Increasing Calories

p_s_a
p_s_a Posts: 45
in Motivation and Support
Alright y'all.. After being on my fitness pal for 4 1/2 months, I am going to take the advise of many on here and significantly increase my calorie intake.

For the last two months I have hit a standstill at 200lbs. I started at 220 and the first 20 came off fairly easily. I have been exercising almost every day burning 300-500 cals. My goal is 175lbs.

I just know there is a lot of speculation out there about how many calories to eat, whether or not to eat your exercise calories, how many calories to burn. After reading a few articles that were pointed out by fellow members I thought this was my next best option. I will let everyone know if it works for me. I am skeptical, but feel I have run out of other options.

Just to clarify, I am a 32 year old male. Workout 5 days a week. Fairly active lifestyle. Previous MFP suggestion was 1500 calories a day. Upping that to TDEE calculation minus 20% which gives me 2300 calories a day.. an increase of 800 cals. I will not log my exercise calories.

Has anyone else found success in upping your calories a few months in?

Replies

  • p_s_a
    p_s_a Posts: 45
    Wow.. so much debate about this on here, but no one has actually tried it?
  • Chrissiecurit
    Chrissiecurit Posts: 74 Member
    I just increased my calories, too. Although not such a drastic increase as you are. But I am sure that has to do with our differences in weight, etc. MFP had me set at 1200. Using the TDEE method, I increased to 1400. I just started so I can't help you with if it works or not. But I sure hope it does! lol
  • LuckyTerrier
    LuckyTerrier Posts: 73 Member
    Bump. I've also just switched to a TDEE method. I've committed to trying it for a least 4 weeks so my body can adjust, but I'm interested to see other people's opinions. I have been losing some on my current program, so I'm a little worried about whether increasing my calories will actually speed my metabolism so I keep losing fat
  • iAMsmiling
    iAMsmiling Posts: 2,394 Member
    In process of the same sort of change.
    Nervous about it, but I'm so stuck I just have to change.

    I figure I'm not defusing a bomb here. If I cut the wrong colored wire, I can try another one.
  • Weezoh
    Weezoh Posts: 171 Member
    For (a lot) more discussion on this check out the group Eat More to Weigh Less here.

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/3817-eat-more-to-weigh-less
  • p_s_a
    p_s_a Posts: 45
    For (a lot) more discussion on this check out the group Eat More to Weigh Less here.

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/3817-eat-more-to-weigh-less


    Thanks for the resource Weezoh. Still a little crazy to me the difference between the MFP numbers and the Scooby Calculator numbers. Scooby (the one that all these Eat More to Weight Less people use) says I should be eating about 1000 more calories than MFP does. 1000?!?!??!

    Why would MFP miscalculate to that extent?
  • Weezoh
    Weezoh Posts: 171 Member
    Pretty sure that part of it is that MFP expects you will eat back all calories you exercise to maintain the same deficit that they set for you if you do no exercise. The TDEE -xx% method does not want you to eat them back (Unless by exercising you end up below your BMR) because it assumes those calories in determining your TDEE.

    Also, there's different formulae that are used to determine BMR and MFP and Scooby use different ones.
  • Lookingforfitat40
    Lookingforfitat40 Posts: 61

    Also, there's different formulae that are used to determine BMR and MFP and Scooby use different ones.

    You'd think that science would prevail and there would be one answer. I don't get how there can be different formulae.
  • RoosMommy01
    RoosMommy01 Posts: 88
    I tried it after people told me about it and ended up gaining about 10lbs! Everyone told me to stick with it for at least 2 months and not look at the scale but all my clothes were starting to fit tight as well so I gave it up, went back to MFP's numbers and have already lost 6.5lbs.

    If you are going to increase, I would strongly suggest to increase a little at a time. I don't fully trust the TDEE and BMR numbers!
  • woodsygirl
    woodsygirl Posts: 354 Member
    I started out eating 1500 calories a day, now I try to eat over 2000 daily.

