If I eat more than 1000 calories

UsedToBeHusky

You have caused your metabolism to slow way down. Find out what your TDEE is and eat that for a month. Ignore the scale because you are going to gain no matter what you do. After a month, shave 300 calories off your TDEE and you body will burn mostly body fat.

So zig-zag my calories?

No... eat at TDEE for a month to reset your metabolism. Then, do not eat less than 300 calories below TDEE. Eating less than that will cause your body to use much more than stored body fat for fuel.

Be aware this 'resetting your metabolism' thing is 100% a forum theory. So is 'don't eat below your BMR'.

Your small fluctuations are almost certainly water. Ignore it and forge ahead.

They're hardly theories!

Ok, could you source out the idea that people shouldn't eat less than 300 calories than their TDEE? Because that's not even a lb a week, and I've never heard that a lb a week will cause your body to cannibalize you muscles.

And how accurate are these online TDEE calculators? 300 is such a small deficit any error in the numbers could eat it up.

First off, I learned this from someone with a degree in nutritional science. And I read it in the New Rules of Lifting for Women. While achieving weight loss is a matter of calories in/calories out, there is more at work within the body. What you are eating is also extremely important. The body produces hormones, such as cortisol and grehlin. Cortisol is a stress hormone that increases the body's efficiency at burning calories in order to force your body to function with fewer calories. Grehlin is the hormone that generates the feeling of hunger. If your diet is lacking in unsaturated fats (and you're in a calorie deficit), the body immediately assumes its starving and begins to generate these hormones.

Electrolytes also impact weight. The body uses minerals, such as sodium, potassium, calcium, and magnesium. A deficiency of any of these minerals creates an imbalance and in reaction, the body absorbs excess waters into cells and they swell. Women actually have additional water retention issues that are just mandatory, and can't be avoided.

People who are in a calorie deficit for long periods of time, inevitably, develop nutrition deficiencies that disrupt water balance or cause the body to generate hormones like cortisol and grehlin. The closer you are to TDEE, the easier it is to ensure that you achieve the balanced diet that your body needs. If you don't fulfill those needs, then your body will work against your efforts to lose weight.

You can call them theories, but all of this is based in science. If anything, MFP's "3500 calories = 1lb" and "deficits based on BMR" are more the forum theory than this. Sure, 3500 calories would and should equal a 1lb of weight loss, but that is total weight loss and NOT fat loss. Depending on whether your diet is balanced or not, that 1lb could be 3/4 fat + 1/4 water or 1/4 fat +1/4 water + 1/2 muscle or it could just be 1lb of water.

Besides... I ate a 300 calorie deficit below my TDEE for the last 3 weeks and lost 13 lbs. Sure, a lot of it was water, but what wasn't was a little muscle and a lot of fat.

OP - Even though I didn't mention it, protein is extremely important too. Really the message I'm hoping to get across here is that it is more important to make certain that your diet is nutritionally sound than it is to cut as many calories as possible from your diet. You can PM me if you want to talk about it more. I'm not going to continue to engage newbies who haven't even begun to do the research that I have.

Wait, so the answer to the question "could you source" was no.

Actually, I did source... "New Rules of Lifting for Women" by Lou Schuler

Pick up a book!

jonelaw

Wow.........
I would simply suggest eating more whole food vs processed food, more protein and more water. I'm not a nutritionist or a weightlifter but it certainly doesn't look like you are eating anywhere near enough.

beckajw

You have caused your metabolism to slow way down. Find out what your TDEE is and eat that for a month. Ignore the scale because you are going to gain no matter what you do. After a month, shave 300 calories off your TDEE and you body will burn mostly body fat.

So zig-zag my calories?

No... eat at TDEE for a month to reset your metabolism. Then, do not eat less than 300 calories below TDEE. Eating less than that will cause your body to use much more than stored body fat for fuel.

Be aware this 'resetting your metabolism' thing is 100% a forum theory. So is 'don't eat below your BMR'.

Your small fluctuations are almost certainly water. Ignore it and forge ahead.

