What if I am not adding my exercise calories to my diet?
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15 pounds in 30 days is 1% of the starting 302 pounds right? Healthy?
It's very close to 1%. I will go against the grain and say that I don't find it overly concerning as long as you are getting enough protein and fat and are aware of the fact that at some point you are going to want to switch to a slower rate of loss.2 -
I am thankful for the help. I understand that I am on the edge. I took every word in. even those who I took for rough. I take into consideration that I don't know and some of you do. I would be a fool not to take your advise. to that point I am also going to consult my doctor to see that my health is in tact as I proceed cautiously. I am on my journey and hope to learn along the way. Again, I am thankful. I know I will need some encouragement going forward as my motivation can fade with my progress.4
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Many here, me included, consider a loss of around 1% of body weight weekly to be a sensible, moderate maximum loss rate. You are far exceeding that.
If MFP isn't letting you close your diary daily because your net calories after exercise are below 1500 - considered to be the absolute minimum for adequate fueling/nutrition in even quite short, light men - it also thinks you're eating unhealthily little.
On top of that, if your stamina has decreased on your workout/eating regimen, that's a very strong sign you're overworking or undereating, or both.
You can continue on this course . . . but I wouldn't recommend it. I just like to see people stay strong and healthy while they lose weight.
Helpful. Please explain 1% of body weight a week". At 320 that would be 3.2 lbs a week correct? That looks like 30.72 total in my 9.6 week track. With the water cut from fasting sodas... It don't look like I am so far off of that projection.I am certainly not at a 2% loss. I may be at 1.25% give or take. Is that horrible when you are talking about weighing 320 pounds? I am not being argumentative I am trying to wade through the knowledge behind the numbers because most days I am not hungry. Some days I am. I was consuming 2000 calories +/- until a couple weeks ago but with my weigh decrease. I am supposed to be at 1860 calories. I almost always eat that. How accurate is the treadmill? What is aggressive and what is crazy? If I have set portion and don't fight myself over these limits why shouldn't I listen to my body? This is all helpful but honestly what I have learned from the gym is that everyone has a way but everyone is not succeeding in meeting their goal, and for your argument all goals are not healthy. I am shooting for 2 pounds a week but with so much surplus in weight is my 3.6 pounds a week a serious danger? if I weighed 150 then I could see the danger but I am still in the morbid obese bracket.
Yes, 1% at 320 would be 3.2lbs/week. I agree with the comment above about ignoring at least the first couple of weeks of deficit (because of water weight whackiness) when calculating average loss rate.
Beyond that, there's no absolutely no definitive answer: It's a question of health-risk management. Some people are willing to take bigger risks than others.
The 1% thing is a risk-moderating rule of thumb. Some people say that losing more is OK if extremely obese, and many say 1% can be too much when within around 50 pounds of goal. No definitive proof. Maybe a little more is OK if nutrition is optimal, maybe not. Ditto for starting health status.
In your case, it seems like 3 warning lights are flashing: The 1% idea, MFP minimums, and (most importantly, in my mind) your stamina decrease. Like I said, your call.
As far as exercise machine calorie estimates, many people find them overstated, especially if the machine doesn't know your weight, age or heart rate. For example, my spin bike, which knows nothing about me, usually thinks I burn near 600 calories in class, while my heart rate monitor, which knows my size and actual resting/max heart rate, usually says something in the upper 200s. But I'm a 5'5" 61-year-old woman who weighs in the mid 120s. If I were your size, the bike might be right.
At first while I was losing weight a couple of years ago, I compared various estimates for my regular activities - the machine if there was one, heart rate monitor, MFP database, other specialized online calculators, and made a conservative estimate. I usually ate it all back, and lost about 1/3 of my body weight in less than a year.
Many people start by eating back 50% of an exercise calorie estimate to start, go with that for a few weeks, then adjust to keep a reasonable loss rate.
This is not a race. Being obese is a health risk and can cause practical life problems. But the the same is true of losing "too fast": We can lose muscle, become fatigued or moody, lose hair, compromise our immune function and more. How obese? How fast? It's a balancing act, with no certain answer.
Having overdone briefly myself while losing (because MFP's estimate of my calorie needs was way too low), I tend to urge caution, to start slow at first. Getting fatigued and weak is no fun, and it takes time to recover.
You have to decide what works for you. But your stamina decrease worries me.
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NorthCascades wrote: »A similar question: why don't fat people just stop eating? Maybe sell their cars and walk everywhere, too? If it's a calorie deficit that makes people lose fat, that would be the biggest deficit of all! If a little is good, why isn't a lot great?
Pepper have mentioned that bad things happen when you have too aggressive a deficit. Like, you don't really learn how to deal with "appropriate" portion sizes. If there's one thing that makes people binge, it's coming out of a period of undereating. The goal isn't just to touch your good weight for a day, it's to hover there.
But other things are your body runs dangerously low on nutrients it needs. You stop making new hair and lose what you've got. You give up a lot of muscle. You approach your goal weight with lots of excess loose skin that didn't have time to adjust to your changing shape. You find yourself tired and moody all the time. Etc. Trouble is most of this stuff is really hard to recognize in the moment.
