Does it matter what I eat in my calorie budget?

JosieBell2

MFP has my calorie allowance at 1200 too, which also seems to be the minimum that I should be eating. If I don't exercise/burn calories then I shouldn't eat more than 1200 nor should I eat less than 1200 calories in a day. I'm also only 5'. Drink lots of water and minimize your intake of sweets. Don't cut them out entirely though or you are more likely to binge on them every so often. I find having something that is considered "bad food" once or twice a week keeps my cravings in check and I haven't had any binge eating issues. When I tried this before but cutting out all bad food, I had terrible binge nights where I would eat lots of chocolate and terrible food because I was craving it. Moderation is key for sure. Since I've stuck to the 1200 minimum (and maximum if I don't exercise) I've been losing quite steady. My body is very prone to the starvation issue as I was in coma when I was little because I got really sick and wouldn't eat. My stomach had actually started to digest itself. I think this is why I've always had such a hard time losing weight and keeping off what I lost. I'm determined to change that issue, thinking positive and watching the results! Great inspiration on the MFP from other people on here as well. Everyone's body is different and we all just need to find "our" perfect balance to know what works for us individually. It's great to have so many people giving tips/advice and sharing what does and doesn't work for them.

MelodyandBarbells

Food diary is now open.

I've back been on MFP for quite a few weeks now (but had computer probs, so unfortunately it only shows last 10 days), but for the majority of that time I was in deficit. I started T25 on 5th May and at first I tried to do the inital 5 day kick start eating plan, but it wasn't always practical, so started to follow some of the menu suggestions in the Insanity menu guide, some of the snack suggestions I would find more applicable to lunch though, so I just used to have summer fruits with Greek yoghurt or a low fat yoghurt when was at work - it prevented the funny looks, comments and questions!

One of the problems I've had with both of the plans is eating so much between meals, usually I just have general 3 meals a day and the odd snack, usually a yoghurt when I'm a bit peckish. I don't even have crisps (apart from the ones for my son), puddings, sweets, chocolate or biscuits in the house. It's not that I'm trying to eat healthier, it's always been that way - even when I was 3st heavier several years ago.

Oh and just want to let you know that I have a very large garden which is why I spent 5hrs in it today and got a large deficit. )

If you aren't weighing bananas or other fruit and veg, I would suggest you do

There are some links about calories burned while walking, since you seem to use that for exercise a lot. One I have seen is:

Net Calories burned = 0.3 X weight (lbs) X number of miles

If nothing it's a good place to cross check the calories you're logging for walking overall

Personally, I would log the steps from walking while gardening , but not much else. If you have one of those pedometer/activity trackers, that may be best if you'd like to capture calories from certain tasks that can fall under day to day activities

ngags

Try to eat a high protein low carb diet. I don't eat carbs after 3pm. You need carbs but they can also keep the weight on you. Also protein is important as it helps build muscle.

F00LofaT00K

Yes and no. Regardless of what types of food you are eating, a caloric deficit is a caloric deficit. If you burn more calories than you take in, you will lose weight, even if all you eat are chocolate bars. However, for optimal health it is important to get the proper balance of protein, fat and carbs for your lifestyle. Fats regulate hormones and support healthy function of many organs. Protein allows all cells in the body to repair and builds muscle/maintains and strengthens bone. Carbohydrates assist in the release of certain brain chemicals and provide more immediate energy. Your body needs all of these things in the right amounts. Is eating out of your macros sometimes going to ruin your goals? Doubtful. You should be fine as long as your are weighing food (2 Tbsp of peanut butter looks a LOT different than 32g) and recording everything you eat accurately (again with peanut butter as an example: one small spoonful could be about 100cals). If you're stuck in a rut, try reducing your calories by another 50 or 100 each day and see what happens.

