If you are scared to increase calories

sherry9300

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jchrisman717

What if you have recently done all of those sugestions ... ie raising calories, did the calculators, hired a Nutritionist. and are still not losing weight. I went to Dr and we did several tests and they all came out normal... Maybe i am not doing enough exercise? or just eating the wrong stuff?

Monday : Les Mills Body Pump Class (1 hour)
Tuesday: i have cubscouts with my son so i use this as a rest day
Wednesday: Les Mills Body Combat Class (1 hour)
Thursday : Les Mills Body Pump Class (1 hour)
Friday: rest day
Saturday: Personal Trainer (1 hour upper body)
Sunday: Personal Trainer ( 1 hour lower body)

Cant see your diary or any of your stats so its hard to tell without those. I've been struggling too when I thought I was doing all the right things. I don't know if you pay attention to your macros - but it has made a huge difference for me - keeping my carbs at 40%, Fat at 30% and protein at 30% helps. I cannot eat processed/fatty foods and keep my macros level so it has automatically caused me to cut down on what I consider "bad" foods. Also - I try to keep my sodium levels at no more than 2500 and drink lots of water.

sheeler301

Ok I totally buy into the fat2fit philosophy of eat more to weigh less, I am struggling to eat the amount of calories. I always make sure I net above my BMR I know I need to prepare more meals ahead and the most of my problems is failing to prepare weekly for meals and such. Secondly I work long hours and I’m struggling to find time to get into a gym, although at this point I am content with the 30 day shred. I’m just wondering if you all have examples of the five to seven meals you eat a day and if you think that even though at this point I do not have access to a gym is body resistant training enough of a replacement for heavy lifting? Oh and I'm doing one of the couch to 5k apps. pretty much every other day.

iamMaLisa

What if you have recently done all of those sugestions ... ie raising calories, did the calculators, hired a Nutritionist. and are still not losing weight. I went to Dr and we did several tests and they all came out normal... Maybe i am not doing enough exercise? or just eating the wrong stuff?

Monday : Les Mills Body Pump Class (1 hour)
Tuesday: i have cubscouts with my son so i use this as a rest day
Wednesday: Les Mills Body Combat Class (1 hour)
Thursday : Les Mills Body Pump Class (1 hour)
Friday: rest day
Saturday: Personal Trainer (1 hour upper body)
Sunday: Personal Trainer ( 1 hour lower body)

Cant see your diary or any of your stats so its hard to tell without those. I've been struggling too when I thought I was doing all the right things. I don't know if you pay attention to your macros - but it has made a huge difference for me - keeping my carbs at 40%, Fat at 30% and protein at 30% helps. I cannot eat processed/fatty foods and keep my macros level so it has automatically caused me to cut down on what I consider "bad" foods. Also - I try to keep my sodium levels at no more than 2500 and drink lots of water.

My diary is open to only my friends, your welcome to friend me if you want.

ajernbsn

Interesting, thank you!

hnsaunde

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skybluesounds

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JoeSzup

OMG, at page 14 of this post, I figured it out. LOL.

For those of you that are confused (much like I was). Go to http://www.fat2fitradio.com/tools/bmr/ and put in your data. In the GOAL WEIGHT, put in your CURRENT WEIGHT and click calculate. I'll give mine as an example.

Age 41
Height 72.5
Curr Weight 273.8
Goal Weight 273.8
BF % 37.6

When I calculated I found that my HB BMR is 2414 and my KM BMR was 2049. But the important numbers are the levels down at the bottom.

Sedentary (little or no exercise, desk job) 2897
Lightly Active (light exercise/sports 1-3 days/wk) 3319
Moderately Active (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/wk) 3742
Very Active (hard exercise/sports 6-7 days/wk) 4164
Extremely Active (hard daily exercise/sports & physical job or 2X day training, i.e marathon, contest etc.) 4587

So I figured with walking 3-5 times a week (1.4 miles) and 3x day of 30 minutes elliptical, with light weight lifting twice a week, I needed 3319 JUST TO MAINTAIN my current weight. WOAH. Lightbulb.

