Anyone else discovered low calories are their only option?

JAT74

Thanks, that's just what I need.......someone who is motivational not negative and spiteful like a lot of people on here. I'm determined to continue training hard now so I know I'll look the way I want to in the end. I am not going to drop calories too low as I really don't want to feel deprived anyway so 1200 will probably be my absolute minimum at the moment, maybe 1300 I'm going to try it and see if I can still lose something for the summer.

I will also try and implement more activity into my day. I already walk whenever I can but I live in a tiny village so it's not possible to walk to the supermarket or places like that. I bought a gym ball a couple of weeks ago and sit on it instead of a chair for part of each day so that I'm moving more. Maybe I could run up and down my strairs more often during the day too and implement side lunges or other things too. I don't know about Greece but Spain is now close to 30 degrees already and will only get hotter from now on so I need to drop fat and soon! Maybe in September I'll re-visit eating more again and hopefully this summer I'll be able to keep training hard as the summers are the hardest time for me to exercise due to the heat. Swimming is definitely possible though so I can do that a couple of times a week and the other days I'll suffer in the gym as walks are also going to be difficult with the sun.

tryclyn

The issue is I'm not prepared to spend another miserable summer being in a hot country and hiding away indoors covered up because stripping off in front of friends or strangers makes me too self-conscious, especially when I see their faces when they try and avoid looking at my rolls of fat! It makes me too unhappy and I become introverted which affects other areas of my life and means I can't go out and enjoy myself and that causes rows and has other knock on effects. I can't help the way I feel and I won't let my weight destroy my confidence so I have to do something about it now.

This part I kinda get. At 120-something pounds I didn't like to wear summer clothes either (obviously thought I was too fat). At 240-something pounds I had a "f**k off* attitude and wore anything that I damn well pleased. The difference being about 25 years of living and learning that only you can make you happy and what other people may think of you isn't any of your concern. Perhaps you could concentrate more on your inside than your outside for awhile.

pluckabee

If you are really struggling to lose weight at higher calories it might be worth getting your BMR properly tested or getting something like a bodymedia fit armband, which detects your calorie burn.

The hardest part about dieting seems to be not knowing exactly what your body is doing enough to manipulate it so some hard numbers might give you peace of mind that you're either eating enough at low calories, or you could eat more and still lose, albeit slowly.

Joehenny

Joehenny

Sorry, just that I've had so many people who haven't read the things I've said and form conclusions that's all!

When I set MFP cals to lose weight and ate back exercise calories some days I was up to 2000-2100 and did that for a while before realising it was too much. Then I did TDEE -20% which ended up being about 1800 which again was too much for me. Then I gradually lowered and still didn't lose weight so here I am!

Yes I am trying 1250 calories this week and hopefully won't need to go any lower. How did you overcome your planteau?

Honestly 1250 is low but not super low.

I was stuck at 1800 cals and could not lose weight for about a month. I started to add in refeed days. When you diet for a long time your hormone levels change it affects leptin levels which has a direct affect on metabolic rate.

Before that though my first plateau was because of 2 reasons:

-I didn't adjust my goals for my newer lower weight
- I wasn't weighing food as accurately as I thought

I weigh everything and or measure it. I was overestimating by a few hundred a day.

JAT74

I just don't feel comfortable carrying visible fat and I find it horrible to look at on other people too. It isn't healthy and I don't like it. Obviously a small amount of body fat it normal for most people who don't exercise and even my thin friends have it but 31% like I am now it's just not nice!

I've been 178 lbs before and I didn't care so much, I never went to hot places so I could cover up and people always commented on my clothes so I didn't really think about how bad I looked. I dread to think what my body fat was then. To be honest since losing some of the weight and having been 122lbs when I got compliments about how amazing I looked I am not prepared to stay like this and I'm not happy as I am now. I look at other people and know I don't look as bad as many others but it's not good enough for me. I can't look at pictures of myself now if my arms or showing or if I'm in a bikini.

If I was lazy and didn't try to improve my body then I wouldn't care so much because it would be my fault but when I'm putting in all this work I want it to show. Personally I don't like looking at fat, whether it's on me or someone else! Since being bigger and losing I've realised that it just isn't pretty or healthy to carry so much excess. I wouldn't accept it if my boyfriend was fat and I wouldn't find him attractive or feel he's doing the best for his health so I I'm not happy to accept it on myself either. A friend of mine is super fit and looks great but her husband is fat and doesn't exercise with a beer belly. She says she loves him like that so he just keeps on eating and getting fatter and now he's been told he's got very high cholesterol. It's partly her fault in my opinion.

