To burn or to starve...that is the question!
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Helloitsdan
Posts: 5,564 Member
So I just want to introduce myself!
I'm Dan Rollins.
I run a retail store in Baltimore Maryland and i've successfully dieted off appx 35lbs since last April.
The bulk of my weight came off in 4 months.
I'm 37 but I can honestly tell people I meet that i'm 27.
My friends know me as a straight forward guy when it comes to dieting and creating a new way of life.
I try to keep things real when it comes to life and death kinda stuff.
So heres the scoop!
Proper sustainable diet is created through the understanding of 3 very important numbers and how these numbers effect your bodies ability to lose/gain/maintain weight.
These 3 numbers in order of importance:
1) BMR: Basal Metabolic Rate. The base line calorie required by your body at rest to supply vital organs with proper nutrients.
BMR is so important that youll often see me screaming and jumping up and down on the forums over.
The fact is that most new people to MFP will accept the programs numbers at first glance and not even realize that they are eating below this rate.
In my eyes it's better to eat an entire pizza and chug soda than it is to eat below BMR.
Its like putting a belt around your chest and tightening it down so you can only take half breaths then trying to run a marathon!
Its that important!
People who eat below BMR tend to have headaches and no energy.
They often lose some weight as well as lean mass until the metabolism slows down to a crawl then you see a post on the forum "Anyone yaddah yaddah 1200 calories...yaddah..."
This is whats called a Starvation Diet.
These do fail!
Dont eat below BMR unless you have a doctors note then you second guess that note once then eat at 1600 calories against said doctors note! <----Dan isnt a doctor so listen to your doctor plz! =D <---or research it!
2) TDEE: Total Daily Energy Expenditure. How many calories you burn from your heart beat to brushing your teeth to running around with the kids. This is your appx daily number or weekly number.
Knowing and understanding that this number changes with the amount of activity you add or subtract from your daily/weekly lives and how it effects your overall health.
TDEE is what I base all my dietary numbers off and what I teach my friends who come to me for dietary numbers.
You eat below TDEE on a regular basis and you lose weight.
You eat at TDEE and you maintain...sometimes...
You eat above TDEE and create a surplus youll gain weight.
Simple right?
Not really...
You see the human body is only capable of losing or gaining so much weight.
Unfortunately you can gain a lot more than you lose when manipulating calories above/below TDEE.
For instance you will lose more fat at a 2k calorie diet than at 1200 calories if your TDEE is appx 2500.
The human body can only lose so much fat in 1 day and a 20% deficit is more effective with an active metabolism at 2k daily than a snails metabolism at 1200 calories.
Is this making any sense?
=D
3) Body Fat %. The amount of lean body weight compared to the amount of fat weight on the human body.
So I'm at 140lbs with 15% body fat.
I have a lean mass of 119lbs and I desire to be at 125lbs lean mass by this time next year.
I dont plan on losing much weight...just a shift if you will...to 10% body fat!
When I make dietary numbers for friends I sometimes will chose calories and macro partitions that allow maximum fat loss with minimum lean mass loss.
Its also a good idea to understand the best BF% for you!
What would you be happy with?
Whats healthy for men/women?
Under no circumstances should you lose lean body mass!
EVER!
The reason is muscle is more efficient at burning fat than fat!
The 1200 calorie diet is guaranteed, unless you are 3 foot tall, to lose you lean mass!
This is bad!
This is also where youll see the ED crowd having issues.
They dont understand that when they diet down and try to lose all body fat, this is when they die btw, that they are losing lean mass as well.
People who are obese III range actually have a chance while eating at a deficit to gain lean mass.
If the macronutrient partitioning is correct they can eat the proper amount of lean protein and gain muscle mass while transferring fat to energy!
Youll always see that one poster saying it cant be done but it happens!
Screw em! =D
So for the sustainable diet you need to understand these 3 numbers.
BMR <----baseline comatose couch potato do nothing least amount of calories per day.
TDEE <----How many calories you use in a day/week AKA Maintenance.
Body fat % <---How much fat:lean mass you have.
You take your TDEE and cut calories 20% for 2 weeks.
You then create a deficit by training!
20 mins cardio 3x a week at a 5pace will net you 600 calories burned weekly.
