Bob Harper's Skinny Rules

DopeItUp

How much of a calorie deficit are you on?

I assume a 1000-calorie-a-day deficit. I have set up MFP for a 2-pound-per-week loss.

I weigh 264 pounds and MFP has my daily goal at 1,640 calories. I go to the gym 3 times a week and lift for 30 minutes and ride the exercise bike for 30 minutes burning about 120 calories on the bike, according to the machine itself.

My diary is open.

Steve

You shouldn't be hungry all the time. Being hungry all the time means you're eating too little, or poor choices in foods. Or both.

It looks like you net an average of 1300-1500 calories a day. At your size that is pretty extreme, and therefore not surprising that you're hungry all the time. I would consider lowering your weight loss goal to 1.5lbs/week at MOST. Ideally 1lb/week.

Before you ask, I started higher than your starting weight, and am presently 5lbs away from your goal weight. I rarely, rarely get hungry, usually when I simply am too busy to eat. If I'm getting hungry on a regular basis then I adjust my intake to fix it. Being hungry all the time is a great way to fail at weightloss. The human mind will only tolerate so much intentional suffering, for so long.

maillemaker

Yes. I have been fat. Look my profile picture on the left side. And in that picture I had already lost 30lbs. I wish I would have taken one before that one. I stand at 5'7 and my heaviest was 217 lbs. Maybe I wasn't 300 lbs but if you want to get technical about it I was clinically obese. I now weigh 143 lbs. And I worked hard to get to that. I never ate at a 1000 calorie deficit either.

I wonder if that is part of it - you never had as many fat cells to shrink. At my heaviest I was 289, and I have not weight 217 since high school except for a brief period in 1995 or so when I got down to 202 on Redux.

You shouldn't be hungry all the time. Being hungry all the time means you're eating too little, or poor choices in foods. Or both.

It looks like you net an average of 1300-1500 calories a day. At your size that is pretty extreme, and therefore not surprising that you're hungry all the time. I would consider lowering your weight loss goal to 1.5lbs/week at MOST. Ideally 1lb/week.

Well, you can see my dairy. I am down 28 pounds over 23 weeks, which is 1.2 pounds per week on average. I suspect I am not completely accurate with my calorie tracking which is why I try to stay a couple of hundred calories under my 1,640 goal set by MFP.

Before you ask, I started higher than your starting weight, and am presently 5lbs away from your goal weight. I rarely, rarely get hungry, usually when I simply am too busy to eat. If I'm getting hungry on a regular basis then I adjust my intake to fix it. Being hungry all the time is a great way to fail at weightloss. The human mind will only tolerate so much intentional suffering, for so long.

That is precisely what my psychiatrist friend told me years ago - that dieting was basically an exercise in pain tolerance and most people can't tolerate the pain. I agree with him.

I don't know what to say. Ever time in my life I have ever lost weight I was hungry. My mother is the same way and says the same thing. I just ate a half hour ago - ground beef with cheese and some green beans, and I'm hungry again.

The first 4-6 weeks were the worst, and it is much better now, but the fact is, I'm still always hungry. It's like when you get one of those ruptured taste buds or a canker sore - it's a constant nagging annoyance.

I think it's why most people who try to lose weight fail and why dieting takes so much willpower.

To me it only makes sense that you would be hungry. Hunger is the sensation your body generates when it needs food. If you are losing body fat stores, it's going to think it needs food!

Steve

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NonnyMary

Yes. I have been fat. Look my profile picture on the left side. And in that picture I had already lost 30lbs. I wish I would have taken one before that one. I stand at 5'7 and my heaviest was 217 lbs. Maybe I wasn't 300 lbs but if you want to get technical about it I was clinically obese. I now weigh 143 lbs. And I worked hard to get to that. I never ate at a 1000 calorie deficit either.

I wonder if that is part of it - you never had as many fat cells to shrink. At my heaviest I was 289, and I have not weight 217 since high school except for a brief period in 1995 or so when I got down to 202 on Redux.

Ah ok. So I guess I wasn't fat enough so I don't qualify. Makes sense right? I don't think I've ever seen you not try to present the winning argument no matter how far you have to go. You know what they say about a man who thinks they know it all right???

