Eat more to lose more??!! what??

I went to maintenance 3-days ago (about 1900-2000) and lost 1.5 lbs. Had been about 1600-1800 calories the last 25 and lost nothing. It could be a fluke. Only time will tell.

Never had an issue with eating too little calories. I do know that theory your talking about is very true. Your supposed to eat small meals every 2-3 hours.

raw and natural foods are best. If you're eating clean you can virtually eat anything and not become obese. f you're trying to add calories find nutrient-calorie dense foods. Peanut butter is calorie packed with good fats. a High quality protein supplement could do the trick, too.

I've been on 1300 cals for about 6 weeks and haven't lost a thing.

I've been hoping to loose 2lb a week , but Nothing !!!!!

decided to increase cals this week to 1800 to see if that makes a difference :O)

Of course starvation mode is real. Our bodies are really interested in keeping us alive!

Eat whatever you normally eat. I personally love adding a little extra lean protein to my meals (eating 6-8oz servings instead of 4oz) and one of my very favorite ways to increase my calories is to eat a tablespoon or 2 of natural peanut butter. You can drink an 8oz glass of milk with 2tbs peanut butter and quickly add 300 cals to your day. All nuts, olive oil (& some other oils like grapeseed & more), yogurts with some fat, etc are good ways to add *healthy* calories to your day. The important thing to remember is to keep those extra calories healthy. Alcohol, cookies, cake, etc. are empty calories which mean they're not providing your body with the nutrients it needs to go along with those extra calories. I mean, of course it's okay to treat yourself with a small amount of those calories or to splurge every now and then, I'm just talking on a general day to day basis here.

You said you were working out but still only eating 1200 calories? You should factor in the calories burned through exercise, that should put you back up to eating 1800 or so calories. You say you gained weight but what are your measurements? I have found that I can actually go up in weight but down in inches. Since muscle takes up a smaller area than fat, that is a better indication of fat loss. Unless your doing a true fat/muscle ratio you really wouldn't know if your losing muscle mass, and those tests can be expensive. Your body needs the calories to keep the metabolism up, whick in turn (as you know) burns the fat. As far as your body eating your muscles, I would suggest eating more lean proteins to help fill you up. I'm no professional but I am also done with college for a BS (Nutritional Science) and have spent the past 15 years learning about nutrition and fitness. These are just some of my thoughts. Hope this helps...

I was watching on documentary on girls with eating disorders and alot of them would eat less the 300 calories a day. When they resumed a normal eating partern of 2000 calories a day they actually lost weight dramatically in the first week (2-4lbs) because they went from having a extremely low metabolism (because of starvation) to and extremely high metabolism. I thought this was interesting because you'd think they'd gain weight. They eventually do, obviously, but the initial shock to their system of all those calories actually increased their metabolism dramatically.

As I get closer to my goal, I've started upping my calories so that maintenance isn't a shock to my system. That is why I've done some research into WHAT I can eat that's still healthy AND calorie packed. Here's what I've found:

nuts/nut butters- any kind, they are all calorie packed with loads of good fats in them
regular dairy products- I used to buy "reduced fat" or "fat free" dairy thinking it was better, now I am eating the regular (and less processed!) stuff
red meat- please don't shoot me for suggesting!! (as I duck and cover) I LOVE to eat cows. I buy the extra lean (don't want to add un-neccessary fat!), and trim as much fat as possible off of steaks. But I am eating them again in the CORRECT PORTION SIZE (4 oz is one serving of beef)
any food that does NOT say "diet," "reduced fat," or any other buzz words- the regular versions of so many foods are much better for you because they don't go through as much processing, and they typically will have a few more calories

I hope this gives you some ideas!

I am currently going through this. My deficit is extremely high though. MFP says I should be eating 3,500 calories a day ( i workout 3 hours a day) and I have only been eating 1200-1500 ( at the most). I have been slowly upping my calories by 100 a week. last week i made sure I ate 1700 calories a day and this week I am eating 1800 a day. I will eventually cut down on my workouts but I am trying to train myself for the military so I dont really want to do that.

Last week when I upped my calories I expected to gain weight but actually lost 1 lb. Of course it was my t.o.m so maybe that had something to do with it. I will keep you updated on my progress if you do the same