Eating more to lose more - TESTIFY HERE!

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  • sarahisme18
    sarahisme18 Posts: 574 Member
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    I did Weight Watchers three times, each time I would ONLY eat my daily points, never my weekly points, and NEVER my workout points. That is how everyone was doing it there. I would lose, most weeks, less than a pound, unless I had a binge day or two... then I *might* lose more, or sometimes I gained. It was a gamble. When I gained, I would just even more strictly adhere to the lowest calorie intake I could. Finally, my last time doing Weight Watchers, I got down to 132.5 lbs. I remember this very clearly. I was so excited, I worked even harder to stick my low calorie intake, but the scale didn't budge. For months. So finally I gave up and just decided that's what weight my body wanted to be at.

    Fast forward a year and a half, and I've gained back about fifteen pounds, easy, and having many other problems with no exercising, binging, no energy, eating fat free and sugar free foods (which, as you know, are not that great for nutrition). So I decided to do MFP. This was back earlier this year. I didn't read anything on the boards, I didn't even make friends... I just logged my calories. I would keep it under 1200 as much as possible even while working out, I never ever ate back my workout calories. For the majority of this year. Yet, I was going to Zumba 3-4 times a week, running, strength training... I only lost about three or four pounds.

    Started getting discouraged again, so gave up for a few weeks. I was hungry all the time, binging sometimes because of it. I gained back the few pounds I lost, within a few weeks.

    Then I started reading the threads, read Dan's roadmap, started thinking about how food was fuel..... I've been eating for about three or four weeks, 1700-1800 calories a day (and not freaking out if I go a little over one day a week), working out, strength training as always.....

    ... and I've already lost 6 pounds! I'm at 132.2 lbs ---below what I ever could get before. I'm not hungry all the time, I have much more energy to work out, when I "binge" it is easier to stop because I'm not so hungry or deprived, and I am not feeling so guilty about a couple hundred extra calories. It is GREAT! I would encourage anyone wondering about this to also check out the Jillian Michaels Master Your Metabolism cookbook, do some research online, etc. Not about what people's opinions are on this, but what the actual science is. I used to think weight loss was this elusive thing... and I think the media wants us to think that so we buy into all the hype diets and fads... but it is NOT. It is science. It's body chemistry. It's nutrition. :)
  • theblitz
    theblitz Posts: 32
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    happened to me.
    what happens is that it works at first(restricting) but over time your metabolism adjusts to a lower set rate. so if you eat a tiny extra, you gain and freak out. then restrict even MORE and thus the cycle repeats itself.

    eat healthy.
  • LilacDaffodil
    LilacDaffodil Posts: 148 Member
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    for years and years I ate very little most of the time, sometimes as little as a cereal bar per day, but every so often I would binge on pizza/chocolate - the weight piled on. When I started MFP I could not believe that eating so much (1200 cal/day) would make me lose weight. To start with I would have to force myself to eat, I was terrified that my weight would balloon skyward, but I persevered. Some evenings I would weep as I ate. 10 weeks later I am 14lbs down, and my lean body mass has increased by 7lbs, (my body must have been screaming for protein all the years I was starving myself). So, in my experience, EM2WL definitely works. I would recommend it to anyone. But, it needs to be more of the right food, nutritious foods, not empty calories. (Having said that, to start with I had to eat a couple of bags of crisps a day to hit my calorie goal until my stomach got used to the amount of food it was getting every day). Hope that helps. :flowerforyou:
  • xo_Sarah_xo
    xo_Sarah_xo Posts: 308 Member
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    I did Weight Watchers three times, each time I would ONLY eat my daily points, never my weekly points, and NEVER my workout points. That is how everyone was doing it there. I would lose, most weeks, less than a pound, unless I had a binge day or two... then I *might* lose more, or sometimes I gained. It was a gamble. When I gained, I would just even more strictly adhere to the lowest calorie intake I could. Finally, my last time doing Weight Watchers, I got down to 132.5 lbs. I remember this very clearly. I was so excited, I worked even harder to stick my low calorie intake, but the scale didn't budge. For months. So finally I gave up and just decided that's what weight my body wanted to be at.

    Fast forward a year and a half, and I've gained back about fifteen pounds, easy, and having many other problems with no exercising, binging, no energy, eating fat free and sugar free foods (which, as you know, are not that great for nutrition). So I decided to do MFP. This was back earlier this year. I didn't read anything on the boards, I didn't even make friends... I just logged my calories. I would keep it under 1200 as much as possible even while working out, I never ever ate back my workout calories. For the majority of this year. Yet, I was going to Zumba 3-4 times a week, running, strength training... I only lost about three or four pounds.

