Eat More to Weigh Less? I THINK NOT!

So basically you guys are telling me that I need to cook all the time, never eat out and invest in a scale?

NO! What? You didn't read a word of what I wrote. Diuretics, laxatives, and an epi-lady. Chop chop!

So basically you guys are telling me that I need to cook all the time, never eat out and invest in a scale?

Oh for... no. Prepare your own meals when possible - and log everything you eat - and also enjoy eating out - and log everything you eat.

And yes, invest in a scale - so you can ACCURATELY log everything you prepare at home. It's twenty bucks.

Key words: (1) LOG (2) ACCURATELY.

Right now you have NO idea what you're actually eating. You can argue all you want, but until you do actually know your intake, you can't make any conclusions about the actual success or failure of your current plan, nor will you be able to make sensible adjustments to that plan if you find you're not getting the results you want.

Quit with the excuses and just DO it.

I did that once. My butt hurt after :laugh:

EVERY girl I've ever dated has told me that. I think you guys just say that.

So basically you guys are telling me that I need to cook all the time, never eat out and invest in a scale?

No, what your being told is to prepare as much of your food as you can, invest in a food scale, and when you go somewhere to eat that you don't know the calories, do your best to find something in the database that comparable. Logging calories is never going to be exact, but you need to be consistent and get as close as you can as often as you can.

Also, you're being told to make changes and give your body time to adjust to those changes, then adjust up or down as needed. However, if you don't have accurate information you can't have accurate results, and you won't know what works and what doesn't.

I did that once. My butt hurt after :laugh:

EVERY girl I've ever dated has told me that. I think you guys just say that.

It was nothing like you promised me it would be, Burt.

And OP, i got a food scale for 7 dollars at Walmart. Look for sales.

So basically you guys are telling me that I need to cook all the time, never eat out and invest in a scale?

All this and learn to be patient.

Btw, I eat out but make smart choices.

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??

How in the world does that agree with eating when you're hungry? Maybe some people just don't eat a lot and they are okay on 1200 calories a day? I'm sure everyone doesn't eat the exact same things every day, so that number can change. That's why I say just eat when you get hungry. You ate more, and you lost weight, that's great. But, shocker, not everyone is you.

If you only ate when you are hungry, why are you here with weight to lose? Do you honestly think that we all know how to "listen" to our bodies properly? There are plenty of overweight people out there that under eat consistently and it keeps their metabolisms not functioning properly.

Your assuming I'm done, and I don't have other crap I deal with and I'm perfect. Not the case. Are you looking to argue with me? Because I'm not trying to make anyone agree with me. I put my opinion on here and now I'm getting attacked (as usual) because people think because I don't do what they do I'm wrong. I'm not arguing with you. Disagree with me, fine, but I really don't give a rats butt what you have to say about it. Everyone is different and different things work for different people.

I netted way less than 1200 calories for several years. I lost a ton of weight at first and when I couldn't keep up with my crazy exercise schedule all of the weight came back on. I tried again and again - all these diet books, even nutritionists I went to see put me on 1200-1500 calories a day without even considering my exercise - I burned over 800 calories in kickboxing tonight. I was starving all the time. No one could help me or figure out what was wrong. I was way undereating, messed up my metabolism and it has taken me years to get this back on track. Trust me, you want to eat TDEE - 20%. I am convinced this is why so many people end up gaining after they lose. They screw up their metabolisms on way too low calorie diets. But that's just my 2 cents.

Your food journal doesn't match your story.

It's okay. This whole thread is making my head spin.

"Eating more didn't work. I have no idea how much I actually ate, but I'm going to blame eating more anyway."

This sums everything up for me as well.

OP- I'm going to reiterate what's been said before. Log everything. If you can't find it in the database, add it. Or guess as a worst case situation. You're probably eating more than you think. I'm a huge proponent of activity trackers and use a FitBit, but would probably invest in a BodyMedia armband were I to drop another $100 on a thing. Getting a scale and measuring cups/ spoons is a good thing.

I don't know if you realise how combative you're coming across. You asked for help and people are trying to do that, but you're arguing every bit of it. I don't agree with all of the advice here, but it's all been respectful and in the nature of being useful. So breathe.

EDIT- And eat out, just be a little proactive about what you're eating. If you tend to go to chain restaurants, they usually have nutrition info on their site.

If you don't make your weight requirement, they put you in BCP, correct? (or do they only do that for Marines? Sorry, not as familiar with the Navy) See if your base fitness center has a trainer or nutritionist you can work with before the weigh-in, because they probably have people in your position all the time.

Another thought... How much sleep are you getting? I knew a Marine who was having trouble being within regs. He worked out all the time, ate right, tried to diet...his BF kept going up. His home life was stressful but not only that, turns out he actually had sleep apnea which was keeping him from getting proper amounts of uninterrupted sleep...which can contribute to weight gain and other metabolic problems.

I ate around 1920 on days I worked out. And no, I'm not new to weight training; I started back up after a while of not doing it though. And I've been eating like this for maybe 5 weeks now? Somewhere around there.

TDEE- 20% would be 1920. You should net 1920, so if you work out, eat back those calories. Otherwise you are netting too low.

I've never heard so many excuses from one person in my entire life.

I've never heard so many excuses from one person in my entire life.

Threads like this are fodder for the Chit Chat, Fun & Games board to parody.

Two weeks? How about eating more like 1800 for a month. You are still undereating. And your body doesn't turn on a dime. You've been undereating for so long, you really SHOULD eat at Maintenance for a month and then drop back down to 1800. You need a good reset.

Don't blame the tool. It's the operator.


"Why won't my car run?" -

"Did you try putting gas in it?"

agree, heck one of the nutritionist I used work with says it can be months at eating at maintnence before the metabolism recovers, and until it does that weight will not go anywhere.

I ate around 1920 on days I worked out. And no, I'm not new to weight training; I started back up after a while of not doing it though. And I've been eating like this for maybe 5 weeks now? Somewhere around there.

TDEE- 20% would be 1920. You should net 1920, so if you work out, eat back those calories. Otherwise you are netting too low.

Negative. You don't eat back exercise calories with the TDEE-20% method.

ETA: Unless she calculated hers at sedentary, then she would.

Concer - if she did calc @ sedentary, then TDEE would be a misnomer.