Hi there
Thought I would jump in to let you know my personal experience of upping cals so far as I know from some posts on here that it is a tough ride!
My history of the eating and exercise thing is a whole other book and goes back 30 years so I will just deal with the time I came to MFP around the end of May.
I started on the 1200 calorie as recommended and got in as much cardio every day as I could possibly manage. I am vegan and cut out any processed vegan proteins, white carbs etc so was basically eating fruit, vegetables and beans with the odd handful of nuts. I was losing weight, quickly, 3 or 4 pound a week. Great! I felt good as I was having a lot of nutrient dense food. After a couple of weeks the weight loss slowed. I wanted this weight off fast, I am fed up with being this weight I want it gone like now!
So what do you do? What I have always been taught, eat less exercise more. Calories dropped to 700 calories burns were at over 1000 every day! I stopped enjoying my exercise, as it got harder to do the same thing. Fell asleep on the sofa every night. Got snappy with my children :noway: dreaded the scale as the amount of effort I put in was not showing.
Luckily this only went on for a few weeks when a fabulous woman on my friends list messages me to say ' girl, you need to eat more!' and sent me in the direction of this group.
I was sceptical, I mean come on, I was supposed to eat that much? No way! I spent any spare time reading up, researching and it all made sense to me so I thought well why not give it a go :happy: I upped my calories gradually, but have gone from sub 1000 to around 1900! That was a huge leap of faith for me, I am still playing around with the numbers to find what works for me.
Importantly, at the same time I changed my macros to increase protein ( from maybe 40 to 140!) and started lifting heavy 3 times a week, sometimes NROLFW sometimes Cathe. My weight went up, came down a bit, up a bit, don't care so much now.
The best thing is I have learned not to be so hard on myself. I have learnt patience. I don't have to lose x amount of pounds by x date there are other more important things. Sure, I am still too heavy :blushing: but that is not my only focus. It is just part of the picture.
So since I increased my calories and started lifting heavy about 8 weeks ago have I noticed any changes? On the scale, not really.
Anywhere else? Absolutely yes :bigsmile:
My body is changing shape. I have delts and biceps! I can feel and see my quads! I have lost 2% body fat! I have gone down 2 dress sizes! My cardio workouts are on fire!!! I eat the same food as my family, and I don't get bad tempered at meal times. Food is no longer the enemy, it is my fuel!
I know I am in for a long journey because I am doing it the slow way and that's not for everyone, but any progress is just that - progress!
I don't just want to lose weight, I want to be strong and lean for the rest of my days. I love lifting heavy and I love kickboxing.
For me, patience and finding what works for you is the key