Eat More to Lose More?

alexmweber
alexmweber Posts: 3 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I've been working out at Title Boxing 5 days a week (sometimes twice a day), eating about 1500 calories a day (I'm 6'4"), and drinking between 1 - 1.5 gallons or water for 2 weeks now....and I gained weight! The trainer at the gym said that it is because I'm not eating enough. Does that make sense at all? What am I doing wrong here? I feel like I'm killing myself for nothing. The diet plan is not hard, but the exercise is.

Replies

  • ladynocturne
    ladynocturne Posts: 865 Member
    From your height alone and that because you're male, I can tell you that 1500 calories is not enough.

    You need to eat 1500 + whatever you burn exercising. You're doing yourself a great disservice and will probably lose a lot of lean muscle mass if you continue.

    You can probably even eat more than that and still lose close to 2lbs a week. But I can't do any calculations without your current weight.
  • michellekicks
    michellekicks Posts: 3,624 Member
    Oh my goodness yes. You're a 6'4" man in your 30s... you need more food.

    I am a 37 year old 5'7" woman weighing 160 lbs (a healthy weight for me) and I can maintain my weight on 2500-2700 calories daily. I eat 2000 calories daily to lose weight and that's a steep cut.

    What is your body weight and your goal weight? Go to this site and put in all your details:
    http://scoobysworkshop.com/accurate-calorie-calculator/
  • flitabout
    flitabout Posts: 200 Member
    Screwy as it sounds it makes perfect sense. You aren't eating enough to fuel your workouts so your body is becoming more efficant at dealing with the calories you are giving it. Not looking at the rest of your stats it sounds like you need to up your calories by around 500 a day. Look up a TDEE calculator and figure out what your number is and then subtract 10 to 20% from your TDEE. Lots of people seem to be having the same issues.
  • alexmweber
    alexmweber Posts: 3 Member
    Thanks for all of the responses. I took flitabout's advice and used the TDEE calculator and subtracted 20%. Based on that calculation I should eat over 2700 calories a day! That seems over the top. I'm not anorexic (at all), but I've been doing great keeping the calories down and don't want to add 1000 more to daily limit. Is this really right?
  • grimendale
    grimendale Posts: 2,153 Member
    I'm 6'-1" and I'm eating anywhere from 2600 to 3200 calories a day and losing fat. I'd drop over from exhaustion if I ate the way you do. 2700 sounds a lot more reasonable.
  • AJ_G
    AJ_G Posts: 4,158 Member
    You should eat more to make sure you're not losing a significant amount of your weight as muscle, but anybody who tells you that eating more calories will lead to faster weight loss, is completely wrong and has no idea what they're talking about. They're even more wrong if they cite the ever so popular, made up, "starvation mode" as the cause...
  • AJ_G
    AJ_G Posts: 4,158 Member
    Screwy as it sounds it makes perfect sense. You aren't eating enough to fuel your workouts so your body is becoming more efficant at dealing with the calories you are giving it. Not looking at the rest of your stats it sounds like you need to up your calories by around 500 a day. Look up a TDEE calculator and figure out what your number is and then subtract 10 to 20% from your TDEE. Lots of people seem to be having the same issues.

    Your metabolism can slow to adapt to large calorie deficits, but this does not happen in a matter of days, or weeks, it takes months...
  • Railr0aderTony
    Railr0aderTony Posts: 6,803 Member
    Here is some good info on who to figure out your BMR and TDEE and what all this stuff means. it can really help to have the right information.

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/975025-in-place-of-a-road-map-short-n-sweet
  • grimendale
    grimendale Posts: 2,153 Member
    You should eat more to make sure you're not losing a significant amount of your weight as muscle, but anybody who tells you that eating more calories will lead to faster weight loss, is completely wrong and has no idea what they're talking about. They're even more wrong if they cite the ever so popular, made up, "starvation mode" as the cause...

    The object, as you pointed out, is not faster weight loss but faster fat loss. You want to make sure to maintain muscle mass as you burn, and eating more helps with that, as does resistance training.
  • michellekicks
    michellekicks Posts: 3,624 Member
    Thanks for all of the responses. I took flitabout's advice and used the TDEE calculator and subtracted 20%. Based on that calculation I should eat over 2700 calories a day! That seems over the top. I'm not anorexic (at all), but I've been doing great keeping the calories down and don't want to add 1000 more to daily limit. Is this really right?

    Do it slowly. Add maybe 100/day for a week and then another 100/day for a week etc. You don't necessarily need to eat that much, but if you can get to where you can lose excess body fat eating that much, why wouldn't you? Then you can just pretty much live a normal life and not worry about calorie counting for the rest of your life. If you teach your body to survive on 1700 calories daily, it will adapt and learn how to do everything on that. Then, you will have to keep eating like that forever to maintain your weight.
  • ecdce
    ecdce Posts: 129 Member
    I'd venture to say those workouts are probably harder because you're eating so little. When you're eating more, you may find you've more steam to power through the workout than you had previously. I know when I'm not eating enough because I crap out after like 20 min of a hard workout, and it makes the other two thirds miserable. I just spend the whole time sucking at everything I try. But when I'm eating properly, I feel good. Tired but not exhausted. Shaky from muscle fatigue but not shaky from weakness.
  • alexmweber
    alexmweber Posts: 3 Member
    They're even more wrong if they cite the ever so popular, made up, "starvation mode" as the cause...

    Great feedback everyone. "Starvation mode" is what people have been telling me. I've been experiencing what ecde is talking about. I try to do at least an hour workout 5 days a week at Title boxing (which is intense) and typically cannot finish. I think I will up my calorie intake, but just to 2000 a day. I really am trying to lose weight fast though. I'm in a contest at work.

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