Can someone plz explain to me how eating more cals works

ranmca
ranmca Posts: 121 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I read all these stories abOut Uping calories to loose weight. I really can't wrap my head around it. It just doesn't make sense to me that you eat more and loose more. I heard its because your body goes into starvation mode when eating too little, but that seems weird and untrue to me, because aftee months it would probably get over it. I dunno. I would like opinions and success stories about Uping cals. Thanks
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Replies

  • DPernet
    DPernet Posts: 481 Member
    If you can get through 3 months of starvation mode. Go for it :wink:
  • ladyraven68
    ladyraven68 Posts: 2,003 Member
    It's not about upping it for the sake of it - it's about upping it higher than your BMR.

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/518533-major-sucess-with-higher-calories
  • ladyraven68
    ladyraven68 Posts: 2,003 Member
    Lot's of info in here - http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/395881-people-who-lost-weight-eating-more
  • tigersword
    tigersword Posts: 8,059 Member
    I read all these stories abOut Uping calories to loose weight. I really can't wrap my head around it. It just doesn't make sense to me that you eat more and loose more. I heard its because your body goes into starvation mode when eating too little, but that seems weird and untrue to me, because aftee months it would probably get over it. I dunno. I would like opinions and success stories about Uping cals. Thanks

    Your body does not "get over" starvation. It slows your metabolism and breaks down muscle in order to match what you are eating, which can do permanent damage to your metabolism. You eat more to maintain lean mass and keep your hormones in balance.
  • LorinaLynn
    LorinaLynn Posts: 13,247 Member
    How does a bear survive hibernation? By having his metabolism slow down a lot. That's sort of what happens when you don't eat enough food. Your body slows a whole bunch of processes down to compensate. Except bears are designed to hibernate, so they don't lose massive amounts of muscle as a result.

    Will you still lose weight? Sure. But you could lose just as much, maybe more, and very likely have a larger percentage of your weight loss come from fat by eating the RIGHT amount.

    It takes trial and error to find out what the right amount is for each person. As I said in this thread: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/494091-i-just-don-t-care-anymore

    "There's no big magical mystery about why eating exercise calories work. It's math. I ate less than I burned, because I understood that my body is always burning calories, not just while I was exercising. I had enough of a calorie deficit to lose the weight I wanted to lose, and I had the right nutrition to prevent muscle loss. At 1000 calories a day, I had too large of a deficit, didn't have the right nutrition, and lost a disproportional amount of muscle, thus, I looked bigger than I do now. "
  • chevy88grl
    chevy88grl Posts: 3,937 Member
    Your body needs food to fuel itself. Too little food means it can't perform basic functions properly and after awhile, it starts to slow things down to try and conserve what little food it is getting. If it is struggling to get enough food to just grow hair, digest food or insure organs are functioning properly - it isn't going to want to burn off fat, it'll simply burn off your muscle instead. It is struggling to survive and you expect it to want to burn its fat stores? Come on now. It may need them to live if you decide to feed it even less.

    If you give your body enough food to live - then it feels comfortable enough to burn off those fat stores.

    BMR - basal metabolic rate... this is the amount of calories your body needs in a day just to live. If you were in a coma, your body would need this amount simply to be alive.

    TDEE - total daily energy expenditure - If you aren't in a coma, this is the amount of calories your body burns with your day to day functions. From getting out of bed, to walking, to eating... this number includes everything you're going to do in a day.

    These numbers are key to successful weight loss. If your BMR is 1400 and you're only eating 1200 calories? Well, you aren't even giving your poor body enough to perform those basic life functions. Then if your TDEE is 2400 and you're only eating 1200 calories -- well, you've created a 1200 calorie deficit. That isn't enough food for your body to live. It is going to slow down your metabolism and it is going to hold onto the fat stores.. you know, so it'll have SOMETHING in case you decide to simply stop feeding it.

