Who didn't lose weight until they upped their calories?

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  • mycupyourcake
    mycupyourcake Posts: 279 Member
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    Personally, I was eating low calories for me (1500ish a day) from October to Mid January. Lost about 30 pounds but stalled out for like 3 weeks before stumbling on the whole TDEE thing. Upped my calories to about 2200 a day and the weight started coming off again and have steadily been losing a couple pounds a week on average ever since. I just try to hit my macro's as close as I can but I typically eat more carbs on days I do cardio and a little more fat on days I do strength training. Long story short, it worked for me but to each their own. Try it out and listen to your body. If you have been stuck for this lone what have you got to lose.... except for more weight :)

    30 y/o Male
    SW: 260
    CW: 203

    Thanks! How much of a deficit below your TDEE is 2200 for you?
  • palmerar
    palmerar Posts: 489 Member
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    I ran your numbers in Scooby's Calculator, it gave me TDEE-20% = 1830 per day (moderately active according to your spin/yoga routine) If you eat 1830 per day without eating back exercise calories every day you should lose just under 1lb a week. I've been using TDEE- % since February1 and have lost 9 of the 17 lbs to my first goal (167-150). It takes longer but is much easier to stick with.
  • mycupyourcake
    mycupyourcake Posts: 279 Member
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    I still need to be convinced of this whole "not enough calories" thing. I still go back to the cliche "you don't see any fat Etheopians". It just doesn't make sense. If you don't have enough calories, your body will use what it has for energy. This is why professional atthletes, college athletes, high school athletes, people in third world countries who have to walk 4 miles a day just to get water for their family, active children, marathon runners, gym rats, etc. etc etc. are all lean. This whole concept of having too much of a caloric deficit is rediculous, and another excuse for people to eat more and sit on their *kitten*. Move, move, move. That's all there is to it. You can't be a highly active person, eat a clean diet, and be fat. Our bodies just don't work like that. As long as you are getting enough nutrition and working your butt off, you will be lean. Period. If your not losing fat, move more, lift more. Eat enough to meet your macro and micro requirements and stay the course. It will come off. It can't not.

    You can hardly compare professional athletes with people in third world countries that don't have enough to eat... can you?

    Professional athletes eat plenty; they need to because they need to fuel their activities & because they don't have ample fat stores to sustain them. Starving people are.... starving. People having too much of a calorie deficit is ridiculous? I don't know what your body runs on, but mine needs food to survive. I can tell you that there IS such a thing as too much of a calorie deficit & it is as unhealthy as it is pointless.

    I couldn't agree more. We are talking about two radically different metabolic profiles here.
  • craigmandu
    craigmandu Posts: 976 Member
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    The body takes time to "acclimate" to a calorie level. Most people that "up" their calories will see some short term weight gain..since if the body is "use" to 1200 cals a day, it will instinctively regulate itself to that level. You gain a little in the short term until the body then decides to operate on the higher calorie level, then the weightloss starts again.

    If you take on a new exercise regimen, again, the body will instinctively put on some weight (mostly new water funneled to the muscles you are now using), so again you see a small increase on the scale while it "acclimates" to the activity.

    a "few" weeks is not enough time to make any sort of decision as to whether something is working for you or not. More like 1-2 months is a much truer timeframe.

    Alot of times people say "I can't do this or that" because I will gain weight....the truth is you didn't give it enough "time" to become the new standard for your body so that fat loss can once again resume.

    If you are being true to yourself, accurate in your logging of calories/exercise, and eating under your TDEE, you will lose weight...the rate of that loss however is usually where people falter.
  • rjc0914
    rjc0914 Posts: 28 Member
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    Personally, I was eating low calories for me (1500ish a day) from October to Mid January. Lost about 30 pounds but stalled out for like 3 weeks before stumbling on the whole TDEE thing. Upped my calories to about 2200 a day and the weight started coming off again and have steadily been losing a couple pounds a week on average ever since. I just try to hit my macro's as close as I can but I typically eat more carbs on days I do cardio and a little more fat on days I do strength training. Long story short, it worked for me but to each their own. Try it out and listen to your body. If you have been stuck for this lone what have you got to lose.... except for more weight :)

    30 y/o Male
    SW: 260
    CW: 203

    Thanks! How much of a deficit below your TDEE is 2200 for you?


