Eating enough?

What are your stats? How much have you lost since you started back on MFP? Can you open your diary? Most likely you're eating more than you think, as if you weren't eating enough you would still lose.

If you aren't losing weight, yes, you are eating enough.

Measuring or weighing? Because there can be a huge difference in using cups (which only give the volume of what you're eating) and a food scale (which gives an exact amount).

Despite popular myth, if you eat too few calories it makes your weight go down not up. There are factors like salt intake and muscle development that can make you seem the same weight in spite of fewer calories but you cannot lose weight by eating more calories. You can lose weight by eating more food if you are trading heavier greasier food for lean meats and veggies but you cannot lose weight long term by increasing your calories while maintaining the same exercise routine. If calories in are less than calories out body fat goes down, if calories in are greater than calories out body fat goes up. Think of it like a glass of water. If you drink 1 ounce but add 2 ounces back the glass does not become less full. Your fat is just stored calories, when you eat you add to the storage and when you exercise you take out of storage. Everything else is just what people do to make dieting easier for them. Zone, Atkins, Weight watcher, jenny craig, Slimfast, are all just ways to train yourself to eat less. Some do it by carefully controlling your calories so that you adjust to a lower number. Others do it by giving you more filling food like protein and fat instead of carbs. In the end the result is the same, if you eat less you lose if you eat more you gain.

deemarie1 wrote: »

If you are not taking in enough calories your body will go into starvation mode. If you train heavy with weights you need to be sure you are eating enough to keep from losing your lean muscle. If I eat less than a certain amount each day, my weight loss stalls and I start storing fat and losing muscle. You have to figure out what your stall point is, which is the point that your body will slow down your metabolism and store rather than burn fat, then once you start eating normally again (not overeating) you will gain it back twice as fast because it takes a few weeks for your body to realize it does not need to store fat. Hence why most people gain back plus. They restrict their diet too much. Slow and steady is best.

Other than lifting to retain muscle mass, no

I agree that if you are not eating enough, your body will go into starvation mode. You can calculate you maintenance calories with an online calculator then subtract 500 calories. Make that your goal, log your activity, and eat the recommended calories suggested. Just make sure you are getting the right amount of protein, healthy fats and healthy carbs and drinking half your body weight in oz of water each day.

http://scoobysworkshop.com/accurate-calorie-calculator/

I've been using that calculator for years. It's the most accurate I've found.