Please Help Me Understand :(
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lemurcat12 wrote: »
All this aside, 800-1100 calories does not make sense for someone your size (or a man, period). I'm 5'3, 125, and I cannot understand how you could be satisfied on what you are eating (4 oz of chicken really is not a lot, a banana for breakfast is really not that incredibly filling for most people), and it is not a healthy approach.
Exactly. I'm 5'4 130lbs (and a 44 yr old woman) and if I ate that for 2 days in a row I'd be gnawing on my arm.5 -
I'm not saying it's been easy staying at the calorie amount. First week was near death, but now it's not bad really, maybe it's just me. I keep busy and don't give much time to it anymore. As per the suggestions, I'll definitely read the forum stickies. And for measuring calories, I rely on packaging mainly as I assumed it would be correct. And to be blunt, but all my life I've tried dieting and exercising and different methods and I'm so fed up nothing works, so I've resorted to this. I've always trended positive in weight gain, I just need a change for once.1
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Dude, when I was over 400 I went for a no frills approach. Don't starve yourself to lose weight, which if you are being honest and only aiming at 800-1000 you are. And no, I'm not bringing up infamous starvation mode mythos here. Eat. Log. Stop torturing yourself to lose weight. Mfp would never recommend a cal goal that low.10
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You've found a really good tool in MFP. Be diligent in logging accurately, and try to be within 100 calories of the goal MFP sets for you.
How often are you weighing, by the way? And are you doing it under similar conditions? Wearing the same amount, same time of day, etc?1 -
yankeesfan299 wrote: »I'm not saying it's been easy staying at the calorie amount. First week was near death, but now it's not bad really, maybe it's just me. I keep busy and don't give much time to it anymore. As per the suggestions, I'll definitely read the forum stickies. And for measuring calories, I rely on packaging mainly as I assumed it would be correct. And to be blunt, but all my life I've tried dieting and exercising and different methods and I'm so fed up nothing works, so I've resorted to this. I've always trended positive in weight gain, I just need a change for once.
Don't give up or lose hope. The stickies will answer a lot of your questions. Lots of us on here have done the lifetime worth of trying diets that didn't work before figuring out that it really does all come down to taking in less than you burn, and having the patience to do in in a healthy manner. Please, check back in after reading the forum stickies if you still need some things cleared up, definitely get a cheap food scale and eat more food(!!), and give it some time.
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yankeesfan299 wrote: »I'm not saying it's been easy staying at the calorie amount. First week was near death, but now it's not bad really, maybe it's just me. I keep busy and don't give much time to it anymore. As per the suggestions, I'll definitely read the forum stickies. And for measuring calories, I rely on packaging mainly as I assumed it would be correct. And to be blunt, but all my life I've tried dieting and exercising and different methods and I'm so fed up nothing works, so I've resorted to this. I've always trended positive in weight gain, I just need a change for once.
White knuckling it rarely works because it rarely lasts. It's like trying to sprint a marathon - yeah, you'll blaze it up for the first half mile or so, then you'll crap out and you're toast.
Set yourself at a reasonable caloric deficit, eat a reasonable diet, trust the process and have patience. It doesn't happen fast, but it happens.10 -
Honestly I wouldn't want it to happen any faster than it's happening for me. If I was losing more than 2 pounds a week there's no way I could keep myself dressed! Clothes are expensive and I'm broke!
ETA: I have my MFP goal set to 2 pounds a week, and according to TrendWeight, my average weight loss is 2.1 pounds per week. MFP is just a really great tool if you log accurately.4 -
I'm going to play the part of *that guy* and say severe caloric restriction, while not ideal or sustainable, is not going to destroy him if done correctly. Metabolic adaptation plays a heavy part in what happens with the amount of food we eat or don't eat. Will he lose fat mass? Yes. Will he lose lean mass? Yes. Does water and poop count as lean mass? Yes. Does anyone need excessive lean mass (by pure definition of "more than necessary") if our bodies are physically smaller? No.
It's not necessarily a bad thing. #Context
Dieting is, in itself, a very loose concept of starvation. You're reducing the influx of an outside source of energy to maintain size and weight. If you want to argue that, you're welcome to but it is what it is. The body is constantly going to protect itself to prevent from dying, and if his caloric intake is accurate, his body has protected itself for 3 weeks so far. Again, is it ideal or sustainable long-term? No.
Also, it seems that everyone here forgets that if you've lost weight, your own body fat has contributed to your daily caloric requirements during your energy deficit. It's literally stored energy and 330lbs on a 69 inch frame is maxed out on storage and has been forced to cram more into it.
