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New to eating more - is this really for me?
jenf330
Posts: 66 Member
The concept of eating more calories in order to lose weight is one I've heard of before, but never seriously considered until this week. I'm taking it slow, trying to get as much info as I can, but basically what I want to know is if this is really something that will help me.
I'm 5'6, ~135 pounds, 32 years old. I don't want to lose a lot (maybe 10 pounds), but would like to get rid of the excess mid-section fat and get toned.
Three months ago I was at 140 and went on a 1200 cal/day diet to try to lose weight before a vacation. I was able to lose 5 pounds in a little over a month. When I got back home I was excited about my initial loss and wanted to keep it going. I started doing the Jillian Michaels Body Revolution (strength training 30 min, 4x a week) and 5K training (30 min, 2x a week). I stayed at 1200 cal/day because I thought that's what I needed to do to lose the weight and that's what MFP was telling me to do. I was not eating back my exercise calories.
5 weeks later and while I have been 100% on my exercise and about 80% on my diet, I'm exactly where I was when I started. I'd lose 2-3 pounds over the course of a few days then inevitably have a day where I ate more (not excessively, but maybe 1600-1800 cal/day) and I'd gained 2-3 pounds back. Repeat cycle. That's when I started trying to find answers.
I stumbled on a website explaining the difference between BMR and TDEE. I won't lie, it seemed too good to be true. But it also made a lot of sense. It had never occurred to me that I would have to eat more when I upped my exercise level. I thought exercise was like the cherry on top.
After finding and plugging my numbers into like 13 different calorie calculators, I finally started to soften to the idea. They all had given me a read out of anywhere between 1600 and 1800.
But the voice in my head is screaming that the last time I ate 1800 calories in a day I gained 3 pounds!! I don't want to sabotage myself by wanting to believe this.
The bottom line is what I'm currently doing isn't working, so I have to change something. And since I'm already at the bottom of the calories, I can't go any lower. It's either this or more working out.
So my plan is this: I want to slowly up my calories. Three days ago I changed MFP to 1400. After a week, I'll go up to 1500, and so on and so on until I find the magic spot where things happen. I'm too afraid to just jump to 1600 right away.
I also don't want to go crazy and start thinking "oh, I can eat more, bring on the cupcakes!" I want to do small things like add an extra slice of turkey to my breakfast sandwich or a small scoop of cottage cheese to lunch.
Questions for those that are doing this: Do I sound like the type of person this will work for? I'm not expecting magic results and I understand I may gain a little before I start losing...but overall, in the long run, am I the right candidate for this type of change? Or is this more for people who have been literally starving themselves (sub 1200 cal diets/excessive exercise)? And if I should continue with this, does my game plan sound realistic?
Thanks in advance for any advice!!
I'm 5'6, ~135 pounds, 32 years old. I don't want to lose a lot (maybe 10 pounds), but would like to get rid of the excess mid-section fat and get toned.
Three months ago I was at 140 and went on a 1200 cal/day diet to try to lose weight before a vacation. I was able to lose 5 pounds in a little over a month. When I got back home I was excited about my initial loss and wanted to keep it going. I started doing the Jillian Michaels Body Revolution (strength training 30 min, 4x a week) and 5K training (30 min, 2x a week). I stayed at 1200 cal/day because I thought that's what I needed to do to lose the weight and that's what MFP was telling me to do. I was not eating back my exercise calories.
5 weeks later and while I have been 100% on my exercise and about 80% on my diet, I'm exactly where I was when I started. I'd lose 2-3 pounds over the course of a few days then inevitably have a day where I ate more (not excessively, but maybe 1600-1800 cal/day) and I'd gained 2-3 pounds back. Repeat cycle. That's when I started trying to find answers.
I stumbled on a website explaining the difference between BMR and TDEE. I won't lie, it seemed too good to be true. But it also made a lot of sense. It had never occurred to me that I would have to eat more when I upped my exercise level. I thought exercise was like the cherry on top.
After finding and plugging my numbers into like 13 different calorie calculators, I finally started to soften to the idea. They all had given me a read out of anywhere between 1600 and 1800.
But the voice in my head is screaming that the last time I ate 1800 calories in a day I gained 3 pounds!! I don't want to sabotage myself by wanting to believe this.
The bottom line is what I'm currently doing isn't working, so I have to change something. And since I'm already at the bottom of the calories, I can't go any lower. It's either this or more working out.
So my plan is this: I want to slowly up my calories. Three days ago I changed MFP to 1400. After a week, I'll go up to 1500, and so on and so on until I find the magic spot where things happen. I'm too afraid to just jump to 1600 right away.
I also don't want to go crazy and start thinking "oh, I can eat more, bring on the cupcakes!" I want to do small things like add an extra slice of turkey to my breakfast sandwich or a small scoop of cottage cheese to lunch.
Questions for those that are doing this: Do I sound like the type of person this will work for? I'm not expecting magic results and I understand I may gain a little before I start losing...but overall, in the long run, am I the right candidate for this type of change? Or is this more for people who have been literally starving themselves (sub 1200 cal diets/excessive exercise)? And if I should continue with this, does my game plan sound realistic?
Thanks in advance for any advice!!
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Replies
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Sounds like the right place for you! My advice: Take lots and lots of measurements and pictures NOW. The scale can be hard to handle when all it seems to do is go up, but then you measure your waist and it has gotten smaller even with eating more and "weighing" more.0
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To your concern of the amount of calories.
Really think about if you have any experience in number of calories to really have an informed opinion or real reason for concern.
Only experience has been these low numbers you've been told.
What did you use to eat that got you in to trouble?
What could eating 600 extra calories in 1 day resulting in 3 lb gain really honestly be?
Do you understand the math about 1 lb of fat gained or lost is 3500 calories?
And this close to goal weight, you should only be with 10% deficit.0
This discussion has been closed.