Increase calories?

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Frozenmango
Frozenmango Posts: 207 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hey all,

Just looking for some thoughts about increasing caloric intake. For the past few weeks, I've been aiming to eat around 1200-1400 cals per day to lose weight, but the scale hasn't moved down for nearly a month. I'll admit that I still struggle with cutting out sweets (i.e. caramel popcorn, chocolate) but I don't eat outside of my calorie range with them.

I'm just wondering if I should try increasing my calories to closer to 1800 or even 1900 to see if that gets things moving? I work out around 5x a week (weights 3x a week, cardio 2x a week) and I do have a lot of muscle and a fairly high BMR (around 2000 cals). I should also say that I have been (slowly) but steadily losing body fat (went from 32.8% to 30.7)

Any and all suggestions are welcome!

Thanks!

Replies

  • Yi5hedr3
    Yi5hedr3 Posts: 2,696 Member
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    You could try 100 calories, but that's enough to see what happens. Too much and you'll go into
    storage mode most likely.
  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,565 Member
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    Increasing calories will cause the opposite to happen. Are you using a food scale to weigh everything?
  • juggernaut1974
    juggernaut1974 Posts: 6,212 Member
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    Increasing calories does not cause more weight loss.

    How many weeks have you been stuck? It's more likely you're just in a natural fluctuation that's not showing true fat loss on the scale.

    The other common issue- how meticulous are you with your weighing and logging of foods?
  • chokeslam512
    chokeslam512 Posts: 78 Member
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    I would try shifting your macros away from carbs before increasing calories
  • Frozenmango
    Frozenmango Posts: 207 Member
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    malibu927 wrote: »
    Increasing calories will cause the opposite to happen. Are you using a food scale to weigh everything?

    I am weighing my protein and measure carbs. The only reason I thought increasing may help is that I'm afraid my body may be in a mild form of starvation mode. But macro shift may be the day to go
  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,565 Member
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    Frozenmango wrote: »
    malibu927 wrote: »
    Increasing calories will cause the opposite to happen. Are you using a food scale to weigh everything?

    I am weighing my protein and measure carbs. The only reason I thought increasing may help is that I'm afraid my body may be in a mild form of starvation mode. But macro shift may be the day to go

    Starvation mode doesn't work that way. Weigh all of your foods. It's very likely you're eating more than you think.
  • strong_curves
    strong_curves Posts: 2,229 Member
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    o7psnywkydo0.jpg

    flowchart by lemonlionheart
  • AidaF430
    AidaF430 Posts: 173 Member
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    Things to consider: Muscle weighs more than fat. You may not be losing weight on the scale but you can be losing inches. Have you measured yourself lately? Do your clothes fit loser even though you haven't lost weight? HTH
  • daniwilford
    daniwilford Posts: 1,030 Member
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    Frozenmango wrote: »
    malibu927 wrote: »
    Increasing calories will cause the opposite to happen. Are you using a food scale to weigh everything?

    I am weighing my protein and measure carbs. The only reason I thought increasing may help is that I'm afraid my body may be in a mild form of starvation mode. But macro shift may be the day to go

    Weigh everything, you are most likely eating more than you think you are. Starvation mode is a myth. If your BMR truly is 2000, you would add exercise to get your total daily energy expenditure(TDEE). With a TDEE of 2000+ if you really are eating 1200-1400 calories you would be losing weight.
  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
    edited October 2015
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    Frozenmango wrote: »
    malibu927 wrote: »
    Increasing calories will cause the opposite to happen. Are you using a food scale to weigh everything?

    I am weighing my protein and measure carbs. The only reason I thought increasing may help is that I'm afraid my body may be in a mild form of starvation mode. But macro shift may be the day to go

    Nope..weigh everything...you're consuming too many calories

    There is no such thing as starvation mode in dieting terms like this

    Macro shift is personal choice and lowering carbs will only play with water weight through stripping your natural glycogen

    You need to focus on weighing and logging accurately everything you consume

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