It is NOT that simple.

binknbaby

New to MFP.

Wants to tell me how it is.

Hmmmm...

Being new to MFP doesn't make me new to weight loss. As I said... lost 60 lb... Definitely not new to the concepts. Just new to the regurgitation of oversimplified statements that are not always true for everyone.

I'm going to agree with you in that it is not as simple as calories in and calories out. I've been at this over a year and I log consistently and measure everything. I wear a heart rate monitor during workouts as well. I can have a week where I am in a calorie deficit and gain and weeks where I over eat and I lose. It's crazy. I think particularly for women, moreso than men, there are many more factors that go into weight loss and yes it's frustrating as hell.

I think this is part of it. Most of the loudest cals-in/cals-out chanters are male. Being malnourished can absolutely change your rate of metabolism.

And for the bazillionth time, yes, I was eating only (on average, of course) 1100 cals/day, because I skipped breakfast, ate hardly anything for lunch (protein bar and a juice), and then the majority of my cals came from dinner, which was usually something that came out of a box. I was AFRAID to eat more, because I was overweight, and I avoided food as much as I could. I was not at a desk job, worked out, was otherwise fairly active (not sedentary), and still could not lose weight. I added cals, but changed the quality of food, and I lost 60lb in 5 months.

SideSteel

Did you weigh your processed food? Was this tracked online or on paper? I'm just curious.

perfectingpatti

This of course is just MY opinion

But your opinion is usually accurate.

nz_deevaa

How long did you consume 1100 cals per day for and do you still have those tracking records?

Roughly a year, possibly more. But it was mostly processed foods--just smaller quantities.

Weightloss is magic

what makes you think you were overweight at 1100 calories a day?

Ummm... Being 235 lb. Am I understanding this question correctly? I was clinically obese and was only consuming 1100 cals a day. I increased my intake, but changed the quality of food, and lost 60 lb.

I think it is more likely you did not track properly

We need an eyeroll smiley.

Yes, because it is so impossible for me to have only consumed 1100 cals and be nearly 100lb oveweight. It MUST be that I just didn't track properly. And the part about losing 60 lbs when adding cals... that was a fluke, right??

By eating too little, you altered the "CALORIES OUT" side of the equation. You didn't defy physics, sorry. It still applies to you.

Depending on your height, at 220lbs your BMR is likely to be 1600 cals.

That's how much your are MEANT to eat to lose weight.

jenilla1

glad you lost weight but you seem very angry..at least thats what I got....

For sure, right? :ohwell:

donteatmycookie

I don't think she was using skinny fat to insult body type, but to describe a skinny person's health being just as bad as an obese person's because they eat piles of **** wrapped in bacon...

_SusieQ_

Also, I think often the problem is that when eating at such a low calorie amount, people get very

DavPul

You skimmed over the part where a trainer told you to eat more. This trainer, what did they train you to do? Did you also begin an effective exercise program at the same time as eating different foods. Can you tell us more about this exercise? Is there any possibility that the change in your exercise habits contributed to your newfound weightloss? Or does that hurt your narrative?

IrishHarpy1

You can't argue with the law of thermodynamics: burn more calories than you consume, and you lose weight. It's entirely possible to gain weight on only 1100 (supposing that they were accurately tracked) calories a day if your BMR was ridiculously low due to lack of exercise.

I eat at least 1-2 processed meals a day, and dropping over 100 pounds (20 before starting MFP) was cake. And yes, I also weight train and have built strong, lean muscles while doing it.

So for some of us -- yeah, it's easy.

Best of luck in whatever works for *you.* :flowerforyou:

EatClean_WashUrNuts

Yes, it IS that simple. Given that you state no background, no stats other than you started at 235 pounds, you back your post with absolutely nothing viable as proof.....I have lost over 70 pounds by simply doing just that...eating less Calorie in/Calorie out.

Aviva92

skinny fat is real thing. A "skinny" aka small, thin, not large or what one would call normally fat person, having poor body composition. One that is high in fat content. If you prefer your body composition to that of a lean muscular person then you should not feel shame. But your body is in fact fatter regardless of the space it takes up. Those are just facts.

^^sorry meant to quote the person who said skinny fat is shaming un muscular "healthy" women

yes it's fatter than a lean muscular person, but it's not equivalent to an obese person. i also think it's used way too often on here. having a little bit of fat is normal on a woman. most thin women will be within the range of normal for body fat percentage even if some people might judge them as "skinny fat".

