Eat More to Weigh Less? I THINK NOT!

My body fat has stayed the same but I weigh more. You know what I hate? The way the military goes about measuring body fat. They tape your neck, waist and hips if you are a female. When they tape me, my BF is at 32+%. I bought a caliper from GNC and measured that way several times and by BF is at 23%.

Using a skin pinch caliper will yield different results depending on the person using the caliper. That's why the same person takes my caliper measurements every time. That way it's consistent.

I log as much as I can when I can when I know what I'm eating. How am I suppose to go about logging when someone else cooks for me or I eat at a healthy place that doesn't have a nutrition table? Sometimes I don't have time to cook my own foods and therefore it shows up like that in my diary. I try to log like I should. I got frustrated because maybe I was trying too hard.

When someone cooks for me I ask them what they used and it what quantity, if they have a recipe I'll make a copy of it and then log it in the recipe builder. If I go out to eat I look for similar items in the database or I look up recipes online for what I ate and use that as a reference. You can't say something doesn't work if you don't really try.

I honestly think thats what my body is doing. It think's I don't need to lose anymore weight (pretty much all of it is concentrated on my midsection) and no matter what I do at the gym by body's like "Oh this is easy...Fun workout time!" And I try to challenge myself every time I go and do something extra...

I'm going to be really blunt here - this is BS. I've looked at your diary from February on. You are not logging consistently. You admit on some days there are meals you aren't logging. You are blaming it on upping your calories to 1680 when in the last 63 days you have logged about 14 days (not consecutively) at or near that amount (1400-1680). You have as many days where nothing is logged. Then you have very low calorie days where some of these you admit you ate but didn't know what to log.

Bottom line is you have no idea how much you are really eating.

If there is one thing that will consistently derail weight loss it's lack of consistency.

You either do this 100% or you don't do it. That's how it works.

I log as much as I can when I can when I know what I'm eating. How am I suppose to go about logging when someone else cooks for me or I eat at a healthy place that doesn't have a nutrition table? Sometimes I don't have time to cook my own foods and therefore it shows up like that in my diary. I try to log like I should. I got frustrated because maybe I was trying too hard.

You guess. Enter a food that's as close to what you ate. It's not going to be perfect, but it's better than not logging it at all!

I've upped my calories from 1390 to 1800 over the course of 3 weeks. I stayed at or around 177 (a birthday party full of food caused me to go to 178 for a day) ... while I was upping. Today I'm at 174.5, AND I'm eating more. It's great. I can control my sodium by watching how much I eat out and how much processed junk I eat.

It's not the method that didn't work. It's your approach.

The place thaf I've been eating at for the past few weeks is a smaller version of whole foods that is completely vegetarian. I have no idea what the calories are for their foods but everything they use is organic. So if I were to look up something similar in the database, I'm sure I wouldn't find it. And I also ate turkey burgers made from scratch (thats what my friend made) with rice for about two weeks and I know I didn't go over because by that time I only had about 1000 calories for the day. I didn't log that because I didn't know accurately how much. And like I said before, I'm not going to eat if I'm not hungry. It's just uncomfortable for me.

Well, several people have told you what you need to do.

Good luck with that.

Organic doesn't mean less calories, it means that they didn't use chemical pesticides or herbicides in growing it, or food irradiation or anything that would introduce toxins. It isn't magically less calories because of that. It is healthier for you, but not because it has less calories.

I found that when I was eating 1200 calories a day with about 20 minutes of cardio I dropped weight extremely fast. It is not safe or reccomnded to do that for a continued period of time, but if you are looking to lose weight in a short period of time that will work great. Eat 1200 paired with a medium amount of excersize and you will notice a difference in a short time. do NOT stick to eating 1200 cals for a long period of time you will just burn-out and screw up your metabolism.

Kudos for including that it is not safe or recommended to do that for a continued period of time. Basically what this person is talking about is IF - Intermittent Fasting - I don't claim to know too much about this topic, but my understanding is that on one day you eat a normal amount of calories, and the next you eat very few calories, and go back and forth day to day and you do this over a short period of time, like maybe a week. I personally don't advocate this method but there are a number of people who swear by it. Search "Intermittent Fasting" in the forum topics if you want more information on that. Maybe that would be helpful.

IF is only eating a certain number of hours a day ie - from 12 pm to 8 pm. In that time, you eat all of your calories. Renegade Diet is an example of IF. skip breakfast, eat light lunch, light snack, feast for dinner. It works for those who eat out or with family and don't control evening calories well.

zig zagging or calorie cycling is eating heavy on certain days and light on other days. It worries about the number of calories taken in at the end of the week, not daily calories.

I am in the same boat as you, OP. I have been at this for a month with no change in the scale. It is frustrating. I just lowered my calories back down and am going to try a combo of IF and zigzagging. I have certain meals where I cant control the menu - potluck dinner, client lunches. On the days I can, I am eating light. When I know I have potlucj Wednedays, I skip breakfast and eat a light lunch. Have seen a difference in scale already but not at my official weigh day yet so not recording. I do guesstimate and record EVERYTHING. Feel free to look at my diary, anyone.

Bottom line - this is not an exact science. It will take constant tweaking and commitment to make this lifestyle change.

You have not logged consistently for the whole of 2013 - you have missing days all over the place and also partially logged days. Start logging every day, every meal, everything you eat. You cannot make any conclusions until you do that

You could just forget the technical crap and just eat when your body tells you to. I don't particularly believe the "eat more weigh less" stuff people on this site say.

you're too literal. In a way, eat more to weigh less agrees with eating when you are hungry.

I tried 1200. I was hungry. so i ATE MORE. and now I weigh less. How can you disagree with that??

I agree that this is BS.
The only time you need to eat more is when you exercise. Even then, I try to eat to keep going - protein or whatever - and be healthy.
This is one piece of advice I REFUSE to listen to because my experience shows that when I eat more, I weigh more!!! AND I want to eat more.
I will continue to eat what I do and not worry about THAT advice.
Doin' JUST FINE here, thanks

I've never heard that. Before I do anything, I mention it to my grandmother or an elder. If they have never heard of it, it is simply fabricated. Go back to what was working for you before. I am not sure what you are preparing for, but don't be a nervous wreck. Get yourself straight and try again.

And, it is very important to log in everyday. Ecspecially, if you are working towards a goal.