Should I eat more to lose more weight?
MFP suggests the 1200 cal range for me. I’m doing Orangetheory work outs 3x a week (600+cals per workout), and body weight+cardio or yoga work outs the other 3.. I’ve heard eating more can actually help lose weight.. but I’m so used to my 1200 range I’m scared! Im a 5'3 female trying to lose weight... does anyone have some success upping their intake and actually losing more weight? I haven't been losing any but I am definitely gaining muscle.
Thought??
Thought??
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Replies
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If you're working out and burning 600+ calories you need to eat some of those back. If you don't, you're throwing your body into starvation mode. Some people (myself included) have better luck eating more when they work out. You just need to try it and see if it works. You won't know until you give it a shot.0
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Starvation mode definitely exists (also known as "starving"). I used to be a professional junior athlete and my mum is an exercise professional so we both have some experience with this. Rather than process your food normally, your body clings onto excess calories if it thinks you're starving. Unfortunately I had to stop training after a serious injury which made me quite depressed and I put on weight. I am still quite fit and I'm finally easing myself back into training but the main thing hindering me at the moment is the weight I put on. I'm probably a bit too keen to lose weight quickly so I have a tendency to eat below my recommended calories which actually causes my weight loss to stall (and makes me tire easily, etc.) 1200 calories for a 5"3 female sounds a bit crazy to me but if you're feeling healthy then maybe it's alright (although I can hear my mum shouting "EAT MORE!"). Your body will probably giving you a few clues if you are inadvertently starving yourself but it won't hurt to up your calories for a while and see how it goes though
There's a fine line between optimum weight loss and going into starvation mode so it can take some experimentation to find it.
It's also worth mentioning that calorie counting is a simplified way of looking at weight loss, and if I ate the perfect number of calories I need to lose weight, but had a healthy, balanced diet, then it would come off more quickly. That probably sounds obvious (since your body is better equipped to process some foods more than others) but my diet has been terrible ever since I had to gave up being an athlete and I find it really hard to change my habits
If you're nervous about increasing you calories, make sure you're eating really good food! ... Like nuts... (It's my personal opinion that everyone should eat more nuts. Fat is not necessarily bad, you need fat, nuts are full of healthy fat, best place to get your fat, I could go on and on... :P) 0 -
It's actually quite simple... Calories in vs, calories out. That's ALL that matters at the end of your day. Look at him much you're burning off during the day, compare that to what MFP says ours allotted. It's just that simple.0
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MFP is set up so you log your exercise and eat those calories back. Some people err on the side of caution and only use a portion of those exercise. So even if MFP has you at 1200 calories, you would eat more on the days you exercise.
Also, do you have a weight loss goal that is too high for what you have to lose? Many people end up at 1200 because they choose 2lbs a week. 2lbs a week is an aggressive goal for people with less than 100lbs to lose.0 -
Starvation mode definitely exists (also known as "starving"). I used to be a professional junior athlete and my mum is an exercise professional so we both have some experience with this. Rather than process your food normally, your body clings onto excess calories if it thinks you're starving. Unfortunately I had to stop training after a serious injury which made me quite depressed and I put on weight. I am still quite fit and I'm finally easing myself back into training but the main thing hindering me at the moment is the weight I put on. I'm probably a bit too keen to lose weight quickly so I have a tendency to eat below my recommended calories which actually causes my weight loss to stall (and makes me tire easily, etc.) 1200 calories for a 5"3 female sounds a bit crazy to me but if you're feeling healthy then maybe it's alright (although I can hear my mum shouting "EAT MORE!"). Your body will probably giving you a few clues if you are inadvertently starving yourself but it won't hurt to up your calories for a while and see how it goes though There's a fine line between optimum weight loss and going into starvation mode so it can take some experimentation to find it.
It's also worth mentioning that calorie counting is a simplified way of looking at weight loss, and if I ate the perfect number of calories I need to lose weight, but had a healthy, balanced diet, then it would come off more quickly. That probably sounds obvious (since your body is better equipped to process some foods more than others) but my diet has been terrible ever since I had to gave up being an athlete and I find it really hard to change my habits If you're nervous about increasing you calories, make sure you're eating really good food! ... Like nuts... (It's my personal opinion that everyone should eat more nuts. Fat is not necessarily bad, you need fat, nuts are full of healthy fat, best place to get your fat, I could go on and on... :P)
I am sorry but this is dead wrong. Your body does not cling onto fat if you starve it. If that was the case then why do people die of starvation, and why are there starving people in Africa. If your body held onto fat in a calorie deficit or made you gain weight when you ate less, then it would be impossible to starve to death.
