Am I eating enough?
mrscates
Posts: 559 Member
Am I eating enough?
Contrary to popular belief, sometimes you have to eat more to lose weight. While that may sound counterintuitive, it often does the trick. Here's why:
Metabolism is the key to weight loss. If you don't eat enough, or often enough, your metabolism slows to a crawl and weight loss becomes more difficult, especially when you're exercising. That's why skipping meals isn't a good idea if the goal is to shed pounds.
Tip: Always eat breakfast to kick-start metabolism and try eating mini-meals throughout the day to keep your metabolism fired up.
To keep your metabolism up, you MUST eat. Conventional wisdom dictates that when you first start dieting, the less you eat, the better. While it's true that you often should eat less, eating too little can backfire over time. As your body composition changes, your body will think it's starving, which can make it hold on to fat. (The process actually has to do with excessive release of a hormone called cortisol, but you don't need to know the details, so we'll just call it fat.) To avoid this, most experts agree that over time, you shouldn't eat fewer than 1,200 calories per day for women, 1,500 for men. If your daily diet consists of fewer calories than that, consider eating more.
Tip: Keep a food diary to track calories.
You need more calories when you work out. If you're exercising while following a low-calorie eating plan, you'll need to take into account the calories you're burning. That's because it's now easier to enter starvation mode. Let's say you're burning 400 calories and only eating 1,200 to 1,300 calories per day. This means you're really only taking in 800 to 900 calories per day before you begin to calculate how your body composition is changing. Muscle burns more calories at rest than fat does, so as your body changes, you need to eat more to keep the weight loss coming.
Tip: Drink an after-workout recovery drink like P90X Results and Recovery Formula®. After hard workouts, its calories are utilized so quickly by your body, some people refer to them as "free calories." They aren't, but they will ensure your muscles, hence, your metabolism will recover quickly.
And remember this:
Figuring out to what to eat, how much to eat, and when to eat isn't easy. That's why people often refer to losing weight as a journey. It takes a few different paths to get there. Sometimes you have to adjust your ratio of protein, fat, and carbs to start losing again. Or adjust your calorie level, which can include eating more to lose weight.
Tip: Use the Team Beachbody® Meal Planner. It can make figuring out your calories much, much easier. You can personalize an eating plan that takes your workouts into consideration.
Finally, if you're still on the fence about needing to eat more to lose weight. You might be thinking, "How come I know some really skinny people who barely eat?"
The answer is this: You can eventually lose weight by not eating. It's called starving. Reduce calories enough and your body will start breaking down its muscle tissue, and this will result in weight loss. However, it makes your body increase its emergency hormonal responses, which also causes your body to be stressed and hang onto fat, making it.very easy to gain the weight back again.
So I hope you take this thought away with you today: The idea is to keep your metabolism revving and running. This will help you get healthy and stay strong. Eat the right amount of food to help your body continuously burn calories, and you're more likely to shed those unwanted pounds.
Contrary to popular belief, sometimes you have to eat more to lose weight. While that may sound counterintuitive, it often does the trick. Here's why:
Metabolism is the key to weight loss. If you don't eat enough, or often enough, your metabolism slows to a crawl and weight loss becomes more difficult, especially when you're exercising. That's why skipping meals isn't a good idea if the goal is to shed pounds.
Tip: Always eat breakfast to kick-start metabolism and try eating mini-meals throughout the day to keep your metabolism fired up.
To keep your metabolism up, you MUST eat. Conventional wisdom dictates that when you first start dieting, the less you eat, the better. While it's true that you often should eat less, eating too little can backfire over time. As your body composition changes, your body will think it's starving, which can make it hold on to fat. (The process actually has to do with excessive release of a hormone called cortisol, but you don't need to know the details, so we'll just call it fat.) To avoid this, most experts agree that over time, you shouldn't eat fewer than 1,200 calories per day for women, 1,500 for men. If your daily diet consists of fewer calories than that, consider eating more.
Tip: Keep a food diary to track calories.
You need more calories when you work out. If you're exercising while following a low-calorie eating plan, you'll need to take into account the calories you're burning. That's because it's now easier to enter starvation mode. Let's say you're burning 400 calories and only eating 1,200 to 1,300 calories per day. This means you're really only taking in 800 to 900 calories per day before you begin to calculate how your body composition is changing. Muscle burns more calories at rest than fat does, so as your body changes, you need to eat more to keep the weight loss coming.
Tip: Drink an after-workout recovery drink like P90X Results and Recovery Formula®. After hard workouts, its calories are utilized so quickly by your body, some people refer to them as "free calories." They aren't, but they will ensure your muscles, hence, your metabolism will recover quickly.
