Constructive criticism please
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Sorry everyone - My diary is now public so you should be able to see what I'm eating.
I don't feel now as if I'm "dieting" - that's why I get weary of eating even MORE calories. I don't ever get hungry & I do give into temptation a bit when I feel like I have a craving for something. I appreciate all the responses so far.
You are not hungry because after a short while of eating low cal your body adapts, just expects low calories and does not ask for more... it simply gives up on asking... and it gives up on burning fat...
Your muscles take up more energy for the body to maintain and are converted to energy easily... it's chooses that to burn first.... not your fat
That is not true. Muscle is far less efficient as an energy source than fat. FAR less, and the body is designed to burn fat first. Well, after sugar. Most people don't start burning significant amounts of muscle until they are in the 10-15% fat range.
Actually....you are wrong...
Muscle takes more calories to maintain... so when eating in a calorie deficit your body has to decide which to burn first.... it chooses muscle mass every time over fat..... fat is simple and easy to keep.... and because you are eating low calories it thinks it "needs" to keep the fat...
If you did the same amount of exercise and ate enough to feed your body properly....it will burn your fat and keep the muscle....
No, it really doesn't. Otherwise no one would ever burn fat.0 -
I really have to question the whole "1,500 calories" thing. For my weight (178 pounds), Mayo's calculator says I will MAINTAIN my current weight on between 1,400-1700 calories per day. I would lose nothing on 1,500 calories per day and little if anything on even 1,200 calories per day on a day where I'm not that active. I'm certainly not doing P 90X -my son did it, it's intense!- but I do exercise daily and question the wisdom of eating more just because you're exercising. Anyone have any studies to back these sort of claims up? Thanks!
I hate to say this, but I think this is in incorrect. I have never seen maintenance calories this low... Unless you are really really short AND skinny. Maintenance calories are generally much higher...
I am 5'5" and weight 123 lbs and 1500 is maintenance for me. I have been maintaining for a year on that.0 -
yes they would, when they create a small calorie deficit and workout..... eating right and lifting weights maintains and strengthens what you have.... if this is done with a small cal deficit then the body burns off your fat and maintains as much as it can of your lean muscle...
If you just drastically cut your calories and workout like mad..... somethings gotta give...and unfortunately it's your muscles and some little fat0 -
I am 5"4 and maintenance calories for me at 125lbs is 2000 when I work out 3-5x a week.
If you are sedentary than maybe 1700 to maintain...but who wants to just sit around all day lol
I also want to add, that if you muscle mass is low then it takes less calories to maintain your weight... if you are in great shape and have lots of muscle and tone you will be able to eat probably closer to 2400 calories a day to maintain...
Once again...it all comes back to lean body mass and muscle.... nice muscles and strong bones and strong tendons take lots of calories to keep
and if you LOVE to eat....that's a great thing to have ! 0 -
First of all, good for you for taking steps to get healthy and fit! Now here's some of my advice that you can feel free to take or leave
1. Put away the scale for 1 month--when you start lifting weights, your muscles retain up to POUNDS of water weight as they repair and recover. (No, you're not gaining muscle that fast, but it's STILL a good thing, and it's temporary)
2. Start eating more. Find out your TDEE, and eat 20% less than that. You can work treats into your calories (Thank goodness!), but focus on lean proteins, veggies, fruits, nuts, whole grains--you know "real" food
3. Don't be afraid to fuel your body. Food is your best ally in getting fit--it's not the enemy.
4. STOP guesstimating. Buy a $25 food scale and GET IT RIGHT!! Just do it!!
5. If you keep under-eating, you will be MUCH more likely to burn out, binge, and just basically feel run-down and crappy. PLUS you risk losing lean muscle instead of fat...PLUS you risk slowing your metabolism down after a while and making weight loss harder and harder.
6. Have PATIENCE. Relax. Breathe, Don't hurry, Don't worry...Enjoy feeling your body getting strong. Enjoy the process. This takes TIME. It should not be a diet, it should be a real life change. Your body WILL change if you fuel it properly, challenge it with the right exercise, and WAIT. It never happens as quickly as you'd like, but it will happen. :flowerforyou:0 -
No critricism, just free advice. Take it for whatever you think it is worth.
First, yeah you for working hard at getting fit.
Don't sweat it if you don't see results on the scale right away. Weight loss is not linear. If you eat right and do the work, the weight will come off in time. In the grand scheme of things 2 weeks is nothing.