Yes, you can have adaptive thermogenesis where your body naturally lowers its maintenance level over time and it becomes harder and harder to lose weight; however, that takes a prolonged period (year or more) to actually occur and you have to be in a severe calorie deficit.
Starvation mode is not when your body clings onto fat, starvation mode is when your body turns on itself for energy and starts using muscle and organs for energies because it is that energy deprived.
Please look up and review the minnesota starvation experiment.
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Starvation mode definitely exists (also known as "starving"). I used to be a professional junior athlete and my mum is an exercise professional so we both have some experience with this. Rather than process your food normally, your body clings onto excess calories if it thinks you're starving. Unfortunately I had to stop training after a serious injury which made me quite depressed and I put on weight. I am still quite fit and I'm finally easing myself back into training but the main thing hindering me at the moment is the weight I put on. I'm probably a bit too keen to lose weight quickly so I have a tendency to eat below my recommended calories which actually causes my weight loss to stall (and makes me tire easily, etc.) 1200 calories for a 5"3 female sounds a bit crazy to me but if you're feeling healthy then maybe it's alright (although I can hear my mum shouting "EAT MORE!"). Your body will probably giving you a few clues if you are inadvertently starving yourself but it won't hurt to up your calories for a while and see how it goes though There's a fine line between optimum weight loss and going into starvation mode so it can take some experimentation to find it.
It's also worth mentioning that calorie counting is a simplified way of looking at weight loss, and if I ate the perfect number of calories I need to lose weight, but had a healthy, balanced diet, then it would come off more quickly. That probably sounds obvious (since your body is better equipped to process some foods more than others) but my diet has been terrible ever since I had to gave up being an athlete and I find it really hard to change my habits If you're nervous about increasing you calories, make sure you're eating really good food! ... Like nuts... (It's my personal opinion that everyone should eat more nuts. Fat is not necessarily bad, you need fat, nuts are full of healthy fat, best place to get your fat, I could go on and on... :P)
None of that is based on fact.
Starvation mode - as in your body "clinging" to calories does not exist.
There are many benefits to not having an aggressive calorie deficit but you will lose weight if you are in a calorie deficit.
You do not lose faster if you have a "healthy" diet vs a less "healthy" one when taking in the same amount of calories.0 -
Starvation mode definitely exists (also known as "starving"). I used to be a professional junior athlete and my mum is an exercise professional so we both have some experience with this. Rather than process your food normally, your body clings onto excess calories if it thinks you're starving. Unfortunately I had to stop training after a serious injury which made me quite depressed and I put on weight. I am still quite fit and I'm finally easing myself back into training but the main thing hindering me at the moment is the weight I put on. I'm probably a bit too keen to lose weight quickly so I have a tendency to eat below my recommended calories which actually causes my weight loss to stall (and makes me tire easily, etc.) 1200 calories for a 5"3 female sounds a bit crazy to me but if you're feeling healthy then maybe it's alright (although I can hear my mum shouting "EAT MORE!"). Your body will probably giving you a few clues if you are inadvertently starving yourself but it won't hurt to up your calories for a while and see how it goes though There's a fine line between optimum weight loss and going into starvation mode so it can take some experimentation to find it.
It's also worth mentioning that calorie counting is a simplified way of looking at weight loss, and if I ate the perfect number of calories I need to lose weight, but had a healthy, balanced diet, then it would come off more quickly. That probably sounds obvious (since your body is better equipped to process some foods more than others) but my diet has been terrible ever since I had to gave up being an athlete and I find it really hard to change my habits If you're nervous about increasing you calories, make sure you're eating really good food! ... Like nuts... (It's my personal opinion that everyone should eat more nuts. Fat is not necessarily bad, you need fat, nuts are full of healthy fat, best place to get your fat, I could go on and on... :P)
I am sorry but this is dead wrong. Your body does not cling onto fat if you starve it. If that was the case then why do people die of starvation, and why are there starving people in Africa. If your body held onto fat in a calorie deficit or made you gain weight when you ate less, then it would be impossible to starve to death.
Yes, you can have adaptive thermogenesis where your body naturally lowers its maintenance level over time and it becomes harder and harder to lose weight; however, that takes a prolonged period (year or more) to actually occur and you have to be in a severe calorie deficit.