And remember this:
Figuring out to what to eat, how much to eat, and when to eat isn't easy. That's why people often refer to losing weight as a journey. It takes a few different paths to get there. Sometimes you have to adjust your ratio of protein, fat, and carbs to start losing again. Or adjust your calorie level, which can include eating more to lose weight.
Tip: Use the Team Beachbody® Meal Planner. It can make figuring out your calories much, much easier. You can personalize an eating plan that takes your workouts into consideration.
Finally, if you're still on the fence about needing to eat more to lose weight. You might be thinking, "How come I know some really skinny people who barely eat?"
The answer is this: You can eventually lose weight by not eating. It's called starving. Reduce calories enough and your body will start breaking down its muscle tissue, and this will result in weight loss. However, it makes your body increase its emergency hormonal responses, which also causes your body to be stressed and hang onto fat, making it.very easy to gain the weight back again.
So I hope you take this thought away with you today: The idea is to keep your metabolism revving and running. This will help you get healthy and stay strong. Eat the right amount of food to help your body continuously burn calories, and you're more likely to shed those unwanted pounds.
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Replies
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Great advice! I'm studying to be a personal trainer, and this advice adds up with what I've been taught.
However I do have a fun tip in response to this:
"Tip: Drink an after-workout recovery drink like P90X Results and Recovery Formula®. After hard workouts, its calories are utilized so quickly by your body, some people refer to them as "free calories." They aren't, but they will ensure your muscles, hence, your metabolism will recover quickly."
Drinking chocolate milk has been proven as effective as the expensive post-workout drinks. It's a great balance of carbs and protein, which is what you are looking for in a recovery drink. Chocolate milk is effective and cheap and a great alternative to the name brand products!
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OH YES! I DRINK CHOC. MILK AFTER RUNNING HARD AND MOST LIKELY SHOULD AFTER MY P90X TOOGreat advice! I'm studying to be a personal trainer, and this advice adds up with what I've been taught.
However I do have a fun tip in response to this:
"Tip: Drink an after-workout recovery drink like P90X Results and Recovery Formula®. After hard workouts, its calories are utilized so quickly by your body, some people refer to them as "free calories." They aren't, but they will ensure your muscles, hence, your metabolism will recover quickly."
Drinking chocolate milk has been proven as effective as the expensive post-workout drinks. It's a great balance of carbs and protein, which is what you are looking for in a recovery drink. Chocolate milk is effective and cheap and a great alternative to the name brand products!0 -
Great advice! I'm studying to be a personal trainer, and this advice adds up with what I've been taught.
However I do have a fun tip in response to this:
"Tip: Drink an after-workout recovery drink like P90X Results and Recovery Formula®. After hard workouts, its calories are utilized so quickly by your body, some people refer to them as "free calories." They aren't, but they will ensure your muscles, hence, your metabolism will recover quickly."
Drinking chocolate milk has been proven as effective as the expensive post-workout drinks. It's a great balance of carbs and protein, which is what you are looking for in a recovery drink. Chocolate milk is effective and cheap and a great alternative to the name brand products!
I've heard this before...why chocolate milk? What makes it better than plain milk (besides tasting better :laugh: )?0 -
Thanks to both of you. Lately, I have gotten the feeling that I may not be eating enough. I will definitely up my daily calorie goal.
And the chocolate milk info is great! But I have one question about that...does it matter what kind of chocolate you use in your milk? I have been using about 1 Tbsp of Hershey's LITE chocolate sryup.0 -
Thank you so much for posting this topic! I was beginning to feel depressed about "going over" my calories but i have realised that i haven't gone over at all as I was not allowing for my exercise calories.
Woohoo! :smokin:0 -
I've heard this before...why chocolate milk? What makes it better than plain milk (besides tasting better :laugh: )?
Maybe for the sugar content in the chocolate mix??0 -
"I've heard this before...why chocolate milk? What makes it better than plain milk (besides tasting better :laugh: )?"
(Sorry, I don't know how to put this as a quote! lol)
The chocolate provides more carbs, which refuel muscles. Hope that helps!
As for using Hershy's syrup vs. regular chocolate milk, as far as I can see it would be as effective. Your goal is to drink a recovery drink that has adequate carbs and protein. Carbs to refuel, protein to build and repair. Good luck! 0 -
don't think you're supposed to post links to your beachbody website. it's considered spam.
just an fyi0 -
Someone is postingdon't think you're supposed to post links to your beachbody website. it's considered spam.
just an fyi
? 