A couple of things to remember:
Your scale lies to you. People constantly say “I worked out every day this week and ate right, and I still gained 3 lbs! This fitness stuff doesn’t work, so why bother. I quit” Not true. You just haven’t given it enough time. The scale can lie to you because it doesn’t know what part of your weight is fat, what is muscle, and what is water. If you are working hard and keeping under your calories, the weight loss will come when it is ready (which sadly is probably not the same thing as when you are ready). Weight loss is a funny thing, and everybody's results are different. Women especially seem to have inconsistent results from everything I have seen and read. There can be many reasons for this - just to name a few possibilities:
a. You are new to exercise and your body is still trying to figure out what it needs to do to cope with the new demands you are putting on it. When you start working muscles that aren't used to getting worked, they pull water into themselves as they try to repair themselves from the micro tears created by exercise (that's how they grow), and that can add water weight until the body gets used to working hard day in and day out.
b. Women's monthly cycles (Disclaimer - I am a guy - I admit I only know what is in the published studies!) cause water weight loss and gain throughout the month, which really screws up the scale results. Don’t blame me, it wasn’t my idea.
c. There is also something I have read dieticians and trainers write about sometimes called the "whoosh effect" where weight stays stubbornly on for weeks in spite of lowered calories and regular exercise, and then suddenly, "whoosh" pounds come off 3 and 4 at a time for some reason. It’s crazy, but makes sense when you remember that your body wants to be fat once it has learned how to be fat, so it doesn’t give up those pounds easily. Keep at it and, sooner or later, it will have to surrender the pounds. Unfortunately we all want instant results, which doesn’t always happen. So, keep on keepin on.
d. Muscle gains also reduce the loss of pounds on the scale, but will reduce your body size in inches; muscle weighs more than fat. This takes time, but keep a lookout for this in action. Use your favorite pair of jeans as a measuring stick and ignore the scale for a couple of weeks. Or, measure yourself at the start and track how those inches disappear over time. They will.
e. When and where you weigh yourself matters. Keep it consistent in terms of time and place, and use the same scale. They don’t all read the same. Even moving the scale to another room or a different part of the room can give you a different result.
f. If you are like a lot of people, you can gain or lose as much as 5-6 pounds during the day depending on what you ate, when you last ate, when you last used the bathroom, and so on. If you remember that, it helps keep you sane when the scale number isn't moving.
Keep after it and you will get where you want to go. :drinker:
Thanks for this 0 -
No critricism, just free advice. Take it for whatever you think it is worth.
First, yeah you for working hard at getting fit.
Don't sweat it if you don't see results on the scale right away. Weight loss is not linear. If you eat right and do the work, the weight will come off in time. In the grand scheme of things 2 weeks is nothing.
A couple of things to remember:
Your scale lies to you. People constantly say “I worked out every day this week and ate right, and I still gained 3 lbs! This fitness stuff doesn’t work, so why bother. I quit” Not true. You just haven’t given it enough time. The scale can lie to you because it doesn’t know what part of your weight is fat, what is muscle, and what is water. If you are working hard and keeping under your calories, the weight loss will come when it is ready (which sadly is probably not the same thing as when you are ready). Weight loss is a funny thing, and everybody's results are different. Women especially seem to have inconsistent results from everything I have seen and read. There can be many reasons for this - just to name a few possibilities:
a. You are new to exercise and your body is still trying to figure out what it needs to do to cope with the new demands you are putting on it. When you start working muscles that aren't used to getting worked, they pull water into themselves as they try to repair themselves from the micro tears created by exercise (that's how they grow), and that can add water weight until the body gets used to working hard day in and day out.
b. Women's monthly cycles (Disclaimer - I am a guy - I admit I only know what is in the published studies!) cause water weight loss and gain throughout the month, which really screws up the scale results. Don’t blame me, it wasn’t my idea.
c. There is also something I have read dieticians and trainers write about sometimes called the "whoosh effect" where weight stays stubbornly on for weeks in spite of lowered calories and regular exercise, and then suddenly, "whoosh" pounds come off 3 and 4 at a time for some reason. It’s crazy, but makes sense when you remember that your body wants to be fat once it has learned how to be fat, so it doesn’t give up those pounds easily. Keep at it and, sooner or later, it will have to surrender the pounds. Unfortunately we all want instant results, which doesn’t always happen. So, keep on keepin on.
