Eating more to weigh less?

V3ggieL0vinGinger
V3ggieL0vinGinger Posts: 235
in Health and Weight Loss
Who does this? And how do you do it?! A while back I was eating about 1800-1900 calories a day and I GAINED 16 pounds! I went from 108lbs to 124lbs within two weeks. I have about 10 pounds to lose from the weight I'm at right now (124lbs) as I have realized that 108lbs was much too thin for someone my height. But the problem is, I love food FAR too much to eat 1200 calories a day :( How do I experience success eating more to weigh less?

Replies

  • GauchoMark
    GauchoMark Posts: 1,804 Member
    exercise more.

    If you only have 10 lbs to lose and gained 16 lbs eating 1800 calories, exercise is your friend in helping you create a deficit.

    How long did it take to gain 16 lbs?
  • V3ggieL0vinGinger
    V3ggieL0vinGinger Posts: 235
    exercise more.

    If you only have 10 lbs to lose and gained 16 lbs eating 1800 calories, exercise is your friend in helping you create a deficit.

    How long did it take to gain 16 lbs?

    I go to the gym and burn about 500 calories 6 times a week. I run a lot and I do yoga. It took me just over 2 weeks to gain the bloody weight.
  • rose313
    rose313 Posts: 1,146 Member
    What's your TDEE?

    Are you calculating portion sizes properly? Weighing your food?

    I have been eating 1600 calories for a month now up from 1200 and gained 4.5 pounds. I feel your pain. 16 pounds is a lot for two weeks though! You'd have to have eaten I think 56,000 extra calories to achieve that! Maybe it is a combination of high sodium, your muscles swelling, and maybe TOM?
  • rose313
    rose313 Posts: 1,146 Member
    Also, are you weighing on the same scale? Same time of day? Is your scale in the same place in your house?
  • V3ggieL0vinGinger
    V3ggieL0vinGinger Posts: 235
    I eat very low sodium generally and I weigh my food properly. I always weigh on the same scale. I'm not sure about TOM...I got it for the first time in over a year not very long ago because of an eating disorder, so I don't think it had any effect on my earlier weight gain. I'm not sure what my TDEE is...
    Oh I just calculated my TDEE and it is 2213. What the actual f**k?
  • rose313
    rose313 Posts: 1,146 Member
    Maybe your gain has something to do with the fact that your body is now at a point where it can have TOM again and because of that, it's gaining water weight. I usually only gain 1-2 pounds of water weight, but I have heard people who gain 5-6...maybe because your body was not functioning normally you have actually gained a whole lot more. I would ask your doctor.
  • cedarghost
    cedarghost Posts: 621 Member
    exercise more.

    If you only have 10 lbs to lose and gained 16 lbs eating 1800 calories, exercise is your friend in helping you create a deficit.

    How long did it take to gain 16 lbs?

    I go to the gym and burn about 500 calories 6 times a week. I run a lot and I do yoga. It took me just over 2 weeks to gain the bloody weight.

    16 pounds over two weeks would mean you ate an extra 4000 calories every day over your TDEE. No way.
  • cedarghost
    cedarghost Posts: 621 Member
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12

    This works.
  • felipejose74
    felipejose74 Posts: 21 Member
    exercise more.

    If you only have 10 lbs to lose and gained 16 lbs eating 1800 calories, exercise is your friend in helping you create a deficit.

    How long did it take to gain 16 lbs?

    I go to the gym and burn about 500 calories 6 times a week. I run a lot and I do yoga. It took me just over 2 weeks to gain the bloody weight.

    16 pounds over two weeks would mean you ate an extra 4000 calories every day over your TDEE. No way.

    Maybe she forgot to take off the ankle weights? :-p
  • PikaKnight
    PikaKnight Posts: 34,971 Member
    Here is some generic info for you :)

    If you want, check out this link by MFPer Heliotsdan - http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12

    It'll give you a detailed walkthrough (with pictures even) on finding your TDEE and calculating what you should be eating.

    Also, if you are worried about the calorie intake, I also suggest you read this thread that has numerous people who met their goals and are maintaining. Some for years and they also provide their calorie intake and how often they work out.
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/816542-let-s-hear-it-for-maintainenance


    For more information about fitness and nutrition, I highly suggest checking out and joining this group:
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/10118-eat-train-progress

    Read all the stickies. It's great information to know.

