Eating more to lose weight? Fact or Myth?

[ConanDestroyer]

A lot of weight loss plans say "you need to be eating more, not less!!" Is this a bunch of bull, or it is true?

Lets say my BMR is 2000 calories, and I burn 1000 in the gym, for a total of 3000 calories..

Is it better to burn 3000 calories a day and eat 1500 calories..

Or is it better to burn 3000 calories, and eat 2500 calories, for a smaller deficit..

In other words, will eating more with a smaller calorie deficit be better for metabolism and fat burning then eating less with a larger deficit?

[crazymadmike911]

yeah if your michael phelps

[Bajinga]

500 cal deficit at all times.
Think of it like this. No matter how much cardio you do, it all comes down to diet. Say you burned 10,000 calories in a day and you ate 11,000 you are going to gain weight. But, If you burned 10,000 and ate 9,500 you would loose a pound a week. Which is safer.

Good luck burning 10,000 calories though.

[zchen]

A lot of weight loss plans say "you need to be eating more, not less!!" Is this a bunch of bull, or it is true?

Lets say my BMR is 2000 calories, and I burn 1000 in the gym, for a total of 3000 calories..

Is it better to burn 3000 calories a day and eat 1500 calories..

Or is it better to burn 3000 calories, and eat 2500 calories, for a smaller deficit..

In other words, will eating more be better for metabolism and fat burning?

I definetly go with the smaller deficit, which is what I'm doing right now. You will gain muscle and burn fat at the same time, although your total *weight* loss will be small. But who cares about weight loss, its all about fat loss.

[drewsedg]

Eating more will not burn more except in cases where your activity level drops due to a lack of energy from the low calories. So unless you go from being on your feet all day and working out 3 times a week to sitting on your but and skipping workouts less calories will mean more fat loss.

[bking10]

i think they say that because when most people go on a diet they change to healthy food as well. so instead of a 1000 kcal fast food meal they may have chicken and veggies. they want you to eat more of the healthy food because it is less caloric dense and dont want to create too big of a deficit. just my guess

they usually dont want you to go over 1000 kcal deficit unless u are fairly obese

[rjmwx81]

i think they say that because when most people go on a diet they change to healthy food as well.

Or they say that to sell whatever diet plan they're pushing. Their hope is that the desperate fat person who has "tried everything" (except, of course, actually going to the gym) will see that and think "Wow, eat more AND lose weight? That's for me!"

[trance__dreamer]

myth. thermodynamics ftw!

[ReedT]

myth. thermodynamics ftw!

[IMG]http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/K-12/airplane/Images/thermo1.gif[IMG]

lol where did you find that?!

[jaybc]

Unless you are really heavy with a high bf%, the smaller deficit would be preferable. A larger deficit (>500cal) will result in more, but possibly less efficient, weight loss -- you would lose muscle.

[trance__dreamer]

lol where did you find that?!

i google image search'ed "thermodynamics".

[robwein83]

i think they say that because when most people go on a diet they change to healthy food as well. so instead of a 1000 kcal fast food meal they may have chicken and veggies. they want you to eat more of the healthy food because it is less caloric dense and dont want to create too big of a deficit. just my guess

they usually dont want you to go over 1000 kcal deficit unless u are fairly obese

well generally eating "healthier" food is food which contains a higher level of nutrition and is better for your body.

*If you were cutting down to 5% body fat, you bet your ass that you will making sure that you are taking full advantage of any food that enter your mouth for the benefits of proper nutrition and not just focusing on the macros.

[solilopop]

OooOo!! I read this yesterday on the bodybuilding.com Weight Loss Male 20-35 guide. The dude in the video said eat more! So it's gotta be true.

[03Venomous]

OooOo!! I read this yesterday on the bodybuilding.com Weight Loss Male 20-35 guide. The dude in the video said eat more! So it's gotta be true.

If you're only eating 1000 Cals a day, you probably should eat more. Eating more or less depends on how much you currently consume.

[solilopop]

If you're only eating 1000 Cals a day, you probably should eat more. Eating more or less depends on how much you currently consume.

Oh... dude in the video didn't say that.
Learn something new.

[xNxN]

If you feel sluggish, no energy to workout hard <-- this is when you have to up you calorie intake.

If you feel OK energy-wise, there's no need to increase calorie intake.