If you are scared to increase calories

*reading later*
I have no problem with this but my question is do you have to lift weights 3x a week? Would you still receive the same benefits just by regular cardio? Just wondering.... I have no problems lifting weights either but just wondered since the way it was typed it seemed that weights are mandatory. Maybe I just read it wrong.

*reading later*
I have no problem with this but my question is do you have to lift weights 3x a week? Would you still receive the same benefits just by regular cardio? Just wondering.... I have no problems lifting weights either but just wondered since the way it was typed it seemed that weights are mandatory. Maybe I just read it wrong.

Weights help you maintain your muscle mass so your BMR falls more slowly than if you were just doing cardio. You can still lose weight using this method without weights, but as with any calorie restrictive diet you will lose at least a small amount of you lean mass along with fat in this case.

well I uppped my calories as of this week. I have eaten korean bbq, a personal pan pizza and burger king this week. It's been a bad week LOL. But if I eat out one meal, I make sure to eat really light for lunch/dinner and snacks to try to even it out.
anywho, I started the week at 145.2. this morning I'm 143.6. I eat anywhere between 1700-2100 calories a day

Found this and am going to give it a try....

Well it worked for me in many ways. I upped last week to 1600 and have been eating between that and 1800. Sunday was a free day bc of Mothers Day and I went over pretty well. Still do 1 low carb day a week which I was at 1200. I've lost 1.5 lbs since in the last 10 days and feel so much more energy. I'm upping it again to maintence level.

You know what, before I fell ill and put it back on again, I lost over 6 stone by eating 1100 calories a day. Shocking. And I exercised too.

I tried doing this "eat back exercise calories" stuff. Didn't lose anything. Decided to do it the way that I am most comfortable with, rather than be dictated to in the rather abrupt manner of the OP

BUMP

You know what, before I fell ill and put it back on again, I lost over 6 stone by eating 1100 calories a day. Shocking. And I exercised too.

I tried doing this "eat back exercise calories" stuff. Didn't lose anything. Decided to do it the way that I am most comfortable with, rather than be dictated to in the rather abrupt manner of the OP

*cough*

Great info.

Sorry OP, I've tried netting everything from under 1000 to 1400. I don't anything lose if I'm netting over 1000. Just fluctuate. My doctor and nutritionist both wanted me on a 1500 plan (w/o eating back exercise cals) which would have had me averaging under 1000 over the week any way.

(This response was prompted because another poster asked if doing the weight training was mandatory)

I am a huge fan of the Eat More concept. If anyone wants encouragement - please feel free to add me. I have had ups and downs in the journey to be thinner and healthier. I think it is true that what works for one doesn't always work for another. You have to find what works for you.

What I can tell you from personal experience is that some years ago after I had my son I was trying to get the baby weight off and started doing aerobic classes, step up classes, zumba, etc. I was not a big girl - before my son I weighed about 108 lbs and am 5'2 - but I was thick and was wearing about a size 9/10. My gym closed and the only gym close to me was a Gold's Gym (known for big body builders). But since it was the only option and the girls who were doing my classes started doing their classes there - I went in a joined. They wanted to do an "assessment" of me to get me started out with a personal trainer. I took it with a grain of salt as I thought they were just trying to bulk me up and sell their personal training classes. The girl who did my assessment was a very toned but definately looked curvy girl. At this time I was doing back to back classes just about every day so my endurence and stamina was great. She told me if I did a weight training program just three times a week, she promised me I would drop inches and size. She told me it would only take me 20 min. either before or after my classes I was already doing. She set me up on what she called a 10/10 program. I think it was 10 machines/10 reps - three times. It was easy to follow and didn't take much time. In about 2 months I was down to a size 2 - everyone in my class was commenting on how good I looked - I didn't lose much actual weight - but I was very toned and fit. It was the weights that did it - not the cardio classes. Now that was about 15 years ago - lol - so it has not been that easy for me this time around. But my point it - and I am sorry if it is long winded - is that if you are not into heavy lifting - you can still get the benefits of weight training without putting in 2 hours at the gym.

As far as the eating more concept - if you are not getting results at 1200 and you are feeling crappy, shaky and hungry - why not try eating more and see how you feel??? I do think you need to balance out your food - eat more protein and less processed carbs and high sodium foods. I have read on here that a calorie is a calorie and that is is as simple as calories in/calories expended and I understand that concept - but it is not true for me - it totally makes a difference where my calories come from. Also, I do think you see better results if you incorporate a good workout program when you up your calories, especially some weight training.

The new hype is the New Rules of Lifting for Women (which I am into doing right now), but don't let the lifting heavy turn your away from doing any kind of weight training. It all depends on what your goals are.

Being over 50 and suffering from Hypothyroidism I can tell you that eating more is not working for me personally. I stalled out after 8 months of living on a 1200 calorie a day diet. On advice from friends I upped my calories to compensate for the massive burns from my workouts only to gain 12 pounds.

As a rule I try lot to listen to opinons of others unless they have M.D. or P.H.D. behind their names as each invidividual is unique because of body composition, medical problems, etc...no one formula is going to work for everyone.

I am with this poster. I tried upping my calories and for me it didn't work, but each to their own etc. Just be aware that sometimes it doesn't work for whatever reason.

mine came out at 1646 this seems like a huge amount of calories, i am struggling to eat 1200 as it is

bumping for later

Thank you for this post, I found it extremely helpful.

It has been hard for me to wrap my mind around the "eat more to lose more" mentality, even though everything you say makes sense. I can definitely feel a difference when exercising - when my body is getting more calories I can work out harder without feeling depleted. And the constant energy is amazing. You did everyone a great service by breaking down the science in laymen's terms!