I went back and plugged in my real goal of 215. Same HB BMR and same KM BRM, but my numbers were:

Sedentary (little or no exercise, desk job) 2456
Lightly Active (light exercise/sports 1-3 days/wk) 2815
Moderately Active (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/wk) 3173
Very Active (hard exercise/sports 6-7 days/wk) 3531
Extremely Active (hard daily exercise/sports & physical job or 2X day training, i.e marathon, contest etc.) 3889

So to eat at my maintenance level I should be eating 2815 calories. This would give me a 504 calorie deficit per day (3319 - 2815), for a weekly total of 3528 or 1 pound weight loss per week.

Now after reading the rest of the thread, I realize I cannot just jump from my current "diet" to a "thin me maintenance". I'm currently only eating 1900 calories per day, and was not counting any elliptical training or weight training.

I've bumped myself up to 2400, and will give it a month and see how I do. I'm putting away the scale until 6/16/12 so I don't get all panicky.

RebeldeMM

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dogacreek

:: Bump ::

rmk20togo

I bumped up to 1900-2000 a little over three weeks ago. Hadn't lost since I first joined and was on the assinine 1200 hampster wheel. I gained about 4 pounds at first, but since then I've dropped the four and another 1.8. Not bad for three weeks. The inches are going too. I feel amazing! I have strength and stamina! My hair and nails are even getting stronger and healthy. I'm not in a constant brain fog or constantly in a bad mood. We aren't meant to function on so little.

I need to copy and paste this on my FOREHEAD. I've increased (gained a smidge) decreased (maintained) increased (gain a tad) decreased (maintained) for months and months now. Every time I increase calories and gain an ounce, I get scared and bail. I have to find the courage to face a possible 4-5# gain and work through it. Thanks for posting.

I am certain one can lose weight on 1200 calories a day, buy why when you don't have to?

**Edit: I do know my F2F numbers range from 2127-2367, depending on what activity level I use. I have honestly never gotten that high for more than a day...yikes. Interestingly enough, I also had a hydrostatic BF test and BMR test done and know that the BRM on F2F for my age (1509) is low. My actual is 1613, so my TDEE with cut should actually be slightly higher than 2127-2367. For now I shall attempt 1900 and white knuckle it though the initial gain.

amoffatt

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Kincar

Ok I totally buy into the fat2fit philosophy of eat more to weigh less, I am struggling to eat the amount of calories. I always make sure I net above my BMR I know I need to prepare more meals ahead and the most of my problems is failing to prepare weekly for meals and such. Secondly I work long hours and I’m struggling to find time to get into a gym, although at this point I am content with the 30 day shred. I’m just wondering if you all have examples of the five to seven meals you eat a day and if you think that even though at this point I do not have access to a gym is body resistant training enough of a replacement for heavy lifting? Oh and I'm doing one of the couch to 5k apps. pretty much every other day.

I don't eat 5 to 7 meals a day. I eat three meals and usually an afternoon snack to keep me from getting too hungry and then overeating.

Do you have access to dumbbells or can you buy them? I've had noticeable results from doing squats, lunges, and dead lifts with only two 25 lb dumbbells. I highly recommend weight lifting. I know it sounds hard to believe but it truly makes a huge difference in your body. I lost most of my weight before I started weight lifting (ChaLean Extreme from Beach Body), yet I get way more comments/compliments in the last two months since I started lifting. I've only lost about 4 lbs since I started, but lost over 8 inches.

Kincar

I need to copy and paste this on my FOREHEAD. I've increased (gained a smidge) decreased (maintained) increased (gain a tad) decreased (maintained) for months and months now. Every time I increase calories and gain an ounce, I get scared and bail. I have to find the courage to face a possible 4-5# gain and work through it. Thanks for posting.

I am certain one can lose weight on 1200 calories a day, buy why when you don't have to?

**Edit: I do know my F2F numbers range from 2127-2367, depending on what activity level I use. I have honestly never gotten that high for more than a day...yikes. Interestingly enough, I also had a hydrostatic BF test and BMR test done and know that the BRM on F2F for my age (1509) is low. My actual is 1613, so my TDEE with cut should actually be slightly higher than 2127-2367. For now I shall attempt 1900 and white knuckle it though the initial gain.

You can do it! Trust that it will work and give yourself the time to let it do its things. I completely understand your fear. I had to force myself to keep going. I wasn't losing eating less at that point anyway so I figured I had nothing to lose. I feel so much better since I'm eating more. I gained 2.4 lbs at first, but it's come off plus some more pounds.

pundas

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sleepytexan

Hypothyroidism tends to make this theory invalid.

