Ask me anything about fat/weight loss....

neti_call

I hope I'm not too late to this party. I've been playing with the same 5 lbs for 6 months. Started my weight loss journey about a year ago after my last kid was born, but I've been active and a gym rat my whole life. I'm sick to death of trainers telling me to eat 1100 cals and drink 2 protein shakes a day. I want to lose weight eating REAL food. I aim for 1200-1500 calories a day, lots of lean protein. I'm 5'4 and weigh 155. I work out 5 days a week and hit it HARD. I usually kill between 500 to 1000 cals a day. I'm in really great shape as far as fitness goes, but I can't get this damned weight to come off. I'd love to be about 140. I am careful about measuring food, too, so I'm pretty sure my calorie count is right.
I am just coming back after a couple of weeks of being discouraged and I need to fix this. Please help?

edited to add my body fat is 32.5%
Horrible. Something needs to be done!

" I am careful about measuring food, too, so I'm pretty sure my calorie count is right." Yes it is!....If your goal is to MAINTAIN! If you're not losing, then you're taking in too many calories. You're missing the big picture I keep talking about. As you diet down, you are going to need to readjust calories as necessary. A person may start at a certain amount of calories for a deficit, but as they diet down....eventually that same caloric level will eventually become maintenance because it takes more calories(all things equal) to maintain a heavier person. Depending on your LBM, 1500 is pretty high for a cut given your stats. Many professional bikini and physique competitors go as low as 1200 stat, and that is with next to NO subcutaneous fat on their bodies save their bums! As for having protein shakes, if you can get your protein from real food, then why take them?....It's a supplement! I MIGHT have 2-3 shakes a week, but if I can get real food, I'm gonna go for the real food every time. Hope this helps yeh.

ok, so I need to readjust my calories. It makes sense, but there are so many people who say you have to eat more to lose or that eating 1200 will put me in starvation mode. Just so many opposing viewpoints it's confusing!

littlepinkhearts

I'm finding the process of calorie counting to be very stressful. I've kinda been abusing my body for quite a few years now and have now decided to make it a priority to get back to basics. I've been slowly upping my cals from a very low 700-800 up to-now i'm at 1500. But like I said, i've been doing it since February of this year and the stress is killing me of trying to buy the proper foods to have in my kitchen for all kinds of days, circumstances (like going away for the wknd, heavy exercise). The actual EATING of the amount of food. Sometimes i'll make my food diary up in the morning for the whole day and it just is so overwhelming when I look at it and see all food I have to fit into my day. It's like i'm just always eating and thinking about food all the time. I seem to barely have time to exercise and have to take food with me everywhere I go just so I can get my cals in. Not to mention meeting the proper macros...that's another story. I know this journey is supposed to be fun, but I have to say it's kinda not right now. Anyways, sorry, I just wanna know if I can take a day off and exercise like hell, which is what I really wanna do haha and not pay attention to food unless I want to? And don't get me wrong..i'm totally 200% devoted to my journey.

Don't wanna track the food?....Then don't. Track your measurements and your weight then. Eat whatever you want and exercise however you want, but reevaluate at the end of every week still. If you're not losing, then eat a lil' less the next week and exercise a lil' more. At the end of the next week still, reevaluate again. It's that simple. SOMETHING has to be tracked though, or you're basically throwing spaghetti against the wall hoping something will stick. This ain't for everyone, hon. You say you're stressed, I bet you are! So are a lot of people who do this. And anybody that has made it through to the other side, they have DEFINITELY been stressed. I say take some time and truly ask yourself do you want this and is now the time. Maybe now is not the time for you. Sometimes we just have to get fed up with ourselves in order to step up to the challenge and do what is necessary to get the job done. Love yourself regardless though. Life is short.

