I Up My Calories, I Lose Weight? True or False?

don't really see where you're going to lose weight from. you're already on the thinner side of the healthy weight range and don't need to lose weight. how about eating at maintenance and lifting weights? 1800-2200 calories I'd guess.

net calories are the calories eaten- calories burned.

If I eat 1800 calories and burn 600 my net is 1200.

You NEVER want to net below 1200 calories unless your BMR is somehow under that amount.

So whatever you burn add 1200 calories to it and that's what you should eat--maybe a bit more even.

Sigh....I give up. I've said the same things over and over too much.:explode:

Sigh....I give up. I've said the same things over and over too much.:explode:

Preeeetty pleeease? I'll be your best friend

Unless she's a recovering anorexic right?

I scrolled through a few days of your diary, it's really hard to see what you're eating when you've logged "quickly added cals"

Also, a lot of what you eat looks like junk, I don't see nary a veggie or fruit in the last couple of days. I see cookies, candies, chips and soda. Wich are all high in sodium as well as not being good for you, and water retention can make your tummy bloated, especially at your smaller size it would be more noticeable.

Based on your profile photo...where are you losing the weight from? But Love is right. Never go below 1200. There is a group for women who eat more than 2000. Check it out.

Lol. I get comments like this a lot. That's an old one. When I was skinny. I have bigger thighs (an updated picture in my profile pictures of my legs), and a bigger stomach. I use that for motivation to get BACK to that.

you're wanting to get back to when you were anorexic?you're at a low/healthy weight already--your thighs are just fine. please reconsider.

The Eat More to Lose More concept works with those who have much to lose, not those who only have a half dozen pounds to lose. With all due respect, your photo doesn't show that you have spare pounds to lose. I suggest you take a peek at other conversation threads to learn more... It seems you might enjoy the benefits of toning what you have than losing what you don't have.

The Eat More to Lose More concept works with those who have much to lose, not those who only have a half dozen pounds to lose. With all due respect, your photo doesn't show that you have spare pounds to lose. I suggest you take a peek at other conversation threads to learn more... It seems you might enjoy the benefits of toning what you have than losing what you don't have.

no -- it works for anyone who is eating too little.

Here's one of my old posts from a similar topic:

OK. I'm gonna give this a shot. I am an avid lifelong athlete. I have never been overweight, however, I used to eat too few calories (without knowing it), and a couple years ago, I actually GAINED weight bc of having slowed my metabolism to the point that every little extra treat I ate caused a weight gain, even though overall my calories were too low. THIS DOES HAPPEN.

It is also the reason so many fat people stay fat. They restrict their calories so low, slow their metabolisms, binge (even a little), gain weight, restrict more . . . . and so on and so on. But they are still fat.

It is also the reason most people can't lose that last 10-20 lbs. For real.

1. MFP has a deficit built in. Let's say you're trying to lose 1 lb/ week. That is a 500/day deficit from your BMR (the amount of calories your body needs to complete basic functions.

2. You exercise and burn 500 calories. Now you are at a 1000 deficit. If you eat back those 500 exercise calories, you refuel your body and you still have a 500 deficit for that 1 lb loss. If you DON'T eat back those calories, you have too little fuel. This is bad. This is too much of a deficit for basic functions. If you do this for a long time, you will STOP LOSING WEIGHT. Why? bc your metabolism will slow down -- it's like a brownout--not quite enough electricity to make the whole city (your body) run, so it has to slow down some things. You will probably start being tired a lot, your skin and hair might start to look worse, and you might even gain weight. But you might NOT be hungry -- your body is getting used to fewer calories. That's bad.


That's when you start to gain weight. Let's say you're running along, eating 1200 calories a day, and exercising 400 calories a day, so net is 800. You're losing, you think this is great. You keep doing it, but after a while you stop losing. hmmmmm. One weekend you go out to a special event and have a slice of pizza and a beer. 1 slice of pizza and 1 beer. So you ate maybe 2000 calories that day and exercised off 400, so net 1600. BOOM! You gain 3 lbs! What?!

Next, you freak out and restrict yourself down to 1000 calories a day and work out extra hard, burning 500 calories. Great, netting 500 now. You don't lose any weight, but you sure feel tired. Better get some red bull.

Are you getting the picture?

EDIT: When you work out, you need fuel. Food is fuel. If you don't eat back those exercise calories, you will not only have a big calorie deficit, you will have an ENERGY deficit. Remember, the calorie deficit for weight loss is built in when you use MFP. Exercising basically earns you more calories because you must refuel.
--

There are many people who will tell you not to eat exercise calories. Before you take their advice, you might want to see whether they are at goal, have EVER been at goal, or have ever been able to maintain at goal. If anyone says to you 'THE LAST TIME I LOST WEIGHT", just stop listening right there.

Ask some athletes whether or not they replenish their bodies with food equal to the calories they burn. Ask people who are fit and have achieved and maintained a healthy weight for some years. Don't ask people who count walking across a parking lot as exercise.

Here's an interesting case study about how to stay fat while consuming only 700 calories a day. Take a moment, you'll be glad you did:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/3047-700-calories-a-day-and-not-losing

blessings.

Bump

The easiest way to think about it is like this: It takes 1200 calories to keep your body running at minimal levels. The more activity you do in a day, the more calories it takes to support the minimal level I call "life support". The increased calories cover things like elevated heart rate, flexing muscles, etc. Now if you want to burn fat, you've got to provide fuel above basic life support for your body to be able to effect the burn. So to a point, more calories means fat loss, but too many, you cross the line and just get fat.

If you net only 1200, yet are forcing your body to cover increased heart rate, flexing muscles, etc. with less fuel, your body doesn't have the energy it needs to burn fat. So, instead of burning fat, your body will burn muscle protein because it can do that using less fuel. You still lose weight, it's just not fat you're losing.

Bump. I'm considering increasing my caloric intake even more.

I'll give you what I just posted on someone's question about eating exercise calories.

"I realized I was highly undereating because my basic calorie burn for a normal day was around 2300 BEFORE exercise. I had been eating 1200. That's an 1100 deficit plus any more deficit gained from exercise, and I wasn't losing anymore. My body had entered a pseudo starvation mode, and I was holding onto fat.

I upped my calories slowly after using my HRM to find out my REAL average daily calorie expenditure. On a normal day, app. 2300. On days that I sit on my couch for 9 hours then go right back to sleep, 1300 (I do this on Saturday and Sunday). So, I set my calories to 1450 per day for maintenance. And if I exercise for the day, which I do Monday through Friday, and depending on the exercise, I burn between 400-1000 calories a work out. So, on a normal day I'm BMR burning 2300ish plus an additional 400-1000, which is 2700-3300 calories a day I'm burning.

Because of this, I eat from 1800-2200 calories a day. And guess what? I haven't gained any weight almost doubling my calories, and I've lost body fat percentage. If you take my lowest NORMAL burn of 2700 minus what I'm eating at my highest 2200, I still have a deficit of 500 calories AT LEAST a day. I'm 5'2" and 122 lbs. with 20% BF.

None of this possible without a HRM.

Buy one."