Why is calorie restriction considered to be so bad on MFP?

_Terrapin_

JAT74 wrote: »

I'm doing 5:2 for the health benefits to both myself and more importantly my boyfriend as so far he's managed to lower his cholesterol level in just a few weeks from high to normal levels. I find it also allows me to eat a little more on non-fast days rather than eating less every day of the week which I find difficult to stick to.

As for my weight, I want to get down to around 115lbs and under 20% body fat. I'm very small framed (have tiny wrists, ankles, hips and waist measurements already) but I am currently carrying approx. 31% body fat which I know is not very healthy. When I try and estimate my weight at 20% my weight comes out at about 115lbs.

Well, your boyfriend, may have increased exercise level, reduced calories, increased any type of fat intake, increased or started eating Omega 6's and or Omega 3's, and a variety of other factors to reduce his over TC(total cholesterol) levels. As for you, how tall are you?

And dropping 1/3 of your existing BF(body fat) may be something attainable, and I think I've gone down this road before, but, a woman's fat essential is 12%. Also, a roughly 15% reduction in overall BW(body weight) will probably lead to muscle mass reduction so your estimates will probably change the closer you get to either goal (weight or body fat).

PeachyCarol

OP, I'm sorry, but I'm reading between the lines here, and it's not painting a pretty picture.

I think you want some validation for potentially dangerous behavior because you want to be very slim by bathing suit season.

You're 40 years old now with not all that much weight to lose relatively speaking and... you are going to risk losing muscle mass if you go ahead with your plans. How many times in your life have you crash dieted?

I'm not convinced yet that your TDEE is as low as you think it is. It's perfectly normal to hit weight loss stalls.

JAT74

Mamapeach I hardly think that by wanting to lose 1lb per week I'm crash dieting or doing anything unhealthy. It's not exactly fast weight loss by anyone's standards. I'd be more than happy to be losing less than 1lb per week as long as I can see some kind of weight loss every week so I think you're being a tad melodramatic about it.

There's a difference betwen hitting weight loss stalls and losting 5.5lbs one month (probably a high % of water weight) and then 2lbs the following month and 1lb the third. Yes the overall trend is going down, but at a very very slow rate which does not match the numbers so the only explanation is that TDEE is overestimated.

JAT74

Terrapin my boyfriend and I both work from home so I know what he's been eating during the period since his cholesterol went down. He has to have blood tests for a medical problem every 3-6 months and up until now it's been about the same, but the last blood test was only a couple of weeks ago after he'd been on 5:2 for around a month and the difference was significant. He has not increased activity level and isn't eating differently other than fasting 2 days a week. He is probably eating even more junk food ie. chocolate, snacks etc. than before as his mentality is to make up for the fast days and at 17% body fat he seems to be able to get away with it.

As for my own goal weight or body fat, I'd be more than happy at 20% body fat I'm sure, regardless of my weight at that %. I have been 121lbs before at my lightest and I was 27% body fat then, though I didn't do anything to try and preserve muscle mass or drop body fat specifically then.

I am using 115lbs as something to aim for bu I am also regularly measuring body fat too and am happier if I see that number move. So far I've lost around 2% body fat since January which isn't very much but if I can find a way to get my weight loss moving again hopefully I'll start dropping more body fat too. I am trying to eat more protein than I have before to maintain muscle mass and from tomorrow onwards I am going to try and keep carbs to 100g or under if I can for a while to see if this helps.

_Terrapin_

JAT74 wrote: »

Terrapin my boyfriend and I both work from home so I know what he's been eating during the period since his cholesterol went down. He has to have blood tests for a medical problem every 3-6 months and up until now it's been about the same, but the last blood test was only a couple of weeks ago after he'd been on 5:2 for around a month and the difference was significant. He has not increased activity level and isn't eating differently other than fasting 2 days a week. He is probably eating even more junk food ie. chocolate, snacks etc. than before as his mentality is to make up for the fast days and at 17% body fat he seems to be able to get away with it.

As for my own goal weight or body fat, I'd be more than happy at 20% body fat I'm sure, regardless of my weight at that %. I have been 121lbs before at my lightest and I was 27% body fat then, though I didn't do anything to try and preserve muscle mass or drop body fat specifically then.

I am using 115lbs as something to aim for bu I am also regularly measuring body fat too and am happier if I see that number move. So far I've lost around 2% body fat since January which isn't very much but if I can find a way to get my weight loss moving again hopefully I'll start dropping more body fat too. I am trying to eat more protein than I have before to maintain muscle mass and from tomorrow onwards I am going to try and keep carbs to 100g or under if I can for a while to see if this helps.

For your boyfriend, so everything is constant, and the ONLY change is fasting. How much is significant? And if TC dropped did his ratios improve? And again, you are how tall?

Mr_Knight

JAT74 wrote: »

Secondly regarding calorie burns, I have a HRM and when I do a workout I look at the MFP database as well as what my HRM says.

HRMs over-estimate for walking, by a LOT - don't use it for that. They're also inappropriate for circuit training - same problem - don't use them for that, either.

I bring this up because yesterday you had nearly 1200 calories down as your exercise burn, the bulk in an 8 mile walk that you have down for right about 2x calories more than it actually burned.

So right there is the bulk of your planned 500 calorie deficit goal gone *poof*.

