Is eating this bad 1 week in?
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Good and tasty kibble that is just right without being too much or too little is an art all by itself and not easy to figure out! Add in there balancing the nutritional component with the tasty component without over-doing anything on a consistent basis... it takes more than a couple of days to figure things out
Slow down, smell the roses, and have some rice and seasoning.
Stick your weigh ins in a trending weight app (Happy Scale, Libra, Trendweight.com, Weightgrapher.com) and avoid reacting to pure water weight variations while concentrating on the underlying weight trend.
The 3300 figure was pulled out of thin air. It was based on your stated desire to lose 40lbs and your timescale of 90 days (so 1556 Cal a day deficit) and based on what you said you were eating.
The reality is that your initial weight loss hints at you going even faster (i.e. currently having an even bigger deficit than that) but it is really WAY too early to be able to tell as even with males anything less than a few weeks cannot show a reliable trend due to water weight fluctuations. (and by water weight we are not talking the amount of water you drink or whether you're "hydrated" but that is a whole other subject)3 -
Quick thought: stick the nutritional profile of a sweet potato next to that of a regular potato right next to each other. Look at it real careful now. Tell me which one is better? By how much? A number of studies have found both regular potatoes and apples to be very satiating (relative to same calorie alternatives). When you end up with a gazillion calories when it comes to potatoes, you're rarely talking boiled potato or baked potato. You're usually talking fried in oil or butter, or with a lot of heavy cream and butter, or with cheese, or with full fat sour cream and butter, or.... re-do the calculations with say 0% greek yogurt and some chives. Or salsa. Or some chili on top. (Fast food meal: Wendy's baked potato with a small chili thrown on it no butter or sour cream added).... mmmm..... BRB: I think I'm going to Wendy's with my ~500 Cal tonight
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FlyingMolly wrote: »Rice and seasoning. Too early in diet process. I ate omelette, sardines, cucumber salad, almonds and berry smoothies since Monday and have went from 225-216lbs. I think that’s progress. I don’t want rice and salt to mess this up. It’s hard enough not drinking wine and beer.
Are you doing a low-carb diet deliberately or something? I am, so I wouldn’t eat rice after a week or a month for that matter, but low-carb isn’t the only way to lose weight. What you need to do is burn more energy than you consume. The only thing that really matters is finding a menu that you enjoy and feel satisfied on without eating as much of it as your body really wants day after day.
Not really. Just trying to get down to 185lbs. I’m doing spin class and swimming outside every night. Plus playing hockey 3 nights a week. Just trying to not eat fast food, or drink and keep my calories between 1200-1500.
Want to lose the 40lbs in 3 months. Trying to stay focused. Thanks for the insight Molly.
40 lbs in 3 months with your stats is simply not realistic. And eating less than 1500 cals as an adult male who is exercising is a recipe for disaster. You will lose a lot of muscle along with the fat and will struggle to get enough nutrition. Plus cutting that hard that fast almost guarantees a rebound once you're done.
You should really shoot for 1 lb per week, but if you must, set your goal to 1.5 lbs per week. Eat all those calories. Log your exercise and eat some of those cals too. It will take longer but you will have a much better chance of succeeding and keeping it off, and you'll probably look better if you get to goal in 7 months than you will if you get there in 3 months. Good luck!6 -
Rice and seasoning. Too early in diet process. I ate omelette, sardines, cucumber salad, almonds and berry smoothies since Monday and have went from 225-216lbs. I think that’s progress. I don’t want rice and salt to mess this up. It’s hard enough not drinking wine and beer.
??
I don't understand why you'd think rice and seasoning would be a problem.
I eat rice 5 days a week, and often add seasoning to my food because it tastes good.4 -
Your lunch sounds good with either quinoa or rice. Seasoning with sodium may make you gain water weight, but it helps you enjoy the taste of food without adding many calories, so that's good.
If you want to add extras, salsas are low calorie, and so is low fat sour cream or Greek yogurt. Or lime juice. Avocado is not low calorie (I wish!) but is nutritious and it's not bad to add a little fat to a meal.
Your deadline may be a little optimistic. It's better to give yourself a little slack and develop habits you can maintain for a lifetime than to go hard and burn out.1 -
Thanks for the positive info jimmy and thanks rhedd.0
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Like many, I arrived here wanting to lose a lot of weight and fast. I lost 16 pounds in 2-3 weeks from 230 to 214 and was proud of myself. Only 25+ pounds to go, great huh?!
I then spent 2-3 days here reading threads, learning about CICO, appropriate rates of weight loss and what exceeding those rates means. I have now been a member here for @2 weeks and am by NO means a veteran but I have quickly realized I went about things the wrong way, focusing only on one thing, that number on the scale, to the detriment of everything else. Fast weight loss is a shock to the system and not healthy, or sustainable.
There is a pinned post at the top of this forum which is worth reading through. I really think though a 'get started quick' set of guidelines would have helped me a lot. Something along the lines of....
A weight loss of 1-2% of your body weight per week is appropriate and towards the upper end of that (and especially beyond) it will more likely result in the loss of BOTH fat and lean mass. If your aim is to lose fat but maintain or grow muscle mass then a slow and steady weight loss is the best course. Sudden initial weight loss is more likely to be water loss.
