I am only one week into eating more (1900 to 2000 cals per day) but I have to say that for the first time in months (no... a little over a year) I have energy! Since about Thursday, I've gotten out of bed actually feeling refreshed and feeling as though I got a good night's rest. And I have energy to last me through the day. I had been running out of gas by mid afternoon and was beginning to think something was seriously wrong with me. I don't plan to step on the scale for a month so that I don't become discouraged by any weight gain from giving my body what it needs. This change in my energy levels is enough for me at the moment to keep me going.

PS. When I started dedicating myself to losing weight in March 2011, I did a round of P90x and Insanity and was able to lose 35 pounds. I completely ignored the advice of the Beachbody diet guides and limited myself to 1200 calories every day with eating the occasional exercise calorie back. I went on vacation for 10 days in August 2011 and ate like a normal human being and then came back home to restrict myself to 1200 cals per day and haven't been able to lose a single pound since. The usual 5-pound fluctuations, but no marked weight loss since then and no change in my body composition despite working out. As I said above, the only thing I had going was complete lack of energy and having to drag myself out of bed every morning.

I am very happy to be here and to read all of the information you've provided!

Glad you mentioned this, many experience it.

And from studies this is exactly how the body protects enough calories for a slightly lowered BMR - by slowing you down.
I'll bet you not only have more energy, I'll bet it's being used.

And while you might burn 500 during a workout, and seem to be eating most of that back in reality, you also are now burning 200-300 more daily that your slower non-energy body was conserving.

So by eating more, you actually can burn more now. Even above and beyond the metabolism speeding back up.

Hello,

I'm new to the group and to the idea of eating more to lose weight! For years my weight has ballooned, and then a few years I went on a very restrictive 1000-1200 cal diet and lost 60 pounds. I'm happy with my weight now, but losing a few extra pounds wouldn't hurt. The thing is, I'm sick of maintaining at 1000-1200 cals, and would like to reset my metabolism.

A quick question: has anyone found that birth control interferes when you cut? I just went on a hormonal bc pill for the first time, and am worried that might mean I'm not able to lose weight.

Also, I have some confusion about what kind of diet to eat while resettting. I'm a pescatarian who eats vegan 80% of the time (mostly dairy intolerant), so protein has always been an issue. Any advice would be great!

Oh, and my TDEE is 2017, TWICE the amount of my usual net calories. Scary....

Thanks!

I hate to tell you, but if you are maintaining on 1200 calories for a while - that is your TDEE right now.

You likely lost enough muscle mass too that you'd never get metabolism up to 2000 calories, so don't attempt it, you'll gain weight bad.

Start increasing your calories by 100 daily for 2 weeks at a time, and start lifting, no cardio. At least that way extra calories will be put towards muscle use.

You should gain some fast water weight, as you are probably living on slightly depleted glucose stores, and those will finally top off.

Just keep increasing until you get no fast water weight gain after increasing.

Thanks for this. I just started this lifestyle change on July 4th after stumbling onto some threads about TDEE. I have been the "1,200 cals or less" and "fasting" dieter for years. I have lost weight twice in my life, this is my third attempt. I was able to achieve "success" with those other methods, but as you can see I gain it back once I start "eating" again. This is my second week and I feel like i'm already seeing results. I didn't loose a pound on the scale, but I did maintain and that means something to me. I am in this for the long haul, I dont feel hungry ever...I get through my workouts easier...and I actually don't see it as a diet. I'm hoping to see some weight loss later on, but I am willing to be patient with my body so that it can trust me again lol. I've been starving it for a long time. NO MORE!

Anyone that's starting on this campaign and wants to add me feel free, i'm ALL ABOUT THIS!

I started reading and watching videos this morning on the subject of metabolic damage and haven't stopped! I feel like I have finally found the truth about why I'm having such a hard time losing weight. I've dieted and regained nearly my entire life and in doing so, have completely screwed up my metabolism and body composition to the point where I cannot lose weight!

I've cried several times today, realizing what I have done to myself and realizing that there is hope for me!

I used several different sites to figure my BMR and TDEE, and got different answers, of course, so I'm not sure exactly where to start, but I THINK my first steps should be:

1. up my calories to somewhere around 1900-2100
2. get a personal trainer and start lifting heavy weight
3. walk for exercise

I weigh 300 lbs. My goal for now, is 230. At that time, I will set a new goal.

