Increasing intake to start losing again

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spaghetti93
spaghetti93 Posts: 140 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
My progress has definitely slowed recently. When I started counting, whenever I would stop losing, I would just reduce my intake until eventually I got down to 1200 and knew I couldn't go any further. I've been eating around 1250 for the past couple of months. I got kind of scarily obsessed with eating the exact right amount of calories and would get super anxious whenever I ate closer to 1300 instead of 1250. Last week I started increasing gradually and this week I'm eating around 1500 and am just wondering what to expect now. If I start gaining, how long will it last before I start losing again? Should I stop paying attention to the scale for a bit so I don't get to anxious? (I get really anxious about even the most minor changes and don't want to scare myself back down to 1200.) At first I was feeling full when I increased but now my body feels really good about having a little extra fuel. I don't really exercise at all but I walk everywhere for transportation- at least a mile a day, usually more than this. I wasn't counting these as calories burned, which I think probably made my metabolism suffer. But like I said, just wondering what to expect now, if there is a 'wrong' way to increase my intake, and any tips on how to find the perfect intake amount, if there is one. Thank you.

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  • michellekicks
    michellekicks Posts: 3,624 Member
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    I would start by reading this:
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/912914-in-place-of-a-road-map-3-2013

    And then clicking "Groups" above and finding the "Eat More to Weigh Less" group... then read about what to expect when increasing calories.

    Read about "metabolism reset", which is something you might want to consider.

    You should DEFINITELY stop paying attention to the scale during this transition.
  • mrsflowers47
    mrsflowers47 Posts: 10 Member
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    I just read an article and I think it may help you. It is not the food we eat as much as the sugar and salt we consume. Check this out: Despite the fact that the World Health Organization recommends limiting sodium to less than 2,000 milligrams a day and the American Heart Association recommends 1,500 mg per day, the global national average for the U.S. is 4,000 mg of sodium," For perspective: One teaspoon of salt has 2,325 mg of sodium. Cut out the SALT and the Sugar!:flowerforyou: See if it helps.
  • Skrib69
    Skrib69 Posts: 687 Member
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    I started on a 1200 plan and was losing. After a while I started to plateau. After reading 4 or 5 threads on here about how 1200 cal diets are barely 1 step above starvation, I changed my weekly loss from 2lbs/week to 1/week. MFP gave me 1530 (I put my activity as sedentary as I drive most of the day) and I am hitting that target. The threads give long and convoluted arguments as to what happens, with a lot of people disagreeing and getting very technical.

    Don't get anxious about being slightly over on your calories, MFP calculates a calorie deficit with your target, so if you go slightly over you will lose slightly less. If you go over by several hundred calories you will lose even less or possibly even gain slightly if you go really overboard! Most of all, enjoy the journey! There are enough challenges as it is, so you might as well have some fun!
  • Melo1966
    Melo1966 Posts: 881 Member
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    I had to do a "metabolism reset" after I crashed and burned on 1,200 in Mid Novemeber and had no weight loss in December. Upping my calories to 1,400 was not to get it going again. I did 2,000 with little exercise gained 3-4 pounds in January. In February I went to 1,500 and lost 6 pounds in 4 weeks. Then I figured out my actual TDEE subtracted 30% and went to 1,650 for March and have lost another 3 pounds so far.

    Eat More to Move More and you WILL Lose Move.:drinker:

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