Increase Calories for Weight Loss - Link to Info?

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Basically the science behind it is this...

The MORE fat you have on your body, the LESS scared your body will be to get rid of the extra fat, because, well, it has LOTS to get rid of, so it isn't going to run out any time soon which means you can eat at a lower calorie count and still be okay because your body will make up the difference with the fat that is on your body.

well as you lose weight you lose fat sooo...

The LESS fat you have on your body the MORE scared your body will be to get rid of fat, to insure that your body doesn't hold onto that fat for fear that it wont get enough nutrition it is going to store anything it can as fat so that it always has those fat stores to keep it safe.

so to prevent this from happening you must feed your body MORE so that it doesn't feel the need to hang onto that extra fat for fear of mal nutrition/starvation/whatever you wanna call it.

Its your bodies way of preserving itself.

I was eating 1200 calories also and you loose for awhile,especially if you are really heavy. But then it was explained to me that you must eat your exercise calories also. So if you exercise 300 calories, you must then eat 1500 calories a day. It sounds weird, but it does work.

Also eat a big breakfast, exercise in the morning. Those two things jump start your metabolism in the morning and you will burn calories at a higher rate all day.

I'm worried about this too. I just upped myself from 1200 to 1450, I only have 20lbs left to lose, might seem like a lot but I'm down 83 total so to me its not too much more. I seem to be going slow as a snail on 1200, not in like energy...just in weight loss. I'm terrified I'll gain or just stay this weight and stay fat.

I'm worried about the same thing: I logged calories for ten months around 1200/day; lost 15 pounds. I fell off MFP, gained back 25 pounds. Now I'm back on at 1200 calories/day and losing. Afraid to add calories but was advised to by professional. Help! Any literature to read regarding this?

This analogy may or may not work for you, but when you have a sports car, you have to feed it better and more gas because it burns more effeciently, so why not feed yourself more and better to burn more calories.



I can tell you from personal experience, every time I plateau, i increase my calories by 200. And every time (it's been 4 times so far) I do this, I lose more weight. Although, for me, it isn't about weight loss. For me, I am looking at body composition. I am increasing the amount of lean body mass and reducing my total body fat. I have 33% of my total body from so far (started at 18% and now at 12%) and working to get to 9% body fat by October. Everytime I gain LBM, i have to increase my calories. I started my journey with 1800 caloires and now eat 2800 calories and soon will be at 3000 + daily.


It's rather simple, muscle burns fat... and food is fuel. The more muscle (lean muscle mass) you have, the more calories you burn at rest and the more calories you need to take in. It's all based on deficits. If your BMR increases, then to maintain the 500 calorie deficit you need to increase your calories. If you don't, you will lose muscle as your body will start to pull the proteins from that source because it will deplete the proteins from your fat body stores. Below are some links to help you out.


Also if you need help figuring this out, feel free to contact me.



http://www.cordianet.com/calculator.htm

http://www.bmi-calculator.net/body-fat-calculator/body-fat-chart.php

http://www.scientificpsychic.com/fitness/diet.html

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/282320-caloric-intake-body-fat

Hi! I had this same issue. I am 5'5" and I weighted about 210. I was eating around 1300-1400 cals per day and I workout regularly. I was stuck and the weight just wasn't coming off. I upped my intake (after alot of protest) and now the weight seems to be falling off I am down about 25 lbs and I have lost at least 8 inches from my waist. Your body may be going into starvation mode. To determine your correct intake you can use this calculator http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/ then use the link on the page to determine the calories you need to maintain your current weight and how many to cut to lose (usually cut 500/day from your maintence. Hope this helps! Good Luck!

I think this is exactly what happened to me over the last week or so....when I looked at my net calories for the last 2 weeks there were quite a few days under 1000....most days I wasn't super hungry-- but when the hunger came on, it was fierce!
I am going to aim for 1200 net cals minimum...I was losing about 2 lb per week around that amount.

I've gone from 1200 to 1400 calories with the same exercise right now, and have started losing. I'm not a fast loser (age, meds, etc) but at least it's moving downward.

I'm having the same problem deciding. My weight went up a bit with increased calories so I freaked out and dropped them down again, but I am thinking about giving it another shot. I went from 118 in April to 124 within a few weeks and it hasn't gone away so I assume it's fat I have to lose again. Problem is, nothing seems to work so I am tentatively trying this calorie thing. No offense, but laypeople explaining things to me with different analogies doesn't convince me, I need DATA.

Here are links to research articles I have been perusing that have done experiments on people who diet. The scientific term for the type of "starvation mode" you hear about on MFP is adaptive thermogenesis. The problem is I can't find any studies where they fixed a weight loss plateau, and there is an article that shows women losing weight on 800 cals/day and no change in the bmr (rmr, or resting metabolic rate, is the same but used more often in the literature). It does seem to be an individual thing, but the animal study is scary cause there was accelerated fat gain even during refeed:


Individual leptin levels and other factors influence adaptation http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21470990
Adaptive thermogenesis causes plateau http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19660148
Evidence for adaptive thermogenesis http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11430776
RMR maintained on 800cal diet with strength training http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10204826
caloric excess can increase RMR http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8412776
Adaptive thermogenesis may persist during weight maintenance http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18842775
Energy conservation of dieting can cause fat gain in animals during refeed http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2240204

Thoughts on these articles are welcome

I think the reason no one has replied is that these articles are filled with scientific jargon and quite difficult to understand. From what I have read 'active thermogenisis' is hitting a plateau...and means that your body gets used to burning/surviving on a certain amount of calories, and will preserve its weight/condition when it gets to a certain point. In order to prevent that, one must vary diet and exercise...at least that is what I pulled from the one article.
Starvation mode -- I pulled this from a site:
First, what is starvation mode? I found this direct answer on netwellness.org --

A starvation diet does not mean the absence of food. It means cutting the total caloric intake to less than 50% of what the body requires.

Using myself as an example, my current weight is 183 lbs. and my bmr is 1450. So, I would have to cut my calories to below 725 per day. However, if I were at my goal weight of 109 lbs., my bmr would be 1129, and so I would have to cut my calories to below 565 calories. end quote...

As far as women losing on 800 calories a day, I am sure that a smaller person could do that and lose weight. A 5'2 120 person is going to require far less energy than someone who is 5'7 and 160 lbs. A person of larger stature will need more calories on a minimum need. One of the articles also talked about the amount of energy expended after weight loss...well, of course you will expend less energy after you have lost weight. It takes less effort to move your body when you drop 5 lbs.

I think we all need to find a balance between how often we realistically work out, how much and what we honestly eat, and what size we want to maintain...again, realistically...and look at our data. We need to evaluate, reassess our eating/exercising, and make changes as we lose weight and see what does and doesn't work for us individually...
When I look at my progress report on MFP and compare it to my Net Cal reports side by side, I see the correlation between the decline of Net Cals under 1000 and the lack of weight loss...but it has only been a month for me back on the site, so I am no expert. I would rather feel good and not obsess about my food or lack there fore of or feel deprived by trying to eat less than I am. I feel like my diet is very healthy, and I will be able to maintain my lifestyle with a few indulgences when I get to my maintenance point.