0 -
It's not spam, lmao! I am just posting helpful info from BB and showing ppl the link where they can get in touch w/ me. IM AM MAKING SURE EVERYONE KNOWS THIS ISN'T MY INFO...IM JUST GIVING CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE.
Someone is postingdon't think you're supposed to post links to your beachbody website. it's considered spam.
just an fyi? 0 -
It's not spam, lmao! I am just posting helpful info from BB and showing ppl the link where they can get in touch w/ me. IM AM MAKING SURE EVERYONE KNOWS THIS ISN'T MY INFO...IM JUST GIVING CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE.
Someone is postingdon't think you're supposed to post links to your beachbody website. it's considered spam.
just an fyi?
<<and showing ppl the link where they can get in touch w/ me.>>
against the TOS here. sorry.0 -
SORRY if anyone got offended by the 'link', I am just helping.It's not spam, lmao! I am just posting helpful info from BB and showing ppl the link where they can get in touch w/ me. IM AM MAKING SURE EVERYONE KNOWS THIS ISN'T MY INFO...IM JUST GIVING CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE.
Someone is postingdon't think you're supposed to post links to your beachbody website. it's considered spam.
just an fyi?
<<and showing ppl the link where they can get in touch w/ me.>>
against the TOS here. sorry.0 -
OK! Took the link off for those of you who might 'REPORT' me....I don't want the report because I feel this is great info for everyone.0
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mrscates - thank you for your great information, and I appreciate you posting your link!0
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THANK YOU! I never relized that helping others find me besides MFP could be so bad...oh well, lesson learned and hey you can't make everyone happy
mrscates - thank you for your great information, and I appreciate you posting your link!0 -
This is a great post and I hope many will at least try her methods(the advice she was given). I've found it to be true and quite honestly, I freak whenever I hear someone is burning 100's even 1000's of calories in their daily activities and not eating enough:( Over time I truly believe this will backfire as the original poster mentioned.
Denise0 -
hey, *kitten* at Mike. His forum, his rules. Thought i was helping b/c there ARE people who will report you, and you risk losing your acct.THANK YOU! I never relized that helping others find me besides MFP could be so bad...oh well, lesson learned and hey you can't make everyone happymrscates - thank you for your great information, and I appreciate you posting your link!0 -
I'm not mad. I fixed it and thats that. I don't sweat the small stuff or hold grudges, both are un-healthy! 0
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I didn't see the posts about spam. This site is so wonderful and the "builder"(can't think of his name)has done a lot for me and tons of other people "free of charge" so yes, I agree that we should not post links to other sites/programs.
Again though, I do appreciate the article mrscates:) and hope you will stick around. Lots of great people that have lost weight by using similar or the same method. Fueling your body properly;) Denise0 -
I never eat more than 1200 calories per day and i am training 3 times a week.
at first i was hungry all the time!
but now, i can't eat more than one - three carrots for lunch0 -
I never eat more than 1200 calories per day and i am training 3 times a week.
at first i was hungry all the time!
but now, i can't eat more than one - three carrots for lunch
Just because you are not hungry does not mean this is healthy OR what your body needs. Your body will adjust its metabolism to fit what you give it. In other words, its learned to make those three carrots last and metabolize muscle to fill the gap.0 -
SHE COULDN'T BE MORE CORRECT--BASICALLY YOU NEED TO EAT MORE.I never eat more than 1200 calories per day and i am training 3 times a week.
at first i was hungry all the time!
but now, i can't eat more than one - three carrots for lunch
Just because you are not hungry does not mean this is healthy OR what your body needs. Your body will adjust its metabolism to fit what you give it. In other words, its learned to make those three carrots last and metabolize muscle to fill the gap.0 -
Chocolate milk is the one for me. A go mad when my daughter steals it for her lunch. Ant advice on a chocolate flavour protien drink.0
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i absolutely love my ShakeologyChocolate milk is the one for me. A go mad when my daughter steals it for her lunch. Ant advice on a chocolate flavour protien drink.0
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thanks for your info, you put in allot to help others!! Maybe they should add you as a friend so you can talk to them more about the great products you take! I started using orange juice, emergen c, vanilla protien powder, and then add powder supplements to my drink, so far its been good as a recovery!! I know from P90x, that is important to eat well and allot to fuel your workouts, i try to eat all my burned calories, but no more! I gues you just have to play with it to see what works for your body to loose weight! Anyhow you will send your body into shock with the extra food and maybe get it reved up more!! Shakeology is good recovery also 4:1 ratio!! Thanks!!0
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