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Answered in 8 episodes

Can you lose weight by eating more?

Answered by Nikkiey Stott and her guests · Updated

The short answer

Yes, according to The WarriorBabe Show. Nikkiey says almost every WarriorBabe success story involves eating more food, and members like Amy, Debbie, Lisa and Erin lost weight after raising their calories from chronic lows. The key, she explains, is eating enough to fuel strength training and build muscle, which is active tissue that burns calories even at rest.

Hear it from the show

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  1. Nikkiey on a perimenopausal member who ate 500 more calories a day and lost 20 pounds

    Plays from 22:10 · Ep. 227: Do Carbs Make You Fat? Weight Loss Myths for Women Over 40

  2. Amy on her coach adding food for weeks while the scale kept going down

    Plays from 18:03 · Ep. 370: How to Lose Weight Without Extreme Dieting After 40

  3. Erin on the trainer who told her she was overexercising and under-eating

    Plays from 9:47 · Ep. 79: Eating More to Lose Weight After Years of Restriction

  4. Nikkiey on why strength training lets you eat more and still lose body fat

    Plays from 17:23 · Ep. 190: Is Intermittent Fasting Bad for Building Muscle?

  5. Debbie on moving from 1,200 to 1,800 calories and losing her first 10 pounds

    Plays from 15:53 · Ep. 368: Losing Weight by Eating More After Years of Dieting

The full answer

On Ep. 227, Nikkiey calls "eating less is always better" a myth, and says it isn't your fault you believe it. It's the marketing you've absorbed for years. She suggests entering any generic PDF plan into MyFitnessPal. She'd bet most of them land around 1,000 to 1,100 calories a day, because they're written for the masses, not for you. On Ep. 79, Erin Washington describes doing everything "right," barely eating and doing cardio twice a day, and still sitting 20 pounds heavier. A trainer told her she was overexercising and under-eating. Tracking showed she was about 900 calories a day short. When she roughly doubled her food, she lost five pounds in about a month and has kept 20 pounds off for seven years.

The member stories follow the same pattern:

  • Debbie (Ep. 368) went from the 1,200 calories she thought women should eat to around 1,800 and lost her first 10 pounds during her retrain into maintenance.
  • Amy (Ep. 370) had her coach raise her food again and again in her first four weeks while the scale kept dropping. They kept adding until it stopped, to find her maintenance.
  • Lisa (Ep. 374) had been put at 1,200 by every program she tried. WarriorBabe started her at 1,600, and she lost at least a pound a week.
  • On Ep. 227, Nikkiey describes a 51-year-old member in perimenopause eating 400 to 500 more calories a day. She lost 20 pounds, three inches around her belly and four around her waist.

The nuance is that "more" is not random. On Ep. 190, Nikkiey explains that you can eat more and decrease body fat when you're strength training and focused on building muscle. Your calorie needs are individual to your body. Lisa credits the combination of enough protein and progressive strength training. So the plan matters: personalized numbers, protein, lifting and coaching, not simply eating whatever you want.

From The WarriorBabe Show with Nikkiey Stott. For education, not medical advice: talk to your doctor about your own health.

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  • Metabolism, Eating More & Reverse Dieting

    What is a build phase?

    A build phase is a planned stretch of eating above maintenance while lifting heavy and keeping protein high, so you build muscle on purpose. Nikkiey puts the surplus at roughly 5 to 15 percent, or about 200 to 300 calories, above maintenance. Some weight gain is expected. It is controlled, not a free-for-all.

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  • Metabolism, Eating More & Reverse Dieting

    How do I eat more without gaining weight?

    Raise your calories slowly instead of all at once. Nikkiey's approach is to track what you actually eat for a week to find your baseline, then add roughly 50 to 150 calories at a time, mostly from carbs and fats. Keep protein steady and watch sleep, mood, energy and hunger before each next increase.

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  • Metabolism, Eating More & Reverse Dieting

    Will I gain weight when I start eating more?

    Probably a little, and that's expected. Nikkiey explains that when you start eating more during a retrain or reverse diet, your weight will usually fluctuate about two to five pounds from water, glycogen, food volume and salt, not fat. If the gain keeps climbing or holds around five pounds, the increase was likely too fast.

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