For the 500,000 time EATING MORE WORKS

Average daily cal. intake Sun - Sat (today) was 2265.
My weight loss for the week was 3.6 lbs.

A LOT of people, including myself, are scared ****less of the thought of eating more but there are too many sucess stories out there claiming it works, so after a long struggle of my own, I have decided to give it a try, and if it works for me, I shall be shouting it from the rooftops!!!

Well done on your sucess!

Same here! I started trying it today, might I say VERY RELUCTANTLY .... I really hope it works for me! Day 1 was a challenge!

I understand why people are scared, but that's letting emotion drive the train. If you are eating mostly healthy foods, and IF YOU ARE EATING FEWER CALORIES THAN IT TAKES TO MAINTAIN YOUR PRESENT WEIGHT, you'll lose. Maybe not 3 lbs per week (or even 2), but you will. I typically eat 1600-1900 (my BMR is just over 1600 and my TDEE is just over 2000). When I exercise, I eat more, and I keep track of my daily and weekly calorie deficit (weekly deficit averages 5000 calories, which is between 1-2 lbs/week). I have yet to hit a plateau, and I'm not hungry, most days.

If you've been undereating for a long time, you won't see results immediately because you've reset your basal metabolic rate (BMR) to a number that's too low for your weight/height/age/gender. (You might even gain a few pounds at first.) Your body has been forced to keep itself alive and do all your activities on too few calories, and your body is so amazing that it can do that without using your reserves of fat. (It may cannibalize protein from your muscles, mind you.) However, if you bump your calories up to your theoretical BMR (the number that a calculator gives you when you input your weight/height/age/gender), your metabolism will crank up and you'll start losing. If that's a 400-600 calorie jump, you might want to do it in 100 calorie increments each week, to keep from feeling like you're stuffing yourself. But give it a month at the new level before calling it a failure.

Also, a poster above made a good point. Lack of sleep is as bad for weight loss as eating at or above your TDEE. Gotta get your Z's and manage your stress, to be most successful.

It seems to me that on the days you work out and burn 400 cals over and above a no work out day is the time that you can have an extra 400 cals in food. It evens out the days cals back to 1200. On the days that you don't work out then only 1200 cals. If you don't make up the cals you burn in a work out, then that day you would only have given your body 800 cals to function. That would not be good. Hopes this helps to make sense of this calorie game.

MFP had my daily goal set at 1500 cals, even though i work on my feet all day long (hair stylist) and work out 3-4 times/wk.. i have been terrified to eat more even though i havent lost ANY weight in the last 4 weeks. I looked up my RMR which is about 1500, which def seems like i havent been eating enough and explains why my stomach is always growling.. I just looked up my TDEE on a couple different websites and it says 2200.
So i think im gonna settle on somewhere between the two, closer to 2000, and see what happens. Weighing myself now so i can track it. And i guess if it doesnt work, im no worse off. haha
Thanks guys

When I started MFP I ate 1200 per day.

Now I eat more than 1600. I'm NEVER going back to 1200.

I wish I would've eaten 1600 from the beginning, I totally would have lost weight faster, and built better muscle.

EATING MORE WORKS!!!

Ok so let me understand this.. So having a 500 calorie deficit will not make you loose weight? If that were so where does the -3000 = 1 pound thing end up? Your trying to tell me say if I eat 3000 extra calories I will loose weight? That makes no sense. So why don't the people in mcdonalds every day loose weight?

No, you completely misunderstood and I have no idea where you got those numbers from. You eat at a deficit to YOUR BMR not a deficit to a pound of fat.

I know there are a million and one topics out there about this
But I feel there needs to be one more confirmation for those ppl struggling at 1200 calories and not losing
Here is my story of how increasing calories worked

I've been on this site 100 days and lost maybe 4 pounds in the first 40 days while struggling to only eat 1200 calories
after that nothing.....for 60 days I just stayed the same
1 week ago I took advice from another thread and found out my BMR and TDEE measurements and increased my calories to 1500
and this week lost 1.5 pounds....

So for those of you who "Can't stay under 1200 cals" it's really not necessary
Just thought I would share my success

Amen, sista!

I started couting calories two weeks ago. I'm 5 feet tall so keep that in mind! I've been drinking an average of 4 cups of water a day (I'm sorry, but I can't do more at this point, I just can't.). Been eating an average of 1452 calories per day. And have averaged a deficit of 848 calories per day. My weight has been fluctuating a lot daily, but I can't say that I've lost anything on the scale. I did 181 minutes of cardio last week and 144 this week--I don't want to over do it--and just started a tiny bit of strength, too.

It's possible I'm not eating over my BMR, but without spending money on a more accurate read, how long do I wait to change my intake? It's only been two weeks, and I've heard a lot of people say to be patient, especially when just starting out. It's not that I'm scared to eat more, but I do know that to fill those calories, I'll seek easy options that aren't as healthy. Also, MFP is the one to suggest 1400 calories daily, knowing my BMR is possibly higher.

bump