They're hardly theories!

Ok, could you source out the idea that people shouldn't eat less than 300 calories than their TDEE? Because that's not even a lb a week, and I've never heard that a lb a week will cause your body to cannibalize you muscles.

And how accurate are these online TDEE calculators? 300 is such a small deficit any error in the numbers could eat it up.

First off, I learned this from someone with a degree in nutritional science. And I read it in the New Rules of Lifting for Women. While achieving weight loss is a matter of calories in/calories out, there is more at work within the body. What you are eating is also extremely important. The body produces hormones, such as cortisol and grehlin. Cortisol is a stress hormone that increases the body's efficiency at burning calories in order to force your body to function with fewer calories. Grehlin is the hormone that generates the feeling of hunger. If your diet is lacking in unsaturated fats (and you're in a calorie deficit), the body immediately assumes its starving and begins to generate these hormones.

Electrolytes also impact weight. The body uses minerals, such as sodium, potassium, calcium, and magnesium. A deficiency of any of these minerals creates an imbalance and in reaction, the body absorbs excess waters into cells and they swell. Women actually have additional water retention issues that are just mandatory, and can't be avoided.

People who are in a calorie deficit for long periods of time, inevitably, develop nutrition deficiencies that disrupt water balance or cause the body to generate hormones like cortisol and grehlin. The closer you are to TDEE, the easier it is to ensure that you achieve the balanced diet that your body needs. If you don't fulfill those needs, then your body will work against your efforts to lose weight.

You can call them theories, but all of this is based in science. If anything, MFP's "3500 calories = 1lb" and "deficits based on BMR" are more the forum theory than this. Sure, 3500 calories would and should equal a 1lb of weight loss, but that is total weight loss and NOT fat loss. Depending on whether your diet is balanced or not, that 1lb could be 3/4 fat + 1/4 water or 1/4 fat +1/4 water + 1/2 muscle or it could just be 1lb of water.

Besides... I ate a 300 calorie deficit below my TDEE for the last 3 weeks and lost 13 lbs. Sure, a lot of it was water, but what wasn't was a little muscle and a lot of fat.

OP - Even though I didn't mention it, protein is extremely important too. Really the message I'm hoping to get across here is that it is more important to make certain that your diet is nutritionally sound than it is to cut as many calories as possible from your diet. You can PM me if you want to talk about it more. I'm not going to continue to engage newbies who haven't even begun to do the research that I have.

Wait, so the answer to the question "could you source" was no.

Actually, I did source... "New Rules of Lifting for Women" by Lou Schuler

Pick up a book!

"Pick up a book" That's rich! You know nothing about me. If you're one source is NROLFW, perhaps you should pick up a few more books.

UsedToBeHusky

"Pick up a book" That's rich! You know nothing about me. If you're one source is NROLFW, perhaps you should pick up a few more books.

I don't need to know anything about you. Where are your sources?

mcarter99

I'd need to brush up on NROL4W but if it had either of those concepts, I'd be surprised. I think people misunderstand what is a 'deep deficit'. 1000-1200 isn't, not for the vast majority of us.

"Sure, 3500 calories would and should equal a 1lb of weight loss, but that is total weight loss and NOT fat loss."

No, the 3500 refers to fat loss alone. Not water or LBM. There is no calories in water and fewer than 3500 in LBM.

UsedToBeHusky

Schuler didn't write NROL4W, he wrote the original. It had nothing about 'metabolism reset' and 'eat above your BMR'. I read the 4W one, too, the week it came out. So I'd need to brush up but if it had either of those concepts, I'd be surprised. I think people misunderstand what is a 'deep deficit'. 1000-1200 isn't, not for the vast majority of us.

"Sure, 3500 calories would and should equal a 1lb of weight loss, but that is total weight loss and NOT fat loss."

No, the 3500 refers to fat loss alone. Not water or LBM. There is no calories in water and fewer than 3500 in LBM.

