Eat More to Weigh Less? I THINK NOT!

kikokateyy

You could just forget the technical crap and just eat when your body tells you to. I don't particularly believe the "eat more weigh less" stuff people on this site say.

I tried that once... My hair fell out, my skin was horrible and my nails were brittle.
Dont forget the technical crap, because that can be very detrimental to your body.

rtr0013

The 5 pounds may be muscle.. When you add weight training in the mix you're losing weight by inches and not by pounds b/c muscle is heavier then fat so you cannot go my the scale really, you have to measure yourself and go by how your clothes fit. Weight training tightens up so you're not lose and flabby which is a good thing! So it's probably just muscle gain that you're seeing on the scale. Also, eating more can help you lose weight b/c if you eat 5 to 6 times a day which is about every 2 to 3 hours, small and healthy portions of food this process speeds up your metabolism so it's not just what you eat and how much, but also how often. I promise I can speak from personal experience that you can lose weight by eating more often. Good Luck!

KenosFeoh

Honestly, around here I think people worry way too much about "starvation mode". According to my research, it simply doesn't happen until calories drop to around 500. At levels around 1000-1200, your metabolic rate will drop from 14-22%, and that is nothing to worry about for most people. It won't make your body hold onto every ounce of fat, and you most definitely will not gain weight because of metabolic slow-down. Those are urban myths except for the very rare snowflake. You might, however, be cranky and tired, so if you can find a calorie level that leaves you satisfied and allows you to drop weight - even better for going the distance some of us have to go to get to a healthy weight.

msfaithful

So I took the advice from people here and I upped my calories by 480 (to 1680) because apparently I should be eating more so I can lose weight. I have been doing this for a couple of weeks now and NOTHING HAS HAPPENED. I weigh exactly the same if not a pound or 2 more. I've been going to the gym and doing cardio mixed with some weight training on certain days and I even try to get some workouts in while I'm at work. I've been trying to do this because I have weigh ins coming up and I'm now about 5 pounds over my maximum weight and now I'm scrambling to drop it before then. My TDEE is around 2400 and my BMR is somewhere around 1600. So I've been eating as much as I should. This is going to sound bad but since I'm now in a rush to lose these 5 pounds that I gained by trying to eat right and up my calories I don't have time for this. I need to drop this ASAP so I don't fail my PFA. If you think you can help, please, by all means. My diary is open but be warned I have not logged since around 26 MAR because I didn't think it was working. And before anyone says that I gained the weight because I haven't logged that's not true. I've weighed this for the past like 3-4 weeks. WTF.

My numbers did not start dropping until i got a more accurate count of my calories burned. I 1st invested in a Heart Rate Monitor and didn't just go by what the machine said or by the MFP estimates alone. Now I live by the BodyMedia Fit armband and occasionally it has to adjust my calorie burn down because MFP or Runtastic has over estimated my burn. I strive for a daily 1200 calorie burn Mon-Thurs cause i know i don't alway make the best food choices on the weekend and I'd achieve that if i only went by the MFP or Runtastic estimates.

MY EXPERIENCE....
You have to log...unless you eat the same thing (same amount) every day
Weigh foods that aren't already portioned out so you know exactly how many servings you're eatin
Drink plenty of water
Every now and then change those calories so your body won't get use to the same old
Invest in a HRM (at minimum) to get a better account of your calorie burn


Good luck to you! :flowerforyou:

dixiewhiskey

Honestly, if you are "weight training" assuming that's heavy lifting, you actually shoud be eating more than you say you are.

But yeah, I think it's probably just water retention or you gaining muscle.. get a HRM if you don't have one already, work hard and relax.

marciebrian

You need to give it more time and be as accurate as you possibly can before you say it doesn't work. That means not eating things that you don't know the calorie content of. If you are guessing and ball parking, then you can't possibly know how close to your daily goal you really are.

There is no magic to juicing or any other fad.

In principle of course this is true but if you need to do something for a 1x weigh in than the only way to do it is by fasting i.e. 5.2 diet or juicing. Something dramatic just for the weigh in and then you need to find the right formula for you. Good luck!

xxtaliaxx

Honestly, around here I think people worry way too much about "starvation mode". According to my research, it simply doesn't happen until calories drop to around 500. At levels around 1000-1200, your metabolic rate will drop from 14-22%, and that is nothing to worry about for most people. It won't make your body hold onto every ounce of fat, and you most definitely will not gain weight because of metabolic slow-down. Those are urban myths except for the very rare snowflake. You might, however, be cranky and tired, so if you can find a calorie level that leaves you satisfied and allows you to drop weight - even better for going the distance some of us have to go to get to a healthy weight.