Haha well my first thought while reading your response was omG not the spaghetti, throw anything but the spaghetti lol But seriously, I have taken some time and thought about your response and in answer to whether or not I want this, my answer is yes, I most definately want this, but unfortunately it is not the best timing, emotionally. However, time-wise and practicality wise, it is perfect timing and probably the only time I will ever have to completely focus on my own health. So, it needs to be done and no one else is gonna do it for me. As for the calorie counting, food prep and the non-stop eating...i'm just gonna have to deal with it somehow, because NOT tracking my food intake just leaves me wide open to falling back into my old eating habits....which means not eating at all when i'm stressed. I can only hope that it will get easier over time and I will become more efficient at it. And I truly am blessed in that I have people like you, who take time out of their own busy lives to help people like me who don't have a clue what they're doing sometimes and just need a guiding hand. So thank you for doing that and I WILL get the job done....one way or another. This is just one bump in the road that is a lot smaller now, I must say )

ExplorinLauren

bump

mshealy

bump

azznic

Hi,
Was wondering if anyone can help with some motivation/advice.
During the week I am really good sticking to 1200 a day. Two times a week I do boxing class for an hour which burns heaps of calories and I dont eat them all back. Then other days I walk for 30 mins or so or do DVDs. Exercise about 4-5 times a week.

Weekends I seem to just get a bit slack and eat a little more than I should.
Ive lost about 5 kilos .. 2 since I have been using my fitness pal.
But the past 3 weeks I have not lost anything at all. Should I change my routine?

I still have 10 more kilos to go.

Thanks,

jennifeffer

This question is for the OfficialEpic I am a 35yr old mother of two, I am 5'3". I started my healthier lifestyle on Jan. 2/12. My starting weight was 213.

I set my calories at 1350 and did JM dvds 5-6 times a week or rode my bike. I was able to lose 11lb this way by about March. Then i hit a plateau for about three weeks at which point i switched to not eating any grains (staying around 1350) and i lost three pounds that week. Then another plateau.

Through a lot of reading, i thought perhaps my calories were too low. So i upped them to 1570, end of March and continued to exercise, adding weight training and uphill sprints to my routine. I lost one pound in Apri.....one pound!!

So here i sit at 198 pounds, down 15 from where i started. I've lost 4 inches off my waist and 3 off my hips. I don't know which way to go........I did speak with a registered dietician who said to lower calories more.

So i dropped them back to 1200 about four days ago, but i've been eating back the exercise calories (which doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me but most people on this page swear by it). And the scale is not moving. HELP! I've read this entire thread and taken bits and pieces of what you've said to other people but i thought i'd throw my story at you.......thanking you in advance:)

TheOfficialEpic

I hope I'm not too late to this party. I've been playing with the same 5 lbs for 6 months. Started my weight loss journey about a year ago after my last kid was born, but I've been active and a gym rat my whole life. I'm sick to death of trainers telling me to eat 1100 cals and drink 2 protein shakes a day. I want to lose weight eating REAL food. I aim for 1200-1500 calories a day, lots of lean protein. I'm 5'4 and weigh 155. I work out 5 days a week and hit it HARD. I usually kill between 500 to 1000 cals a day. I'm in really great shape as far as fitness goes, but I can't get this damned weight to come off. I'd love to be about 140. I am careful about measuring food, too, so I'm pretty sure my calorie count is right.
I am just coming back after a couple of weeks of being discouraged and I need to fix this. Please help?

edited to add my body fat is 32.5%
Horrible. Something needs to be done!

" I am careful about measuring food, too, so I'm pretty sure my calorie count is right." Yes it is!....If your goal is to MAINTAIN! If you're not losing, then you're taking in too many calories. You're missing the big picture I keep talking about. As you diet down, you are going to need to readjust calories as necessary. A person may start at a certain amount of calories for a deficit, but as they diet down....eventually that same caloric level will eventually become maintenance because it takes more calories(all things equal) to maintain a heavier person. Depending on your LBM, 1500 is pretty high for a cut given your stats. Many professional bikini and physique competitors go as low as 1200 stat, and that is with next to NO subcutaneous fat on their bodies save their bums! As for having protein shakes, if you can get your protein from real food, then why take them?....It's a supplement! I MIGHT have 2-3 shakes a week, but if I can get real food, I'm gonna go for the real food every time. Hope this helps yeh.

ok, so I need to readjust my calories. It makes sense, but there are so many people who say you have to eat more to lose or that eating 1200 will put me in starvation mode. Just so many opposing viewpoints it's confusing!