I wasn't referencing calories equating to water. I was saying that a lost lb is NOT just fat and therefore, what MFP deems as 1lb a week weight loss isn't accurate.

mcarter99

I corrected my post. Schuler and Forsythe co-wrote NROL4W.

UsedToBeHusky

I corrected my post. Schuler and Forsythe co-wrote NROL4W.

Yes... I left out the co-authors for simplicity's sake. Anyone looking for the book could easily find it under Schuler.

Brandicaloriecountess

Wow, that would suck.

rocksoutforcheese

I think the quality of the calories you consume is most important. As others have stated, you definitely need more protein and personally I would be eating a lot more vegetables too. I'd focus on cleaning up and adding in more real foods.

mcarter99

I read a library copy of the book but googling around turned up a spreadsheet of the eating plan for NROL4W.

maggiewang.com/nrolfw/nrolfw_log_sheets.xls

It has me eating around 1280, which is under my BMR.

If anyone can tell me what section it talks about 'resetting your metabolism' I'd like to stop and pick up a library copy and read it.

chubby_checkers

I read a library copy of the book but googling around turned up a spreadsheet of the eating plan for NROL4W.

maggiewang.com/nrolfw/nrolfw_log_sheets.xls

It has me eating around 1280, which is under my BMR.

If anyone can tell me what section it talks about 'resetting your metabolism' I'd like to stop and pick up a library copy and read it.

I think you read the sheets wrong. I opened it up and for a 33 year old woman that is 142 lbs and 5'6", her RMR (resting metabolic rate) is 1258. Her maintenance (without exercise) is 2013. Fat loss (minus 300) is 1713 without exercise. If you add in exercise, you increase those calories (it's given on the sheets).

UsedToBeHusky

I read a library copy of the book but googling around turned up a spreadsheet of the eating plan for NROL4W.

maggiewang.com/nrolfw/nrolfw_log_sheets.xls

It has me eating around 1280, which is under my BMR.

If anyone can tell me what section it talks about 'resetting your metabolism' I'd like to stop and pick up a library copy and read it.

I wasn't referring to 'resetting' metabolism actually. I was talking about eating at a deficit of only 300 below TDEE, but since I have the book right here in front of me.

Schuler, L., Forsyth, C. & Cosgrove, A. (2007). The New Rules of Lifting for Women. ch.7, p68. Penguin Group: New York
(since apparently proper citation is required)

"My initial instinct is to suggest that you don't try to cut calories at all at first. You'd calculate your maintenance level, and then stick that for four weeks... (omitting for lack of relevance) ... I recommend that for these reasions:

1. We have no idea if that's your real maintenance level. It is, as I said, just a paper-pencil estimate.
2. You probably don't know if the predicted maintenance level is more than you're used to eating, less, or about the same.
3. ... (again, relevance, he refers to the workouts which weren't a part of my original recommendation)

I never said that the OP should 'reset' her metabolism. Someone else called it that. All that I said was that her present deficit has caused her body to lose enough muscle mass to change her metabolism. I suggested maintenance calories as a means to stabilize her metabolism so that she can attempt a different method.

As far as your presumption that 1000 calories is not a deep deficit, it honestly boils down to where you are in your weight loss. Truly obese people can go for the VLCD (very low calorie diet) and lose sufficiently. I did that myself for a long time. But then weight loss slowed down, and I had to find out why. Hence, the bit I posted about hormones and electrolytes. The OP only has 30 lbs to lose which would make her closer to just overweight than obese which means that a VLCD will not work for her as long as it worked for me.

clee369

I think what would help you is changing your goals to maintaining your current weight. Then subtract 500 from it and you will be at the appropriate deficit. So if your TDEE is 2000, eat around 1500 calories a day and you should be ok. Also you need way more protein in your diet. And fats are good too! Eating fats doesn't *necessarily* make you fat

taso42

Either mislogging, or your metabolism is shot to hell. Mislogging is more likely.

jackjackattck

As most people on here have said, increasing your intake alone won't do anything. You need to not only eat the right number of calories, but the right types of calories. I skimmed through a few of your diary entries and it seems like you are not eating nearly enough protein or the right types of foods. I say try cutting out some of the pastries and cookies, and add it a lot more lean protein and vegetables. These girls are talking about equations, and although it is true that the calories in/calories out equation works, 1200 calories of carbs and cookies is not equal to 1200 calories of turkey, fish, fruits, vegetables and whole grains.

