Lost 7 lbs since last Thursday by eating MORE!

Wow, Thank you for posting this! I am struggling to lose and i think it is b/c I may not be getting enough calories. Do you always eat those allotted calories even when you are not hungry??

I had my weight loss goals set to 2 pounds for MFP on the profile and I am struggling to lose. I just listed it to 1 pound a week loss and praying it helps me. It upped my calories from 1640 to 2140....dudes that is a LOT of FOOD! Doesn't make sense to me.....but I am gonna give it a shot. I guess the reality check is that I must have been eating like 4,000 calories or more before......who knows. :):)

My CW is 252
Height is 5"11
My goal weight is 165-170

I really want this to work for me. I have been feeling very defeated and been praying for some revelation to help me get the next 10 pounds OFF!! Looking into Turbo Jam:)

how do you up your calories? I have been on MFP and lost 12 pounds and 5 inches but thats it then I have gained 3 pounds back i am stuck

i brought my weight loss down to .5lbs a week instead of 2lbs a week and i was able to get more calories a day.

OK, I am finding this hard to understand... :noway:

I did the calculations that Helloitsdan's kindly posted, My BMR is 1553 my TDEE is 1864 now I usually only eat 1300 cals a day but burn 500-700 a day every day in exercise.

I have still dropped weight, eat all the right things my Calories Carbs Fat Protein Sodium are always under my Fiber is always above, I drink 10-14 glasses of water a day my net calories are never above 1000 so are you saying that I am starving my body??
( sorry but a doctor once told me that fat people didn't walk out of Belsen concentration camp fat, this was shortly after I'd had my tsecond child, so i can't get my head around what I should and shouldn't be doing....) can someone please explain what net calories I really need to be eating...
Many many thanks in advance:drinker:
Alli

You should be eating about 1500 plus eating most of your exercise calories back

I also upped my calories last week after reading so much on here about it and running my numbers. This week after upping, I lost 8.6 lbs! I calculated my TDEE with no exercise and then ate back most or all of my activity. I know this week was a lot of water weight or what not and that's not going to be realistic every week. But I was losing & gaining the same 3-4 lbs for about 2 months, so I'm totally on board with eating more calories...lol. I'm completely satisfied and actually have energy. At first it was a little hard to figure out how to eat so many calories (2100), but now I use REAL olive oil on my omelets instead of PAM. And guess what, I use real eggs instead of egg beaters, or egg whites! My body is thanking me too!

PS: I have 100+ to lose and want to make sure I do it healthy this time!

Bump.

I hear a lot of talk about upping calories, is that only really effective for people working out pretty intensely? or maybe people eating so little calories that they are starving. I would think it wouldn't help someone only doing a light amount of exercise. Like me, I am on 1700 calories (I am 5'10", so it's not all that much) and I am just doing 30 minutes of cardio 3x/week. I am guessing eating more calories would not have the same effect in this case, am I right?

Anyone?

It depends on how the 1700 number was derived. What was this based on/how was it calculated? I could be wrong but the 1700 calories seems likely to be before exercise. If so, eat you exercise calories back.

Girl!! Eating more calories has CHANGED me! I was starving and exausted! Now I am satisfied and have more energy! I will NEVER go back to only 1200 calories a day! It's just not healthy! Keep up the GREAT work!!! you are an insperation!!!

Ok so my BMR is 1345 and my TDEE is 1848, Can someone tell me how many calories i should be eating to lose weight?

An easy way that i use is go to the site bellow. Get an estimate of your bodyfat,make a note of it .
http://www.freedieting.com/tools/body_fat_calculator.htm

Then go to this link here
http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm

1 Enter your stats
2 Select the advanced option
3 select the katch-MCcardle method, enter your bodyfat percentage that you noted previously, once done hit the calculate button.

Your maintenance calories are your TDEE same thing. Under maintenance will be a box called fat loss, that amount is what you will need to eat daily. Its a 20% deficit below your maintenance/TDEE. Also remember as your weight decreases you will need to re-enter your stats to compensate for your weight loss.

Ok so my BMR is 1345 and my TDEE is 1848, Can someone tell me how many calories i should be eating to lose weight?

