What's On Your Mind Today?
Replies
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Hello UAC family — I really need some advice.
I am finding myself low on my calorie count more days than not and something my nutritionist said at my visit this week has made me more concerned about this. She said I should be trying to keep the calories up as high as I can (but under 1400) for as long as I can, and still keep losing. That doing this will allow me to keep at a higher calorie count for longer.
At some point I’ll need to drop my calories, or build more muscle, or increase my activity levels to keep losing at the rate I am doing (I am down 35 pounds since July 1 so am average of about 1.75 pounds a week).
I am consistently too low on my protein and have applied lots of advice that you shared with me previously (and thank you each again 🥰). It is still a struggle. I have a long loss journey ahead and am committed that maintenance, when I reach it, will need my attention for the rest of my life.
Could any of you share some advice or insights? How worried should I be? Thanking you in advance.0 -
@jamcnewman How low are you? And are you hungry? If you're only 100-200cals low I'd just have a serving of nuts or make a smoothie with protein powder or have low fat cottage cheese. That would get you up slightly more and still give some more protein. One 110gm serving of the brand of low fat cottage cheese I eat is only 80 calories and provides14gm of protein. I either add olives or tomatoes to it or put it on nut thins (gluten free crackers which adds another 130cal). It completely fills me up.
I'm only eating around 1200 calories at the moment because my exercise amount has gone down recently. As you may have read multiple times that is a minimum amount women should be eating unless they're older and smaller (which I am). If you're under 1200 then I agree with your nutritionist that it needs to be increased. Also, are you eating back your active exercise calories?3 -
Do you get protein at every meal? When you look back over your food diary are there any missed opportunities? If you're not vegan/vegetarian it can be quite easy to simply have slightly bigger portions of lean meat. Perhaps you could add an egg or a small portion of cheese somewhere? Try to plan / prelog so that you're not scrabbling around for a sensible high protein snack at the end of the day.3
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@jamcnewman - I don't need to up my calories, so I eat the non-fat version, but 3/4 cup (170 g) of Fage 0% greek yogurt is 90 calories and 18 grams of protein and 5 grams of carb. If you went the full-fat route, for 170 grams it is 160 calories, 9 grams of fat and 15 grams of protein. I have now upped my consumption to 2 servings a day with either some chopped up fruit, dried fruit or granola. This gives me 36 grams of protein eating something I enjoy. My problem generally is that if I up protein in other ways, I'm consuming to much fat (nuts) or carbs (legumes/beans). It's all a balance I suppose but I tend to think of it as more like Jenga.2
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jamcnewman wrote: »Hello UAC family — I really need some advice.
I am finding myself low on my calorie count more days than not and something my nutritionist said at my visit this week has made me more concerned about this. She said I should be trying to keep the calories up as high as I can (but under 1400) for as long as I can, and still keep losing. That doing this will allow me to keep at a higher calorie count for longer.
At some point I’ll need to drop my calories, or build more muscle, or increase my activity levels to keep losing at the rate I am doing (I am down 35 pounds since July 1 so am average of about 1.75 pounds a week).
I am consistently too low on my protein and have applied lots of advice that you shared with me previously (and thank you each again 🥰). It is still a struggle. I have a long loss journey ahead and am committed that maintenance, when I reach it, will need my attention for the rest of my life.
Could any of you share some advice or insights? How worried should I be? Thanking you in advance.
@jamcnewman
I kept my calories as high as I could & lose 1/2 lb per week. As I got close to BMI 25, I shifted weight loss to 1/4 lb/wk. Walking 10K steps everyday burned a fair amount.
In maintenance I can still eat more calories than I would have expected.
Protein & exercise will help you retain muscle mass, which is really important.
My thinking was more nutrition gives my body more fuel to exercise more which will yield more muscle which will enable me to maintain my weight loss on more calories.
This worked!2 -
WhatMeRunning wrote: »The most important thing to be consistent with, which should be the #1 priority, is to consistently choose starting again over giving up.
This is really what it all boils down to! I just hope I can do it. It seems that when you derail, something just snaps and everything falls apart. Maybe this time around I am more aware and better prepared to rebound than I have in the past.3 -
Thank you so much @LazyBlondeChef @lesdarts180 @enlightenme3 and @MadisonMolly2017 — I really appreciate all your insights and your time! Previously I have only done WW and though I was very successful at losing (except for the extended plateau periods) I didn’t learn enough to help myself in maintaining the loss.
I also didn’t have the curiosity or take the time to probe past their “system” to understand the nutrition, cause and effect. Many of the people I encountered (I did online only) seemed to be in a regular pursuit of “tricking” the system. I own all the responsibility for my lack of knowledge so I am grateful for your help.