    About 20% give or take. I've done a few different calculators and it's tough for me to judge the whole activity level thing. I usually base it around light activity. I've recalculated a couple of times..I actually was eating 2400/day for a while. Recalculate about every 10 pounds lost or so.
  • GamerLady
    GamerLady Posts: 359 Member
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    I still need to be convinced of this whole "not enough calories" thing. I still go back to the cliche "you don't see any fat Etheopians". It just doesn't make sense. If you don't have enough calories, your body will use what it has for energy. This is why professional atthletes, college athletes, high school athletes, people in third world countries who have to walk 4 miles a day just to get water for their family, active children, marathon runners, gym rats, etc. etc etc. are all lean. This whole concept of having too much of a caloric deficit is rediculous, and another excuse for people to eat more and sit on their *kitten*. Move, move, move. That's all there is to it. You can't be a highly active person, eat a clean diet, and be fat. Our bodies just don't work like that. As long as you are getting enough nutrition and working your butt off, you will be lean. Period. If your not losing fat, move more, lift more. Eat enough to meet your macro and micro requirements and stay the course. It will come off. It can't not.

    I agree
  • love2cycle
    love2cycle Posts: 448 Member
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    I have dieted many times in my life, and when I was younger, the weight came off with sticking to a certain calorie count, and exercising. I didn't eat back the calories then. Now that I am older, that same routine didn't work, and after trying everything, I decided to try the eating back the calories, and lost weight the first week and beyond. So, I think age may have something to do with it, but I'm not a scientist, just speaking from my own experience. Right now, I'm pretty much where I want to be, and hope to keep it off for good!
  • mycupyourcake
    mycupyourcake Posts: 279 Member
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    I ran your numbers in Scooby's Calculator, it gave me TDEE-20% = 1830 per day (moderately active according to your spin/yoga routine) If you eat 1830 per day without eating back exercise calories every day you should lose just under 1lb a week. I've been using TDEE- % since February1 and have lost 9 of the 17 lbs to my first goal (167-150). It takes longer but is much easier to stick with.

    Thanks for running my numbers. I usually run my activity level at lightly active. I will have to up my calories b/c on days where I do spinning and yoga my legs are so fatigued it's a pain to walk up the stairs or I have to come out of warrior two on really long holds during my vinyasa class.
  • MischiffMaker
    MischiffMaker Posts: 2 Member
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    If you eat too few calories, doesn't your body goes into 'starvation conservation' mode?

    In other words, your body knows you aren't eating enough, assumes there's a famine happening, and compensates by becoming more efficient with what you are giving it.

    If you give it enough to eat, but not too much, it relaxes and starts using up the fat because it's not worried about daily calories any more.
  • mycupyourcake
    mycupyourcake Posts: 279 Member
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    If you eat too few calories, doesn't your body goes into 'starvation conservation' mode?

    In other words, your body knows you aren't eating enough, assumes there's a famine happening, and compensates by becoming more efficient with what you are giving it.

    If you give it enough to eat, but not too much, it relaxes and starts using up the fat because it's not worried about daily calories any more.

    It's my understanding that if you eat too few calories your body starts pumping out excess cortisol and that can lead to dieter's edema (water weight retention).
  • JoRocka
    JoRocka Posts: 17,525 Member
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    I did.

    well... to be fair- I haven't dropped weight- I wasn't fat to begin with- at 5'8" 170 and perfectly capable of doing lots of things... I wasn't after weight loss absolutely zero interest in it actually- but I did drop 2 dress sizes with an up in calories.

    I eat between 1500-2200 a day - averaging probably 17-1800 on a regular basis- my weigh in this weekend was 162.5 (I float between 160-170 so I don't consider that really "lost" weight) and I dead lifted 250 and squatted 200.

    You need to look at your macros and see what that's doing for you as well.
  • lrbassmom
    lrbassmom Posts: 123
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    Me.

