The Truth about Calorie Restriction

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Hello everyone. I'm going to share my experience with myfitnesspal with you along with other experiences with not only with myfitnesspal, but with calorie restriction in general. Not only will I share that, I will also share how I will be going forward with this journey. Just a heads up, I encourage everyone to please read the whole thing through before stopping and judging everything I'm saying through your comment.

A little over three years ago (at 17 years old) I was 204 lbs and completely fed up with my weight. Since I was 13 I had be struggling with trying to lose weight because I felt that no matter how much exercise I did (because I was doing a lot of exercise) I would still have a little more fat than I liked. Throughout high school with each passing year I would put on 10 lbs. 10 lbs for each year put me from being 150 to 160, 170, 180, 190 and some time after graduation I reached a whooping 200 lbs. That's when I was completely fed up and decided to start a workout program called Insanity workout. I felt like this was it, I was finally going to lose weight. However, through the completion of the workout, it only caused me to gain 4 lbs. And you know why? Because regardless of the amount of exercise I did, I still didnt change my diet.

At 204 lbs I remembered how I succeeded in maintaining weight by calorie restricing, so I just knew I would lose weight restricting my calories. Thats when I found out about myfitnesspal. I thought, this is really it, this is how I'm going to successfully lose weight. And I did. I lost 40 lbs within 4 months. Although I was extremely happy with my success, I didn't lose all the weight I wanted. I was stuck at 166 lbs for a while. It took about 2 or 3 months to lose 6 lbs. I started to get frustrated with my failure to get to the 155 that I wanted to get to.

Although I had hit this weight, the was a miserable and horrible success. All throughout the process, I had issues that I blamed on other things, when really, it was my diet. The first months of doing it, I suffered from hunger pangs that I tried my best to ignore. Then as I was losing weight, I noticed my period cramps were getting worse. They were worse than they had ever been. I also had issues with dealing with my stress. I was always tired, even when I got rest. I also felt very weak. And the worse of all, I constantly thought about food. I thought of it to the brink of insanity. It always ran through my mind how many calories was in this, how many was in that. How I shouldn't eat this or that. How I was still hungry, but I didn't want to go over my calories. I weighed myself every single day. Of course, I ignored all of these signs.

So once was was 160, I stopped paying attention to my caloric intake, because I was sick of it. Unfortunately, because I was so used to eating 1200 calories a day, once I wasn't logging into myfitnesspal I began to eating on average 1000 to 1100 calories a day which was extremely too low. But I was no longer losing weight. It wasn't until a year later that I figured out why this was happening.

My body was telling me, its time to *kitten* eat.

Slowly I began to have a hunger like nothing I ever experienced. I began to want to eat everything in sight. My calorie intake probably increased to about 1300-1400 calories a day. I saw an increase in weight, and although it was slight, I didn't care. I ate until I was content. Then over winter break, it was a binge of a lifetime. I ate from when I woke up to when I went to bed. I ate everything and anything I had no shame, no filter. I just *kitten* ate. And I gained 10 lbs within that month.

After winter break, though, I was back to school and I had moved out of my parents house. I was a typical broke college student, living off campus so I didn't have much money for food. All I had was a minor commuters meal plan which left me eating once a day. I suffered from serious hunger pangs for about a month. I mixed my screwed diet with exercise in efforts to lose the weight I had gained. No matter how little I ate, or how much exercise I did, my body was fed up with my *kitten* and refused to lose weight. The only way I was going to lose weight at that point was if I literally starved myself. I love food too much to starve myself. So I stayed 170 lbs for a while with no weight loss whatsoever. I also decided to go vegetarian. Once I moved back in with the parents for the summer, I decided to try the Insanity workout again to lose weight. I ate around 1400 calories. When nothing seemed to change, I increased my intake to about 1700. Nothing changed, so I increased it again to 1890. Again, nothing. I was too scared to increase it anymore.

But after some time, I was tired of doing Insanity. And I was desperate to lose weight. Vegetarianism wasn't doing anything. But my decision to go vegetarian wasn't for weight loss, it was because I cared about animals and was disgusted by animal cruelty. I mean, you can't love animals and eat them too, right? It seems like a contradiction. You can't love your mom and kill her just because. I also knew I wouldn't have health issues from going vegetarian. If anything, my health would be better.