@lazyblondchef — On the days I am low it is 100-250 calories under my set 1400 daily target (with the exception of days when I have been ill and my day end total has been lower). I have truly not been hungry. If and when I am hungry, I do eat. I feel a bit confused by making myself eat when I am not hungry but know I need to do it.
How close should I try to be to my 1400 every single day? Should I regularly eat back my exercise calories? I let myself have some of them if I am hungry. Nuts are dangerous for me: both because of issues of control (I seem to have no saturation signal with them — and I am the same with cheeses) and due to the swallowing challenges that I have due to Sjogren’s. I LOVE nuts and do have peanut butter and other nut/seed butters (and measure them with my tablespoon measure and haven’t ever gone crazy with them).
Love yogurt and good suggestion @enlightenme3 about going up to a higher fat than 0%. I could try adding more cottage cheese if I “hide it” (in pasta or as a plop on top of a chili).
I went back over my tracker and do see some more opportunities to add more protein at some meals @lesdart180 — thank you for that. I do eat lean meat sometimes and will eat eggs. I think I will go back to prepping precooked hard boiled eggs on the weekend to help myself out and I can have these as a snack. And you are right - it is time for me to start being more intentional and pre-tracking what I have control over (most of my dining experience). I think that I also get overwhelmed when I have to come up with what I should eat on the spot, especially when I am not even really very hungry. So, I am starting this now for tomorrow’s meals. 😊
@madisonmolly2017 You are so patient. I would and do want to lose more quickly (but I don’t want to spend avoidable time in the dreaded plateaus). I am afraid to calculate how long it will take me to reach my BMI target range at that loss rate. 😭
My daily activity is changing now as I can’t do the extended long outdoors walks with the pup that I was able to do through the summer and fall. Definitely getting outdoors with him to walk and get fresh air, but this first stretch of icy and blizzard weather has been treacherous. I have a treadmill (which I am grateful for but find so boring) and will be using it (but I know it won’t be the 35+ miles of vigorous walking I was happily doing each week). I am starting on a core strength program tomorrow at the exercise physiologist’s at my doctor’s office. This should help with the falls and my terror of the ice. And help me build some muscle, and maybe stimulate an appetite?
Sorry to go on so long. At a bit of a crossroads here. 💛1 -
If you're above 1200 and not hungry I wouldn't worry so much about it. The only exception would be if you're burning significant calories with exercise.
Do you like smoked kipper snack? I've been eating that lately. It's 165cal for a can and has 17g of protein and saturated fat is only 2g. I drain the oil off to hopefully lower it slightly. Canned fish is a good alternative for lower saturated fat, decent protein and lower cal. I don't care about fat overall but I do care about the saturated fat. It depends what macros you prefer.
We're all here to help each other.
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Thanks @LazyBlondeChef — I have never tried smoked kippers but we had Finnan Haddie (smoked haddock) growing up (we emigrated to Canada from Scotland when I was 5). I am game to try it and that is a good tip to watch the saturated fat specifically (and perhaps not be so afraid of fat in general). 🥰
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All of the talk of protein and muscle has me so confused. How would I even know if I was losing muscle? Gaining muscle? How much muscle do I need? Isn't it highly subjective? How would I know how much muscle I have, and if it is adequate or low? How much protein do I REALLY need? Go to 10 websites/calculators, get 10 vastly different figures. How would I know if I wasn't getting "enough"? There doesn't seem to be definitive answers to any of these questions.
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WhatMeRunning wrote: »The most important thing to be consistent with, which should be the #1 priority, is to consistently choose starting again over giving up.
This is really what it all boils down to! I just hope I can do it. It seems that when you derail, something just snaps and everything falls apart. Maybe this time around I am more aware and better prepared to rebound than I have in the past.All of the talk of protein and muscle has me so confused. How would I even know if I was losing muscle? Gaining muscle? How much muscle do I need? Isn't it highly subjective? How would I know how much muscle I have, and if it is adequate or low? How much protein do I REALLY need? Go to 10 websites/calculators, get 10 vastly different figures. How would I know if I wasn't getting "enough"? There doesn't seem to be definitive answers to any of these questions.
@bradkcrew
I did a very deep dive into protein as I saws many on MFP with truly high protein per day.
All the “true medical” sites I found state
0.8g of protein per kg of body weight.
For my current ~wt of 160 or 72.7 kg that would be about 58g.
But then research also indicated that older women did better with 1.0 to 1.2 X body wt in kg. Something about not using the protein as well, I think. That’s 72.7 to 87. Because of my one kidney, I stay between 70-85.
