Live Q&A: Next 1 Hour

firefoxxie

What is the recommended amount of time one should wait to see (or notice) a change in their body (or weight) when playing with caloric deficits?

stroutman81

Stats:
Female - 43y.o
H: 5'5"
W: 141
GW: 130-135?

How do I know what my macros should be? I say my goal weight is 135, but I'm not unhappy at 141, I do however want to drop some body fat. I work out 3-5x a week, 3 lifting sessions and 1+ HIIT sometimes a bonus walk/jog. I am eating 1500 calories right now at 40/30/30. I usually go over on carbs (quest bar and greek yogurt usually throw me over). My fiber intake is high, does that balance out my carbs? My diary is open.

Thank you for any insight you may offer!

I didn't want to get into a lot of specifics with people such as viewing diaries and such. This is more of a general information thread. Should have mentioned that in advance... sorry.

That being said, the general way I go about nutrition most of the time is:

1. Calculate maintenance, which, for active people, can be assumed to be around 14-16 cals/lb

2. From there, set your deficit. The size by which will depend on the amount of weight you have to lose, your time frame, your goals, etc.

3. From there, start filling that calorie goal with the macros that will deliver them. I like to start with protein. A rough ball park to shoot for is .75 - 1.5 grams per pound of goal body weight. I have an affinity for 1 gram per pound of goal body weight but fully acknowledge that I've seen many people get by just fine trending toward the lower end of that spectrum and I've witnessed others, generally very lean folks trying to get leaner or those who are dieting aggressively, do best trending toward the higher end of that spectrum.

4. From there, I set fat at 25-35% of total calories in most cases.

5. The balance goes to carbs and/or more fat.... it all depends on a number of things such as how you handle carbs, your activity level, etc. Of this portion, though, I do suggest at least a couple of pieces of fruit and a few or more servings of fibrous veggies.

Again, speaking very generally here as this is simply a baseline to start with and modify as needed based on individual circumstances.

I'll add that the most important variable is calories. Be precise with those. The macro targets, while important, don't need the same level of precision each and every day. Try to get reasonably close to your macro targets while staying within your calorie limit... that's the name of the game.

funkygas

I joined MFP in 2011 and lost about 15kg over a period of about a year, managed to keep that weight off for about a year as well, but people were saying I was 'too skinny'. I am 172cm and weighed about 53kg at my lowest.

Last year I discovered I was gluten intolerant and when I cut out gluten, I actually gained a few kg, but managed to stay relatively steady around the 56kg mark. I splurged, and overate, on a regular basis saying 'well, I need to gain weight anyway, I shouldn't worry' - lots of baking, lots of eating of cookie dough, and the finished products. But I managed to stay around 56kg for most of last year.

Then came Christmas and a stressful time with my family, where I managed to end up at 60kg. I've been going between around 57 and 60kg ever since then.

This week has been nuts - I've had my daughter's birthday, my birthday, we're moving overseas so I've been baking lots to use up a lot of the ingredients in our cupboards (and eating lots too, even while sharing them with the kids friends and at the office). Last Thursday I was 57kg. Last Monday I was 59.6kg. Today I was 60.0kg.

I can't pretend to myself that it's just a fluctuation - I've looked at my calories for the past week and I know I've overeaten. So I am committing myself to starting again. Today, not when we've moved (which is next week). Even though we're going to be eating out a lot, since we now have no more food in the house (and hence no more temptation for baking), I am going to try to stay around the 1500 calories per day.

I know I can lose the weight and keep it off - I've done it before. I was wondering if you have any tips apart from the 'keep to the calories, exercise' to help me kick-start my re-start?

stroutman81

How much impact do you think stress (and resultant high cortisol levels) have on weight loss?

I think stress is hugely important. Read "Why Don't Zebras Get Ulcers." Best book on the market about stress. I wrote this elsewhere on this forum years ago and people still message me about this:

"And you bring up an excellent point about added stress. I'm sure this will come across as overly blunt but it seems many dieters today go bat crap crazy about this stuff. They only see things in binary terms - particular foods are either healthy or horrible, their behavior is either good or bad, they're either successful or they failed, etc, etc. And all this sort of reasoning and perspective does is ramp up anxiety like crazy.

People are flipping out over 10 calories. And ya know what? I think it hurts them.

The stress response they're generating by being as anal retentive and psychotic as they are bites them in the *kitten*. Which is why I always recommend people read the book written by Robert Sapolsky called "Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers." He's a great author and a genius when it comes to the stress response of the body. Humans unfortunately can work themselves up into such a psychological mess about the future by thinking about catastrophic thoughts and building psychological hurdles that are simply impossible to clear and thus, our biology that's really in place to keep us alive winds up going in overdrive in chronic terms.

