Well, whaddya know..eat more, lose more..:))

nimmi1302
nimmi1302 Posts: 48 Member
edited September 26 in Health and Weight Loss
For a long time, I have been sticking stubbornly to the 1200 cal diet, working out religiously, and not seeing any difference. I resisted "upping" the calories , until now.
Now that I have begin eating more, the scale is actually moving! Wish I had done this a long long time ago!

Replies

  • That_Girl
    That_Girl Posts: 1,324 Member
    How many calories are you eating now? (Net and total)
  • sd101483
    sd101483 Posts: 419 Member
    That is one of the hardest things to get over mentally "eat more to lose" - we are so programmed to think you have to eat a strict number of calories. I found I had to fiddle with my calorie intake to figure it out, but, once I upped it by about 200-250 calories, bingo, I started dropping - whattya know! ;-) Congrats on figure it out and the scale moving! Onward and upward...er, well...downard, I guess...technically! lol
  • taso42_DELETED
    taso42_DELETED Posts: 3,394 Member
    ah, my motto
  • moxette
    moxette Posts: 104 Member
    Sleep more lose more too! I always feel like the scale resists more when I am tired and not getting enough rest. I can be stuck on and then get a full 8 hours of sleep for 1 or 2 nights and vavoom.. out of the rut!
  • chevy88grl
    chevy88grl Posts: 3,937 Member
    It's crazy isn't it? And it goes against everything we are taught about weight loss. But, it works! Every time I drop my calories, I stop losing (and actually will gain some!). Then I'll up them again and what do you know? Off the weight comes. It's crazy and hard to wrap your mind around. But, it does work!
  • pilotgirl2007
    pilotgirl2007 Posts: 368 Member
    Same thing happened for me. I started dieting and then got used to the amount I was eating and when I started to try again I cut calories more until I was hardly netting anything. I am eating more now and it is moving slow but at least it is finally moving again!

    Congrats on getting the scale going again : )
  • theresabell67
    theresabell67 Posts: 97 Member
    i think we are all afraid to "up the calories" when it was "eating too much to start with" that got us here. I have been training witha friend who is a personal trainer for about 3 weeks, and she has been listening to me gripe & complain & moan... well you get the idea, about the scale not moving. And she has been telling me" you're not eating enough, and you have been eating some of the wrong things". So today after a grueling workout of cardio for 45 minutes at home and then working out with her I commented to her that i was going to attempt to eat more calories over the next 3 - 5 days with the hope that the scale will move. So... long story short, I sure hope this works out!!!!!!!!!
  • wilmelenne
    wilmelenne Posts: 113
    i've just started experimenting with this...i put the scale away and let's see what happens in a few weeks!
  • nimmi1302
    nimmi1302 Posts: 48 Member
    Sleep more lose more too! I always feel like the scale resists more when I am tired and not getting enough rest. I can be stuck on and then get a full 8 hours of sleep for 1 or 2 nights and vavoom.. out of the rut!

    This is something I seriously need to work on. I have been functioning on 5-6 hrs of sleep/night, and have felt absolutely fine, but I know I should sleep more.
  • DoReMiFaSoLaTiDo
    DoReMiFaSoLaTiDo Posts: 296
    For a long time, I have been sticking stubbornly to the 1200 cal diet, working out religiously, and not seeing any difference. I resisted "upping" the calories , until now.
    Now that I have begin eating more, the scale is actually moving! Wish I had done this a long long time ago!

    What was your BMI when you were sticking to your 1200 calories?? were you considered Obese, morbidly obese or overweight?? how close were you to your goals at that time?
  • cj1234cj23
    cj1234cj23 Posts: 113 Member
    okay, I'm confused. how are you eating more to lose more? did you up your calories in protein, carbs, what? this is something I'd like to know more about! :bigsmile:
  • MyNameIsNotBob
    MyNameIsNotBob Posts: 565 Member
    Worked for me. I stayed around 12-1400 cal. and didn't lose any weight for 3 weeks. Upped it to 15-1700, with the occasional 2,000+ day, and the weight has started flying off. I hope it stays like this!
  • maygans
    maygans Posts: 196 Member
    I think a lot of people have success with calorie cycling (or zig zagging). I personally had what I deemed was a really bad week for eating, and yesterday I hopped on the scale fully clothed after eating a big meal, just to get a general estimate of what the "damage" would be. I was DOWN 1 lb from my last weigh in (5 days prior). I had been eating anywhere from 200-400 calories more than the 1200 calories without any exercise (it's a bad week for me in the world of being a female!) and I...lost weight. It's not water weight loss, I'm retaining water like crazy, very bloated, but I was still happy to see that I was lower.

