Ate more calories and lost more?

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kasrentz
kasrentz Posts: 16 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I know this topic has been done over and over but I'm confused. I have been eating more calories and not logging as much for the past two weeks (been in my first rut since starting this journey) and I've actually lost more weight than normal. I have read on here that sometime increasing calories is the way to go but how do you know how much is enough and how much is too much? I also have not been exercising much the past two weeks (normally I exercise 4 days per week). On top of that how can you increase the amount of calories that you can have on my fitness pal so that when you eat over in calories you don't have red numbers blaring at you? I already have my goals set to lose 0.5lb/week. Thanks for any advise!

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  • BeautyFromPain
    BeautyFromPain Posts: 4,952 Member
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  • mssgirl11
    mssgirl11 Posts: 99 Member
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  • RAFValentina
    RAFValentina Posts: 1,231 Member
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    This happened to me.. I've been away in Italy for a week, admittedly doing DIY, but normally I do 6 HARD gym sessions a week... as well as general pottering about and am very strict with what I eat and aim for an additional 1000kcal deficit on top of the calcualted one for weight loss... However, when i was away, i pretty much ate what I wanted and when I wanted and didn't feel guilty...chocolate, biscuits, ham, pasta, coffee, icecream... and I've come back way slimmer and confused as to why! Possibly not eating enough in the first place and now body knows it can burn calories as not in famine mode, its actually boosted metabolism!?
  • flimflamfloz
    flimflamfloz Posts: 1,980 Member
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    Could be:
    - Your body was stocking calories if you were not eating enough before (survival instinct if you will, normally for people who don't eat enough calories, talking about 1200 and less for extended periods of time here)
    - Losing muscles as not exercising (denser than fat, remember, so more weight, this is for people who exercise moderately).
    - Drinking less because exercising less, so less water weight (you will regain that one quickly as you drink).
    - Eating less carbs, then losing some quick extra weight (you'll regain this one too as you eat carbs).
    - Breaking a plateau at which you were stuck. Your body needed to relax a bit, now it's ready to start again. (this is for people who have been stuck on a given weight for a while)
    - Gaining muscles, after resting. Your engine is now fully started and you are ready to lose more weight (this is normally for people who exercise loads)

    All of these things can happen, you pick!
  • morganadk2_deleted
    morganadk2_deleted Posts: 1,696 Member
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    Are you eating your exersise calories?

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/10589-for-those-confused-or-questioning-eating-your-exercise-calo

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/61706-guide-to-calorie-deficit

    Go to the tools section and figure out your BMI:

    Generally someone with a BMI over 32 can do a 1000 calorie a day (2 lbs a week) deficit
    With a BMI of 30 to 32 a deficit of 750 calories is generally correct (about 1.5 lbs a week)
    With a BMI of 28 to 30 a deficit of 500 calories is about right (about 1 lb a week)
    With a BMI of 26 to 28 a deficit of about 300 calories is perfect (about 1/2 lb a week)
    and below 26... well this is where we get fuzzy. See now you're no longer talking about being overweight, so while it's still ok to have a small deficit, you really should shift your focus more towards muscle building, and reducing fat. This means it is EXTRA important to eat your exercise calories as your body needs to KNOW it's ok to burn fat stores, and the only way it will know is if you keep giving it the calories it needs to not enter the famine response (starvation mode).

    This is just a part of it! please read the link above
  • Navie42
    Navie42 Posts: 152
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    You have three things you need to look at for weight loss: current weight, calories consumed, and calories burned. Each time one of the three main variables change your body needs to adjust to try and reach equilibrium again (because that's it goal). If you dropped your exercise and increased your calories, chances are your metabolism picked up in order to try and compensate, causing you to temporarily lose weight as a result of the change (metabolism would've increased to burn / manage the addl. calories) . If you were to continue on the current trajectory of less exercise and more calories, eventually you would hit a maintenance of equilibrium (and chances are you'd start gaining weight before this happened) where the body once more balances weight with exercise with calorie intake.

    The key to weight loss is to keep the body guessing, which is why people sometimes say zig zagging calories helped them break a plateau (ie equilibrium). For myself, when I hit a plateau I eat more for a few weeks and then cut the calories again.
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,508 Member
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    It's not uncommon to lose weight if you increase you calorie intake for a short period especially if you've been in deficit a long time, however if you don't work out, then you'll also lose weight do to the fact that there is no water retention for muscle repair and no glycogen loading for energy storage.
    So don't be surprised if you weight jumps up a little when you get back to exercising.
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
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    I know this topic has been done over and over but I'm confused. I have been eating more calories and not logging as much for the past two weeks (been in my first rut since starting this journey) and I've actually lost more weight than normal. I have read on here that sometime increasing calories is the way to go but how do you know how much is enough and how much is too much? I also have not been exercising much the past two weeks (normally I exercise 4 days per week). On top of that how can you increase the amount of calories that you can have on my fitness pal so that when you eat over in calories you don't have red numbers blaring at you? I already have my goals set to lose 0.5lb/week. Thanks for any advise!

    While you are losing weight you arent eating too much!

    I am in maintenance and still figuring out what a good number is for me. up your cals by 100 for a few weeks, if u still lose up it again, if not keep it as you were. if u can eat more than 1200 cals per week and lose weightthen why not!!?
  • flimflamfloz
    flimflamfloz Posts: 1,980 Member
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    This happened to me.. I've been away in Italy for a week, admittedly doing DIY, but normally I do 6 HARD gym sessions a week... as well as general pottering about and am very strict with what I eat and aim for an additional 1000kcal deficit on top of the calcualted one for weight loss... However, when i was away, i pretty much ate what I wanted and when I wanted and didn't feel guilty...chocolate, biscuits, ham, pasta, coffee, icecream... and I've come back way slimmer and confused as to why! Possibly not eating enough in the first place and now body knows it can burn calories as not in famine mode, its actually boosted metabolism!?

    Yep, could have been you not eating enough while exercising so much. Body was like "oh oh hold on there, she's not feeding me enough! Let's keep cals consumption at a minimum".

    Then you eat like crazy, and your body adjusts, realizing it can actually burn calories like crazy since it gets them from food anyway!!! (so then you start burning more calories by just living your day normally)
  • kasrentz
    kasrentz Posts: 16 Member
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    Thanks for all the awesome advise guys. I definitely always eat back the majority of my exercise calories. I'm hoping that when I get back to exercising (probably at the end of this week d/t school and work) that I won't gain back a ton!

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