people who LOST weight eating MORE

Options
1…1718202223…26

Replies

  • i_miss_donuts
    i_miss_donuts Posts: 180 Member
    Options
    In the same boat. Trying to up my calories. I am really active and my Fitbit tells me I earn about 500- 800 calories from exercise. I tried to eat near the amount it told me yesterday and couldn't sleep last night because I was awful, bloated and gross from overeating (maybe TMI but I eat LOADS of veggies and fiber). This week I am going to focus on eating back 50-75% of my exercise calories to stay up near 1200-1300 net and see what happens.

    Less bulk and more healthy fats will make you feel much better--less bloating and over fullness. Fat is GOOD for you if from healthy sources.

    Yes, i agree eat less bulk! Cut back some of the veggies and replace with some good fats like flaxseed oil which is 130 calories a tablespoon, large egg (70 calories) nuts (walnuts, almonds). Swap some lettuce for avocado. Then you'll have no probs reaching your calorie target and you wont feel so bloated.

    Thanks! I appreciate all the suggestions. I have been eating eggs (mostly whites) and greek yogurt both of which are high protein and low fat, but will definitely add in some nuts and look into the flax seed oil. Avocados are tricky as they seem to go from rubber to rotten in record time in our house! :smile:
  • kealambert
    kealambert Posts: 961 Member
    Options

    Thanks! I appreciate all the suggestions. I have been eating eggs (mostly whites)

    eat the whole thing! :)
  • katiew00t
    katiew00t Posts: 164
    Options
    I'm interested to hear responses. I'm 5'4" and eating 1200 calories now, but I was thinking of upping it to 1300.

    MFP started me at 1280. I do eat back my exercise calories (around 250-350/day). I was losing weight, but was also hungry a lot of the time. I upped my allowance to 1490 and I am still losing weight! And I don't feel like I'm starving or depriving myself. I haven't gone over my calorie allowance since I increased it. w00t!
  • Anomalia
    Anomalia Posts: 506 Member
    Options
    When I was eating 1200 I couldn't get below 5 lbs above goal weight. I now eat 1500 and am hovering around goal weight, its lovely.
  • MissHellsing
    MissHellsing Posts: 133 Member
    Options
    When I was eating at 1200 thing I went into a Plateau. I tried to raise it to about 1400 that helped a little. I finally put it up to 1700 cals and I've lost another pound after doing that after a week FINALLY after almost 2 months of not losing ANYTHING! :drinker:
  • hungryPHATbunny
    hungryPHATbunny Posts: 84 Member
    Options
    So, were you undereating initially and then wised up? What was your intake? What did you raise it to?

    How was weight loss before/after raising your calories?

    I think this might help people who are afraid to up their calories--despite netting less than 1200...sometimes substantially less while working out.

    i had an anxiety feeling to it which i can see this is most peoples problems, its a mental thing, but i just made myself eat more, its all about willpower, the same as eating less. in the end, do you really want to be unhealthy you can get caught up in feeling good about yourself the less you eat, feeling so in control which is what i hear lots of ed sufferers/ex-sufferers say. this kind of anxiety can lead to eating disorders and such.. i can see why these things happen, if i wasnt so headstrong and i didnt make myself eat more, you know it could have happened to me. with most people it doesnt lead to this and i may seem to be going in to hard, but guys you just pplain need to eat more. before i found mfp, i was focussing on 'eating healthy & less to lose weight', i had no intention of starving myself, but iwas only eating about 1000cal a day but didnt know it! and i only had 10kg(22lb) to lose. when i got on here i was eating 1300 (to lose one pound a week, i didnt get that was too much then), then before i knew it or even realised what was going on i had lost the weight, then i started eating 1400, got hungry and kicked through the anxiety of eating more, at 1500, got hungry kicked through it again, was eating about 1600-1800 and i think that was ok for a bit but then i started exercising more so i had to eat even more. up to 2000. now i workout heaps and have realised i burn even more doing day to day things. i now eat about 2100-2300 a day including exercise!

    i am 5'1 and 105-110 lbs (158cm 48-50kg)


    That's really interesting...can I ask how many calories you burn in exercise and how often you exercise?
  • kazzamcamille
    kazzamcamille Posts: 117 Member
    Options
    Bump!
  • Kim55555
    Kim55555 Posts: 987 Member
    Options
    Bump
  • ReneeJM
    ReneeJM Posts: 117 Member
    Options
    I really needed to read this thread today. I recently increased my calories and I need this encouragement to stick with it.

