EAT MORE CALORIES TO LOSE MORE WEIGHT? WHA?

t1nk6
t1nk6 Posts: 215 Member
edited February 3 in Health and Weight Loss
3 months ago I was 17 stone 6lb , 5.9ft and started a 1200cal diet and none or limited exercise and losing (sometimes gaining) 1-2 lb a week after losing 17lb in the first 3 weeks. im now 15 stone 6lb and my diet has now upped my calories to 1380 per day to help me lose more weight?

Im confused .. how is this supposed to make me lose more? i have a lot to lose still , my original healthy weight was 8st but id be happy being under 12st.

Replies

  • pavrg
    pavrg Posts: 277 Member
    To lose 1 lb a week at your height/weight, you should be eating around 1500-1600 calories/day. That will give you about a 1 lb/week average weight loss. That's about as much as you can do without feeling hungry/lathargic/crappy about your diet and thus dumping it and without losing too much lean body mass in the process.

    Having said that, are you still rigorously tracking your food intake? Are you picking/snacking at food throughout the day? You would still be losing weight at 1200 or 1350 calories/day.
  • t1nk6
    t1nk6 Posts: 215 Member
    ive had the odd chippy or mcdonalds the past month but im back on track now ..thanks for the reply ;)
  • Greenrun99
    Greenrun99 Posts: 2,065 Member
    don't have to starve yourself to lose weight... people think they have to give up everything and suffer to lose weight.. and that will lead to their failure.
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,947 Member
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants


    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/3817-eat-more-to-weigh-less
    The Group here ^^ literally has hundreds of posts on this topic.
  • RunHardBeStrong
    RunHardBeStrong Posts: 33,068 Member
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants


    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/3817-eat-more-to-weigh-less
    The Group here ^^ literally has hundreds of posts on this topic.

    +1. Eat more still means eat less than you burn but enough to fuel your body and not be miserable in the process.
  • sympha01
    sympha01 Posts: 942 Member
    td;dr version: Very Low Calorie Diets or VLCDs are only appropriate for a short period of time. They can be useful for obese people to "kick start" a diet for a few weeks. However, over longer periods of time the stress of such a large calorie deficit can cause hormone imbalances / deficiencies that make it harder to lose weight. Messed up hormone signals are essentially telling our bodies to conserve energy ("dude, there's not enough food around! turn off the lights!") and cause important body functions to slow down or even shut down. Plus, the hormones can cause us to feel cranky, dumber, and weaker of will (i.e., more likely to cheat or give up the diet). So the idea is to gradually increase calories after starting a VLCD to avoid damaging your metabolism AND to stay emotionally strong.

    For a longer-term diet, the idea is that you shouldn't eat less than 20% below your Total Daily Energy Expenditure or TDEE. As long as you are eating ANYWHERE below your TDEE, you will lose weight if your metabolism isn't damaged. It can take years for your metabolism to recover if you do damage it by extreme undereating for a long period of time.
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