You make a point... but you come across like a jerk. The one thing I have learned is that my lack of personal limits is what got me in this shape to begin with. Now I eat in my limits and get to feeling good about that and It don't fit either. I meet none of your symptoms at the moment... Thanks for your input.
Why do I come off like a jerk? Is it because I took the time to spell out the downside of eating too little? It's your choice but you should understand the pros and cons. I assume that's why you're asking in the first place, because it seemed like a good idea but you wanted to know if there were downsides you might have been overlooking.2 -
Maybe you at lean weight eating calories back is different than me at my weight eating them back? Your 1200 calories may need to be replenished where my 1860 don't. That is my question. I am obviously wrong as I have been doing this wrong for 38 years and still can't get it right. I guess that is why I asked?
There are two things we get from food: energy, and nutrients. When you eat at a deficit, your body is forced to make up the difference (required energy to function vs how much energy comes in) from fat stores. That doesn't take care of micronutrient needs. If your diet is rich and varied enough this may not be an issue but you're more likely to have all your bases covered when you eat more. So the answer to this one is it depends, but eating more is usually safer as long as it's not just two slices of pizza instead of one.2 -
So... I went back and picked up some of my expended calories and my loosing is stagnant for the week. I am at a loss as to what to do. Discouraging!0
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If you run too high a calorie deficit you are hurting your body. Eating back some or all of your exercise calories replenishes your energy, boosts muscle repair, and keeps your metabolism working efficiently. Anything below 1200 net calories is dangerous and will slow your progress.0
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So... I went back and picked up some of my expended calories and my loosing is stagnant for the week. I am at a loss as to what to do. Discouraging!
Someone else will say it but it could be water retention, especially if you ate some salty food this past week. Also "weight loss is not linear"--it's only a week. Many reasons other than eating exercise calories could cause it.
And how MANY of your exercise calories did you eat back?0 -
lucerorojo wrote: »Someone else will say it but it could be water retention, especially if you ate some salty food this past week. Also "weight loss is not linear"--it's only a week. Many reasons other than eating exercise calories could cause it.
And how MANY of your exercise calories did you eat back?
Maybe 30%...give or take. I have energy, I am growing muscle so I can't see being under nourished...0 -
And I weigh several times A week so it isn't one bloated weight I am talking about. It is my average for the week.0
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lucerorojo wrote: »Someone else will say it but it could be water retention, especially if you ate some salty food this past week. Also "weight loss is not linear"--it's only a week. Many reasons other than eating exercise calories could cause it.
And how MANY of your exercise calories did you eat back?
Maybe 30%...give or take. I have energy, I am growing muscle so I can't see being under nourished...
I would be so sure you are growing muscle with your current intake0 -
OP, a couple of things to keep in mind ... Increasing muscle mass in a deficit is hard to do. Being male and morbidly obese while lifting increase your chance of some actual increase in lean tissue due to the surplus you already had while lifting. Because muscle mass needs calories to increase and a deficit runs counter to that.
You can have strength gains, lots of them, without building additional lean mass. And, as you lose body fat, your more efficient muscle tissue will tend to be more visible, which can make us think we're actually building lean mass when we're not.
Lifting while losing will help you maintain the lean mass you have as much as possible. Keep in mind it's not all fat loss and water loss. Our body cannibalizes lean tissue as well during the weight-loss process.
Unfortunately.
This is where the logging is key while you lose weight. Weighing all solid foods (including things like slices of bread and cheese and eggs and pre-packaged meals and protein powder scoops) on a food scale and measuring all liquids in measuring cups and spoons and then choosing a correct entry in the database is key.
Weight-loss isn't going to be a consistent drop form week to week. Hormones, water and food waste all vary. High sodium days will lead to increased water weight. Try a weight-trending program like Happy Scale (iPhone) of Libra (Android) to help you see the overall picture of where your weight is headed. With enough data points (about a month of daily weighing) it will use and algorithm to show you the direction in which your weight is headed. And you can make adjustments as needed. It will also help you on those weeks when things seem to be going nowhere as you'll see you're still on the right track.
Just keep at it--weight-loss is a marathon, not a sprint.1 -
So... I went back and picked up some of my expended calories and my loosing is stagnant for the week. I am at a loss as to what to do. Discouraging!
You ate a little more. You have higher average digestive system contents, by a little. That will mask fat loss.
If your extra eating included carbs or sodium beyond your norm (even if a perfectly healthy amount of either/both), water weight will increase. That, too, will mask fat loss. And there could be other sources of water weight, besides.
Neither digestive system contents nor water are fat gain, so there's no need to worry about them. In all likelihood, your continuing fat loss, which has been temporarily masked, will outpace the misleading water/digestive-contents factors soon, and you'll see a scale drop.
Furthermore, if you give this a fair try, you should eventually see stamina/energy-level improvements that will help your workouts and daily life. That may take some time, though - days to weeks, possibly.
Patience is the right strategy, for now. Best wishes!
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