Have you increased your net Cals? What were your results?

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fionaad
fionaad Posts: 16 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I'm really interested to hear from people that have deliberately increased their net calories. Did this eventually result in weight loss? Or did you gain weight? Please explain your situation as well if you can. (Did you have much to lose, did you do anything else different, what time period etc.)

I've recently increased my net cals and am gaining :(

Also interested in hearing if anything else counter-intuitive affected your weight (eg more sleep, less exercise)??
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Replies

  • Helloitsdan
    Helloitsdan Posts: 5,564 Member
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    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12

    Youll always gain some water weight first.
    If eating at TDEE youll eventually get to maintaining.
    If eating above TDEE youll eventually gain actual weight.
    If lifting weights youll gain lean muscle.
    If not....who knows where the nutrients will go.
    Probably fat.
  • kjw1031
    kjw1031 Posts: 300 Member
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    I record my weight once a week.

    After increasing my daily calories, I gained for 2 weeks in a row.

    I lost weight the third week and have lost every week since then.
  • fionaad
    fionaad Posts: 16 Member
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    I record my weight once a week.

    After increasing my daily calories, I gained for 2 weeks in a row.

    I lost weight the third week and have lost every week since then.

    Great to hear. Did you increase your calories by much and did you do it suddenly or gradually? Did you increase your exercise at the same time?
  • iluvco3
    iluvco3 Posts: 98 Member
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    I increased my base calories last week. I haven't been eating any exercise calories, so I know I was not eating enough, because I exercise quite a bit. I bumped it up by 100. My weight has been bouncing around within 1-2 lbs. Next week I plan to add another 100. I'm close to goal so I don't mind waiting it out.
  • ChapinaGrande
    ChapinaGrande Posts: 289 Member
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    Bump. I have some input, but I need to go to class. I will tell you about my experience on my lunch break. :)
  • ElleFerguson
    ElleFerguson Posts: 51 Member
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    So, when I started MFP they set my calories as 1200 and I didn't lose anything. I work out 2-5 days a week cardio and some strength training doing Zumba, Piloxing, and Boot Camp. So, I could never eat back all my exercise calories and decided to up my calories because I would be starving by lunch no matter what. So, I upped it to 1500 like a month or so ago. Now I've lost 5 lbs and can't seem to go below that. So, I'll reduce it to 1400 and see what happens. Or up it to 1600 and see what happens.
  • FrustratedYoYoer
    FrustratedYoYoer Posts: 274 Member
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    I have upped my cals and dropped exercise as you know but have had a bad 2 wks due to a cold. I'm actually considering eating more now though. Those 2 wks before getting a cold I lost 5 lbs. Just over I think and I was starting to struggle a little. I'm tempted to put all my food in to tot up the cals but I'm not sure I really want to know. Had a quick mental calculation last night and I think it was about 2000 cals but I burn at least 500 cals most days at gym
  • deksgrl
    deksgrl Posts: 7,237 Member
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    I started here on 1,200 calories, because I said I wanted to lose 2 pounds a week (duh, doesn't everybody want to lost 2 pounds a week? LOL!) The first couple of weeks I lost a few pounds, then it stopped. I experimented with some different calorie goals before finding what worked best.
  • ChapinaGrande
    ChapinaGrande Posts: 289 Member
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    OK. Lunch break.

    When I first started, MFP gave me 1600 calories. I went to the gym 4x per week for an hour each. I was tired, crabby, and not losing any weight. This went on for 5 months. I saw some info about eating more, weighing less and said to myself, "If I'm doing things that make me miserable and not losing anything, let's change it up and eat more and see what happens." So I raised my calories to 2000, stopped going to the gym because screw it I'm depressed. This was 3 weeks ago and I have lost 2 inches from my waist and hips and I've lost about 4 lb. In addition, I feel better physically and mentally. No headaches anymore. I can't wait to start going back to the gym and see what happens when I'm putting forth some more effort. Actually, that's not true. I hate the gym.
  • rose313
    rose313 Posts: 1,146 Member
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    I actually maintained when I increased my calories, because I did not realize my TDEE was so low. (1600) So I ate at maintenance for months while thinking I was eating more to weigh less. It ended up being good for my body because as soon as I dropped back down to 1200-1500 I lost 10 pounds since April.
  • fionaad
    fionaad Posts: 16 Member
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    OK. Lunch break.

    When I first started, MFP gave me 1600 calories. I went to the gym 4x per week for an hour each. I was tired, crabby, and not losing any weight. This went on for 5 months. I saw some info about eating more, weighing less and said to myself, "If I'm doing things that make me miserable and not losing anything, let's change it up and eat more and see what happens." So I raised my calories to 2000, stopped going to the gym because screw it I'm depressed. This was 3 weeks ago and I have lost 2 inches from my waist and hips and I've lost about 4 lb. In addition, I feel better physically and mentally. No headaches anymore. I can't wait to start going back to the gym and see what happens when I'm putting forth some more effort. Actually, that's not true. I hate the gym.