I also deal with hypothyroidism, but I would think that once we've stabled out our medication and have been taking it a while, it should no longer be much, if any, of a factor. Of course I'm no doctor and I'm just in the early stages of this lifestyle change, etc etc. I think I'll ask my Dr next time I go in.

Hypothyroidism is often CAUSED and/or EXACERBATED by too few calories over an extended period of time. (Google this, so I don't have to repost here).

I have 4 female relatives with Hashimoto's disease, and I used to have it. Yes. Used to. As in "not anymore". I took thyroid meds, and was exhausted for 7 years (7 DAMN YEARS!). Much of that time I was on WW minimum points (about 1200 calories a day) and working my *kitten* off 6 days/week without eating my extra points. I actually slowly gained weight over 18 mos. while practically starving. I did not know then what I was doing to my body.

See the 3rd post here for the long story version:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/583996-is-it-true?hl=brownout#posts-8324862

Now that I eat properly, I lost all the weight I had gained over that 18 mos., and I have been off meds just over 2 years now. More importantly, NO more thyroid issues. Normal neck ultrasound, normal blood test results, no more hair loss, gray skin, brittle nails, or fatigue.

Something to think about.

LilacDreamer

i don't really understand anything anymore. I was losing for few months, but now i have plateaued.

But I know someone on MFP that told me they eat 1200 calories a day, burn about 1000 every time they exercise and they hardly ever eat any exercise calories back. They've lost over 100lbs doing this for almost a year. I guess I just can't understand how anyone could survive on 200-300 net calories, and even if I do that I don't lose.

If I eat back calories, I don't lose...and if i don't eat them back, i don't lose.

When I exercise, I don't lose. When I don't exercise, I don't lose. This has been going on since april. It's very disheartening.

I am unemployed, set to lightly active, currently bouncing between 235 and 236lbs, 5'7 and I was consuming 1500 but they've dropped me down to 1480 for the last few weeks.

I feel like I was in a groove and now it just...well, died.

I've been taking my levothyroxin regularly, so I don't think I can attribute it to hashimoto's. blah

sleepytexan

LilacDreamer, this is for you:

Living With Obesity At 700 Calories Per Day!
By: David Greenwalt

I want you to consider a common female client. She's a woman about 5'5" and 185 pounds. A combination of a mostly sedentary lifestyle, quick-fix, processed foods and consistent excessively low calories has resulted in an incredibly stubborn fat loss scenario. Not only has it created a stubborn fat loss scenario but her ability to add body fat is remarkably strong.

Most would believe there is simply no possible way she could be 185 pounds eating mostly low calories. While it's true the average obese American created their own obesity by being a huge over consumer, a sedentary glutton if you will, many are able to maintain their level of obesity with the following formula in very precise ratios: starvation + binges + sedentary lifestyle.

An initial review of this woman's calories indicates she is just above starvation level in the 400-700 per day range. The food choices are mostly protein in this case (low-carb is all the rage you know) and there are virtually no vegetables or fruits to speak of.

Five or six days per week the calories remain low in this range, however, there are nighttime binges from time to time and weekend binges where carbs loaded with fat (doughnuts, rolls, cookies, pizza etc.) are consumed.

So while the calories are very low the majority of the time, there are one to two days per week where this isn't always the case. Even so, the nighttime binges and weekend slack offs don't amount to what you might presume would be thousands of extra calories, thus explaining the 185-pound body weight.

Very few foods are prepared from home. There are lots of fast foods being consumed. Convenience and taste rule.

I must say. Early on in my coaching and teaching career this woman was a real head scratcher for me. Isn't it calories in and calories out? Even if she's not active she's starving!

How in the heck does she stay at 185 eating an average, including all binges, of maybe 750 calories per day? She's frustrated beyond belief. She sees her friends and coworkers eating more and weighing less. Is she simply unlucky? Is everyone else blessed? And what in the world is she supposed to do to fix this, if it can be fixed?


Why Is She Not Losing Weight?


First, let me tell you why she's not losing weight. Then I'll tell you what she has to do to fix the situation. With a chronic (months and months) intake of less than 1000 calories per day and a 185-pound body weight her metabolism is suffering greatly. It's running cool, not hot. It's basically running at a snail's pace.