d. Muscle gains also reduce the loss of pounds on the scale, but will reduce your body size in inches; muscle weighs more than fat. This takes time, but keep a lookout for this in action. Use your favorite pair of jeans as a measuring stick and ignore the scale for a couple of weeks. Or, measure yourself at the start and track how those inches disappear over time. They will.
e. When and where you weigh yourself matters. Keep it consistent in terms of time and place, and use the same scale. They don’t all read the same. Even moving the scale to another room or a different part of the room can give you a different result.
f. If you are like a lot of people, you can gain or lose as much as 5-6 pounds during the day depending on what you ate, when you last ate, when you last used the bathroom, and so on. If you remember that, it helps keep you sane when the scale number isn't moving.
Keep after it and you will get where you want to go. :drinker:
Great information in this reply.....someone did their homework! 0 -
First of all, good for you for taking steps to get healthy and fit! Now here's some of my advice that you can feel free to take or leave
1. Put away the scale for 1 month--when you start lifting weights, your muscles retain up to POUNDS of water weight as they repair and recover. (No, you're not gaining muscle that fast, but it's STILL a good thing, and it's temporary)
2. Start eating more. Find out your TDEE, and eat 20% less than that. You can work treats into your calories (Thank goodness!), but focus on lean proteins, veggies, fruits, nuts, whole grains--you know "real" food
3. Don't be afraid to fuel your body. Food is your best ally in getting fit--it's not the enemy.
4. STOP guesstimating. Buy a $25 food scale and GET IT RIGHT!! Just do it!!
5. If you keep under-eating, you will be MUCH more likely to burn out, binge, and just basically feel run-down and crappy. PLUS you risk losing lean muscle instead of fat...PLUS you risk slowing your metabolism down after a while and making weight loss harder and harder.
6. Have PATIENCE. Relax. Breathe, Don't hurry, Don't worry...Enjoy feeling your body getting strong. Enjoy the process. This takes TIME. It should not be a diet, it should be a real life change. Your body WILL change if you fuel it properly, challenge it with the right exercise, and WAIT. It never happens as quickly as you'd like, but it will happen. :flowerforyou:
Smart cookie if anyone knows how to EAT and get lean at the same time and have amazing muscles it's you girl !! 0 -
Here is where I get confused....
I have calculated my RMR and tdee... My RMR is 1716, and my TDEE, if I put in moderate exercise, is 2660. If I subtract 20% from this, that puts me at 2128 calories. This seems like WAY too much for me to eat and to lose weight.
I'm not someone who is new to fitness. I was a high school and college athlete... I've run a marathon. I put on weight during law school/my first year as a lawyer and I'm having a very hard time getting it off.
To be honest, 2128 calories seems totally insane to me. I can bump up my calories a bit for sure, but this seems like it would be impossible for me to lose weight...0 -
Im sorry you are frustrated - it makes a world of difference if you take the time to learn and study and understand what changes you are making to your body. The scale is really not the best indicator or what you are doing to your body - all it measures is your gravitational pull. Its important to legitimately comprehend the actions you are taking and what you are causing to happen inside of you.
Good luck 0 -
Here is where I get confused....
I have calculated my RMR and tdee... My RMR is 1716, and my TDEE, if I put in moderate exercise, is 2660. If I subtract 20% from this, that puts me at 2128 calories. This seems like WAY too much for me to eat and to lose weight.
I'm not someone who is new to fitness. I was a high school and college athlete... I've run a marathon. I put on weight during law school/my first year as a lawyer and I'm having a very hard time getting it off.
To be honest, 2128 calories seems totally insane to me. I can bump up my calories a bit for sure, but this seems like it would be impossible for me to lose weight...
As hard as that is to imagine, if you entered your #'s correct than that is what you need to eat, making protein a priority. And it's 2128 cal of good food...not junk. I know it's so very hard to wrap your head around it, it is/was for me too !
This link might help... this man knows his stuff and has helped lots and lots of people on here lose weight.
www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/8017-in-place-of-a-road-map0 -
Here is where I get confused....
I have calculated my RMR and tdee... My RMR is 1716, and my TDEE, if I put in moderate exercise, is 2660. If I subtract 20% from this, that puts me at 2128 calories. This seems like WAY too much for me to eat and to lose weight.
