You HAVE to eat your exercise calories....
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Read this. A woman stayed obese on 700 calories a day. Its NOT the right way to lose weight.
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 Greenwalt0 -
Not eating your exercise calories is a probably a way to lose weight faster. That being said, the faster you lose weight the faster you will put it all back on once you go back to eating normally.
The best bet is to eat back most of your calories, and lose weight the slow and steady way. This way makes it easier to keep the weight off in the long term.0 -
i never eat all my exercise calories..i try to stick to 1300-1500 calories a day..sometimes i go over but thats ok because i do exercise alot. i listen to my body though..if im hungry i add something .i had a pretty intense workout day yesterday..last night before i went to bed i was actually hungry for once ..im rarely feeling hungry any more..i had a whey and casein shake and it did the trick for me .0
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You don't have to eat your exercise calories to be healthy. You can lose weight if you do eat your exercise calories. It's all just personal choice.
If you don't eat them, you will probably lose faster, especially at first, but it will likely be tougher when you get to goal to then add calories back for maintenance without going over and gaining. But again, that is a personal thing. Some will find it difficult, perhaps too difficult, and some will not.
If you eat them you may lose a little slower but the transition to maintenance will likely be smoother becasue there will be less adjustment needed. You may also be able workout more or more intensly because you have more energy, thus speeding up your weight loss and retaining more muscle.
Personally, if I had a lot of weight to lose, at first I'd eat as few of them as possible without making myself miserable, then as I lost gradually add more. This seems to me the most natural progression from losing to maintenance.0 -
The fact of the matter is this isnt a short term journey for 99% of the people on here. Do what works for YOU. That being said, there is no reason to starve yourself.0
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I agree Brettu,,,,nope. biggest loser? Do you think they eat back their exercise calories???? Nope. they lose tremendous amounts of weight as we all know.
And they also have the worlds best personal trainers, a staff preparing special meals for them and cameras watching their every move in case they try and cheat. You got any of that?
Most importantly they never keep it off any damn way. Stop comparing your situation to a tv show.
Do they even let the viewer know how many calories these people eat per day? because I guarantee the guys are not eating 1200 calories a day and working out like that, MFP already has you on a deficit so you need to eat them back. I eat them back and I lose 2lbs per week and I have dropped my BF% by 6.3%. Look at my diary right now and all you will see is red and at the end of the day it will be green and I will lose weight!
I think people just don't understand how this site is set up to lose weight.0 -
1) they were all obese so they weren't in danger of starvation mode
2) they had more than 1200 calories anyways
3) once they dropped some weight their cals went up
4) most of them haven't sustained their weight loss0 -
Not eating your exercise calories is a probably a way to lose weight faster. That being said, the faster you lose weight the faster you will put it all back on once you go back to eating normally.
The best bet is to eat back most of your calories, and lose weight the slow and steady way. This way makes it easier to keep the weight off in the long term.
No one that loses a considerable amount of weight-fast or otherwise-will EVER be able to eat normally again. By that I mean the calorie amount. Afraid you will need to watch what you eat just as much as when trying to lose the weight in order to maintain the loss. This is the biggest reason people gain the weight again. Your body's set point changes when you are overweight and after you lose the weight it will fight you to go back to that level. You will not be able to consume the same calories a person of the same weight as you who has never been overweight can consume. You will probably have to lower it by a few hundred calories and/or up your exercise level in order to eat a little more.0 -
People eat their exercise calories and lose weight. Obviously you can eat them and still lose. So the question is, why wouldn't you? Does starving yourself give you a feeling of moral superiority?
If you eat 1200 calories a day and burn 500, that is the same as doing no exercise and eating only 700 calories. Does that sound healthy to you? Sure, if you eat less, you will lose faster. Maybe we should all just stop eating until we get to our goal.0 -
I've been doing MFP since January and I started out losing weight regularly, then, after reading all the 'hype' about eating exercise calories, I decided to try it. I stopped losing weight for 2 months! I got fed up and started eating only 100-300 (sometimes 0 but not always) of my earned exercise calories and now I'm losing weight like I did before.
It sounds like MFP didn't estimate your metabolic rate. But you've found a way around the math that works for you, and if you are losing 1-2 pounds a week you are doing it right.