Questions:
Am I on the right track?
How in the WORLD does someone eat 2000 calories (of healthy food) in one day? It seems impossible at this time. I've been full all day and dinner is approaching. Will it get easier when I start building muscle?

I have all the patience I need! I've lost 80 lbs with low calorie, low carb, high protein, etc. You name it, I've done it! And I managed to lose some weight, but nothing is working now. My body is empty and I know I need to nurse it back to working right.

Thank you for being here! Thank you! Thank you!

Try the spreadsheet referenced on my profile for best estimates of everything, because likely that TDEE is based on BMR based on age, weight, height, NOT bodyfat %.

And if you've been doing this for years, the difference in BMR is probably 200-400, which means you would have to actual deficit when you took a cut.

Good plan, increase 100 cal daily a week at a time, maybe 2 weeks at a time.

It's not hard to eat 2000 calories of healthy food. Actually, when you eat enough, you can practice the 80/20 method as long as it doesn't have you fall off the wagon - 80% of calories is healthy nutrition, 20% is stuff you enjoy that may not be great. When you know you get something every day, for some easier to hold out.

Almonds and peanut butter help a lot.

Ok so I have more energy, but am gaining weight. I am 5 ft 5 and started at 175 then dropped to 173 now back to 175 again in just 2 weeks. I have also noticed that when I brush my hair it seems to be falling out.
So my question is ? Is my body just trying to figure out what I am up to? I have more energy and can finally sleep and think clearly so no complaints there.
A little history.....I broke my back in 1995 in a car accident 1 yr later another rear ended me. This created a spiral of no exercise and a lot of pain. I still worked and taught but not as vigorously. 2002 my mother had a stroke and so we did a medical on me and decided at 203 lbs or was time to do something. Dieting, nutritionalists, you name it and all I can say is I learned to eat less, eat no bread, rice, potatoes. I learned to log calories and food. 800 was normal with eating out on weekends and home meals I would "binge" up to 1200. No one can explain to me why I only weigh what I do. Some days drinking coffee all day and no food. Of course I was also moody, had chronic migraine headaches and was very forgetful. I will take any little success I can. I would so love to go to a pot luck or a party and be able to eat. I still remember crying at one pancake breakfast as the Dr. Had ordered no breads. Only protein, fruit, and vegetables.....of which none were served. Never again!
So how do I make sure I have my calorie intake right? My scale says 29% fat 38% lean mass and 1754 calories.

Please help!

I'm SO glad I found this group. I've been researching about weight loss and all things point to eating more. So, it's really nice to find real stories and a support system now that I'm embarking on this plan...

After college I developed the worst eating habits ever. I never had to watch what I ate so I never did. I wouldn't eat until lunch and then just ate huge meals after that. This, of course, caught up to me (with age) and I started packing on the pounds. I started fad dieting (no carbs, low carbs, all fruit diets, isagenix, you name it). This only seemed to worsen the problem. I packed on another 20lbs going on and off diets. In the last 5 years I've only been able to lose and gain back the same 10lbs and ANY weight loss was VERY difficult for me, no matter what I did. Now that I just entered my 30s, I REALLY started to panic about this and incorporated fad diets + 1200 cal restrictions and (surprise), I just gained more weight. In the last 6 months alone I've gained another 10lbs just switching between diets (and binging out of frustration).

So, my question is, do you think I need a reset or is just upping my calories ok? My latest diets were no carbs and then dr. oz "3 day detox" (stupid, I know). I usually aim for 1200-1250 calories but after reading all this, I upped my calories to 1500 (little to no processed food) and I eat back exercise calories if it's more than 500. Oddly enough, in the 3 days I did nothing but drink fruit/vegetable smoothies I didn't lose an ounce. In the couple of days I've been eating 1500 calories of real food, I dropped 3lbs.

My stats are 31yrs old, 179lbs (as of today), 5'0 and moderate exercise a couple of times a week . Any advice would be great and thanks again for all your stories. I read most of them all day today!

Yes, and during that reset do nothing but lifting.

You sound like you've constantly burned away muscle mass through these years, and you have rightfully a slower than needed or expected metabolism because of it.
That would be why hard to lose and easier to gain, you have the metabolism of a much smaller person, besides it being suppressed probably.