But to argue everyone's point, it sounds like you're either on some kind of modified keto style of diet, so have a free meal every few days (2-3x) out of the week to spare the severe metabolic adaptation that comes as part of dieting too hard; i.e. drop in leptin, testosterone, thyroid and increases in cortisol and ghrelin.
And focus on protein as your main macro. If you're only getting ~8 oz of chicken per day as your source of protein, that's roughly 45g-50g of protein, which would calculate out to about 200kcal total out of your 1000kcal average. You would be losing a lot protein from your body at that point, which can and will come from skeletal and smooth muscle if necessary. If your dietary fat is taking up the bulk of your calories, switch that to protein as the bulk of your calories. 150-200g of protein would be 600-800kcal, which sounds a lot better. As long as you don't suffer from kidney disease, the protein amount is fine. The rest of your calories come from either higher carbs or higher fat or moderate amounts of both, but if your mostly sedentary and/or diabetic, then you don't really need as much carbs.
Finally, go see a doctor if you have any issues that might be hindering your progress. Scale weight isn't completely indicative of fat loss, but you should at least be seeing something unless you're drinking so much water that you're replacing what you should be losing in gravity manipulation.0 -
There is a lot of good advice in this thread (and I agree with anubis609 that severe calorie restriction can be safe and effective, but generally should be done under the supervision of trained professionals).
You've already passed the first hurdle, which is being motivated to make a change. But the second is much harder for most people: actually following through and executing on that motivation. Your original post suggests that you haven't been very specific and deliberate about how you're actually losing weight, nor are you specific about how you're measuring your progress. As others have commented, you need to add some structure to this, otherwise you'll just get spun around every time you step on the scale and feel frustrated that your efforts, whatever they may be, aren't doing anything.
Echoing others in this thread, I strongly encourage you to take a closer look at your calorie log. Are you not measuring foods properly? Are you excluding cooking oils and butter? There are three possible explanations for why you aren't losing weight despite maintaining a calorie deficit... #3 is most likely:
1. The science is completely wrong.
2. You have a medical condition, and should go see a doctor.
3. You aren't actually eating as little as you claim you are.
It sounds like you've made some healthy changes, but at the end of the day, you are not losing weight. Make sure you are looking at the trend, and not just day to day weight changes. If your weight indeed is stable despite your efforts, then your efforts are not producing a calorie deficit. Lots of people think they eat healthy, but 2 in 3 American adults are overweight... so clearly there is a disconnect here. You've taken the first step, but take the next one! Create a concrete plan, and measure everything - your calorie intake, your exercise, your progress.0 -
Tacklewasher wrote: »yankeesfan299 wrote: »Yea, I really only eat roughly 800-1100 calories on a day since then. Usually its a banana for breakfast, 4oz chicken breast and veg for lunch, and if I eat dinner it's a little more chicken. I guess I don't have that much of an excessive appetite anymore so that's good.
Oh lord.
Don't do this. It is not good for your health to eat that little at your size. You should be losing weight on 2500 cals at this point.
Please, read the forum stickies. Your going to hurt yourself if you are truly eating that little.
No kidding! I was starving just reading his post.1 -
I'm going to play the part of *that guy* and say severe caloric restriction, while not ideal or sustainable, is not going to destroy him if done correctly. Metabolic adaptation plays a heavy part in what happens with the amount of food we eat or don't eat. Will he lose fat mass? Yes. Will he lose lean mass? Yes. Does water and poop count as lean mass? Yes. Does anyone need excessive lean mass (by pure definition of "more than necessary") if our bodies are physically smaller? No.
It's not necessarily a bad thing. #Context
Dieting is, in itself, a very loose concept of starvation. You're reducing the influx of an outside source of energy to maintain size and weight. If you want to argue that, you're welcome to but it is what it is. The body is constantly going to protect itself to prevent from dying, and if his caloric intake is accurate, his body has protected itself for 3 weeks so far. Again, is it ideal or sustainable long-term? No.
Also, it seems that everyone here forgets that if you've lost weight, your own body fat has contributed to your daily caloric requirements during your energy deficit. It's literally stored energy and 330lbs on a 69 inch frame is maxed out on storage and has been forced to cram more into it.
But to argue everyone's point, it sounds like you're either on some kind of modified keto style of diet, so have a free meal every few days (2-3x) out of the week to spare the severe metabolic adaptation that comes as part of dieting too hard; i.e. drop in leptin, testosterone, thyroid and increases in cortisol and ghrelin.
And focus on protein as your main macro. If you're only getting ~8 oz of chicken per day as your source of protein, that's roughly 45g-50g of protein, which would calculate out to about 200kcal total out of your 1000kcal average. You would be losing a lot protein from your body at that point, which can and will come from skeletal and smooth muscle if necessary. If your dietary fat is taking up the bulk of your calories, switch that to protein as the bulk of your calories. 150-200g of protein would be 600-800kcal, which sounds a lot better. As long as you don't suffer from kidney disease, the protein amount is fine. The rest of your calories come from either higher carbs or higher fat or moderate amounts of both, but if your mostly sedentary and/or diabetic, then you don't really need as much carbs.