    If you create a 500 calorie deficit off your TDEE, you're still giving it enough food to live and be comfortable, but you're still creating a deficit so it'll lose some weight.
  • gurganuss
    gurganuss Posts: 78 Member
    Everyones body is a little bit different. I find that you have to try a few different things and see what works for you. I usually eat very close to my 1200 calories a day, but I do not eat my workout calories and although MFP says I am starving, I feel like if I tried to eat more I would get sick.

    My fiance on the other hand has to eat more to lose more, but again he has a different body than mine.

    Good luck and try and experiment.
  • mlwatts2
    mlwatts2 Posts: 244 Member
    I am definitely no expert in this. I have been on MFP religiously since January and most if not all days way below my calorie goal. I have lost 20 lbs and 17.75 inches. Over the past week though I have been super tired and sore which was new. I didn't like it. Today I went to my normal morning kickboxing class which I love and normally pumps me up like no other but I was dragging through the whole thing. Tired and couldn't catch my breath, not a good workout! So I have nervously decided that maybe MFP is right and my body is starving. We need food for fuel! So as of today making a commitment to eat more! Not mindless eating just a little bigger portions of the already healthy stuff :) Good luck!
  • dkursel
    dkursel Posts: 3
    I think they are talking about if you are eating less than 1200 calories a day. If you don't up your calories a couple hundred, your body is in starvation mode because everyone needs at least 1200 for good health.
  • douglasmobbs
    douglasmobbs Posts: 563 Member
    If you eat more the little pixies come and make a home in your belly and magic away your fat.
  • templeofgod
    templeofgod Posts: 10
    If you starve yourself and eat below your needed calories then your body will hold onto what you eat and store it as fat in order to survive. When you do see the scale move down and you think you are losing weight it will be muscle that you are losing. It's takes more energy to sustain muscle than it does fat so your body will get rid of it in order to conserve energy that it thinks it need in order to survive. So if you want to be "skinny fat" then starve yourself. IF you want to be lean and healthy then eat the calories you are supposed to eat. It is about keeping your metabolism burning in order to ensure you are utilizing your calories efficiently. If you starve yourself your metabolism will shut down and you will never achieve a healthy life long weight loss. The ball is in your court. I believe that learning how your body works and how food is processed in the body will help you understand. Do research and hopefully you will find enough information to make an educated decision for yourself.

    I have lost over 60 lbs by eating every 3-4 hours and sometimes every 2 hours when I started implementing more weight training.
  • tonilizzy88
    tonilizzy88 Posts: 920 Member
    Everyones body is a little bit different. I find that you have to try a few different things and see what works for you. I usually eat very close to my 1200 calories a day, but I do not eat my workout calories and although MFP says I am starving, I feel like if I tried to eat more I would get sick.


    THIS
  • kazzamcamille
    kazzamcamille Posts: 117 Member
    If you starve yourself and eat below your needed calories then your body will hold onto what you eat and store it as fat in order to survive. When you do see the scale move down and you think you are losing weight it will be muscle that you are losing. It's takes more energy to sustain muscle than it does fat so your body will get rid of it in order to conserve energy that it thinks it need in order to survive. So if you want to be "skinny fat" then starve yourself. IF you want to be lean and healthy then eat the calories you are supposed to eat. It is about keeping your metabolism burning in order to ensure you are utilizing your calories efficiently. If you starve yourself your metabolism will shut down and you will never achieve a healthy life long weight loss. The ball is in your court. I believe that learning how your body works and how food is processed in the body will help you understand. Do research and hopefully you will find enough information to make an educated decision for yourself.

    I have lost over 60 lbs by eating every 3-4 hours and sometimes every 2 hours when I started implementing more weight training.



