INTERMITTENT FASTING - A LIFESTYLE MAKEOVER

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  • Wheelhouse15
    Wheelhouse15 Posts: 5,575 Member
    Happy Day Light Savings - Spring has Sprung!

    Weighing-in in the mornings may not be entirely accurate as it seems to go right back up during the day, but it's keeping me motivated seeing the little losses anyway - I just want the scales to be fluctuating on the 90's side by the end of the month instead of in the 100's!

    SW: 103.40 kg - 227.95 lbs.
    GW: (for this month) 99.60 kgs - 219.58 lbs.
    Need to lose 4.0 kgs - 8.8 lbs. (1kg per week or 2.20 lbs. per week)

    Weigh in dates:
    09/03 Sat: 103.40kg - 227.95 lbs.
    09/10 Sat: 102.10kg - 225.09 lbs. (- 2.86 lbs.)
    09/17 Sat: 101.50kg - 223.76 lbs. (- 1.33 lbs.)
    09/24 Sat: 100.40kg - 221.34 lbs. (- 2.42 lbs.)
    09/30 Fri:

    Congrats on your progress!
  • DebSozo
    DebSozo Posts: 2,578 Member
    psulemon wrote: »
    OP, if you start to exercise you should probably increase calories a bit, especially since you want to make this a long term game. Honestly, I would get a food scale and have my calories at 1500. At 4 weeks you can reassess your progress. I did something similar and found I was able to push harder and make more progress at 2300 calories as compared to 1800.

    This game is not just cutting calories low, its about finding an overall balance between a deficit and an amount of calories that will allow for long term sustainment.

    If you do stay with 1200 take note of any changes in energy or awareness. If there is decline, increase calories.

    Thanks for that advice - I do want this to be sustainable of course - but the on the other hand I want to reach the goal post quickly, as I am focused on my wedding in April (this time doing it for myself), so I guess I am aiming for a reasonably quick loss with 27 weeks to get down at least into the 70's.

    Do you mind me asking whether your cals are set higher - is that the exercise?

    Psulemon is wise to advise sustainability. Pick numbers that are comfortable for you to lose on. You have to set your sights at slowly working towards eventually eating at maintenance level for your goal weight. Knowing that calorie range ahead of time will keep you at your eventual goal weight and prevent you from gaining weight.

    As I am near goal I try not to go over maintenance calories when I take a diet break. Then I go back to reducing if I go up in weight by 2 pounds. But I'm not too drastic because my body rebels big time with strong urges to eat and cravings if I cut to vigorously. And because my deficit is small now I can easily gain weight if I frequently go over maintenance calories. You are doing terrific, BTW!
  • GaleHawkins
    GaleHawkins Posts: 8,159 Member
    DebSozo wrote: »
    psulemon wrote: »
    OP, if you start to exercise you should probably increase calories a bit, especially since you want to make this a long term game. Honestly, I would get a food scale and have my calories at 1500. At 4 weeks you can reassess your progress. I did something similar and found I was able to push harder and make more progress at 2300 calories as compared to 1800.

    This game is not just cutting calories low, its about finding an overall balance between a deficit and an amount of calories that will allow for long term sustainment.

    If you do stay with 1200 take note of any changes in energy or awareness. If there is decline, increase calories.

    Thanks for that advice - I do want this to be sustainable of course - but the on the other hand I want to reach the goal post quickly, as I am focused on my wedding in April (this time doing it for myself), so I guess I am aiming for a reasonably quick loss with 27 weeks to get down at least into the 70's.

    Do you mind me asking whether your cals are set higher - is that the exercise?

    Psulemon is wise to advise sustainability. Pick numbers that are comfortable for you to lose on. You have to set your sights at slowly working towards eventually eating at maintenance level for your goal weight. Knowing that calorie range ahead of time will keep you at your eventual goal weight and prevent you from gaining weight.