    Started getting discouraged again, so gave up for a few weeks. I was hungry all the time, binging sometimes because of it. I gained back the few pounds I lost, within a few weeks.

    Then I started reading the threads, read Dan's roadmap, started thinking about how food was fuel..... I've been eating for about three or four weeks, 1700-1800 calories a day (and not freaking out if I go a little over one day a week), working out, strength training as always.....

    ... and I've already lost 6 pounds! I'm at 132.2 lbs ---below what I ever could get before. I'm not hungry all the time, I have much more energy to work out, when I "binge" it is easier to stop because I'm not so hungry or deprived, and I am not feeling so guilty about a couple hundred extra calories. It is GREAT! I would encourage anyone wondering about this to also check out the Jillian Michaels Master Your Metabolism cookbook, do some research online, etc. Not about what people's opinions are on this, but what the actual science is. I used to think weight loss was this elusive thing... and I think the media wants us to think that so we buy into all the hype diets and fads... but it is NOT. It is science. It's body chemistry. It's nutrition. :)

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  • sarahisme18
    sarahisme18 Posts: 574 Member
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    for years and years I ate very little most of the time, sometimes as little as a cereal bar per day, but every so often I would binge on pizza/chocolate - the weight piled on. When I started MFP I could not believe that eating so much (1200 cal/day) would make me lose weight. To start with I would have to force myself to eat, I was terrified that my weight would balloon skyward, but I persevered. Some evenings I would weep as I ate. 10 weeks later I am 14lbs down, and my lean body mass has increased by 7lbs, (my body must have been screaming for protein all the years I was starving myself). So, in my experience, EM2WL definitely works. I would recommend it to anyone. But, it needs to be more of the right food, nutritious foods, not empty calories. (Having said that, to start with I had to eat a couple of bags of crisps a day to hit my calorie goal until my stomach got used to the amount of food it was getting every day). Hope that helps. :flowerforyou:

    :drinker:
  • Lesa_Sass
    Lesa_Sass Posts: 2,213 Member
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    Between October and New Years last year I gained around 6 lbs thanks to a 2 week vacation in Hawaii and eating a whole chocolate cake at Thanksgiving (over a week, not in one setting) and the butter and sugar laden everything my mother makes over my trip home for Christmas.

    I joined MFP and was on 1200 per day for a couple of months with out any scale movement. I kept seeing this "eat more to weigh less" thing but for the life of me I could not wrap my head around it. I kept blaming the problem on the fact that I was 43 years old. I was tired and to be honest, a little grumpy, all the darn time.

    I finally upped my calories to 1400 and low and behold I started losing weight. I made my goal weight(114)and then raised to 1500, and lost down to 110 then raised it to 1600 and got down to 107! I finally stopped losing weight at 1700 plus my exercise calories. As soon as I get my chronic pain managed I am going to try to get back to lifting again and will increase them to 2100 per day.

    I am now 44(5'3.5)years old and have an open diary, feel free to check it out.
  • margrobins
    margrobins Posts: 98 Member
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    I'm a prime example of 'eat more, lose more'. When I first started here on MFP I had my calorie limit set at 1200. I usually only ate 1000-1100 and never ate back my exercise calories - so most days my body was running off of only 700-800 cals. My scale would NOT budge no matter how hard I worked out or changed up my workout routine.

    After a few months of an annoying stall, I upped my daily calories to 1450 and started eating back exercise calories. I usually eat around 1600, give or take, depending on my exercise for that day. Look at my ticker - not one of those pounds lost came from massive calorie restriction. But -- that's just my body, we're all different :0)
  • wordena
    wordena Posts: 177 Member
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    Out of curiosity what do you guys do for exercise? Those who eat more calories..... I really am interested in doing this, but I'd like the whole picture. :)
  • tlinval
    tlinval Posts: 175 Member
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    When I started MFP I had my calories set to 1200. It worked for 6 month for me, but then for about 3 months I stalled. I decided I'd try eating "at the weight I want to be" which is 1506 calories a day. It's only been about 3 weeks, but I feel SO much better, and I've lost 1-1.5 a week, which is what I want. For exercise, I usually walk 30-60 minutes a day, and I *try* to run a few times a week (although I've been fighting off a cold for 2 weeks so no running). Seriously, I feel 1000 times better, I sleep better, I think better, I exercise better, and I'm not hungry ALL day like I was before. Even though I still am very conscious about what I eat, I don't feel like I'm in a jail cell when it comes to food.
  • Lesa_Sass
    Lesa_Sass Posts: 2,213 Member
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    Out of curiosity what do you guys do for exercise? Those who eat more calories..... I really am interested in doing this, but I'd like the whole picture. :)

    I walk/run but walk more than anything as I am living with some pretty bad chronic pain that running makes worse. I was sidelined from lifting, yoga and pilates when we thought my problem was between L5 and S1 (lower back). I typically spend around 60 minutes 5x per week walking 4 miles per hour. Some days its 45 minutes, some days its 70 and some days I run a mile or two in with the walking.

