Maintaining yet eating MORE calories than ever :)
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This is like the nicest thread I've ever read. I mean, no mockery. And it's about eating more and exercising and not starving yourself to lose weight. Awesome. Bravo everyone! Can't wait to get to this point!0
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Until I read this thread, I thought I was doing good upping my calories to 1300 and eating back exercise calories. I would love to be able to eat two thousand calories a day and lose or even just maintain at a weight I want to be at. I don't know if it will ever happen, but I can sure try!0
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Are you folks eating a bigger meal before or after youre exercising?0
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mymodernbabylon wrote: »Come join us at Eat More 2 Weigh Less - we're all about eating as much as you can while either maintaining or losing weight. I'm losing on 1925 and maintain on 2350. I'm in my 40s as well.
- http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/3817-eat-more-2-weigh-less
That's cool!
I only have a couple more kg's to go and I have been losing eating around mid 2100 gross calories. I lost just over 3/4 of a kg (1.7 lbs) in the past 6 weeks eating mid 2100 gross calories! I'm guessing I can maintain on an average of somewhere between 2300-2500.
Goal is to be able to maintain on 2500 gross calories.
I'm 5 foot 2, 57.6 kg, (127 pounds) 42 years old female
Last week I tried to lower my calories to 1950 gross calories but have found it too difficult. Body seems to need around 2100 so I'll try to stick to as close to 2000 as I can.
I'm thrilled I am able to lose nearly a kg every 6 weeks eating so much!!!
Best thing is I don't go hungry!
What's your story. How much do you weigh and how much more do you want to lose? 0 -
RunRutheeRun wrote: »Am I among the seemingly few who want to eat as MANY calories as possible yet maintain my weight?
I was thinking about a post I made on my newsfeed last night about eating 2200 calories that day, yet still being hungry (it was a high cardio day). I realised to some that I really must sound like a greedy gorb (and maybe I am! lol)
I have become very active since I started my journey with MFP in May 2012, its been a huge factor in me being able to stay trim.
I know for everyone its different, but do people like restricting themselves so much IF they don't actually need to?
For me its fabulous to be able to eat more calories and maintain
(ps I have been reverse dieting for the past 5 months and having incredible success - btw I'm 5ft 2", 45 yrs old, active and maintain currently on 2100-2300 calories.)
Penny for your thoughts?
Another great thread Ruthee! Thanks 0 -
I am trying to figure out what my maintenance calories and while I am not done figuring it out, I am eating a lot more than I thought I could.
I am 5 feet no inches, 102ish lbs., 40 years old. I just raised my calories by 100 yesterday:
cardio days: 1,800 - 1900
strength days: 1,700-1,800
no workout: 1.600 - 1,7000 -
BrownyPoints54 wrote: »Are you folks eating a bigger meal before or after youre exercising?
I tend to eat about 7-800 calories 3 hours before a workout, but bear in mind I'm usually running, swimming or cycling at race pace (5-600 cals burned per hour) or lifting to failure. Jan-july is my build time for triathlon so it's all out! The fuel helps me perform to my best. Sometimes I take a glucose water mix if I know I'm doing more than 90 minutes of cardio.(the body runs out of glycogen at this point and needs replacing immediately).
I also eat a big meal when I get back from training, to aid recovery in time for the next days training and build the muscle if I'm bulking.
I know my calorie burns and try to stick to them. I just tend to eat a big percentage of them around the four hour training window around the workout.
The meal before usually has oats, bananas, almond milk, honey, berries, and greek yoghurt, maybe toast butter and eggs. Different releasing carbs, as many as possible.
The one after has a good amount of carbs and protein.
Even after all my training my maintenance without exercise is 1750ish. That's a reality I have to accept and work with, even though I have athletic level body fat and am very fidgety and busy. I'm 5'7" fine boned 127lb. I have an appetite like a horse and I love wine. It's a constant battle.
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BrownyPoints54 wrote: »Are you folks eating a bigger meal before or after youre exercising?