Like I've said in numerous places on this forum now - our ability to manage stress is finite. In our body's mind, stress is stress have it be psychological, physical, real, imagined, etc. And when you've relatively small people eating like birds, doing copious amounts of exercise, stressing about work and family which is typical in this culture, and then topping it off with psychotic analysis and concern over diet and exercise - well - things tend to get messed up.

It's no wonder people are constantly stalling out, really. Granted, I believe more often than not it's a miscalculation on energy intake and expenditure, but still, this is very real.

Fat loss, sex drive, immune function, you name it and chronic stress will affect it, usually negatively.

People just need to relax, set realistic expectations, avoid perfectionism, and be patient."

Do you think weighing food is absolutely necessary, if it plays against other factors (say, mental health or anxiety, OCD issues, disordered eating behaviors)?

Absolutely not. I don't weigh my food. I have clients who don't weigh.

It's a very individual thing... for some people it helps them and others it hurts them.

I'll say this, though. I think everyone should, at a minimum, go through period of weighing and tracking... invest the time to build out insight regarding energy density and serving sizes that you wouldn't otherwise have.

Also, if are going to ditch the scale and tracking, most of the time it's important to have a system in place that helps regulate calories naturally. And this is a pretty complex topic that you didn't really ask about... so unless you have more questions about it, I won't go down this rabbit hole.

If someone cannot go to a gym (time, money, availability, whatever), what do you recommend for home workouts to maximize fat loss and minimize losing other body mass/tissue?

If you're on a computer that you own and paying for internet, you can generally afford, at a minimum, cheap adjustable dumbbells and bands. With those, you can easily do full body resistance workouts.

Not to mention your own body weight.

Hell, I was just talking to someone yesterday around here telling them to use gallon jugs and a book bag filled with books for their resistance.

Resistance is resistance... your muscles don't know whether you're lifting your body weight, a stone, a barbell, or a bag of books. Use what's available and that's that.

stroutman81

Most say the last 10 pounds are the hardest. I am getting close about 15-20 left currently. Any advise on the last 10.

If you're happy with the success you've been experiencing with your current approach, don't change anything.

Just double up on your patience since the leaner you get the longer it takes.

And if you're not prioritizing progressive resistance training and sufficient protein consumption, do so. As you get leaner, your body's tendency to ditch muscle in the face of a deficit goes up.

But beyond that... nothing really changes. It's the same principles at play.

stroutman81

To maintain weight, what is your opinion of continuing to eat at a deficit most days, then eating over maintenance other days?

. Assuming I can actually balance the end of the week caloric intake. Basically banking calories on my deficit days, for more flexibility on the weekends.

Do it all the time with clients. I have a ton of clients who struggle with compliance on the weekends. In these cases, it makes a ton of sense to weight the caloric allocation in favor of the weekends. It provides more wiggle room or freedom to coincide with the looser structure of their lifestyle on the weekends.

And it works well for them.

Totally your call. Just don't be ridiculous on the low calorie days where you're eating NOTHING and going into the weekends starving. You're likely to overcompensate if you do this. Plus there's still a baseline of nutrition you should meet most days... best you can.

elleshimn

I'm curious about net calories...

Is there a certain number you should aim to hit? I ask because on the days we work out and have Boot Camp I get a considerable amount of "bonus" calories, as I like to call them, andsometimes it can be difficult to hit my calorie goal for the day??

Just wondering if this is something you NEED to be doing or if it's just an FYI type thing?

Thank you!!

stroutman81

How do I increase my potassium intake without also increasing my net carb intake? And without taking pills.

Why can't you increase your carb intake... assuming you can fit them into your calorie goal? You'll be hard pressed to accomplish this so I want to make sure you have a good reason for not wanting to increase carbs.

stroutman81

I know this is the diet and weight loss section, but...how much impact does stress have on muscle gain (for example, during a bulk)?

Can you explain a little more?

stroutman81

I'm aware that the scales fluctuate throughtout the day, so to check this theory, I purchased some digital scales yesterday. At 5pm, I weighed 90.2 kg. At 8am, I weighed 89.1 kg and at 5pm today, I weighed 91.1 kg That's a total of 2kg in a day. Is there anything I can I do, to stabilise the weight, or do I just take it as a learning curve, and go back to weighing myself just once a month?

I'll answer your question with a question...

Why do you care so much about intra day weight fluctuations?

Not to bash you, I promise... but it's as if we're all walking around with our weights on our foreheads and feel the need to keep the number as low as possible at all times.

Our weight's going to shift throughout the day according to hydration status, bowel matter, etc, etc.

Don't sweat it.

stroutman81

What is the recommended amount of time one should wait to see (or notice) a change in their body (or weight) when playing with caloric deficits?

I like the 2-4 week range. The more weight you have to lose, the lower on the time spectrum you can go.

Pretty much with all of my clients, if they're not seeing any changes whatsoever over the course of 4 weeks, I'm adjusting something.

AliceDark

I know this is the diet and weight loss section, but...how much impact does stress have on muscle gain (for example, during a bulk)?

