Why eating too little calories is a bad idea.....
Replies
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jasummers76 wrote: »
Excellent read and info. I do question the 1 to 2 pound weight loss for individuals who are obese meaning over say 50 pounds. I for example started at 350. I lost weight in the early stages of my journey at around 15 to 20 a month. Then I would maintain to insure I could embrace the new changes in eating. Then I would eat in deficit and lose more, then maintain and so forth. Of course in the beginning I would gain some back as I was still learning my bodies needs. I am now at 270 with a average weight loss of 3 to 4 pounds a week. I do not undereat and some weeks the scale will go up as like anyone but the 1 to 2 pound thing in my opinion can not be the rule for all body types.
@jasummers76 that's an average 1-2 pounds per week over a longer period, my own weight swings up and down with water retention up to 5lb but those are normal fluctuations, the trend over time is still around 1lb per week. Some people who are extremely obese can lose more and I think it's recommended no more than 1% of your body weight as a weekly rate. Either way the 1-2lb rate is a general recommendation for your average person. Those who have less to lose need a lower weight loss rate, those have more to lose can get away with a bit more.3 -
if I would have continued with the calorie deficit in the beginning I would have lost more then the two pounds per week with.some exceptions. But as a former yo yo Dieter when I had lost the intial weight of I think it was 38 pounds in two months I decided that I wanted to eat at maintenance to see if I had really changed my eating habits. I was under the care of my doctor and nutrionist who advised me along my journey. They are the ones that advised me to do the maintenance calories for several months, and for me it was the right choice. I like many would go on crash diets lose a bunch of weight to only gain it back plus more. This time around it is not a race for me as it has been in the past. I still am averaging more then the two pounds per week which my doctor and nutrionist said is common for a man of my size with the increase of activity that is becoming a part of every day life for me. I know it will lesson as I get closer to my goal but the "recommendation" of this or that is in my opinion to generalized as each person is very different.tinkerbellang83 wrote: »jasummers76 wrote: »
Excellent read and info. I do question the 1 to 2 pound weight loss for individuals who are obese meaning over say 50 pounds. I for example started at 350. I lost weight in the early stages of my journey at around 15 to 20 a month. Then I would maintain to insure I could embrace the new changes in eating. Then I would eat in deficit and lose more, then maintain and so forth. Of course in the beginning I would gain some back as I was still learning my bodies needs. I am now at 270 with a average weight loss of 3 to 4 pounds a week. I do not undereat and some weeks the scale will go up as like anyone but the 1 to 2 pound thing in my opinion can not be the rule for all body types.
@jasummers76 that's an average 1-2 pounds per week over a longer period, my own weight swings up and down with water retention up to 5lb but those are normal fluctuations, the trend over time is still around 1lb per week. Some people who are extremely obese can lose more and I think it's recommended no more than 1% of your body weight as a weekly rate. Either way the 1-2lb rate is a general recommendation for your average person. Those who have less to lose need a lower weight loss rate, those have more to lose can get away with a bit more.6 -
Mentioned caloriemetric bomb... This way scientists calculated how much cal we burn during 24 hrs period. So if u want to loose weight part of this energy has to come from your own body resourses. So if u are a short woman burn 1500 cal a day laying in the calory bomb, eat than all those cals back with food worths of 1500 cal. You never gonna loose that weight. Why not to take partial caloreis from your own fat layers? Nothing wrong if woman 5'1'' eats from time to time 800-1000 cals a day. Believe me u not gonna dye, but weight will go down simply
Laying in a bomb calorimeter is a rather bad idea because it burns the thing inside to ash to measure how much energy total it contained.26 -
stevencloser wrote: »Mentioned caloriemetric bomb... This way scientists calculated how much cal we burn during 24 hrs period. So if u want to loose weight part of this energy has to come from your own body resourses. So if u are a short woman burn 1500 cal a day laying in the calory bomb, eat than all those cals back with food worths of 1500 cal. You never gonna loose that weight. Why not to take partial caloreis from your own fat layers? Nothing wrong if woman 5'1'' eats from time to time 800-1000 cals a day. Believe me u not gonna dye, but weight will go down simply
Laying in a bomb calorimeter is a rather bad idea because it burns the thing inside to ash to measure how much energy total it contained.