Sunday it was the addition thread where people shouldn't comment if they didn't have a "food addiction"
Today it's we aren't hungry all the time because we were not fat enough.

Absurd.

I think you've said some good things to help people including to me.

SteelySunshine

I'mma gonna go make some fried green maters and mashed taters and probably a fried egg or two for dinner.

jayjay12345654321

I've lost track of the real topic here, but I wanted to comment on something in the article at the URL posted in the beginning. The author, who apparently has been traumatized by gastric damage because it's the foundation for all of her opinions, states something chemically incorrect. I know (or suspect, as far as I can tell) this is somewhat off topic, but I think if someone believes what either Bob Harper or the woman who authored the website had to say, it's worth noting.

1. Drinking water dilutes the pH of the stomach acid and inhibits proper digestion by raising the pH too high.

False. First off, my fellow chemistry majors out there will remember as I do that diluting a buffer with a neutral solvent cannot alter the polarity of the ions. It only increases the volume of the liquid meaning it takes longer for those unchanged ions to get the same results as an undiluted buffer. Example - hydrochloric acid will dissolve a penny. One part hydrochloric acid with one part water will still dissolve a penny. It just takes longer.

Second, the penny example results in a longer period of time to dissolve in the diluted solution, but that is because the water goes absolutely nowhere. The buffer remains diluted the entire time. The body absorbs about 16 oz of water in 15 minutes through the lining of the stomach. What little dilution may have occurred upon consumption is gone within 15 minutes, assuming you drank a full 16 ounces at once.

The second reason is also why the argument that drinking lots of water before a meal can make you feel full so you don't eat as much is weak. If you gulp down the water and the food within a matter of minutes, then sure, you feel horrendously bloated immediately after. But the filling effect of the water will dissipate quickly as it's absorbed, and you're back to where you would have been. Pure, long-term satiation comes from fats.

All things said and done, chugging a glass of water before a meal can, at the least, be good for hydration and if made a into a habit, could help someone meet proper hydration guidelines who otherwise falls short. Say, 1/2 a 16 oz bottle before each meal, that's 24 oz of additional water per day. No harm, no foul.

I just didn't want anyone else reading that woman's article and getting scared off water. I don't know what her educational background is, but it's not Chemistry.

*All info cited came from www.newton.dep.anl.gov/askasci/chem07. I translated to layman because the scientists love their complicated formulas, but you are welcome to read through them if math is your thing.

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Cindyinpg

How much of a calorie deficit are you on?

I assume a 1000-calorie-a-day deficit. I have set up MFP for a 2-pound-per-week loss.

I weigh 264 pounds and MFP has my daily goal at 1,640 calories. I go to the gym 3 times a week and lift for 30 minutes and ride the exercise bike for 30 minutes burning about 120 calories on the bike, according to the machine itself.

My diary is open.

Steve

Not sure how tall you are, but your daily calories seems quite low - too low. Maybe that's why you are overly hungry all the time. You don't have to be that way.

Yeah, I second that. You're netting about 1300 and all you're eating is meat, a bit of fruit and popcorn. Get that fiber up, raise your net a couple hundred calories and you'll be fuller. I eat more than you and I still lose weight, look at my diary, it's open, and like I said earlier, I don't get hungry, except before meals.

criscricket

I did the Jumpstart program and lost about 7 pounds and have been following the Skinny rules for about 5 weeks now. I have lost about 15 pounds total with both programs. One thing I noticed was at week 2 I stopped using any form of artificial sweetner and eliminated the cream in my coffee and wine with dinner and the pounds starting coming off easier.

I do believe the combination of protein and lots of fiber (and eliminating the alcohol during the week) is helping me finally loose weight "without" being hungry or my blood sugar constantly dropping.

I also do not eat a carb after lunch, but will add that back when I'm in maintenance.

I like the program because it is very similar to the way I was eating. BONUS I have discovered Farro and many uses for Kale that I didn't know about, I am also eating a tremendous amount of veggies and fruit and my skin looks soooo good and I feel fantastic.

I also like that I don't need write it all down. If I keep close to his principals, 4 oz protein, lots a veggies, 1 serving of healthy fat and one serving of carbs and I lose. Where in the past I was following 1300-1600 calorie diet and I was getting no where. I tried less, I tried more to compensate for exercise and I was stalling and not losing.