I have been hungry lately as I have been using weights every other day. Normally, I have a 1500 calorie day and even that was hard to meet because I wasn't hungry.

What do you all eat with increasing calorie needs without stalling on the weight loss?

Hi Colleenski,

I don't know if what I'm doing will work for you. I was stalled for about a month - I was eating about 1700-2000 cal per day and 15-25 net carbs per day. Last week I added a half cup of pecans (about 450 cal and 7 net carbs). This week I finally lost a pound! So, actually, it may be too early for me to know if this works or if it's simply normal weight fluctuation. I only weigh once a week, so I won't know until next Friday.

Hi!

One suggestion may be to add more fat to your diet. We all know how hard that concept is to overcome based on years of being told that fat was bad, but often people find that the additional calories from fat helped their bodies to let go of their stored fat (not to mention that fat is high in calories and therefore you can get more calories in by eating the same amount as you usually would).

Nat has many posts on this if you check out her journal. Many of us experience a decrease in appetite for a number of reasons. Some of which are: protein tends to make you feel fuller longer (digesting a steak will take longer than digesting a bunch of Oreo cookies), we aren't stuffing ourselves with foods that bloat us so our bodies get used to eating more normal portions of food, and our blood sugars are more leveled out, so we are not constantly feeding our cravings to avoid the lows that accompany sugar highs.

Just as your body may get used to a particular exercise routine, thereby making it less effective than it was in the beginning, our bodies can get used to eating the same foods. Try to mix it up a bit. Don't be afraid of extra calories. This is not to say that you should eat as much as you can all the time, but take a day here and there where you increase your carbs. You can either do this with additional vegetables, fruits, or whole grains, or indulge in that slice of pizza or dessert. Many people here have "free" days when they eat whatever they want for a whole day and tend to lose weight after it. This has broken stalls for me more than once. Just be aware that if you are heavily addicted to sugar that a day like this can turn into a downward spiral to old ways quite quickly, so make sure that you restrict it all to one day.

When you read about 10-12x your body weight in calories as a guideline, it is more of a guideline for people that do not do a lot of regular exercise. It is more of a basic guideline of what your body needs to perform its daily tasks. If you follow a regular exercise regimen, by all means increase your calorie intake. Your body will thank you for it!!

Remember that we are all individuals and that what works for me may not work for you, and what works for you may not work for the next person. It may take a bit of experimentation, but with a little trial and error you will find what works best for you. I found that gradual changes worked best for me, but the "carb up" days every once in a while worked wonders in breaking stalls for me.

All the best!

KC

What great responses!

Ok, Lately I have really confused about calorie needs and so on and so I started using fitday to put in all my food that I was eating. I was surprised to see that I already was eating around 1700 calories. It is really hard to keep track in your head as I was trying to do before.

I upped the amount of fat that I ate the day before yesterday, and low and behold the next morning I was down 2 more pounds!!!

I am still there today, and that means I only have 15 more lbs to goal.

Since I am working out more, I sort of had to GIVE myself permission to eat more throughout the day. Boy! That is hard to do! Fitday says I am burning over 3500 calories a day, so that made it easier.

This is such a learning process, thanks for you patience everyone with strange and silly questions

With my exercise 6 days a week roughly Fitday says I burn 2,553 calories per day. I am still losing weight, with about 15 more pounds to go until my goal weight. I am going to ask maybe a stupid question, but if a subracion of 500 calories each day is what we need to lose the 1-1.5 pounds per week, does this mean I can actually be eating up to 2,000 calories and still lose weight? I guess I am still under the conventional wisdom that 1,200 calories is considered a restricted diet..I am trying to kind of figure this out because 2,000 doesn't seem like a diet to me...no matter how healthy the food is.

Colleen, just wanted to make certain you knew to add sleeping to your fitday activities. You are probably a lot more active than I am, but that will give you a more accurate reading. Ignore me if you already do that.

If your feeling hungry, up your calories slightly with some fat and protein. Anything that pushes you up to, or over your maintenance will stall or reverse your weight loss. Make your increments small.