Eating More to Lose - Help Please

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cvstokke
cvstokke Posts: 249 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi Everyone,

I've posted about some general frustration a couple times but some quick back story - last summer, I was very much on team don't eat exercise cals and I lost weight. Lots of weight. I burned an average of 800 cals / day and ate none of it back while on a 1200 cal diet but as soon as I started eating like a normal human again and stopped working out nonstop, I gained it back - FAST.

Now, I'm finally on the path to trying to lose weight in a healthy way - so I thought. I've been great about logging, working out (although only 5 days a week about 30 min a day), and eating exercise cals for 6 weeks but lost no weight. I saw my doctor yesterday and she suggested bumping up to 1410 cals (1 lb loss / week), echoed by the forums here to try to boost my metabolism.

For the past two days, I have worked out (and I'm trying to add more workouts in), eaten my exercise cals, and netted 1410 but I'm already feeling bloated and freaking out. I know I may have to gain a little at first and I've committed to not weighing myself for 4 weeks but I'm still kind of freaking out.

How much do people normally gain when they boost their calorie limit before their metabolism adjusts and they start losing?

How long does it take for the metabolism to kick back in?

I know my metabolism really needs that boost because it's confused from months (and years) of yo-yoing but I'm here to stay and only want to lose about a pound a week. I've been trying so hard and I don't know if I can deal with gaining 5-10 lbs before I start losing.

Help please :(

Replies

  • 2youngatheart
    2youngatheart Posts: 338 Member
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    bumping..interested in the answer too :)
  • PLUMSGRL
    PLUMSGRL Posts: 1,134 Member
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    around 6 weeks eating at TDEE, but it's not just your metabolism, but your mind set as well. go here for the group:

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/forums/show/3834-eat-more-to-weigh-less

    the other site is:

    http://eatmore2weighless.com/

    lots of great like minded thinker there!
  • chelseaalicia
    chelseaalicia Posts: 164 Member
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    I was NETTING 1250-1350 cals/day from January-March and plateaued for 3 weeks or so. I was the queen of LONG cardio sessions, 400-800cals burned.

    In April, I bumped up to 1500ish per day NET and cut back on cardio and incorporated a lot of strength training, lifting and complexes with dumbells/barbells/plates, etc. The weight started dropping off again which was awesome, but what was better was I lost a lot of size and became noticeably more toned. I am not done quite yet, but it was a really positive change!

    You'll have to give your body time to adjust and catch on to the change- it will become more efficient and slowly start to burn more and more, but consistency is key! You're still netting below your TDEE so you'll lose weight, and if you stay consistent and keep enjoying your workouts, it'll stay off.

    Hope that helped! :) Best of luck to you :D
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,401 MFP Moderator
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    It can take 4-6 weeks to adjust but if mfp is estimating your exercise calories then i would suggest eating 50-75% of them. Mfp can over estimate. Or post your height, weight, age, job and full wormoit routine and we can run your numbers. Off hand i am thinking around 1800 calories.
  • Cespuglio
    Cespuglio Posts: 385 Member
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    Try not to focus too much on the numbers on the scale. That's a pretty quick way to become frustrated, since weight fluctuates for a number of reasons. Do you do strength training? If you focus on increasing your muscle, you'll burn fat a lot more quickly just standing still, because muscle requires more energy to maintain than fat does. You'll also lose inches faster (far more rewarding than just seeing numbers on a scale drop). Bonus, you get to eat more calories and still lose weight :-) Don't get discouraged if you see a little gain from time to time if you're eating right either. Like I said before, it happens. Might I suggest looking at some of the pics of people who lost weight strength training? I recently saw one poster who looked way puffier before strength training at a pretty low weight. She weighs about the same now and is at least 50% thinner. Hope that helps!
  • slomehe
    slomehe Posts: 10 Member
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    Goof for you for trying again! I was a yo yo dieter for years and my metabolism slowed way down too.
    honestly it took about 5 or 6 months for mine to finally get back on track. I know that seems like a long time, but I was
    up and down with extreme workouts and low cal eating just like you.
    Now I am eating a ton of food, mostly veges and fruits. chicken lean meat and fish.
    I realized also as soon as I stopped drinking beer, I started to "deflate".
    keep going it will happen.
  • mjj79
    mjj79 Posts: 415 Member
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    Iam NOT an expert (nor do I play one on MFP) BUT i recommend trying to increase slowly. I TOTALLY screwed up my metabolism by eating 800 to 1000 cals for over a year, then did the whole eating at TDEE thing for 5 weeks and gained 13 lbs. Of course, I went from eating 900 to 1000 cals/day to 2500 . Whoa! Anyway, I FREAKED out from the weight gain and cut down to 2200. NO change. (ACTUALLy, i may have gained another 2.) THen I cut to 1700. NO CHANGE> FInally I freaked and went back down to 1000 to 1200. STILL NO loss! IN fact, i gained another 2. Sooo, the past few weeks I have been slowly increasing cals. My weight has been pretty consistent but I'm hoping for a change soon.

