people who LOST weight eating MORE

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  • denorios
    denorios Posts: 38 Member
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    Bumping!
  • lilyinlove
    lilyinlove Posts: 441 Member
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    Bump

    And yes I was at a plateau and upper my calories and have finally started to lose weight again! I feel more energetic and the stress of oh no I only have ..... Calories left to eat... Is gone!
  • castadiva
    castadiva Posts: 2,016 Member
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    I am having a hard time believing you can eat more calories than your goal and still lose weight. When I eat more calories I GAIN weight. Isn't that the reason we keep track of calories? Just sayin'

    Don't forget that the net calories goal MFP provides already represents a significant deficit - 1000 calories, in my case - so eating more, unless we're talking a LOT more, on a regular basis, will still allow you to lose weight. It may be slightly slower progress for some, while for others, whose body may go into starvation mode at a higher caloric level than average, it may actualy speed the process up.

    This built-in deficit is also the reason why I believe it's important to eat back exercise calories - if you are creating a situation where your deficit is 1500 calories, by eating strictly to the gross calories goal, and then exercising off another few hundred, so that your net intake is well under 1200, that's not going to be good for your body.
  • CouleeRunner
    CouleeRunner Posts: 267 Member
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    Week one done and I've lost 0.5lbs(keep in mind I am a healthy weight and working on last 10 lbs). Wow, I expected to gain for a little while. Yesterday I ate 2500 calories....today will be about 2000.
  • lmelangley
    lmelangley Posts: 1,039 Member
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    I started out eating just over 1300 cals and lost about a pound a week. Maybe a little less. Toward the middle of the summer, I updated my goals to include the weight I'd lost and MFP put me down to 1200 cals. I stopped losing weight within 3 weeks and plateaued for a month. I then upped my cals to just over 1300 again and began to lose. I'm convinced my body just isn't meant to consume less than an average of 1300 cals a day.
  • CyberEd312
    CyberEd312 Posts: 3,536 Member
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    I think that eating back exercise calories is a must especially if you workout alot and burn a ton of calories. My MFP is set to 1.5 lbs. a week lost so there is a built in 750 calories a day deficit and then I can avg. 1000-2000 calories burned a day (2 workouts morning/evening x 5days a week, 1 workout x 1 day a week, 1 rest day) so in my case if a don't eat back atleast 60-70% of my calories I easily put myself into starvation mode and hit plateau's left and right... I have to eat to fuel my workouts.... You have to find what works best for you, everyone is going to be different. This week I am eating everybit of my net (with my exercise calories) to give myself a good carb/calorie load this week and then next week drop back to my normal net plus 60-70% of exercise calories... Will I gain this week?? More than likely but next week it will begin to balance out again. But sometimes the weeks a carb/cal load have been my bigger weightloss weeks lol.... I just chalk those weeks up as a bonus and move on..... :-)
  • TrophyWifeSass
    TrophyWifeSass Posts: 490 Member
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    BUMP to read when I'm not so tired...and, gasp, hungry!
  • Kim55555
    Kim55555 Posts: 987 Member
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    bumping back to page 1
  • chevy88grl
    chevy88grl Posts: 3,937 Member
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    I was following all the recommendations out there for someone my height/starting weight/goal weight. After many months of NO weight loss (or very slow loss), I started doing my own research. I found a ton of articles, charts, calculators, etc that pretty much convinced me that eating 1600 or 1700 calories wasn't enough for me.

    I initially upped to 1800 - and nothing happened. Then I went to 1900 - and I lost like 1lb. Upped again to 2000 and went from 167lbs to 150lbs in like 5 weeks. I upped them again to 2200 calories and dropped another 5lbs.

    I'm proof that depending on your lifestyle - sometimes eating more is the key to weight loss success.

    Perhaps I should mention that I work on my feet 4 days a week (3/9 hour days and 1/6 hour day). Other than breaks (15 mins) and lunch - I am in CONSTANT motion while at work. Even on slow days, I am still on my feet -- doing something.

    I don't consider my job any form of exercise since my body is used to doing it - but I know that I burn a ton of calories doing it. I realized that I wasn't giving my job enough credit when it came to calories I was burning in a day. I have a pretty low BMR, but my activity level definitely gives me a high TDEE.
  • Rachiepie6
    Rachiepie6 Posts: 423 Member
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    Bump (don't have time to read all of this yet :p)
  • fteale
    fteale Posts: 5,310 Member
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    More evidence that eating more makes you lose- today I weighed in after two weeks on "maintenance" and I had lost 1.25lb.

    My average NET calories over these 2 weeks was 1600 calories.


    That's not surprising. Most people would consider 1600 net as underrating.

    I wouldn't personally, as I am maintaining on a bit less than that, but for most people 1600 is still in the food deficit range.
  • kirstiey
    kirstiey Posts: 243
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    More evidence that eating more makes you lose- today I weighed in after two weeks on "maintenance" and I had lost 1.25lb.

    My average NET calories over these 2 weeks was 1600 calories.


    That's not surprising. Most people would consider 1600 net as underrating.

    I wouldn't personally, as I am maintaining on a bit less than that, but for most people 1600 is still in the food deficit range.

