Tried to eat more it does not work

Ok, if someone else has already said this sorry! There are a lot of responses on here!! I ate less than I was supposed to for a long time and lost 65 lbs. Gained back iver 100. I couldn't sustain it. Now its so much harder to loose because I damaged my metabolism. I am just now, 118 lbs in, feeling like its back where it should be.
I learner that when you are trying to add calories to your diet, you cant add them on all at once. Add 10% per week. This way, you are gradually introducing the calories back in. You may gain or stay the same for a month or even 2, but you are rebuilding your body to burn better in the future.
I do agree though, that every body is different. Just make sure you are healthy and satisfied! Good luck!

I've just checked your diary - I'm not sure why you think you are eating more.

Some days you aren't even netting 500 calories.

Go to reports, nutrition, net calories - it's the net calories that should be over 1200, you are way under.

This^^ . You're eating too little so your body may be storing fat.

I am not storing fat l have loss the fat, I have not loss skin at all and very tone and have muscle.

hard to tell from that face shot you posted

Best way to start a fight on the internet: Forget politics and religion, talk about your opinions on losing weight.

1) Should she eat more? Maybe. Probably.

2) Will she lose weight eating the way she is? Obviously yes. The biggest myth I see on these boards is that you can eat too little to lose any weight. As a general statement, that is crazy talk. Anorexia-stricken people do not have any trouble getting skinny. People in forced labor camps aren't flabby. Use your brains, folks. You can eat too little for health, you can slow your metabolism down, you can have increased difficulty losing weight at the same speed as your metabolism lowers, but no, you can't net 500 calories a day and not lose fat. If you are genuinely netting 500 calories a day and not losing weight, you are a medical MIRACLE or simply underestimating your calorie intake or overestimating your TDEE.

3) Long term, it is better to deficit 500 calories a day (of total burned, not your BMR, folks), not as many as you can per day. A great calorie deficit might trigger your body to try to make up for it in ways that will eventually sabotage your weight loss plan. Additionally, the less you eat, the more likely it is that you miss out on important vitamins and enzymes that are difficult to get back through pills and enriched drinks.

It's not a myth, yes, anorexia works. But its not healthy, and those that dont have the propensity for the disorder? Cant keep it up long term. Anorexia is just like any other mental disorder, additions, depression, etc, not everyone is prone to it.


Eta for stoopid autocorrect

Please don't read my post as pro-anorexia, because it wasn't. Anorexia is a debilitating mental illness, NOT a diet taken to extremes (though, sure, it might start that way for some). It was just evidence to show the misinformed that yes, eating too little still results in losing weight. It was not meant to say that this is actually how you should lose weight.

If folks want to say it is unhealthy to net 500 calories or that there is a sweet spot in caloric deficit that may help you lose weight faster and with more energy or that that sort of extreme dieting isn't sustainable and could lead to binging and gaining back everything you've lost, then that is what they should say, not "you won't lose weight" or "you're eating too little to lose weight" or "you're putting your body in starvation mode, which causes your body to not lose weight" or "your body gets used to eating so little"

It's all bad science. It's like saying the reason you should eat a couple of servings of fruit everyday is to ward off alien invasions. It's the right message, but everything else about it is wrong. Sorry, just misinformation drives me batty XD

It cracks me up when people say things like, "Sure you can lose weight eating VLCD, or else people in concentration camps would have been fat."

Because the goal is to eat like an Auchwitz prisoner? As if its a good thing to starve yourself?

OP, don't say that eating more doesn't work. It does. I eat nearly 2400 cals a day and lose 1-1.5lbs a week. And no, I don't have limitless free time and little stress. I have two kids, go to school full time, work full time, and have a husband who does the same. I just burn 500-750 calories over my intake between what my body burns functioning normally and during the 45 mins of exercise I can squeeze in 3-5 times a week.

Just admit that you don't want it to work, so you won't give it a fair shot.