    I really believe in my case it was a matter of increasing my metabolism by eating more and also eating every few hours.
  • wordena
    wordena Posts: 177 Member
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    I've tried to increase my calorie intake to 1400 calories a day. But I find I'm gaining all the weight back that I lost at 1200 calories a day. I've regaine the 5 pounds I lost. I really do want to eat 1400 instead of 1200. I exercise 3 to 5 times a week vigerously. Any ideas?
  • Biffa92
    Biffa92 Posts: 29 Member
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    I started off MFP with about 1250 - 1350 cals, as set by the app. I was losing weight (and eating back any exercise cals) but I was also starting to panic about how I could eat less than 1200 calories a day If I lost weight and whether or not that was sustainable long term. I then plateaued for a few weeks.

    I read Dan's in place of a road map post and it made sense to eat more calories as I felt that with over 80 lbs to lose in total at least if I started off with lots more calories then I had somewhere to go if I needed to reduce them to lose weight. I have consistently lost approximately a pound a week since I changed.

    I think why eat less when you can eat more and still lose weight, I think that if it is a true lifestyle change that you want to be sustainable then why not? I couldn't imagine eating 1200cals a day for the rest of my life.

    Fundamentally if what you are doing now doesn't work, give it a go there is nothing to lose (except pounds!!).
  • LorinaLynn
    LorinaLynn Posts: 13,247 Member
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    Out of curiosity what do you guys do for exercise? Those who eat more calories..... I really am interested in doing this, but I'd like the whole picture. :)

    I run 3x a week (about 50-60 miles a month) and lift weights 3x a week.
  • Lesa_Sass
    Lesa_Sass Posts: 2,213 Member
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    I've tried to increase my calorie intake to 1400 calories a day. But I find I'm gaining all the weight back that I lost at 1200 calories a day. I've regaine the 5 pounds I lost. I really do want to eat 1400 instead of 1200. I exercise 3 to 5 times a week vigerously. Any ideas?

    What are you eating? What is your sodium like, are you near your time of month? There is no way you have gained 5 pounds by upping your calories by 200, there has to be some type of explanation for that. UNLESS you have been eating 1200 for so long that your body is now used to it.

    How tall are you and what do you weigh now?
  • tashaa1992
    tashaa1992 Posts: 658 Member
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    In the last two weeks I have lost 3lbs. I haven't been as active as I usually am as I was ill and I have been eating around 3000 calories 4-5 days a week(binging:()and having two low days(around 700 calories). Usually the only I exercise I get is a 30-60 minute walk a day so I'm not actually really active, I'm 4ft 10in and I currently weigh 101.8lbs, how am able to lose weight binging? Before the last two weeks, I was eating 1500-2000 a day.
  • LilacDaffodil
    LilacDaffodil Posts: 148 Member
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    I did Weight Watchers three times, each time I would ONLY eat my daily points, never my weekly points, and NEVER my workout points. That is how everyone was doing it there. I would lose, most weeks, less than a pound, unless I had a binge day or two... then I *might* lose more, or sometimes I gained. It was a gamble. When I gained, I would just even more strictly adhere to the lowest calorie intake I could. Finally, my last time doing Weight Watchers, I got down to 132.5 lbs. I remember this very clearly. I was so excited, I worked even harder to stick my low calorie intake, but the scale didn't budge. For months. So finally I gave up and just decided that's what weight my body wanted to be at.

    Fast forward a year and a half, and I've gained back about fifteen pounds, easy, and having many other problems with no exercising, binging, no energy, eating fat free and sugar free foods (which, as you know, are not that great for nutrition). So I decided to do MFP. This was back earlier this year. I didn't read anything on the boards, I didn't even make friends... I just logged my calories. I would keep it under 1200 as much as possible even while working out, I never ever ate back my workout calories. For the majority of this year. Yet, I was going to Zumba 3-4 times a week, running, strength training... I only lost about three or four pounds.

