talk to me about eating more to lose more

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JCS_EVmom
JCS_EVmom Posts: 14 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I am 5'5 152lbs. I have not been the.most physically fit but then fell in love with Insanity. I am 42d inand love it
Cannot wait t start round 2. I've. been using the mfp recommended calories to lose 1 lb per week. I lost 7 lbs, gained 4 back and am now down 5lbs over 42d of Insanity. I.just feel so hungry and often tired.

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  • love4fitnesslove4food_wechange
    love4fitnesslove4food_wechange Posts: 6,897 Member
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    how much are you eating. at your stats you should be eating at least 1600-1800 on a daily basis to lose 1 pound per week while doing insanity.
  • Yanicka1
    Yanicka1 Posts: 4,564 Member
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    hungry and tired are signs of malnutrition. I am 4'11'' and I eat 1600 before my exercise calories. in the last 8 weeks, I lost 6 inches total. You have to feed your body.
  • chevy88grl
    chevy88grl Posts: 3,937 Member
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    I am 5'4" and I weigh 145lbs (or around there...). I currently eat 2200-2500 net calories a day in order to maintain my weight. MFP says that I should only be consuming around 1980 in order to maintain my weight. I know that if I were to eat that low, I would actually gain weight (slowly). In my journey, I've learned that everyone's body is just a little different. Some of us have higher metabolisms and some of us have lower ones. We all need to learn to eat based on what our bodies want and need.

    If you're hungry and tired - then I would recommend eating more. Start off slowly - adding in 100-200 calories a week for 3-4 weeks (your body needs time to adjust to something new - so you need to give it some time before you can say if it is working or not). MFP's numbers are a starting point. They are a place to start and then as you go along, tweak it until you figure out what is going to work for YOU.

    Good Luck!
  • Rae6503
    Rae6503 Posts: 6,294 Member
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    If you feel hungry and tired, definitely eat more!

    It's unnatural for our bodies to be really lean. The body doesn't like to give up it's last food stores, it has to be convinced that it isn't going to starve anytime soon.

    I'd go with 0.5lbs/week.
  • sassylilmama
    sassylilmama Posts: 1,495 Member
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    I was at 1200, did not lose for almost 2 weeks and started gaining for no apparent reason. I tried upping calories and lost a pound in 3 days and another .5 in a couple more days. Worked for me.
  • JCS_EVmom
    JCS_EVmom Posts: 14 Member
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    My cals have been set to 1380. I also do Insantiy 6x a week.

    I am going to give .5lb a week a try, that is 1630cals and still do Insanity on top.

    I am just not enjoying the feeling of starving and then gaining...
  • JCS_EVmom
    JCS_EVmom Posts: 14 Member
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    Honestly, I felt bad "going over" the recommended cals per day. I felt I bad about myself eating :/
  • emmab0902
    emmab0902 Posts: 2,337 Member
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    It doesn't make sense according to the laws of thermodynamics. Google Lyle McDonald who gives a very logical take on the so called "starvation mode" which is largely a misinterpretation of the Minnesota starvation study in which healthy men were put on about 50% caloric need diets. Their metabolic rate dropped by 40% but 25% was accounted for by the reduction in body size, so only 15% was due to the calorie defict. Bear in mind this was a huge deficit and the men did not stop losing weight until they reached about 5% body fat.
  • love4fitnesslove4food_wechange
    love4fitnesslove4food_wechange Posts: 6,897 Member
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    well let's think about this...15% reduction in BMR...for someone my size...that would be a 1200 BMR dropping down to 1020.

    So I lose 180 calories every day...which is about 1/3 of a pound. So in order for me to see a scale loss I need to create a deficit of 500+180 = 680 every single day...and that's to see a 1 pound loss. In order to do that I could either eat 520 calories a day or exercise to burn some calories. So if I burn 500 calories in the gym...I could then eat 1020 calories to lose 1 pound per week. NONSENSE!

    If I keep my calories about the "starvation" threshold there are multiple benefits:
    1) I will expend more energy at rest because you move more when you have fuel (NEAT)
    2) I will expend more energy during workouts because I have the fuel to go harder
    3) I will expend more energy because my BMR is at the proper level
    4) My hormones will be stabilized because my body doesn't think it's starving.
    5) My muscle mass will be retained for the same reason ^^

    So If my BMR is 1200 and then we add in the extra calories burned from reasons 1, 2, and 3...we aren't looking at a 180 calorie difference...it's probably more like a 400-500 calories difference. I could eat 1420-1520 calories and still lose that same pound per week while doing the same amount of exercise if I avoid putting my body into "starvation mode."

    So call it what you will but there are numerous case studies of people even on this site who prove that it's more than the laws of thermodynamics at work here!
  • tegla
    tegla Posts: 132
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    This starvation mode thing makes my eyes cross, I can't figure out the numbers for the life of me. But I'm 212 now, and I am so certain that "starvation mode" has been my issue for years now, and am trying hard to add healthy calories to my diet, and exercise more. But I've put on a pound the last couple days eating more, but I am going to stick with it, since it has to take time for my body to adjust to more 'fuel'.

    Good luck to you, I know our fellow MFP know what their talking about, so I have full confidence in them

    Eat, Water, and move... sounds so easy... *sigh
  • love4fitnesslove4food_wechange
    love4fitnesslove4food_wechange Posts: 6,897 Member
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    more food = more bulk in your system. it will go down, don't worry.

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