Also, your weight WILL fluctuate depending on what you've eaten and when. Eating a lot of sodium can make you retain water and add a pound or so. Try to weigh yourself at the same time of day, like in the morning before you've eaten anything and pay attention to your body measurements and how clothes fit as well. Try not to dwell too much on the number on the scale. If you weigh yourself 3 times in the same day, I bet you get very different readings.

aliakynes

How tall are you and how many calories are you eating per day?

ngags

Also your body is like a fireplace if you don't put wood in it the fire will go out, it is the same for your metabolism. If you don't feed your body enough your metabolism will slow down. I eat 4 times a day but keep in my calorie budget. I eat lots of protein to keep me full and carbs only before 3pm. I only take Saturday to cheat and eat something good like pizza and I go to the gym 5 days a week. I never thought I'd be small again but I was in a size 12 jean and now I can fit in a 6. Bottom line you have to diet and exercise together. At least I do. Doing one without the other doesn't work for me.

prattiger65

I just joined... haven't been logging in yet... I've been using this other diet logging/track app on my phone. However, I am going to start logging in with MFP...


ANYHOW,

I've lost 10 pounds... and this is going on my 3rd month of cutting calories. I now weigh 153-154 pounds... sometimes 155 pounds...

Anyhow, my current weight which is 153-154 has been at a stand still for the last two weeks.

I haven't been eating healthy like I was when I first started... but I haven't had any junk food or sodas or any processed food either.

I've had waffles, sausage, eggs (I love eggs so I eat them probably twice a day and all forms), baked chicken breast, corn, small bob evan links, and franks red hot sausage.

Those aren't the healthiest foods but they all fit my calorie budget.... is that ok?

Is that probably why my weight is at a stand still?

A calorie of one food is not the same as a calorie of another. It is less about the quantity of the calories and more about the quality of the calories. This will help you understand why.


Joanne Moniz
The Skinny on Obesity Group

There you go cracking jokes again. Everybody knows that isn't true......lol..

w734q672

All foods are not created equal. Some foods contain better nutritional content, some are simply fillers that create many health deficiencies, and some even have the unique ability to help speed up your metabolism. Take for example peppers, which contain Capsaicin that helps speed up your metabolism rate. Point being, every food is unique in its own way, you just have to put in the due diligence behind what you digest.

geebusuk

A calorie of one food is not the same as a calorie of another. It is less about the quantity of the calories and more about the quality of the calories. This will help you understand why.


Joanne Moniz
The Skinny on Obesity Group

Yes it is the same.

Please provide some thing to backup your claims suggesting otherwise.

She invited me to join her group a while ago bizarrely (then again later, as she seems to spam people with a shot gun approach) - I joined the first time and found a significant lack of lack of backup, but a lot of repeating woo and quackery as 'science'.
So no; her group will not help you 'understand' unless you're happy to believe the latest badly researched sales pitch.

nic632

For the food I tend to eat most of the time I try to apply the 5% fat per 100g rule (from a diet I did several years ago), though on the odd occasion I might treat (or if I've had a crappy day) myself to a pizza or spinach & ricotta tortellini with tomato & mascarpone sauce. Even the peanut butter (which I do measure) is a low fat version (and know that it's still over 5% fat, but came across it in the Insanity nutrition guide) and I buy oven chips that are lower in fat.

After following the 5% diet I feel guilty having something with a huge calorie or fat content, even if I'm having filled tortellini, if there is one that has 380 cals and another for 400 cals, majority of the time I tend to go for the one with fewer cals. I feel guilty if I eat anything high in cals, even all the ready meals I go for are a low fat version.

I don't weigh bananas, just put it down as small or medium in my food diary, but I always weigh out the summer fruits or grapes. The only treat I allow myself on a regular basis is a bottle of wine on a Friday and one on a Saturday, which is about 518 cals each, I know is empty cals, but I still count it and I don't have chocolate, sweets or biscuits in the house.

I started T25 2 weeks ago and thought I'd mention about being in the garden for 5hrs (nearly 50mins just mowing the lawns - there are 4!) is in case someone looked at my diary and noticed that I'd earned 1300+ in exercise. I don't drive so it means walking or bus to get anywhere and don't own a HRM or pedometer. I weigh myself in the same thing first thing on a Monday morning (though have to do this on a Saturday for the T25 too) and I measure myself on the first weekend of every month and again this is first thing wearing the same each time.

I know that some of the replies are aimed at the OP, but for the ones where I'm not sure are aimed at me, I just thought I'd share this info. However, whoever the advice is aimed at, it's all very helpful. Thank you.

