So who's upped their calories to lose?

K_Serz

I'm at 1500 this week. I admit I am scared to climb to 1800. LOL

Its a decent jump from 1250 to 1800, but from 1500 to 1800 is just 2 protein shakes (or 2 large scoops in one big shake).

Or have you added those in to your diary already to go from 1250 to 1500?

JlenniferL

I was eating 1350 calories and walking everyday and hungrier by end of work day, I increase to 1400.

Dfracassa

I moved up slowly -- from 1300 to 1400 -- and haven't seen any changes yet. Maybe I should go higher?

Icedcoffee29

I'm at 1500 this week. I admit I am scared to climb to 1800. LOL

Its a decent jump from 1250 to 1800, but from 1500 to 1800 is just 2 protein shakes (or 2 large scoops in one big shake).

Or have you added those in to your diary already to go from 1250 to 1500?

I'm going slowly, I went 1250 - 1350 for a week, now at 1500, then moving to 1700 for a week, then 1800.

missjeevious

i went straight from 1200 + eating exercise to 2150-2250 daily. I was scared as hell. I had stalled out around 170 for months and months despite feeling like i was working so hard. I dropped four lbs. this month (I started eating more to weigh less at the beginning of February). I'm just set to take my first week-long break and eat at TDEE for one week. It is a hard leap to make, but man I feel amazing and am enjoying life and my body is looking better and better. for the first time in my life i think i have a plan that can work for the rest of my life, it's so achievable.

atb0821

Wow, I needed this thread BAD! I just upped mine to 1850 from 1400. We'll see how it goes!

woodsy0912

Bump! I am considering this soon.

Lilyyy7

Doooo it! It worked for me. I had a couple weeks where I wasn't able to go to the gym and eat the amount of calories that I wanted. Went back on the scale to see I lost weight. I think once you start hitting your plateu, you want to start working on building muscles. Your muscles need FUEL! And these muscles with help with burning calories too! Good luck!

mallen404

My TDEE is 2190 and my BMR is 1517. So what does everyone think - do I go to -20% and eat 1623 or go with 1800 calories. I exercise 70 minutes 6 days a week. I do all cardio - bike, treadmill or elliptical 3 days a week and the other 3 days I do the circuit at Planet Fitness for 3o minutes and then get on the treadmill. I'm on information overload and just want some advice. Thanks.

Since you are exercising that much, I would go with 1800.

My BMR is 1507 and TDEE is around 2200, I eat around 1600-1700 ( I Just upped it a week ago) and I have way more energy now for all my workouts. You are doing a lot more than me, I would suggest 1800 absolutely.

skydiveD30571

I did.

Started out doing what most people do which is "just don't eat very much". By not very much, I mean about 1700 calories while exercising 4 days a week. I'm 6'2", 228 so that is half of my maintenance level. I lost a lot of muscle mass and then stalled (not surprising). Figured my tdee-20% to be around 2600, slowly increased to that level over the course of 4 weeks or so, have lost weight and bf% in the process, and most of all am satisfied during the day and not starving.

If you jump up a lot at once, don't be surprised to see the scale jump up a couple pounds at first. This is most likely glycogen stores filling, along with water weight, and is NOT fat. That is a typical response to upping calorie intake. Just remember that it will disappear as soon as it appeared and stay on track.

RonandDi

For those of you that have upped your calorie intake from MFP suggested amounts, how long did it take for you to see results? I've had good results staying "around" the recomended amounts, and I hate the thoughts of changing it up.

mallen404

So what you all going to do when you stop losing weight again, increase them even more to lose more weight lol.
The truth is if you, had lowered your calories gradually to begin with and not had such an agressive deficit then this problem could have been avoided, lesson learnt i think

Lowered? mine were set at 1200 calories.. and my BMR is 1507. I was tired and hungry...

I don't think going down from 1200 would have been dumb.

mindidily

I just did. I was set to lose 1lb a week and followed MFP's prompt to lower my calories every so often. But it got too low for me (I think it was like 1350-ish?). I plateaued and also found 1350 too hard to stick with. I reset MFP to 1/2lb a week and upped my calories so we'll see!

SmartAlec03211988

I was eating 1500 calories for so long, lost 60 lbs. Then it stopped.

Upped to 1750-2000 and I've lost an additional 20 lbs.

autumnpath

I upped mine from 1200 to 1380 a day and it has made all the difference in the world. I"m not hungry all the time and I'm losing again!