Yearly avg 2021 81g
Monthly 80g
It’s important to spread our protein fairly evenly over the day.
Some people think only meat dairy eggs count…but bread, oatmeal, nuts, dark chocolate, peanut butter do too!
I’m always perplexed when folks have to try to eat enough protein, as I definitely work to stay in my range!!
But your point is valid. Nutrition research is devilishly difficult to do.2 -
jamcnewman wrote: »How close should I try to be to my 1400 every single day? Should I regularly eat back my exercise calories? I let myself have some of them if I am hungry.
There are so many different opinions on MFP and I love reading how everyone assesses these things. I generally aim for no more than 100 calories under my daily target every day, and that includes eating back all of my exercise calories. I do at times build a reduction into how many exercise calories I log though to ensure I'm not overestimating my burn. I am also very consistent with tracking and will err on the side of caution with an overestimate if I'm unsure. So, between those two things it all seems to come out in the wash. If I didn't eat back my exercise calories I'd be in trouble.
I had to kick the MFP suggested calories to the curb a while ago after I started tracking my own data. I've been losing at a slightly faster rate than you on average but I'm trying to hone that in as it's never been my intention to lose more than 1% of my bodyweight per week. Even still, this is aggressive and not suggested to be exceeded - not sure how much you have to lose but it sounds like your dietician is happy with your rate of loss.
I can understand the worry (it's never set it and forget it, it seems) and there's lots to consider but I'd say if you're losing at your intended target and you're not hungry, I wouldn't change much. It's always nice to eat as much as you can for the weight to come off though - no point making this any harder than it has to be.
You're right - this is a journey for life, I strongly believe that. I am about 25 pounds away from my goal weight and then the real fun begins.
The other thought is that you could look at your calorie bank over the week, 1400 x 7 = 9,800 if you're concerned you're undereating. Then you're not forcing yourself to reach 1400 on the days you don't feel like it but you're keeping your body at the calorie deficit you're intending.
Ok, so much fun ideas to spin off... I'll leave it there.
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A couple of things my dietician looks at is she goes to my reports and calculates my average calories for a week and also looks at my average macros. She has helped me set my calories and macros and I change them in the app.2
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This has been some interesting reading, for sure.
@jamcnewman I didn't really have much advice to offer on eating at such low calories as my approach has always been to get at least my TDEE worth of calories and if I want to lose weight to burn calories through exercising. Every time I try to lose weight through calorie reduction alone it ends in hunger and a reversal in weight loss ultimately. If that means eating no exercise calories back, fine, but when I burn about 1200+ calories per day on exercise I get hungry and need to eat back some of those exercise calories, and I find about 30%-50% has been successful in that case.
As for protein @bradkcrew ... the experts don't know, and for the most part admit they have no idea. Standard daily intake varies among the "official bodies of knowledge" from one country to the next. My personal experience has been that I could train for and run marathons at a roughly 10%-20% protein intake with no issues. On the other hand I have spent 2021 in ketosis and having my protein in the 30%-40% range for all that time, with blood labs after 6 months of that being the best numbers I have seen all around in all categories I have concern with since starting to work on my health back in 2006. The truth is that you can be fine in either of those ranges, clearly. If I were to opine on it, I believe the body will take away or create muscles as it seems necessary from a combination of food and existing protein in other parts of your body, and your body decides what order that is and where to put it. I don't think dietary or exercise changes will ever affect how your body decides to use protein all that much. But your body must have all of the necessary amino acids to assemble protein wherever it decides to, so you have to consume some, and that is where those lower end minimum numbers come in, any lower and observable health impacts are known. Having a surplus can not hurt, obviously, up to a point, which is true of most things. I know it's vague, but in this case I'm not sure that any amount of diet and exercise regimen will ever override how your body decides it wants to use protein. If anything, you may just get fatigued or fall ill if you push too hard trying to influence it. The body will stop you from controlling it. Again, just opining here.2 -
Wow lots of advice I to struggle with the protein piece but as others have suggested have added in more cheese especially cottage, do a protein shake every morning and supplement my morning coffee with orgain collagen supplement a fair amount of protein with just 1 scoop. I try to pre log which helps out especially when I am at my office when I work from home no worries. I am also one who regularly adjust my calories between 1390 and 1230 a day when things get sluggish in the weight loss are I move them up or down and weight seems to be more consistent. As far as BMI it took awhile but I now reside in the “normal” category good luck stay the course.2
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@WhatMeRunning Opine away! That is what we are all really doing, along with offering anecdotal advice. I just feel we need to be cautious. Those of us of a certain age can point to dozens of nutritional "facts" touted as the gospel that ended up debunked. It is incredible if you stop to think about it.