RllyGudTweetr

Try to eat a high protein low carb diet. I don't eat carbs after 3pm. You need carbs but they can also keep the weight on you. Also protein is important as it helps build muscle.

Congratulations if that works for you - and yes, getting sufficient protein is vital - but there's no particular need for most people to go low carb, or to time their carbohydrate or general food intake.

MelodyandBarbells

For the food I tend to eat most of the time I try to apply the 5% fat per 100g rule (from a diet I did several years ago), though on the odd occasion I might treat (or if I've had a crappy day) myself to a pizza or spinach & ricotta tortellini with tomato & mascarpone sauce. Even the peanut butter (which I do measure) is a low fat version (and know that it's still over 5% fat, but came across it in the Insanity nutrition guide) and I buy oven chips that are lower in fat.

After following the 5% diet I feel guilty having something with a huge calorie or fat content, even if I'm having filled tortellini, if there is one that has 380 cals and another for 400 cals, majority of the time I tend to go for the one with fewer cals. I feel guilty if I eat anything high in cals, even all the ready meals I go for are a low fat version.

I don't weigh bananas, just put it down as small or medium in my food diary, but I always weigh out the summer fruits or grapes. The only treat I allow myself on a regular basis is a bottle of wine on a Friday and one on a Saturday, which is about 518 cals each, I know is empty cals, but I still count it and I don't have chocolate, sweets or biscuits in the house.

I started T25 2 weeks ago and thought I'd mention about being in the garden for 5hrs (nearly 50mins just mowing the lawns - there are 4!) is in case someone looked at my diary and noticed that I'd earned 1300+ in exercise. I don't drive so it means walking or bus to get anywhere and don't own a HRM or pedometer. I weigh myself in the same thing first thing on a Monday morning (though have to do this on a Saturday for the T25 too) and I measure myself on the first weekend of every month and again this is first thing wearing the same each time.

I know that some of the replies are aimed at the OP, but for the ones where I'm not sure are aimed at me, I just thought I'd share this info. However, whoever the advice is aimed at, it's all very helpful. Thank you.

Empty calories are fine. Just make sure you track them and also that you're getting enough nutritionally dense food as well. Completely cutting out foods you love and think about all the time could actually impede your long term success

You didn't need me to tell you to ditch the whole 5% fat mentality, did you? Okay here goes: ditch it. Don't let crazy diet rules drive you crazy! Track your intake accurately, lose weight. The End

Ah. No HRM or pedometer. This would actually make it harder to determine what you're burning. Some would argue that even with these toys, you can't really accurately calculate your burn either. Even without accurate activity tracking what we do know is that if you're not losing weight over a LONG ENOUGH period like six weeks, you must be eating at maintenance calories or higher. Would you be willing to forget eating back daily activity calories as a whole and just target a fixed amount everyday? I wonder if this may not be better for you. Google "TDEE calculator" and come up with daily caloric intake to reduce weight, and compare to what you've been eating. The scooby one seems to be very popular. I'm just going to shamelessly steal what poster "vismal" said in his weight loss thread:

"TDEE will always just be an estimate. It's a starting point. If your TDEE is 2100 and you want to lose around a lb a week, set your calories to 1600 (do not eat back exercise calories as they are taken into consideration already in determining your tdee). If after a few weeks you do not lose weight first make sure your tracking is accurate, you are weighing out food not estimate portion sizes, not having cheat days/meals, etc. If you are confident in your tracking and you are still not losing weight, drop down to 1500 then see what happens. Keep slowly reducing calories until weight loss occurs. More often then not stalls are from poor tracking of intake, not too high of a caloric goal."