Girls, instead of arguing over a book, how about give this girl some real advice? This is a support site.

mcarter99

I read a library copy of the book but googling around turned up a spreadsheet of the eating plan for NROL4W.

maggiewang.com/nrolfw/nrolfw_log_sheets.xls

It has me eating around 1280, which is under my BMR.

If anyone can tell me what section it talks about 'resetting your metabolism' I'd like to stop and pick up a library copy and read it.

I think you read the sheets wrong. I opened it up and for a 33 year old woman that is 142 lbs and 5'6", her RMR (resting metabolic rate) is 1258. Her maintenance (without exercise) is 2013. Fat loss (minus 300) is 1713 without exercise. If you add in exercise, you increase those calories (it's given on the sheets).

Please try it again with age 47, weight 160. It tells me 1280 calories to reduce by 300 calories/day (no workout).

mcarter99

UsedtobeHusky- I think 'stabilizing your metabolism' is pretty much the same as resetting it.

I don't know why anyone trying to lose weight would calculate their estimated burn and then eat at it for four weeks to check their math. You'd get the same info from eating 500 calories under it, plus you'd probably lose 4 lbs. I can't see the context of the book excerpt, though.

jackjackattck - (Cute name!) We're all trying to be supportive by giving the OP reasonable advice. I don't think the 'metabolism reset' thing is reasonable. Just an opinion, nothing personal to anyone. I've heard from a lot of people that said this 'metabolism reset' thing put 5-15 lbs. on them and the proponents still said, "You just didn't stick to it long enough."

tazboy

I started this up again last month after having to recover from a hernia operation. I feel good, a little tired at times, need to nap. I've picked up the walking everyday for at least 30 mins/day. I set my calorie intake at 1800, but it keeps saying I should increase it to 2100 with warnings. If I'm feeling ok, healthy, happy and building confidence with in myself,can I keep it at 1800 without doing damage? I know I need to increase healthier foods, and more protein, and I'm getting there, slowly, but I cut out all the comfort foods that I usually intake on a daily basis. Am I doing any damage to myself?

chocl8girl

Sheesh, everyone always thinks their way is the right way. It's really hard to use a one-size-fits-all approach to anyone's weight loss. I totally respect and admire your wanting to figure out what you need to do, and I wish you LOTS of luck! You CAN do this! One thing I DID notice, however, is that you said you pretty much do no exercise. Maybe now is a good time to change that.

swkittrell

All the info. has been very interesting.

thelovelyLIZ

No, zig-zagging calories means to eat low calories one day, higher calories the next (or low calories one week, higher the next). People think it keeps their metabolism "confused" and therefore working harder.

What the other poster is suggesting is a "reset." You eat at a maintenance level for a month, don't weigh yourself at all, then start eating a reasonable deficit after the month-long reset.

Oh! Okay, I see. Apparently my TDEE is 2011.
So I would just eat 2011 calories for about a month and then go back down to 1200?

That sounds reasonable. I'll try it out. Thanks guys

I would not recommend going back down to 1200. My maintenance is around 1600-1700 and 1200 is too low for even myself. 1200 is not a magic number. Tell MFP you want to lose a pound a week or half a pound, and see what it says. I'm betting 1500 would be a perfectly acceptable number and you would still be losing.

Remember, slow and steady wins the race.

UsedToBeHusky

UsedtobeHusky- I think 'stabilizing your metabolism' is pretty much the same as resetting it.