    I'm a 5'3'' 37 year old female, workout 3x a week and not gaining weight ;)
  • Lookingforfitat40
    Lookingforfitat40 Posts: 61
    I started out eating 1500 calories a day, now I try to eat over 2000 daily.

    I'm a 5'3'' 37 year old female, workout 3x a week and not gaining weight ;)

    Are you losing?
  • tedsmama
    tedsmama Posts: 178 Member
    I also just increased. Curious to see how it works out for you. Updates!!
  • thecloud6
    thecloud6 Posts: 11
    I hit a plateau and bumped mine up about 200 calories. It took a little time (and I felt like I was cheating :) but I started losing again. Today I reached my goal. Now I need to decide whether to go into maintenance or try to lose a little more. :)
  • steph1278
    steph1278 Posts: 483 Member
    I'm a 5'11 217 pound female and I eat an average of 2100 calories and lose between 1/2-2 pounds per week.
  • allthenamesaretaken1
    allthenamesaretaken1 Posts: 98
    1500 calories seems to low for a male. I was doing 1200 at first, then upped to 1500-1800 calories. I found it helped a lot. My body was getting all the nutrients it needed and if I felt I wanted to consume less calories I just worked out more. I figure your body needs food and all that good stuff that comes with food. Why deprive it? Just work out more to lose the pounds.
  • foleyshirley
    foleyshirley Posts: 1,043 Member
    Yes, I did it, and it is working for me. Sometimes I hover around the same weight for a couple of weeks, but I consistently move downward. I started off at 1200 calories and not eating exercise calories back. I am now at a base of 1340, and I eat most exercise calories back. I usually am at 1500-1700 calories. I am female, 5 ft 4 in, and 160 pounds. So far, so good.
  • msafunk
    msafunk Posts: 163 Member
    MFP started me out at 1500, and dropped me down to 1470 after I lost a few lbs. I believe that if I recalculated again, it would have me at about 1430 to continue to lose a pound per week.

    I was struggling to stay that low without hating myself. So I decided to calculate my BMR (1650ish), and set that as a net goal. I have a desk job, so I'm not very active during the day. I figure that my regular activities (getting ready in the morning, the light house work I do at home walking around the office, etc.) is enough to create a sizeable deficit, and I eat back all of my workout calories.

    It's gotten a lot easier to lose weight since then, and I'm seeing the scale consistently move, instead of move, stop, move a little, stop again.
  • p_s_a
    p_s_a Posts: 45
    Well I guess an update of sorts would be I decided 2300 was too high for me. I have now dropped down to 1800. I burn about 400 calories when I work out 6 days a week so technically I'm about where MFP tells me to be.

    So far nothing crazy on the scale.. 1lb in the last week. I have started weight training 3 days a week and have noticed a change for sure. I think this is why everyone preaches the NSV's here.

    Gonna try this out for a while. Hopefully the weight starts dropping so I can at least not be considered "overweight" anymore.
  • amanda_ataraxia
    amanda_ataraxia Posts: 400 Member
    Dan's post is one of the best things you will ever read
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/Helloitsdan
    All of his posts are on his profile
  • woodsygirl
    woodsygirl Posts: 354 Member
    I started out eating 1500 calories a day, now I try to eat over 2000 daily.

    I'm a 5'3'' 37 year old female, workout 3x a week and not gaining weight ;)

    Are you losing?

    Not so much losing as my body seems to be changing. I can tell my muscles are getting more awesome and my waist looks smaller, but the scale has stayed the same (probably because I love food, and do go over my goal many days). I don't have a lot left to lose though.
  • jgsparks89
    jgsparks89 Posts: 85 Member
    I recently increased my Cal intake by about 300/day (had been aiming for 2 lbs a week loss, now aiming for 1 to 1.5 lbs)...continuing to log exercise but not eating back my calories. It's worked out well so far and I think I m going to make a cycle of it...3-4 months of eating less, 3-4 months of eating more and see how it works for me. Good luck.

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