If you are scared to increase calories

I have read alot of info on this.. It is just hard to get past the mentality of eating more when I have spent my whole life thinking I could only lose by eating less... the mind is powerful.

I am one of those people who eat 1200 calories a day and workout 5-6 days a week with strength a couple days a week as well... and i did stall in weight loss so i increased my calories to 1400 and still worked out 5-6 days a week....and then i gained instead of lost... sooo now i have to work hard again to lose the couple of pounds i gained and to continue towards my goal weight.

I think it is different for everyone, so I plan on just sticking it out, eating healthy, staying active and waiting for the plateau to stop pleateuing :]

I have read alot of info on this.. It is just hard to get past the mentality of eating more when I have spent my whole life thinking I could only lose by eating less... the mind is powerful.

Well, the question for you is, are you content to live the rest of your life eating at your current level? If yes, fine. If you like the idea of living life without severe calorie restriction AND at goal weight, make a change.

It's your life. Live it your way.

The original instructions at the top of this thread don't say anything about cutting a percent out for weight loss. Is this necessary or something I shoud do? I assume the answer is no, but since people keep talking about it, I want to know if that step was left out. Right now, I'm just going by what fattofitradio.com said. And, I'm not cutting any cals from where it said I should be eating.

F2F suggests eating at the TDEE for your ideal weight. If you do that, a deficit already exists, because, presumably, your current weight is higher than your goal weight.

When you get close, you may find that your TDEE becomes the SAME as your goal weight TDEE, but that you're not there yet.

For example, I weigh 130 lbs. My "goal" used to be 127 lbs. (actually since I am lifting heavy now, my new goal is increasing muscle mass, so my weight is probably going to go up), but ANYWAY, the TDEE for me at 130 lbs. is the same as it would be for me at 127 lbs, or even 120 lbs. If I really wanted to drop more weight, I could (quit lifting heavy, ha), and cut another 200-300 calories a day, then ease back up when I got to the lower weight.

I think a few people discussed eating at your CURRENT TDEE (and scooby's website talks about current TDEE) minus a particular percentage.

It's all the same theory; eat at the TDEE of your goal weight, or eat at your current TDEE minus a percentage if you're still trying to lose.

If you want to maintain, eat at your current TDEE; and likewise you would eat at a surplus above your TDEE if you are trying to gain muscle mass (of course you must lift heavy in conjunction with that).

The original instructions at the top of this thread don't say anything about cutting a percent out for weight loss. Is this necessary or something I shoud do? I assume the answer is no, but since people keep talking about it, I want to know if that step was left out. Right now, I'm just going by what fattofitradio.com said. And, I'm not cutting any cals from where it said I should be eating.

F2F suggests eating at the TDEE for your ideal weight. If you do that, a deficit already exists, because, presumably, your current weight is higher than your goal weight.

When you get close, you may find that your TDEE becomes the SAME as your goal weight TDEE, but that you're not there yet.

For example, I weigh 130 lbs. My "goal" used to be 127 lbs. (actually since I am lifting heavy now, my new goal is increasing muscle mass, so my weight is probably going to go up), but ANYWAY, the TDEE for me at 130 lbs. is the same as it would be for me at 127 lbs, or even 120 lbs. If I really wanted to drop more weight, I could (quit lifting heavy, ha), and cut another 200-300 calories a day, then ease back up when I got to the lower weight.

I think a few people discussed eating at your CURRENT TDEE (and scooby's website talks about current TDEE) minus a particular percentage.

It's all the same theory; eat at the TDEE of your goal weight, or eat at your current TDEE minus a percentage if you're still trying to lose.

If you want to maintain, eat at your current TDEE; and likewise you would eat at a surplus above your TDEE if you are trying to gain muscle mass (of course you must lift heavy in conjunction with that).

OK. That makes sense. I'll check my calculations and make sure I did it right. i think I am using my goal weight TDEE, but I'll make sure.

Interesting. I am at goal and i am scared to increase calories, but I'm not losing anymore either. I do feel "hungry", weak and kinda shaky every few hours, which to me says i'm probably not eating enough at my "meals". I've never had to think this hard about maintaining a healthy body and menu before....SIGH!!!

I'm not sure if someone had replied to you, so if they had I apologize. I was very curious about this despite how far away from my goal I am so I looked on a different forum one night and a lot of VERY successful people agreed to increase your calorie intake 100 calories at a time every week until you reach your maintenance calorie goal. Maybe give it a whirl? Hope this was even a tiny bit helpful. Good job and good luck!

Alot of interesting information from regular people...I asked my doctor and my old boxing trainer and their advice was so similar I had to share. It goes like this. Eat sensibly and get off your *kitten*...no calorie counting no equations no fluff just good ol fashion building of good healthy habbits for a healthy lifestyle.

great. go ahead and do that. some regular people were just trying to be helpful, that's all.

I'll never understand why people have to go on threads and complain about what other people are doing. :huh: Why not just start a thread to talk about the wonderful they are doing?

BTW, after weeks of being stuck when i was eating less, I'm thrilled that I've lost 2 lbs. Increasing my calories works for me.

Thanks! That's extremely helpful to me since I'm just starting my journey! I do worry about too many calories so it's nice to see what other people eat and how many calories they consume in a day!

If you would have told me 3 months ago that I could be eating 2500 calories a day and still lose 3 inches off my waist I would have told you that you were full of something! Thanks to the many other people that I gained this information from, I am here to tell you it works. You will never have to "diet" again.

Me too - I increased my calories when I started running and lifting after a long inner debate. I was feeling tired all the time and my weight loss began to stall. It was the best decision I ever made. I feel so much better now and my weight loss has picked back up.

Need to read later...

Definitely interesting. I've been doing research and upping my calories and I'm still on a plateau but I'm staying the course. According to this my TDEE is around 2196. I've currently set my calories around 1750 and I eat back my calories which on workout days brings me up around 2200 give or take.

Does this mean I should be eating 2196 everyday or just workout days. I'm obviously a work in progress but I really want to lose the last 20 lbs!!