    ETA - Depending if you are adding weight training in with cardio (which I highly recommend) - the scale is very unreliable. It can fluctuate with muscle gain and water retention, especially during TOM - it can go up to 10lbs!
    Do measurements. They are much more reliable.

    Also, realize when you change your diet, you may gain a bit. It takes about 2-3 weeks for your body to adjust.

    I am 5'1 and eating about 1800 cals a day and still losing. More on really intense workouts.
  • Mads1997
    Mads1997 Posts: 1,494 Member
    I'm afraid it didn't work for me either I just gained 4 kilo.
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    exercise more.

    If you only have 10 lbs to lose and gained 16 lbs eating 1800 calories, exercise is your friend in helping you create a deficit.

    How long did it take to gain 16 lbs?

    I go to the gym and burn about 500 calories 6 times a week. I run a lot and I do yoga. It took me just over 2 weeks to gain the bloody weight.

    So if you think this is more than water weight, do the math to see why it's not.

    16 lbs x 3500 calores/lb fat = 56000 excess calories above maintenance.

    56000 / 14 days = 4000 calories excess over maintenance on daily basis.

    Considering you only ate 1800 calories - you didn't eat 4000 calories over maintenance.

    You gained water weight.

    Likely because your glucose stores were constantly depleted at the level you were eating at before. This increases the likelihood of burning off muscle, just worse for weight loss.

    So if you had stopped losing weight or measurements at previous eating level for 3 weeks, your metabolism likely did slow down, and jumping up to 1800 calories was a real surplus for part of that time until it sped back up.

    But most water weight.

    Unless the olive oil fairy increased your daily intake by over 4000 calories.
  • AbsoluteNG
    AbsoluteNG Posts: 1,079 Member
    Only works if you exercise enough to compensate for what you ate. Some people need the extra calories to fuel harder workouts.
  • GauchoMark
    GauchoMark Posts: 1,804 Member
    yeah, I have to agree with the others. 16 lbs in 2 weeks isn't real. You still may have gained a little and might need to make a change because that is a lot of weight even for water. But there is no way you gained 16 lbs of fat (or muscle - before THAT gets started!)
  • V3ggieL0vinGinger
    V3ggieL0vinGinger Posts: 235
    I would just like to point out that the 16 pounds are real. I gained the weight in the beginning of December and it's still here.
  • cedarghost
    cedarghost Posts: 621 Member
    Could be that your scale was messed up when you calculated your starting weight?
  • V3ggieL0vinGinger
    V3ggieL0vinGinger Posts: 235
    Definitely not. I've been a slave to that scale for over 2 years. I watched myself lose almost 30 pounds and I watched myself gain 16 of them back. It's most likely because of my history with anorexia I'm thinking. I ****ed my metabolism up to the point where I couldn't even eat 600 calories a day without gaining.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,432 MFP Moderator
    Just out of curiosity, you are 5'8".... so why would you want to weigh 108... that is really under weight. Why not concentrate on reducing fat and repairing your metabolism ? Gaining weight, especially muscle, would be highly beneficial for someone your height and you would end up with a leaner and tighter body and more than likely consume 2000+ calories. But until you eliminate the mindset that weighing more means fatter, you will continue to be a slave to depriving yourself to hit an arbitrary weight goal.

    Some food for thought... also google staci + nerdfitness. She gained 20 lbs of muscle to end up having a leaner and tigher body. Sheis 5'4" and eats 3000-4000 calories a day.
  • JessieTangerine
    JessieTangerine Posts: 91 Member
    During your ED treatment did you have any sessions with a registered dietician? If you did then I would suggest trying to make another follow-up type of appointment with him/her. If not I would recommend going to the doctor who treated you and asking for a referral. It may be that your eating disorder messed with your metabolism, though Im going to echo what everyone else has said, that most of the weight is probably water weight and a restoration of some much needed glycogen. In either instance, a RD would be able to determine how many calories to eat and how to up the calories without too much gain in weight. In the meantime, exercise is great. Exercise increases muscle size which increases the amount of calories you burn daily.

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