    I was one of those people that tried the low carb plan without success. For 10 years I was not eating enough calories. Five years ago I began regularly going to the gym and making the situation worse because I wasn't eating back my exercise calories. After joining MFP I realized that a lot of days I was only netting 500 calories!

    I am 59 years old and started at 209 calories. I immediately saw success because I was finally eating enough calories. I couldn't believe how much I could eat and still lose weight. I finally felt like a normal person again. I was actually eating sandwiches! I think I began around 1350 calories (1# a week loss) and I ate back all of my calories. My recommended calories eventually went down to 1200. I lost 20 lbs. and have recently seen a stall in my progress. At the encouragement of a friend on MFP I have increased to 1540 calories (a .5# loss per week).

    It is scary to increase and after a couple of weeks I am up slightly. (I also have the bad habit of weighing daily) I am in it for the long term goal so I will stick with it for a few more weeks. I am half way to my goal with only 27# to go. Originally I wanted to reach this goal by my 60th birthday but it is in a few weeks so it isn't going to happen. I will just celebrate that everyone is seeing my success so far and I know I will get there.
  • cgray
    cgray Posts: 132 Member
    Options
    I was very anorexic for several years in college. When I got help, the doctor made me get up to 110 lbs. which was not comfortable for me and didn't work with my body type. I finally went to a nutritionist who looked at ME and my measurements before putting me on a plan. The original doctor had me eating 1200 calories a day to maintain 110, the nutritionist moved me to 1420 calories a day with a goal weight range of 96-98 lbs. That was 15 years ago. I've been back to the nutritionist several times, most recently when I turned 35. I maintain 95 pounds at 5'2" on a revised 1350 plan. I think that it's a delicate balance between your body and the way it metabolizes calories. My biggest challenge right now? High cholesterol. Go figure.
  • ladyraven68
    ladyraven68 Posts: 2,003 Member
    Options
    I really needed to read this thread today. I recently increased my calories and I need this encouragement to stick with it.

    I was one of those people that tried the low carb plan without success. For 10 years I was not eating enough calories. Five years ago I began regularly going to the gym and making the situation worse because I wasn't eating back my exercise calories. After joining MFP I realized that a lot of days I was only netting 500 calories!

    I am 59 years old and started at 209 calories. I immediately saw success because I was finally eating enough calories. I couldn't believe how much I could eat and still lose weight. I finally felt like a normal person again. I was actually eating sandwiches! I think I began around 1350 calories (1# a week loss) and I ate back all of my calories. My recommended calories eventually went down to 1200. I lost 20 lbs. and have recently seen a stall in my progress. At the encouragement of a friend on MFP I have increased to 1540 calories (a .5# loss per week).

    It is scary to increase and after a couple of weeks I am up slightly. (I also have the bad habit of weighing daily) I am in it for the long term goal so I will stick with it for a few more weeks. I am half way to my goal with only 27# to go. Originally I wanted to reach this goal by my 60th birthday but it is in a few weeks so it isn't going to happen. I will just celebrate that everyone is seeing my success so far and I know I will get there.

    Well done on sticking with it.

    A lot of people just don't give it time to work - they gain in the first few days, and rather than give their body time to get used to the extra nourishment and start working properly they go back to their old 1000 cal habits.
  • 189andFalling
    189andFalling Posts: 58 Member
    Options
    This 'eat more lose more' is rubbish. One person probably said it now it's 'Internet fact'.

    Show me one journal/medical article that supports the theory.

