Increasing my calories?

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0liviamarie
0liviamarie Posts: 20
in Health and Weight Loss
Let's say I am eating 1200 calories a day. If at any point, I want to begin to maintain and it says I have to eat 1400 to maintain, would increasing to 200 result in weight gain?

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  • GravyBrah
    GravyBrah Posts: 34 Member
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    No, it generally takes a 500 calories/day surplus over an extended period of time to gain a lb.
  • Cr01502
    Cr01502 Posts: 3,614 Member
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    Not if you're eating at maintenance.

    That is the amount of calories it would take to MAINTAIN your current wait.

    If you're eating less than that you will be losing. More you will be gaining.

    Edit to say: A poster later made an excellent point. The number on the scale may go up but it's won't be body fat. You're muscles are just holding more glycogen.
  • ramonafrincu
    ramonafrincu Posts: 160 Member
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    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/912914-in-place-of-a-road-map-3-2013 <-
  • ladyraven68
    ladyraven68 Posts: 2,003 Member
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    Actually, you may have an initial increase, from glycogen replenishment and water weight.

    http://www.justinowings.com/understanding-bodyweight-and-glycogen-de/

    But it's not fat. Nothing to worry about.

    And I'd recheck those figures - I doubt your maintenance calories are 1400.
  • Bettyeditor
    Bettyeditor Posts: 327 Member
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    Let's say I am eating 1200 calories a day. If at any point, I want to begin to maintain and it says I have to eat 1400 to maintain, would increasing to 200 result in weight gain?

    I agree, better check your math. You would have to be a sickly 8-year-old girl to maintain on 1400. And frankly, you would need to be a sickly but fat 8-year-old girl for 1200 calories to be the correct amount to lose weight on. (Seriously, you would need to be 63 lbs to maintain on 1400).

    Check out this calculator: http://www.1percentedge.com/ifcalc/

    Enter your age, height, weight, gender, activity level and your bodyfat % if you know it. Let's just be conservative and say that you were 18, 5' 2" and 145 lbs and lightly active. That puts your maintenance calories (TDEE) at 1916 and your BMR (what you should never eat less than) at 1393. What you should eat to lose weight in that scenario is 15% less than your TDEE, which would be 1628 calories. (Of course if you are taller or weigh more or exericse at all, the numbers would be higher.) It would be counter-productive to eat any lower than 15% as it would likely not work (in starvation mode your body clings to fat, but at 15% it releases fat) and even if you exercised like a maniac and forced the weight off, your body would just dial back your metabolism sharply to survive, which means that it would be almost impossible to maintain your weight after you reach your goal.

    Your best bet to lose weight: small changes, small trims, swap out low-quality foods for high-quality foods. Add exercise, but be sure to eat back your exercise calories to fuel your workout properly (that's why MFP adds yoour exercise calories to your diary -- so you can be sure to eat them).

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