But vegetarianism wasn't enough. So I decided that once I moved out of my parents house for the fall semester, I would follow a complete plant based diet. My initial reasons weren't for health (because I had seen a video about what goes on in the meat industry, and I felt that if it disgusted me, I shouldn't take part) but health was a good plus, and I knew it would help my health in the long run. Before moving out, though, I went on another hunger splurge, and I will tell you all why soon.

Once I moved again, I finally went vegan. For those who don't know what that means, that means if it can't be grown, I won't eat it. That means meat, eggs, cheese, honey, gelatin, and anything that makes a sound. I was done with the starvation *kitten*, the restriction, the constant thoughts about hunger and overeating and etc. I was done making myself crazy, and I will never look back. Because of my past of basically starving myself, I gained every pound I ever lost back. Now I'm 200 lbs, (at least. I no longer have a scale because it will make me crazy again) because my body is healing from the starvation, and I'm happy. Any issues that I have now are no longer to be blamed on my diet. My period cramps have improved greatly to where they're almost non-existent, I handle my stress much better, I no longer obsess about food or weight, my sinuses have improved to almost having no issues at all, my energy levels have improved, I no longer get seemingly random headaches, my memory is superb, I'm no longer constipated, my stomach doesn't bloat, and the list goes on. I try to eat at least 2000 calories a day and I no longer let myself go hungry. I know that with my diet I will lose weight after my body has healed from my past of starving myself.

Now here is the science behind all of this.

The human body uses food as energy. An adult needs at least 2000 calories to adequately function daily in order to be healthy. Anything lower than that is considered starvation according the world health organization. The reason we all lose weight by restricting our calories is because we are going through starvation, and the body uses long term energy sources (fat) to replace the calorie deficient. When the body gets to a point where if feels like its losing too much emergency energy sources, not only does it begin to hold on to every source, it will try to replenish it once the individual eats more. The individual is destined to eat more because it knows that it is being starved and needs more energy. The brain will send you signals to eat certain things and to eat more of it. That is why we have undyingly strong cravings for a food. This is why I binged. This is why most people binge. Your body will only take but so much abuse before it goes into that mode. 2000 calories gives the body enough energy to sustain a healthy weight and to lose weight if you're over your healthy weight. It keeps the body knowing that it doesn't need to hold onto weight because the individual is constantly replenishing their bodies with enough food. This is what you call raising your metabolism. When you eat too few calories, the body's metabolism will slow down, making it very easy to gain the weight back when you eat enough calories again.

The issue with carbs is simple. There is no issue. Many individuals make the mistake in trying to restrict carbs from their diet, and always go to having undying craving for carbs. There is myth going around that carbs make you fat. Before I debunk this, I would like to take it back to grade school for you guys.

In grade school, we learned about nutrients and we also learned about plant and animal cells. Most don't remember what they learned but I do. We all crave carbs because what we learned in grade school is that carbs is the basic energy source for most mammals. Plant cells have something that animal cells do not have, which is the chloroplast. What this cell organelle does is takes energy from light, water, and carbon dioxide and creates two by products of glucose and oxygen. The oxygen is released in the air and the glucose remains in the plant. The sweeter the fruit or vegetable, the higher the glucose level. Our animals cells in our body uses glucose to fuel themselves. Our blood is made up of mostly iron, water, and glucose (along with some other things). And what does our blood do? It travels the body to give it the nutrients it needs which is whatever is it it. That is why doctors determine your health based on blood tests. If your blood had enough nutrients, it will show in your blood. Glucose is the main fueling source.

What is a carbohydrate? A carb is a sugar, starch or fiber. Starch is another form of sugar. Fiber is its highest in plants. Fiber is needed to help the body with digestion and the removal of waste. Without these things, we cannot have a healthy body.

So what is the problem with weight loss? I can tell you that its not how much you eat, but what you eat. Doing this calorie restriction will just keep you on a roller coaster of fluctuating weight that will drive you insane.

I don't want to tell anyone what to do, but I will tell you want I'm going to do. I will no longer fall for the propaganda that carbs make you fat. Calorie restriction has made me fat. Fat has made me fat. For now I'm going to document my journey on a high carb, low fat, plant based diet in hopes of not only losing weight, but to forever get off of the roller coaster of crash dieting and binge eating and starvation and etc.