Lol. Try this: Eat twice as much as you normally do for a week....See if you don't gain weight. I understand the logic of keeping the metabolism high, but either way....if you're not in a deficit consistently, whether that's at 1200 calories a day or 2000, then you're not going to be losing. As for starvation mode, lol on that. I almost fall out of my seat everytime I hear it. So when Muslim fast for instance, they are all in starvation mode?....I highly doubt that. What the hell does that even MEAN starvation mode?! Your body is a LOT smarter and resilient than that. Simply dieting in and of itself will eventually lower your metabolism! Takes more calories to maintain a 200 pound person than a 150 pound person(all things equal). Don't fall into believing the hype. You're just gonna end up wasting time and a TON of money.

TheOfficialEpic

What a great thread!...I have had to quit working out due to planters facitius( hope I spelled that right)...anyway, I've cut back on my calories so that hopefully I will continue to lose weight. Is it ok that my calories on some days is as low as 900 cal but on other days maybe 1900 cal? I tend to eat less on a regular day (no snacking, drinking, clean eating) but on social days I may drink or have a desert...but at this time I'm doing no workouts due to my injury...I'm losing weight but I want to be sure I am not messing up my body so that when my foot heals I can jump right back into my workouts...any advice is so appreciated

Do you feel strong and healthy?....Are your mood levels good?....If so and you're losing, then I see no problem with it. Depending on your height and weight, 900 could be perfectly fine if you're not doing anything but sitting in front of the computer during the day. In the long run I recommend matching your consumption to your activity levels as often as possible for overall health. If I train more, then I eat a little more. If I'm not doing anything during the day, then obviously I don't need as much food.

TheOfficialEpic

My bodyfat is 20.8, what is a healthy bodyfat for my height?
I'm 5ft, would I need to lose weight to drop my bodyfat?
I have been doing just cardio up till now, but I would like to start up with weights, just don't know where to start really yet.
I would love to be toned, I don't want abs as such, just the toned look.

All toning up is is leaning out to the desired level. You can do all the triceps work in the world, but your arm is still gonna jiggle if you don't burn the bodyfat on them. Same with the stomach, butt, thighs, etc. Fatloss is achieved through a calorie deficit. This can be accomplished through more activity, less food, or a combination of the two.

TheOfficialEpic

I'm finding the process of calorie counting to be very stressful. I've kinda been abusing my body for quite a few years now and have now decided to make it a priority to get back to basics. I've been slowly upping my cals from a very low 700-800 up to-now i'm at 1500. But like I said, i've been doing it since February of this year and the stress is killing me of trying to buy the proper foods to have in my kitchen for all kinds of days, circumstances (like going away for the wknd, heavy exercise). The actual EATING of the amount of food. Sometimes i'll make my food diary up in the morning for the whole day and it just is so overwhelming when I look at it and see all food I have to fit into my day. It's like i'm just always eating and thinking about food all the time. I seem to barely have time to exercise and have to take food with me everywhere I go just so I can get my cals in. Not to mention meeting the proper macros...that's another story. I know this journey is supposed to be fun, but I have to say it's kinda not right now. Anyways, sorry, I just wanna know if I can take a day off and exercise like hell, which is what I really wanna do haha and not pay attention to food unless I want to? And don't get me wrong..i'm totally 200% devoted to my journey.