BinaryPulsar

You skimmed over the part where a trainer told you to eat more. This trainer, what did they train you to do? Did you also begin an effective exercise program at the same time as eating different foods. Can you tell us more about this exercise? Is there any possibility that the change in your exercise habits contributed to your newfound weightloss? Or does that hurt your narrative?

I was wondering about this also.

rm7161

If that is true, please explain how I could be my heaviest while consuming only 1100 cals a day, and "suddenly" lost 60 lbs when I changed my diet to 1600-1800 cals of whole foods. It was the QUALITY of food that changed my health, not the QUANTITY. Not only that, but for overall HEALTH AND WELLNESS, there needs to be much more to it than simply BMI or BF%. There is such a thing as a "skinny fat" person--who may not be "obese" but is still extremely unhealthy. There are thin people who eat 2500 cals/day and obese people who eat 1000 cals/day.

Quite a bit of rationalising here.

Personally, I didn't realise how much I was eating until I started to measure it out with a food scale. I thought I was eating less than I was, even when I was dieting. Until I bought a food scale and really started to track it by weight, is when I really got it under control.

Calories in less than calories out has worked for me to lose more than 47 lbs, even with the usual excuses stacked against me, like PCOS and hypothyroidism. When I decided to let nothing stand in my way, not a single excuse, and treated this like a marathon which is going to take me a year or more, I lost weight. I see the progression plainly in photographs I have taken weekly of myself.

It's also a lot more than just dieting. It's also regular moderate intensity exercise, for 40 min to an hour a day, 5 to 7 days a week on top of the diet.

I do eat more than 1100 calories a day, though. But still, its a caloric deficit, I put out more calories than I take in, simple as that. The only special thing about my diet is that it's gluten free due to celiac disease, I don't make any special efforts to eat organic, just healthy balanced diet with the additional treat here and there figured into the food plan so I don't feel deprived.

SoViLicious

I just wish people would leave this topic alone. If you want to eat 100% then fine go ahead.

Aviva92

I don't think she was using skinny fat to insult body type, but to describe a skinny person's health being just as bad as an obese person's because they eat piles of **** wrapped in bacon...

well yeah in that case it's true. eating a crappy diet is bad. most people don't use the term skinny fat to mean that. they use it to mean skinny, but not muscular. that's why i hate the term.

FitBeto

. There is such a thing as a "skinny fat" person--who may not be "obese" but is still extremely unhealthy. There are thin people who eat 2500 cals/day and obese people who eat 1000 cals/day.

Wrong. Thin people who eat 2500 calories a day are not skinny fat. They have muscle and are very active. That is why they can eat a lot. It's because of low body fat. I am slender and I have low body fat, so I have to eat more (especially when I am very active) so that I do not lose unwanted weight. I'm not saying I have tons of muscles (plenty women on here have more muscle than me), but in my own body ratio I have low body fat to lean body mass ratio for my size (which is small).

I stayed at 135 for 6 months, skinny fat at about 5000 a day. Of course I worked out 3 hours a day

tndejong

i dont want to be rude. but the first thing that comes to mind is. you wanna do my grocery shopping and cooking in my house? just saying that it may sound easy to you to do the clean eating. but my pocket book has to add the processed foods here and there. and i am living proof that you can still eat those foods and still eat your fast food and cake for dinner and lose weight! its portion control and self control also. if a person is not trying to exercise and follow some type of calorie guideline to lose, they will not. im not saying 1100 calories is healthy. but who ever would believe they can get by on that little is also uneducated too.

NikkiSixGuns

If quality food was the only relevant factor, and processed "junk" foods are the true cause of obesity, then how is it possible that any of our ancient predecessors ever became obese? They didn't have candy bars, boxed meals, fast food, etc. They ate what they could hunt, grow and produce for themselves. Yet some of them were still overweight...

RhonndaJ

All I'm going to say is 'nutrition matters'.

sunsnstatheart

How long did you consume 1100 cals per day for and do you still have those tracking records?

Roughly a year, possibly more. But it was mostly processed foods--just smaller quantities.

Weightloss is magic

what makes you think you were overweight at 1100 calories a day?

Ummm... Being 235 lb. Am I understanding this question correctly? I was clinically obese and was only consuming 1100 cals a day. I increased my intake, but changed the quality of food, and lost 60 lb.

I think it is more likely you did not track properly

We need an eyeroll smiley.

Yes, because it is so impossible for me to have only consumed 1100 cals and be nearly 100lb oveweight. It MUST be that I just didn't track properly. And the part about losing 60 lbs when adding cals... that was a fluke, right??

Unless you have some medical issue, yes.