Everyone is different but how you look on the outside as well as what you're like on the inside is important to me. I know someone who is fairly overweight and spends all her money on designer clothes and hair, make up etc. Material things like that don't matter when her health is suffering due to being overweight.

FromHereOnOut

Thanks, that's just what I need.......someone who is motivational not negative and spiteful like a lot of people on here. I'm determined to continue training hard now so I know I'll look the way I want to in the end. I am not going to drop calories too low as I really don't want to feel deprived anyway so 1200 will probably be my absolute minimum at the moment, maybe 1300 I'm going to try it and see if I can still lose something for the summer.

I will also try and implement more activity into my day. I already walk whenever I can but I live in a tiny village so it's not possible to walk to the supermarket or places like that. I bought a gym ball a couple of weeks ago and sit on it instead of a chair for part of each day so that I'm moving more. Maybe I could run up and down my strairs more often during the day too and implement side lunges or other things too. I don't know about Greece but Spain is now close to 30 degrees already and will only get hotter from now on so I need to drop fat and soon! Maybe in September I'll re-visit eating more again and hopefully this summer I'll be able to keep training hard as the summers are the hardest time for me to exercise due to the heat. Swimming is definitely possible though so I can do that a couple of times a week and the other days I'll suffer in the gym as walks are also going to be difficult with the sun.

Yes, we have already had our first mini-heatwave and it is making exercise a little "messier" (as in: hot sweaty mess), but that's what exercise is. I will say, that with the heat, the body changes it's intake too. Even I, with a daily calorie goal of 2000, am finding myself not hungry enough to eat that much during the hot days and my intake has dropped significantly due to that. The body is good at finding the equilibrium it needs. However, you must learn to understand and listen to the body. I could never do that until I started eating more. In a chronically underfed state, I couldn't understand what my body was telling me (or I could understand, but was trying too hard to impose something else on it). In addition, my psychology of eating has changed drastically, so that I have a much better relationship with food. Before (when I did the very low cal dieting thing), I was of the mindset of, "I'll just get skinny and that'll be that." But now I know that there is no such thing as "just get skinny and be done with it". MAINTENANCE was a word that I had never even contemplated. Now, I know that I have to do NOW what I intend to do FOREVER (only difference is a matter of degree). And for "forever", I intend to EAT...and now that I know the truth, I intend to workout daily...but in both cases the degree will differ between now vs. maintenance (I eat less now than I will in the future--at a modest deficit; and I workout more now than I will in the future--probably, but who knows!). If you think this is a "one time deal", you'll be doing it over and over and over for the rest of your life. But if you admit that this is something that must be maintained, then you can set yourself up to get to where you want to be and STAY there. At least these are the things that I have learned.

Good luck!

pluckabee

I just don't feel comfortable carrying visible fat and I find it horrible to look at on other people too. It isn't healthy and I don't like it.

Judgement much?

A lot of people here are fat and even though we are trying to lose weight you still have to BE FAT while you do that.

Comments like this can be really hurtful and counterproductive and coming to a forum about weight loss where people are trying to help and support each other and saying how much fat disgusts you is really tactless.

KevinMassine

Yes! I have been on a 1200/day calorie diet for 6&1/2 months now. I was losing weight steadily but I kept reading that I was hurting myself by not eating 15 or 20 % below my tdee. So I bumped my calorie level and started working out and eating back those calories as well. During this period I lost NO scale weight. I also did not lose any inches. I have recently went back to my 1200 cals and immediately lost 2 lbs! Yes, even when I exercise I still eat the cals back. I believe if you are logging correctly, some people still have to eat less to lose anything. Everyone is different and as long as you're not hungry and you are getting sufficient nutrients, do what works for you!

If you did TDEE - %, you are not supposed to eat back your exercise calories. They are already figured in to the calculation.

^^^^^^ This ^^^^^^

JAT74

Sorry if you think it's judgemental but I think more people should be honest about fat and maybe we wouldn't have the problems with Obesity that we have in the world. I wish I'd had someone be honest with me when I was at my heaviest of 178 lbs and a UK size 16. I felt uncomfortable as I was but all I was ever told was that I looked 'fine' and how 'cute' my fat arms were along with my chubby cheeks! That doesn't help someone accept they need to do something to improve their health and in those days I must have been carrying at least 40% body fat and I had high blood pressure.

Of course people who've already accepted this and started to try and lose the excess fat will still be fat during the process and of course we have to live with that while we're losing but I don't see why it should be taboo to say that fat is unttractive to many people. If I see someone over overweight in the gym I feel nothing but positive thoughts for that person because they're on the road to good health which is great to see.

