How mfp works

RadicalCharlie

I will either post back here or make a vlog about it and link it somewhere to let everyone know what I am doing. I have an appointment to see the doctor at another hospital on Friday, but I don't know if they have calipers so I'm going to call around and see who does have them.

Last resort would be to have my body fat measured at the university.

froglegjack

I agree fully with Newfiedan. I may not eat all my exercise calories back but I do try. I am an example of not eating the calories needed everyday I was a one meal person and would splurge occasionally and had gotten up to 185 because of it. Now that I am trying to eat my net cals I am actually losing weight.

I am the exact same as you. PROOF. I have been telling people for years I don't know why I am fat, I don't eat much. I knew it was counter intuitive but I did not educate myself until I got here. I struggle to eat all of my calories. Even on days when I don't exercise. But I know that since I have been here and have ate at least 1200 net calories I have been losing weight. If I go under the 1200 net I do not lose.. It is still hard for me to understand "WHY" but for now I will just accept it and let it work.

Pebble321

Newfiedan, thank you for a succinct and rational explanation of how MFP is set up.
I agree wholeheartedly that people who are just starting out should try using the system as recommended - I see so many people who report eating 1200 cals (or a whole lot less) and wonder exactly why they feel they have to punish themselves this way.

For the record, I think I'm a textbook case of how MFP can work:
I've been using MFP for about 3 months, eating around 1550 - 1650 net calories a day and have lost 11 kg, about 25 pounds.
I eat real food and plenty of it, exercise moderately (about 30 mins 5 or 6 times a week) and plan to keep doing the same thing until I'm a healthier weight, then will change to maintenance calories.

Thanks again for this post, please continue to encourage people to be healthy!

(edited for spelling)

FearAnLoathing

I agree fully with Newfiedan. I may not eat all my exercise calories back but I do try. I am an example of not eating the calories needed everyday I was a one meal person and would splurge occasionally and had gotten up to 185 because of it. Now that I am trying to eat my net cals I am actually losing weight.

I am the exact same as you. PROOF. I have been telling people for years I don't know why I am fat, I don't eat much. I knew it was counter intuitive but I did not educate myself until I got here. I struggle to eat all of my calories. Even on days when I don't exercise. But I know that since I have been here and have ate at least 1200 net calories I have been losing weight. If I go under the 1200 net I do not lose.. It is still hard for me to understand "WHY" but for now I will just accept it and let it work.

. nevermind im sick of this topic lol

ahartery9891

Great article! I am so happy this site has worked for me. I find it much easier to log food here, and it has definitely got me to realize my portions were SO out of whack before! I am trying to be as close as possible to what mfp says I should eat, but I often go over the 1200 caloric intake if I don't work out. by 300 calories. It has pushed me to get to the gym on a regular schedule, and I am very happy with the result! It has got me over a plateau, and now I feel if I give myself a buttkick and ramp up my strength training, I will be able to achieve more results!

DJmom44

bump

Newfiedan

She will lose significant amounts of weight. I'm a chronic ED sufferer (not acute) and have had many experiences of VLCDs leading to weight and size loss NOT plateaus.

eg -
4 months at circa 500 calories a day resulted in weight loss from 113 pounds to 80 and a size UK10 to way below size UK6
2 months of fasting every other day and eating around 800 cals on the between days led to weight loss from 120 pounds to 105 pounds and a UK10 to a UK8.

The reason why your method is better (I think) is that the weight loss is healthy, you are not depriving your body of nutrients and you are less likely to gain the weight back.

I am pretty much exactly the same weight as I was 10 years ago but I have probably lost and gained 200+ pounds in that time - the same 30-40 pounds over and over again. NOT healthy or good.

But you do lose the weight. You can't exist on 700 calories for any length of time and not lose weight.

So, while I fully accept that MFP has the RIGHT approach it does not have the ONLY approach. 'Starvation mode' is called far too much for what would be very temporary plateaus if the individual continued to not eat.

VLCD does work for obese ppl because the body will work with you to shed fat as it has tons of energy in fat stores to help with the daily needs, someone whom has 40 or less pounds to shed is a different matter all together. The rules can be bent for OBESE PPL not for those whom are in a lower bodyfat range with 40 or less to shed. Congrats on the loss but a long term VLCD will fail in the end whereas the way I am advocating will not bottom out like a VLCD does, not to mention the damage that a VLCD does to the body during that fat loss, you are losing mass amounts of muscle leaving you skinny fat by the end and weak. I have steadily lost without fail, have gotten consistently stronger every week and feel fantastic, can you say the same for a VLCD diet?

RadicalCharlie

Is it okay that I want to be skinny fat?

I don't like having a firm body. I want something on my body to jiggle other than my breasts lol.

Japanese women have more body fat, but they seem pretty skinny and jolly.

nomex

okay, this is where I get the most confused on this site (so thanks for clarifying). As long as my NET is around 1200 I should start seeing loss? My calories are goaled at 1330/day.. I eat some of my exercise cals back, but not all.. my net is usually between 900-1100/day and I only lost 1/2lb last week... I burn anywhere between 300-600 calories through exercise. i'm going to test it for myself though and work really hard to net myself at 1200 the rest of the week and see where I go.

thanks

In MY experience you will have to continue on the 1200 calorie path for longer than a part of a week.... to see a difference. You might actually go UP slightly initially and start to lose again. I would say maybe a month...

