Don't fall into the "nutrition trap"

rwwerner

I read post after post about people who can't lose weight or are in a plateu eating 1300 calories or less per day. I know when I started this life style change I fell into the same "Malnutrition" trap. It wasn't until a few months into my journey after educating myself by reading books, listening to podcasts, and testing the theories that I realized I had it all wrong. I started this journey weighing 320 lbs. I restricted my calories to 1600 per day per MFP guidelines for losing 2 lbs per week. I was constantly tired, had no desire to exercise, had a difficult time sleeping, was irritable etc. I continued to eat at the 1600 calorie goal for a few months. I still ate the same foods that were mostly processed foods, meat, and very few vegetables but watched my portion size to stay under the calorie goal. I did have success in losing weight during this time, but it was pure determination and fighting through the way my body was feeling and pretty much miserable during the process. One day I was searching for nutrition info on youtube and found Sean Croxton. He has numerous videos about nutrition and hosts the Underground Wellness podcasts and videos. It was then that I started to realize for fat loss it is 85% about nutrition and about 15% about exercise. I started reading about eating more to lose weight and not eating back exercise calories. It all seemed backwards to me. I didn't believe it and fought the idea for quite a while. I didn't want to gain more weight back by increasing my calories. I took Sean's advice and bought "The Dark Side of Fat Loss" ebook and changes started to immediately happen to my body. I raised my calorie goal to 2000 per day. I began eating "real" food and I started feeling better, more energy, desire to be active, slept much better, basically felt like a million bucks. I began using the 80/20 rule where I ate "real" food 80% of the time and processed food 20% because I didn't want to give up the occasional beer, coffee creamer, salad dressing, etc. and didn't want to be miserable or be annoying around my family and friends. I have been doing this for about 5 months and am down to 239 lbs as of this morning. I feel great, I am still losing about 1.5 - 2 lbs per week and I find it difficult sometimes to stuff 2000 calories of meat, veggies, and fruit into my mouth every day. I can't tell you the difference it made when I stopped eating loads of processed food daily. The foods that turn straight to glucose in your blood stream and get stored as fat by your insulin. My hope is that if you are reading this and have your calories set too low, reconsider raising your calories, don't eat your exercise calories back and just eat "real" food.

Ms_Freda

I have been wondering about this, I am down to 1290 per day and only lost .6 lbs. this week when I am on the 1.5 lbs per week to lose. I don't eat back the calories earned from exercise and am trying to eat the "clean foods" mostly, no softdrinks, chips or processed meats. Which being a woman, I would need less calories, but I have been thinking about raising it back up.

AddA2UDE

Great post! Congratulations on 81 POUNDS!!! That's awesome!

saustin201

Congrats, you've lost a lot of weight.

I also started on the 1200 per day calorie goal and was constantly hungry and crabby to my family. I upped my calorie goal to my BMR of 1600 and I eat most of my exercise calories back and the huge majority of them aren't processed foods. I eat a ton of fruits and veggies everyday.I feel better now and am less crabby.

Edited for typo

SherryTeach

I think every individual's nutritional and calorie needs are different based on their current size and BMR. My BMR is 1120, which is much lower than average. 1200 calories, then, is plenty to meet all my nutritional needs. And even then my loss will be very slow. But yes, definitely listen to your body. A healthy plan should make you feel better and stronger, not worse.

What I now realize is that once I hit my goal weight, my maintenance needs probably won't be above about 1400. I need to eat the way I do now for life.

tmauck4472

I guess I don't understand. I eat less, a lot less than I should but whatever (don't try to change me it ain't gonna happen) and I have tons of energy. I exercise 5 or 6 days a week and most of those days I exercise twice a day. I'm not crabby at all, actually less so now that I'm almost 100 lbs down. I'm not hungry at all.

healthymission92

How do you get that many cals with just veg, fruit and meat? I can never get over 8/900 when doing this

mcarter99

I guess I don't understand. I eat less, a lot less than I should but whatever (don't try to change me it ain't gonna happen) and I have tons of energy. I exercise 5 or 6 days a week and most of those days I exercise twice a day. I'm not crabby at all, actually less so now that I'm almost 100 lbs down. I'm not hungry at all.