Don't wanna track the food?....Then don't. Track your measurements and your weight then. Eat whatever you want and exercise however you want, but reevaluate at the end of every week still. If you're not losing, then eat a lil' less the next week and exercise a lil' more. At the end of the next week still, reevaluate again. It's that simple. SOMETHING has to be tracked though, or you're basically throwing spaghetti against the wall hoping something will stick. This ain't for everyone, hon. You say you're stressed, I bet you are! So are a lot of people who do this. And anybody that has made it through to the other side, they have DEFINITELY been stressed. I say take some time and truly ask yourself do you want this and is now the time. Maybe now is not the time for you. Sometimes we just have to get fed up with ourselves in order to step up to the challenge and do what is necessary to get the job done. Love yourself regardless though. Life is short.

Haha well my first thought while reading your response was omG not the spaghetti, throw anything but the spaghetti lol But seriously, I have taken some time and thought about your response and in answer to whether or not I want this, my answer is yes, I most definately want this, but unfortunately it is not the best timing, emotionally. However, time-wise and practicality wise, it is perfect timing and probably the only time I will ever have to completely focus on my own health. So, it needs to be done and no one else is gonna do it for me. As for the calorie counting, food prep and the non-stop eating...i'm just gonna have to deal with it somehow, because NOT tracking my food intake just leaves me wide open to falling back into my old eating habits....which means not eating at all when i'm stressed. I can only hope that it will get easier over time and I will become more efficient at it. And I truly am blessed in that I have people like you, who take time out of their own busy lives to help people like me who don't have a clue what they're doing sometimes and just need a guiding hand. So thank you for doing that and I WILL get the job done....one way or another. This is just one bump in the road that is a lot smaller now, I must say )

I'm happy to hear that. Never stop fighting, and eventually you'll get there. Hats off for taking a stand. Yeh, it's gonna be hard...but the strength you gain back in the long run, not to mention your health, is WAY more than worth it.

TheOfficialEpic

Hi,
Was wondering if anyone can help with some motivation/advice.
During the week I am really good sticking to 1200 a day. Two times a week I do boxing class for an hour which burns heaps of calories and I dont eat them all back. Then other days I walk for 30 mins or so or do DVDs. Exercise about 4-5 times a week.

Weekends I seem to just get a bit slack and eat a little more than I should.
Ive lost about 5 kilos .. 2 since I have been using my fitness pal.
But the past 3 weeks I have not lost anything at all. Should I change my routine?

I still have 10 more kilos to go.

Thanks,

Give it another week. Don't get impatient. Stick to what you're doing and if you stall out, then readjust your calories or up your activity as necessary. Stop being slack on the weekends too as it ALL adds up.

TheOfficialEpic

This question is for the OfficialEpic I am a 35yr old mother of two, I am 5'3". I started my healthier lifestyle on Jan. 2/12. My starting weight was 213.

I set my calories at 1350 and did JM dvds 5-6 times a week or rode my bike. I was able to lose 11lb this way by about March. Then i hit a plateau for about three weeks at which point i switched to not eating any grains (staying around 1350) and i lost three pounds that week. Then another plateau.

Through a lot of reading, i thought perhaps my calories were too low. So i upped them to 1570, end of March and continued to exercise, adding weight training and uphill sprints to my routine. I lost one pound in Apri.....one pound!!

So here i sit at 198 pounds, down 15 from where i started. I've lost 4 inches off my waist and 3 off my hips. I don't know which way to go........I did speak with a registered dietician who said to lower calories more.

So i dropped them back to 1200 about four days ago, but i've been eating back the exercise calories (which doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me but most people on this page swear by it). And the scale is not moving. HELP! I've read this entire thread and taken bits and pieces of what you've said to other people but i thought i'd throw my story at you.......thanking you in advance:)

Depending on where you are in your journey, and how accurate your estimation of exercise calories is, eating them back can be the best or the worst thing for you. If you're overestimating them, then it makes sense that you're not losing. Keep it simple though. Don't focus on the whole 'eating your exercise calories back'.....focus on where you are on the weekly. If you're eating your exercise calories back and you're not losing, then I'd adjust overall calorie intake down. Don't keep it down TOO too long though, or the body will readjust to it too! That is why when you added back calories for a while, you started losing again. Your metabolism upregulated but OVERcompensating putting you into a further deficit! Awesome! Sounds like you're on your way though. You say you've read the entire post, so you've obviously heard me talk numerous times about learning your body, how fickle the metabolism is, constantly readjusting, and not being afraid to take a step back with an occasional refeed in order to take two steps forward. Keep up the fight yeh. You're doing it. Great work so far this year yeh.

waldo56

Awesome thread.

