"Eat More To Weigh More"

Wasn't losing weight on 1700.

Upped to 2000, lost 40 extra lbs.

Definitely don't weigh more. :P

The issue here is that "more" is relative. If you're eating 500 calories a day eating more is probably going to help you lose weight. If you're already eating at a maintenance level though, eating more is obviously going to make you gain weight.

Besides- weight gain is not always a bad thing. I started eating more after eating at about 1300 for several months and I gained a few pounds- of MUSCLE. I look much more toned and fit, not to mention my measurements went down. So I'm okay adding a few extra pounds if it means I'm smaller.

...The minute that Ed stops exercising (but continues to eat at his higher caloric level)...He will blow back up again...(gain weight).

This has nothing to do with EM2WL, if he did less exercise he would (or at least should) reduce calories accordingly.

Your saying if you eat more energy than you use you put on weight,...............we all know that.......it; has nothing to do with the topic at hand.

Yes. So the slogan should more correctly be "Exercise more to weigh less." That's really what this site is all about (and correctly so; healthy weight happens with healthy moving bodies).

Of course, saying 'eat more to weigh less' has a bit more draw power...

A sign "Free Buckets Of KFC and Gravy" has draw power... doesn't mean it's good for my diet...

Yup, I'm in your camp. ;D

I think it's all about what works for you. MFP set my cals at 1200. And I was miserable. I'm bi-polar and certain foods keep my hormones in check. I don't want any **** about that either, do your research. The point is, I was moody and extremely hard to deal with. Not to mention constantly starving. After reading IPOARM, I uped my calories. Not to 1800, I tried but I am quite happy at 1500. I eat 5 meals a day, including the foods I need to balance my hormones in addition to my meds. And I am quite happy. To each their own I guess.

For me, when I weighed 256 pounds and was fat, of COURSE I had to eat less to weight less. As others have said, that is why I was fat. But, what did happen is that once I have gotten within 20 pounds of my goal, I have hit a plateau that has lasted for 1 year. So, at this point I must eat more, oddly enough, and change my exercise to some strength training, etc. So, some correctness to both sides. Of course you can't eat MORE to weight less if you aren't working out etc. It IS about a calorie deficit so people don't need to be stubborn on refusing to see the wisdom. What many are saying is that once you have gotten the bulk of your weight off, the rest is simply not going to come off willingly by conventional methods and you are going to have to get creative and many do that by eating MORE calories "THAN BEFORE" those are the 2 key words that are missing from the formula. They do not mean to eat more than you burn. They mean, eating more than the almighty 1200 calories or less. Eat more than that and go to strength training and some muscle building, body shaping when you are within 20 or so pounds of your goal. We, of course, sadly, do not burn calories from arguing....or wait....do we???

I know I'm not the only one that agrees.

Don't be afraid of all those "Eat More To Weigh Less" bullies. Speak your mind!

Eat more to weigh less doesn't work if you eat like an idiot. Enjoy your 1200 calories a day, I'll enjoy my 1,900 + 10lb/month loss.

i can lose weight without feeling like my stomach is eating m other organs.

So can I, on 1200. :flowerforyou:

I was on the world's biggest plateau from end of january till June eating 1,500 calories a day. Lowered it to 1200 and I got out of my plateau! every body is different. just do what works for you. end of story.

I tried eating more (than my 1500 cals for maintenance - I tried going up to 1600) and put on 3 lbs in a couple of months. I have now gone back to eating less and am ok.

i can lose weight without feeling like my stomach is eating m other organs.

So can I, on 1200. :flowerforyou:

And once you continue to eat more, you'll probably lose weight faster. That is if you actually workout. 1,200 calories doesn't provide enough energy for a decent workout. So, if you start eating more i.e. you've only been losing through diet alone, you'll gain weight like whoa. That's why people who use systems like Jenny Craig that restrict calories and don't encourage exercise put all the weight back on once they stop eating 1,200 and start eating like they used to.

bump

I think you're totally misinterpreting the logic here...

There is a lot of validity to the statement "Eat more to weigh less". But it isn't just about eating more and more and not doing anything to compensate or balance things out.

Let's take some real life application of the theology and look at this rationally:

I used to weight 265 pounds, 3 years ago. I committed myself to weight loss the 'conventional way' - eating less, exercising more. I lost 65 pounds. Here was my life in a nutshell:
- desk job, sitting on my butt
- worked out for about an hour 3-4 times per week
- consumed (on average) between 1200-1500 calories (regardless of activity, none of this eating back your calories)

I lost the excess weight fairly easily, it was straightforward. Once I lost the weight and plateaued (close to my goal weight) I maintained that lifestyle for the last 3 years easily, it became normal to me and I felt much healthier.

Last year, I decided I would like to try and drop another 20 pounds and tone and build some muscle. I started working out more and didn't change my eating habits, eating on average, 1400 calories per day. When I didn't get any results after a few months, I tried to decrease my calories more. Still no results. I tried to increase my workouts, tried to life more, run longer and harder and worked out 6 days per week. I struggled this way for a year and I didn't progress at the gym no matter what I tried.