    All that to say I'd increase slowly UNLESS you won't get freaked out by a potentially discouraging gain at first.

    Best of luck!
  • hbaby2
    hbaby2 Posts: 34 Member
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    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12

    Follow that to help you. I wish I knew this months ago. It will give ou the number you need to figure out your weight loss pace. I started at 1200 cals, running and strength training two times week. I did pretty well and lost 25 lbs. I gained 5 back. I tried again to be strict at 1200 again but the scale was not moving....at all! I read that post, figured out that I needed MORE calories to lose so I used it to 1800. I also went a clean diet and wheat free (google wheat belly). I've lost 7 lbs in 2 wks. It's finally moving again. It's a hard shift....I literally made eggs and tried my hardest to eat them after dinner bc of I was too low on cals. I was stuffed. I weighed myself the next day and I went down .8 lb!

    Good luck! I hope it works jus as well for you! Go ahead an friend me if you would like.
  • Jennical
    Jennical Posts: 219 Member
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    Bump to read later.
  • cvstokke
    cvstokke Posts: 249 Member
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    Thanks for the responses. 5-6 months sounds terrifying - I don't know if I can put up with doing all the right things and seeing no results for that long. :(
  • sscad
    sscad Posts: 73 Member
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    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12

    Follow that to help you. I wish I knew this months ago. It will give ou the number you need to figure out your weight loss pace. I started at 1200 cals, running and strength training two times week. I did pretty well and lost 25 lbs. I gained 5 back. I tried again to be strict at 1200 again but the scale was not moving....at all! I read that post, figured out that I needed MORE calories to lose so I used it to 1800. I also went a clean diet and wheat free (google wheat belly). I've lost 7 lbs in 2 wks. It's finally moving again. It's a hard shift....I literally made eggs and tried my hardest to eat them after dinner bc of I was too low on cals. I was stuffed. I weighed myself the next day and I went down .8 lb!

    Good luck! I hope it works jus as well for you! Go ahead an friend me if you would like.

    Wow, interesting. I feel I "eat more to weigh less" but only around 1400-1600, I can't imagine going any higher. Sometimes, I feel hassled to eat more too, but most of the time I just forget it because I feel I shouldn't eat if I'm not hungry, right? It's so interesting that you actually lost weight the next day! I can't wait to read that link
  • sscad
    sscad Posts: 73 Member
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    Thanks for the responses. 5-6 months sounds terrifying - I don't know if I can put up with doing all the right things and seeing no results for that long. :(

    I hear ya! I am, well, was, the queen for switching up things constantly because I was afraid of wasting time on something that wouldn't work! But I agree with everyone else, and that you should be patient. I always thought 1200 was the way to go, but now my very very least amount is 1365, but usually eat around 1500. I'm thinking I can even probably start eating more too now, huh. BUT one thing that I'm in total 100% agreement is weight/strength training. I'm sure you hear it all the time, but it truly does wonders. Even if you're not seeing results right away (muscle tone wise), the weight just seems to drop so much faster, I guess because muscle burns more than fat
  • seniorfaye
    seniorfaye Posts: 295 Member
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    Interesting! Bumping for later...
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,401 MFP Moderator
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    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12

    Follow that to help you. I wish I knew this months ago. It will give ou the number you need to figure out your weight loss pace. I started at 1200 cals, running and strength training two times week. I did pretty well and lost 25 lbs. I gained 5 back. I tried again to be strict at 1200 again but the scale was not moving....at all! I read that post, figured out that I needed MORE calories to lose so I used it to 1800. I also went a clean diet and wheat free (google wheat belly). I've lost 7 lbs in 2 wks. It's finally moving again. It's a hard shift....I literally made eggs and tried my hardest to eat them after dinner bc of I was too low on cals. I was stuffed. I weighed myself the next day and I went down .8 lb!

    Good luck! I hope it works jus as well for you! Go ahead an friend me if you would like.

    Wow, interesting. I feel I "eat more to weigh less" but only around 1400-1600, I can't imagine going any higher. Sometimes, I feel hassled to eat more too, but most of the time I just forget it because I feel I shouldn't eat if I'm not hungry, right? It's so interesting that you actually lost weight the next day! I can't wait to read that link

    If you are active then even that wont be enough. You need to fuel the body, especially with as little weight as you have to lose. You have less fat stores so you need more energy from calories or body will catabolize your lean body mass for energy. If you want i can run your numbers but need your height, weight, age and workout routine.
  • popzork
    popzork Posts: 78 Member
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    As a last resort, I found a place close to me that tested RMR. I found that MY metabolism was way way low. I had to adjust calories down and double my exercise in order to lose weight.

    All the numbers, methods, calculations, etc, are based on averages for your height, weight and age. I was heart broken when I found out that mine was almost 500 calories a day LOWER than average.

    The calculations on here, and every other site on the web do work for most people, but if nothing else works for you, then consider finding out your real number.

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