Wednesday, November 16, 2022

If you've pleateaued, consider increasing your calorie count to maintenance

Here me out. I thought it was crazy when I first heard it because it's counterintuitive and seems to defy math and science.

A few years ago I lost 40 lbs in a year and plateaued about 5 lbs from my goal weight. I was really frustrated. A personal trainer I was working with told me to increase my calorie count by 200 cals/day for a week or so and then drop back down. I thought he was nuts and of course I didn't try it. But after that I heard or read this from some other people and reputable -- stop trying to lose, maintain for a bit, then resume your prior calorie deficit. Some said your body goes into starvation mode which slows down your metabolism, others said your body gets used to the lower calorie intake and adapts.

Fast forward 7 years. I regained all the weight and then some. In part due to injury, illness, depression, 4 pregnancies, only 2 to term. I was at my highest weight ever.

I've lost 35 lbs since the beginning of the year and stalled out at 170. I was eating 1200 calories/day, exercising and on those days eating back less than half my calories burned, and still I could not get below 170. I hit 170.1 a few times and still never got below 170. I had a health scare (everything's ok now!) and spent 2 months maintaining. This week I resumed my weight loss journey just with calorie counting and no exercise and it feels like the weight is falling off me again. I've lost almost 3 lbs this week and finally came under 170.

submitted by /u/-taradactyl-
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