I would also like to add, I'm a real person. And what I mean by that is I'm not some robot or whatever making up things trying to start some type of *kitten* movement that is probably fake. im not trying to sell some type of worthless program or start some business off of bs. I'm just a real person sharing my real experiences. I'm not selling anything. Whether you all choose to join me or not, doesn't matter. I will post my progress as best as possible. Hell, if you don't believe me, you could even look at my Instagram which is asjcreations95, which is where I really just post my art. You could follow me for that too. But I will try my best to show more food and progress. I'm terrible at posting on social media.

The moral of the story is that calorie restriction is not the answer. look at others who have tried this. Hell, look through the success story section. I've seem some of them gain weight back. One female gained 20 lbs back. Just think for yourselves guys. Don't fall for the quick fixes, the bs weight loss drugs, the starvation, the corsets and all that other *kitten*. Think for yourself. If you don't feel good doing it, then perhaps you shouldnt be doing it.

I wish love and peace.
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Replies

  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,874 Member
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    So what is the problem with weight loss? I can tell you that its not how much you eat, but what you eat. Doing this calorie restriction will just keep you on a roller coaster of fluctuating weight that will drive you insane.

    Actually, it is about how much you eat. Don't get me wrong, I'm a strong advocate for changing what you eat and I'm a strong advocate for a diet consisting primarily of whole foods and meals prepared from whole foods...it is very difficult to maintain weight loss if you don't move beyond the SAD...but where actual weight control is concerned, it's about calories.

    That said, I counted calories to lose weight and maintained a reasonable deficit...I didn't crash my diet...I had reasonable calorie restrictions and I lost 40 Lbs. Since then I have successfully maintained weight...done a bulk...and cut again all while eating very healthfully (I don't log). This is because in fact, it is about how many calories you take in...if it was impossible to gain weight while eating "healthy" foods I would have never been able to do my bulk.

    So the moral of the story is that in fact, calorie restriction does work...but as a matter of nutrition and being able to more easily maintain weight, most people do need to address their overall diet. But saying that calorie restriction doesn't work is patently false.
  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,150 Member
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    How is this a quick fix??? I've been here for 10 months thus far. You call that quick??
  • rachylouise87
    rachylouise87 Posts: 367 Member
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    caloric restriction has got me from 180-150 so far. my periods returned. mood swings less, more energy, clothes fit better not out of breath when exercising, less of a risk for diabetes and hypertension and yes its hard to eat less but when i am at a weight my body should be and mind you i am very short, then i will eat to maintain at around 1700 calories a day. i have been here for 2+ years now so defo not a quick fix. a long journey of change and educating myself about food
  • Alluminati
    Alluminati Posts: 6,208 Member
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    Good luck with that, OP.
  • SergeantSausage
    SergeantSausage Posts: 1,673 Member
    edited February 2015
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    BWWAAHHAHHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHHHAAAAHHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHH <breathe> ahahhhahahahahahhahahahahhahahahhahahahhhhhahahahahaha...

    Yer funny ... 'cause while all that happened, non of happened the way, or more specifically for the reasons *why* you attribute them happening.

    Quit spreading the misinformation and WooWoo. You're an adult. You should know better.
  • healthygreek
    healthygreek Posts: 2,137 Member
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    I believe you are wrong.
    On a reasonable deficit (eating a variety of foods), I lost over 60 pounds. I did it over a period of several years. I'd still like to lose a few more but I love my body anyway-size 6 at 5'2".
    I've maintained for years and at 61 I'm in excellent health and full of energy.
    I could'nt just live my life with fruits/veggies. I need beef, chicken, fish, nuts, nut butters, eggs, cheese, pasta, bread and butter! I also need veggies, fruit, olive oil and of course, chocolate.
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
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    :huh:
  • Hornsby
    Hornsby Posts: 10,322 Member
    edited February 2015
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    Yes, this thread deserves it....

    nutkick.gif
  • jgnatca
    jgnatca Posts: 14,464 Member
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    I'm in my fifties with a different experience. I do believe and agree that your application of calorie restriction was obsessive and too difficult to maintain.

    But it is premature to declare vegetarianism a success.
  • Abby2205
    Abby2205 Posts: 253 Member
    edited February 2015
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    Okay, I'm sucked in.