    Started getting discouraged again, so gave up for a few weeks. I was hungry all the time, binging sometimes because of it. I gained back the few pounds I lost, within a few weeks.

    Then I started reading the threads, read Dan's roadmap, started thinking about how food was fuel..... I've been eating for about three or four weeks, 1700-1800 calories a day (and not freaking out if I go a little over one day a week), working out, strength training as always.....

    ... and I've already lost 6 pounds! I'm at 132.2 lbs ---below what I ever could get before. I'm not hungry all the time, I have much more energy to work out, when I "binge" it is easier to stop because I'm not so hungry or deprived, and I am not feeling so guilty about a couple hundred extra calories. It is GREAT! I would encourage anyone wondering about this to also check out the Jillian Michaels Master Your Metabolism cookbook, do some research online, etc. Not about what people's opinions are on this, but what the actual science is. I used to think weight loss was this elusive thing... and I think the media wants us to think that so we buy into all the hype diets and fads... but it is NOT. It is science. It's body chemistry. It's nutrition. :)

    :drinker: :flowerforyou:
  • hendinerik
    hendinerik Posts: 287 Member
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    I see it more on a micro level - day to day - then macro level -
    but
    it's definitely about what you eat in my book, I have had days where I ate a lot of food, stayed in my limit but a lot of food, but it was good food - and saw a loss next day.

    I can't function on too few calories - I eat every few hours.

    My trainer eats 8 meals a day but he is totally jacked (body builder). I think in the beginning bringing the intake down can make a big difference, but if you are exercising your body needs fuel to run on... and particularly with weight lifting I find when I don't have enough to eat, I have trouble even lifting the same amounts as usual.

    I strength train 3x a week and do cardio at least 30 minutes on most other days...
  • GlutesthatSalute
    GlutesthatSalute Posts: 460 Member
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    BUMP
  • michellekicks
    michellekicks Posts: 3,624 Member
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    In January, I started out at 194 lbs. I was eating about 1200-1400 calories/day on their PointsPlus program because a) I don't have the cleanest diet in the world (WW penalizes you quite severely for including desserts and alcohol in your points) and b) I got scared off from eating "too many" free fruits and veggies on the plan. In 3 months on WW I lost 14 lbs. Not bad.

    In April I switched to MFP. I was a runner ramping up distance for a few long (i.e. 2hr+) races in June and August and I wanted to make sure I was fueling my running while losing fat. I started at net 1660 lbs. I ate 1660 plus all my exercise calories - which ranged from 400 on a short 5k run to ~1400 or so on a 2:15 run. In the first 5 weeks of this I dropped 8.5 lbs. This, by the way, was MFP set at "sedentary" and "1/2 lb loss per week".

    Since then I have eaten at ~TDEE to prepare for my races so I haven't been consistently trying to lose the whole time I've been here. I got to 34 lbs lost some time around the end of August. So, another 20 lbs lost in 4 more months... not so different from Weight Watchers tbh.

    With weight watchers, though, I'd throw in the towel and have binge days since I was eating so little. I knew that when I did that I'd usually have a good loss after. It was the same for me years ago (before children) when I first lost all this weight (this is my 2nd time doing it). I know eating more helps me to shed fat.

    Now, I'm down to within 10 lbs of my target weight/size/BF%. I weight 160 lbs and I'm about 25% BF. I want to get to 20% BF and anywhere between 150 and 160 lbs. I started heavy weight lifting 3 weeks ago and have set my calorie intake to the same each day regardless of my workouts. First week was 2000/day. Second week 2100/day. Third week 2200/day. My weight is holding steady at 160.2 lbs... same as 3 weeks ago but my thighs are down 1/4" each and my waist size is down 1" in the last 3 weeks.

    I've just always found it to be important to me to eat as much as possible to fuel my athletic/competitive pursuits while still shedding fat. I like eating. I don't want to live the life that has me eating 1400 calories or less for any length of time. I did that the first time around and was miserable - I turned down every offer for dinner out and parties for a year! I'm much happier now and way more confident. I'm also finally seeing the changes in my body that I have been hoping for with the lifting.
  • SoDamnHungry
    SoDamnHungry Posts: 6,998 Member
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    I used to do 1200 and only eat 100 exercise calories back, max. Now I eat more, eat all of my exercise calories back, and am losing as quickly. I'm also in a much better mood. So while I can't say I'm losing FASTER, I'm certainly losing at the same pace and am way happier. Also, I'm in better shape since I'm motivated to work out, and not too exhausted from a lack of calories to do so.

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