I totally agree with this ^^^ you really need to feed your body. Your muscle tissue will be affected by a very low calorie diet. Please try and think about what is sustainable for you. For me, 1200 was making me hungry all the time and i was sacrificing my muscle tissue. even though i lost fat as well as muscle, i wasn't really looking toned. just looking like a rubber band (a skinny rubber band anyway). that wasn't the look i wanted. i'm not saying you have to eat over 2000 but just try increasing to 1600 or so for a while... you really have to give it a good 2 month period to adjust. maybe even longer. what happened to me is i was wanting to binge all the time because my body was starving on 1200. it led to me eating really bad stuff that was high in fat, sugar, etc. if i would have just eaten good foods around 1600 calories the whole time i'm sure this may have not happened. i'm not saying your destined for that to happen to you, but that is what happened to me and it looks like also to several others who have commented. my body wanted more and didn't want to starve any more. as soon as i increased calories it did take a while but i got back to normal and now i'm doing strength training as well as do cardio and i've seen a big change already in just a few months. the Auchwitz prisoner/Gollem from lord of the rings look isn't good and that is what i could see happening to myself if i continued on low calories. it is just not sustainable for me.

I agree with you!!! I was told the same thing because I range anywhere from 1000-1200 a day and I am losing about 1-2 pounds a week. When I eat more I don't do so well. Everyone is different and I'm not going to force myself to eat just to get over 1200 calories. That's crazy to me. Your body has a way of telling you to eat hungry so if your not feeling it don't do it.

THIS!!!! I totally agree with this statement. I was just telling my husband this last night. I ate a cup and a half of homemade chili with a piece of cornbread, and was stuffed, yet I was still shy almost 350 cals. I told him I was so full from my meal why should I overstuff myself? It seems to be working for me as well, as I am down 25 lbs in 9 weeks.

Actually the "skipped meals" being bad is a myth. Many on here fast for 16hrs and then power feed for 8hrs. Timing of meals 1,3,or 8 of them a day does NOT matter...... that has been proven to be wrong..... and actually it's calories consumed in a week that matters.....not daily...

ahhh ... if you say so
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timing of meals doesn't matter. all of my loss has come from working graveyard hours. I eat at strange hours all the time. I am rarely consistent and I have been losing weight just fine.

Actually the "skipped meals" being bad is a myth. Many on here fast for 16hrs and then power feed for 8hrs. Timing of meals 1,3,or 8 of them a day does NOT matter...... that has been proven to be wrong..... and actually it's calories consumed in a week that matters.....not daily...

ahhh ... if you say so

timing of meals doesn't matter. all of my loss has come from working graveyard hours. I eat at strange hours all the time. I am rarely consistent and I have been losing weight just fine.
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thats fine ... my response never said anything about timing of meals, nor was that the point of my response ... so my "ahh if you say so" what to the bicep pic who replied

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gotcha....the quote button is being funny on my work pc.
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Okay, so don't eat back your exercise calories and don't eat enough for your body to do it's job. Why are you even posting about it then? Is eating too little working for you? Fabulous. Continue starving yourself then.

^^^ this!!!
lmbo!! right ... why the heck did she post??

eating more isnt something the posters of mfp made up ... it is a FACT ...

Believe it or not, a weight-loss program that overly restricts calories will set you up for failure, as will a skipped meal. There is a point at which cutting calories will work against weight loss because consuming too few calories (or too few meals) leads to increased appetite and low satiety as your body prevents starvation. You will find it hard to implement your healthy eating goals when you’re feeling hungry and dissatisfied. And you will suffer from cravings, ultimately causing you to fall into under-eating and over-eating cycles.

Your body will make a choice: lose body fat or lose muscle. An inadequately fueled body will choose to drop calorie-burning muscle rather than fat. Excessive loss of lean muscle mass leads to weight loss without improvement of body composition or health. This leaves you frustrated and ever-battling your weight.

the OP will be posting later on down the line ... "EATING MORE REALLY WORKS" LOL!!

No, I disagree. The OP will be posting later on down the line... "WHY AM I AT A PLATEAU? I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT HAS GONE WRONG! I'M STILL EATING 500-900 CALORIES A DAY AND HAVEN'T LOST A POUND IN OVER A MONTH!!"

Thank you for posting this! People keep telling me to eat more but I can't lose weight when I do. I decided awhile back that everyone is entitled to their opinion but I'm listening to my body.

do what you do ... but its no more an OPINION than the FACT that you are a female

I think alot of people do not take in account their percent of body fat. If my body fat % is 20-30% and I do not eat at my BMR, My body will break down that fat to use it as energy to survive. This happens everyday in nature. Animals and people put on fat to survive during times when food is scarce.