    As I am near goal I try not to go over maintenance calories when I take a diet break. Then I go back to reducing if I go up in weight by 2 pounds. But I'm not too drastic because my body rebels big time with strong urges to eat and cravings if I cut to vigorously. And because my deficit is small now I can easily gain weight if I frequently go over maintenance calories. You are doing terrific, BTW!

    Great points. Different people take different approaches. Loss rate is much slower for me now than 40 years ago. :(

    Some shoot for 1/2 pound a week just to learn a new way of eating at first. Actually if one can not make that work then 2 pounds per week is going to be a struggle. Seldom is weight loss the same week after week. Best of continued success.
  • ChristinaOne21
    ChristinaOne21 Posts: 49 Member
    I've been reading lots of other other posts to try and work out what my maintenance calories would be and to be honest I feel as dumb as can be - it is all numbers and abbreviations and makes no sense at all to my un-mathematical and un-fitness-wise mind!

    I am losing some weight on around 1200 calories per day - but I must say the more I find out the more confused I am on what is the right way to be doing it. I have a long way to go before I hit my goal weight though and have to think about 'maintaining' - so should I just keep doing what I'm doing for now?
  • GaleHawkins
    GaleHawkins Posts: 8,159 Member
    edited September 2016
    I've been reading lots of other other posts to try and work out what my maintenance calories would be and to be honest I feel as dumb as can be - it is all numbers and abbreviations and makes no sense at all to my un-mathematical and un-fitness-wise mind!

    I am losing some weight on around 1200 calories per day - but I must say the more I find out the more confused I am on what is the right way to be doing it. I have a long way to go before I hit my goal weight though and have to think about 'maintaining' - so should I just keep doing what I'm doing for now?

    I found the learning curve was steep in my case as well. The math is a 'guess' at best. While I counted up my calories using the best guess info out there it was helpful since I had no idea about what kind of calories was in what kind of foods.

    For the past two years I just weigh myself each morning. That gives me the net results of my eating as in CICO which really can never be totally calculated at home anyway. If I am gaining my net CI is greater than my net CO. If maintaining then CI=CO and if losing naturally my CI is < CO. This cuts out all food weighing and calorie counting for the most part.

    Counting and weighing can be a real learning process on the start and I am not anti food weighing or calorie counting but after yo yo dieting for 40 years I made a commitment this time around to stop dieting and just eat to improve my health markers. For 18 months I have maintained at 200 with a range of 195 to 205 without counting or food weighing, any cravings or going hungry causing me to think about food between meals and often I go 10 hours without eating almost daily.

    While this works for me just keep doing what you are doing and modify your WOE as needed. I do eat around 2500 calories daily with my macro so I stay stuffed most all of the time. The macro does vary but it is more or less 5% carbs, 15% protein and 80% mostly saturated fats. PUFA's fats I try to avoid.

    #1 in my case I had to figure out the best Macro of Carbs/Protein/Fats then I looked at the about of calories making up my macro. I did all this for pain management and found I needed to keep my daily carbs <50 grams and in my case I left off sugar and all grains. 30 days later my pain dropped from levels of 7-8 to 2-3 so I knew I had hit pay dirt. My weight loss of 50 pounds early on was really just a side effect of my successful pain management way of eating (WOE).
  • CorneliusPhoton
    CorneliusPhoton Posts: 965 Member
    I've been reading lots of other other posts to try and work out what my maintenance calories would be and to be honest I feel as dumb as can be - it is all numbers and abbreviations and makes no sense at all to my un-mathematical and un-fitness-wise mind!

    I am losing some weight on around 1200 calories per day - but I must say the more I find out the more confused I am on what is the right way to be doing it. I have a long way to go before I hit my goal weight though and have to think about 'maintaining' - so should I just keep doing what I'm doing for now?