Starvation mode is not when your body clings onto fat, starvation mode is when your body turns on itself for energy and starts using muscle and organs for energies because it is that energy deprived.
Please look up and review the minnesota starvation experiment.
Just to add to the bolded, it still doesn't get to the point where you stop losing weight.0 -
MFP suggests the 1200 cal range for me. I’m doing Orangetheory work outs 3x a week (600+cals per workout), and body weight+cardio or yoga work outs the other 3.. I’ve heard eating more can actually help lose weight.. but I’m so used to my 1200 range I’m scared! Im a 5'3 female trying to lose weight... does anyone have some success upping their intake and actually losing more weight? I haven't been losing any but I am definitely gaining muscle.
Thought??
First, what are you using to measure calorie burns, because 600 is way to high of a burn, unless you are running ten miles or something.
Second - Are you netting 1200 ..so eating 1800 - 600 (supposedly burned) = 1200 net, or are you just eating 1200 and not eating back exercise calories. If the later, you need to make sure that you are netting 1200.
Third - you are not adding muscle while eating 1200 calories.
Fourth - what is "orange theory workouts"
Finally - you are more than likely not losing because you have your calorie burn incorrectly calculated and you are eating more than you think you are.0 -
It's not.
Metabolic adaptation is real, and some call that starvation mode, but that merely means that there's often a decline in metabolism as weight is lost beyond what would be expected just from being smaller. You can possibly make this worse by having too extreme a deficit, but it's never going to prevent weight loss and has nothing to do with your body clinging to fat or adding fat beyond what it otherwise would. If that were the case your body would be running on nothing, and of course that cannot happen.
Too extreme a deficit is a bad thing, though -- muscle mass lost unnecessarily, potentially bad for your health, and likely to lead to craving and binging for many or a lack of energy and movement (all reasons why cutting too low could be detrimental to weight loss).0 -
starvation mode is the reason why all anorexics are obese0
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OP, if you are doing lots of exercise on 1200, you definitely want to be eating back some of those calories. But if you aren't losing it's unlikely to be too few calories, but issues with accuracy or (if it has been a short time) possibly water retention or natural fluctuations (possible due to time of the month or adding new activity or any soreness -- I tend to drop weight if I have a sedentary week which is weird but also something I try to avoid since I think the activity is worth it and helps more over time).
I'm 5'3 and older than you and lost most of my weight on 1500-1700 calories (that total includes exercise calories). You also may not want to aim for the maximum possible deficit if you don't have a lot to lose, as you then would want to be extra careful to preserve muscle mass and eating too little makes that harder (you'd also want to make sure you get enough protein).
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starvation mode is not real, the idea of your body going into starvation mode because you are consuming too little calories is ridiculous but you need to listen to your body. 1200 calories isn't enough to sustain a tough workout schedule. I wouldn't eat all of them back, maybe half.
"If weeks/months are passing and you’re not losing any weight (or you’re possibly even gaining some), and you came to the incorrect myth-based conclusion that you must be in starvation mode, then I hope you realize by now that you were wrong.
And that brings us to our next obvious question. If “starvation mode” isn’t the cause of your lack of weight loss… just what the hell is? Well, if you made it this far, that answer should be pretty obvious by now.
It’s not because you’re eating too little. It’s not because your calories are too low. It’s not because you’re burning too many calories. It’s the opposite.
Basically, you’re eating more calories than you think you are, burning less calories than you think you are, or both… and no deficit is present."
http://www.aworkoutroutine.com/starvation-mode/0 -
This fight always comes up, this "starvation mode is a myth" thing. Sometimes there ARE anorexics who aren't stick skinny. I've known them. I know a girl personally who struggled with anorexia and bulimia for YEARS and she is overweight. Your body CAN get to the point where you will no longer lose weight no matter how little you eat.
People need to get over it. Like, it DOES happen. Sometimes when you eat too little, your body won't shed the weight. Just because there are really thin people who don't eat anything, doesn't mean it never happens. It doesn't mean that "starvation mode" (or whatever word you want to use) isn't a thing at all.
