problems after upping my calories

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  • lirby10
    lirby10 Posts: 12 Member
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    Yes the meds can cause problems with weight. If you want to kick start your motabolism to lose weight, uping your calories to over 2000 is not the answer. I have heard this over the years and have never heard of anyone supper successful with this concept unless they were only eating 500 to 800 calories a day and their body thought it was starving it's self. Eating 5 x a day (3 slightly larger and two small snacks) is better. Most professional trainers "the good ones" will tell you that you need to alternate your calories and fuel your body at least 5x a day. If MFP has you set a 1200, you should have a day slight below, a day right at and a day you are slightly high. If you stay at the same calories too long, your body adjust. Try to figure out a way to up your exercise just a bit. It is not all about calories. Take a look at your sodium and sugar grams. I was struggling to break a weight point and when I started eating 5x day and lowering my sodium and watching my sugar grams. (I'm 25-38 sugar g and 1800 to 2500g sodium. Eat lost of veggies and whole grain. I know this sounds hard but after 30 days it will be like second nature and the weight started falling off. I know it won't be easy and you may only lose 1-2 lbs a week but how much is that after 90 days. Focus on how good you feel eating healthy and exercising. I'm 46 years old and I started at 145 lb. Today I'm 129.6. I have been over 140 for several years. Good luck.
  • Di3012
    Di3012 Posts: 2,250 Member
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    ok recently I upped my calorie intake. I am now eating about 2060 calories a day. am I supposed to gain weight at first?? It has been over two weeks. weighed myself on a random scale today and I was up two pounds! Its driving me insane. I did recently do a three week course of prednisone, but i thought if I maintained my calories while taking those I would be fine and wouldnt gain any. also I have been eating more clean than I have in a long time. I also upped my protein and I try to keep my carbs lower. Thoughts??

    You need a deficit and that amount of calories is often maintenance for a teenage girl.

    I don't know about gain weight at first, if I upped mine to that amount I would not only gain weight at first, I would continue to gain until I had put all the weight I had lost back on.

    I am not a fan of upping calories to lose weight to be honest, if upping calories made me lose weight, I would never have put on weight in the first place.
  • Mission2Me
    Mission2Me Posts: 208 Member
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    Ok I think what a few of you are misunderstanding is that I am not 180 pounds. I am 291. that means that even maintenance for me would be higher than yours if you are a lot smaller than me. as I lose pounds the amount of calories I can intake will drop accordingly. there are many other ways to calculate how much to eat, but for a loss of 1 pound a week MFP has me at 2060 or so. to lose two pounds a week the had me at around 1500 calories a day. MFP and every other calculation I have done has me at a 2000 or more caloric intake and says that I am at a deficit at that mark already.


    I am also really confused by the teenager remark. I am 27. 28 in oct. (GO LIBRAS!)
  • jemachharo
    jemachharo Posts: 144 Member
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    you are doing great. Just hang in there and stick to it - you will see results.
  • Mission2Me
    Mission2Me Posts: 208 Member
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    I am certainly trying. I now have to make sure that I am even eating the correct amount of calories. because I have had issues moving the scale even when I was exercising....so I am going to keep researching and figure it out.
  • yarwell
    yarwell Posts: 10,477 Member
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    Ok I think what a few of you are misunderstanding is that I am not 180 pounds. I am 291. that means that even maintenance for me would be higher than yours if you are a lot smaller than me. as I lose pounds the amount of calories I can intake will drop accordingly.

    It is confusing because you say that you didn't lose at 1500 and increasing hasn't helped yet in both cases there should have been a calorie deficit.

    Perhaps we should consider what you are eating, rather than its energy value. Can you restrict carbohydrates and increase fats for example, keeping protein at about 20 - 30% of total calories ? Your food diary isn't available for snooping.
  • Mission2Me
    Mission2Me Posts: 208 Member
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    well this is the first time I weighed in about a month, because I upped my calories, I was told to be patient it takes a while before your body adjusts. plus I dont weight during TOM. and I normally only weigh once a month (no scale at home) so I go to my doctors office.