20-40 mins 3x week lifting heavy weights at home or in a gym appx 400 calories burned weekly.
Eat back if you get close to BMR or you fancy that you want to eat back all calories!
I never did unless I got too close to that base number.
The more you do this the better your metabolism and the healthier youll be.
I currently practice Intermittent Fasting.
I fast from 10pm-2pm daily.
I lift weights 5 days a week on a 3 day split.
I never do cardio because I dont feel the need to because I get the fat burn through the fast.
Hope this helps!
I know I'm a terrible writer but I get the point across one way or another.
Hugs!
I'm Dan Rollins.
I run a retail store in Baltimore Maryland and i've successfully dieted off appx 35lbs since last April.
The bulk of my weight came off in 4 months.
I'm 37 but I can honestly tell people I meet that i'm 27.
My friends know me as a straight forward guy when it comes to dieting and creating a new way of life.
I try to keep things real when it comes to life and death kinda stuff.
So heres the scoop!
Proper sustainable diet is created through the understanding of 3 very important numbers and how these numbers effect your bodies ability to lose/gain/maintain weight.
These 3 numbers in order of importance:
1) BMR: Basal Metabolic Rate. The base line calorie required by your body at rest to supply vital organs with proper nutrients.
BMR is so important that youll often see me screaming and jumping up and down on the forums over.
The fact is that most new people to MFP will accept the programs numbers at first glance and not even realize that they are eating below this rate.
In my eyes it's better to eat an entire pizza and chug soda than it is to eat below BMR.
Its like putting a belt around your chest and tightening it down so you can only take half breaths then trying to run a marathon!
Its that important!
People who eat below BMR tend to have headaches and no energy.
They often lose some weight as well as lean mass until the metabolism slows down to a crawl then you see a post on the forum "Anyone yaddah yaddah 1200 calories...yaddah..."
This is whats called a Starvation Diet.
These do fail!
Dont eat below BMR unless you have a doctors note then you second guess that note once then eat at 1600 calories against said doctors note! <----Dan isnt a doctor so listen to your doctor plz! =D <---or research it!
2) TDEE: Total Daily Energy Expenditure. How many calories you burn from your heart beat to brushing your teeth to running around with the kids. This is your appx daily number or weekly number.
Knowing and understanding that this number changes with the amount of activity you add or subtract from your daily/weekly lives and how it effects your overall health.
TDEE is what I base all my dietary numbers off and what I teach my friends who come to me for dietary numbers.
You eat below TDEE on a regular basis and you lose weight.
You eat at TDEE and you maintain...sometimes...
You eat above TDEE and create a surplus youll gain weight.
Simple right?
Not really...
You see the human body is only capable of losing or gaining so much weight.
Unfortunately you can gain a lot more than you lose when manipulating calories above/below TDEE.
For instance you will lose more fat at a 2k calorie diet than at 1200 calories if your TDEE is appx 2500.
The human body can only lose so much fat in 1 day and a 20% deficit is more effective with an active metabolism at 2k daily than a snails metabolism at 1200 calories.
Is this making any sense?
=D
3) Body Fat %. The amount of lean body weight compared to the amount of fat weight on the human body.
So I'm at 140lbs with 15% body fat.
I have a lean mass of 119lbs and I desire to be at 125lbs lean mass by this time next year.
I dont plan on losing much weight...just a shift if you will...to 10% body fat!
When I make dietary numbers for friends I sometimes will chose calories and macro partitions that allow maximum fat loss with minimum lean mass loss.
Its also a good idea to understand the best BF% for you!
What would you be happy with?
Whats healthy for men/women?
Under no circumstances should you lose lean body mass!
EVER!
The reason is muscle is more efficient at burning fat than fat!
The 1200 calorie diet is guaranteed, unless you are 3 foot tall, to lose you lean mass!
This is bad!
This is also where youll see the ED crowd having issues.
They dont understand that when they diet down and try to lose all body fat, this is when they die btw, that they are losing lean mass as well.
People who are obese III range actually have a chance while eating at a deficit to gain lean mass.
If the macronutrient partitioning is correct they can eat the proper amount of lean protein and gain muscle mass while transferring fat to energy!
Youll always see that one poster saying it cant be done but it happens!
Screw em! =D
So for the sustainable diet you need to understand these 3 numbers.