Think of it this way. Her metabolism has matched itself to her intake. She could, indeed, lose body fat but she's in that gray area where she is eating too few calories but not quite at the concentration-camp level yet.

If she were to consume 100-300 calories per day her body would have virtually no choice but to begin liberating stored body fat. This is NOT the solution. It's unhealthy and, in fact, quite stupid.


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Not only has her metabolism matched her intake, her body has maximized production of enzymes that are designed to help store any additional calories as fat. Anytime additional, immediately-unnecessary calories are consumed the enzymes are there and waiting to store the additional calories as fat. Her body is starved nutritionally and it has one thing on its mind - survival.

Being mostly sedentary, her metabolism (hormones play a large role here) can do a pretty good job of keeping things slow enough so that the pathetically low calories she's consuming are just enough to maintain.

But since certain enzymes are elevated, waiting for more calories so more bodyfat can be stored, every nighttime binge or weekend mini-feast will contribute to fat stores.

So on the days she's not bingeing her body does not lose fat, or if it does, it's very little. And on the few days or times she does binge a bit her body is quite efficient at storing fat. So, while she may lose a smidge of fat from starving it is quickly replaced with every binge.

Remember, these binges aren't a gluttonous 4000-calorie feast. Oh no, a binge might be 4-5 cookies worth about 500-700 calories. Nevertheless, since the binge foods are mostly carbs and fat it's very easy for the enzymes to shuttle the dietary fat into stored body fat. It's what they were designed to do.


So, What's The Solution?


Well then, now that we presumably know some valid reasons why she's not seeing a scale change and definitely no body fat change how do we fix her? We have to do something she's going to freak out over.

We have to get her eating more. Not only do we have to get her eating more but more of the right, whole foods need to be eaten. Foods lower in fat that aren't as easily STORED as body fat have to be consumed. And we have to warn her.

A Discouraging Start


We have to warn her that since she's been sedentarily living on protein with binges of carbs and fats she is likely to see a weight gain right away. It's true.
Once we begin really feeding her body with nutritious carbohydrates so she can become more active, her glycogen-depleted body will hang on to some of those carbohydrates (in skeletal muscle and liver) so she has stored energy for activity.

When her body hangs on to those carbohydrates it has no choice but to hang on to more water too. For every gram of glycogen (stored carbs) she stores she'll hang on to three grams of water.

This is not a negative response by the body but it will be interpreted by her as quite negative when she steps on the scale.

It's quite likely she'll see a five to seven pound weight gain when she really starts eating properly again. This weight gain will remain for one to three weeks before it starts moving in the other direction.

For argument's sake let's assume my Calorie Calculator and Goal Setter at Club Lifestyle suggests a 1500-calorie per day average in week one for a one-pound loss per week. First, she is going to freak out about this many calories.

For months she's been eating less than 1000 and usually around 400-700 in one to three feedings total per day. To her 1500 calories is a ton of food. And if she even begins to eat less fast and packaged-foods it will be a ton of food.

There is no doubt whatsoever that she will resist the increase. This resistance may take one to three weeks to overcome. During this period no weight loss will occur. She is too fat already in her mind and believes it will only hurt her to increase her food intake.

I mean, after all, isn't that how she got fat to begin with? In her early stages of fat gain this was probably true. She overconsumed. But as I've said already, that's not why she's staying heavy.

In addition to a freaked-out mindset about adding more food to her already overfat body she will simply find that it's all but impossible to eat four or more times per day.

She's just not hungry at first. Makes sense when you think about it. Why would she be hungry three hours after eating a 300-calorie, balanced breakfast? Her body is used to 400-700 calories per day!

So, even though she gets a plan and begins using my nutrition analyzer to log foods and meals she finds after having a balanced breakfast of 250 calories she couldn't force herself to eat meal number two on time.

It'll take several more days of realizing what is going on and being one-hundred percent honest and diligent with her logging and planning before she begins to eat her meals as planned no matter what - even if she's not hungry.

By now two to four weeks have passed and the only thing she's seen on the scale is it going up--not very encouraging if I say so myself.