Yes, you can eat <fill in this blank> as much as you like as long as it fits within your calorie limit. That includes pizza, donuts, beer etc. The overriding rule is that the number of calories you eat are less than the number of calories you burn, calories in<calorie out - CICO.
No, the number of meals you eat per day doesn't matter. No, it doesn't matter if you eat ice cream at 10PM, No, you don't need to remove <fill in this blank> from your diet.
You cannot control where you lose fat from. There is no exercise, food or magic potion which will result in you being able to lose fat from your belly, butt or wherever. Genetics will decide that for you. You can simply aim to reach a body fat % as an objective.
The number of calories you burn has two numbers to watch. Your BMR which is the number of calories required simply to keep the lights on (run your body, organs, keep you alive but not moving). The TDEE is the number of calories that start with your BMR but additionally include every calorie you burn on top of that, walking, living, exercising. For me, (6'2" 214 pounds, male, 52) that is a BMR of approx 1900 calories and a TDEE (depending on level of exercise that day) of approx 2800 calories. Aim for a calorie intake approximately 10-20% below your TDEE to create a calorie deficit.
So, I aim for a 20% deficit of my TDEE (20% of 2800 = 560) which is 2240 (2800-560). My daily target then is 2240 calories, raised or lowered to take into account level of exercise etc if the TDEE rises/falls.
If I eat less than my TDEE-2800 calories then I will lose weight, if I eat more than 2800 I will gain weight. Weight loss is not linear so expecting precisely 1 pound per week is not realistic. Weight loss should be measured over an extended period and the calorie intake tweaked based upon 6-8 week results.
3500 calories equates to a pound so if I want to lose 1 pound a week then I need to eat 3500 calories less than my total weekly TDEE (2800*7). My weekly TDEE (assuming that 2700/day) is 18,900 calories and so if I eat @15,400 calories I should lose 1 pound. Does that mean I WILL lose 1 pound by next week? No. But eating to that deficit over the long term will result in a slow/steady weight loss that minimizes (assuming resistance training along the way) muscle loss.
As I said, I have been here 2 weeks so I fully expect those with more experience to now, quite rightly, correct me on anything I got wrong but this above is what I have picked up and as a result I have HALTED my weight loss for the next 1-2 weeks to let my body recover from my recent sudden loss. Next week I will recommence my downward trend, at a more safe/sustainable rate.
Wishing you all the best in your journey.8 -
So ur saying I should be eating 3300 calories. It will take forever to lose weight.
I guess I could have some steak, chicken, broccoli and sweet potato’s. Too much found though. But that’s why I’m asking.
Did you put the weight on in three months? Because it won’t come off that quickly without doing some major damage to your body.3 -
Thanks so much wex65. Great post. Thanks for the knowledge. It explains a lot.2
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Like many, I arrived here wanting to lose a lot of weight and fast. I lost 16 pounds in 2-3 weeks from 230 to 214 and was proud of myself. Only 25+ pounds to go, great huh?!
I then spent 2-3 days here reading threads, learning about CICO, appropriate rates of weight loss and what exceeding those rates means. I have now been a member here for @2 weeks and am by NO means a veteran but I have quickly realized I went about things the wrong way, focusing only on one thing, that number on the scale, to the detriment of everything else. Fast weight loss is a shock to the system and not healthy, or sustainable.
There is a pinned post at the top of this forum which is worth reading through. I really think though a 'get started quick' set of guidelines would have helped me a lot. Something along the lines of....
A weight loss of 1-2% of your body weight per week is appropriate and towards the upper end of that (and especially beyond) it will more likely result in the loss of BOTH fat and lean mass. If your aim is to lose fat but maintain or grow muscle mass then a slow and steady weight loss is the best course. Sudden initial weight loss is more likely to be water loss.
Yes, you can eat <fill in this blank> as much as you like as long as it fits within your calorie limit. That includes pizza, donuts, beer etc. The overriding rule is that the number of calories you eat are less than the number of calories you burn, calories in<calorie out - CICO.
No, the number of meals you eat per day doesn't matter. No, it doesn't matter if you eat ice cream at 10PM, No, you don't need to remove <fill in this blank> from your diet.
You cannot control where you lose fat from. There is no exercise, food or magic potion which will result in you being able to lose fat from your belly, butt or wherever. Genetics will decide that for you. You can simply aim to reach a body fat % as an objective.
The number of calories you burn has two numbers to watch. Your BMR which is the number of calories required simply to keep the lights on (run your body, organs, keep you alive but not moving). The TDEE is the number of calories that start with your BMR but additionally include every calorie you burn on top of that, walking, living, exercising. For me, (6'2" 214 pounds, male, 52) that is a BMR of approx 1900 calories and a TDEE (depending on level of exercise that day) of approx 2800 calories. Aim for a calorie intake approximately 10-20% below your TDEE to create a calorie deficit.