I don't know why anyone trying to lose weight would calculate their estimated burn and then eat at it for four weeks to check their math. You'd get the same info from eating 500 calories under it, plus you'd probably lose 4 lbs. I can't see the context of the book excerpt, though.

jackjackattck - (Cute name!) We're all trying to be supportive by giving the OP reasonable advice. I don't think the 'metabolism reset' thing is reasonable. Just an opinion, nothing personal to anyone. I've heard from a lot of people that said this 'metabolism reset' thing put 5-15 lbs. on them and the proponents still said, "You just didn't stick to it long enough."

That gain is mostly water and to be expected. Again, electrolyte balance is the key isuue for water. There is no way to keep your electrolytes balanced 100% of the time. The best you can hope for is to manage it by balancing your diet. That is what I advocated here. Not a metabolism reset. Find your TDEE. Try it for four weeks to see if you weight is roughly the same from day one to day thirty. Then, cut 300 calories off the top, eat all your protein, and you can increase the amount of fat burned as opposed to diminishing muscle. Muscle is the key component that burns calories. Carrying fat just makes your muscles work harder. Weight will fluctuate daily due to changes in the electrolyte balance. Most people assume that eating more calories means eating whatever they want and end up consuming too much sodium and throwing off the electrolyte balance again. So, they gain back 5-10 lbs and then when they go back to a deficit, they cut out many of the foods they were eating and level off their sodium levels, and drop weight dramatically. They think that they dropped because of cutting out calories when they actually dropped by cutting out sodium.

michellekicks

There is truth to the gains from increasing calories being attributed to water weight.

I usually cut at a very modest amount - I use the MFP guidelines to lose half a pound per week and set my lifestyle to lightly active plus I eat back all my exercise calories. My net is roughly 1750.

For two weeks prior to a tough race I was running I ate at TDEE every day - about net 2100 by all calculations. In that 2 weeks I put on 4.5 lbs and ran faster than I had been for months of training. Two days after my race I began cutting again (just by 250 calories/day) and lost 6 lbs in 3 days. So basically, during my 2 weeks at TDEE I was carb loading... my body was storing glycogen and water but I was probably still burning a little fat - about 1.5 lbs worth. So I guess that wasn't even my full TDEE (but close enough for my purposes) since my return to cutting brought my weight down even lower than it had been before increasing my calories.

I also was given information from an athletic coach that as an endurance athlete I shouldn't cut more than about 400 calories/day from TDEE or I will sacrifice performance and recovery.

mcarter99

You did use the term 'resetting your metabolism' back on p. 1, I believe.

Where is this 'balance your electrolytes' stuff coming from now? You'd think with all this balancing and resetting that our bodies supposedly need, weight loss wouldn't be generally considered "eat less, move more".

I strongly recommend anyone wanting to lose weight, try their est. TDEE minus 500 for a month and not their entire TDEE for a month. Both methods show you what you burn. In the former, if you're right, you lose 4 lbs. In the latter if you're right, you lose 0. Or you gain 5-10 lbs. of something.

UsedToBeHusky

You did use the term 'resetting your metabolism' back on p. 1, I believe.

Where is this 'balance your electrolytes' stuff coming from now? You'd think with all this balancing and resetting that our bodies supposedly need, weight loss wouldn't be generally considered "eat less, move more".

I strongly recommend anyone wanting to lose weight, try their est. TDEE minus 500 for a month and not their entire TDEE for a month. Both methods show you what you burn. In the former, if you're right, you lose 4 lbs. In the latter if you're right, you lose 0. Or you gain 5-10 lbs. of something.

You haven't read all of my posts. I did not say "reset" metabolism. Someone that posted after me described it that way. I mentioned electrolyte balance in a subsequent post. As far as the recommendation to eat at TDEE for a month, the purpose of that, as I have previously explained, is to make certain that the TDEE is accurate because everything is an estimation. There is no way to predict exactly how many calories your body will use in a day.

MaraDiaz

Sorry if someone already mentioned it, but just in case, if you can get your doctor to check your metabolism it wouldn't be a bad thing. Bring him your food diary or something. Maybe you can even get a referral to a nutritionist for a personalized plan.