Upping Cals to Lose?

We're all trained since forever that the way to lose weight is to up calories out and lower calories in.  So it's now become cliche on CC to hear "you're not eating enough" or "try upping your cals", etc as advice for losing weight.  But I'll be honest, the idea of working my butt off at the gym and then eating MORE food than I'm hungry for scares the crap out of me...I'm down-right nervous about it.

So I want to table the question, does anyone have actual experience (not just what you've read because we've all read the same things) of going from a "normal"(all be it low-end, i know, save the comments) diet intake of let's say 1350 to a higher intake goal (I dunno, 1800+) and has it actually lead to weight loss for you?

Well it doens't have to be that large a jump (you don't say your stats, so I don't know what would work for you).

You could try just upping to 1500, say, and see how that works.

Oh, and yes - upping my calories from about 1300 to 1500 helped me.

I'm female, 27 yrs, 5'6, 145, goal of 135.  Work out 40min weight train 4x/week, cardio 30min+ 5/6 time per week.  I've been staying under 1400 (with the exceptional wine or beer night thrown in to spike it!) and I have stayed exactly at 145 for a MONTH.  Frusterating to say the least.  I count and measure everything, so it's not that I'm missing anything I'm eating.  Thanks for the advice!

You've got my stats, and workout more than I do - and I was losing eating about 1500. So definitely up your cals some. You'll get there!

I just wanted to say that I completely agree. Upping calories has worked for me in the past when I plateaued. However, I upped for a few days and then went back down just to help jump start things. But maybe you need more calories because you are working out? You don't have much weight to lose at this point so you might just need to experiment to find what works for your body.  For example, I've found that if I eat the same number of calories every day, I don't lose. So, a few days a week I eat about 100 less than my target (still 12,000) but then use those saved up calories later in the week (I like to save them for the weekend). 

Basically you just need to figure out what works for you, and adding calories is definitely a good place to start.

i just upped mine from 1200 to about 1450 to 1500 a day and am waiting for some results..... the scale has fluctuated but only by the normal amount in the last couple days. hoping it works because i cant eat 1200 for the rest of my life...although it did help to get 25 lbs off!

My intake zig zags between 1500 and 2300 and averages out to 1700.  I run 3x week ~ 20 miles per week and lift weights and cross train 2x week.  I have lost 5lbs since Jan 12, and since I'm only 5'2" it shows a lot!  i never feel deprived and have tons of energy and since it's coming off slowly im confident that it's for good!

stayontrack:  Saying that being told to 'up your calories' or 'eat more' or 'you're not eating enough' is a cliche is sort of poo-pooing the person that gives the advice.  I think it's sound advice given mainly from the people with the most experience with weight loss. 

I lost 20lbs eating 2000 calories a day, in the beginning I would do 500-800 calorie deficit. It works-- I know, it sounds strange, but if you would at least put forth a little effort of exercise you will loose. I think in CC, it is more about a life style and less of just eating to loose weight. They give you suggestions and if you decide to take them they do help. i.e. I switched to eating brussels sprouts, and dried apricots....and I lost even more weight. I have tried the Atkins diet which worked, but guess what the minute I put a carb in my mouth I would gain. This way you learn to eat a bunch of healthy things with minimal exercise, you could log in your house work or walking to school/work. Isn't walking the most natural thing we do???? I would suggest you would at least give it all a try. Good Luck with your weight loss.   

P.S. stay off the scale for about 2 weeks and notice what your clothes fit like......

If I was you I would indeed up my calories, I have the best results eating at least my BMR and you are under that (I put in your stats with your activity set to moderately active), so I'd go up to about 1450-ish, that's just a little jump but it could end up making a big difference.

When I started, I was burning 3000+ calories a day and eating 1400 and not losing.  I upped my calories to 1800 and started to see the weight come off.  Now on days that I burn 3200+ calories, I usually eat about 2100 because I am hungry from all that exercise!  Even at 2100 my deficit is ~1000 and I am losing weight pretty consistently (1-2 pounds a week)

Thank you all for your time and advice.  I'm going to put it into action this week and I'll update how it goes!  I hope that you all keep my updated on your successes with it too.  I'm going to go for 1600 cals a day.  Yummy!

Yes. I have experience with that. I have been dieting for the past 7/8 months. I have gained weight 3 times on a weekly weigh in out of that period. Each time I gained weight, in the prior week I was undereating for the amount of calorie output in my life.

Each time I upped my average calorie intake by about 200 - 300 calories and saw a weight loss of 1 - 3 pounds the following week.

Do you know how I got fat?  It was because I WAS trying to lose weight!   I started out at 140 pounds and wanted to lose 15, and gradually gained up to 225 pounds by going on diets and gaining back the weight. Between the onset of menopause and 2005, about 20 years, I gained 5 pounds a year in spite of one low calorie diet after another .

I'd go on a sensible program, like Weight Watchers (and many others) and I'd start off great.  But after the first 10 pounds, I'd stop losing.  So I'd eat less. 

Then I'd go for weigh in and they'd see I gained a half a pound, and I'd get a gentle lecture about sticking to the program.  So I'd eat even less.

This would go on, week after week, until I was literally starving at about 700 calories a day, and sure enough I'd lose a half a crummy pound in two weeks.

After a while I just couldn't stick to that regimen, and back would come the weight, really fast and it would bring along 5 or 10 more pounds with it.

After another while, I'd try again.  I couldn't figure out why I was failing and nobody helped me either. 

Then something great happened.  I found calorie-count.com and a whole bunch of friends, who believed how hard I was trying and who wanted to help me (instead of scorning me folks!).

What I discovered was that starvation mode everyone talks about - my body couldn't let go of the weight because I was eating TOO LITTLE! 

I didn't believe it at first, but I ate more, because my CC friends had all lost weight, some of them a lot, and I trusted them.

Guess what?  I lost weight after being on a prolonged plateau.  I also consulted a professional who works for my insurance company in a program to help people manage chronic diseases.  She advised me to eat 2000 for at least 3 months.  She warned me that I would gain back some weight but that it would level off, and it did - I gained 8 pounds.  She then began cutting back 100 calories a week until I started losing again.  Now I can lose consistantly on 1450 calories a day instead of 900.

Starvation mode does exist.  Check out Ask Mary in the advice section.  Scroll down and find the Archive Search and type in starvation mode.

i absolutely believe in this.  when i was actively trying to lose, i would always plateau if i had a deficit of more than 500-600 calories for a few days in a row.  and whenever I had a maintainance day (usally on friday night),  I nearly always woke up a pound lighter.  ideally, i found that my smoothest progress was when i kept around 300-400 deficit daily.   it makes sense.  You want to be nice to your body, not try to beat it into submission.

Original Post by go_lucky:

i absolutely believe in this.  when i was actively trying to lose, i would always plateau if i had a deficit of more than 500-600 calories for a few days in a row.  and whenever I had a maintainance day (usally on friday night),  I nearly always woke up a pound lighter.  ideally, i found that my smoothest progress was when i kept around 300-400 deficit daily.   it makes sense.  You want to be nice to your body, not try to beat it into submission.

 I call that the Monday Morning Surprise.  My splurges would usually occur over the weekend and I was sure it would show on the scale.  Most weeks there would be another pound gone.