    I think the most important thing is to TRY THINGS OUT! If you're in a rut and haven't been able to lose anything for weeks then try eating more or changing a workout routine or whatever else you can try (that's still healthy for your body!) and see if it works. It can't hurt, right?
  • liftingbro
    liftingbro Posts: 2,029 Member
    okay, I'm confused. how are you eating more to lose more? did you up your calories in protein, carbs, what? this is something I'd like to know more about! :bigsmile:

    Sometimes if you are not eating as much as you should, it slows metabolism. It does not totally stop, but it can slow it quite a bit. By eating a couple of hundred more calories you can increase metabolism if you have too big of a deficit.
  • hroush
    hroush Posts: 2,073 Member
    I discovered this as well. Was losing 1 lb a week at 1700, upped it to 2000 and some fun out to eat dinners and I'm doing about 2 lbs a week.
  • funfitfoodie
    funfitfoodie Posts: 630 Member
    Okay I'm now at 119.2 lbs and struggling to lose anything atm (goal is 110lbs). Do you guys think I should up my NET calories from 1200 (I was thinking to maybe like 1500) upping my calories scares me! I need advice!
  • BBBgettingfit
    BBBgettingfit Posts: 58 Member
    Same here! I was sticking quite close to the 1200 calories, plus whatever I earned through exercise (I'm not very overweight - BMI of 26-point-something) and after losing around four pounds total in my first few weeks, I actually slowly started gaining weight. Now I'm eating roughly 1500 calories per day (plus whatever I earn through exercise) and I saw the scale move in the correct direction this morning again! This is so strange and so counterintuitive, but I gave it a shot, and it seems to be working. Apparently my body was reacting poorly to what wasn't enough calories for it, and now that I'm feeding myself properly, all is well again :)
  • nimmi1302
    nimmi1302 Posts: 48 Member
    For a long time, I have been sticking stubbornly to the 1200 cal diet, working out religiously, and not seeing any difference. I resisted "upping" the calories , until now.
    Now that I have begin eating more, the scale is actually moving! Wish I had done this a long long time ago!

    What was your BMI when you were sticking to your 1200 calories?? were you considered Obese, morbidly obese or overweight?? how close were you to your goals at that time?
  • nimmi1302
    nimmi1302 Posts: 48 Member
    For a long time, I have been sticking stubbornly to the 1200 cal diet, working out religiously, and not seeing any difference. I resisted "upping" the calories , until now.
    Now that I have begin eating more, the scale is actually moving! Wish I had done this a long long time ago!

    What was your BMI when you were sticking to your 1200 calories?? were you considered Obese, morbidly obese or overweight?? how close were you to your goals at that time?


    My BMI was 30, and now it's 29. COnsidered overweight now. I was nowhere close to my goal. I have lost about 6 labs, most of it in the last 4 weeks.
  • Newfiedan
    Newfiedan Posts: 1,517 Member
    bmi is not worth the paper it was written on, this is why I constantly preach that you need to feed to succeed, same as tom venuto, marvelous books he has written and by far my fav author. Keeping it simple and understanding how the body works to maximize fat loss. I am living proof of that, eating 1940 cals a day, eating all my exercise cals or at least 90% of them and shedding fat easily, 100 days in 30.4 pounds down, and not a single plateau. It pains me greatly to see women and men on here starving themselves thinking that it is beneficial to fat loss, and they are only harming themselves and making it harder than it needs to be.
  • Newfiedan
    Newfiedan Posts: 1,517 Member
    Okay I'm now at 119.2 lbs and struggling to lose anything atm (goal is 110lbs). Do you guys think I should up my NET calories from 1200 (I was thinking to maybe like 1500) upping my calories scares me! I need advice!
    give it a week or 2, what do you have to lose?
  • nimmi1302
    nimmi1302 Posts: 48 Member
    bmi is not worth the paper it was written on, this is why I constantly preach that you need to feed to succeed, same as tom venuto, marvelous books he has written and by far my fav author. Keeping it simple and understanding how the body works to maximize fat loss. I am living proof of that, eating 1940 cals a day, eating all my exercise cals or at least 90% of them and shedding fat easily, 100 days in 30.4 pounds down, and not a single plateau. It pains me greatly to see women and men on here starving themselves thinking that it is beneficial to fat loss, and they are only harming themselves and making it harder than it needs to be.

    I am beginning to realize this now. Still looking for healthy calorie dense foods- any suggestions?
  • Becky1971
    Becky1971 Posts: 979 Member
    Me too, doing WW I was stuck for months that was last year. After coming to MFP, I was on 1200, and hungry and nothing consistent was happening. So it was suggested to up my cals, and I did, I'm not hungry and I'm losing. Wish I had known back then.
  • BStayer
    BStayer Posts: 22
    Last weekend I went to Vegas for work. The first day I did good. The rest of the time (2 more days afterwards), I had to eat the meals that were brought into our meetings. This food was not decided on 'healthy choices'. So I didnt' eat so well. When I got back, weighed myself and I lost 1 lb. Huh?? I still can't figure it out other than that my metabolism is so ramped up from my normal diet of eating a meal every 2-3 hours and eating 6-8 times a day that it just burned everything I gave it those days! Needless to say, I'm pretty happy!
  • Newfiedan
    Newfiedan Posts: 1,517 Member
    I am beginning to realize this now. Still looking for healthy calorie dense foods- any suggestions?
    almonds, natural nut butters, edamame, fruits, natural oils (olive, macadamia nut, canola)
  • jdm_taco
    jdm_taco Posts: 999 Member
    Its pretty sweet, isn't it? lol!!!


    Where's my cinnamon rasin peanut butter? :laugh:
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