not sure how to reassure her....
DaysFlyBy
Posts: 243 Member
So I'm trying to get my sister onboard with the EM2LM concept and she is really struggling. She got her BMR and TDEE from Scooby and her TDEE-15% is 1878. This is the text she just sent me:
”I feel like if I ate my 1878 cals I would be eating just like i was before dieting”
I want to reassure her but I'm so new myself I'm not sure what to say and I don't want to say the wrong thing.
Advice?
”I feel like if I ate my 1878 cals I would be eating just like i was before dieting”
I want to reassure her but I'm so new myself I'm not sure what to say and I don't want to say the wrong thing.
Advice?
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Replies
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Would she just trial logging for a week to see how it compares?0
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Ask her if she tracked her calories back then? Many times we think we ate that much, but really didn't track then, so we don't really know how much we ate.
Also explain the macronutrient ratios will provide her with just the right building blocks to help keep lean muscle while losing fat.
I know it is hard to convince someone that is VLC but your progress and your encouragement will eventually sink in...just be very patient, she will come around...0 -
I think that reassurance is really found in the facts, not in our "sense" of how things work. I'd ask her if she's willing to just read through some of the stickes on this site, and the success story thread as well.
She may also just need to watch you for a while - I bet that will be the greatest persuasion!
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I didnt track what I was eating before but I think that's a great idea!
I'm only 1 week in but have lost .6 lbs. Yes, it's not a full pound but it's the first time I've seen a new number on the scale in months. And in terms of NSV, I definitely look trimmer and feel more confident. I don't dread eating now. I don't feel like "well it doesn't matter, I can't lose weight so I'm going to sit back and eat a whole bag of chips!" or eating so little that I have zero energy to exercise. I look forward to eating, to making delicious meals, and am feeling very energized. I want to work out!
Help her understand that this change won't happen overnight. It took her X number of years to put on the weight so it will take time to lose it. It's a different way of thinking and living, but I feel so much healthier already!0 -
1800 calories from Burger King is not the same as 1800 clean calories. I find when you look at it in terms that everyone can relate too it makes it easier. A lot of people new to this might not understand macro and all that jazz, but they will understand how a double whopper with cheese stacks up against grilled chicken breasts and fresh veggies! 0
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I thought the same thing. In a way it is true. I currently have a goal of 2700 calories. I am losing weight on that goal. However, before I started trying to lose weight, I probably ate on average between 1900-3000 calories. It doesn't really sound like much of a difference, right? So why did I find myself at 312 lbs? Because I had a few days here and there where my calorie count would go up to 4k or higher. I probably have 4-5 holidays where my calorie intake is crazy (Thanksgiving, July 4th BBQs, and etc). Then you have birthdays. I celebrate maybe 10+ of those every year and have cake and ice cream. Those are high calorie days as well. Then you have days you are depressed and a big bowl of ice cream hits the spot.
My point is, most of us did not get overweight by eating a constant high calorie rate. We had a lot of peaks and valleys. Unfortunately our peaks were higher than our valleys and they caught up to us after years and years. If we had constantly eaten at a high calorie count, then the weight would have piled on us much more quickly. The people who constantly eat at those high levels are the ones you see that are (or close to being) bedridden.
I'm currently 37 years old and started gaining weight when I was around 12. I started out 117lbs overweight. I would likely have stopped growing around the age of 17 (at least for the most part). So really, I became overweight over a 20 year period. With some simple math, I gained 6lbs a year. That means I had 21,000 calories more than I should have over 1 year. That is only 57 calories a day over my TDEE a day. See? It just doesn't take many extra calories a day to gain weight. On the flip side of that, it doesn't take many less calories a day to lose weight.0 -
- Nutritional recommendations are usually based on 2000 calories, you are eating less then the recommended value
- You were not netting this before
- You can complain all you like and continue starving yourself or you can have your cake and eat it to.
- Many of us thought the same thing at first and we were all wrong and so is she (I was eating more like 4000).
- point her at some of the skinny ripped ones on this forum who state how much they eat (I net about 1650 which is usually about 2000-3000 depending on exercise)
- Point her at these links and point to the fact that it's science, not magic.
TDEE Info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harris-Benedict_equation
Calc: http://www.fitnessfrog.com/calculators/tdee-calculator.html
BMR/Equation Info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basal_metabolic_rate
Harris Benedict Equation: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harris-Benedict_equation
Calc (both equations): http://www.fat2fitradio.com/tools/bmr/
Weight Loss Simulator:
There was a scientific paper published based on the quantification of the effect of energy imbalance on bodyweight. The authors of this study made this addorable little calculator that lets you play with all the numbers mentioned above. They take the changes in the human metabolism into account, looking at the fact that a 3500 calorie deficit equaling 1 lb of weight loss isn't that percise.
Study: http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(11)60812-X/fulltext
Calc: http://bwsimulator.niddk.nih.gov/0