Of course I think a reasonable amount of protein in important and I keep an eye on it, but there seems to be a lot of protein angst all over MFP that isn't evidence based. That is why I tossed out my mostly rhetorical questions the other day. I think everyone should mull them over.
I discovered a very interesting and entertaining podcast called "Maintenance Phase" that does a deep dive into many popular beliefs and how they originated-usually with a profit motive for someone.3 -
Harking back to last Thursday's "growth vs fixed mindset" for a moment .... I was able to reserve a copy of the book from my public library ... but it is gonna be months before my name gets to the top of the "next copy to you" list.2
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@bradkcrew I am loving the podcast Maintenance Phase, though I find it not very good for my weight loss motivation since they basically make a pretty good case that losing weight is impossible and pointless.2
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Caroline_slowandsteady wrote: »@bradkcrew I am loving the podcast Maintenance Phase, though I find it not very good for my weight loss motivation since they basically make a pretty good case that losing weight is impossible and pointless.
lol @caroline_slowandsteady Well at least they are thought provoking and highly entertaining which has been helping me plug along on the treadmill. The sun is out in Central NY so I am about to hit the road for a run and I am actually looking forward to selecting one of the podcasts!2 -
Caroline_slowandsteady wrote: »@bradkcrew I am loving the podcast Maintenance Phase, though I find it not very good for my weight loss motivation since they basically make a pretty good case that losing weight is impossible and pointless.
lol @caroline_slowandsteady Well at least they are thought provoking and highly entertaining which has been helping me plug along on the treadmill. The sun is out in Central NY so I am about to hit the road for a run and I am actually looking forward to selecting one of the podcasts!
how would I search for these (and other similar) podcasts? Something to listen to while on my exercise bike ...0 -
After a 7.5 month stint of MIA from both UAC and MFP in general ..... I am pleased to announce that I have passed the 23 consecutive days mark for consistently-signing-in-and-logging-all-food
The wondeful side effect of this is that I am down 4 pounds so far. I expect that to start slowing unless I add a higher percentage of stationary biking to my cold-weather daily routine (which will allow me to keep the caloric intake closer to eventual maintenance levels ... which are plus-or-minus 10 pounds away)9 -
Caroline_slowandsteady wrote: »@bradkcrew I am loving the podcast Maintenance Phase, though I find it not very good for my weight loss motivation since they basically make a pretty good case that losing weight is impossible and pointless.
@Caroline_slowandsteady
I let all that stuff keep me from continuing to try for too long. Harvard in particular said “better to stay heavy than yo-yo.” But now the thinking is each time we lose, we learn some more tricks & form some new habits that we then build upon next time! I found this to be true.
It’s not impossible.
It’s definitely not pointless. The health benefits alone - esp with COVID - are compelling.
It does require some changes (obviously), but those adaptations are different for each of us & often need to change over time. We need to develop a committed, nimble mindset!
One of my goals was to be accepted into the National Weight Loss Registry BECAUSE knowing there WERE so many who HAD maintained helped me beat back all the naysayers. I also reminded myself of all the people who have quit smoking, overcome alcoholism, etc.
All My Best,
Maddie4 -
My experiences are similar to what @MadisonMolly2017 said. I've lost a fair amount of weight and/or significantly increased my fitness a few times, each different (some more than others). Where I am right now is essentially the sum of all of the successful things which I know I can maintain forever if needed. While I have lost a lot of weight this year after a couple years ignoring my weight, this is not the result of radical new changes. Instead it's actually taking care of myself and being mindful of it, applying what I know has already worked and avoiding any bull*kitten* temptations to take shortcuts. I've tried the "lose X pounds agressively with [insert radical diet/fitness plan here] and then just stay thin and healthy" routine before, and never even reached the thin and healthy phase to start with before giving up because it's just a dumb idea. I only became obese and out of shape because I was already eating stupidly and not exercising, and even if I could magically become thin and healthy in an instant I would have immediately gained the weight back and lost the fitness because I had not yet learned how to live healthy. To get there, you have to go there. If you want to stay there then don't go back or start drifting towards anywhere else once you get there.
ETA - Most importantly though, it requires your life to change. In case that wasn't obvious. Until you change, you will stay the same.3 -
WhatMeRunning wrote: »
ETA - Most importantly though, it requires your life to change. In case that wasn't obvious. Until you change, you will stay the same.
If you always do
What you always did
You will always get
What you always got.
The definition of insanity is to do the same thing over and over, while expecting to get different results.
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MadisonMolly2017 wrote: »Caroline_slowandsteady wrote: »@bradkcrew I am loving the podcast Maintenance Phase, though I find it not very good for my weight loss motivation since they basically make a pretty good case that losing weight is impossible and pointless.