You need to increase your LBM and hopefully your muscles mass by doing that lifting while eating at maintenance.

By end of reset, hopefully a better thought process regarding food, hopefully more LBM, hopefully increased metabolism that won't move so fast from stress.

You should also use the spreadsheet on my profile page, without the LBM expected for your age, weight, height, your TDEE is not as high as the Mifflin or Harris BMR would lead you to believe.
And just flat out eating more than needed isn't going to magically cure it all.

Thanks so much for your advice! So cut out all cardio during the reset? And also, are there any indicators that it's time to cut, or is there a specific time frame for reset in general? Thanks again for answering. The thought of adding on even MORE weight is freaking me out, so I just wanna have all the information before I start!

Bump, I am also upping my calories from 1200 - 1600 to 1900.
6ft2 tall with about 15 kilograms to go.

so, I'm a little over a week at 1550 calories, which is my BMR. I'm slowly trying to go up to TDEE but I found that in the last couple of days I've gained about 2lbs and just feel bloated and heavy overall. Is this normal? I expected to gain weight when I hit TDEE, but if I'm only eating at BMR, why would I be gaining weight now? Sorry, I'm just freaking out a bit and scared how much is gonna pack on when I add 200 more calories.

On another note, I never thought it would be this difficult to eat more! I find myself really struggling to eat at 1550 without eating junk.

Totally normal, means you were really living low constantly on glucose stores being depleted, you are starting to top them off now.

Glucose stores with water, and increases your LBM, which means your metabolism increases.

Would you rather have water weight or fat weight?

Most who comment on gaining weight eating at TDEE went straight there, if they had gone slow, would have gained it now too.

Some may be fat not lost, because if metabolism truly was low at prior eating level, you are eating in excess right now.

Hence the reason lifting is so beneficial - lifting with excess calories is how you build muscle. So now is the time for total lifting focus, no cardio except walking on recovery days. Of course that means your TDEE is different, but since still working your way up to it, you can switch back over to desired routine once you've been at TDEE for couple days.

I feel like I've been punk'd by learning all of this! No wonder I couldn't lose weight for so long. No wonder I felt better after I "cheated"; I was eating what I should've been eating! I have been on a diet for years and I'm new to calorie counting...I did the infamous 1200 that mfp suggested and gained 2 lbs in a week. I read that sometimes increasing calories helped the weight drop off, so I increased my calories to 1500 per day and I felt amazing. I lost 2 lbs but then gained them back the following week. I've been eating 1500 calories for about 1.5 months and for the last 3 weeks I've been doing treadmill workouts and strength training. Usually I'd burn anywhere from 300-450 calories 4 days per week.

My BMR is 1389 and my TDEE is 1910. Based on what I'm reading, I plan on increasing to 1800 per day and then In week or 2 after that stabilizes to increase it to 1900. (Wanting to ease into it to not have so much bloating discomfort.) my question is is how long do I have to stay at 1800-1900 calories per day before I can back it down to 1500 so I can finally lose this weight? I'm 5'1" and 160.5 as of today, goal is 140. I've been losing inches and fitting better into my clothes already since increasing my calories so I'm hoping this trend continues.

Hi all.

Thanks for the really helpful info here and other pinned posts.

I did follow this lifestyle from June 2012 - July 2013 while I didn't lose lots of lbs I dropped a dress size and felt great. I had energy to run to go to bootcamp classes and whatever else life threw my way.

July last year I got injured in a 14m race and had to stop exercising as I want exercising without thinking I reduced what I are, add in a crazy renovation project at home (no kitchen as such for months) working away eating out in restaurants, buying lunch from the canteen meaning high cal meals but not always healthy and I put on around 1/2st. But I'm back to exercising and now have very little energy.

I posted a thread where I've received some great advice ie get those cals up and it made me remember that I can eat more and do this again.

I can't post often as we're not supposed to access internet from work but hey rules are I be broken so I apologise if I am not very active but just to add that I will keep abreast of the threads an hopefully be able to offer the same support to other members in the future.

Thank you all.

Hi everyone

I just discovered this eat more to weigh less method and I am super excited!
I have lost 22kg/48lbs in 10 months, by sticking to a 1390cal intake and exercising, usually eating back some or all of my calories. With this my net intake would generally end up being around the 1100-1300 per day.

