    MrsTheunissen Posts: 44 Member
    Hi all,

    For about 4 months I was on MFP's "suggested" 1200 calorie limit, and while I have lost a pretty good amount of weight, I started to notice my body needed more coz of all the lifting/working out I do (Cardio/lift 5-6x a week). That, plus a bunch of research have led me to do a calorie increase. I am now really wishing I never followed the 1200 limit as I feel like my body is taking longer to adjust to the increase. What I mean by this is that I've gained a couple lbs back. It's probably the muscle increase mostly, but I figured I'd ask here to make sure I'm understanding it correctly.

    Okay, in all honesty it's been about 2 weeks since the calorie increase, I just really want to know if it's still normal. At this point, it's more about dropping my body fat percentage and increasing muscle mass. Thanks to my awesome scale, I do know that my muscle mass is coming up.

    Any shared experiences are greatly appreciated :).

    I am in the same situation. I have for 2 weeks done TDEE-20% and cant say that I have seen or felt any change. I know it can take some time but my mind is doubting me :(
  • blably
    blably Posts: 490 Member
    i srte dto ''eat more'' in the beg. of feb....i only lost 1kg, but lost almost 10 cm in my tights...crazy huh?


    but yea the scales arent good for motivation, get that measurment tape out, youll see results, i promise!
  • hilldiggity
    hilldiggity Posts: 166 Member
    I'm following this plan for how many calories to eat:

    For fat loss, you want to aim for a range of daily calories that is calculated based on your bodyweight (in pounds) as well as other factors.

    To lose fat: 8 to 12 times bodyweight
    To stay the same, neither losing nor gaining (also known as maintenance): 13 to 16 times bodyweight
    To gain mass: 15 to 20 times bodyweight
    You will notice that these are fairly broad ranges. This is because the precise intake will depend on other factors besides your general goals.

    Aim for the LOWER end of the range if you are:

    female
    older
    less active
    starting out at a fairly high level of bodyfat
    Aim for the HIGHER end of the range if you are:

    male
    younger
    more active
    starting out at a lower level of bodyfat (e.g. only a few pounds of fat to lose, or trying to get from “normal” to “lean”)
    For example, let’s say we have a 150 lb. woman who is in her 20s, fairly healthy and active, and who just wants to lose a few pounds of bodyfat. Her intake might ideally be somewhere between 10 and 12 times her bodyweight.

    10 x 150 = 1500
    12 x 150 = 1800

    So, that means her daily intake of calories should be between 1500 and 1800 calories per day. Don’t forget to adjust intake downwards as your bodyweight drops. For most active women, probably somewhere between 9 to 11 times bodyweight to lose fat is about right. But feel free to tweak things up or down a little as you require.

    (more... http://www.stumptuous.com/part-2-learning-the-basics ...)
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    Think about how long it took you to stall....that's a metabolic adjustment...you can't expect your body to re-adjust in a couple of weeks. Generally 4-6 weeks for metabolic adjustment.

    Also keep in mind that with an increase in calories, your weight loss will be slower (which a lot of people get really pissed about) but it should be more consistent.
  • Confuzzled4ever
    Confuzzled4ever Posts: 2,860 Member
    I upped my calories like 2 weeks or so ago.. i'm really struggling to eat enough though, I was struggling at 1200 even.. However I also got my monthly cycle the week after I upped it.. So ican't give an accurate assesement of weight gain due to one or the other. LOL.

    Damn femaleness...

    Anyway.. I think the measurement thing is a great idea.. I stopped losing weight a bit back.. but my pants are still getting looser and I can feel the muscles getting stronger and tighter. I need to measure again.. but not this week! LOL

    I can't get it down.. one day I do great.. reaching my goals only to feel full and bloated the next and totally miss my goals by a lot. Plus I exercise a lot.. so I probably still have my goals to low.. but baby steps lead to success right? Come hell or highwater I'll get this done! LOL
  • magerum
    magerum Posts: 12,589 Member
    I always gave it two weeks. A week to deal with the spike and a week to see what's really happening. Worked for me all the from 1300 to 4000.
  • 00sarah
    00sarah Posts: 621 Member
    I'm at 1890 cals/before exercise! Eat da foods! Your body will adjust, different people will have different adjustment periods, just be patient... It's worth it!
  • 00sarah
    00sarah Posts: 621 Member
    i srte dto ''eat more'' in the beg. of feb....i only lost 1kg, but lost almost 10 cm in my tights...crazy huh?


    but yea the scales arent good for motivation, get that measurment tape out, youll see results, i promise!


    Good advice!
  • wattsy84
    wattsy84 Posts: 123
    I've recently gone from 1400 to 2160 as I was under eating, I now do TDEE - 20% and that is 2820 for me but I've not gone up that high yet, my weight is still stagnant after 9 days but I'm starting weights next week so we shall see!
  • Wen37
    Wen37 Posts: 218 Member
    Bump.
  • wattsy84
    wattsy84 Posts: 123
    My weight is still stagnant at 2160 I might up it now?

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