Eat more to lose less? Really??

EmHorn4
EmHorn4 Posts: 72 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I started with MFP a little over a year ago and ate generally healthy foods at around 1200-1400 cal a day (very limited fast food, and drinking only on weekends) and began doing about 4-5 days a week of weight training (2-3 days) and cardio (running 3-4 days). I started at 204 lbs and over the course of 7 months I successfully lost 26 lbs! Then, I plateaued. The plateau didn't go away. I became frustrated and stopped working out as much. Then my eating habits followed suit, and I found myself having gained 10 lbs at the start of 2013 and sitting at 188 lbs. Womp womp.

I'm trying to start off slow this time, and change my life for, well - forever! (I'm so sick of saying that, maybe sick enough to have it stick this time?) I have been walking for 30 minutes 5x a week (hills in my neighborhood), and while I'm not a morning person, this might change that, since I do these walks in the morning and it seems to help me rock it for the rest of the day. That's definitely a bonus.

I've been eating 1200 calories and sticking to it! Hooray! I lost what I wanted: 1.5 lbs the first week! Hooray! Then this week: nothing. I know, I know....it's perhaps too early to see results.

But then I read about making sure to eat at least your BMR calories, and to lose a pound or so a week, eat 500 cal a day below your TDEE.

Woah, what? I just Googled my face off trying to understand BMR and TDEE and how to eat the right amount of calories. And I totally get it, there's science there. I appreciate that. But really? So as my BMR is approx 1500 cal, and my TDEE is approx 2200 - I can eat 1700 calories a day and lose weight?? And not have my metabolism fall off, like it probably did last summer when I plateaued?

Has anyone had any success with following this method? I just need affirmation that this is the way I should start to eat...because that is defintiely something I can do for the rest of my life.

Replies

  • Matt_Wild
    Matt_Wild Posts: 2,673 Member
    Correct. Eat as MUCH as you can to keep you metabolism firing on all cyclinders. Think of your body acting in a way to survive. Everything it does is the bodies built in survival systems. It doesn't want you to die. So it will retard anything that it thinks will hold more energy back so you live longer.

    Naturally as you diet, your body will retard calorie usage, its part of the bodies survival system/feed back loops it has, by around 10-15% usually I have read, maybe more.

    I diet my other half on around 300-400 below her TDEE and she looks like the below:

    sprogress.jpg

    Also, 1 day out of 4 she has around 2300 calories a day as well to keep that metabolism ticking over :smile:
  • shmoony
    shmoony Posts: 237 Member
    Not to pick on you, but I need to vent. It's not hard to understand. Just eat what a person at the weight you want to be would eat. If you want to be 150 pounds, eat the maintanance diet of a 150 pound person. This will take a long time to acheive, but the point is that by the time you reach 150 pounds, you will be so used to eating that amount of calories that you will stick to it and never yoyo. This will probably be onlya couple hundred under your current TDEE and the closer you get, the closer you will get to eating your TDEE. It may take you a year or more to get there, but that's the whole point of this being a lifestyle change, not a diet. Make sense?
  • Confuzzled4ever
    Confuzzled4ever Posts: 2,860 Member
    The mistake is focusing on this change as a diet.. which meand temporary.

    Focus on health and maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

    I don't worry so much about weight loss.. I worry about what i am putting into my body.

    I struggle to eat what I do eat.. becuase I eat so many fruits and veggis that I am full way before I probably should be.

    I figure eventually I'll have to increase what I am eating in order to stay at a healthy weight.. but at is stands now I am happy to be eating as much as I am. Most days I have 1200-1300 a day. and I probably should be close to 1600 or 1800. but with my personal struggle, this is still phenomial.
    I work out a lot becuase I love how it makes me feel. If you don't love it, change your workout.
    I rarely ever want crap, or sugary foods or anything. Usually when I do it's becasue I made a bad choice earlier in the day.

    Giving up is not an option. The personal trainer said if you feel stuck, take a week off for exercise, increase you calories then when you come back it'll kick start your body. I havent' tried that, but i've read that it worked for others.