There is a lot written, pretty much everywhere, about starting to lose weight and losing weight, however the other end, stopping, gets much too little ink. I've been gradually reducing my deficit; after many months of very smooth weigh loss, low day to day variance and highly predictable results, things have totally changed. My deficit started at 1000/day, dropped to 750/day, and now is at 500/day (maybe). I'm at a about 9-10% BF. My deficit is calculated from results instead of an estimate formula. Until 500/day, where I have been for 3 weeks, everything went very smoothly and the results matched predictions pretty much precisely (I weigh daily).

Now my weight is big time undulating, over 5+ lbs/day variance, even at reliable weigh in times that used to have very low variance. I'm fine with that variance, but the question is - is this the new normal and something I should expect, is it part of the transition that should be expected to disappear as I increase my intake further, or is this a temporary state of readjustment, and I should hold steady on this deficit. My plan for transition was to raise my deficit by 250 every other week until I hit maintence. I'd like to verify my maintenece level intake before attempting a surplus. With these big undualtions, there is a slight downward trend, but not at the level I'd expect. My current plan is to sit tight here for another week to see if things settle down and the long term trend becomes clearer, as if the current trend is right my metabolism dropped and I'm much closer to maintenence than I believed. I've never heard of this phenomenon before but it would somewhat makes sense to occur as glycogen levels rise. Is my plan to hold this deficit a bit longer a good one, or should I just stick to my original plan and keep raising my intake. My main goal for now is to verify my maintenence level intake, the daily calorie goal that will flatline my weight.

jennifeffer

Thanks again:) I really appreciate it.

TheOfficialEpic

Awesome thread.

There is a lot written, pretty much everywhere, about starting to lose weight and losing weight, however the other end, stopping, gets much too little ink. I've been gradually reducing my deficit; after many months of very smooth weigh loss, low day to day variance and highly predictable results, things have totally changed. My deficit started at 1000/day, dropped to 750/day, and now is at 500/day (maybe). I'm at a about 9-10% BF. My deficit is calculated from results instead of an estimate formula. Until 500/day, where I have been for 3 weeks, everything went very smoothly and the results matched predictions pretty much precisely (I weigh daily).

Now my weight is big time undulating, over 5+ lbs/day variance, even at reliable weigh in times that used to have very low variance. I'm fine with that variance, but the question is - is this the new normal and something I should expect, is it part of the transition that should be expected to disappear as I increase my intake further, or is this a temporary state of readjustment, and I should hold steady on this deficit. My plan for transition was to raise my deficit by 250 every other week until I hit maintence. I'd like to verify my maintenece level intake before attempting a surplus. With these big undualtions, there is a slight downward trend, but not at the level I'd expect. My current plan is to sit tight here for another week to see if things settle down and the long term trend becomes clearer, as if the current trend is right my metabolism dropped and I'm much closer to maintenence than I believed. I've never heard of this phenomenon before but it would somewhat makes sense to occur as glycogen levels rise. Is my plan to hold this deficit a bit longer a good one, or should I just stick to my original plan and keep raising my intake. My main goal for now is to verify my maintenence level intake, the daily calorie goal that will flatline my weight.

A ton of stuff that could effect that yeh. You hit on one yourself with the glycogen levels. Overall water retention is a big one also. Five pounds DOES seem a bit high, but still nothing that would seem crazy to me. Just think about fighters and how for weigh-ins some will drop up to 8 pounds in a day just by sweating it out with cardio and sauna. I'm a big time sweater myself, and going into my workout and directly after I say I skew 2-3 pounds.

