Is my trainer starving me??

NadaHamade

I believe I will do that as well. Though I am not going to see her today. I need to take a short break from her to put together my OWN diet and cardio plan this weekend lol

Thank you! Her exercises are good but I feel like she has no idea what she is talking about as far as nutrition.

if thats how you feel then why not stick with her and just ignore her dietary advice

That is what I would do. Nod and smile and eat how I want.

caracrawford1

Your trainers ridiculous. Burn 1000 and eat only 1100? And you could get better results than that eating more. At 138 pounds I was 22 percent fat. Granted our genetics may be different. Right now 20 pounds more than that (I'm aiming to get down to 120) I am 28 percent.

ahoy_m8

Is it even possible to "measure" metabolism?

I was wondering about this recently. Apart from measuring CO2 output, does anyone else "back into" their TDEE? The "activity level" is such a swag. I.e., I take weight loss over a number of days (using 7-day weight average) and multiply it by 3500 as my observed deficit over the period. Adding my total caloric consumption for the period and dividing by the number of days should, theoretically, result in an observed TDEE. It's a total hack and not very consistent (although my activity level is consistent). Just curious if other have tried and what they observed.

Keepcalmanddontblink

Get a new trainer. This one is obviously clueless.

And dangerous! Get away from her as fast as you can....unless she has an option where you only pay for help with gym stuff, and the nutrition is up to you?

NadaHamade

Yeah, I believe I could build more muscle and lose more fat by eating more calories too! Would you mind sharing with me what your calorie intake/level of fitness is? I need to recalculate my calories

Your trainers ridiculous. Burn 1000 and eat only 1100? And you could get better results than that eating more. At 138 pounds I was 22 percent fat. Granted our genetics may be different. Right now 20 pounds more than that (I'm aiming to get down to 120) I am 28 percent.

writergeek313

If you're following her plan, you're netting 100-300 calories per day. No wonder you're hungry! I'd say ditch the trainer, join a gym where you feel comfortable, and keep up a cardio and strength training regimen you can stick with. There's no need to work out every day unless you really want to. Use a calorie calculator like this one to get a better sense of how many calories you should be eating, and try eating at least some of them back. Start with 3/4, and if you stop losing weight, cut back to half of your exercise calories: http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/

The goal here isn't to starve yourself. It's to be able to make sustainable lifestyle changes. Daily, intense workouts and not nearly enough calories isn't safe.

NadaHamade

What I do is I pay every two weeks (every four sessions) with her, but she began charging me when she charted out my "nutrition plan." I feel like I am done though. I may just ignore her nutrition advice but her assessments seem like garbage as well lol

Get a new trainer. This one is obviously clueless.

And dangerous! Get away from her as fast as you can....unless she has an option where you only pay for help with gym stuff, and the nutrition is up to you?

amusedmonkey

Just to clarify something first: eating back your exercise calories or raising your calorie target will NOT make you lose more, it will actually make you lose less. Now that out of the way, yes, she has no idea what she is talking about. Even though you will not see the fast loss you had, it will be much healthier, much more reasonable, kinder to your muscles, and you will be much more likely to stick to it if you do eat at least some of your exercise calories back.

Here is a suggestion, train like you normally would, and eat enough to not be hungry, mostly in more nutrient dense foods. Don't try to stick to a certain target, just as much as you feel is necessary to keep you from getting hungry. At the end of the day see what your calories amount to. Do that for a few days and average out the calories you consumed to see how much it takes to keep you from getting hungry. If it happens to be less than your expenditure, you will be losing weight (albeit slower). Set that as your new calorie target. If it happens to be more than your expenditure, work out strategies and food choices that would allow you to lower your target to a level where you are not hungry but are still losing.

WalkingAlong

This sounds pretty crazy, and not healthy, as your body seems to be telling you already with your severe hunger/binges. If you were eating over 2000cals a day, I could see the burning 800-1000 being reasonable and not terribly bad for you. Only getting a net of a couple hundred calories a day though? That's bonkers.