Now I do agree when you do not have much body fat lets say < 10% you better be eating the calories you need.

i am a nurse, who works with doctors, and you couldn't pay me to see a doctor for weight loss advice!!! you do realize that doctors and nurses take the worst care of their own bodies, right? they do all the things they tell YOU not to do!!!

not to mention, most docs only know THEIR specialty. i worked with docs who had kids but were NOT pediatricians themselves and honestly had no clue what to do with their own sick child....... as a nurse i have actually educated docs on more than ONE occasion.

so, unless your doc is a weight loss specialist, i wouldn't trust them anymore than you trust anyone here! seriously. i would do my OWN research before i would take their word as the ultimate source.................

OMG! Some of you were really mean in these post. I teach 13 year old and they had more manners. That is so not cool. That being said, are any of you on here posting (and demand you are right) a doctor??? Just curious... I do see a doctor to follow my weightloss and she told me NOT NOT NOT to eat the workout calories. So I am wondering why she would tell me that. I even printed out the last round of arguements on here and took them to her and asked her what I should do. She again told me not to eat over the calories and to eat every 2 hours. She said that it will burn the fat and my metabolism will be fine as long as I eat something (an apple, peanut butter toast etc) every two hours. So unless one of you are a doctor (not a nurse but a doctor) then maybe we should not pass out advice until we have spoken to our own doctor. Then maybe we could all be a little nicer. WE are here for support and understanding not to be harassed or hurt.

Increasing calories only works for some people, and only under certain circumstances. Conventional wisdom says if you want to lose weight, eat LESS.. and that's still true the vast majority of the time. When someone isn't losing weight, it's most often because they're either underestimating the calories they're eating or overestimating their calorie burn.

That said, there are rare occasions when someone is doing intense exercise, especially strength training, and truly isn't taking in enough fuel. When that's the case, increasing calorie intake can lead to more efficiency overall when it comes to muscle repair and recovery as well as fat loss.

The whole "eat more to lose weight!" party line is thrown around entirely too much on these boards. Most of the time, it simply isn't the case.

Increasing calories only works for some people, and only under certain circumstances. Conventional wisdom says if you want to lose weight, eat LESS.. and that's still true the vast majority of the time. When someone isn't losing weight, it's most often because they're either underestimating the calories they're eating or overestimating their calorie burn.

That said, there are rare occasions when someone is doing intense exercise, especially strength training, and truly isn't taking in enough fuel. When that's the case, increasing calorie intake can lead to more efficiency overall when it comes to muscle repair and recovery as well as fat loss.

The whole "eat more to lose weight!" party line is thrown around entirely too much on these boards. Most of the time, it simply isn't the case.

when they say "eat more" they just mean enough to support one's body and be able to sustain it long term. this is not 3000 calories but more like 1600-2200. this is the normal "daily intake" for most people that is on most nutrition labels. sure, if you have a seriously damaged metabolism or a really low metabolism by nature (thyroid problem or something else like that), it probably wouldn't work for you. but it does actually work when given a chance. some people give up pretty quickly because they might see a gain as their body adjusts. these gains go away and the body then thinks it is being fed again. there are people who eat very litte and are still not in good shape, mostly because they have damaged their metabolism over years and their body has tried to compensate by getting used to that level. or, if they have a condition that naturally makes their metabolism low. but for most people, this is not the case. most people can eat a little more and it helps them in the end to keep their metabolism higher.

Right, I understand that and I don't disagree with you at all. But when someone says, I've been eating X number of calories for X amount of time and haven't lost any weight, it's almost always underestimating intake or overestimating burn. If someone is truly eating 1200 calories for 3 months, they WILL lose weight.. if they do not, they are most likely eating more than they think they are, or burning less calories than they think they are.

I completely agree with you that most people should be eating in that slightly higher calorie range, like the 1600-2200 that you mention, for slow, steady fat loss as well as a diet that's easy to maintain long-term. I'm just saying that most of the time when people aren't losing weight, it's certainly not because they're not eating enough.

Great post . Can you let me know if I'm on the right track to lose a lb a week?