    I'm hearing you. Feel like I'm obsessing over getting workouts in and thinking about food! Becoming anti-social too! And yet still not getting results. Thinking there's got to be an easier and more effective way. Great to hear that you've lost inches. I measured myself today and I'm probably down a tiny amount - but its really small. But maybe I should persevere for a while longer. Well done on figuring out what works for you!
  • love2cycle
    love2cycle Posts: 448 Member
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    I increased my calories per day to almost 1500. I thought MFP had it way too low. I wasn't losing any weight until I did that 3 weeks ago, and have lost 5 pounds. I'm due to weigh tomorrow, so we'll see how I did this week!
  • kjw1031
    kjw1031 Posts: 300 Member
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    I record my weight once a week.

    After increasing my daily calories, I gained for 2 weeks in a row.

    I lost weight the third week and have lost every week since then.

    Great to hear. Did you increase your calories by much and did you do it suddenly or gradually? Did you increase your exercise at the same time?

    I set my goals per my BMR and TDEE here after seeing that I was eating too few calories and too little fat with Weight Watchers.

    Although I set my goals, I didn't really know what to do and didn't have the right foods in the house and it took me a couple of weeks to get everything going well, but I did lose.

    I tossed almost all of the flavorless fat-free things I had been eating! It was liberating!

    I had already been exercising pretty vigorously and I continued that with no change.
  • Asher_Ethan
    Asher_Ethan Posts: 2,430 Member
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    I started increasing this week just to see what would happen... I'll probably post about it on my weigh in on Friday.
  • geekyjock76
    geekyjock76 Posts: 2,720 Member
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    A valuable lesson is that people should first find out what their actual TDEE is before making any drastic changes to dietary and exercise habits. Once you establish that, then you can better approximate the adequate deficit for your goals. This magical 1200 number is not tailored to you as an individual.
  • mgobluetx12
    mgobluetx12 Posts: 1,326 Member
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    I increased my cals from 1400 to 2000 and immediately lost 2lbs, but haven't lost or gained for 2 weeks. I have remained EXACTLY the same since September 2nd...to the ounce.
  • Carol_L
    Carol_L Posts: 296 Member
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    My weight loss was stalling a couple of months ago. My trainer took a look at my diary and bumped me up to around 2000/day. Have dropped around 20 lbs since May.
  • Whisperinghorse
    Whisperinghorse Posts: 202 Member
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    Increased from 1500 to 1850 and gained 6lbs. That was May and its still there and whatever I now do I cannot get rid of it! My actual TDEE is 2100 and that is measured not estimated...
  • LMPMOM4
    LMPMOM4 Posts: 75
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    I was very low calorie and yo yo dieting for years. I'm talking training for marathons and eating 1200 calories a day. For years. My body rebelled big time and now I'm 30 pounds overweight. I am taking a diet break to heal my metabolism, hormones, etc. I am eating at my TDEE for at least 8 weeks. I have a BodymedianFit that says my TDEE is 2600 (I still exercise and walk every day). I have been slowly working up to 2300-2600 cals. At first I was really bloated and it was really hard to eat all those calories. But I feel better than I have in years. My hormones are healing. And I've only gained two to five pounds (it bounces around betwen those daily) In a few months I'm going to cut my calories by 15% and take diet breaks every 8 weeks. I'm very hopeful and optimistic that I'll be able to lose at around 1900 calories, maybe more.good luck to you!
  • Rubyayn
    Rubyayn Posts: 433 Member
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    I started at 1200 back in Feb and quickly lost 7 pounds and then stalled completley. I had no idea I was not eating enough though until I started logging my food. Once I did I set my goal to 1570 and ate back every single calorie I burned. This put me at about 200-2200 on most days. I even still eat around 1900-2000 on my "rest" days. I lost over 30 pounds this way, but stalled out recently. I decided to eat at maintenence for a few weeks and am actually losing on my maintenece calories of 2250!!! This likely means I under estimated my TDEE and can probably lose the remaining 5-7 pounds eating even more than I was.

    For me this worked and I have never felt deprived or needed a "cheat" day. If I want something I can easily fit it into my calories because I get so many. I am not teaching my daughter to "diet" or that you have to be hungry to get to or maintain a normal healthy weight. Just make sensible choices and move. My big picture goal is for my little girl to not have the self esteem/yoyodieting issues I have had in the past. This is by far the best lifestyle change I have ever made. I even feel silly refering to it as a "diet", it just does NOT feel like one!

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