Finally, go see a doctor if you have any issues that might be hindering your progress. Scale weight isn't completely indicative of fat loss, but you should at least be seeing something unless you're drinking so much water that you're replacing what you should be losing in gravity manipulation.
While in some circumstances it might be okay for someone with a lot of weight to lose to carry a larger deficit, no one should be eating 800 cals per day unless they are being monitored by a doctor. In addition to energy, your body needs nutrition too, and there's no way a big guy is getting enough in 800 calories of chicken, a banana, and veggies. People doing doctor prescribed vlcd are given supplements and are monitored. In addition, struggling to eat a plain, limited, low cal diet use up their will power way before they lose enough weight and often end up rebounding hard. Even if OP manages to lose 3 or 4 lbs per week, he has a very long road ahead.
Having said thst, if he really hasn't lost any weight in 3 weeks. I'd guess he's eating more than he thinks.5 -
OP, how much weight have you lost in that time period?
Are you drinking any calories in the day?
Are you having snacks that you arent logging?1 -
I don't understand what you mean by don't see a difference...do you mean you can't see it in the mirror or you literally haven't lost any weight?5
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I am a 57 year old male. I started at 317 pounds.
In the first three weeks I lost 18.6 pounds with NO Exercise nor did I even start any exercise for the first 49 days or seven weeks.
Average deficit was 892 calories.
I didn't change to a more nutritious diet till much later on as my understanding of what I needed to eat to sustain my diet and not be hungry became apparent like more fruits and vegetables, etc., etc.
For most of that 49 day period I simply logged accurately which cut my intake and the weight FELL OFF!
In that 49 days I lost 27.8 pounds.
I have lost 63 pounds to date and I am half way through week 25.
It doesn't go in my pie hole till its weighed and logged period!
CI/CO is insanely easy!
Don't make it hard!
You eat less than you burn and you will lose weight!
Since everything about you is locked down may I suggest this idea to you.
Set your activity level to Sedentary and maintain your current weight.
Then try to come in 500 calories under that figure and BE RELENTLESS when it comes to weighing and logging your food.
I think you will find the results to be to your satisfaction.16 -
arrghmatey1 wrote: »I am a 57 year old male. I started at 317 pounds.
In the first three weeks I lost 18.6 pounds with NO Exercise nor did I even start any exercise for the first 49 days or seven weeks.
Average deficit was 892 calories.
I didn't change to a more nutritious diet till much later on as my understanding of what I needed to eat to sustain my diet and not be hungry became apparent like more fruits and vegetables, etc., etc.
For most of that 49 day period I simply logged accurately which cut my intake and the weight FELL OFF!
In that 49 days I lost 27.8 pounds.
I have lost 63 pounds to date and I am half way through week 25.
It doesn't go in my pie hole till its weighed and logged period!
CI/CO is insanely easy!
Don't make it hard!
You eat less than you burn and you will lose weight!
Since everything about you is locked down may I suggest this idea to you.
Set your activity level to Sedentary and maintain your current weight.
Then try to come in 500 calories under that figure and BE RELENTLESS when it comes to weighing and logging your food.
I think you will find the results to be to your satisfaction.
Really good man-to-man advice you just got!6 -
I'm going to play the part of *that guy* and say severe caloric restriction, while not ideal or sustainable, is not going to destroy him if done correctly. Metabolic adaptation plays a heavy part in what happens with the amount of food we eat or don't eat. Will he lose fat mass? Yes. Will he lose lean mass? Yes. Does water and poop count as lean mass? Yes. Does anyone need excessive lean mass (by pure definition of "more than necessary") if our bodies are physically smaller? No.
It's not necessarily a bad thing. #Context
Dieting is, in itself, a very loose concept of starvation. You're reducing the influx of an outside source of energy to maintain size and weight. If you want to argue that, you're welcome to but it is what it is. The body is constantly going to protect itself to prevent from dying, and if his caloric intake is accurate, his body has protected itself for 3 weeks so far. Again, is it ideal or sustainable long-term? No.
Also, it seems that everyone here forgets that if you've lost weight, your own body fat has contributed to your daily caloric requirements during your energy deficit. It's literally stored energy and 330lbs on a 69 inch frame is maxed out on storage and has been forced to cram more into it.
But to argue everyone's point, it sounds like you're either on some kind of modified keto style of diet, so have a free meal every few days (2-3x) out of the week to spare the severe metabolic adaptation that comes as part of dieting too hard; i.e. drop in leptin, testosterone, thyroid and increases in cortisol and ghrelin.