OP, if you feel like you need to eat more calories, do it. I believe it's about fueling your body and keeping it running smoothly so it can regularly keep burning off those pounds while keeping you healthy and nutritionally stable. Eating simply 1200 calories despite how much you work out is probably too low, try 1350 or so for a few weeks and see what happens. If you gain a little at the end of the month, just cut back again.0 -
MsBuzzkillington wrote: »This fight always comes up, this "starvation mode is a myth" thing. Sometimes there ARE anorexics who aren't stick skinny. I've known them. I know a girl personally who struggled with anorexia and bulimia for YEARS and she is overweight. Your body CAN get to the point where you will no longer lose weight no matter how little you eat.
People need to get over it. Like, it DOES happen. Sometimes when you eat too little, your body won't shed the weight. Just because there are really thin people who don't eat anything, doesn't mean it never happens. It doesn't mean that "starvation mode" (or whatever word you want to use) isn't a thing at all.
OP, if you feel like you need to eat more calories, do it. I believe it's about fueling your body and keeping it running smoothly so it can regularly keep burning off those pounds while keeping you healthy and nutritionally stable. Eating simply 1200 calories despite how much you work out is probably too low, try 1350 or so for a few weeks and see what happens. If you gain a little at the end of the month, just cut back again.
if that is the case then how do people die from starvation??????
if what you are saying is true, then one could eat nothing and you would not die from starvation because you would just hold onto fat and keep using it for energy ….0 -
OP how much weight are you trying to lose total? You probably can lose weight eating more than 1200 cals, not because of starvation mode but just because of you are that active your TDEE would support that. I am 5'2 and older than you and lost my weight netting 1400-1700 cals and eating anywhere from 1600-1900 usually.
Whether you leave your goal at 1200 and just eat back all the cals or if you raise the goal and eat back a little less is up to you but I would make sure I was logging accurately with a food scale and giving it adequate time before you make any big adjustments.0 -
In for recipes!0
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OP, eat the most calories you possibly can to lose weight. Have only 30 or so pounds to lose? Don't create a huge two pound per week deficit. You'll thank yourself later. Pick a rate of loss you can adhere to and be consistent with.0
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Starvation mode definitely exists (also known as "starving"). I used to be a professional junior athlete and my mum is an exercise professional so we both have some experience with this. Rather than process your food normally, your body clings onto excess calories if it thinks you're starving. Unfortunately I had to stop training after a serious injury which made me quite depressed and I put on weight. I am still quite fit and I'm finally easing myself back into training but the main thing hindering me at the moment is the weight I put on. I'm probably a bit too keen to lose weight quickly so I have a tendency to eat below my recommended calories which actually causes my weight loss to stall (and makes me tire easily, etc.) 1200 calories for a 5"3 female sounds a bit crazy to me but if you're feeling healthy then maybe it's alright (although I can hear my mum shouting "EAT MORE!"). Your body will probably giving you a few clues if you are inadvertently starving yourself but it won't hurt to up your calories for a while and see how it goes though There's a fine line between optimum weight loss and going into starvation mode so it can take some experimentation to find it.
It's also worth mentioning that calorie counting is a simplified way of looking at weight loss, and if I ate the perfect number of calories I need to lose weight, but had a healthy, balanced diet, then it would come off more quickly. That probably sounds obvious (since your body is better equipped to process some foods more than others) but my diet has been terrible ever since I had to gave up being an athlete and I find it really hard to change my habits If you're nervous about increasing you calories, make sure you're eating really good food! ... Like nuts... (It's my personal opinion that everyone should eat more nuts. Fat is not necessarily bad, you need fat, nuts are full of healthy fat, best place to get your fat, I could go on and on... :P)
I am sorry but this is dead wrong. Your body does not cling onto fat if you starve it. If that was the case then why do people die of starvation, and why are there starving people in Africa. If your body held onto fat in a calorie deficit or made you gain weight when you ate less, then it would be impossible to starve to death.
Yes, you can have adaptive thermogenesis where your body naturally lowers its maintenance level over time and it becomes harder and harder to lose weight; however, that takes a prolonged period (year or more) to actually occur and you have to be in a severe calorie deficit.
Starvation mode is not when your body clings onto fat, starvation mode is when your body turns on itself for energy and starts using muscle and organs for energies because it is that energy deprived.
Please look up and review the minnesota starvation experiment.