I'm not someone who is new to fitness. I was a high school and college athlete... I've run a marathon. I put on weight during law school/my first year as a lawyer and I'm having a very hard time getting it off.
To be honest, 2128 calories seems totally insane to me. I can bump up my calories a bit for sure, but this seems like it would be impossible for me to lose weight...
Here's where you are wrong,
2128 calories is what you need to eat to lose weight (assuming you calculated your numbers correctly).
I started at 230lbs, and I'm now at 190. I eat 1900-2100 calories a day. I lose weight.
Trust the numbers, not what you think has been your experience. Congrats on your athletic accomplishments, but that doesn't really apply to this situation.
Edit to say - You're a lawyer. That means you are good at speaking your mind and arguing for what you think is right. That's good. But you should recognize that 3 pages of a thread where everyone is telling you to eat more, probably means they are on to something here.0 -
Here is where I get confused....
I have calculated my RMR and tdee... My RMR is 1716, and my TDEE, if I put in moderate exercise, is 2660. If I subtract 20% from this, that puts me at 2128 calories. This seems like WAY too much for me to eat and to lose weight.
I'm not someone who is new to fitness. I was a high school and college athlete... I've run a marathon. I put on weight during law school/my first year as a lawyer and I'm having a very hard time getting it off.
To be honest, 2128 calories seems totally insane to me. I can bump up my calories a bit for sure, but this seems like it would be impossible for me to lose weight...
Why don't you try it for a month and see? I lost all my weight eating 2000 cals on average, and I started at 163 lbs--5' 7". You've GOT to fuel your body and your workouts properly if you want this to work. I know it's scary!! I started with 1200 calories at the beginning, just like everyone else. That may be ok for sedentary people, but if you want to get FIT and STRONG, and you work out hard, you've got to eat!! Get a food scale so you know for SURE what you're eating. Most of us just don't realize how much we were actually eating to gain weight in the first place. 0 -
TBH when I did p90x I ate 1800 calories and did not lose much. I started just eating 1200 and managed to lose 20 pounds in the last couple months.
I am not going to berate you about exercise calories because honestly it has not worked for me. So try zig zagging your calories. It may shock your system enough to get your metabolism up and running.
Best of luck to you!
I can guarantee you that it was not all fat.... you lost weight but most of it was your lean muscle mass..... that's too bad.
This is the thing that I HATE about this site. You don't know ANYTHING about me. BUT apparently you know everything about my body and my weight. I tried eating my exercise calories back for almost a year and did not lose. My nutritionist said to do 1200. So before you judge people on here and how they eat. HOW ABOUT YOU BE SUPPORTIVE0 -
TBH when I did p90x I ate 1800 calories and did not lose much. I started just eating 1200 and managed to lose 20 pounds in the last couple months.
I am not going to berate you about exercise calories because honestly it has not worked for me. So try zig zagging your calories. It may shock your system enough to get your metabolism up and running.
Best of luck to you!
I can guarantee you that it was not all fat.... you lost weight but most of it was your lean muscle mass..... that's too bad.
This is the thing that I HATE about this site. You don't know ANYTHING about me. BUT apparently you know everything about my body and my weight. I tried eating my exercise calories back for almost a year and did not lose. My nutritionist said to do 1200. So before you judge people on here and how they eat. HOW ABOUT YOU BE SUPPORTIVE
Sorry....not going to be supportive of starving yourself or losing 20lbs in 2 months.... if you are going to promote it by telling your story, be prepared for people to not agree with it...0 -
TBH when I did p90x I ate 1800 calories and did not lose much. I started just eating 1200 and managed to lose 20 pounds in the last couple months.
I am not going to berate you about exercise calories because honestly it has not worked for me. So try zig zagging your calories. It may shock your system enough to get your metabolism up and running.
Best of luck to you!
I can guarantee you that it was not all fat.... you lost weight but most of it was your lean muscle mass..... that's too bad.
This is the thing that I HATE about this site. You don't know ANYTHING about me. BUT apparently you know everything about my body and my weight. I tried eating my exercise calories back for almost a year and did not lose. My nutritionist said to do 1200. So before you judge people on here and how they eat. HOW ABOUT YOU BE SUPPORTIVE
Sorry....not going to be supportive of starving yourself or losing 20lbs in 2 months.... if you are going to promote it by telling your story, be prepared for people to not agree with it...
That's right you know me, I forgot.