I did find that when I ate 1200, I was a lot more tired.

If you want ALL guess work to be removed from the equation the get either a BodyBugg or a BodyMedia FIT armband and keep your daily deficit at 500 or 1000 calories, probably 500 for you. That's 1lb/week loss. You'll be surprised how inaccurate most people are at calculating their daily burn vs. intake. Gym machines are extremely inaccurate at caloric burns.

I was thinking about getting one of these. I did spinning yesterday and it told me that I burned 452 calories in an hour. At first I was like SWEET! But then I realized it didn't ask for my weight or anything. I did see a lot of people with watches and arm/waist bands at Spinning so I think I'm going to invest in one

Lupercalia

You could just forget the technical crap and just eat when your body tells you to. I don't particularly believe the "eat more weigh less" stuff people on this site say.

you're too literal. In a way, eat more to weigh less agrees with eating when you are hungry.

I tried 1200. I was hungry. so i ATE MORE. and now I weigh less. How can you disagree with that??

How in the world does that agree with eating when you're hungry? Maybe some people just don't eat a lot and they are okay on 1200 calories a day? I'm sure everyone doesn't eat the exact same things every day, so that number can change. That's why I say just eat when you get hungry. You ate more, and you lost weight, that's great. But, shocker, not everyone is you.

This is far too oversimplified.
Hunger isn't always a reliable indicator.
Anorexics often don't experience hunger and they are literally starving. Some obese people feel constant hunger and they do need to eat.
Consistently under eating can affect hunger signals. Consistently under eating can have a negative impact on metabolism, which can make it harder to maintain when you reach goal.
The idea of eating more to weigh less is not to eat tons of food, it is to eat enough food that you avoid excess muscle loss and to minimize the effect dieting has on your metabolism while still losing weight.

But that isn't even the issue on this topic. OP did not even attempt to try the eat more to weigh less.

Are you serious? Just because I didn't log it you're suggesting I haven't eaten more? You couldn't be anymore wrong. I DID eat more. And it felt great. Did I lose weight? No. I pretty much stayed the same. I understand you are trying to help but I know what I ate and how much even if it's not in the log.

I wasn't referring to you about the hunger part.

The last line I did. I don't understand how you can know how much you were eating when you weren't logging. You said yourself you didn't know how much some of your meals were.
If you know what you ate fine. Like I said I'm done giving you advice. I just hate to see people avoid the EMTWL because you feel that is the reason you aren't losing when you aren't logging consistently. I said I was out, I shouldn't have come back. Curiousity kills the cat.

3dogs is giving you the best advice in this thread--you should really thank her and think about what she's saying. You have to consistently log your calories or you simply have no idea what the numbers are, period. You can't say you tried EM2WL and it didn't work when you didn't follow the program. Follow the program as stated (not your own bizarre version of it) for a month or two and see what happens. Perhaps it will work for you, too.

If you refuse to consistently and accurately log your food intake, I'm not sure how anyone can advise or help you. It's impossible for anyone to estimate what your empty food logs may or may not total. And who knows how many calories you possibly burned...it's all very mysterious.

My suggestion is that you really buckle down, track everything accurately, and see what happens.

deathbypretzel

I'd say do what you know works for you... If you're comfortable eating around 1200, and it doesn't seem to be giving you any negative side effects, then go for it... For me, if I eat 1200 a day, I put on weight unless I exercise all day, because my metabolism is wrecked, even though I "should" be eating around 2000.

It would really help if you logged more accurately, though. From what I've read you're a little spotty some days, and it's a good idea to try and log everything (sometimes I get too lazy to put in everything and just use the quick add option for calories only)... we can't really help you if you don't accurately show us what you're eating. Like, if you're full-out binging right before bed, and you get to your 1680 goal that way, then of course you won't lose weight. Or if you're eating a TON of sodium, that'll make your body hold onto water, or you could be gaining muscle... we really can't tell.

