I am a believer now!!! Eat More!

opus649 · May 2012

There is another factor at play here that people are overlooking - when you go from a mostly sedentary lifestyle to working out regularly, it takes awhile to build that lean muscle mass - lean muscle mass, in turn, BURNS calories, even while at rest. So as the proportion of your body mass changes - less fat % wise, more lean muscle % wise - you will naturallly see an increase in calories out, and hence a change on the scale.

Fat burns calories at rest, too. In fact, muscle only burns about 4 calories per pound more than fat. So if you dropped ten pounds of fat and replaced it with ten pounds of muscle, you're looking at a roughly 40 calorie per day increase in energy expenditure... or roughly 1/2 of an oreo cookie.

ExplorinLauren · May 2012

bump

AlexPflug · May 2012

Its so true we need to fuel out bodies in order to shed weight.,I eat about 5-6 small meals per day that I pre cook,weight & have ready so I can stay on track. Going too low will cause a stop in any progress. Glad your doing well.

Would you mind sharing some of these meals that you prepare ahead of time? You could PM me, if you don't mind. Thanks!

tomhancock · May 2012

The "eat more weigh less" plan is NOT just eating extra calories. Its part of the dean ornish diet, which you can google for more information.

You cannot just increase how many calories you eat and expect to lose weight that way. Not a single nutritionist, including the author of the eat more weigh less book, advocates such a thing. Its about eating the correct things and getting a proper amount of fiber and protein by eating a LOT of really lean heart healthy foods like spinach for example.

DarcieC2389 · May 2012

Yep, eating more and calorie cycling worked for me .

ItsDiana · May 2012

This! Plateaud for over a month, then carefully (I was also scared) upped my kcal intake, now I lose 0,5kg a week!

newve · May 2012

bump

kalynn06 · May 2012

It's so hard to convince people of this

you should start by telling us how to replicate it on the body weight simulator web site http://bwsimulator.niddk.nih.gov/

I'm guessing "increase your calories" is only part of the story.

The calculator isn't perfect but it does predict the kind of plateaus that people experience when they eat really low calorie diets and the fact that they lose a higher percentage of muscle. Just playing around with it, if I give myself longer to get to goal weight, the higher my daily caloric intake is and lower/ closer to goal my projected weight is after 365 days. For example, it says if I eat around 1100 calories per day I can get to goal in 30 days but my body fat and weight will be higher at the end of the year than if I give myself 180 days to get to my goal weight eating almost 1900 calories per day.

bradshaws · May 2012

It just doesn't work for me...

me either. thats what I was doing before I found this site and I was gaining weight. Came on here and now I eat either JUST under the 1200 or no higher than 1400. I've lost 4 pounds in about 13 days.

I don't understand how some of you can eat 1800cal everyday lol I find it tough to even reach 1400, and those are only the days I end up at a restaurant. Maybe its because i'm 23 and 5'1.. idk.

aj_31 · May 2012

Do you eat back any of your workout calories or do you just stick to a flat 1900 no matter what?

I'm sticking to 1900 flat. Even on days I workout or don't workout. I've already seen the scale inch down a little since I started last Thursday. I'm hoping I can have as good of results as you are having. I also lift 4x a week now and I try to do cardio 2-4x a week as well. But my cardio is like a 25-30 min run or a brisk walk or maybe the stairclimber or elliptical. Nothing too crazy.