Should I just go low calorie?

jwhaples

I have been exercising for 4 weeks and not even a pound lost. But low carb..lchf...keto..all that isn't working for me. I feel horrible and don't have energy. Maybe I should go low calorie. Some of these "fixes" are hard to follow. And if you don't follow 100% it don't work. I am over 50. so stuff isn't as easy as people say. Probably should forget all the other stuff and just try to eat healthy. Not whole..not Paleo..just cleaner healthy food. Ideas and suggestions are welcome...I just needed to vent.. thank you

janejellyroll

Eating at a deficit will result in weight loss. If going low carb or doing keto makes it easier for you to be in a deficit, then it's worth doing. But if it doesn't or if you don't like the way it makes you feel, there's no good reason to keep doing it.

malibu927

A calorie deficit is all you need to lose weight. That doesn't mean go super-low, but as long as you're eating less than you burn for the entire day. Nothing complicated about it at all.

toxikon

You don't need to follow any particular diets to lose weight. All you need to do is maintain a calorie deficit.

The easier way to make sure you are following a calorie deficit is to accurately track your food intake by weighing everything on a digital scale and finding good MFP database entries to add items to your diary.

MFP will calculate a deficit that suites your preferences (losing 1lbs a week, for example), it's your job to do your best to stick to that deficit. It's really simple - not easy, but simple.

kcn2bluesky

jwhaples wrote: »

I have been exercising for 4 weeks and not even a pound lost. But low carb..lchf...keto..all that isn't working for me. I feel horrible and don't have energy. Maybe I should go low calorie. Some of these "fixes" are hard to follow. And if you don't follow 100% it don't work. I am over 50. so stuff isn't as easy as people say. Probably should forget all the other stuff and just try to eat healthy. Not whole..not Paleo..just cleaner healthy food. Ideas and suggestions are welcome...I just needed to vent.. thank you

I used to run ~40 miles a week. And I was in the overweight BMI range for my height. At 54 years old, I lost 25 pounds simply by weighing and logging my food. I wasn't even exercising when I lost the excess weight because I was laid off of running for ~ 9 months due to an injury.

It's not about how much you are exercising, if you are not properly portioning and logging what you eat. Are you certain you are correctly weighing and logging your intake? If not, then that is your starting point toward success!

There is no need to do any "fix". Just plain, simple weigh your food, log it in, stay under your calorie goal as much as you can.

Hope that helps! Good luck!
Karen

jlval1989

Yep, like the folks above - if LCHF isn't working, ditch it.
The golden rule is that a calorie deficit will lead to weight loss.

If a low carb diet works for you - great. Keep on it!
If it doesn't work? Get rid.
Track your food, be religious with the logging and weighing, and keep to the MFP goal, eating whatever you need to.

LCHF works brilliantly for me. But if it doesn't help you, then don't stick to it! Find what works best for you.

kommodevaran

Alle diets promise easy and fast weight loss without hunger, and sneer at counting calories. But they all work through creating a calorie deficit. Creating a calorie deficit is simple enough - just eat less than you burn. What's not easy, is sticking to eating less, while at the same time not be tempted to eat too little in order to "speed up the process". It just doesn't work that way. You can only lose fat at a maximum rate of about 1% of your body weight per week. If you eat too little, you'll be hungry and tired, and you're breaking down parts of your body that you want to keep, including muscle. Even if you're eating enough, if you feel like you're missing out, you will eventually cave, and eat all the foods you've deprived yourself of, and then some, and regain, and then some.

You lose weight fine at any age. "Clean food" is a not a very useful term - it means anything and nothing. You can eat anything you like and lose weight. You don't have to focus on eating healthy - in fact, I think that leads too easily to a restrictive mindset, which isn't healthy, ironically. Instead, aim to stick to your calorie goal, and in order to do so, you will be "forced" to make better choices. For some people, this means eating more often, for others it means eating fewer meals, some start to cook more, and eating out less, some choose to exercise more to "earn" treats. No matter what you decide to do, educate yourself and build self-awareness. Feeling free to make your own decisions will be liberating, and knowledge is empowering.