BMR <----baseline comatose couch potato do nothing least amount of calories per day.
TDEE <----How many calories you use in a day/week AKA Maintenance.
Body fat % <---How much fat:lean mass you have.
You take your TDEE and cut calories 20% for 2 weeks.
You then create a deficit by training!
20 mins cardio 3x a week at a 5pace will net you 600 calories burned weekly.
20-40 mins 3x week lifting heavy weights at home or in a gym appx 400 calories burned weekly.
Eat back if you get close to BMR or you fancy that you want to eat back all calories!
I never did unless I got too close to that base number.
The more you do this the better your metabolism and the healthier youll be.
I currently practice Intermittent Fasting.
I fast from 10pm-2pm daily.
I lift weights 5 days a week on a 3 day split.
I never do cardio because I dont feel the need to because I get the fat burn through the fast.
Hope this helps!
I know I'm a terrible writer but I get the point across one way or another.
Hugs!
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Replies
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So I just want to introduce myself!
I'm Dan Rollins.
I run a retail store in Baltimore Maryland and i've successfully dieted off appx 35lbs since last April.
The bulk of my weight came off in 4 months.
I'm 37 but I can honestly tell people I meet that i'm 27.
My friends know me as a straight forward guy when it comes to dieting and creating a new way of life.
I try to keep things real when it comes to life and death kinda stuff.
So heres the scoop!
Proper sustainable diet is created through the understanding of 3 very important numbers and how these numbers effect your bodies ability to lose/gain/maintain weight.
These 3 numbers in order of importance:
1) BMR: Basal Metabolic Rate. The base line calorie required by your body at rest to supply vital organs with proper nutrients.
BMR is so important that youll often see me screaming and jumping up and down on the forums over.
The fact is that most new people to MFP will accept the programs numbers at first glance and not even realize that they are eating below this rate.
In my eyes it's better to eat an entire pizza and chug soda than it is to eat below BMR.
Its like putting a belt around your chest and tightening it down so you can only take half breaths then trying to run a marathon!
Its that important!
People who eat below BMR tend to have headaches and no energy.
They often lose some weight as well as lean mass until the metabolism slows down to a crawl then you see a post on the forum "Anyone yaddah yaddah 1200 calories...yaddah..."
This is whats called a Starvation Diet.
These do fail!
Dont eat below BMR unless you have a doctors note then you second guess that note once then eat at 1600 calories against said doctors note! <----Dan isnt a doctor so listen to your doctor plz! =D <---or research it!
2) TDEE: Total Daily Energy Expenditure. How many calories you burn from your heart beat to brushing your teeth to running around with the kids. This is your appx daily number or weekly number.
Knowing and understanding that this number changes with the amount of activity you add or subtract from your daily/weekly lives and how it effects your overall health.
TDEE is what I base all my dietary numbers off and what I teach my friends who come to me for dietary numbers.
You eat below TDEE on a regular basis and you lose weight.
You eat at TDEE and you maintain...sometimes...
You eat above TDEE and create a surplus youll gain weight.
Simple right?
Not really...
You see the human body is only capable of losing or gaining so much weight.
Unfortunately you can gain a lot more than you lose when manipulating calories above/below TDEE.
For instance you will lose more fat at a 2k calorie diet than at 1200 calories if your TDEE is appx 2500.
The human body can only lose so much fat in 1 day and a 20% deficit is more effective with an active metabolism at 2k daily than a snails metabolism at 1200 calories.
Is this making any sense?
=D
3) Body Fat %. The amount of lean body weight compared to the amount of fat weight on the human body.
So I'm at 140lbs with 15% body fat.
I have a lean mass of 119lbs and I desire to be at 125lbs lean mass by this time next year.
I dont plan on losing much weight...just a shift if you will...to 10% body fat!
When I make dietary numbers for friends I sometimes will chose calories and macro partitions that allow maximum fat loss with minimum lean mass loss.
Its also a good idea to understand the best BF% for you!
What would you be happy with?
Whats healthy for men/women?
Under no circumstances should you lose lean body mass!
EVER!
The reason is muscle is more efficient at burning fat than fat!
The 1200 calorie diet is guaranteed, unless you are 3 foot tall, to lose you lean mass!