Newfiedan

lets stick to the challenge space lol.

RadicalCharlie

Okay. Dr's appt Friday. Going to my normal hospital to see if my man physician ordered those calipers yet and how long it would take to get them if he didn't order them. Also, I forgot my school has a nursing program, so I'm going to see if they have any tomorrow.

nomex

for the record, I disagree with the challenge. I am not targeting anyone personally with that statement. I just think that it does not resonate with the values of MFP. Which is healthy lifestyles and healthy eating. It sounds like you are both strong willed people with competitive nature. I would hate to someone get harmed (even minimally) just to prove a point.... and I predict that happening here.

"New" you have offered the advise and clarification of the program (good post). Let "spacecocoanut" take it or leave it. I BELEIVE think this challenge leaves you with some responsiblity you do NOT want. This is hard for me to say, because I am ALL about experiments. But I prefer carefully constructed ones that have NO component of potential HARM to participants.

thats all. Good luck to you if you decided to continue!

Newfiedan

You can invest in a set of accumeasure fat calipers, they are 15 bucks and have a qualified person take at least 4 measurements as per the jackson pollock method. I do not advocate anyone hurting or harming themselves, but sometimes the line needs to be drawn in the sand to prove a point and in this scenario the problem is that despite living proof and multiple people saying that the method that spacecoconaut is advocating is not healthy she has refused to listen. I am not saying that I want to force anyone to do things that are unethical and unhealthy but I offered her a chance to prove me wrong.

RadicalCharlie

I want to do this. And I don't feel like anyone is making me do this. I really want to see because I've heard one thing, he's heard another so I just want to find out for myself.

If I feel like I am in any danger, I will stop immediately.

But, Newfiedan, when they do these caliper measurements, where do they clamp at? If you were to see my skin, the only places I have skin that you can actually pull on are under the upper part of my arms and and the side of my rib cage.

LuluGirl140

bump

MyNameIsNotBob

My scale measures body fat, but everyone tells me not to go by that because it's not accurate. Says I have 44% body fat.

I can get my doctor in on this. He was supposed to order calipers, but I don't know if he has them in yet or not. But I will do this under the supervision of my doctor.

I'm glad you will talk to your doctor about this. I hope s/he can help you design a program that will work for you in the long-term.

RadicalCharlie

I hope so too.

jrreed1

bump!

Newfiedan

being as lean as I currently am I can pull skin from many different parts of my body, here is a good site to learn where and how to do the measurements properly. http://www.linear-software.com/online.html

RadicalCharlie

I must be a lean machine too, because the only places I could pull anything were the chest, bicep, and ab. Everything else is hard meat. But you said I only needed to get measured in 3 places, right?

Edit: Oh, and the "suprailiac" I guess.

Newfiedan

ideally, 4 or more, but I use the 4 caliper method on the link provided as those are the easiest places for me to get the measurements.

RadicalCharlie

Okay, I will keep that bookmarked.

Newfiedan

I would like to point out here that there are several ways to tackle fat loss, but there are good ways and bad ways, so the route that mfp recommends and what many ppl on here will advocate is the healthy path to it. That is why I often say that you can shed fat eating nothing but twinkies if you like but it will not get you to a good healthy state.

RadicalCharlie

Twinkies are pretty gross.

And I think carbs work against me more than fat does. My medication causes carb cravings, which I haven't had any problems with lately because I have more control over it now that I realize it is so, but I think that's why people gain weight while on this injection in the first place.

Newfiedan

what was the med again? i want to research it a bit and see its side effects. Nevermind I looked it up from one of the previous posts and got the info.

bcweisen

Calipers are only accurate if you have a very experienced tester, you are using all 7 sites, and you take measurements repeatedly over a period of time. It is VERY difficult to do yourself accurately. They may give you an idea of the big picture but nothing more. You are much better off going to the university and doing hydrostatic weighing or the BodPod. These are the gold standards. They have a significantly lower user error rate and show up to 3x less margin of error. Even an experience skin-fold measurer cannot give you accurate data like these other methods. And I did the BodPod at the University of Utah for only $25.

RadicalCharlie

I didn't realize a doctor wasn't experienced. My bad.

I was going to see if the university here had the hydrostatic weighing, but I thought calipers were the most accurate next to that to a very small percentage, so I don't see what's wrong with doing that.

See, I live in a small town in Kansas, so I doubt we're going to have anything like that.

deannarey13

Bumping for reference later.

Newfiedan

I know the bodpod is a good way to do it, but I also know that the ones that use electrical resistance to determine bodyfat percentages are horribly inaccurate as the slightest thing can throw that off, from sodium intake to hydration. That is how the scales that measure bodyfat do it with electrical resistance readings.

RadicalCharlie

Went to the university, only a man was there to measure me with calipers and he felt uncomfortable doing it, so he told me to come in later when a female was there. Also, they're only going to be available today this week, and another day next week. After that, they we'll be closed until the Fall.

Went to my main physician's office and he wasn't available, so I don't know if he has calipers yet or not tomorrow, but the woman I was talking to said they don't even know where to get those?? I don't even know...