    During the time that I did lose was right after february. I had two medical procedures done and the included prep that involved not eating and things of that nature. so I am not even sure if that weight loss wasnt because of those. I was down for a couple of days because of both of them. So there were some really really low calorie days in there. during one of the procedures I lost 6 pounds in one night....so it was a rough month.

    So I agree it is really confusing. I am confused myself. But everywhere I look every site is telling me that 2000 or more is appropriate for me.

    Yea now I am super confused but thank you for pointing that out. I hadnt noticed that.
  • Mission2Me
    Mission2Me Posts: 208 Member
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    I will tell you that my eating wasnt as healthy as it has been recently. I was simply eating what I wanted to and staying in my calorie allowance. I have always been a water drinker though. but now I have been eating more fruits and vegetables and more complex carbs. I had lowered my carb intake and try to eat more protein. So I have been doing much better in that area.
  • steph1278
    steph1278 Posts: 483 Member
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    I have a Body Media that I wear everyday. I burn an average of 3100 calories per day and eat around 2000. I have lost 6.6 pounds in the 3 weeks that I have had it so it is definitely possible for someone to eat that amount of calories and lose weight. You have to make sure you aren't overestimating the calories that you burn or underestimate the calories that you eat. Good luck to you.
  • DenverKos
    DenverKos Posts: 182
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    With what you've been through this year, I'd say give it some time. I think you're on track with upping the calories given your stats.

    For those saying it's too high, at her height/weight, 1500 probably WAS too few of calories. 2000 is more reasonable. She "gets it" that her calories will go down as she loses.

    But back to you - with your medical history and everything else going on, keep at it. Keep eating cleaner, and with your size, a 2 lb fluctuation over the course of a month on a random scale is not something to get worried about (just yet - if you gain another couple of pounds when you go back next month, then you need to reevaluate what you're doing).

    Get yourself feeling good and health again first, keep eating clean and within ranges, and once you're feeling better, start exercising harder. Good luck!
  • Mission2Me
    Mission2Me Posts: 208 Member
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    thanks you two! I hope to get a food scale just to be more accurate. and I will be patient I promise. I am really focused on feeling better. but I am sticking with my calories as much as possible in hopes of losing weight to help the other aspects of my health as well. how healthy can I be at this weight right? :indifferent:
  • Awkward30
    Awkward30 Posts: 1,927 Member
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    thanks you two! I hope to get a food scale just to be more accurate. and I will be patient I promise. I am really focused on feeling better. but I am sticking with my calories as much as possible in hopes of losing weight to help the other aspects of my health as well. how healthy can I be at this weight right? :indifferent:

    Hi! Hopefully this isn't too blunt, but I have looked through scientific literature quite a lot, and when you have a lot to lose, a very low calorie diet is actually not that bad. You should have been losing at 1500. You may have lost a lot of lean mass at that intake, but you should have been losing. Further, it has been shown that people suck at estimating intakes. I thought I was doing a good job and I weighed a chicken breast and it was over twice what I thought it was! So definitely use a food scale and find out how much you really are eating. Secondly, I went on birth control a few months into steadily losing weight and I literally lost 5 pounds in 4 months of being on that pill. I ate almost exactly the same before then and I have been eating the same since and only when I was on the pill could I not lose weight. My point there is that the side effects of the medicine seem to be the most likely culprit. You are eating just about at your bmr, so you should lose a slow and safe amount of weight. Just keep with it! I know it's hard to feel hungry and in a deficit and not see the scale move (I did it for 4 months!) but you can do it! Keep with it!
  • Mission2Me
    Mission2Me Posts: 208 Member
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    I was really worried about measuring when I first started. I wasnt eating meat then so it was a bit easier to measure then. Plus I was eating a lot of prepackaged foods so that it would be easier to log my food. but now that I am eating more clean foods and preparing my own meals I have a real problem trying to measure out the meat so I totally understand your chicken problem lol. I want to get off of all my meds. and I have stopped many of them. but there is still the few I have left and trying to get past PCOS and thyroid problems too. I know I can do it though. I just have to find the perfect balance. and birth control pills were hard on me too. so I totally understand that as well. Thank you for the advice and no you didnt sound too blunt at all. I am open to all forms of advice as long as the person doesn't have a bad attitude.
  • DenverKos
    DenverKos Posts: 182
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    I am really focused on feeling better. but I am sticking with my calories as much as possible in hopes of losing weight to help the other aspects of my health as well. how healthy can I be at this weight right? :indifferent:

    Any weight you lose will help to improve your health from what it is now, absolutely! :)
    PCOS and the thyroid certainly don't help and make it even more difficult. I have Hashimoto's myself, and find I have to track every single calorie I consume and burn in order to even stand a chance of losing weight because of my metabolism. I use a heart rate monitor and food scale to get the most accurate picture I can when I'm trying to lose. Since I'm closing in on my goal, I cycle my routine. When I'm focusing on building muscle, I don't worry about my calories so much and take a break from strict tracking, and focus on increasing my muscle mass to help boost the metabolism that my thyroid has destroyed. But when I'm in a weight loss cycle, I track and measure everything.
    I also pay close attention to how I "feel", and if I plateau for too long (2 months) when I'm doing what I need to do, and I'm feeling "off" I go to the doctor's to have my thyroid levels checked. Fortunately, the autoimmune response has been pretty stable over the last year, but after 15 years of dealing with it I always listen to my body and I know when it goes on the attack. So pay attention to things like that. A journal might help to write down how you're feeling, your current weight and dosage levels (which will change as you lose weight), so you can track and have a good picture for when something just isn't right.
  • Mission2Me
    Mission2Me Posts: 208 Member
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    never heard of cycling. May have to implement that. are you on meds? Im not on anything. my doctors would never put me on a dose that actually changed the way I felt, so after a several times of doing low doses for several months I quit taking them. the journal thing is something I been thinking about doing. so far I have just been blogging on here a little bit. but I may have to do something more detailed at home.
  • DenverKos
    DenverKos Posts: 182
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    Yes, I'm on both synthroid and armour for my thyroid. If you have a thyroid problem, you need to be on hormone therapy. It's certain.ly a pain in butt getting regulated on the proper dosage and type or combo of hormones, but it needs to be done. You'll only get worse if you don't. Took a good 3 years and going to the Dr's every 6 to 8 weeks for blood work to see how I my body was responding and how I was feeling. Even a couple of ER visits due to thyroid related emergency distress. It seems "minor", and many doctors even downplay thyroid disorders, but the thyroid controls everything. It needs to be healthy, or you need to replace what it does with hormones. Weightloss is near impossible with hypothyroidism, and unregulated hypothyroidism is even worse.
  • marbly
    marbly Posts: 103
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    Op: that seems like way too many calories for a woman. What are your stats? Age, weight, height, or skip those intrusive questions, and say your bmr from mfp. How much do you workout? What types of exercise? Sedentary job?

    Same to the next person. So many people on here have found success in eating more calories because they were severely under eating. If that isn't true in your case, eating more will only cause a gain or maintenance.

    I agree with this. I had success with eating more to lose more twice along the way: once because I was undereating at 1200 calories when I started out. The second time I needed to change MFP to a 0.5 lb/week loss when I got to the last 10 pounds. You still need to be in a calorie deficit to lose weight.

    Are you estimating calorie burns as accurately as possible? Also, as the person above noted, more info is necessary. We need at least your BMR, or ideally that plus full stats of heigh and weight if you don't mind posting them.

    When you up, give it some time and adjust when things don't move the right way.

    Also, are you weight lifting or doing a lot of exercise? You could be converting fat into lean mass and not losing weight or even gaining that way.

    FYI, I'm 5'6" and 130lbs. I was 128lbs when I started lifting and upping my cals at the same time. I gained 5lbs before the scales came down again and I'm back at 130lbs. Over the past 7 days for example, I've been eating an average of 2121 cals per day and have lost 0.6lbs when I weighed myself this morning. This means that I've still been eating at a deficit in order to lose.