Sometimes before and other times, after. It really depends on how hungry I am.0 -
Hi guys!i am in my maintaining stage right now. After netting less than 1400 calories for one week, MFP gives me 2100+ calories to maintain my weight. I'm 27 yrs old, 5'5" and weigh 138 lbs. Is this just right? I just thought that 2100 calories is too many for me and afraid of wasting my effort in losing weight..0
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mymodernbabylon wrote: »Come join us at Eat More 2 Weigh Less - we're all about eating as much as you can while either maintaining or losing weight. I'm losing on 1925 and maintain on 2350. I'm in my 40s as well.
- http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/3817-eat-more-2-weigh-less
That's cool!
What's your story. How much do you weigh and how much more do you want to lose?
I'm actually fine with my weight, but want to lose a bit more fat. I got tested in a bodypod and had about 27.5% bodyfat at 148 lb. I'd like to get to 25% and hold there (or go a bit lower over time). To get there, it was estimated that I'd have to lose about 5-10lb quite slowly, so I'm doing that. And then I'll go to maintenance and keep lifting and see if my body fat decreases more over time. I'm in no rush. If I stay around the same weight/size as I am now, I'll still be happy. I am happy to still be playing competitive field hockey (goalie) at age 46, while lifting weights and walking around London a lot.0 -
angelorodriguez_b1 wrote: »Hi guys!i am in my maintaining stage right now. After netting less than 1400 calories for one week, MFP gives me 2100+ calories to maintain my weight. I'm 27 yrs old, 5'5" and weigh 138 lbs. Is this just right? I just thought that 2100 calories is too many for me and afraid of wasting my effort in losing weight..
@angelorodriguez_b1 Its very likely that 2100 is indeed your TDEE a least but ramp up the cals slowly, say by 200 for a few weeks and all will be well 0 -
mymodernbabylon wrote: »mymodernbabylon wrote: »Come join us at Eat More 2 Weigh Less - we're all about eating as much as you can while either maintaining or losing weight. I'm losing on 1925 and maintain on 2350. I'm in my 40s as well.
- http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/3817-eat-more-2-weigh-less
That's cool!
What's your story. How much do you weigh and how much more do you want to lose?
I'm actually fine with my weight, but want to lose a bit more fat. I got tested in a bodypod and had about 27.5% bodyfat at 148 lb. I'd like to get to 25% and hold there (or go a bit lower over time). To get there, it was estimated that I'd have to lose about 5-10lb quite slowly, so I'm doing that. And then I'll go to maintenance and keep lifting and see if my body fat decreases more over time. I'm in no rush. If I stay around the same weight/size as I am now, I'll still be happy. I am happy to still be playing competitive field hockey (goalie) at age 46, while lifting weights and walking around London a lot.
That's cool! We are similar! I'm around 127 lb, 27 % body fat. I want to get to 25% bf see how I look at 25% and then maybe lose more. I play competitive sports too and at 42 I'm playing aussie rules footy with girls half my age.
I just learnt my metabolic age is 26! This workplace challenge we are having has motivated me even more!0 -
@RunRutheeRun Oh..I see. I'll follow your advice to increase my in take slowly..thanks!:)0
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Springfield1970 wrote: »Even after all my training my maintenance without exercise is 1750ish. That's a reality I have to accept and work with, even though I have athletic level body fat and am very fidgety and busy. I'm 5'7" fine boned 127lb. I have an appetite like a horse and I love wine. It's a constant battle.
Thanks for your commentary, Springfield. I found it really encouraging. I'm also 5'7" and small boned, but nowhere near as active as you are. I weigh less, too, but would be so happy with 5 lb more LBM. I've always been athletic but never, never an easy LBM gainer. My TDEE (at my age and activity level) is 1750, and it's my reality. I love wine, too, and budget for it, but often want more than I budgeted. It encouraging to hear others who appear to have the whole thing mastered characterize it as a constant battle.
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mymodernbabylon wrote: »Come join us at Eat More 2 Weigh Less - we're all about eating as much as you can while either maintaining or losing weight. I'm losing on 1925 and maintain on 2350. I'm in my 40s as well.
- http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/3817-eat-more-2-weigh-less
Wow, can you give me more details? What weight do you maintain at 2350? How much lifting and cardio?