This is bad!
This is also where youll see the ED crowd having issues.
They dont understand that when they diet down and try to lose all body fat, this is when they die btw, that they are losing lean mass as well.
People who are obese III range actually have a chance while eating at a deficit to gain lean mass.
If the macronutrient partitioning is correct they can eat the proper amount of lean protein and gain muscle mass while transferring fat to energy!
Youll always see that one poster saying it cant be done but it happens!
Screw em! =D
So for the sustainable diet you need to understand these 3 numbers.
BMR <----baseline comatose couch potato do nothing least amount of calories per day.
TDEE <----How many calories you use in a day/week AKA Maintenance.
Body fat % <---How much fat:lean mass you have.
You take your TDEE and cut calories 20% for 2 weeks.
You then create a deficit by training!
20 mins cardio 3x a week at a 5pace will net you 600 calories burned weekly.
20-40 mins 3x week lifting heavy weights at home or in a gym appx 400 calories burned weekly.
Eat back if you get close to BMR or you fancy that you want to eat back all calories!
I never did unless I got too close to that base number.
The more you do this the better your metabolism and the healthier youll be.
I currently practice Intermittent Fasting.
I fast from 10pm-2pm daily.
I lift weights 5 days a week on a 3 day split.
I never do cardio because I dont feel the need to because I get the fat burn through the fast.
Hope this helps!
I know I'm a terrible writer but I get the point across one way or another.
Hugs!
Hey everyone -
This guy does tons of research and shares really good information. I think he's really motivating and worth a read.
Let me know what you think. I think there's bits and pieces of expert opinions with us, if we just take a moment to open our minds.
~katie
"...keep your mind wide open." - leslie burke
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I agree 110%.
I went and did the BodPod and realize that my BMR is 1335 so I wasn't eating enough - Thank goodness I hadn't been eating 1200 calories for that long, and because of my lean muscle % it would not be healthy or realistic to lose 2lbs per week.
I have reset my calories according to my BMR and TDEE. I'm eating all day now and not depriving myself at all, some days are easier then others especially if I get a great burn in late in the day but I try to never eat below my BMR.
This was a shock for me because I believed that myth of starving myself and working out like a mad woman was going to get me the results I wanted, and it does for awhile but in the end I couldn't maintain and I'd gain it all back.
The more educated I get about my body with the help of a nutritionist and tracking my BF% the easier it gets.
It kills me to see people eating only 1200 calories per day, even worse is only eating 1200 calories and burning 600 calories so they are only "netting" 600 calories per day. I think the "net" part confuses a lot of people and there is so much debate about eating exercise calories back.
I think education is the key to sucessfully change your lifestyle.0 -
I know all this information is freely available on the internet... but I really wish sites like this would explain it all more clearly for those who don't bother to check...
MFP set me at 1200... I tried it for a while and it really didn't work for me... I need to feel good throughout the day and I need energy. Starving just isn't cool!
This is a great summary with clear examples so thanks Dan. I hope others will have a read and really make sure they are doing what is healthy for their body.0 -
*Fingerguns and a wink*0
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this is a great post. i had come across something similar last week and found my bmr is around 1700 and i've been eating 1200-1300 and burning 400-500 cal a day. well i started eating 1700-1800 and burning 400-500 cals and bingo dropped 4 lbs this week. there is so much more to eat 1200 cals and you'll loose weight - now if only more people researched it
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My wall is full of similar weight loss posts because of this. EAT!!! Its what we are made to do! You feed the metabolism you burn the fat! You work out and the food you eat goes into repairing the body and not fat! SIMPLE!!!! =D0
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I am on of those people that MFP put on the 1200 calorie diet. I have lost 9 lbs (mainly to just eating right and working out) but it's possible I'm at a plateau. I'm lingering around the same number now. I started at 163 lbs and I'm currently at 155-153. Up and down, up and down.
I've seen some of these types of posts lately but this one spells it out.
My BMR is in the 1450 range. So I should be eating no less than 1450. Plus I workout and burn an anywhere from 245-700 calories.
Question for you - how do you know how much body fat you have? Where can I find that out?0 -
Most 1200 calorie diets fail after a month or so. The body will attempt to slow you down if you arent eating well. Up calories ASAP to break it!0