    THIS FOR SURE ^^^^^
  • dkursel
    dkursel Posts: 3
    How do you know what your BMR and TDEE are?
  • templeofgod
    templeofgod Posts: 10
    I think you also have to ask yourself what you are trying to achieve. We all have different goals. Some people want to just lose weight and look thin. Others what to have more definition. Is what you want temporary or permanant.? Do you want to be healthy or just be skinny. All these questions have a different solution. Eating less and creating a huge deficit will help you lose weight but it's not healthy. You might look smaller but are you really thin or are you just skinny with a lot of fat still on your body. So I would say be honest with yourself and if your goal is just to be in a smaller pair of jeans then eat less. If you want to be healthy and look amazing in a bikini then eat more and work out hard. It's up to you.
  • Willow5150
    Willow5150 Posts: 1
    It's about balance, much like a checking account and about perception. If the perception (focus) is entirely on one aspect of weight loss, such as calories, it's the wrong approach and won't work for weight loss maintenance. It does work really quickly at first for weight loss, though, but will plateau. The perception should really be about the balance between input and output. Input (what you eat AND drink) and output (urinating, bowel movements, purging and expenditure of energy, such as exercise/sweating).
    When folks focus on the calorie portion and only consume calorie dense foods, but they are nutritionally deficient, the individual gains weight and the body still lacks the nutrition it needs. Choosing foods that offer variety and sources of nutrition will help us to feel satiated and not feel the need to overindulge or crave as much and if planned wisely, can allow us to have "fun foods" occasionally so we don't feel deprived. When we don't consume the amount of calories our bodies need vs. the amount of calories we're spending, our bodies do react as if they are starved and will try and protect itself by storing fat. This is where exercise and nutritionally balanced meals can work together to give you not only weight loss, but weight loss maintenance and overall good health practices that can last you a lifetime. Something to consider as well: changing the way we think things are supposed to work and trust that following a balanced meal and exercise plan will work and always ask yourself is what I am currently doing or what I have been doing working? If not, why not try this method?
  • LorinaLynn
    LorinaLynn Posts: 13,247 Member
    How do you know what your BMR and TDEE are?

    For an estimate, you can check your BMR under "tools" on here, and likewise, if you have your activity level set correctly, your TDEE will be on your "goals" page under "calories burned through normal activity." That would be the calories required to maintain your current weight, but it doesn't include the calories burned through exercise.

    Sometimes that requires a bit of tweaking. I had mine set to "lightly active," even though I'm not terribly active without my exercise, and was still losing weight on maintenance. I'm bumping it up to "active" and I'll see how that goes.
  • MelissaGraham7
    MelissaGraham7 Posts: 406 Member
    But importantly, you don't just up the calories you are eating, it is also about what kind of calories you are eating. For example, your body burns more calories breaking down protein than anything else. So, increase your calories with protein and watch the bad carbs - meaning eat complex carbohydrates and lots of protein and not processed foods and sugars with those extra calories. I've been doing it for 9 days and busted my plateau with a 4-pound weight loss!! WOOHOOO!!! Just don't blindly add calories.
  • tigersword
    tigersword Posts: 8,059 Member
    Myth. Yes, your body burns more calories breaking down protein than carbs, but it's irrelevant, because eating does NOT burn extra calories above and beyond your TDEE. If you ate 100% protein one day, and 100% carbs another day, you would still burn the same amount of calories, because your digestive system draws energy from other sources in order to operate. So if it burns an extra 1 calorie digesting a gram of protein over a gram of carbs (which is all the difference really is) it just means that it uses 1 calorie less in another biological process.

    Also, both proteins and carbs are worth 4 calories a gram, eating equal amounts of either of them results in the same net total of calories consumed and used. And the type of carb is irrelevant, provided you hit fiber and nutrition goals.
  • funkycamper
    funkycamper Posts: 998 Member
    Everyones body is a little bit different. I find that you have to try a few different things and see what works for you. I usually eat very close to my 1200 calories a day, but I do not eat my workout calories and although MFP says I am starving, I feel like if I tried to eat more I would get sick.


    THIS

    No, not this. I've done it that way in the past. Bad mistake. Never again. Working on repairing my metabolism this time around. It may take a bit longer but it's far healthier in the long run because you maintain more of your muscles (which are not easily replaced) and can eat more at maintenance without gaining. It's worth it to do it right.

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