No matter what, each 500 calorie deficit per day, added up over a week, WILL cause you to lose 1 pound of body weight per week (ignoring variances from things like water retention, etc). However, MFP notoriously overestimates exercise for some people, or at least you really need to make the most of the exercise to burn the calories they list, and it is also based on averages.
What works for you, works for you. If you are losing weight at a 1-2 pound rate per week, then you are losing it in a healthy and controlled manner no matter what math you choose to use to get there.
The problem really only arises when someone ignores the math and grabs for the brass ring - goes for extreme weight loss (anything over 2-3 pounds a week sustained over several weeks). Those are the people who are eating at too much of a deficit, and their outcome is generally, but certainly not always, poor.
The real problem with MFP is that it really has no way of knowing for sure what your metabolic rate is. So it guesses based on your height, weight, age, etc. And for some people (like me) the math works out pretty well. If I eat back my exercise calories (as well as I can estimate them) and follow the plan, I'm losing at a steady and fairly predictable rate. If I don't, my weight loss rapidly increases for a week or two, then stalls until I start eating more. No matter what I do, over a longer period of time, I cannot AVERAGE more than 1-2 pounds a week of sustainable weight loss. So I might as well just set it up to 2 pounds a week, lose it without any discomfort or hunger, and be patient.
Whatever you find, no matter how you find it, the whole point is to experiment with the math and the calories and find what works best for you. But very few people who lose weight at very fast rates end up with the tools at the end to keep it off.
So I wish everyone the best of luck in whatever you choose to do, but if you are losing weight faster than about 3 pounds a week (maybe 4-5 if you have more than 100 pounds to go), you would do yourself a great favor to be mindful of the fact that you stand a very high likelihood of plateauing frequently, becoming frustrated, and setting yourself up for a possible rapid weight gain when your "diet" is over.
Slow and steady wins this race, at least for most of us. If you feel you're someone who can lose weight a lot faster and keep it off, I wish you the very best. I honestly don't know of anyone outside "reality" TV and people who have had stomach-altering surgery who have managed it, but I know there are people out there who have managed it. I'm not one of them. It's been 30 years and I'm finally doing it RIGHT (for me) this time.0 -
I didn't see a reply that gave this information exactly for the Biggest Loser part. (FYI, you're an idiot if you buy that, it doesn't even make sense to be a long term success.)
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/40423712/ns/today-entertainment/t/biggest-loser-where-are-they-now/#.T797xdVfESU
Will it work? Possibly, but improbable.
Don't eat back your calories, drop your calories below NET, watch your scale numbers go down and your fat look worse because you're losing lean mass, go for it. I will just keep doing it a healthy way.0 -
http://shouldieatmyexercisecalories.com
Seriously. Go there. Read the links. It explains everything.
Hey thats super great site!0 -
Does it really work though? Not being funny when I say that, but I'd like to see a follow up program a year later to see how many have kept up the good work, or how many have put it back on plus more due to losing it so quick.
The US version might already do this, but don't think the uk one does
google it and see how they have done - lots didn't keep the weight off and even some of the winners of the show and the $250,000 didn't keep it off either . Find what works for you - for the rest of your life ... that is the most important part ... IMHO :laugh:0 -
http://shouldieatmyexercisecalories.com
Seriously. Go there. Read the links. It explains everything.
Thank you0 -
Create a deficit with exercise to compliment the adjustment to your diet and then eat back what you've just worked off, why?
If your deficit is BECAUSE of the exercise then it makes sense not to eat those calories back.
If you're at a deficit already and then exercising on top of that to create EVEN MORE of a deficit then it makes sense to eat back exercise calories.
This topic has like a million threads and no thread ever adds anything new.0 -
u,,,,nope. biggest loser? Do you think they eat back their exercise calories???? Nope. they lose tremendous amounts of weight as we all know.
By you saying this proves you do not understand how this specific system at MFP works.
Good luck to you. A little education before you speak would be a good thing.0 -
I agree Brettu,,,,nope. biggest loser? Do you think they eat back their exercise calories???? Nope. they lose tremendous amounts of weight as we all know.
And they also have the worlds best personal trainers, a staff preparing special meals for them and cameras watching their every move in case they try and cheat. You got any of that?