I workout 6 days a week, between 45-60mins per session and usually burning around 400-500 cals. In the past few months my weight loss has slowed down ALOT, and the past 3 weeks has stopped completely, so I started researching.

According to the scooby calculator my BMR is 1618 (28 yrs old, 162cm tall, 83.7kg)
TDEE is 1942.
If i set my activity level to sedentary (idea of this is that I add on my exercise burn afterwards, rather than working on an average)
Based on this my cut is down to 1650 calories. (calorie reduction of 15%)
If I set my activity to 1-3 hrs a week, TDEE is 2225 and cut 1891
Moderate activity is TDEE 2508 and cut at 2132

Based on these numbers I can see why I stalled in the weightloss, with consistently eating under BMR! MFP is a great tool to start off the process, but I can see how it can actually become quite bad if you're trying to apply the same rule after a long time and when your body has changed!

So for the past week, I've re-set my food goals to a calorie limit of 1650. And I've been manually logging my exercise on top of that. If my HRM says I burnt 450, I deduct the number I would have already burned just by doing nothing (based on TDEE number worked out a per hour basis).

Hopefully this will work and I'm doing it right.
I am excited!! Its weird eating more though.

One additional point.

If your exercise was included in your TDEE - it would have had 15% knocked off of it being in there.

Since you've taken it out - after you remove the already accounted for calories, still knock off the 15%.

And if your weight loss slowed and stopped to what the numbers said should have been happening - you likely are not actually burning in exercise what is reported, even more so with the possible inflation.

Is this a Polar with stat for VO2max that you did the self-test for?

If not, you are likely fit enough at this point to be getting underestimated calorie burns, meaning bigger deficit than you think.

Hi Heybales, thanks for replying,
my TDEE of 1942 is based on me putting my activity level at sedentary.. is that wrong?
My HRM is a polar FT7..pretty basic. So not sure what the VO2 thing you mention is.

For example this morning I did a step aerobic class, and I burned around 540 calories according to HRM, I deducted 80 calories as it was a 1hr class, as 1942 TDEE divided by 24hrs, is 80 calories per hour. So got my actual class burn to be about the 460 mark. Is that right?

I have then set my Daily calories goal based on reducing calorie intake by 15% to 1650.
So today for e.g. I will be eating 1650. Plus the 460 I burned in my 1hr step class. (based on sedentary setting)

Is that right?

Or would it be smarter for me to set my activity level to moderate exercise (3-5hr per week).. and just not log my actual HRM calorie burn?
This would make my TDEE 2508 and daily goal by reducing 15% to 2132.

Thanks so much for your help, really appreciate it.

Close, but missing some deficit.

Sedentary is right if that is indeed your 45 hr desk job/commute. If you work 40 hrs at day care chasing around kids, not a chance sedentary. You get the idea.

That is a basic HRM without that stat of VO2max - which is the main way of calculating calories burned from HR. It means your ability to transport oxygen, which is used to burn fuel aerobically. If not fit, heart must beat faster to get enough oxygen and you breath faster. If fit, heart can go slower and you don't breath as much. And that's keeping the intensity, or pace, the same.
Since it doesn't have that stat, it bases it on your BMI, and gender and age. If that's a bad BMI for gender and age, then you are given a low VO2max to use in the math. If good BMI, then higher value.
But that's a bad assumption, because in 1 month you can improve your VO2max while weight hasn't moved much, so the HRM would be under-estimating calories burned.

If you ever have time for treadmill warmup prior to intended workout, try this to get an idea.
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/774337-how-to-test-hrm-for-how-accurate-calorie-burn-is

That potential inaccuracy, and mis-use of HRM for calorie burn in weight lifting, which many do in this group like to do as workout, is why they just go for full TDEE method, then it doesn't matter what the individual burn is, it's all averaged out anyway.

So back to your example.
Reported burn 540.
Minus what was expected to be burned anyway. 540 - 80 = 460.
Minus the 15% deficit. 460 x 0.85 = 391 to eat back.

Because normally exercise would be in the TDEE level of calories, and the % knocked off.

(sedentary + exercise) x 0.85 = (sedentary x 0.85) + ( exercise x 0.85)

Also, if you want to follow the MFP style, you might as well get the auto adjust for weight lost automatically.
Set MFP activity level to sedentary, weight loss goal to maintain. Exercise goals to whatever. Save.
Then go to Goals to manually setup, and there in Net eating goal is your sedentary TDEE.
Take it times 0.85 and change the value. Change the macros. Save.