@Caroline_slowandsteady
I let all that stuff keep me from continuing to try for too long. Harvard in particular said “better to stay heavy than yo-yo.” But now the thinking is each time we lose, we learn some more tricks & form some new habits that we then build upon next time! I found this to be true.
It’s not impossible.
It’s definitely not pointless. The health benefits alone - esp with COVID - are compelling.
It does require some changes (obviously), but those adaptations are different for each of us & often need to change over time. We need to develop a committed, nimble mindset!
One of my goals was to be accepted into the National Weight Loss Registry BECAUSE knowing there WERE so many who HAD maintained helped me beat back all the naysayers. I also reminded myself of all the people who have quit smoking, overcome alcoholism, etc.
All My Best,
Maddie
pretty sure we were both joking since we are still here!0 -
MadisonMolly2017 wrote: »Caroline_slowandsteady wrote: »@bradkcrew I am loving the podcast Maintenance Phase, though I find it not very good for my weight loss motivation since they basically make a pretty good case that losing weight is impossible and pointless.
@Caroline_slowandsteady
I let all that stuff keep me from continuing to try for too long. Harvard in particular said “better to stay heavy than yo-yo.” But now the thinking is each time we lose, we learn some more tricks & form some new habits that we then build upon next time! I found this to be true.
It’s not impossible.
It’s definitely not pointless. The health benefits alone - esp with COVID - are compelling.
It does require some changes (obviously), but those adaptations are different for each of us & often need to change over time. We need to develop a committed, nimble mindset!
One of my goals was to be accepted into the National Weight Loss Registry BECAUSE knowing there WERE so many who HAD maintained helped me beat back all the naysayers. I also reminded myself of all the people who have quit smoking, overcome alcoholism, etc.
All My Best,
Maddie
pretty sure we were both joking since we are still here!
@bradkcrew ok
But I know there are others like me (in the past) who are discouraged & quit before they find success. Hopefully my typing helped someone!0 -
@MadisonMolly2017 , @WhatMeRunning , @bradkcrew I was kind of joking but kind of telling the truth about my motivation after listening to the podcast. Thank you for your stories and added motivation because it does help. This group helps my motivation enormously.
I am mainly not questioning the 25 pounds I have already lost, just questioning the last 10 or so pounds I want to lose, as it gets harder. I think I will stop before I lose all of those 10 pounds. @bradkcrew can you talk about how you decided you were ready to be in maintenance?
I have also been listening to the podcast "You're Wrong About" from the beginning, which is also by one of the co-hosts of "Maintenance Phase", and mostly does not focus on weight loss, which I would recommend.
@BMcC9 I am not sure about android phones, but with iPhones, there is a podcast app already installed (it's a purple icon). You just go in the podcast app and search in the search bar by the name of the podcast (or you can browse by different topics too). And then hit play. Pretty easy.
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I picked a reasonable place to stop and then gradually started increasing my calories over the next few weeks. I ended up dropping more over the next month or so anyway. I don't really listen to podcasts but it was one of my better decisions to stop while I was ahead and proceed with maintaining.
I believe a lot of my failures in the past were because I just never got to my goal before throwing in the towel and usually that ended with disaster and regain. So I am not bradcrew or maddie but I like your idea to start maintenance on a good note and then you can always chose to lose more if you want.3 -
I didn't choose maintenance. It chose me.
On the positive side I've maintained a 119-122 (most of it between 120-121) since about March. I'm at the upper end of the range for my 5'3" height and small boned/top heavy body type. I'd still like to get to the lower weight range but it takes more work than I'm willing to put in at the moment. I base this on my behavior more than a conscious decision. Eventually I'll be in the right frame of mind. Probably in January. I'm not even going to bother to do anything but maintain for the rest of the year as I have my upcoming Thanksgiving vacation, some Christmas holiday events and ending the year with a short trip out of town with some friends for NYE.4 -
SummerSkier wrote: »I picked a reasonable place to stop and then gradually started increasing my calories over the next few weeks. I ended up dropping more over the next month or so anyway. I don't really listen to podcasts but it was one of my better decisions to stop while I was ahead and proceed with maintaining.
I believe a lot of my failures in the past were because I just never got to my goal before throwing in the towel and usually that ended with disaster and regain. So I am not bradcrew or maddie but I like your idea to start maintenance on a good note and then you can always chose to lose more if you want.
@SummerSkier sounds pretty similar to what I’ve done but I lost over 3 years, called maintenance, and then lost more “because I wanted to/didn’t need to.” Totally different mindset then!1
