Carbs v's Protien - should I change my settings?

VirgH

I am a Mum in my 40's who has put on 15 kilos over past 5 years. I dont necessarly eat badly and have been up and down with exercise. After seeing my Dr he suggested I keep track of what I was eating and I found this app, only after 6 weeks I am frustrated I am not getting the results I hoped for. My question is, on another weight loss/exercise program my carbs and protien were the other way around, so should I change these? My diary is available for any tips or ideas people can offer. My weigh in yesterday was up 1.5.

bdamaster60

I would love to share my knowledge with you from my bodybuilding experience, nutritional, physiological and hormonal research. But I can't see your diary so I can't really help until you check 'public'

VirgH

Thanks. Wasnt sure how to do this. will do it now

VirgH

Not able to find how to make information public? If you can tell me that would be great

ahamm002

I am a Mum in my 40's who has put on 15 kilos over past 5 years. I dont necessarly eat badly and have been up and down with exercise. After seeing my Dr he suggested I keep track of what I was eating and I found this app, only after 6 weeks I am frustrated I am not getting the results I hoped for. My question is, on another weight loss/exercise program my carbs and protien were the other way around, so should I change these? My diary is available for any tips or ideas people can offer. My weigh in yesterday was up 1.5.

In addition to making your food diary public, it would also help to know:
1. What results were you hoping for? What results have you achieved thus far in 6 weeks?
2. What ratio of carbs/fat/protein are you shooting for?
3. How many calories are you eating and how much are you exercising and what types of exercise?

rosieg1979

Settings at v top of the page -> diary settings -> scroll down to bottom and check public

VirgH

Thanks! I have now made myself public!

VirgH

Thank you for replying

As a starting point I would like to loose 10 kilos.
Over the past 6 weeks, I have lost and then gained in a way that dosent make sense. Overall have lost 2 kilos.I weighed in this morning 1.1 heavier than the weekend.
My Carbs vs Protien are on ,my diary, but in my last attempt with another provider these were around the other way and I was always under on Protien.
I do a vigorous walk including hills of 45 - 50 minutes most mornings.
I am more often under my daily intake not over. (Common problem in my life has probably been not eating enough and then the wrong things at the wrong time.)


Any advice appreciated - otherwise back to the Dr!

bdamaster60

Hi there again, I was looking at your diary entries for the past 5 days and noticed that you were eating below your goals set by an average of 300 - 400 calories. Your metabolism is the key to any function corresponding to weight loss. Now from what I've seen 1100 calories per day is not a lot and your slowed progress may be the result of metabolic crash.

A couple of things you could try and repair your metabolism:

1. Raise your carbohydrate intake by 5 grams everyday and weigh yourself every day (be consistent with your weigh-ins, e.g. as soon as you wake up before/after you use the toilet). This will give you the opportunity for you to see how much your body will allow you to consume without gaining weight and raise the metabolism high enough to allow your body to burn calories at an efficient rate. Once you've found the amount of calories you can consume to maintain weight (maintenance), then continue eating those calories for 4 - 6 weeks. Your metabolism takes time to repair so there is not need to rush.

2. Incorporate resistance training. Resistance training raises your metabolism to burn an extra 14 - 30 calories per lb, per day. (Dymphna Gallagher, Director of Body Composition Unit, New York Obesity Research Centre, Manhattan). You don't have to be a bodybuilder or power lifter, in fact you don't even need to use dumbbells or weights. You can use your own body weight if you feel that is heavy enough for you. Add this in addition to your morning walks.

Once your metabolism has been boosted after the 4 - 6 weeks, then bring your carbohydrates down by 20 grams. Weigh yourself weekly and calculate the average of weighing your self every day (add everyday up them all up and divide by 7). Your target should be losing 1 - 2 lb even as high as 3 lbs per week, so you'r using the metric system so approximately 1/2 kg - 1 kg per week. This is to slow down metabolic crash. Keep this up until you reach your desired weight.