    Maintenance is just eating at your TDEE. TDEE is just another way to think of the sweet spot where calories in = calories out. No weight loss or gain. There are several TDEE calculators online. TDEE at your current weight minus about 500 should be your weight loss daily goal calories. A 500 calorie deficit for 7 days gives you a 3500 calorie weekly deficit. 3500 calories is a pound. One pound per week is about as fast as you should lose to be sustainable. Hope that helps.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,426 MFP Moderator
    I've been reading lots of other other posts to try and work out what my maintenance calories would be and to be honest I feel as dumb as can be - it is all numbers and abbreviations and makes no sense at all to my un-mathematical and un-fitness-wise mind!

    I am losing some weight on around 1200 calories per day - but I must say the more I find out the more confused I am on what is the right way to be doing it. I have a long way to go before I hit my goal weight though and have to think about 'maintaining' - so should I just keep doing what I'm doing for now?

    Collect data for another 3 weeks and then we can actually figure out your average maintenance. I generally do not include the first 2 weeks worth of data due to huge swing. And then you continue to recalculate as you go to refine your maintenance or TDEE. Below is how that math is working out for you currently. Hopefully going forward you can just plug the formula into an excel and modify based on current results.

    Since I don't have access to your food diary, i have to extrapolate your intake based on what you said.

    Calories in
    Average daily intake: 1200

    Calories out

    ((2.86 + 1.33 + 2.42)/3) = 2.203333

    Calories in a lb = 3500

    Estimated weekly deficit

    2.203333 * 3500 = 7,711.666667

    Estimated daily deficit

    7,711.666667/7 = 1101.666667

    Estimated daily maintenance

    1200 + 1101.66667 = 2301.666667


    So that is how the math plays out. But what this data shows you, is that as long as you eat under 2300 calories, you should lose weight. Now, this is a continuous feedback loop, meaning that something like this needs to be updated throughout your weight loss because your TDEE will go down (generally, even though mine didn't) because as you weigh less, your body will burn less calories through daily activities (NEAT) and exercise.

    As noted earlier, this would confirm that eating 1500 calories would still put you in a good position to lose weight, but it will also provide you a little extra room to get more nutrition to support long term goals.
  • CorneliusPhoton
    CorneliusPhoton Posts: 965 Member
    edited September 2016
    @psulemon what are you using to come up with the weekly deficit multiplier here:
    psulemon wrote: »

    Calories out

    ((2.86 + 1.33 + 2.42)/3) = 2.203333
    ?
    Thanks.


  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,426 MFP Moderator
    @psulemon what are you using to come up with the weekly deficit multiplier here:
    psulemon wrote: »

    Calories out

    ((2.86 + 1.33 + 2.42)/3) = 2.203333
    ?
    Thanks.


    Unless I am misunderstanding what you are saying, I think you quoted part of the answer.

    Average weight loss over the 3 weeks x 3500 calories.
  • CorneliusPhoton
    CorneliusPhoton Posts: 965 Member
    edited September 2016
    psulemon wrote: »
    @psulemon what are you using to come up with the weekly deficit multiplier here:
    psulemon wrote: »

    Calories out

    ((2.86 + 1.33 + 2.42)/3) = 2.203333
    ?
    Thanks.


    Unless I am misunderstanding what you are saying, I think you quoted part of the answer.

    Average weight loss over the 3 weeks x 3500 calories.

    Sorry, no, I wanted to know what each of the numbers 2.86 + 1.33 + 2.42 / 3 signifies.
    ETA, I get it now. :)
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,426 MFP Moderator
    psulemon wrote: »
    @psulemon what are you using to come up with the weekly deficit multiplier here:
    psulemon wrote: »

    Calories out

    ((2.86 + 1.33 + 2.42)/3) = 2.203333
    ?
    Thanks.


    Unless I am misunderstanding what you are saying, I think you quoted part of the answer.

    Average weight loss over the 3 weeks x 3500 calories.

    Sorry, no, I wanted to know what each of the numbers 2.86 + 1.33 + 2.42 / 3 signifies.


