Straight from the nutritionists mouth

Posts: 378 Member
edited November 25 in Health and Weight Loss
I have tracked for a long time (years) and have been an avid exerciser for longer than that. I have only posted a couple times but wanted to share some things that were just revealed to me at my appointment with a nutritionist! I am a 48 year old female, 5'6" 136 lbs. I run and lift and am pretty active when I am not working out. Last summer I weighed 131. I was very happy with the way I looked but haven't been able to get back there without starving so I started to assume that there must be something I was overlooking so I went to a nutritionist. He looked at my diet and said he wouldn't hanger a thing unless he was being really picky and he would tell me to eat a bit more fruit. We figured out a proper number of calories for me to consume which was on par w MFP, 1500. I was perplexed! He said he was referring me to a a sports physiologist. I was really surprised but he said that he would imagine that the reason for my plateau ( and slow gain) could be due to the fact that I have been my same weight routine and running the same distance for too long and that I need to switch it all up. That appointment is in two weeks.

He said that I should not eat back my exercise burned calories. 1500 on off days and on days. I asked if I was drinking enough water (40-60 oz). He said that no formula was required to determine water intake but to simply make sure my urine was clear or just a bit yellow. I asked about a protein heavy diet and in fact he said not to eat too much (75-80 g). He said I could drink all the Diet Coke I wanted within reason ( a liter, at know, I know).

Finally after thinking that I accurately tracked my caloric intake, I decided to write down every single calorie that crossed my lips. I have been always been mindful of food, healthy at that, but I never bothered to track coffee. I figured that the little amount of milk I put in it was no biggie. Well I measured it....I drink 1 cup of milk with every cup of coffee! I drink 3 coffees per day, 3 cups of 1% milk per day at 100 calories that I was not accounting for!!! I guess I am never to old to learn or relearn! So....eating a firm 1500 cal per day and not blowing 300 on milk and I feel better already and I haven't even switched up my workouts yet.

The info I got from the nutritionist granted was geared towards me but I thought it was helpful so I wanted to share it. I think I want to go back to school for this, it is so amazing to me how what we put in our bodies effects us. I am marching my way off my plateau and although the solution is simple, it wasn't obvious to me.

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Replies

  • Posts: 5,320 Member
    It sounds like you really got sound advice! Nice to see for a change :)
  • Posts: 139 Member
    Great post! Thanks for sharing. This makes me want to try seeing a nutritionist again! I could use some fresh insight.
  • Posts: 7,460 Member
    Sounds a lot like how I felt when I went to a nutritionist. Simple and logical stuff, yet I didn't know any of it. I went several times and got such an education. I really need to go again. Still so much to learn.
    Good luck in your efforts. Hope you achieve your goals and keep learning.
  • Posts: 378 Member
    Ha! I switched to Coffee Mate and will have much less than milk. I strive to be like you and drink it straight!
  • Posts: 8,753 Member
    That’s good!
  • Posts: 47 Member
    Yes, calories from things like that really add up. I have a weight scale for liquids, so I weigh every bit of milk that I put into my coffee. I use skim and can easily drink 200-300 Kcals a day with coffee alone. Lately, I've been frothing the milk and just making lattes and cappuccinos. That seems to lower the calories a bit as a lot less milk is required.

  • Posts: 35,719 Member
    I have identical stats, but would find gross 1500 cals very low and hard to stick to. How many miles do you run in a week?
  • Posts: 3,213 Member
    sijomial wrote: »
    Some good advice and commonsense in there.
    Accurately counting calories consumed is obviously the big one!
    The use of TDEE versus MyFitnessPal method of accounting or exercise is personal preference. It still does account for exercise but just in a different way.

    But this use of switch it all up sets off my woo alarm.....
    I was really surprised but he said that he would imagine that the reason for my plateau ( and slow gain) could be due to the fact that I have been my same weight routine and running the same distance for too long and that I need to switch it all up.

    Frankly that's twaddle for weight loss - the numbers of calories will decline for weight bearing exercise as you lose weight but there seems a pervasive myth that somehow a body can get used to exercise and not burn calories. I wish my car was like that and then I wouldn't have to put any fuel in it. :)
    But as you gained weight since last year your calorie burns from your running would have gone up not down. The supposed efficiencies are very small - moving mass over distance is physics and getting used to an exercise doesn't change that you need energy to do that. In reality as people get fitter they gain the ability to exercise more intensely, or for longer duration, and burn more calories. As they get stronger they are able to lift more - again higher calorie burn.

    If your weights routine doesn't give you progression then that's a poor routine and changing would be very sensible.

    Switch up your exercise because it isn't challenging you anymore and therefore your fitness and strength isn't improving would be a very valid reason.

    I agree with this.
  • Posts: 3,213 Member
    I have identical stats, but would find gross 1500 cals very low and hard to stick to. How many miles do you run in a week?

    And this.
  • Posts: 378 Member
    Thanks all! Yyyeeeesssssss! I wasn't accurately counting calories and I was ALWAYS eating back all of my exercise calories. I think that was the main issue. Ihave been sticking to the 1500 cal max and will for one week, to me it seems on the low end as well. I always drink my 40-60 oz h2o before I enjoy a Diet Coke. When I run, I go 6-10 miles two days a week.

    Thanks for all of you insight and information.
  • Posts: 14,296 Member
    veganbaum wrote: »
    I just want to clarify, for any lurkers, that MFP is designed to eat your exercise calories.

    If you aren't tracking food correctly to begin with, then you may eating more than you think and it's not eating back exercise calories that's not working, but rather imprecise tracking of food.

    Additionally, some people miscalculate their exercise calories and, thus, end up eating more than they should, just like with [the] imprecise tracking of food.

    Whether [you're inadvertently] choosing a higher intensity than [what you] actually exerted [at], or simply that it's an exercise that has an inflated number, again, it's not the method in and of itself, it's the tracking.

    That's why many will recommend starting with a percentage of exercise calories and then adjusting after 4-6 weeks based on real [life] results.

    Track all your food, log exercise as honestly as you can. Adjust calories after 4-6 weeks. That's all there is to it.

    Couldn't have said it any better myself!

    Which is why I remain confused as to what valuable insight, if any, the nutritionist/dietitian offered to the OP.

    Sounds like a straight tracking issue (I have not been logging a cup of milk or two a day) that could have been easily resolved by logging the **kitten** coffee has now devolved to bad advice (I eat 1500 straight and ignore my exercise calories).
  • Posts: 13,342 Member
    edited March 2018
    Not sure how you can manage your runs on only 1500 so as much as I agreed with a lot of what your nutritionist told you, I do not agree with not eating back exercise calories. Fuel the body and it will run better :smile:
    But yes, its amazing how little calories in drinks or condiments that we might not have thought of do add up, so now you know the score you'll soon get off that plateau.
  • Posts: 1,306 Member
    Not sure how you can manage your runs on only 1500 so as much as I agreed with a lot of what your nutritionist told you, I do not agree with not eating back exercise calories. Fuel the body and it will run better :smile:
    But yes, its amazing how little calories in drinks or condiments that we might not have thought of do add up, so now you know the score you'll soon get off that plateau.

    I think veganbaum and PAV said it best. There were likely errors on each side of the equation. We (most of us) try to use an exact equation and weigh and measure down to the gram - based entirely on the assumption that we live at the median of the bell curve in terms of our energy expenditure. My NEAT (or TDEE) estimate could very well be 200 calories in either direction and I would probably still be within a standard deviation of the mean (and be considered normal).

    That said, if the measurements were all correct AND our OP was at the middle of the curve, then 1500 would seem like not enough fuel to support the body activity.
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