I am a believer now!!! Eat More!

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.

Exactly right! The more muscle you build the more fuel your body requires, and that's not taken in to account in the calorie targets you see. Definitely something that should be considered if you are strength training.

If you plateau on weight loss, even though you're maintaining a calorie deficit, I would recommend looking at these things & adjusting as needed:

1) Are you eating the wrong type of foods, especially high glycemic foods that turn to sugar in your blood easily? Eating those types of foods spike your insulin levels. When you spike your insulin levels, it tells your body that you have more than enough energy to handle it needs so your body stores the excess as fat.

2) Are you having three big meals instead of 5, 6 or 7 smaller meals throughout the day? Several smaller meals will not spike your insulin levels as high as three big meals -- result is your body burns fat easier. This is why body builders, when they cut to trim fat, eat 6-8 small meals a day. I know most don't want to be a body builder, but the principle still applies....smaller, more frequent meals work.

3) When you reduce your calories, your body will eventually adjust its metabolism and it becomes harder to lose weight. So, if you start to plateau on weight loss, you need to rev up your metabolism. What works well is having one or two cheat meals (meals....not days or weeks because then you are not having a calorie deficit) a week. That way your body's metabolism stays high and you don't allow it to adjust down lower. Ideally, it is better too to have the cheat meal during breakfast or lunch so your body can work through the extra food before you go to sleep. What happens to your metabolism is similar to what happens to your muscles when they are overloaded via weight training. The body has to be prepared to handle the excess calories consumed during a cheat meal, so it revs up the metabolism which has lasting effects even when you're not cheating!

Good luck to everyone on achieving their goals!

That's great news! Well done!

I have a question though, how do you know how much to increase your calories by?

This is an awesome site that gives you a number of tools to use.

http://www.fat2fitradio.com/tools/

Good work!!

Tempted to try this as I have plateaued for the last 2 weeks.....and exercising more is not helping.

As Nike says....Just Do It! You'll be amazed to see the scale move downwards!

Just track what you eat, maybe increase 200ish calories and see what happens.

Somehow, someway, it DOES work :happy:

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.

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!

Yep, eating more and calorie cycling worked for me .

bump

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.

I also lost more after upping my calorie intake. I always make sure my NET is atleast 1200. Gotta fuel my body!

Wow - that much exercise and only 1900 calories! I bet you could eat even more.

Well done and thanks for sharing.