    "An adult needs at least 2000 calories to adequately function daily in order to be healthy. Anything lower than that is considered starvation according the world health organization."

    Please provide a source for the "adults need at least 2000 calories" claim. Articles that state it as a fact with no referencing do not count. The WHO recommends eating at an energy balance.
    As a population measure, WHO does indeed say that per capita consumption of 2000 calories is insufficient--an indicator of not enough food available in the country or region being analyzed. It's a correlation. In no way should that be misinterpreted as an individual recommendation.
    Or perhaps you are referring to the "in a 2000 calorie diet" reference in nutrition facts panels? Also not a recommendation or a minimum requirement for health. It is a benchmark for average consumption.

  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
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    Abby2205 wrote: »
    Okay, I'm sucked in.

    "An adult needs at least 2000 calories to adequately function daily in order to be healthy. Anything lower than that is considered starvation according the world health organization."

    Please provide a source for the "adults need at least 2000 calories" claim. Articles that state it as a fact with no referencing do not count. The WHO recommends eating at an energy balance.
    As a population measure, WHO does indeed say that per capita consumption of 2000 calories is insufficient--an indicator of not enough food available in the country or region being analyzed. It's a correlation. In no way should that be misinterpreted as an individual recommendation.
    Or perhaps you are referring to the "in a 2000 calorie diet" reference in nutrition facts panels? Also not a recommendation or a minimum requirement for health. It is a benchmark for average consumption.

    Sounds strangely familiar today, doesn't it!
  • My_Butt
    My_Butt Posts: 2,300 Member
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    1400 calories and you felt like you were starving? Not if you eat the right foods. If you eat small calorie packed twinkies, of course you're going to be hungry. But if you eat peppers and onions in your chili, and slap a salad next to a sandwich, your stomach constantly has food to chew.
  • jkal1979
    jkal1979 Posts: 1,896 Member
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    Abby2205 wrote: »
    Okay, I'm sucked in.

    "An adult needs at least 2000 calories to adequately function daily in order to be healthy. Anything lower than that is considered starvation according the world health organization."

    Please provide a source for the "adults need at least 2000 calories" claim. Articles that state it as a fact with no referencing do not count. The WHO recommends eating at an energy balance.
    As a population measure, WHO does indeed say that per capita consumption of 2000 calories is insufficient--an indicator of not enough food available in the country or region being analyzed. It's a correlation. In no way should that be misinterpreted as an individual recommendation.
    Or perhaps you are referring to the "in a 2000 calorie diet" reference in nutrition facts panels? Also not a recommendation or a minimum requirement for health. It is a benchmark for average consumption.

    This was the only thing that stuck out at me in the big wall 'o text.

    I'll just sit here patiently and wait for OP to address this.

  • obscuremusicreference
    obscuremusicreference Posts: 1,320 Member
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    If you're not restricting calories, no wonder you're trying to lose 50 pounds. Good luck with your 2000 calories (if you're burning as much or less than that per day) and your anticipated surge in IG followers.

    I've lost 39 pounds through calorie restriction and intend to keep it off with calorie counting.
  • WickedPineapple
    WickedPineapple Posts: 701 Member
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    Wait, you lost weight restricting calories using MFP, then went vegetarian (which didn't do anything), then went vegan (and gained any weight you lost originally with MFP). BUT you "know that with my diet I will lose weight after my body has healed from my past of starving myself." You haven't lost anything using your current method, and you're picking on people that have re-gained some of the weight they've lost? Right.
  • honkytonks85
    honkytonks85 Posts: 669 Member
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    *blink* what?
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,139 Member
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    I did not read that mountain of a post, but I did skim it..

    here is what I do not understand..you say you went from 204 to 160 pounds, which is a 44 pound loss...how did you do that, if not through restricting calories?????????

    or did I miss something...
  • Arliah
    Arliah Posts: 266 Member
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    I'm waiting for the unicorn tears and stardust to come into play!
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,139 Member
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    oh wait, so you are saying you starved yourself to lose weight, but then said starvation mode made you gain weight?? got ya..

    Ok, sorry that is a huge no ...if that was the case then all those people that are dying from starvation in Africa would be obese, or all the people in the concentration camps would have come out fat and happy instead of skinny and malnourished...

    sorry, you do not defy math and science just because you think you do...
This discussion has been closed.