So, I aim for a 20% deficit of my TDEE (20% of 2800 = 560) which is 2240 (2800-560). My daily target then is 2240 calories, raised or lowered to take into account level of exercise etc if the TDEE rises/falls.
If I eat less than my TDEE-2800 calories then I will lose weight, if I eat more than 2800 I will gain weight. Weight loss is not linear so expecting precisely 1 pound per week is not realistic. Weight loss should be measured over an extended period and the calorie intake tweaked based upon 6-8 week results.
3500 calories equates to a pound so if I want to lose 1 pound a week then I need to eat 3500 calories less than my total weekly TDEE (2800*7). My weekly TDEE (assuming that 2700/day) is 18,900 calories and so if I eat @15,400 calories I should lose 1 pound. Does that mean I WILL lose 1 pound by next week? No. But eating to that deficit over the long term will result in a slow/steady weight loss that minimizes (assuming resistance training along the way) muscle loss.
As I said, I have been here 2 weeks so I fully expect those with more experience to now, quite rightly, correct me on anything I got wrong but this above is what I have picked up and as a result I have HALTED my weight loss for the next 1-2 weeks to let my body recover from my recent sudden loss. Next week I will recommence my downward trend, at a more safe/sustainable rate.
Wishing you all the best in your journey.
This is a really refreshing post. Not only did you take the time to read the stickies, you processed them and are now paraphrasing to help others. I think that’s great. Good luck!6 -
FlyingMolly wrote: »Rice and seasoning. Too early in diet process. I ate omelette, sardines, cucumber salad, almonds and berry smoothies since Monday and have went from 225-216lbs. I think that’s progress. I don’t want rice and salt to mess this up. It’s hard enough not drinking wine and beer.
Are you doing a low-carb diet deliberately or something? I am, so I wouldn’t eat rice after a week or a month for that matter, but low-carb isn’t the only way to lose weight. What you need to do is burn more energy than you consume. The only thing that really matters is finding a menu that you enjoy and feel satisfied on without eating as much of it as your body really wants day after day.
Not really. Just trying to get down to 185lbs. I’m doing spin class and swimming outside every night. Plus playing hockey 3 nights a week. Just trying to not eat fast food, or drink and keep my calories between 1200-1500.
Want to lose the 40lbs in 3 months. Trying to stay focused. Thanks for the insight Molly.
Holy unrealistic goals! The weight didn't go on in four months....it won't come off in four months.
Crash dieting is not only unhealthy but does not work long term. If you want to not the only lose the weight and keep it off you need to slow down.
I lost 47 pounds last year. Over an 11 month period. Feels good and I am healthier and didn't do any extreme amounts of exercise.1 -
I think you are too focused on losing weight quickly, and have absorbed a lot of misinformation. No blame to you, there's an awful lot of it out there and we all fall for it from time to time.
Weight loss is a long game, not a quick fix. You need to be thinking about sustainability and maintenance from the very outset. That means losing weight on a diet you are willing to live on for the rest of your life.
That means making small changes you can stick with, still eating the foods you love, and losing weight slowly. Starving yourself or living on "diet food" are not sustainable strategies.
Are you really willing to live without taco shells and rice until the day you die? If not, eat them now, just in a modest portion, and track the calories.
And don't obsess over the scale. It will fluctuate. You are looking for an average downward trend, not a clockwork loss from week to week.
These forums have a wealth of good information. Read people's stories, read the questions and answers, the stickies. Commit to being consistent and determined - not perfect. Imperfection is never a valid excuse to give up. That's how people end up at 450lb.
Good luck! You can do this.4 -
I started a diet after the sb. Doing great. Going to the store for meal prep tomorrow. Would it be bad to mix turkey meat, low sodium taco seasoning, black beans, corn and brown rice? Should I use quinoa instead. Thanks in advance.
Don't try to re-vamp your entire diet overnight. Look for dietary changes that can become forever changes.
I use beef in tacos because I like the taste better than ground turkey. You can buy low fat ground beef (too) it's just more expensive. Look at labels, make sure your turkey/beef is actually lower fat.
Low sodium taco mix - do you have medical issues that require you to eat lower sodium?
Brown rice has a few MINIMAL nutritional advantages over white rice. I just eat the type of rice I prefer.
Try quinoa...see if you like the taste.
Losing weight is about taking in fewer calories. You can lose weight eating foods you like.....just in smaller portions.2 -
Yes. If I could use taco shells. Lol
Old El Paso crunchy taco shells, 3 for 150 cals. Use riced cauliflower instead of rice and saute it up with your protein and some aromatics and maybe other veg (finely chopped broccoli or sprouts are also great fibrous filler for this mix). Killer tacos and save on the rice cals.1 -
MelanieCN77 wrote: »Yes. If I could use taco shells. Lol
Old El Paso crunchy taco shells, 3 for 150 cals. Use riced cauliflower instead of rice and saute it up with your protein and some aromatics and maybe other veg (finely chopped broccoli or sprouts are also great fibrous filler for this mix). Killer tacos and save on the rice cals.
Good idea. I would definitely sacrifice the rice before losing the taco shells. Gotta have that crunch.1 -
Awesome. Thanks.0
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