Most importantly they never keep it off any damn way. Stop comparing your situation to a tv show.
Do they even let the viewer know how many calories these people eat per day? because I guarantee the guys are not eating 1200 calories a day and working out like that, MFP already has you on a deficit so you need to eat them back. I eat them back and I lose 2lbs per week and I have dropped my BF% by 6.3%. Look at my diary right now and all you will see is red and at the end of the day it will be green and I will lose weight!
I think people just don't understand how this site is set up to lose weight.
Thanks man. One of my biggest criticisms of Biggest Loser is they never show what the contestants eat. NEVER! Oh sure they'll have Jared from Subway stroll in one afternoon and they'll pimp some Jennie-O lean turkey. But for the most part healthy eating is COMPLETELY IGNORED on that show. Instead they focus on tests to see who'll binge on pizza or the challenges and the exercise. They'll take about 2 minutes every few weeks to briefly say something about healthy eating. That's all.
Biggest Loser is not a guide for anyone to lose weight. It's a tv show. You can't do what they do and really, you don't want to. The show is the very definition of a fad diet. Do extreme things to lose tons of weight fast.
MFP is not like that. It's better than that.0 -
It really does come down to a personal choice. For me, eating back my calories for two weeks, I gained 2 lbs (I probably overestimated the calories I burned). I have so much weight to lose, that for me to maximize my weight loss, I only eat back about 20-25% of my calories that I earned. However this is just what works best for me.0
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Not once have I exceeded my daily calories and never have I eaten 1 calorie back from exercise and I regularly drop between 1 to 2lbs a week so how can anyone say that you should eat back what you've worked off?
Create a deficit with exercise to compliment the adjustment to your diet and then eat back what you've just worked off, why?
May as well just avoid the exercise and up your daily calorie intake to what you would have lost with exercise. Nope, didn't think that would work either.
3,500 kcals excess creates a pound of fat, to lose 2lbs a week requires you to burn off 7,000 kcals which is not easy but a safe and managable regimen. Sensible diet and regular exercise will ensure this, some weeks you won't drop weight but gain muscle tone. This doesn't mean failure as you are transforming your body and more muscle burns more calories so you will lose more. It will get to the point when you won't put on as much muscle unless you lift ridiculous amounts of weight but when you get to that stage, you'll burn off more excess fat.
Along with eating junk, drinking alcohol, having treats or not being honest about what you're eating will cause most people to fail miserably and the amount of threads on here pay testament to this.
Bad eating habits and an unhealthy lifestyle are the reason why a lot of people are out of shape and overweight. You start a health plan and continue snack eating, consuming chocolate, cakes and alcohol and ask why the diet isn't working.
With all due respect, I don't believe you. It's really unhealthy psychologically, not to mention nearly impossible, to "not once" exceed one's allotted calories.
HOWEVER, it's possible for more than one method of weight loss to be workable, so even if you have "never eaten 1 calorie back from exercise" it's still possible, easy in fact, to say that "you should eat back what you work off."
Now, if you actually do "create a deficit with exercise" then you are correct; eating that deficit makes no sense. It's also a silly way to create a deficit unless you do exactly the same things every day, and I, for one, don't. As MFP recommends, I create a deficit before exercise--one that will be there even if I can't exercise--then eat the calories from exercise. This is the way MFP is set up, and it's a very sustainable way to lose weight.0 -
Thanks man. One of my biggest criticisms of Biggest Loser is they never show what the contestants eat. NEVER! Oh sure they'll have Jared from Subway stroll in one afternoon and they'll pimp some Jennie-O lean turkey. But for the most part healthy eating is COMPLETELY IGNORED on that show. Instead they focus on tests to see who'll binge on pizza or the challenges and the exercise. They'll take about 2 minutes every few weeks to briefly say something about healthy eating. That's all.
Biggest Loser is not a guide for anyone to lose weight. It's a tv show. You can't do what they do and really, you don't want to. The show is the very definition of a fad diet. Do extreme things to lose tons of weight fast.
MFP is not like that. It's better than that.
People forget it's a game show...not a way to live your life. If I were on the show, I would eat as little as possible and work out like a machine in a sweat suit because I want to win. In real life I do the healthy thing because I'm not on a diet, I have changed the way I live my life, and I will be able to maintain it.0
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