Eating more to lose weight - Does it work?

Yup it is counter-intiuative, doesn't make much sense to me. But a vocal group seems to be advocating it. Now while I am assuming they have used it themselves, has anybody tried it with success?

Basically has someone tried this whole eating more bit and lost weight?

Edit: For grammar and English.

There is a big difference in eating enough and overeating!!! Eating at 1200 calories did not work for me. We do not need to starve ourselves in order to lose weight.

It's worked for me.... I eat about 1600 calories a day plus all my exercise calories back... Oh and let's not forget I have a cheat day about once a week... (or every holiday at least)

Husband does the same and has lost 57 pounds.... He stalled when he wasn't eating all his calories and had to make sure he got all his in...

I get so frustrated reading "the scale won't budge!" and yet see their low calorie intake or their net being below 1200... Sorry but you don't read comments like that as much from people eating more...

IT WORKS! Every time I hit a plateau that lasts more than a week, I up my calories some. I have done it twice and every time I immediately start losing again. I have lost 15lbs since the beginning of January(I am 5ft. 1). :flowerforyou:

you are going to get all KINDS of differing opinions based on real life personal situations.

When I first lost my weight, I ignored my net calories and didn't eat a morsel OVER my MFP allowance of 1,200 calorie allowance, despite burning at least 1,000 calories a day.

This time around, I experimented and decided to eat back my calories so I have a NET of around 500 calories. to my horror, I piled on 8 lbs inside of almost 3 weeks.

Eat back exercise calories? not for me, as i wish to lose weight.

I'm going to guess a lot of this was based on your age. Netting 500 calories is certainly enough to throw you into starvation mode, so I'm not surprised in the least your body was trying to hold onto every bite you ate and you didn't lose weight. I am also not surprised being anorexic in a sense, by eating what you were burning and no more, worked as if you burn and then don't eat, you have no choice but to lose weight. However, while this will yeild weight loss, it's very hard on your body, and is not healthy to maintain for any period of time. Which is why when you upped your cals, even a bit, you didn't lose as much, if any, because your body was doing what it could to hold onto anything you were giving it.

you are going to get all KINDS of differing opinions based on real life personal situations.

When I first lost my weight, I ignored my net calories and didn't eat a morsel OVER my MFP allowance of 1,200 calorie allowance, despite burning at least 1,000 calories a day.

This time around, I experimented and decided to eat back my calories so I have a NET of around 500 calories. to my horror, I piled on 8 lbs inside of almost 3 weeks.

Eat back exercise calories? not for me, as i wish to lose weight.

What you are saying is that you were living on 200 calories per day????

It appears that way. She is also trying to sustain herself on 500 net and gained and so quit that.

Problem here is, you WILL gain initially while your body gets used to the fact that you are ACTUALLY feeding it properly. If you kept with it you'd start seeing losses again and it would be easy to upkeep. Eating so few calories (net) at this point is clinically diagnosable as anorexia and NOT healthy... it is also not sustainable unless you want to eat so little and exercise so much for the rest of your life.

This is why there re those that advocate for eating more. If, as you lose weight, you gradually increase your calories closer to maintenance, when you're weight loss goal is reached, you can continue the lifestyle you're used to without starving yourself and be a healthier happier individual.

I also stalled out trying to eat a net of 1200... I also thought eating less was a better way to lose and so quit eating back exercise calories... and I GAINED weight. I upped my net to 1350 and started eating my exercise calories back again and started dropping weight like crazy, so yes it works... as long as you are willing to accept the very real possibility that if you've been eating at too low of number you MIGHT gain a little before you start to lose and you just have to keep with it and NOT give up!

So, how do you explain the success of people who have had weight loss surgery and eat around 800 calories/day during their losing phase?

People who have had bypass surgery have to be very well micromanaged under a doctors care. Most of them are malnourished and suffer from secondary nutritional deficiencies and must take supplements and eat a specific amount of proteins, carbs, etc. to avoid overfilling their stomachs and suffer serious consequences. Why go through all that torture if you haven't had the surgery and don't need too? Another side effect muscle loss. Eating below TDEE and above BMR allows you to maintain lean muscle your mass.

Theresa

So, how do you explain the success of people who have had weight loss surgery and eat around 800 calories/day during their losing phase?

It's called anorexia for lack of a better term, as anorexia actually deals with the mental side of things. But for the physical part, if you starve yourself and can keep it up, you will lose weight. You will also lose muscle, and tax your body pretty heavily as well.

I know it doesn't make sense but it is very much so the truth. Now eating MORE doesn't mean eating CRAP...lol. YOu still have to make the right choices and all but yes. This is basically how it works. Your body has an amount of calories it needs daily just to live (BMR) and that doesn't even take into account exercise and things like that. So dropping TOO low below your BMR will not result in healthy weight loss and believe it or not you may even GAIN weight doing this! WHY?!?!? Because if you don't give your body alt he fuel (calories) it needs to function as SOON as your eat something your body will hold on to it bc it has no idea when you're gonna feed it again. Now like I said that doesn't mean you have a free pass to eat anything and everything you want...lol. OH how I wish that would work..lol. BUT it does mean to get a substantial amount of food from a variety of sources and to eat often. I was working with a client who, poor thing, had basically been starving herself and living off of tuna, greek yogurt, fruits and veggies. While these are all good things to eat that is NOT enough to eat in a day and expect your body to release weight.

Now you may be asking if I do this and yes I do. Before using MFP I lost 100lbs and I did it by eating...lol. I know it seems crazy but NUTRITION is the most important part of this whole weight loss thing. And now that my activity amount has increased even I have to eat more. (I'm a full-time cycling instructor) In order for me to lose weight at this point I HAVE to eat between 1800-2000 cals a day. And yes i'm a little 5'3 female...lol. But trust me it works. I tried to get around it and I even struggle with eating that much everyday but when I DO I feel amazing and the weight/inches start to just drop off.

Check out this link and play around with the numbers. http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm

So, how do you explain the success of people who have had weight loss surgery and eat around 800 calories/day during their losing phase?

If you are obese, your body has more fat store to allow a body to "feed on itself" to provide energy. What you don't realize is you also lose muscle mass by doing so. In the end, you will NEVER get into the shape you want to be eating 800 calories. You may be skinny, but you will never be fit.

This.

There's a difference between starvation and weight loss. You should never feel like you're starving when losing weight.

Furthermore, rapid weight loss also leaves you with a TON of excess skin because the skin can't keep up with the changing body size as easily as if you lose at a slower rate.

Always works for me. Every time i hit a plateau be it fat loss or lack of progression at the gym, upping my calories a little at a time alwas broke me through.