    OP's weekly weight loss (on prior page):

    Weigh in dates:
    09/03 Sat: 103.40kg - 227.95 lbs.
    09/10 Sat: 102.10kg - 225.09 lbs. (- 2.86 lbs.)
    09/17 Sat: 101.50kg - 223.76 lbs. (- 1.33 lbs.)
    09/24 Sat: 100.40kg - 221.34 lbs. (- 2.42 lbs.)
    09/30 Fri:
  • CorneliusPhoton
    CorneliusPhoton Posts: 965 Member
    The clouds cleared. Just too early in the morning for me! Thank you.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    edited September 2016
    I've been reading lots of other other posts to try and work out what my maintenance calories would be and to be honest I feel as dumb as can be - it is all numbers and abbreviations and makes no sense at all to my un-mathematical and un-fitness-wise mind!

    I am losing some weight on around 1200 calories per day - but I must say the more I find out the more confused I am on what is the right way to be doing it. I have a long way to go before I hit my goal weight though and have to think about 'maintaining' - so should I just keep doing what I'm doing for now?

    I would keep it up, since it's working, but understanding that you can eat more and lose if you want to, and see how it goes and how I felt. If you are exercising I'd eat back some calories, because 1200 is low, though. Like psulemon said, after a few more weeks you can start estimating maintenance calories. (I'd ignore calories out and just figure 3500*lost lbs + total calories eaten all divided by total number of days, but someone can walk you through that when you get there.)

    I started with lots to lose and ate at 1250 (soon 1250 net when I got a handle on my exercise calories), and was fine -- cutting low was actually much easier for me with more to lose, although some have different experiences. Getting exercise calories and being able to eat more overall was helpful, though -- I think I would have had a hard time sustaining 1250 without them, as I like some more variety than they were allowing me. (Boredom or simply liking food is more of an issue for me than hunger.)
  • J72FIT
    J72FIT Posts: 6,000 Member
    I've been reading lots of other other posts to try and work out what my maintenance calories would be and to be honest I feel as dumb as can be - it is all numbers and abbreviations and makes no sense at all to my un-mathematical and un-fitness-wise mind!

    I am losing some weight on around 1200 calories per day - but I must say the more I find out the more confused I am on what is the right way to be doing it. I have a long way to go before I hit my goal weight though and have to think about 'maintaining' - so should I just keep doing what I'm doing for now?

    I go by this guideline for maintenance...

    Sedentary (Minimal Exercise)
    Weight Maintenance: 12-14 x weight in lbs

    Moderately Active (3-4 times per week)
    Weight Maintenance: 14-16 x weight in lbs

    Very Active (5-7 times per week)
    Weight Maintenance: 16-18 x weight in lbs

  • amusedmonkey
    amusedmonkey Posts: 10,330 Member
    The absolute easiest way to work out your maintenance calories is to look at your current weight loss rate. Take the average number you are losing every week, then multiply it by 3500 for pounds or 7700 for kg. Then take the resulting number and divide it by 7, then add it to your average daily intake to get your maintenance.

    Broken into steps, let's assume for this example that you are losing 0.5 kg per week and your average daily intake is 1500 calories.

    1. Multiply lost weight by 7700 for kg: 0.5 x 7700 = 3850
    2. Divide by 7: 3850 / 7 = 550
    3. Add to daily intake: 1500 + 550 = 2050

    2050 calories would be your average maintenance at your average current activity.
  • ChristinaOne21
    ChristinaOne21 Posts: 49 Member
    You guys continue to blow me away with how amazingly helpful you are and how you so generously give of your own knowledge and experience to me. I'm feeling humbled and more determined to keep it up with you all here supporting me. How do I share my food diary with others does anyone know?
  • stevencloser
    stevencloser Posts: 8,911 Member
    You guys continue to blow me away with how amazingly helpful you are and how you so generously give of your own knowledge and experience to me. I'm feeling humbled and more determined to keep it up with you all here supporting me. How do I share my food diary with others does anyone know?

