How did I lose weight by overeating and eating junk food?

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theblondetrick
theblondetrick Posts: 192 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I felt like I wasn't losing enough weight,so I decided to take a look at my food diary from the last spring(because I lost about 10 kilos at that time,but then I gained it all back and put on some more) and see what I was doing then and apply that now.

I was shocked! I often went over my calorie goal,I went even up to 2300 cals a day.I also ate a lot of bread,cookies,pies,ice cream,nutella,and I even drank coca cola and schweppes.I also didn't exercise a lot,pretty much the same as I do now.

So,how the hell did I lose all the weight back then?The only,let's say,good thing that I was doing back then is that I usually didn't eat a lot for breakfast,sometimes I didn't even have any and I was eating a lot of tomatoes and usually chicken for lunch. I'm confused.
I did have days when I didn't go over my calorie goal,but there were only few of those,like 10 or 12 tops.

Replies

  • Smuterella
    Smuterella Posts: 1,623 Member
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    your calorie goal is under your TDEE. Do you know your TDEE?

    you can eat anything under that and still lose weight.
  • spamantha57
    spamantha57 Posts: 674 Member
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    Did you have anything going on in your life at that time? A few years ago I lost 20lbs in less than 2 months & was kinda scary skinny, but I was going through a life change at that time. Normal work & remember eating a lot of quesadillas & caramel frappuchinos. Stress or vitamins or medication changes can make you gain or lose weight pretty quickly/ easily too.
  • mogletdeluxe
    mogletdeluxe Posts: 623 Member
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    Sometimes it happens, and it's almost a case of losing weight DESPITE your diet, rather than because of it.
  • lauren3101
    lauren3101 Posts: 1,853 Member
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    Despite your diet, you still ate less than you burned.
  • theblondetrick
    theblondetrick Posts: 192 Member
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    Did you have anything going on in your life at that time? A few years ago I lost 20lbs in less than 2 months & was kinda scary skinny, but I was going through a life change at that time. Normal work & remember eating a lot of quesadillas & caramel frappuchinos. Stress or vitamins or medication changes can make you gain or lose weight pretty quickly/ easily too.

    My grandpa was very ill and dying at the time,so that could be it.
    I was also taking zinc supplements at the time because I lost the sense of taste for some time due to a virus.
  • Sorova
    Sorova Posts: 101 Member
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    The calorie goal MFP gives you creates a fairly large deficit, but you can have a smaller deficit (i.e. be over your MFP goal, but under TDEE - total daily energy expenditure) and lose weight just fine. For example, say MFP tells you to eat 1500 calories per day to lose one pound per week. That means it thinks you burn 2000 calories per day and it is telling you to creating a deficit of 500 cals per day. If you eat over your MFP calorie goal (say for this example 1700) you are still eating less than you burn, which means weight loss.

    In fact, for some people who set too ambitious goals, eating over their MFP calorie goal may actually help them lose weight, because it means they will have a more moderate deficit (easier on the body). For example, if you burn 2200 calories per day, and your MFP goal is 1200, but you keep 'screwing up' and eating 1600 calories per day, you would still be losing about a pound and a half per week by the numbers. Whereas, if you stick with your 1200 goal, your body's metabolism is more likely to slow down.

    The moral of the story is that eating a reasonable amount of food to fuel your activities is good, and can be essential for healthy weight loss. You do need a deficit to lose weight, but it doesn't need to be a big one.

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