    Change your life, not your diet..
  • lauren3101
    lauren3101 Posts: 1,853 Member
    Yes, I had the same problem (although I was never eating as low as 1200), I plateaued, upped my cals, started losing weight again. It does work.
  • deksgrl
    deksgrl Posts: 7,237 Member
    Yes, it works.
  • EmHorn4
    EmHorn4 Posts: 72 Member
    -
  • JoanneLkinn
    JoanneLkinn Posts: 9 Member
    A friend of mine lost weight last week but managed to put an inch on around his waist!
    Everyone goes through the not losing any fat/weight just have to stay strong. Don't be tempted to cut calories I did that once not a great idea :-/
  • melinda3792
    melinda3792 Posts: 77
    http://www.iifym.com/tdee-calculator
    I found this useful, really put it in perspective. It wasn't until I upped my calories( they were at 1200) that my inches shrunk.
  • WendyTerry420
    WendyTerry420 Posts: 13,274 Member

    Woah, what? I just Googled my face off trying to understand BMR and TDEE and how to eat the right amount of calories. And I totally get it, there's science there. I appreciate that. But really? So as my BMR is approx 1500 cal, and my TDEE is approx 2200 - I can eat 1700 calories a day and lose weight?? And not have my metabolism fall off, like it probably did last summer when I plateaued?

    Has anyone had any success with following this method? I just need affirmation that this is the way I should start to eat...because that is defintiely something I can do for the rest of my life.

    My TDEE is 2500 calories and BMR is roughly 1750, so I eat around 1900ish and continue to lose weight. Even if you ate 2100, you would still lose, but it would be very slow.
  • gleechick609
    gleechick609 Posts: 544 Member
    Yes! Eat 20% below your TDEE and still lose weight! I've lost 50 lbs by eating below TDEE and I consume (on average 1800-2200 calories a day).

    Google Fat 2 Fit radio tools
    Use their Military Body Fat Calc and then the BMR Tool
    Follow the calories given to you on the chart below (use Katch McArdle Formula)

    You can also friend "helloitsdan" who has helped me and hundreds of other MFPers!

    Good luck
  • EmHorn4
    EmHorn4 Posts: 72 Member
    Not to pick on you, but I need to vent. It's not hard to understand. Just eat what a person at the weight you want to be would eat. If you want to be 150 pounds, eat the maintanance diet of a 150 pound person. This will take a long time to acheive, but the point is that by the time you reach 150 pounds, you will be so used to eating that amount of calories that you will stick to it and never yoyo. This will probably be onlya couple hundred under your current TDEE and the closer you get, the closer you will get to eating your TDEE. It may take you a year or more to get there, but that's the whole point of this being a lifestyle change, not a diet. Make sense?

    Sigh, you are picking on me. If you're so exhausted with it, don't reply. I've tried to lose weight my entire life, and moving away from a pschology of food that I grew up with my entire life, trying to find the right path for me. It takes a long time. You don't know what I've been through, or how determined I am. I tracked calories to what I thought was a "T" and tried to eat the correct macronutrients. I can run a half marathon. I can lift more than you'd think. I also have hypothyroidism. Sometimes, it just is hard to understand the perfect balance. Bear with me as I gain this knowledge.
  • TR0berts
    TR0berts Posts: 7,739 Member
    Yes! Eat 20% below your TDEE and still lose weight! I've lost 50 lbs by eating below TDEE and I consume (on average 1800-2200 calories a day).

    Google Fat 2 Fit radio tools
    Use their Military Body Fat Calc and then the BMR Tool
    Follow the calories given to you on the chart below (use Katch McArdle Formula)

    You can also friend "helloitsdan" who has helped me and hundreds of other MFPers!

    Good luck


    You could have just sent OP to the link...

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12
  • Matt_Wild
    Matt_Wild Posts: 2,673 Member
    Drop me as message if you want some help getting the balance right, its can be done quickly and easily in a healthy manner :o)
  • EmHorn4
    EmHorn4 Posts: 72 Member
    Yes! Eat 20% below your TDEE and still lose weight! I've lost 50 lbs by eating below TDEE and I consume (on average 1800-2200 calories a day).

    Google Fat 2 Fit radio tools
    Use their Military Body Fat Calc and then the BMR Tool
    Follow the calories given to you on the chart below (use Katch McArdle Formula)

    You can also friend "helloitsdan" who has helped me and hundreds of other MFPers!

    Good luck


    Thanks! It is nice to hear a success story.
  • mbow1977
    mbow1977 Posts: 213
    I get stressed about this too, Ive lost over 2stone before xmas doing insanity and eating around 1200 - 1500 cals net, but not worrying about macros.

    Now ive lost the weight and am just after the last 6lb, I am on p90x and am trying to achieve a macro ratio of 50:30:20 protein:carbs:fat, and am trying to eat around 2200 cals as I usually burn between 500 - 700 cals 6 days a week on p90x, giving me a net of around 1500-1700 and Im worried that may not be enough.

    But trying to increase my cals and keep the protein cals up there Im finding incredibly difficult, then i wonder if im worrying over nothing???!!!
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