This 100%0 -
Carlos_421 wrote: »
My thought exactly ! There's too much woo that I don't know where to begin!0 -
Starvation mode definitely exists (also known as "starving"). I used to be a professional junior athlete and my mum is an exercise professional so we both have some experience with this. Rather than process your food normally, your body clings onto excess calories if it thinks you're starving. Unfortunately I had to stop training after a serious injury which made me quite depressed and I put on weight. I am still quite fit and I'm finally easing myself back into training but the main thing hindering me at the moment is the weight I put on. I'm probably a bit too keen to lose weight quickly so I have a tendency to eat below my recommended calories which actually causes my weight loss to stall (and makes me tire easily, etc.) 1200 calories for a 5"3 female sounds a bit crazy to me but if you're feeling healthy then maybe it's alright (although I can hear my mum shouting "EAT MORE!"). Your body will probably giving you a few clues if you are inadvertently starving yourself but it won't hurt to up your calories for a while and see how it goes though There's a fine line between optimum weight loss and going into starvation mode so it can take some experimentation to find it.
It's also worth mentioning that calorie counting is a simplified way of looking at weight loss, and if I ate the perfect number of calories I need to lose weight, but had a healthy, balanced diet, then it would come off more quickly. That probably sounds obvious (since your body is better equipped to process some foods more than others) but my diet has been terrible ever since I had to gave up being an athlete and I find it really hard to change my habits If you're nervous about increasing you calories, make sure you're eating really good food! ... Like nuts... (It's my personal opinion that everyone should eat more nuts. Fat is not necessarily bad, you need fat, nuts are full of healthy fat, best place to get your fat, I could go on and on... :P)
Billions of years of life fighting for extracting energy efficiently from chemicals, but humans magically waste calories and only selectlively turn this waste off the first time they hit a famine? Does that sound evolutionarily plausible? That our body has a power saver mode, and it just runs in high power continuously all the time? We initially switched to upright posture because one ancestor had a mutation that save 4 calories or so per km initially, but waited on the first famine to draw down calorie burn?
No. What does exist is adaptive thermogenesis. If you increase your calorie deficit enough, your body will start avoiding fidgeting, unnecessary movement, you'll lose some thermic effect of food, and your body will down regulate a very few metabolic pathways. This means that if you increase your deficit by 100 calories, maybe 5 calories in savings will happen, it doesn't mean your body will find 100 calories not to burn, assuming one keeps the same amount of movement.
This also goes away within weeks of switching from eating at a deficit to eating at maintenance.0 -
I lost weight in a steady and rapid fashion when I was anorexic and eating 500 calories a day and exercising0
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MsBuzzkillington wrote: »This fight always comes up, this "starvation mode is a myth" thing. Sometimes there ARE anorexics who aren't stick skinny. I've known them. I know a girl personally who struggled with anorexia and bulimia for YEARS and she is overweight. Your body CAN get to the point where you will no longer lose weight no matter how little you eat.
People need to get over it. Like, it DOES happen. Sometimes when you eat too little, your body won't shed the weight. Just because there are really thin people who don't eat anything, doesn't mean it never happens. It doesn't mean that "starvation mode" (or whatever word you want to use) isn't a thing at all.
OP, if you feel like you need to eat more calories, do it. I believe it's about fueling your body and keeping it running smoothly so it can regularly keep burning off those pounds while keeping you healthy and nutritionally stable. Eating simply 1200 calories despite how much you work out is probably too low, try 1350 or so for a few weeks and see what happens. If you gain a little at the end of the month, just cut back again.
Ok totally tmi here but a lot of bulimics and anorexics who binge are normal weight or overweight because they don't get rid of all their binge calories.0 -
MsBuzzkillington wrote: »This fight always comes up, this "starvation mode is a myth" thing. Sometimes there ARE anorexics who aren't stick skinny. I've known them. I know a girl personally who struggled with anorexia and bulimia for YEARS and she is overweight. Your body CAN get to the point where you will no longer lose weight no matter how little you eat.
People need to get over it. Like, it DOES happen. Sometimes when you eat too little, your body won't shed the weight. Just because there are really thin people who don't eat anything, doesn't mean it never happens. It doesn't mean that "starvation mode" (or whatever word you want to use) isn't a thing at all.
OP, if you feel like you need to eat more calories, do it. I believe it's about fueling your body and keeping it running smoothly so it can regularly keep burning off those pounds while keeping you healthy and nutritionally stable. Eating simply 1200 calories despite how much you work out is probably too low, try 1350 or so for a few weeks and see what happens. If you gain a little at the end of the month, just cut back again.
Um
You cannot create matter out of nothing
Seriously? Basic physics
Listen to the people in this thread and let go of the woo...you will feel better for it
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