PeachyCarol

JAT74 wrote: »

Mamapeach I hardly think that by wanting to lose 1lb per week I'm crash dieting or doing anything unhealthy. It's not exactly fast weight loss by anyone's standards. I'd be more than happy to be losing less than 1lb per week as long as I can see some kind of weight loss every week so I think you're being a tad melodramatic about it.

There's a difference betwen hitting weight loss stalls and losting 5.5lbs one month (probably a high % of water weight) and then 2lbs the following month and 1lb the third. Yes the overall trend is going down, but at a very very slow rate which does not match the numbers so the only explanation is that TDEE is overestimated.

You're talking about a 30% restriction. That is drastic. I'm not being melodramatic.

Something is off in your calculations, or you have a medical condition that has not yet been diagnosed.

Sharon_C

So how much longer do the studies say you live if you eat like this? I'm legitimately curious.

PeachyCarol

Time for cat/dog gifs?

lemurcat12

Sharon_C wrote: »

So how much longer do the studies say you live if you eat like this? I'm legitimately curious.

Check out: http://www.crsociety.org/

Not vouching for any of it, but it presents their case.

rushfive

LiftAllThePizzas wrote: »

jwlester3 wrote: »

OP wants to discuss severe calorie restriction diets which lead to restriction of the aging process, and health benefits... personally, I can't do it because I love food and I'm training - but there is plenty of evidence that it works:

http://www.nature.com/ncomms/2014/140401/ncomms4557/full/ncomms4557.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/health/7898775/The-Calorie-Restriction-dieters.html

If people could achieve a bit of longevity by cutting off their genitals and being sad 75% of their waking lives, I'm sure there are people who would do it.

LOL !!!!! Thanks for the good laugh..
sad thing is you are correct. some people.
Still I am laughing out loud !!!!

JAT74

To the poster who asked for my height I'm 5 foot 4.

Also calorie burns from my 2 hour walk, I was walking at a very brisk pace and I did circuit training straight afterwards. If my calories burns including Fitbit calories burned extra were 1200 on MFP and my goal was therefore too high at 2400, I only ate 1700 so I should still have been at a significant deficit even if the burns were overestimated.

Re my boyfriend he eats 650 calories on his fast days and normally eats 2000-3000 on non fast days.

Mr_Knight

JAT74 wrote: »

If my calories burns including Fitbit calories burned extra were 1200...

As has been explained - they weren't.

You aren't creating the deficit you think you are.

PeachyCarol

Wait... you're adding additional exercise burns to what your Fitbit says?

I don't know anything about Fitbits, but... that's not how they're supposed to work, is it?

Even with taking a portion off, you shouldn't be taking anything into account at all.

JAT74

Mr night and as I've just said, ignore the amount I ate yesterday ie. 1700 because my weekly average was still only 1350 taking into account my fast days.

I don't count calorie burns from exercise anyway so even if they are way overestimated every single day and are only 50% of what I think they are that still leaves me with a deficit of 500 per day as an absolute minimum.

zyxst

mamapeach910 wrote: »

Wait... you're adding additional exercise burns to what your Fitbit says?

I don't know anything about Fitbits, but... that's not how they're supposed to work, is it?

Even with taking a portion off, you shouldn't be taking anything into account at all.

For things like walking and running, the Fitbit would take those into account in the adjustment it sends to MFP. OP would need to log his/her circuit training separately.

ana3067

JAT74 wrote: »

To those people who ask about measuring food and logging accurately I can confirm that I am extremely anal about such matters so yes. Other than the fact that food labels may not be 100% accurate, I weigh and measure absolutely everything and as I work from home I am able to do so for the majority of things I eat. If it seems like there are some strange measures in there there is always a reason for it. For example I use repeat entries as I eat a lot of the same foods several times a week so I either use it as it was logged previously if it's the same quantity each time or adjust if I have more or less. For example if I have 100g of heritage cottage cheese on one day and the next day I only have 70g left in the pot I'll measure out that amount and log it as a percentage of the original amount ie. 0,7 or change it to 70 x 1g etc. It's irrelevant what the MFP database says ie. on rounded scoop of protein 44g because I look at the label which says 44g per scoop and measure out that exact amount and drink it. I then find a matching entry in the MFP database where the numbers match up etc.

Secondly regarding calorie burns, I have a HRM and when I do a workout I look at the MFP database as well as what my HRM says. For example if I do one of my workout DVDs I'll log it as circuit training as it is interval training and if MFP says 350 calories burned but my HRM says 300 I'll normally log 275 so I'm not overestimating. Most days I do both a walk and a workout so the minimum my calorie burns can be in any one day is 400 calories and a lot of days I do more than that like a 2 hour walk plus a workout or a 45 minute cardio session in the gym plus circuit training etc.

It's irrelevant anyway because I calculate the weekly calorie deficit I need to be able to lose at least 0.5lb per week (without exercise), work out my fast day calories and then from that work out what my non-fast day calories should be. I then eat that amount, not above, regardless of the exercise I do so I don't eat anything extra back. The average I'm eating if split evenly across the week works out to 1300 per day.

This means that most days my deficit is a minimum of 500-600 calories, sometimes more, which should allow me to lose at least 1lb per week, but that hasn't been happening except in the first month when I lost 5.5lbs, the second month I lost 2lbs and this month 1lb.

So you choose to measure e.g. bananas instead of weigh them when you have a food scale that would give you accurate information....... and continue to use generic entries (e.g. restaurant sour cream? home-prepared coleslaw? generic spare ribs 1.8??)