Raising The Grade


After the first two to four weeks have passed she's probably beginning to consume her meals as planned although not quite like an "A" student yet. That is coming. She feels better because she's working out and is more active.
And she feels like she has more energy throughout the day because she's feeding her body more calories and the right kinds of calories.

She has finally begun eating the right kinds of fast foods (low in fat, moderate in protein) and less packaged food overall. She is making more meals from home and taking them to work for lunch rather than always grabbing something quick from a vending machine or the break room that always has some treat another employee brought in.

After another two weeks or so she's moved from a "B" grade to more consistent "A"s. She's planning her days one day ahead in the Nutrition Analyzer; she's consuming fresh veggies and fruits on a daily basis.

Her calories are almost ALWAYS in line with what is recommended by my Lean Account and she has seen her first signs of the scale moving in the right direction.

She is now dropping from 190 pounds (her high after reintroducing food and carbohydrates again) to 189.3! "Progress at last!" she says. In actuality, the entire process was progress. But that's not how she saw it in the beginning.






With a total of two to four weeks of increased caloric intake behind her and eating more consistently the right kinds of foods her metabolism has truly begun to rebound.

She didn't kill it as she thought. She only wounded it. And since our metabolisms are like kids (they are quite resilient) and she doesn't have thyroid issues or diabetes or any known wrench that could be thrown into the spokes of fat loss, she will begin, for the first time in months or years, to see results that make sense and that one would expect of someone who is active (30-60 minutes five or more days per week) and consuming a caloric intake of 1300-1500 calories per day.


Butterfly Effect: The Basics Of The Thyroid - Part 1.
Avoiding Sabotage


This process is in no way easy. I think you can see a plethora of ways it could be screwed up, sabotaged, given up on too early and so forth.
A key to success for this very common woman (men too) is not giving up too soon, having faith in the fix, and moving sooner rather than later to the increased, quality food intake.

It's going to take effort to overcome the mental hurdles of eating more food as well as the increase in scale weight that is going to occur in weeks one to three or so. It's disheartening, however, to charge hard down the weight-loss field only to get to the one-yard line and decide it's time to quit.



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Many don't realize they only had one more yard to go and they'd have had a touchdown. You gotta hang in there with this plan. It's going to take some time for the glycogen levels to be replenished and level out. It's going to take some time for mental adjustments to occur.
It's going to take some time before hunger signals are restored to anything close to normal. It's going to take time for the metabolism to rebound and not be in its protective mode.

Giving A Stubborn Body The Message


In certain, very stubborn cases, it may be necessary to eat at a eucaloric (maintenance) or hypercaloric (over maintenance) level for a few weeks to ensure the metabolism does get the signal that everything is alright and you aren't going to kill the body.
Remember, your body could care less about your desire for fat loss. It just wants to survive.


Some Take-Home Points



The most common cause of obesity is Americans are sedentary overeaters/drinkers. Nothing in this article should be construed as to say that under eating is the root cause of obesity. It's not.

It IS common for many men and women to be under eating with sporadic binges as I described here. This creates a perfect environment for continued obesity even if total caloric intake is quite low on average.

Low-carb followers or "starvers" WILL see the scale go up when calories are consumed at reasonable levels again and carbohydrates are reintroduced. Live with it. Deal with it. It's going to happen. 98% of the gain will be water.

The time it takes for mental acceptance and other adjustments to occur will vary but one should expect a two to four week window for these things to take place. Being forewarned with an article like this may speed this process up some.

Once the right types of foods are consumed and the right caloric intake is consumed and the right ratios of carbohydrates, proteins and fats are consumed on a consistent basis, then, and only then, will metabolism begin to be restored and the key to fat loss be inserted into the lock with a noticeable drop in the scale resulting.
This may take an additional two to four weeks to occur. Your metabolism is never dead or broken for good. But it may take several weeks of proper eating and activity for it to be restored.


From day one, until the first, noticeable drop in the scale occurs may be four to six weeks--maybe one to two weeks longer. Those who give up on the one-yard line will never see the scale drop as will occur when intelligent persistence and consistency over time are adhered to.
David Greenwalt

chrisb75

Great Article sleepytexan. I also recommend Lyle Mcdonald's Training the Obese Beginner for those with more than 50lbs to lose. Its a little more technical but its chock full of good info. Its in 7 parts.

http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/training-the-obese-beginner.html

GurvD

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