As far as what happens after you reach your goal. You're always obviously gonna be watching your weight and or calorie intake. Do like most of my clients do after they hit their goal and give yourself a 5 pound leeway up and down. Say your goal weight is 180....goin' to the beach, drop down to 175 and enjoy some extra calories while vacationing......just make sure not to overindulge OVER 185. This keeps a good cage on life. You're staying healthy while at the same time giving yourself freedom to live. Hope this helps, man. Huge congrats on the progress yeh. That's good stuff

Brandongood

As you lose more weight, you're going to be constantly readjusting calorie levels.

Can you explain this bit in basic terms please. Does it mean increasing your calorie consumption or decreasing it? I've definitely lost weight since joining MFP. Does it mean I up my calories or lower them? I've got a lot to learn (sigh)

What is fat?.....Stored energy. If you are not ingesting enough calories to maintain it, then it gets burned. So who is going to need more calories to maintain their weight, a 300 pound person or a 200 pound person? Obviously the 300 pounder. So say the 300 pound person decides to diet down. He loses 50 pounds. What it takes to maintain himself at 250 is less than what he needed at 300(all things equal). Because of this, what may have been a deficit at 300 pounds, might be maintenance now that he is 250. If that is the case then he will most likely need to readjust his calories lower to continue to lose. I myself, when I start a cut, my maintenance is usually around 3,000+ calories a day just sitting on my bum.....towards the end it drops as low as 2,250. Make sense?....

How does one figure out their maintenance? Trial and error?

TheOfficialEpic

As you lose more weight, you're going to be constantly readjusting calorie levels.

Can you explain this bit in basic terms please. Does it mean increasing your calorie consumption or decreasing it? I've definitely lost weight since joining MFP. Does it mean I up my calories or lower them? I've got a lot to learn (sigh)

What is fat?.....Stored energy. If you are not ingesting enough calories to maintain it, then it gets burned. So who is going to need more calories to maintain their weight, a 300 pound person or a 200 pound person? Obviously the 300 pounder. So say the 300 pound person decides to diet down. He loses 50 pounds. What it takes to maintain himself at 250 is less than what he needed at 300(all things equal). Because of this, what may have been a deficit at 300 pounds, might be maintenance now that he is 250. If that is the case then he will most likely need to readjust his calories lower to continue to lose. I myself, when I start a cut, my maintenance is usually around 3,000+ calories a day just sitting on my bum.....towards the end it drops as low as 2,250. Make sense?....

How does one figure out their maintenance? Trial and error?

Pretty much yeh unfortunately. Don't get me wrong, the calcs will give you a pretty good estimate for the most part, but depending on your body comp, it can change a good bit. Take two 180 pound men, one of which is 24% body fat and the other is 8%. The chappie at 8% is going to have a much higher resting metabolic rate because of the extra muscle mass. Once you have your estimate though, it's pretty easy to figure it out just by tracking your consumption and activity for a week or two.

georgedarling

Bumping -

cmccorma

Stats:
Female
5'4"
247.4 lbs.
was eating 1900 PLUS my exercise calories, been gaining weight. My BMR is 1864, my TDEE is 2500.
When I ate 1600 calories PLUS exercise calories I was losing weight...that worked for me, but the whole "must eat BMR" confuses me, is that FOOD or NET, because if it's "food" and not "net" I am getting that with the 1600 Net calories.
I make sure I walk 10,000 steps a day, and calculate 500 calories for that (1600+500 =2100 food eating), would you say that's enough??? It seemed to always work, but I also hear about eating and NETTING your bmr (which for me would be 1864) but I wind up gaining and it's so frustrating for me. :-/

If you're losing, you're losing. Don't overcomplicate it with the bmr(it's usually way off anyways). Bmr, eating back your calories, netting....all this make such a simple thing so complicated. If you're losing, then keep on doing what you're doing. When you stall out, readjust your calories downward or add in a little more activity.

This makes more sense to me than anything I have seen on these forums. Thank you!!!

kendrajoyk

technical issues....sorry for the useless post!