I'm 5'7". I'm currently at 149, would like to get to 140, but I think 145 is more realistic. I lift heavy 2 or 3 times a week, do moderate cardio for about 2 hours a week. I am losing, but incredibly slowly, which is fine. I think my maintenance is about 1850 right now, but that's a bit of a guess. How is your maintenance so high?
I'm already in the EMTWL group, btw.
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I'm not quite to maitence yet but today was a cheat meal day so I changed my goal to maintenance for today. I don't know how I'm going to eat that much once I do hit maintenance, its a ton of calories when you add in exercise0
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I am only 5ft 2 as well and maintenance is about 2500 calories
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Y
You look in great shape...i find tryin to cut bery hard whsts the key eating more or bringin the calories week on week...i findbit hard to eat before the gymSpringfield1970 wrote: »BrownyPoints54 wrote: »Are you folks eating a bigger meal before or after youre exercising?
I tend to eat about 7-800 calories 3 hours before a workout, but bear in mind I'm usually running, swimming or cycling at race pace (5-600 cals burned per hour) or lifting to failure. Jan-july is my build time for triathlon so it's all out! The fuel helps me perform to my best. Sometimes I take a glucose water mix if I know I'm doing more than 90 minutes of cardio.(the body runs out of glycogen at this point and needs replacing immediately).
I also eat a big meal when I get back from training, to aid recovery in time for the next days training and build the muscle if I'm bulking.
I know my calorie burns and try to stick to them. I just tend to eat a big percentage of them around the four hour training window around the workout.
The meal before usually has oats, bananas, almond milk, honey, berries, and greek yoghurt, maybe toast butter and eggs. Different releasing carbs, as many as possible.
The one after has a good amount of carbs and protein.
Even after all my training my maintenance without exercise is 1750ish. That's a reality I have to accept and work with, even though I have athletic level body fat and am very fidgety and busy. I'm 5'7" fine boned 127lb. I have an appetite like a horse and I love wine. It's a constant battle.0 -
rossscobie wrote: »Y
You look in great shape...i find tryin to cut bery hard whsts the key eating more or bringin the calories week on week...i findbit hard to eat before the gymSpringfield1970 wrote: »BrownyPoints54 wrote: »Are you folks eating a bigger meal before or after youre exercising?
I tend to eat about 7-800 calories 3 hours before a workout, but bear in mind I'm usually running, swimming or cycling at race pace (5-600 cals burned per hour) or lifting to failure. Jan-july is my build time for triathlon so it's all out! The fuel helps me perform to my best. Sometimes I take a glucose water mix if I know I'm doing more than 90 minutes of cardio.(the body runs out of glycogen at this point and needs replacing immediately).
I also eat a big meal when I get back from training, to aid recovery in time for the next days training and build the muscle if I'm bulking.
I know my calorie burns and try to stick to them. I just tend to eat a big percentage of them around the four hour training window around the workout.
The meal before usually has oats, bananas, almond milk, honey, berries, and greek yoghurt, maybe toast butter and eggs. Different releasing carbs, as many as possible.
The one after has a good amount of carbs and protein.
Even after all my training my maintenance without exercise is 1750ish. That's a reality I have to accept and work with, even though I have athletic level body fat and am very fidgety and busy. I'm 5'7" fine boned 127lb. I have an appetite like a horse and I love wine. It's a constant battle.
Hahaha? What? Maybe you need to cut back on the booze! ;-)
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mymodernbabylon wrote: »Come join us at Eat More 2 Weigh Less - we're all about eating as much as you can while either maintaining or losing weight. I'm losing on 1925 and maintain on 2350. I'm in my 40s as well.
- http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/3817-eat-more-2-weigh-less
Wow, can you give me more details? What weight do you maintain at 2350? How much lifting and cardio?
I'm 5'7". I'm currently at 149, would like to get to 140, but I think 145 is more realistic. I lift heavy 2 or 3 times a week, do moderate cardio for about 2 hours a week. I am losing, but incredibly slowly, which is fine. I think my maintenance is about 1850 right now, but that's a bit of a guess. How is your maintenance so high?