Ph4lanx

I've gone from 2,050 calories up to 3,100-3,300 (varies on day to day basis, depending on rest, training or dance day). Losing around 2-3lbs per week at the moment.

redraidergirl2009

I did and guess what? I gained weight.

Tatiyanya

i upped my calories cos i decided am now happy with my weight. Got such a surge of evergy that I started moving more, upped my yoga difficulty even started shyly with lifting not-so-heavy-yet things and the weight still is droping I dont eat back all my excercise calories cos I hate feeling of overstuffed belly, so prolly thats why i keep loosing dem lbs.

mynameiscarrie

I eat at 1600 a day and log my workouts as 1 calorie. If I worked out more, I'd eat more, but I only get to the gym about 3 times a week (30-60 minutes of strength training and 30 minutes cardio on the shorter strength training days) so I stick with 1600. It's worked for me so far! I've noticed my weight isn't going down as fast, but my INCHES are decreasing in all the right places.

RobinvdM

I was at 1400 until mid January. I always eat back my workout calories. I had hit a solid wall of going nowhere no matter how hard I pushed at the gym. I decided to take the plunge and checkout the BMR/TDEE calcs saw that my BMR should be more like 1700 and upped my cals to 1600 (ya I am a wimp.) My weight dropped within the first 2 weeks, broke the plateau but then stalled again at the "new low" but rather than give it up, I stuck with it. About 5 weeks after bumping myself up by 200 cals I have not only broken my wall, I have lost 9lbs once the numbers started moving again. Id call that a victory I am going to stick with it for a bit longer, and maybe come the end of March inch it up to the 1700 mark where I should be. Yep. Coward, but giving myself room for improvement!

In short: Increased by 200, after stalling for 3 weeks, saw the weight jump around for 2 weeks, then it dropped off. Total invested time to see results: 5 weeks +/- Good luck to anyone who has doubts. It is a trying period to watch and wait and nail bite. :flowerforyou:

justjenny

Bumping for later

moseler

I know what you mean. I have been on a plateau since December. I increased my work out, but MFP had me eating only 1250 calories. I still have 70 lbs. to go. If 1200 is the lowest I can go, then I don't see how I will EVER make my goal eating almost the minimum now and not losing. What I did was change my goals from 2 lbs. per week to 1.5 lbs. per week... this gave me over 1500 calories to eat and I lost 3 lbs. this week alone. Sometimes, our bodies seem like they need a change in order to work for us... Good Luck to you.

nwg74

This is something I have started. I lost 200 pounds on 1500 calories and while not a plateau, my weight has been going up and down the same few pounds this year. I decided to try 1700 for a while.

Calliope610

I started at 1200 in December, upped it to 1300 2 weeks ago, now upped it to 1508, based on my TDEE-30%.

stephaniemejia1671

RIGHT HERE! I was set at 1310 for a week or 2. But as time went on I slowly saw that I wasn't at all sticking to that number, especially on my days off. So I gladly went up to where I am now 1470 and am as happy as spongebob squarepants is when jellyfishing.

LadyL2012

I'm upping mine.

I was on 1200, plateaud, went up to 1400 and still nothing. I am doing Insanity 3 times a week.

How much more should I up it by do you think and is there another reason why I might not be losing?

bajoyba

I'm seriously thinking about upping mine. MFP has me at a net of 1420, which has been working fine for the most part, but it took me the past 3 weeks to lose a pound. I know that weight loss isn't linear, but my BMR is 1597, and it seems like when I know I net around 200 calories more than my MFP goal, I end up with better results the next day. I went to Las Vegas at the end of January for 5 days and didn't log everything I ate (or drank). I was sure I would come back weighing more, but I had actually lost. weight. So I think I might give 1600 a try for awhile.

butterfli7o

Just upped mine from 1200 to 1723 last week, which is TDEE-20%. I couldn't really stick to the 1,200, I was hungry all the time and ususally ended up going over anyway. I was all over the place. Tried WW and found I was hungry as well. Now that I'm working out five times a week, there's no way I'm living on 1200 cals. I can't wait to see the results. And I'm not starving!

KDCrocker

bump

Bradykirk

I just upped mine this week - I agree it is scary! I never thought I would be stressed about needing to eat more food while trying to lose weight!! We'll see what happens but I think it was the right thing for me.