Having said that I'd never go up to anyone and say something to make them feel bad but judging by comments I hear around me when someone who is obviously around me walks by I think a lot of people think the badly of people who are overweight. Maybe that's why I don't feel comfortable with my fat on show in a bikini because I know that's how people talk about others and I'm aware that they're possibly saying similar things about me too.

I don't expect to be perfect and I never will be as I have stretch marks which I've had since puberty but that's something I can't change. When there are things I can change then why not try and do something about it to the best of my ability?

pluckabee

Sorry if you think it's judgemental but I think more people should be honest about fat and maybe we wouldn't have the problems with Obesity that we have in the world. I wish I'd had someone be honest with me when I was at my heaviest of 178 lbs and a UK size 16. I felt uncomfortable as I was but all I was ever told was that I looked 'fine' and how 'cute' my fat arms were along with my chubby cheeks! That doesn't help someone accept they need to do something to improve their health and in those days I must have been carrying at least 40% body fat and I had high blood pressure.

Of course people who've already accepted this and started to try and lose the excess fat will still be fat during the process and of course we have to live with that while we're losing but I don't see why it should be taboo to say that fat is unttractive to many people. If I see someone over overweight in the gym I feel nothing but positive thoughts for that person because they're on the road to good health which is great to see.

Having said that I'd never go up to anyone and say something to make them feel bad but judging by comments I hear around me when someone who is obviously around me walks by I think a lot of people think the badly of people who are overweight. Maybe that's why I don't feel comfortable with my fat on show in a bikini because I know that's how people talk about others and I'm aware that they're possibly saying similar things about me too.

I don't expect to be perfect and I never will be as I have stretch marks which I've had since puberty but that's something I can't change. When there are things I can change then why not try and do something about it to the best of my ability?

Actually I completely disagree about your idea of 'honesty' and how it wil help people stop being fat. People know they are fat and views like yours, that fat people are disgusting and when you see fat people you FEEL disgusted, is what drives people into wanting to lose fat as fast as possible, and trying crash diets that give fast results but bounce them back to being even fatter than they were before.

The quick fix diet industry and fat hate and shame are making fat people fatter and are not making more thin people. If telling people they are fat and that it is disgusting worked we wouldn't have such a huge problem.

The thing is you say that you have positive thoughts towards fat people at the gym but would you have those same thoughts if you saw that same person in the street? or in the line for fast food? No, I don't think you would. You have no idea what choices people are making day to day and you cant judge people by the snippets of life you are privy to. That person on the street might be running everyday, you don't know. That person in line might be queuing for a friend or a spouse and are going home to have a salad later, you dont know.

It isn't fair, and it isn't nice to judge people when you have no idea who they are or what they do.

It isn't fair and it isn't nice to ask for advice and help FROM FAT PEOPLE and then say that you find them disgusting.

I came in here to give you some advice because I want to help and support everyone on this forum, but if you saw me on the street what would you think of me?

It makes me sad, and I dont think this is the place for that kind of attitude.

kteej

If I tried to have days of eating 550 calories, I would have to quit my job because I would definitely not be able to function or think clearly.
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deksgrl

Please expand, how is it even possible to not do it right? You are only going by the time I've been on MFP and a so called vague memory of something I said (which you haven't even really explained) but what about the 2 years beforehand when I ate more, hardly trained much and gained 23 lbs? According to many on here that should have been my 'reset' as i was eating much lower calories before that and then increased them and was eating at just above TDEE in average. So the real conclusion is I remain unable to lose at all except for when I eat around 1200 cals combined with daily workouts.

There was a thread in which you asked people what to do and then argued with everyone unless it was exactly what you wanted to hear. You tried picking and choosing various parts of different methods, using flawed logic, making the whole process too complicated. You refused to try what has been working for thousands (millions? trillions? gazillions?) of people, because you are a special snowflake. You stated that you didn't want to do that for 4-6 weeks and try it and see because you didn't want to waste all that time on what you insisted wouldn't work.

Nowhere in any of your threads do I see where you attempted a *proper* calorie deficit consistently.

kteej

Of course I'd rather eat more but seems that my body is just not built that way. By eating 550 calories 2 days a week it means I can eat 1450-1650 on the other days (in theory) so I'm starting that from tomorrow. Up until now I've only been able to lose any weight at all by lowering calories to 1000-1150 and after 4 months of exercising and eating 1400-2000 per day with no weight loss or fat loss I am still trying to figure out how low I need to go to finally start losing again.