And focus on protein as your main macro. If you're only getting ~8 oz of chicken per day as your source of protein, that's roughly 45g-50g of protein, which would calculate out to about 200kcal total out of your 1000kcal average. You would be losing a lot protein from your body at that point, which can and will come from skeletal and smooth muscle if necessary. If your dietary fat is taking up the bulk of your calories, switch that to protein as the bulk of your calories. 150-200g of protein would be 600-800kcal, which sounds a lot better. As long as you don't suffer from kidney disease, the protein amount is fine. The rest of your calories come from either higher carbs or higher fat or moderate amounts of both, but if your mostly sedentary and/or diabetic, then you don't really need as much carbs.
Finally, go see a doctor if you have any issues that might be hindering your progress. Scale weight isn't completely indicative of fat loss, but you should at least be seeing something unless you're drinking so much water that you're replacing what you should be losing in gravity manipulation.
While in some circumstances it might be okay for someone with a lot of weight to lose to carry a larger deficit, no one should be eating 800 cals per day unless they are being monitored by a doctor. In addition to energy, your body needs nutrition too, and there's no way a big guy is getting enough in 800 calories of chicken, a banana, and veggies. People doing doctor prescribed vlcd are given supplements and are monitored. In addition, struggling to eat a plain, limited, low cal diet use up their will power way before they lose enough weight and often end up rebounding hard. Even if OP manages to lose 3 or 4 lbs per week, he has a very long road ahead.
Having said thst, if he really hasn't lost any weight in 3 weeks. I'd guess he's eating more than he thinks.
I agree. Vlcd has been documented as a prescribed and monitored method of rapid weight loss, yet it doesn't stop others from doing it without public admission. I realize that's also entrained ED and I'm in no way advocating it, but the premise of my post was that short term results in rapid fat loss have also been shown to maintain long term weight management. Without proper background knowledge, yes there have been consequences, and without accurate food recall or recording, it negates what should be a severe deficit.
My initial point was that 3 weeks of a self-induced vlcd hasn't caused any permanent metabolic damage. Underfeeding and overfeeding studies have demonstrated that it will adjust to maintain an acceptable level of homeostasis. If (operative word) the op was able to maintain a large deficit (short term) with a focus on whole foods that provide adequate protein and nutrient density, then I see it more as a benefit, since long term goals would either include more frequent meals and/or the inclusion of more energy dense nutrition at a more sustainable energy deficit.
On the other hand, if it's not working, then full stop and try a more sensible approach.0 -
Are you going by a change in the mirror, because that will take a long time to see. If you're saying you have not lost any scale weight, you're doing something terribly wrong or waking up to eat without noticing.
Like others have said, buy a food scale and weigh everything.1 -
vivelajackie wrote: »Dude, when I was over 400 I went for a no frills approach. Don't starve yourself to lose weight, which if you are being honest and only aiming at 800-1000 you are. And no, I'm not bringing up infamous starvation mode mythos here. Eat. Log. Stop torturing yourself to lose weight. Mfp would never recommend a cal goal that low.
Bolded is something to live by, imo
6 -
yankeesfan299 wrote: »I'm not saying it's been easy staying at the calorie amount. First week was near death, but now it's not bad really, maybe it's just me. I keep busy and don't give much time to it anymore. As per the suggestions, I'll definitely read the forum stickies. And for measuring calories, I rely on packaging mainly as I assumed it would be correct. And to be blunt, but all my life I've tried dieting and exercising and different methods and I'm so fed up nothing works, so I've resorted to this. I've always trended positive in weight gain, I just need a change for once.
Losing weight is hard work. "sigh" use mfp as a learning tool, there is so much great information here (also some BS). The process is never perfect and you will encounter may bumps in the road. If your like me you have not gained all of you weigh in a short period of time, so don't force your body to lose it in a short period. You need to be able to sustain this life change and not be miserable.1 -
yankeesfan299 wrote: »I'm not saying it's been easy staying at the calorie amount. First week was near death, but now it's not bad really, maybe it's just me. I keep busy and don't give much time to it anymore. As per the suggestions, I'll definitely read the forum stickies. And for measuring calories, I rely on packaging mainly as I assumed it would be correct. And to be blunt, but all my life I've tried dieting and exercising and different methods and I'm so fed up nothing works, so I've resorted to this. I've always trended positive in weight gain, I just need a change for once.
YOU AREN'T READING WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING. YOU ARE. NOT. EATING. ENOUGH. Start over. Reset your program. If you don't know how get someone to help you compute a healthy reduced calorie plan. Eat according to that plan.5
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