Everything you said about your activity: no HRM, taking the bus, lots of walking, gardening etc seem to indicate your activity calories could be a wildcard. Keep up the daily and extra activity, but since the actual net caloric burn from those can be really hard to determine accurately, you must find a more robust method to account for them

If you'd still prefer to eat different calories everyday, you can watch a weekly average. The MFP app has a section in the Nutrition tab that'll show you a weekly histogram, average calories for the week, and how many calories you have left

Good luck.

kelly_e_montana

My rule is I try to eat 80% for health/to fuel my workouts and 20% for pleasure. Yes, as long as you are on a deficit you will lose. But I've eaten both ways: garbage and nutrient dense food. When I lose sight of macros and micronutrients, my energy, digestion, and general immunity seem to be impaired in comparison. I find that I am in the best health and have the best athletic performance when I focus my diet around lean proteins, fruits, veggies, nuts and even a little dairy works well *for me* every day. However, I give myself the latitude to eat a snack size bag of chips at work or I go to ice cream on the weekends. I eat bacon and eggs like they are going out of style. I never beat myself up for eating whatever I want at a restaurant because I rarely go and it's a treat. I guess I just try to treat my body right but also have a healthy relationship with food where no food is demonized. I choose not to eat flour much, but that's just because that's something that works well for me (the more empty carbs I eat, the more carbs I want!).

Find what works for you, but remember that you could be having a journey to better overall health, not just weight loss. :flowerforyou:

P.S. Also for me, eating more protein helps me stay fuller and more satisfied longer. It has also helped me retain my muscle mass through my weight loss.

terriveller

Depends on goals. Is your goal purely weight loss or is your goal to be healthy and decrease risk of heart disease, diabetes, stroke etc. No argument that decreasing calories below daily expenditure will result in weight loss. However cdc estimates are that 7 million americans have undiagnosed diabetes which is a direct result of our food consumption, quantity and quality. Untreated and undiagnosed diabetes leads to stroke, heart disease, kidney failure etc. The results may not be apparent for years but the damage is there none the less. Finding the balance between healthy and enjoyable diet is difficult with our current lifestyles, I struggle everyday with it but also know that it is worth it when we find that balance and that our bodies will be able to carry us through a lifetime of enjoying life instead of struggling to get through the day. Good luck on your journey.

Mr_Knight

Those aren't the healthiest foods but they all fit my calorie budget.... is that ok?

The more active you are, the more important the actual food choices become, and the quicker the effects of bad choices will be felt.

The less active you are, the less they matter, and the longer it takes to feel the effects of bad choices.

geebusuk

The more active you are, the more important the actual food choices become.

The less active you are, the less they matter.

My experience is the opposite.

Here's one example:
http://www.simplyshredded.com/the-science-of-nutrition-is-a-carb-a-carb.html
Reasonably fit and healthy people don't need to worry about the type of carbs they consume, but overweight/unfit people may want to pay more attention to it.

Have you got some citations/explanations and so on to back up your view point out of interest (as this is an area that DOES interest me particularly.)

Mr_Knight

Have you got some citations/explanations and so on to back up your view point out of interest (as this is an area that DOES interest me particularly.)

Eating a high-fat, low-carb diet and then trying to run endurance distances will lead to misery and poor performance.

Particularly in terms of macro ratios, what you do needs to be reflected in what you eat.

DivineChoices

Eat whatever you want as long as it's in your calorie budget. Seriously. I only learned that since joining here in Feb. Only thing with me, is I try to eat a lot of veggies for no other reason except that you can eat a lot for little calories and I like to be full.

QFT

I partake in quite a bit of "junk" but I find that it doesn't satisfy me for long. So I'm doing much better on using minimum amounts of junk (like 1 oz of baked potato chips, or 30 chocolate covered raisins) with large amounts of nutrient dense foods. I've rediscovered the awesomeness of salads. I can have 7 cups of pure deliciousness (including some cheese!) for 400 calories. This keeps me full ALL AFTERNOON. I tend to do salads for lunch so I can splurge on a high calorie dinner - like tonight's soft tacos.

sadrithmora

I partake in quite a bit of "junk" but I find that it doesn't satisfy me for long.

This as well. First plan I tried was eat anything within calories but that just left me miserable. Low carb diet works for me though, not hungry all the time anymore, and no cravings. BUT as Mr. Knight said, that really won't work if your fitness programme includes endurance training and long sessions of cardio.

Eating anything under limit is totally fine if you're fine with it, is all I'm trying to say. But complimenting whatever exercises you do with right food can't be a bad thing.

geebusuk

Ah, I thought you were referring to 'micros' rather than 'macros' - I'd quite agree as far as macros go and it helping to achieve specific sports related goals goes. My highest recorded carb day so far was over 800g when 'carb loading' for an ultramarathon.