Just a little assurance, being 1.5 kgs heavier than the previous day can be affected by a number of factors, such as carbohydrate, sodium, water and water retention. So please don't feel so alarmed when you see the scale if its only less than 2 kgs different. If it's 3+ difference then you might have to re-assess your caloric intake, and perhaps drop carbs or fats by 5 grams or just a little bit.

Give this a try, weight loss is not a quick or overnight fix, don't believe the lose 30lbs in 30 days TV adds, they may be true to some people but in the end the companies are looking to make a profit. Be patient, it will take time, but I assure you this will work as I myself have been in your situation and was frustrated incredibly.

If you have any questions just quote and reply, I'll try to follow this post as much as possible.

VirgH

Thank you so much! I have been really frustrated for some time now particularly as I really dont eat a lot and have begun to understand that this might be my problem. I think my metabolism has stopped! Really hard to get my head around eating more carbs, but I'll give it a shot. I will also start adding in some reistance training after my morning walk. Thanks again.

triggsta

Thing is that you're going to hear a lot of different things. Some people swear by a high carb, low fat diet. Some people swear by a high protein, low carb diet. Some people swear off wheat products. Some people say that there are different metabolism types (whatever that means).

Personally, after doing this for 11 months, I found something that worked for me. The losing was happening but what really got me to shed weight fast was to add a LOT more protein to my diet. So I'm at a high fat, high protein, low carb diet. I try not to go over 80g of carbs per day. I also do 1200 calories a day, not adding with whatever I do for exercise, and that's some weird "no-no" here on MFP so I usually don't broadcast it much, but it's worked for me quite well.

So my best advice? Try something out for a couple weeks. If you're not seeing the results you want, try something else for a couple weeks. I wouldn't say try for just a few days because your body will take time to adjust. More than that, perhaps just the rotation of macros may be enough to confuse your body to jump start its metabolism. Probably why a lot of short-term diet programs switch things up every 2-4 weeks and change your macros.


edit: I do want to add that you should definitely look into some resistance training like an MFPer above mentioned. You may see a slight gain at first, but muscle is going to look a lot better than fat and it's going to help increase your calorie burn throughout the day. If you're nervous about starting a program, look into either getting a trainer or finding a video fitness program that would work for your level of abilities. If you have no idea where to start, send me a message. I've tried numerous programs out and would know what would work for your fitness ability, your goals, and your budget.

VirgH

Thank you for sharing. That was why I was confused. When I looked at my last attempt to loose weight in a regulated environment, they had my on half the carbs that are currently recommended and double the protein, so I wasnt sure if I should switch them around. I definitely know I need to kick start my metabolism just not sure the best way to do it!

ahamm002

Thank you for replying

As a starting point I would like to loose 10 kilos.
Over the past 6 weeks, I have lost and then gained in a way that dosent make sense. Overall have lost 2 kilos.I weighed in this morning 1.1 heavier than the weekend.
My Carbs vs Protien are on ,my diary, but in my last attempt with another provider these were around the other way and I was always under on Protien.
I do a vigorous walk including hills of 45 - 50 minutes most mornings.
I am more often under my daily intake not over. (Common problem in my life has probably been not eating enough and then the wrong things at the wrong time.)


Any advice appreciated - otherwise back to the Dr!

1. Your weight fluctuates up to 5 pounds with water, which is affected by many different things. So it does make perfect sense that you might weigh in at 1.1 heavier one day than you were day before despite being at a caloric defecit. It doesn't mean you gained fat. Just weigh yourself every day, and eventually you'll get a feel for how your weight fluctuates.

2. A total of 2 kilo's over 6 weeks is actually very good! That's a nice healthy and sustainable pace.

3. In general, when it comes to losing weight, solid protein is your friend.

VirgH

Thanks for the encouragement! I really do understand it is my metabolism so just have to keep at it! It has to budge eventually!