    If you're on a computer, all the way at the top under settings, go to Diary settings and at the bottom you can switch it between private, only visible to friends, open to everyone or password protected.
  • ChristinaOne21
    ChristinaOne21 Posts: 49 Member
    I just wanted to share this, because there's a lot of anti-science talk going on on this thread.

    Scientific claims aren't "always changing" the way they're being talked about here; they are in a constant state of refinement..... Science "changing" is simply the addition of a modifier, and is Frequently the addition of SUPPORTING evidence for the already existing model.

    Thank you so much for this as it does make sense. I am getting very educated on this journey :)

  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
    I just wanted to share this, because there's a lot of anti-science talk going on on this thread.

    Scientific claims aren't "always changing" the way they're being talked about here; they are in a constant state of refinement..... Science "changing" is simply the addition of a modifier, and is Frequently the addition of SUPPORTING evidence for the already existing model.

    Thank you so much for this as it does make sense. I am getting very educated on this journey :)

    You know why this time it's going to work for you long term, and you'll never have to diet again

    Because of the knowledge, that boils down to the simple calories in and calories out equation

    Because of beginning to recognise the difference between knowledge and fads

    It's illuminating

    And I do believe you've got this
  • Hornsby
    Hornsby Posts: 10,322 Member
    I just wanted to share this, because there's a lot of anti-science talk going on on this thread.

    Scientific claims aren't "always changing" the way they're being talked about here; they are in a constant state of refinement..... Science "changing" is simply the addition of a modifier, and is Frequently the addition of SUPPORTING evidence for the already existing model.

    Thank you so much for this as it does make sense. I am getting very educated on this journey :)

    Big kudos for listening and taking it all in. We all had our "engrained' thoughts on how this all works when we got here. Those who learn and are willing to listen to the people who have done it tend to be the ones that stick around and become the successful people giving out the advice.
  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
    Hornsby wrote: »
    I just wanted to share this, because there's a lot of anti-science talk going on on this thread.

    Scientific claims aren't "always changing" the way they're being talked about here; they are in a constant state of refinement..... Science "changing" is simply the addition of a modifier, and is Frequently the addition of SUPPORTING evidence for the already existing model.

    Thank you so much for this as it does make sense. I am getting very educated on this journey :)

    Big kudos for listening and taking it all in. We all had our "engrained' thoughts on how this all works when we got here. Those who learn and are willing to listen to the people who have done it tend to be the ones that stick around and become the successful people giving out the advice.

    This is true

    I give you an insightful for your insight
  • Hornsby
    Hornsby Posts: 10,322 Member
    Sued0nim wrote: »
    Hornsby wrote: »
    I just wanted to share this, because there's a lot of anti-science talk going on on this thread.

    Scientific claims aren't "always changing" the way they're being talked about here; they are in a constant state of refinement..... Science "changing" is simply the addition of a modifier, and is Frequently the addition of SUPPORTING evidence for the already existing model.

    Thank you so much for this as it does make sense. I am getting very educated on this journey :)

    Big kudos for listening and taking it all in. We all had our "engrained' thoughts on how this all works when we got here. Those who learn and are willing to listen to the people who have done it tend to be the ones that stick around and become the successful people giving out the advice.

    This is true

    I give you an insightful for your insight

    Well, you get an awesome. Just for being...well...awesome. :)
  • ChristinaOne21
    ChristinaOne21 Posts: 49 Member
    [quote="If you're on a computer, all the way at the top under settings, go to Diary settings and at the bottom you can switch it between private, only visible to friends, open to everyone or password protected.

    Thanks! I have changed my Diary setting to 'Friends' so if anyone wants to be my friend and watch how many spicy apple deep fried donuts with cream, salt & vinegar chips with dip, and bottles of wine I am not eating or drinking - then please 'befriend' me!

