Is "eating more and losing more" true?

I haven't read any of the other replies and I'll make mine real brief.

Yes. You need to make sure you're measuring as acurately as possible with a good food scale and HRM. Then you can dial it in.

My recent example:

2600 - 2700 calories daily had me at one weight for 5 weeks.

I changed nothing else except added more calories last week, up to 3100 daily. I lost 2 lbs during the first week of increased cals. It does work as long as you're "measuring" properly and as acurately as possible. I did 1200 calories a day for 7 months straight (lost 140lbs this way and most of my muscle mass too) and have been steadily increasing them since then. This is month 12 and I'm still going strong. I thought I was adjusting up to maintenance @ 3100, but it spurred some additional loss.

-M

Good luck!

OP,

Yes, it is true. Check out the group Eat More to Weigh Less. http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/3817-eat-more-to-weigh-less There are a couple of posts about TDEE and BMR which will help answer your question.. Lots of really good information and support.

Upping my calories worked for me. I feel like I have a lot more energy, and it feels "cleaner" too, if that makes sense. For me, I broke the plateau when I really focused on making sure I have the right balance of nutrients (40C/30F/30P) for me, and broke my meals into 5-6 times a day, 300-450 calories a meal. I am a 5'9" 180lb male, and on a workout day, my cal limit is ~3100, ~2500 on a non workout day.

I am on my 11th week of my new meal/workout plan and I have dropped a total of 14.8lbs of fat, and added 5.2lbs of muscle, and my metabolic age reading on my scale has gone from 44 to 21.

If you are serious about wanting to drop weight before your wedding, AND KEEPING IT OFF, then cardio is also key!

I am only eating 1200 calories a day. I am sooo moody, my fiance doesn't even want to be around me. It kind of reminds me of how I acted when I was anorexic. I was SO mean back then because I was HUNGRY!

I have read on here a lot of people saying they eat more calories like 1400-1500 hundred and lose more then they did with 1200.

This is only my third day back on MFP, I failed many times, but only because I didn't give it my all..:(

Do you think I will feel better in a few days or am I doomed to be a psycho mean person while I am losing weight?

You need to figure out your TDEE and take a deficit from there.

I was eating 1200 to start, but it was too low for me and made me ill, I'm now happily losing over a pound a week at 1600.

There is no one right answer for everyone. It's not as simple as "eat more, lose more". IF that was true, then we wouldn't have an obesity epidemic in the U.S. would we? On the other hand, you do have to eat "enough".

If you honestly answered the questions that MFP posed to determine your daily caloric intake, then you are in the ballpark at least. For example, I have my goal as "maintenance" . Right now I'm not trying to lose or gain... just stay the same. I set my activity level to "sedentary" because I have a desk job and often end up sitting at that desk more than 8 hours a day. If I had a job where I was on my feet most of the day, then my activity level would certainly be set to something higher. I'd suggest you be on the conservative side as I think most people seem to think they do more than they actually do (myself included).

Based on the info I gave, MFP calculated 1600 calories a day. I tried out several other calculators on the web (e.g. WebMD and others) and they gave me less than 1600... so I manually changed my MFP goal to be 1500 calories a day to be "safe"... I mean it wouldn't hurt if I ended up losing a few more lbs.

From that point, I add in my daily exercise calories burned and I use a Heart Rate Monitor to ensure that I'm as accurate as I can be.

Thus far, it's working. I'm always weighing within two lbs more or less than my goal... which I would consider natural body fluctuations.

So... answer the questions honestly, do the math, get a HRM if you're exercising, and log carefully and completey. Unless you're a real odd duck, you will be eating enough and will be losing weight.

ALTHOUGH... even though I really had plenty to eat, the first couple of weeks were difficult for me and I'm sure I was cranky. :laugh: It definitely got better!

I upped mine to 1765 2 weeks ago, I had a 2 pound gain at first and then I lost that within a week. I have been losing inches and I'm amazed I can eat so much and stay where I was, on the scale, as I was at 1400. The info given to me about this explains that it may take 4 weeks before I see a real loss, body adjusting, but inch loss will not stall. It does feell good to eat more and have more energy for workouts. Check the group on here, Eat More to Weigh Less, for more info. Good Luck!

Even if you don't lose weight faster, you'll lose weight HAPPIER eating more. Happier weight loss means weight loss you can stick with.

It would be better to maybe lose 25-30 pounds in the next five months than lose ten in one month, then quit because you hate feeling hangry all the time.

to give you a metaphor, eating more to lose more is like throwing a ball up in the air. your weight will increase for a bit, level off, then you`ll probably start dropping. keep in mind that 1200 cals already HAS A DEFICEIT WORKED IN so if you are eating 1200 and exercising, no wonder youre not losing weight because your body is trying to conserve your calories.

and another metaphor:: your metabolism is a fire....eating is like feeding it logs and kindle to keep it burning. if you eat little or not at all, it slows that metabolism fire down and youre body wont burn cals. if youre always cranky, thats a sure sign youre doing something wrong. so eat more; i reccommend 1400 to start out with. PUT AWAY YOUR SCALE. and try it for a month or two. you might surprise yourself

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/forums/show/3834-eat-more-to-weigh-less

eat more, make lifestyle changes that you can live with... 1200 calories for life isn't a reality for most of us. i eat 1500+ exercise calories back (about 1800-2000 a day total) and am losing a lot, am sane, and have stopped binging on crap because i can fit it into my diet if i budget well

It's true for me. I don't eat fewer than 1500 calories. I tried 1200 for a few weeks and didn't lose any weight.

It's as easy as calories in > calories out. Adjusting by a few hundred calories won't make much of a difference around the 1300 mark. There is no such thing as starvation mode... if there is then someone needs to explain how i lost 150+ lbs.

However, eating healthier food like whole grains and staying away from processed stuff does make a difference in mood in some people. There are studies that show psychological and physiological change in people who eat the same amount of calories but different foods (mcdonalds vs whole food home cooked meals)

At the bare minimum you need to be eating your BMR. Just Google "BMR calculator." Your BMR is the amount of calories you'd need if you were in a coma and were only performing daily bodily functions. Without this your body can definitely go into starvation mode.

Yes and No hard to explain I HAVe to eat more to keep up my bodies demands from way more exercise. The more I exercise the more I have to eat. If your not exercising than go ahead and eat less, but otherwise, unless you are obese, you may need to eat more.

It's true if you are eating your daily allowance plus eating the calories that you burned from your work out. I've been discussing this with several people over the last week because I was only recently convinced of this. I really hated the thought of eating all of those precious burned calories.
I joined a Biggest Loser Contest and wasn't losing any weight really My metabolism was slow because after my workout and the calories I burned I was only really eating 700 calories a day and I was hungry and moody. This week I have put to practice eating my excercise calories and I've lost 4 pounds. In 4 days, 4 pounds has melted off of my body and I wouldn't be surprised if tomorrow I weighed a pound less than today.

one of my teammate linked an article about eating your excercise calories and that the best time to do it was within 2 hours, (best within 45 minutes) of working out. I eat about 100 less than I burned because calorie counters on machine and MFP can be inacurate. I also noticed I feel better because my blood sugar stays level. Low blood sugar can make you grumpy and give you mood swings.

Just try it for 2 weeks. Since your previous attempts didn't work, why harm could it be? You won't gain weight if you don't over-eat calories (like 3000 per day). Try going around 1500-1600.