For Those of You Who Lost a Lot of Weight

I had to keep upping mine as I went.

I let MFP set my goals for me. It has worked great. As I've lost weight the calorie allotment has gotten lower. I use exercise to "buy" more calories, which gives me the ability to have occasional treats. I rarely eat back all of my exercise calories. That said, there are plateaus. It is a natural part of the process. Sometimes my weight stays the same for weeks, though I'm "doing everything right." I stay with the program, and eventually my weight drops again. Getting enough exercise and water are important factors for me. Good luck.

I let MFP set my goals for me. It has worked great. As I've lost weight the calorie allotment has gotten lower. I use exercise to "buy" more calories, which gives me the ability to have occasional treats. I rarely eat back all of my exercise calories. That said, there are plateaus. It is a natural part of the process. Sometimes my weight stays the same for weeks, though I'm "doing everything right." I stay with the program, and eventually my weight drops again. Getting enough exercise and water are important factors for me. Good luck.

I had a similar approach/experience. And I totally agree with Jester as well

Thanks for the replies, everyone. I do have a food scale and weigh just about everything. Eating more to lose weight doesn't seem intuitive. All the research I've read points to a deficit causing weight loss, so why would eating more be the answer to overcoming a stall?

Anyway, I had an epic fail today with eating 1,460 calories and 1/3 of calories burned back. Ended up so hungry by evening I ate the 1,460 plus all my exercise calories. If I'm to stick to this new plan, I'm going to have to find willpower of steel to keep me from the goodies in the house. If there's research to show that eating more can help with weigh loss, I'd love some links! I want to be convinced. :flowerforyou:

The number of calories you burn in a day is your TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure). To lose weight, you need to eat less than that. "Eating more to weigh less" doesn't mean eating more than your TDEE, it really means eating more than a lot of people think you need to eat to lose weight - more than the bare minimum. It means not having a huge calorie deficit. I'm not an expert, but the theory is, I think, that by eating at a smaller deficit, you avoid losing too much lean mass as you lose weight, and avoid your metabolic rate adapting too much in a downwards direction. There is a group forum on this too: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/forums/show/3834-eat-more-to-weigh-less

I have lost 65 kg (approx 145 lbs). I have stuck to the calories mfp gave me the whole way through and had a steady 1 kg/w (2 lbs/wk) loss for an entire year and .5 kg (1 lb) /wk loss since. The last month I've had a plateau because I'm only 2kg from goal and that's always the last to lose, but I have lost 1 kg this week and that's cool.

I had myself set to 1.5 lbs/wk loss for the first year and ate my calories and half my exercise calories back. When I bought myself a HRM (heart rate monitor), I then ate ALL of my exercise calories back.

I learned that going over on sodium caused me to retain water and thus look like I'd either gained weight or I had plateaued. I learned that if I didn't eat enough fibre, I would get, ahem, backed up and that, too, would make me look like I had either gained weight or I had plateaued. I learned that sometimes, the scales don't move, but the cm/inches do! It's not all about the scales. I also learned that drinking water was really important and I try to always get my full 8 cups of water in every day.

Also, to answer your question about when to reduce calories, I followed MFP's suggestion of reducing calories every 5 kg lost and I did it in line with MFP's recommendations. In my opinion, it's best to follow the "programme", rather than muck with it thinking I know better.


ETA: My 1kg/wk loss doesn't mean that I lost 1 kg per week every week. It means that in 52 weeks, I lost 51.something kg, so it's an average number. Some weeks I lost nothing, some weeks I lost 2 kg to make up for it! As another poster said, weight loss is not linear.

I lowered mine WAY too much - went down to 1200 on paper, (and 900 was the reality if I'm being honest)

But then I started lifting weights as well as cardio, and eating more - and the results are A LOT, as in MUCHO better. I have more energy, my bodyfat is going bye-bye, and I feel like a warrior.

I actually eat more than I did when I started now, but I'm more active too. When I started, my goal was not too bad, 1690 or something ('lose 1 lb a week' always), but I was avoiding all 'junk' so was usually full after 1200-1400 calories. Then I started working out a bit without eating my exercise calories... then started eating some back once I got my HRM, and increased my calories little by little... I eat 1700 now (although still less if I'm really not hungry), but it's easier because I've started eating 'junk' again.

I just pretty much eat close to MFP's goal plus exercise calories still.