    Being watched may also make me get off this lazy toosh and go to the gym instead of letting my membership go to waste :smiley:
  • Trnava
    Trnava Posts: 30 Member
    ...I think I piled on the weight subconsciously, as I knew our relationship was all wrong... I didn't want people to know about the physical and verbal abuse and eating was my solace. I have hidden behind my weight ever since with the attitude of accept me as I am, but have never really been happy with myself...

    I wonder whether a lot of people's weight gain is attributed to what is going on with us mentally and emotionally?

    I could have written that, and the answer is yes, a thousand times YES! I really thought I'd worked through everything before I started to lose weight this year, but some issues I thought I'd resolved pop up again in new ways from time to time. I've learned to give myself time to work through it again, and then keep going. All the science-based knowledge of how to lose weight does you no good if you aren't in a good-enough place mentally that you can decide to make good decisions.

    At one point you asked about other benefits of IF. For me personally, a big one is that exercising self-control in that aspect of life greatly improves my self-control in others. Telling myself "I don't need a snack" at 9pm (because I really don't) or that "I can have a donut if there are any left when my eating window starts at 10am" (because I know I'm not hungry at 7am) has translated to only buying groceries that I wouldn't be embarrassed to let my doc see in my cart, even when my all-time favorite cookies are 50% off that week. And to heading out for daily walks because losing the way-too-close-to-being-called-cankles is more important to me long-term than being a couch cocoon - unless the Broncos game is on, of course ;).

    I suppose that increased self-control is more a behavioral than strictly physiological benefit of IF, but healthier behaviors --> healthier physiology, and so far this is working for me.
  • ChristinaOne21
    ChristinaOne21 Posts: 49 Member
    ltmlaura wrote: »
    [quote="
    At one point you asked about other benefits of IF. For me personally, a big one is that exercising self-control in that aspect of life greatly improves my self-control in others.
    I suppose that increased self-control is more a behavioral than strictly physiological benefit of IF, but healthier behaviors --> healthier physiology, and so far this is working for me.

    Thank you. I so agree. I feel like I have control over IF and finally accomplishing something to change my habits and that boosts up my confidence, motivation and willpower to take control of other areas of my life.
  • frankiesgirlie
    frankiesgirlie Posts: 669 Member
    The research regarding sugar that I spoke about earlier in this thread is featured on MFPs blog today if anyone wants to read it. Harvard study.
    The science is only as reliable as the intentions and honesty of the "respected" scientists and researchers.
    Sugar is fine. Then sugar causes cancer.
    Fat makes you fat, now fat is healthy.
    Eggs are bad. Eggs are good.
    Coffee is good. Coffee is bad.
    And no folks, I'm not talking about gravity or if the earth is flat.
    I'm talking about diet and nutrition.
  • stevencloser
    stevencloser Posts: 8,911 Member
    The research regarding sugar that I spoke about earlier in this thread is featured on MFPs blog today if anyone wants to read it. Harvard study.
    The science is only as reliable as the intentions and honesty of the "respected" scientists and researchers.
    Sugar is fine. Then sugar causes cancer.
    Fat makes you fat, now fat is healthy.
    Eggs are bad. Eggs are good.
    Coffee is good. Coffee is bad.
    And no folks, I'm not talking about gravity or if the earth is flat.
    I'm talking about diet and nutrition.

    It's only that different if you do it like this:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77GGn-E607E

    As others have said, the actual scientific consensus rarely if ever completely throws something out of the window and starts claiming the opposite. You mustn't confuse news articles about single studies with science as a whole.
  • frankiesgirlie
    frankiesgirlie Posts: 669 Member
    I never said anything about throwing anything out of a window. I only suggested that posters read an article. An article that is now posted on MFPs blog.
    Are posters afraid to read an article? I don't think so, at least not the ones I know.
    My point was to be open to new concepts. To read all sides, and not just the studies that confirm what you already believe.
    Also, to question what you read, as you don't necessarily know why it was written, or the researcher's motivation.
    It's not a new concept. Reading and making up your own mind.