Well that would certainly get you past your goal weight
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Great advice!2
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I have a question, I'm relatively new on here. Here's my stats. I'm 5'4, I was 158 and now I'm at 138. When does the weight loss kinda come to a halt and you stop losing weight? I feel like I'm at that point and I eat about 1,300 calories a day. I'm a stay at home mom. So I say my life is pretty sedentary, except the few strength training exercises I do which it doesn't say in the app that it doesn't burn any calories. I do 60 sit ups a day, 50 v ups. A minute of side planks( each side), a minute of normal planks, every other day I do leg day 100 squats, and iron titans til my legs can't do it anymore. On tuesdays and Thursday I take my baby for a walk which is gonna have to stop here soon because it's getting cold, and I run on saturdays. My fiancé is active duty in the military and my step son is 6 and my son is 9 months. My fiancé works from about 6am to 8/9pm and I can't take my children to the gym and my fiancé gets home too late to watch the kids while I go for a run or what not.3
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@rickiimarieee your weight is the top end of the healthy range on the BMI scale for your height, that is the point when it becomes difficult (but not impossible) to lose weight because the gap between what your goal and your TDEE comes down (your TDEE would be around 1600 calories) because you only have a 300 calorie deficit your logging needs to be spot on, a tad more olive oil and underestimating portion sizes and you can easily put yourself into maintenance. If you log accurately you can expect to lose around 0.5lbs per week. If you're not using a food scale already, now would be a good time to start.
There are a lot of free online workouts on Youtube from channels like HASFIT, Body Coach TV, etc, assuming your 6 year old stepson is in school, this something you could do whilst your youngest is napping if the weather is too cold out for your walk.8 -
@tinkerbellang83 yes I weigh all of my food, yes my 6 year old is in school but it's literally impossible to get my 9 month old to go down for a nap more than 15 minutes! And what's TDEE? I'm still new to this so bare with me lol2
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rickiimarieee wrote: »@tinkerbellang83 yes I weigh all of my food, yes my 6 year old is in school but it's literally impossible to get my 9 month old to go down for a nap more than 15 minutes! And what's TDEE? I'm still new to this so bare with me lol
@rickiimarieee Good news some of them are only 10-15 mins long
TDEE is your Total Daily Energy Expenditure (similar to your NEAT calculation which is shown in the infographic on the 1st page but accounts for exercise level as well) which is basically an approximation of what you have burned over the course of a normal day.
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OK, so I get the whole CICO thing, but how accurate is the Fitbit in calculating calories burned? I have linked MFP to Fitbit, so my Fitbit app shows exactly how much deficit I have. However, I'm not really sure how trustworthy this calculation is.
Any ideas?0 -
OK, so I get the whole CICO thing, but how accurate is the Fitbit in calculating calories burned? I have linked MFP to Fitbit, so my Fitbit app shows exactly how much deficit I have. However, I'm not really sure how trustworthy this calculation is.
Any ideas?
Those numbers are always estimates so take them with a grain of salt. Eat your deficit as it predicts and cross check with your actual weight trends over time to see if it's good or needs to be adjusted.2 -
OK, so I get the whole CICO thing, but how accurate is the Fitbit in calculating calories burned? I have linked MFP to Fitbit, so my Fitbit app shows exactly how much deficit I have. However, I'm not really sure how trustworthy this calculation is.
Any ideas?
None of the devices are 100% accurate, but they give you ballpark number and you have to adjust accordingly. If you're losing as expected then your device is pretty accurate, if not then reduce your calories to find a better rate of loss. I've lost 50 lbs logging and wearing a Fitbit to measure my calorie burns. I have a Blaze and it's fairly accurate. The longer you wear it the more accurate it becomes. Oops, @stevencloser beat me to it.1 -
OK, so I get the whole CICO thing, but how accurate is the Fitbit in calculating calories burned? I have linked MFP to Fitbit, so my Fitbit app shows exactly how much deficit I have. However, I'm not really sure how trustworthy this calculation is.
