I too was skeptical, but...

lulabellewoowoo · December 2009

I have been on this site for, well, a long time. And the weight always stayed within the same 2 to 3 lb range. Then I joined the Sixers challenge and decided to reevaluate what I was doing. Read through a lot of posts. Then joined the no-late night snackers and again readjusted my intake. But decided to do something that just couldn't possibly make any sense whatsoever. I increased my calories from 1200 to 1400. I decided for every hour I exercised (usually burning 400 to 500 calories an hour) I would eat 200 extra calories. The weirdest thing happened...I stopped going over on my calories and have not felt deprived in the least. Before, I would force myself to exercise no matter what (even with sickness and exhaustion) because 1200 just wasn't cutting it for me, and 3 out of 7 days I would go over on my calories, in a big way, and just give up. Well, in the last 3 weeks, I have stopped eating after 9 p.m, been eating my 1400 calories a day plus my 200/hour exercise, and cut out wheat products (but not starches or sweets - got me away from those servings of cakes, cookies, etc.) and have lost 3 SOLID pounds. No fluctuation. The real deal. My jeans and I are reconnecting. WOW! I'm excited.

For anyone that may be frustrated, don't give up. Tweak, tweak, tweak. I would have never have thought that INCREASING my calories would help me lose. But for me, I think it just made me less hungry and less likely to overindulge. I'm just so excited and wanted to share.

You ALL can do it!

Almost ready to change my goal for the next 5 lbs. (baby steps, baby steps)

run4yourlife · December 2009

Congratulations! That's great. Your post made me want to ask a question that I've been thinking about since I started on this site (though it's a little bit off topic). It seems that the recomended daily caloric intake is 1200 for most people on here. I thought that when you enter your personal information that it would give a more personalized calorie amount. I feel like 1200 calories is way low. I am a woman, 5' 6" and my goal weight is 125 lbs. When I look at other websites to determine what my caloric needs would be to maintain 125 lbs, it is more like 1800 calories. As you said, you uped your calories and that has given you greater results. I am losing weight doing what I'm doing so I'm not stuck - at least not yet - I am now at the 5 more pounds to go mark which is often tough. Anyway, I just wondered what other people thought about the recommended 1200 calories. Doesn't that seem awfully low?
Thanks for your thoughts.

Hannah_Banana · December 2009

Congratulations on finding what works for YOU! Thats so fantastic - and no one understands that better than me.

As you can see, I have been a member of MFP since Nov 2008. I tried losing weight for a little over 12 months with very little success but I just kept tweaking and tweaking. I finally had my magic moment and realized what I was doing wrong. Then in the past 3 weeks I have dropped 5 pounds.

So if you are struggling - tweak! Don't be afraid to change things, listen to suggestions, try them. If they don't work, try something else. Weight loss is an extremely individual thing - its finding that perfect balance for your body. :flowerforyou:

Jenks · December 2009

I have found at times increasing my calories also gives me better results...I figured my body was saying "hey, she's not starving me after all. Ok, I guess I can stop storing fat now."
As far as the 1200 calories, I'm ok with that (with my exercise calories added in) being that my doctor recommended a 1200 cal. diet.

lulabellewoowoo · December 2009

It seems that the recomended daily caloric intake is 1200 for most people on here. I thought that when you enter your personal information that it would give a more personalized calorie amount. I feel like 1200 calories is way low. I am a woman, 5' 6" and my goal weight is 125 lbs. When I look at other websites to determine what my caloric needs would be to maintain 125 lbs, it is more like 1800 calories.

For me, I don't really have a lot to lose. 5 to 10 stubborn pounds that creeped on. But I wanted fast results so I set my setting to lose 2 lb a week. That put me at 1200 as my daily usage is about 1700. For 1 lb loss, it put me 1210. When I changed it to 0.5 lb a week (probably more reasonable for the amount I "want" to lose), it put me at 1460 a day. So I figured, slow and steady wins the race. I'm beginning to realize that the less I have to lose, the longer it will take. But 0.5 lb a week is awesome to me compared to the fact that I was not losing ANYTHING with the setting at 2 lb loss a week.

Don't know if that answers your question.

mmtiernan · December 2009

The 1200 calories is your NET calorie intake which is the total number of calories you eat minus what you exercise off!! So, if you are eating only 1200 calories and then exercising off 500 calories, then your NET intake is only 700 calories!! No wonder you were having trouble because you were starving your body!!! You should never, ever go below 1200 NET calories because that is a bare baseline minimum to maintain your body.

lulabellewoowoo · December 2009

Always ate my exercise calories...and then some :blushing:

goldk · December 2009

Woohoo lulabellewoowoo!!! Congratulations :flowerforyou:

lulabellewoowoo · December 2009

Woohoo lulabellewoowoo!!! Congratulations :flowerforyou:

Hey girl, you are my DAILY inspiration!

havingitall · December 2009

. When I look at other websites to determine what my caloric needs would be to maintain 125 lbs, it is more like 1800 calories. As you said, you uped your calories and that has given you greater results.

It depends on what you have set your weight loss goals for. If you have set it for a pound a week, it will take 500 calories a day off (500X 7= 3500 or 1 lb). If you maintain at 1800 calories and you take off 500 a day to lose a pound a week, you should be at 1300 calories. Then, when you exercise, you get to eat all of those calories back.

Man_loosing_weight · December 2009

Well done in loosing the weight
I started off on 2400 cal and as I progressed and I updated my weight my calories were steadily reduced. I am on 1740 cal and I have lost 35pb since July. I must admit that I am not the biggest exerciser in the world but I hardly ever go over my calories as a matter of fact I am usually on average 200 cal under.

One thing I have realized was that the weekend was the main culprit in not loosing weight. You might loose 3pB a week but gain 2 over the weekend therefore I started weighing myself on Friday mornings and then again on Mondays. That was my light bulb moment. I have loosing 2 pB a week constantly.

Keep on going. The results will follow

mangavelta · December 2009

Did you lose all your weight since joining this .com?

cds2327 · December 2009

I totally agree. when I first got on here it told me to eat 1200 calories a day, but according to the biggest loser books, I should be eating around 1400-1500 per day. well after getting frustrated with no good weight loss on here, i bumped up my caloric intake and we'll see what happens.
I do know that I ate a little more calories over the holiday, and lost two pounds that week, which according to my husband signals that I have been shortchanging my caloric intake (starvation mode).
I also usually burn between 300-400 calories a day with exercise. this post gives me hope for my tweaking!!

I too was skeptical, but...

Replies

Categories