I don't lack energy at a deficit, either. My body seems to burn stored fat for calories as well as it burns today's intake.

OP- That's awesome you found what works for you. I'd love to know if you read any published books or just 'ebooks' from someone's personal web site.

Phaedra2014

I guess I don't understand. I eat less, a lot less than I should but whatever (don't try to change me it ain't gonna happen) and I have tons of energy. I exercise 5 or 6 days a week and most of those days I exercise twice a day. I'm not crabby at all, actually less so now that I'm almost 100 lbs down. I'm not hungry at all.

How do you manage on less than 1000 cals a day? Some days your food intake is really low. Are you not tracking everything or do you just eat that little?

nmclaurin

High 5, I whole heartedly agree with you. This method works for two reasons. One, your body does not think it's starving because you DID NOT cut calories so drastically (the consumption of whole foods is nature's way of eating a natural low calorie diet due to the fact that most fruits and veggies are low cal), and two, you are giving your body the nutrients it needs by consuming whole foods! It knows what to do with whole foods, unlike processed foods that are laced with chemicals and food additives which are foreign to the body. Most importantly, this method is much easier to follow than counting calories every day. Kudos for GETTING IT!

I read post after post about people who can't lose weight or are in a plateu eating 1300 calories or less per day. I know when I started this life style change I fell into the same "Malnutrition" trap. It wasn't until a few months into my journey after educating myself by reading books, listening to podcasts, and testing the theories that I realized I had it all wrong. I started this journey weighing 320 lbs. I restricted my calories to 1600 per day per MFP guidelines for losing 2 lbs per week. I was constantly tired, had no desire to exercise, had a difficult time sleeping, was irritable etc. I continued to eat at the 1600 calorie goal for a few months. I still ate the same foods that were mostly processed foods, meat, and very few vegetables but watched my portion size to stay under the calorie goal. I did have success in losing weight during this time, but it was pure determination and fighting through the way my body was feeling and pretty much miserable during the process. One day I was searching for nutrition info on youtube and found Sean Croxton. He has numerous videos about nutrition and hosts the Underground Wellness podcasts and videos. It was then that I started to realize for fat loss it is 85% about nutrition and about 15% about exercise. I started reading about eating more to lose weight and not eating back exercise calories. It all seemed backwards to me. I didn't believe it and fought the idea for quite a while. I didn't want to gain more weight back by increasing my calories. I took Sean's advice and bought "The Dark Side of Fat Loss" ebook and changes started to immediately happen to my body. I raised my calorie goal to 2000 per day. I began eating "real" food and I started feeling better, more energy, desire to be active, slept much better, basically felt like a million bucks. I began using the 80/20 rule where I ate "real" food 80% of the time and processed food 20% because I didn't want to give up the occasional beer, coffee creamer, salad dressing, etc. and didn't want to be miserable or be annoying around my family and friends. I have been doing this for about 5 months and am down to 239 lbs as of this morning. I feel great, I am still losing about 1.5 - 2 lbs per week and I find it difficult sometimes to stuff 2000 calories of meat, veggies, and fruit into my mouth every day. I can't tell you the difference it made when I stopped eating loads of processed food daily. The foods that turn straight to glucose in your blood stream and get stored as fat by your insulin. My hope is that if you are reading this and have your calories set too low, reconsider raising your calories, don't eat your exercise calories back and just eat "real" food.

yarwell

How do you manage on less than 1000 cals a day?

Well one guy (very obese) ate nothing for over a year. Dieting is the triumph of the will to lose weight over the desire to eat after all.

I can't see any point in eating 20% of crap as a "rule" - what's the thinking behind that ? A crutch for the weak willed ? (with apologies to Jesse Ventura).