Can you explain a little more?

I'm wondering if increased stress makes it more difficult to build muscle. I know stress tends to interfere with weight loss for some people, but I'm curious about the impact of lifestyle stress on gaining muscle.

stroutman81

I joined MFP in 2011 and lost about 15kg over a period of about a year, managed to keep that weight off for about a year as well, but people were saying I was 'too skinny'. I am 172cm and weighed about 53kg at my lowest.

Last year I discovered I was gluten intolerant and when I cut out gluten, I actually gained a few kg, but managed to stay relatively steady around the 56kg mark. I splurged, and overate, on a regular basis saying 'well, I need to gain weight anyway, I shouldn't worry' - lots of baking, lots of eating of cookie dough, and the finished products. But I managed to stay around 56kg for most of last year.

Then came Christmas and a stressful time with my family, where I managed to end up at 60kg. I've been going between around 57 and 60kg ever since then.

This week has been nuts - I've had my daughter's birthday, my birthday, we're moving overseas so I've been baking lots to use up a lot of the ingredients in our cupboards (and eating lots too, even while sharing them with the kids friends and at the office). Last Thursday I was 57kg. Last Monday I was 59.6kg. Today I was 60.0kg.

I can't pretend to myself that it's just a fluctuation - I've looked at my calories for the past week and I know I've overeaten. So I am committing myself to starting again. Today, not when we've moved (which is next week). Even though we're going to be eating out a lot, since we now have no more food in the house (and hence no more temptation for baking), I am going to try to stay around the 1500 calories per day.

I know I can lose the weight and keep it off - I've done it before. I was wondering if you have any tips apart from the 'keep to the calories, exercise' to help me kick-start my re-start?

I'll be honest... it's a little too general of a question. I mean losing weight is about consistency with a deficit. So figuring out consistency for your very dynamic world right now will be the name of the game (good luck with the move by the way).

I posted above about how I tend to go about breaking up macros... give that read and if you have any additional questions after that... just ask.

stroutman81

I'm curious about net calories...

Is there a certain number you should aim to hit? I ask because on the days we work out and have Boot Camp I get a considerable amount of "bonus" calories, as I like to call them, andsometimes it can be difficult to hit my calorie goal for the day??

Just wondering if this is something you NEED to be doing or if it's just an FYI type thing?

Thank you!!

Honestly, this might surprise some of you, but I don't even know what net calories means. I'm not up with the MFP lingo. I view things from a gross level. Net seems a bit ridiculous. Net of what? Exercise? Variability of metabolic efficiency across nutrients?

How is MFP defining net calories?

Phrick

Is there actually a negative (besides frequent peeing) to drinking 1-1.5 gallons of water daily (in addition to fluid in foods, coffee, soda, etc)? I can't seem to stop myself drinking that much and people freak out on me for it.

ETA: bloodwork is always fine, so no diabetes.

stroutman81

I know this is the diet and weight loss section, but...how much impact does stress have on muscle gain (for example, during a bulk)?

Can you explain a little more?

I'm wondering if increased stress makes it more difficult to build muscle. I know stress tends to interfere with weight loss for some people, but I'm curious about the impact of lifestyle stress on gaining muscle.

An imbalance between stress and stress recovery can and will interfere every nuance of your physiology.

No joke.

I think it's silly to start looking at the nitty gritty and trying to quantify things though... rather it makes more sense to look at the broader strokes and adopting habits that help manage stress. Mindfulness, for example, is amazing for helping center your mind, block out uncontrollable things that are stressing you out, etc.

But to answer your question, yeah... sure... too much stress can interfere.

If you're not gaining muscle when that's your goal, though... I'd wager that insufficient calories or inadequate programming are more to blame than stress in most cases.

elleshimn

Honestly, this might surprise some of you, but I don't even know what net calories means. I'm not up with the MFP lingo. I view things from a gross level. Net seems a bit ridiculous. Net of what? Exercise? Variability of metabolic efficiency across nutrients?

How is MFP defining net calories?

I believe MFP defines net calories like this...

Goal Calories ... Food Calories - Exercise Calories = Net Calories

(Edited to fix the quote part!)

easjer

So what is your suggestion if stress is interfering with weight loss or gain? Just find ways to de-stress? Accept that things may stall if stress is prolonged/not reducible in the immediate future?

stroutman81

Is there actually a negative (besides frequent peeing) to drinking 1-1.5 gallons of water daily (in addition to fluid in foods, coffee, soda, etc)? I can't seem to stop myself drinking that much and people freak out on me for it.

ETA: bloodwork is always fine, so no diabetes.

Likely not a concern... especially if you're spreading it out over the course of the day.

Do you sweat a lot?

Do you have an active lifestyle outside of the gym?

Most issues pop up when people are being really stupid or it's under periods of heavy water consumption in the face of high physical stress activities when the body is more prone to holding onto water.