A few months ago I got a BodyMedia Fit armband and it really opened my eyes. As it tracked my caloric burn each day, it became apparent to me that I was burning around 3200 calories per day. I was consuming about 1400, which was normal for me. But as I increased my physical activity, my body put up a huge resistance. Eventually, I got really moody and *****y, especially after workouts, I had no energy after my workouts either. I was never hungry though (my body had lived on that diet for 3 years).

I researched 'starvation mode' and caloric deficits and learned a lot. I realized I needed to increase my calories. There was no way I could eat less, I was already suffering subtle huge caloric deficit symptoms ('starvation') and I was not seeing any progress in the gym.

Over the last 3 months, I have increased my calories from 1400 to 3000+ every day.

I HAVE NOT GAINED ANY WEIGHT!
My clothes fit better.
My muscle tone is showing up.
I have increased my weight stacks 3x since increasing my calories (compared to not even once in the year prior)
I find cardio easier than ever and it is getting increasingly hard to get the burn I used to at the intensities that I used to .

I am getting STRONGER, and smaller, but I am not 'losing weight'. I am losing fat and gaining muscle which is increasingly evident, visually and in the gym. People are commenting. The NSV's are through the roof!! I am so happy.

If you do your research, you will see the evidence. People start at one weight, they eat to be healthy and build muscle, they very obviously shrink and lose fat, and yet they gain 20 pounds.

Eating more ONLY makes sense if you are going to USE those calories. If you are eating more and sitting on you butt all day, you're going to store those calories and you will grow fat. If you eat more calories, work your muscles in a big way, put in the work, time and effort, then you will grow muscle.

The other consideration: Eating too little for too long WILL NEGATE YOUR EFFORTS. My body adapted to a low calorie diet, I plateaued and stayed there for a couple of years. I lived with a constant caloric deficit (eventually eating less than half of my expenditure) and couldn't lose even 0.1 pounds over many months. My body refused to spend any more calories because it wasn't getting enough to begin with.

If there is no logic to "Eat more, weight less", then how is it possible that I go from:
- eating 1400 calories, burning 3200 and not losing ANY weight
to
- eating 3000 calories, burning 3200 and still not 'losing any weight' (if we're going based solely on the scale)

???

My success came purely from eating 1600 MORE calories per day. Period.

i can lose weight without feeling like my stomach is eating m other organs.

So can I, on 1200. :flowerforyou:

And once you continue to eat more, you'll probably lose weight faster. That is if you actually workout. 1,200 calories doesn't provide enough energy for a decent workout. So, if you start eating more i.e. you've only been losing through diet alone, you'll gain weight like whoa. That's why people who use systems like Jenny Craig that restrict calories and don't encourage exercise put all the weight back on once they stop eating 1,200 and start eating like they used to.

Are you basing the above on stats I posted earlier or just because of the number of calories I posted? I lose 1-2 lbs a week on 1200 calories a day at 108-111 lbs. I'm not thinking I'm going to lose more than that eating more. And it's fine for a decent workout, because of my height and weight. Until recently, when I had to stop exercising due to a medical issue, I could eat 1200-1500 on exercise days, depending on what I needed/wanted. But I often "net" below 1200 and lost weight just fine. I put on a ton of weight from a medicine and lost about 30 lbs at the rate people are recommended to at 1200. No starvation mode, no plateaus. Recently I've not been counting much at all, which is why my ticker shows a slower rate of loss. I've not been consistent since about early June. But it wasn't inability that contributed to my inconsistency, it was a number of factors including loss of interest/motivation to count and track--whether I was eating 1200 or 1800.

Your post is exactly what people get frustrated about. What you posted is untrue for me. Like I said earlier, MFP recommends that I eat about 1300 calories *if* I were a construction worker, which I'm far from. And at 1200, they predict a loss of about .2 lbs a week. That means not only is that fine for me, but that I can NOT eat back my exercise calories and still be fine, because my calculated deficit is not really accurate in the number they gave me--they don't go below 1200.

I also quadrupled the amount of weight I could lift in about three months, so I wasn't eating away all my muscle.

Plus, if anyone, regardless of calorie intake, goes back to "what they were doing before" to cause them to gain weight, they will gain weight. That's the point of a deficit to lose it and a maintenance goal to maintain it.

First off, the OP is obviously either trolling OR just did it wrong.

The concept of eat more to weigh less doesn't mean stuff yourself and think you'll lose weight. It involves two things.

One, eating small meals MORE in the day. So instead of your 3 big meals, you break them down to smaller meals and eat 6 a day. Key word, SMALL meals. Not your normal sandwich, soup, and other junk. Maybe JUST a half sandwich, or JUST your soup, then eat something small again later.

Second thing it depends on is your choices of what you're eating. Eat MORE good food, whole food, fruits and veggies. Not chips, cookies, and pizza. Otherwise, yea, you'll gain weight.

Eating 6 small meals a day is beneficial because it assists your metabolism in being active through out the day rather then in spurts. But just be smart... if it's bad for you, it's bad. Don't eat it. If it's good for you and you're hungry, eat it till you're satisfied. Not full. There's no secret... eating to a better life style is just common sense.