What's funny is that I got Body Revolution by Jillian Michaels and follow the diet to a T.
She's a trainer (don't know if you knew that, she's kind of a big deal) and she tells me to eat 1200 calories AND workout and NOT eat back my exercise calories. Well OBVIOUSLY she's wrong and you're right. So that's how I lost my 20 pounds in 2 months. By eating healthy and working out based of someone that knows whats she's talking about. But you're a myfitnesspal member...you most know better.0 -
" I do not eat back my exercise calories & don't plan to."
^^That's your problem.
This.
Eat more. Lose weight.0 -
Eating more can seem counterintuitive, but it may still be worth a try, especially because P90X seems (I have not tried it myself) to also incorporate building muscle into its program, not just burning off calories.
My first experience with that concept was at Field Training (the Air Force officer cadet’s version of Basic Training / Boot Camp). While it’s likely a more extreme situation than yours, it was still an environment where I found myself eating A LOT more than I normally would. I’m talking about a full, sometimes piled up, dinner-sized plate for each meal, syrup on top of literally everything at breakfast, often a bowl of something (cereal or salad), plus milk at breakfast and 16 oz of powerade at lunch and dinner. Even knowing I was in a physically more demanding environment, I might have thought I shouldn’t be eating that much if it wasn’t for people who’d been through the training saying “Load up your plate and eat it, because you will burn it off”. Sure enough, by the end of 4 weeks, everybody was having trouble keeping their pants up (I’d lost about 15 pounds), and we were all running faster and physically stronger, even though we ate inordinately large amounts of food.
But even in my current, less physically intensive world, just following my calculated “maintenance” calories for my activity level has me losing a little weight as time goes on. And those caloric levels seemed a little high to me, too.
Point being: Honestly enter your data, and trust the math. Give the calculators a chance to prove themselves. What we *think* we should do may not be what we *really* should do.0 -
Hmm. I have the same issue, only I'm about 45. I have a MFP buddy who tells me continually to drink more water. When I do, I start dropping a little bit. Worth a shot.0
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TBH when I did p90x I ate 1800 calories and did not lose much. I started just eating 1200 and managed to lose 20 pounds in the last couple months.
I am not going to berate you about exercise calories because honestly it has not worked for me. So try zig zagging your calories. It may shock your system enough to get your metabolism up and running.
Best of luck to you!
I can guarantee you that it was not all fat.... you lost weight but most of it was your lean muscle mass..... that's too bad.
This is the thing that I HATE about this site. You don't know ANYTHING about me. BUT apparently you know everything about my body and my weight. I tried eating my exercise calories back for almost a year and did not lose. My nutritionist said to do 1200. So before you judge people on here and how they eat. HOW ABOUT YOU BE SUPPORTIVE
Sorry....not going to be supportive of starving yourself or losing 20lbs in 2 months.... if you are going to promote it by telling your story, be prepared for people to not agree with it...
That's right you know me, I forgot.
What's funny is that I got Body Revolution by Jillian Michaels and follow the diet to a T.
She's a trainer (don't know if you knew that, she's kind of a big deal) and she tells me to eat 1200 calories AND workout and NOT eat back my exercise calories. Well OBVIOUSLY she's wrong and you're right. So that's how I lost my 20 pounds in 2 months. By eating healthy and working out based of someone that knows whats she's talking about. But you're a myfitnesspal member...you most know better.
Everyone on here knows that while Jillian Michaels is a great trainer her nutrition is NOT.... she is up there with Dr. Oz... she also promotes and was on "Biggest Loser" and we all know how those people lose all of the weight and do not keep it off.
It's not about losing the weight quickly... that is what we are getting at here. Its about building a sustainable body and lifestyle. After you have lost all of your weight and go from eating 1200 calories back to eating like a "normal person" at 2000 you will gain fat .... it will come back... just like most crash dieters and just like the biggest loser contestants that Jillian Michaels trains...
She wants you to buy her product and get fast results....that's how she sells product ! She is not going to put you on a slow steady fat loss path that you give up on after 2 months because you only lose 2lbs.... she would NEVER sell anything like that. Do some research and see that eating 1200 calories is not a good thing....
And yes while I don't "know you" I DO know that you are not a "special person".... your body works just like everyone elses does... there is nothing different or special about it.... the rules and facts are not different for you when it comes to perserving muscle mass and losing fat...0
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