    I upped mine to 1550 and ate back exercise calories and it came off, until lately.
  • mycupyourcake
    mycupyourcake Posts: 279 Member
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    I did.

    well... to be fair- I haven't dropped weight- I wasn't fat to begin with- at 5'8" 170 and perfectly capable of doing lots of things... I wasn't after weight loss absolutely zero interest in it actually- but I did drop 2 dress sizes with an up in calories.

    I eat between 1500-2200 a day - averaging probably 17-1800 on a regular basis- my weigh in this weekend was 162.5 (I float between 160-170 so I don't consider that really "lost" weight) and I dead lifted 250 and squatted 200.

    You need to look at your macros and see what that's doing for you as well.

    What macros do you recommend? I assume you lift weight and have become more lean? How often do you lift?
  • JoRocka
    JoRocka Posts: 17,525 Member
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    I did.

    well... to be fair- I haven't dropped weight- I wasn't fat to begin with- at 5'8" 170 and perfectly capable of doing lots of things... I wasn't after weight loss absolutely zero interest in it actually- but I did drop 2 dress sizes with an up in calories.

    I eat between 1500-2200 a day - averaging probably 17-1800 on a regular basis- my weigh in this weekend was 162.5 (I float between 160-170 so I don't consider that really "lost" weight) and I dead lifted 250 and squatted 200.

    You need to look at your macros and see what that's doing for you as well.

    What macros do you recommend? I assume you lift weight and have become more lean? How often do you lift?

    I lift lots of weight LOL. I work out 6 days a week.
    lift 2-3 times a week
    HIIT (with weights or advance body weight) 2-3 times week
    Dance 2-3 week for 1-3 hours.

    I am happy right now on a lower-carb system (please note not NO CARB). so I don't eat breads pasta and things (I'll indudgle once a month or so) high veggies-high protein.

    Give me a minute- I don't track my actual numbers- I just write what I eat daily... looks a lot like this

    > 6 eggs, 1/3 cup sausage and 1-1.5 cup veggie scrambled egg + 6 bacon (split half AM- half PM)
    > 1 Banana
    > Chicken/Sweet potato with veggies (about 6-8 lz of chicken 6-8 veggies)
    > One Green Pepper
    > Two plum tomatoes
    > 2-4 hard boiled eggs(depends on the day)
    > Dinner anticipated flank steak
    > Veggies
    > sweet Baked potato
  • peopletalk
    peopletalk Posts: 519 Member
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    when i first started at 1500 calories, i didn't lose anything. then i upped it to about 1700 and started losing consistently for about 7 lbs.
    but then it stopped again, so i moved it back down to 1550, and i've consistently lost a lb a week for the last 10 lbs.
  • pluckabee
    pluckabee Posts: 346 Member
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    When I felt weak and tired from eating around 1300 calories I upped it to 1700 and lost weight at the same rate.

    Why eat 1300 when I can eat 1700 and lose the same amount?
  • ruwise
    ruwise Posts: 265 Member
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    I was losing weight very slowly and miserably eating 1400 calories a day. I upped it to between 1900 and 2400 calories and since then I've been losing weight more quickly and much more happily and motivated.
  • dsmpunk
    dsmpunk Posts: 262 Member
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    I was a skeptic until I stopped losing weight a couple months back. I was eating 1600 calories and upped to to 2000. I have started losing weight again.

    Its weird, but it works.
  • JoRocka
    JoRocka Posts: 17,525 Member
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    I added steel cut oats this week- and it's upping my carbs to higher than normal- I'd say probably 40/30/30 right now this week... 40 protein, 30 fat/carbs... not particularly thrilled with it- might be cutting them out.

    Normally I'd say it's probably closer on average 40/40/20 I eat a LOT and protein and I'm trying really hard to up my fat content- I eat a crap ton of bacon sauted veggies LOL


    On average I eat 8-10 eggs (whole) a day- plus 16 oz of chicken/veggies and then filler food- the green pepper/tomato or orange/banana. I need to eat less sugar- I cut processed sugar- and I supplimented with fruit- and now I'm trying to look at reducing that.

    If you are having a hard time loosing weight- you may need to look at your sugar- sugar is a weight loss crippler. even in the form of fruit.
  • larsensue
    larsensue Posts: 461 Member
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    bump for later

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