Any ideas?
I used FitBit synced with MFP while I was losing weight (~18 lbs lost after getting a FitBit) and have been using it in maintenance as well. I've always eaten back the calories and found it accurate for me.
I notice you said the FitBit app shows how much deficit you have. If you have them synced, and negative calorie adjustments enabled to account for days where you don't move as much, then you should be looking at your remaining calories in MFP, not FitBit. The deficits and remaining calories will never match up, they work off of different algorithms. What most people do is sync the two, log food in MFP and any non step based exercise in FitBit and then let the two systems sync and look at MFP to tell you how many calories you have to eat. Keep in mind that the amounts fluctuate throughout the day as your activity goes up and down, and also keep in mind that it will get more accurate at predicting your calorie burn the longer you have it.
Hope that helps.5 -
OK, so I get the whole CICO thing, but how accurate is the Fitbit in calculating calories burned? I have linked MFP to Fitbit, so my Fitbit app shows exactly how much deficit I have. However, I'm not really sure how trustworthy this calculation is.
Any ideas?
When I started using my Fitbit I stopped losing weight. I was basing calories on what Fitbit says I was burning and obviously it was way off. I took off the Fitbit and never put it on again. But that's just me. Others may have a different story.4 -
Yes, please do sticky this. I'm 84 and most days average 1200 calories but at the moment I have plateaued after losing 31lbs.
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OK, so I get the whole CICO thing, but how accurate is the Fitbit in calculating calories burned? I have linked MFP to Fitbit, so my Fitbit app shows exactly how much deficit I have. However, I'm not really sure how trustworthy this calculation is.
Any ideas?
After I used mine for a while I found it to be EXTREMELY accurate. But I looked at results for a while, and kind of eased into eating back all the calories (I had a lot to lose, so for me losing a bit more as I got comfortable was okay).1 -
smithmssycatsmithiris30 wrote: »Yes, please do sticky this. I'm 84 and most days average 1200 calories but at the moment I have plateaued after losing 31lbs.
@smithmssycatsmithiris30 To request it to be stickied, you need to vote for it here http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10260479/nominate-posts-for-announcement-status-stickies3 -
I'd like to expand in the hair loss issue, just to help people who may be experiencing some, and wondering what's behind it. Having completely lost my hair during chemotherapy some years back, I kind of understand the mechanics.
Think of your hair as a cylinder of protein being extruded from your scalp. (This is a little bit metaphorical, but close enough.) When you consume too few calories, too little protein, or insufficient amounts of certain other nutrients, your body can decide that hair is a lower priority than other body functions more essential to continued life. The rate of extrusion slows, and the cylinder may be narrower, or less strong. This creates a weak point in the hair shaft.
If the situation is borderline, some hair strands may be weaker than others at that scalp-level point of new growth. Brushing, or the weight of the strand, makes some break.
If you're doing chemotherapy, this stress is abrupt and general. My hair started falling out in big clumps about 3 weeks after the first chemo - the effect is not subtle. But, if the problem is caloric/nutritional, it can happen more gradually - it won't be instant, it may not be all at once.
It's not that your hair falls out - not that it literally ejects from the hair follicles. It's that it weakens/thins, and breaks off.25 -
bump2
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Inspirational and informative posts on here, I find it really helps me understand what I need to do to help me lose weight. I was under eating and not losing weight. I have started to weigh my food to ensure that I am eating the correct amounts and tracking everything. I need to up my protein and check out the oils and fats that I am using ( I have just started using frylight which is 1cal per spray). I tend to eat lots of veg, salads etc but my downfall is sauces , pasta and rice. I really need to watch what I eat. I don't have biscuits or cake in the house (I would eat everything), I do tend to eat a lot of fruit yogurt which isn't very good because of the sugar content. Has anyone any advice on meals that keep you feeling fuller for longer to stop snacking between meals. Thank you.3
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