    But that doesn't make sense. K is only a wee little thing and so should prob only need 1600 to maintain. I think the Govt guidelines are to blame for most people's misunderstanding of how much we can eat. It is a total myth that a normal person needs 2000 cals (As the UK Govt suggests). 2000 cals is for a relatively active person, which a number of UK ladies aren't (including me). It just goes to show that every body is different and it is about fine tuning how many cals you need to maintain. MFP can't really do this for you exactly, it is a case of finding out what works for you. It isn't surprising that UK ladies re the fattest in Europe (Sob....)
  • inge88
    inge88 Posts: 184 Member
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    Only got half way through all the posts. Bumping this for tomorrow. Curious to read all your posts. I'm thinking about upping my calories by 100-200 but as soon as I tell myself I can eat a bit more I start thinking about dipping a teaspoon in nutella or peanutbutter... Or worst: eat a handfull of chocolate sprinkles... just got to find a healthy way of adding those extra calories. I find this quite hard since I have been at 1200 a day for a couple of weeks now. Will read all the posts tomorrow and see if someone has got the same problem.
  • CnocNaCu
    CnocNaCu Posts: 536 Member
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    I was confused all the time . Why would I lose when eating more....
    I checked this website http://calorieline.com/tools/tdee
    and now I really KNOW what's happening when I eat under/over 1200 cals and now I know I have to eat back my cals. Maybe you want to check it out yourself. Make sure you read the whole page.
  • Mallory0418
    Mallory0418 Posts: 723 Member
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    It's all about metabolism. If you are just starting out by drastically cutting your calories (1200 - 1500), of course, you are going to see a significant loss for the first few weeks. But then you won't. You will slow your metablism down by not getting the correct nutrients to keep it going. Especially for those of you who exercise a lot. It takes more than you would think for your body to recover after a workout. And without eating enough for that recovery, your not allowing your body the maximum benifits.

    A slower metabolism = less calories you burn when you're not exercising! Which could put just about anyone in a plateau. Feed your metabolism!

    "If you go too far below the recommended value for 'calories to eat', you may wind up slowing down your metabolism. You'll still lose weight, but you won't be getting as much bang for your calorie-deficit buck, if you will. Furthermore, there is a chance of losing muscle mass if you reduce your calories too much. If you lose muscle mass and then later regain some of your weight, the weight will likely come back in the form of fat -- your reduced muscle mass will then make it even harder to lose the weight in the future."

    -http://calorieline.com/tools/tdee
  • write2sonya
    write2sonya Posts: 165 Member
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    Bump... need to read later..
  • FITnFIRM4LIFE
    FITnFIRM4LIFE Posts: 818 Member
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    Bump:-)
  • albayin
    albayin Posts: 2,524 Member
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    It's all about metabolism. If you are just starting out by drastically cutting your calories (1200 - 1500), of course, you are going to see a significant loss for the first few weeks. But then you won't. You will slow your metablism down by not getting the correct nutrients to keep it going. Especially for those of you who exercise a lot. It takes more than you would think for your body to recover after a workout. And without eating enough for that recovery, your not allowing your body the maximum benifits.

    A slower metabolism = less calories you burn when you're not exercising! Which could put just about anyone in a plateau. Feed your metabolism!

    "If you go too far below the recommended value for 'calories to eat', you may wind up slowing down your metabolism. You'll still lose weight, but you won't be getting as much bang for your calorie-deficit buck, if you will. Furthermore, there is a chance of losing muscle mass if you reduce your calories too much. If you lose muscle mass and then later regain some of your weight, the weight will likely come back in the form of fat -- your reduced muscle mass will then make it even harder to lose the weight in the future."

    -http://calorieline.com/tools/tdee

    No offense to anyone but who is the founder(s) behind this site? Why should we quote them?

    Sorry. Just too much mixed messages on the internet. I need to find a more reliable source first.
  • Mallory0418
    Mallory0418 Posts: 723 Member
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    Ok....just trying to help by sharing information that helped me with a similar situation. Like all other people who have responded to this post... This is a PUBLIC forum you know, if you don't trust the information people are sharing than google it yourself.
  • love4fitnesslove4food_wechange
    love4fitnesslove4food_wechange Posts: 6,897 Member
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    Only got half way through all the posts. Bumping this for tomorrow. Curious to read all your posts. I'm thinking about upping my calories by 100-200 but as soon as I tell myself I can eat a bit more I start thinking about dipping a teaspoon in nutella or peanutbutter... Or worst: eat a handfull of chocolate sprinkles... just got to find a healthy way of adding those extra calories. I find this quite hard since I have been at 1200 a day for a couple of weeks now. Will read all the posts tomorrow and see if someone has got the same problem.

    couple tbsp of peanut butter =200 calories
    1 oz nuts =160 calories
    1/2 an avocado = 160 calories
    1 oz seeds = 160 calories
    1 egg = 70 calories
    1 tbsp olive oil = 120

    None of these foods are particularly filling and can easily be added to what you're already eating..chopped egg on a salad with avocado and 1 tbsp olive oil = 350 extra calories. If not on a salad then stirred into black beans and corn...a little fiesta! :)

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