I'm already in the EMTWL group, btw.
I'm not the original poster, but my stats are similar and I'm maintaining on 2250. I'm female, 5'6", 128 pounds, 52 years old.
I lost 45 pounds last year, reaching goal in August, by netting 1200 calories from Dec 2013 to Aug 2014. At that point I started reverse dieting, adding in about 100 daily calories each week till I got up to 1850. Once I got to that calorie level, I stayed at 1850 for my weekday calories but got a little (ok, a lot) freer on weekends, so that lately my daily average is about 2250. My newest thing is to eat closer to that 2250 on lifting days and dial it back a little bit on weekends, to bump my daily average up another 100 calories to 2350. It may work, it may not, but I'm giving it a try.
I really think it's all about lifting heavy weights. There's some kind of magic here.
I lift heavy 4 days a week. No cardio.
I also think it's all about gradual changes.
Good luck.
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mymodernbabylon wrote: »Come join us at Eat More 2 Weigh Less - we're all about eating as much as you can while either maintaining or losing weight. I'm losing on 1925 and maintain on 2350. I'm in my 40s as well.
- http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/3817-eat-more-2-weigh-less
Wow, can you give me more details? What weight do you maintain at 2350? How much lifting and cardio?
I'm 5'7". I'm currently at 149, would like to get to 140, but I think 145 is more realistic. I lift heavy 2 or 3 times a week, do moderate cardio for about 2 hours a week. I am losing, but incredibly slowly, which is fine. I think my maintenance is about 1850 right now, but that's a bit of a guess. How is your maintenance so high?
I'm already in the EMTWL group, btw.
I'm not the original poster, but my stats are similar and I'm maintaining on 2250. I'm female, 5'6", 128 pounds, 52 years old.
I lost 45 pounds last year, reaching goal in August, by netting 1200 calories from Dec 2013 to Aug 2014. At that point I started reverse dieting, adding in about 100 daily calories each week till I got up to 1850. Once I got to that calorie level, I stayed at 1850 for my weekday calories but got a little (ok, a lot) freer on weekends, so that lately my daily average is about 2250. My newest thing is to eat closer to that 2250 on lifting days and dial it back a little bit on weekends, to bump my daily average up another 100 calories to 2350. It may work, it may not, but I'm giving it a try.
I really think it's all about lifting heavy weights. There's some kind of magic here. I lift heavy 4 days a week. No cardio.
I also think it's all about gradual changes.
Good luck.
Agreed! Up them slowly, and without realizing it you are probably increasing activity at the same time - i.e. fidgeting more, walking more, standing more, just generally being more active. FOOD=CALORIES=ENERGY! I find every time I up my calories by 100, I almost naturally end up moving more and probably burning another 150 !
I think the "magic" of muscle can be explained At least in my mind, this makes sense -- you need a surplus to gain actual muscle mass (not just get stronger). By upping your calories by 100 more than your perceived maintenance, and lifting heavy, you gain say 0.5 pounds of muscle that month, and lose 0.5 pounds of fat that month - so you are "maintaining" your weight (but getting slightly smaller in some places, slightly bigger in others). The extra muscle raises your BMR by maybe 100 calories at most. So your "new" mainteance is 100 calories higher. Obviously this is very general and differs per person, and has a limit, but I know I ended up (slowly) 500 calories over what I thought my maintenance was, and stayed the same weight but dropped body fat from 25% to 17% and lost a size or so over about 7-8 months. Basically an incredibly slow recomp! Worth every bit of it!
Now I am playing in the winter months with "bulking" (gained 5 pounds deliberately in 3 months eating at least 250 calories more a day than I think my maintenance is) eating a TON of food. Next month I will cut back to just maintenance and try to maintain my new weight for the next 6 months while slowing increasing calories again over those 6 months - another slow recomp. I am getting another DEXA scan to reassure myself that this 5 pounds did NOT put me back over 20% body fat
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RunRutheeRun wrote: »Am I among the seemingly few who want to eat as MANY calories as possible yet maintain my weight?