    You need to find your optimum cal in/cal out balance - one which will allow you to stick to the plan over a long term period.
  • Mission2Me
    Mission2Me Posts: 208 Member
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    Yes, I'm on both synthroid and armour for my thyroid. If you have a thyroid problem, you need to be on hormone therapy. It's certain.ly a pain in butt getting regulated on the proper dosage and type or combo of hormones, but it needs to be done. You'll only get worse if you don't. Took a good 3 years and going to the Dr's every 6 to 8 weeks for blood work to see how I my body was responding and how I was feeling. Even a couple of ER visits due to thyroid related emergency distress. It seems "minor", and many doctors even downplay thyroid disorders, but the thyroid controls everything. It needs to be healthy, or you need to replace what it does with hormones. Weightloss is near impossible with hypothyroidism, and unregulated hypothyroidism is even worse.

    I am hoping to try to control it naturally. I cannot find a doctor that will give me the meds I need at the proper dose. they dont care if I still feel bad. but since I am barely in the "abnormal" range they assume a small dose will be all that I need. What kind of things happen if you have thyroid distress, if you dont mind me asking.
  • Mission2Me
    Mission2Me Posts: 208 Member
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    Op: that seems like way too many calories for a woman. What are your stats? Age, weight, height, or skip those intrusive questions, and say your bmr from mfp. How much do you workout? What types of exercise? Sedentary job?

    Same to the next person. So many people on here have found success in eating more calories because they were severely under eating. If that isn't true in your case, eating more will only cause a gain or maintenance.

    I agree with this. I had success with eating more to lose more twice along the way: once because I was undereating at 1200 calories when I started out. The second time I needed to change MFP to a 0.5 lb/week loss when I got to the last 10 pounds. You still need to be in a calorie deficit to lose weight.

    Are you estimating calorie burns as accurately as possible? Also, as the person above noted, more info is necessary. We need at least your BMR, or ideally that plus full stats of heigh and weight if you don't mind posting them.

    When you up, give it some time and adjust when things don't move the right way.

    Also, are you weight lifting or doing a lot of exercise? You could be converting fat into lean mass and not losing weight or even gaining that way.

    FYI, I'm 5'6" and 130lbs. I was 128lbs when I started lifting and upping my cals at the same time. I gained 5lbs before the scales came down again and I'm back at 130lbs. Over the past 7 days for example, I've been eating an average of 2121 cals per day and have lost 0.6lbs when I weighed myself this morning. This means that I've still been eating at a deficit in order to lose.

    You need to find your optimum cal in/cal out balance - one which will allow you to stick to the plan over a long term period.

    I am only using a resistance band for exercise right now. My cardio was making me feel worse. plus, I get really dizzy all the time as it is. just got harder when I work out. I have been trying to wait it out. but it has been over a month. but I am only surprised because it took me about three months to lose 6 pounds on lower calories. believe me, I am really trying to find a my perfect caloric balance. I hope I am on the right track but every where I look I am seeing different caloric amounts many of them higher than what I am eating now. I got from fat2fit that my BMR is 2090. but right now MFP has me eating 2060 a day. go figure. mass confusion over here lol.
  • katgirl985
    katgirl985 Posts: 212 Member
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    I will tell you that my eating wasnt as healthy as it has been recently. I was simply eating what I wanted to and staying in my calorie allowance. I have always been a water drinker though. but now I have been eating more fruits and vegetables and more complex carbs. I had lowered my carb intake and try to eat more protein. So I have been doing much better in that area.

    I started off at 296, so very close to where you are now.

    In my experience it is VERY IMPORTANT WHAT I EAT, not just how many calories I consume. That means high-quality foods, limit processed food, limit sweets, no pop diet or otherwise. You DO get used to it!

    I eat 1300-1600 a day and have lost successfully almost every week since January. I would suggest dropping your calories a bit or really bringing your exercise up. If you've been sick and can't exercise, your food intake is even more important! Not to mention that in NO CASE can exercise "make up for" poor eating habits. I know it is hard and that you might feel hungry a lot the first bit, but once your body adjusts and you "detox" from the processed stuff, you will start feeling better!

    Feel free to message/add me if you want support/have questions!

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