An easy way that i use is go to the site bellow. Get an estimate of your bodyfat,make a note of it .
http://www.freedieting.com/tools/body_fat_calculator.htm

Then go to this link here
http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm

1 Enter your stats
2 Select the advanced option
3 select the katch-MCcardle method, enter your bodyfat percentage that you noted previously, once done hit the calculate button.

Your maintenance calories are your TDEE same thing. Under maintenance will be a box called fat loss, that amount is what you will need to eat daily. Its a 20% deficit below your maintenance/TDEE. Also remember as your weight decreases you will need to re-enter your stats to compensate for your weight loss.

THANK YOU SO MUCH, this makes more sense !! )

Your welcome :-)
I also forgot to mention enter your exercise level, and as you lose weight over time your bodyfat % estimate needs to be reassessed , but i guess you worked that out lol

I also upped my calories last week after reading so much on here about it and running my numbers. This week after upping, I lost 8.6 lbs! I calculated my TDEE with no exercise and then ate back most or all of my activity. I know this week was a lot of water weight or what not and that's not going to be realistic every week. But I was losing & gaining the same 3-4 lbs for about 2 months, so I'm totally on board with eating more calories...lol. I'm completely satisfied and actually have energy. At first it was a little hard to figure out how to eat so many calories (2100), but now I use REAL olive oil on my omelets instead of PAM. And guess what, I use real eggs instead of egg beaters, or egg whites! My body is thanking me too!

PS: I have 100+ to lose and want to make sure I do it healthy this time!

ive been curious about this.so eating more really does help lose wight. Does anyone know how to change this on my profile. cuz my food meter says 1200 calories a day.thants too few. how can i change it to say 2000 a day and track my food?

Thanks for this... I'm hungry, thinking this may be a good sign that I need to up my cals (with healthy additions) but was reluctant as I'm already at 1350. I'll follow some advice and listen to my body

Good for you! I still don't understand the eating back your calories deal...sigh...

I dont understand that bit either:ohwell: i do a bit of exercise and 'earn more calories' but i thought you had to burn more than you eat to lose weight? I am also finding it difficult (mind you i am onlyon day 3) to eat all the extra calories i have 'earned' as i feel i have eaten all i want/need. Maybe someone else can help us out? Pleeease.

Bump!!

Good for you! I still don't understand the eating back your calories deal...sigh...

I dont understand that bit either:ohwell: i do a bit of exercise and 'earn more calories' but i thought you had to burn more than you eat to lose weight? I am also finding it difficult (mind you i am onlyon day 3) to eat all the extra calories i have 'earned' as i feel i have eaten all i want/need. Maybe someone else can help us out? Pleeease.

As long as you are eating healthily, the more food the better, as long as you have an appropriate deficit between calories in and calories out. The best way to lose weigh in a sustainable manner is to not have it like a diet that you deprive yourself. So exercising means you can eat more and it has additional health benefits. The appropriate deficit is very important - too small and you will lose slowly and too high you will also lose slowly and lose a greater proportion of lean muscle mass v fat.

For a better explanation, go to this post: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/538381-in-place-of-a-road-map?

I hear a lot of talk about upping calories, is that only really effective for people working out pretty intensely? or maybe people eating so little calories that they are starving. I would think it wouldn't help someone only doing a light amount of exercise. Like me, I am on 1700 calories (I am 5'10", so it's not all that much) and I am just doing 30 minutes of cardio 3x/week. I am guessing eating more calories would not have the same effect in this case, am I right?

This is also my question because I'm admittedly very sedentary. I get in what I can, when I can, which comes out to twice as much as I did before joining MFP, but I didn't even include exercise in my goals because it's so irregular. That's not going to change any time soon due to my schedule/life style, so I'm worried that changing my formula is only going to send me backwards. How do you know when to up your calories?

your body needs fuel (calories) to live.... you shouldn't eat below your RMR . Calculate your TDEE as light or sedentary-- subtract 20% and there is your daily goal #. if you do happen to exercise then add a few more calories for the day to fuel/repair the muscles you just worked..... you won't need much just a larger portion of chicken at dinner , or a protein bar or shake.

and as others have said once you change give it a few weeks for your body to figure out what you are doing to it... then continue to add / subtract until you find what works for YOU. good luck