Yes! I would always ask her if she was sure I'm not supposed to be netting my calories. She'd say yes. She logs on my fitness pal and never eats back net. It really baffles me.

'Eating back' and 'net calories' aren't a thing outside of the MFP eating plan, and I think a lot of people use MFP to log but not their eating plan.

Most people who want to lose weight, especially for a looming event, use exercise to maximize their deficit and use food to get their basic nutrition, as in vitamins, minerals, fiber, etc. You don't have to get some major portion of daily calories burned from today's eating since those can be funded through 'deficit spending', which is the definition of how weight loss works. Though obviously there is a trade-off between discomfort and speed of weight loss. But there is no situation where eating more causes more weight loss, just less discomfort. But if your discomfort is unacceptable, definitely eat more. But unless it has some effect like it makes you log better or comply better or exercise more, eating more won't increase your rate of loss.

But I don't think I could comply with a plan for long that had me burning 800-1000 in the gym and eating 1100. That's like something from Extreme Weight Loss (though there it's more like burning 2000-3000 in the gym). But I also wouldn't spend hours in the gym burning 1000 and then eat it all back if I wanted to shrink for a wedding, either. I'd stick with the 'normal' way-- spend 3-5 hours a week at exercise and eat 1200-1500 calories/day. That's what most accepted diet plans recommend, far and away.

dbmata

You're trainer is pretty clueless and bro-sciencey.

You are the one starving yourself though.

RGv2

Yeah, I believe I could build more muscle and lose more fat by eating more calories too! Would you mind sharing with me what your calorie intake/level of fitness is? I need to recalculate my calories

Your trainers ridiculous. Burn 1000 and eat only 1100? And you could get better results than that eating more. At 138 pounds I was 22 percent fat. Granted our genetics may be different. Right now 20 pounds more than that (I'm aiming to get down to 120) I am 28 percent.

Throwing this out here again....

You're not going to build muscle and lose fat at the same time.

It's possible to recomp around TDEE by that takes a long....long time.

caracrawford1

Yeah, I believe I could build more muscle and lose more fat by eating more calories too! Would you mind sharing with me what your calorie intake/level of fitness is? I need to recalculate my calories

Your trainers ridiculous. Burn 1000 and eat only 1100? And you could get better results than that eating more. At 138 pounds I was 22 percent fat. Granted our genetics may be different. Right now 20 pounds more than that (I'm aiming to get down to 120) I am 28 percent.

I'll pm you a bit later. Its really not necessary to starve.

MrsBryant923

There are some trainers out there that can help you build muscle while keeping you accountable to a healthy diet. Unfornantely, this trainer doesn't sound like one of them. Also, if you are getting enough protein and eating frequently enough, you shouldn't be getting hungry as much. Good luck to you! Choosing a trainer can be difficult decision.

RGv2

There are some trainers out there that can help you build muscle while keeping you accountable to a healthy diet. Unfornantely, this trainer doesn't sound like one of them. Also, if you are getting enough protein and eating frequently enough, you shouldn't be getting hungry as much. Good luck to you! Choosing a trainer can be difficult decision.

She's getting hungry because she's 25 and only netting 100-300 calories, not because she isn't eating "frequently enough".

That's like saying your car should go 500 miles on 50 miles worth of gas.

FatFreeFrolicking

Your trainer sounds like a quack.

I'll share the plan my dietician has me following… 1300 calories, Mediterranean style diet, lower carb, moderate protein, moderate fat:

-2 protein servings/day (3-4 oz per serving)
-1 legumes serving/day (1/2 cup cooked per serving… or 1/4 cup hummus)
-5+ category 1 vegetables (non-starch veggies, 1/2 cup per serving)
-1 category 2 vegetables serving/day (starchy veggies… i.e. 1/2 medium sweet potato)
-2 fruit servings/day (i.e. 1 apple, 2 kiwis, 2 small peaches, 2 small tangerines, 15 cherries, 15 grapes, 2 cups watermelon, 1 cup blackberries and strawberries, 1 1/2 cup raspberries)
-1 grains serving/day (1/2 cup cooked, 1 slice bread)
-4 oils & fats servings/day (1 tsp per serving… Earth Balance= 1.5 tsp per serving… Avocado= 1/8 per serving)
-1 nuts & seeds serving/day (i.e. 15 almonds per serving, 5-6 pecan/walnut halves per serving, 1/2 oz. pistachios, cashews, pumpkin seeds per serving)
-2 protein shakes per day

There's so much food that I promise you you will not feel hungry on this plan! Also, this plan calls for eating every 3-4 hours.

stealthq

Is it even possible to "measure" metabolism?

You need to ditch her nutrition advice - if you like her workouts you can keep working with her on that but go with your gut, if you feel uncomfortable with her nutrition plan than don't follow it. She works for YOU - not the other way around.

It is possible to measure RMR, but you won't be doing it with calipers, LOL. You'd need to use indirect calorimetry.

Or, you can estimate using your weight, age, yada, yada with a calculation similar to the one used for TDEE.

I add my vote to the 'ditch her' group. You can do better on your own.

FatFreeFrolicking

Is it even possible to "measure" metabolism?

You need to ditch her nutrition advice - if you like her workouts you can keep working with her on that but go with your gut, if you feel uncomfortable with her nutrition plan than don't follow it. She works for YOU - not the other way around.

Yes. It tests resting metabolic rate through an oxygen consumption test… Just had it done on Tuesday.

NadaHamade

Thank you!

Yeah, I believe I could build more muscle and lose more fat by eating more calories too! Would you mind sharing with me what your calorie intake/level of fitness is? I need to recalculate my calories

Your trainers ridiculous. Burn 1000 and eat only 1100? And you could get better results than that eating more. At 138 pounds I was 22 percent fat. Granted our genetics may be different. Right now 20 pounds more than that (I'm aiming to get down to 120) I am 28 percent.

I'll pm you a bit later. Its really not necessary to starve.

NadaHamade

Thank you for this This eating plan sounds really reasonable. It seems balanced and I like the timing of 3-4 hours and the good fats included.

Your trainer sounds like a quack.

I'll share the plan my dietician has me following… 1300 calories, Mediterranean style diet, lower carb, moderate protein, moderate fat:

-2 protein servings/day (3-4 oz per serving)
-1 legumes serving/day (1/2 cup cooked per serving… or 1/4 cup hummus)
-5+ category 1 vegetables (non-starch veggies, 1/2 cup per serving)
-1 category 2 vegetables serving/day (starchy veggies… i.e. 1/2 medium sweet potato)
-2 fruit servings/day (i.e. 1 apple, 2 kiwis, 2 small peaches, 2 small tangerines, 15 cherries, 15 grapes, 2 cups watermelon, 1 cup blackberries and strawberries, 1 1/2 cup raspberries)
-1 grains serving/day (1/2 cup cooked, 1 slice bread)
-4 oils & fats servings/day (1 tsp per serving… Earth Balance= 1.5 tsp per serving… Avocado= 1/8 per serving)
-1 nuts & seeds serving/day (i.e. 15 almonds per serving, 5-6 pecan/walnut halves per serving, 1/2 oz. pistachios, cashews, pumpkin seeds per serving)
-2 protein shakes per day

There's so much food that I promise you you will not feel hungry on this plan! Also, this plan calls for eating every 3-4 hours.

NadaHamade

Yes. I now know I must net way way more than this. Never again. Lol

There are some trainers out there that can help you build muscle while keeping you accountable to a healthy diet. Unfornantely, this trainer doesn't sound like one of them. Also, if you are getting enough protein and eating frequently enough, you shouldn't be getting hungry as much. Good luck to you! Choosing a trainer can be difficult decision.

She's getting hungry because she's 25 and only netting 100-300 calories, not because she isn't eating "frequently enough".

That's like saying your car should go 500 miles on 50 miles worth of gas.