Now log exercise calories as shown above and eat those back.

When you lose enough weight to matter, MFP will ask if you want to adjust your goals, you say yes, and that's your reminder to then immediately go into the Goals and manually do your sedentary TDEE shown x 0.85 and change it.

That's also the reminder to go change your stats on your HRM for better accuracy.

If your workout is even semi-regular, more often than not - usually learning how to eat the same amount daily does help, so using the straight TDEE Deficit method works better.
But if you do that method and add an extra workout not account for in your 3-5 hrs, then you log and eat it back with same math shown above.
If you miss a planned workout - you skip 100 calories that day per hr. If you make it up, you eat 100 more.

What can happen with your intended method, unless you know you won't do it, is you log your workout, but then your goal is high enough you can't get it in. And you keep doing that day after day of working out.
So you've just caused the deficit to not be reasonable now.
Also being able to plan things better isn't there. Maybe you did eat all day correct for the workout you were planning on doing, then emergency and no workout, and you only 100 calories left for dinner, but you thought you'd get about 500 left. Now what?

But maybe that won't be a problem for you.

Hi All,

I'm 3 weeks in to eating TDEE-20%. Before this I had lost 34 lbs on WW in the first 9 months, but then it stopped, and no matter what I did, I couldn't not lose one more pound. I upped my workout days, measured and weighed everything, played with eating more of my weekly points, less of my weekly points, eating ONLY my daily points, etc. Nothing worked. Within the year that I was on a plateau, I went off "plan" for 10 days in April when we went to Disney, and gained 5 lbs. After coming back, I could NOT take that 5 lbs off so it stayed. Then months and months went by with me trying to start losing weight again with WW, and nothing. So holiday season came around and I said F it and didn't track for 2 weeks. I gained 5 lbs. Needless to say, that never came off either.

So I started MFP and figured out how many cals I was eating within my WW points....it was about 1400. I researched more and found EM2WL and it made a lot of sense. Especially on why I couldn't lose one more pound on WW which worked so well for me for a year! Anyhoo, for 3 weeks now I have been eating at TDEE-20%, about 1800-1900 cals/ day. I also incorporated 2 days of heavy lifting each week to my regular workout schedule. I was hoping to be one of those lucky people that started eating more cals and viola! start losing again, but nope, of course that would be too easy. I have, overall, gained 3 lbs since starting this. I did read this whole thread so i KNEW what to expect but I'm still very frustrated. I'm now the heaviest i have been in the past 2 years and it's scary. I'm afraid I'm going to gain back every pound I lost. But I'm going to hang in there and hope and pray that I start losing again. I'm a big girl.....so this isn't about inches or not looking at the scale. I have a good amount of weight to lose so success is on the scale for me.

Anyhoo, this got really long, sorry! But any encouragement/ advice you could give me would be great. Thank you all!

Eating in total 1400 calories and exercise taking some of those off the top for purely mechanical movement - how much you figure you were leaving your body for everything else?
Or was it 1400 calories, and then more when you exercised? Again, how much in total then you reckon?

So 3-4 lbs is about the water weight gained when glycogen stores with water are finally put back. Same big weight loss everyone gets going on a diet. You likely had more since bigger deficit.

Did you base TDEE level on Katch BMR using a bodyfat estimate?
Because I'm sure you burned off decent amount of muscle mass during that diet time, and non-Katch BMR and TDEE levels are probably inflated for you right now, well for a long time anyway, if not based on Katch BMR.

And it sounds like no reset to unstress the body by moving slowly up to eating at potential TDEE level? Why not?

Now, that ain't your TDEE level of course right now, yours is suppressed, hence anything over that is excess, but at least while lifting it can be used.

Might try the spreadsheet on my profile page - stay on Simple Setup and Progress tab only.

Get your measurements down if not already, other stats you know. Think about your weekly planned routine.

When you get that BF%, it'll probably be using the handheld or scale BF type, not that trustworthy, throw it in to the BF calculator to average in with the measurement method.

You are right, with 1400-1500 total with exercise, your system is not what the non-BF calcs will tell you.

And reset very needed, unless you are genetically gifted for fast body response to improve. Which also could mean fast response to tighten up when threatened.