I don't think its what you eat, its how much you eat.

SezxyStef

I think it depends on where you start out and what your habits were.



I was living of about 400-600 calories a day, for years. My metabolism is in snail mode! Because I gave it so little, every calorie I consumed, my body grabbed onto it and turned it into fat, thinking I was starving. Without exercising, this led to a 10-30Ib weight gain annually.

Now, I am struggling to eat 1000 calories a day, in 5-6 snacks. It is mostly protein, and forcing myself to eat breakfast within an hour of waking up. Oh, and adding exercise! I've lost 6.6 Ibs since I recommitted 1.5 weeks ago

Yah no....you don't gain 10-30lbs a year eating 400-600 calories a day....and your body does not turn calories into fat unless you are in a surplus...and not "bulking".

dbmata

A little math, it takes 175 days at 600 calories per day to eat 30# worth of calories.

So a hair under half a year at 600 calories to eat the equivalent of 30# worth. No way someone is gaining 30 pounds a year on 600 calories, particularly since their bmr will be higher than that.

richardheath

A little math, it takes 175 days at 600 calories per day to eat 30# worth of calories.

So a hair under half a year at 600 calories to eat the equivalent of 30# worth. No way someone is gaining 30 pounds a year on 600 calories, particularly since their bmr will be higher than that.

So what you are saying is that if her TDEE were 300, then it could happen in a year.

:noway:

Mykaelous

That's the basic idea. I have been reading some good research recently on how different types of carbohydrate can mess with your metabolism which mostly revolves maintenance of blood sugar levels. It seems the general consensus of the research is that a high influx of easily digestible sugars(wheat, soda, candy) can cause your body to store the sugar as fat unless activity immediately follows the consumption of such sugars. So if you drink a regular soda and do some activity you will be fine, but if you drink that soda and sit down your body is forced to store it as fat in order to preserve your blood sugar levels. If you maintain a calorie deficit for the day your body will later on burn that stored fat energy, although you may get food cravings because your body doesn't like to have to burn fat as energy.

So this is why I tend to prioritize my simple carbohydrates(fruits) earlier in the day before I perform my exercises, and then afterwards stick to proteins and slowly digested carbohydrates like vegetables.

SezxyStef

That's the basic idea. I have been reading some good research recently on how different types of carbohydrate can mess with your metabolism which mostly revolves maintenance of blood sugar levels. It seems the general consensus of the research is that a high influx of easily digestible sugars(wheat, soda, candy) can cause your body to store the sugar as fat unless activity immediately follows the consumption of such sugars. So if you drink a regular soda and do some activity you will be fine, but if you drink that soda and sit down your body is forced to store it as fat in order to preserve your blood sugar levels. If you maintain a calorie deficit for the day your body will later on burn that stored fat energy, although you may get food cravings because your body doesn't like to have to burn fat as energy.

jmv7117

I have lost 58 lbs In a year by not even trying. I still eat mcdonalds, I still eat pizza and cake and cookies and ice cream. I just don't eat as much of it, I'm 21 and have a high metabolism naturally i should be skinny but years of weight gain due to MASSIVE over eating made me fat. Now that Im almost 22, I have began a slow decline from my 338lbs former self into 280lbs now, and I didn't change anything other than my portion sizes, I don't even work out more than 2 or 3 days a week, if that. Anyone know what the heck happened? Im scared that if it keeps up i might get too thin, and then thinking about maintaining my weight freaks me out because I don't want to end up living my life counting calories in order to maintain my weight. Do you think when you lose the weight you will be able to just eat as a normal person would, without reading labels on every single thing you consume? Or will you be picky about staying thin?

I am picky about staying healthy and fit. Being thin without being healthy or fit hold no interest for me. While I did count calories during active weight loss, it isn't something I am tracking now.

lemurcat12

Do you think when you lose the weight you will be able to just eat as a normal person would, without reading labels on every single thing you consume? Or will you be picky about staying thin?

Depends. You could always see how it goes, as long as you weigh yourself regularly and take action if the weight starts creeping up.

In my early 30s I lost 60 pounds and then maintained it for 5 years without counting, although I was generally mindful about what I ate and I was really active. My mistake was that I let my dislike of the scale take over and stopped weighing and then due to various life stuff stopped being active and fell back into bad habits of emotional/comfort eating and over-indulgence and ordering food rather than cooking myself (which for me made a difference, since I tend to eat much lower calorie meals when I cook myself) and regained it all and more, most of it pretty rapidly. Based on that experience, I definitely plan to keep aware of what I eat and will probably count calories (as well as weighing myself), in part because I currently enjoy knowing my calories and macros and so on.

"Normal people" may not actually count calories (although a higher percentage are on some kind of eating plan than you might think, certainly by the time they are my age, at least in my social circles), but they do other things that prevent them from eating huge amounts of calories beyond what they burn. This includes working out and simply being mindful of what they eat. It could be that this will be you at some point, that it will be second nature.

KylaDenay

Congrats on your weight loss success! Just like your title says "its not what you eat, but how much." You did it right, you ate in moderation and practiced portion control. There is nothing wrong with your loss, what you did and you are not losing to much to fast. 58 lbs in a year is awesome.

As far as maintenance is concerned, wait until you are approaching to see what is best for you. You may even get stuck along the way and have to find another approach sooner or get strict with calorie counting who knows.

Mykaelous

I think it depends on where you start out and what your habits were.



I was living of about 400-600 calories a day, for years. My metabolism is in snail mode! Because I gave it so little, every calorie I consumed, my body grabbed onto it and turned it into fat, thinking I was starving. Without exercising, this led to a 10-30Ib weight gain annually.

Now, I am struggling to eat 1000 calories a day, in 5-6 snacks. It is mostly protein, and forcing myself to eat breakfast within an hour of waking up. Oh, and adding exercise! I've lost 6.6 Ibs since I recommitted 1.5 weeks ago

Yah no....you don't gain 10-30lbs a year eating 400-600 calories a day....and your body does not turn calories into fat unless you are in a surplus...and not "bulking".

You would have to be a child to live off of 400-600 calories a day.

A dietary calorie is: Is approximately the amount of energy needed to raise the temperature of one kilogram of water by one degree Celsius.

So if you weighed 100 lb's(aprox. 45kg) 60% of which is water, that means you have 33.7kg of water in your body. Simply to maintain that much water at the body temperature 37 degrees Celsius with the average temperature being 20C(68 degrees Fahrenheit). Using newtons law of cooling.

T (t) = Te + (T0 − Te ) *e^( - kt)

or...

Final Temperature = Constant Environmental Temp + (Initial Temp - Final Temp) * natural log raised to (constant dissipation factor k * delta time)

We find that body temperature will decrease by aprox. 1.5 degrees Celsius per hour. In order to maintain thermoregulation(body temperature) the very minimum amount of calories you would need to consume daily would be 1213.2(1.5 degrees * 33.7 kg of water * 24 hours a day) calories without performing any other of the bodies vital chemical process's.