    Starvation mode only kicks in after 48+ hours of not eating (and that's only a 20% reduction in BMR)

    Let's say your BMR is 2000, you eat 1000, where does your body get the other 1000? Magic? Your body isn't going to randomly start 'eating muscle' when there are 500,000 calories sitting there in what is essentially useless tissue.
  • marla_jones
    marla_jones Posts: 45 Member
    Options
    I'm bumping to read later...I am interested in reading the replies here
  • iceandfire212
    iceandfire212 Posts: 35 Member
    Options
    bump
  • MichelleRenee13
    MichelleRenee13 Posts: 363 Member
    Options
    Will this work w/o exercising?

    I am at a desk job on top of recuperating from a knee injury. I am eating 1450 net and am hungry most days. I have plateaued since starting about 55 days ago.

    I will be introducing exercise back in to my routine in the next couple of months. I am afraid to up my calories until then.

    Any thoughts?
  • pudgypie
    pudgypie Posts: 83 Member
    Options
    I upped calorie intake from 1200-1500 net to 1800-2000 net approximately 2 weeks ago. I am exactly 2lbs up since then and it wont shift. I have about 40lbs or so to lose so I definitely have weight to shift and I am getting a bit disheartened and feel I should go back down to 1200 again as I was losing consistently on 1200.

    Is it normal to gain for a few weeks? Will I eventually see the scales going downwards?
  • 189andFalling
    189andFalling Posts: 58 Member
    Options
    If you have 150lbs to lose then your BMR is going to be much lower that the calculators suggest. Your 'fat weight' doesn't increase BMR.

    Stick to what worked for you before, then only change it up when it stops working for >2 weeks. 'weight' naturally fluctuates week to week, body fat is a better measure of progress.
  • pigwidgeon82
    pigwidgeon82 Posts: 79 Member
    Options
    bump
  • gemiwing
    gemiwing Posts: 1,525 Member
    Options
    This 'eat more lose more' is rubbish. One person probably said it now it's 'Internet fact'.

    Show me one journal/medical article that supports the theory.

    Starvation mode only kicks in after 48+ hours of not eating (and that's only a 20% reduction in BMR)

    Let's say your BMR is 2000, you eat 1000, where does your body get the other 1000? Magic? Your body isn't going to randomly start 'eating muscle' when there are 500,000 calories sitting there in what is essentially useless tissue.

    We're not talking about eating more than the average person- we're talking about eating enough food to maintain a sensible deficit that doesn't deprive the body of nutrients it needs. Most diets advocate restricting calories well below a thousand calories off a persons TDEE- we are saying that isnt necessary nor does it make long-term weight loss sustainable.

    Starvation mode is simply a phrase- it doesn't have to do with actual starvation but a lack of nutrient delivery from food intake based on energy expenditure. That's all it means.

    For those who have less to lose, they may actually not have '500,000' calories in stored fat tissue. The body has to have fuel to break down nutrients- from fat or from food, hence metabolism. We're talking about restoring metabolism through sensible eating. It's couched at 'eating more' because for most dieters eating more simply means 'high enough to fuel your body's metabolism so you'll be able to burn the fat'.

    Hope that makes it more clear.
  • tabulator32
    tabulator32 Posts: 701 Member
    Options
    This 'eat more lose more' is rubbish. One person probably said it now it's 'Internet fact'.

    Show me one journal/medical article that supports the theory.

    http://www.menshealth.com/mhlists/lose_fat/

    The article quotes the American Dietetic Association (ADA) and the International Journal of Obesity.
    Starvation mode only kicks in after 48+ hours of not eating (and that's only a 20% reduction in BMR)

    Let's say your BMR is 2000, you eat 1000, where does your body get the other 1000? Magic? Your body isn't going to randomly start 'eating muscle' when there are 500,000 calories sitting there in what is essentially useless tissue.

    That is the short term. For consistent, long term weight loss, you need to prevent your body from trying to hoard what it has by feeding it enough. Feed yourself too little, and your body holds onto weight to protect itself.

    That is why the app has a carefully calculated recommendation for calorie intake for each individual. Otherwise, wouldn't they just say eat as few calories as possible? Why don't they say that? Because starving yourself on a consistent basis does not work.

    Stay healthy and eat RIGHT, not less.

Categories