Good luck.

yo_andi

Too big deficit is too big.

msfaithful

I did spinning yesterday and it told me that I burned 452 calories in an hour. At first I was like SWEET! But then I realized it didn't ask for my weight or anything.

^^^^ THIS!!

pspetralia

Basically you are saying that you re able to eat almost 500 calories more and still not gain weight? Awesome!

bearwith

If I have a few hundred left at the end of the day I do not eat them. I try to get a balance across the week and not just on a daily basis - it works for me!

SRH7

3dogs is giving you the best advice in this thread--you should really thank her and think about what she's saying. You have to consistently log your calories or you simply have no idea what the numbers are, period. You can't say you tried EM2WL and it didn't work when you didn't follow the program. Follow the program as stated (not your own bizarre version of it) for a month or two and see what happens. Perhaps it will work for you, too.

If you refuse to consistently and accurately log your food intake, I'm not sure how anyone can advise or help you. It's impossible for anyone to estimate what your empty food logs may or may not total. And who knows how many calories you possibly burned...it's all very mysterious.

My suggestion is that you really buckle down, track everything accurately, and see what happens.

FTW. It's a bit like saying "I trained for a marathon and didn't get past the first mile" then admitting you didn't actually do any running while training.

Unless you are actually logging what you eat you have no idea what your calorie intake is.

Buy a set of kitchen scales - weigh and measure everything and log it. If you are eating out, estimate what is in the meal (fairly easy to look and think "X amount of pasta, x amount of turkey, x amount of oil" etc. It's what I do).

SRH7

This is a horrible suggestion that I normally wouldn't make, but if it will help you keep your position...

Flush your system, using a warm salt flush. Combine two teaspoons of non-iodized sea salt with 1L of warm water, drink it, and prepare to have your guts turn inside out. Seriously, do it at night, when you have no where to be.

Then eat very low carb/high protein with all of the water in the world until your weigh in. If you're still too high, sauna and don't rehydrate before your weigh in. You should be able to drop 5lbs in a week using this, but expect it to come right back when you rebuild glycogen stores.

This is dumb, not healthy, potentially dangerous, and absolutely not something you should do long term or repeatedly. I would never suggest anyone do it if it weren't for a very good reason.

Good luck!

:explode: :explode: :explode:

I am shocked that anyone would suggest something so reckless and stupid. I am utterly shocked to read in your profile that you are a medical student.

This is a borderline bulima approach and is not something anyone should try.

cubbies77

I agree that this is BS.
The only time you need to eat more is when you exercise. Even then, I try to eat to keep going - protein or whatever - and be healthy.
This is one piece of advice I REFUSE to listen to because my experience shows that when I eat more, I weigh more!!! AND I want to eat more.
I will continue to eat what I do and not worry about THAT advice.
Doin' JUST FINE here, thanks

"Eat More" doesn't necessarily mean eat more food or eat when you aren't hungry. It means eat more *calories*. So instead of having carrot sticks as a snack, you might have celery with a little bit of peanut butter instead. You aren't eating more food, just more calories.

xxtaliaxx

I agree that this is BS.
The only time you need to eat more is when you exercise. Even then, I try to eat to keep going - protein or whatever - and be healthy.
This is one piece of advice I REFUSE to listen to because my experience shows that when I eat more, I weigh more!!! AND I want to eat more.
I will continue to eat what I do and not worry about THAT advice.
Doin' JUST FINE here, thanks

"Eat More" doesn't necessarily mean eat more food or eat when you aren't hungry. It means eat more *calories*. So instead of having carrot sticks as a snack, you might have celery with a little bit of peanut butter instead. You aren't eating more food, just more calories.

WHATTTTTTTT :indifferent:

andycat74

OK, I've been out of USN for 15 years...but don't you have the option to have body fat measurements taken if your weight is slightly over? Once they verify your body fat is OK you are good to go. They have to offer this option to account for muscle build and different body types....

myofibril

Just do a PSMF if you need to get the weight off quickly.

ETA: link - http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/the-rapid-fat-loss-handbook

xxtaliaxx

OK, I've been out of USN for 15 years...but don't you have the option to have body fat measurements taken if your weight is slightly over? Once they verify your body fat is OK you are good to go. They have to offer this option to account for muscle build and different body types....

They do, but if I do that, I know I will fail because my hips are 40 inches and my waist is at about 31-32 and my neck keeps shrinking...