I was thinking about a post I made on my newsfeed last night about eating 2200 calories that day, yet still being hungry (it was a high cardio day). I realised to some that I really must sound like a greedy gorb (and maybe I am! lol)
I have become very active since I started my journey with MFP in May 2012, its been a huge factor in me being able to stay trim.
I know for everyone its different, but do people like restricting themselves so much IF they don't actually need to?
For me its fabulous to be able to eat more calories and maintain
(ps I have been reverse dieting for the past 5 months and having incredible success - btw I'm 5ft 2", 45 yrs old, active and maintain currently on 2100-2300 calories.)
Penny for your thoughts?
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So you are exercising more, eating MORE and maintaning how cool! my dream come true...
My question is: Do you focus on eating healthy foods most of the time? Because to eat that many cals it would be very hard I think0 -
And how did you know when it was time to maintain? How did you choose your goal? Bottom, middle, top of the BMI? TIA!0
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@bfanny I cook majority of my meals from scratch but I also snack on quite a bit of crap lol...chocolate/crisps/salted nuts, takeaway on the weekends etc....no food off limits for me, never did ban anything and I feel that's why I have maintained nicely for more than a year (although it's only 5 months since I truly decided to maintain and reverse dieted)
Realistically I wanted to reach 130 lbs but I have to fight to lose any extra pounds as my body seems very happy at 133-137 ...so I gave myself a break, after all I'm in the best shape in 20+ yrs and I am in UK size 10s which I'm still chuffed about. I look slim so felt there was no need to beat myself up about 3 lbs when it wouldn't make much difference to my shape. I love my food you see lol
I go by stats - 26.5" waist and 35.5" hips is great as far as I'm concerned
My bmi is 24.5 so in the normal range but not by much. I'm not sure bmi is a good measurement as it doesn't take frame size into consideration -mine is medium.0 -
@bfanny I actually think eating huge calories if eating clean would be extremely difficult. ..I eat everything in moderation, we get so much pleasure out of food so why ban anything, life's too short! 0
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Most people can maintain on way more than they really think...the problem often times is that they make a move to maintenance and increase calories a bit and they see a jump on the scale and automatically they think "fat" instead of realizing that as they eat more there is going to be an associated increase in glycogen stores as well as waste in the system. People also don't tend to give themselves as much credit for their activity as they should. At any rate, because the scale jumps they get all freaked out and think they need to cut again and basically go through this perpetual ritual of increasing calories a bit and then cutting and ultimately end up constantly eating in a deficit and/or never really normalizing their diet.
I'm not sure I really buy into the whole reverse diet thing other than to say that when you diet, your metabolism does dial down a bit and as you increase your calories it dials up a bit...but most people I've heard talk about reverse dieting talk about it in such a way as to suggest that you can just reverse diet into perpetuity when in reality, you just eventually get your metabolism to where it was to begin with before calorie cutting.
When I went to maintenance I was pretty amazed that I could easily maintain on 2800 calories per day...my amazement was mostly due to the fact that I had only ever looked at my intake while I was dieting and like most people, I minimized my exercise efforts when in reality I was kicking *kitten*.
Having maintained for over 1.5 years, it all very much makes sense now...I'm a pretty active and fit guy...I don't really have any kind of magical metabolism, I just exercise regularly and give it everything I have and I eat to support that and all my other activity. Knowing what I know now I'm a little embarrassed that once upon a time I thought my maintenance with exercise would only be around 2300-2400 calories or so...hell, I cut on that.
I would also add that I'm not eating more than ever...I never counted calories when I was fat, but I'm pretty sure given the amount of beer I drank and the amount of soda I drank in combination with *kitten* tons of food...well, I'm pretty sure I was eating more when I was fat and getting fatter.0 -
RunRutheeRun wrote: »@bfanny I actually think eating huge calories if eating clean would be extremely difficult. ..I eat everything in moderation, we get so much pleasure out of food so why ban anything, life's too short! [/quote
Love it, love it! You give me hope...
Thank you0 -
I'm 45 years old and 5'2, been maintaining about 6 months, I do a lot of walking and also do weight lifting. I like to eat a lot also more is better, lol, I do about 2200-2500 calories!! 0
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