If I tried to have days of eating 550 calories, I would have to quit my job because I would definitely not be able to function or think clearly.

You would think so, but if I can do it, and get through an active day, anyone can! I've (female - 58 years old - 5'7" - 175lbs) actually done 400 (2 - 200 calorie meals) calorie days on the 5:2, and done 15 miles on my bicycle. Was losing 1lb a week

I've now switched to my version of the Rotation Diet - 600 calories for 3 days, 900 for 2 days, 1200 (or more) for 2 days. Still active - biking, hiking, swimming. Losing 2 a week.

It's not as difficult as you'd think!

deksgrl

Of course I'd rather eat more but seems that my body is just not built that way. By eating 550 calories 2 days a week it means I can eat 1450-1650 on the other days (in theory) so I'm starting that from tomorrow. Up until now I've only been able to lose any weight at all by lowering calories to 1000-1150 and after 4 months of exercising and eating 1400-2000 per day with no weight loss or fat loss I am still trying to figure out how low I need to go to finally start losing again.

If I tried to have days of eating 550 calories, I would have to quit my job because I would definitely not be able to function or think clearly.

You would think so, but if I can do it, and get through an active day, anyone can! I've (female - 58 years old - 5'7" - 175lbs) actually done 400 (2 - 200 calorie meals) calorie days on the 5:2, and done 15 miles on my bicycle. Was losing 1lb a week

I've now switched to my version of the Rotation Diet - 600 calories for 3 days, 900 for 2 days, 1200 (or more) for 2 days. Still active - biking, hiking, swimming. Losing 2 a week.

It's not as difficult as you'd think!

You are very likely losing muscle mass, and reducing your bone density which is not desirable for obvious reasons. Low cal diet and cardio only WILL reduce your Lean Body Mass (everything that is not fat in your body).

Really, it is sad that people are only thinking about the number on the scale and not seeing and understanding the overall big picture for long term health and quality of life.

JAT74

I agree that really is too low. I am talking about eating 8500-9000 calories per week in total which is a minimum of around 1200 per day or more and the last poster was talking about having just 6000 in total which is only 850 per day on average and she's quite tall so not much food and I can't see that being sustainable.

At the level I'm talking about I only plan on doing it until I get to goal weight and then I'll be looking to maintain my weight so will hopefully be able to eat 1600 in order to maintain which is a reasonable number.

If I aim to lose 25 lbs initially at just over 1lb per week then in 20 weeks (end September) I think I can be at goal. If that happens then I'll be able to eat at maintenance so I'm hardly talking about doing low calorie forever. Then the next phase will be to gradually increase calories a little at a time to try and get my TDEE up a little higher. I have no desire to be eating 2000 every day so if I can get it up to 1700 or 800 eventually I'd be more than happy.

Alta2000

I am going to repost the same answer I gave in March as it seems applicable once again. In previous threads, posters have given you excellent advice. It is not the amount of calories but the food you eat and the amount. You live in Spain but you do not eat fresh food, you drink plenty of wine and go way over the calories on weekends, you are very stressed, and you need to be more diligent on the workouts, but most important, you need to be patient.

"JAT74, looking at your diary and past posts, I think some of the issues are a)that you are impatient to loose the weight rapidly like loosing 10% fat in 6-8 weeks, b)continuously changing methods used and not sticking to one, c)you need to eat more fresh fruits and vegetables and less processed food-you are in Spain after all!, d)may be you are overestimating the amount of calories you burn through exercising. You are also within the ideal weight for your height, although at the upper range, and that makes it more difficult to loose weight fast compared to someone who is more distant from ideal weight range. Pick a method, above your BMR (and you are not at maintenance at your BMR, these are the calories so you can breathe and do the basic organ functions, not sedentary living), stick to it, eat more fruits/vegetables and less processed fruits, and stick to an exercise program cardio/strength training and you will see results. Just be patient and consistent."

JAT74

That's complete nonsense! How you can you say I don't eat fresh food! In this week's shop I have bought apples, blueberries, grapes, mushrooms, onions, garlic, tomatos, carrots, radishes, aubergine, green beans, asparagus, salad leaves and much more that I'm sure I've missed. How do you know I drink plenty of wine? In fact I generally have possibly 1 glass of wine during hte week and 2-3 at weekends so no more than a total of 4 glasses per week sometimes less like last week when I didn't drink at all.

How the h** can you say I go way over calories at weekends and anyway if I'm adding up my weekly totals what does it matter if I allow myself more at weekends and less during the week? I'm doing calorie cycling and now 5:2 so of course I'll have higher calorie days as well as lower calorie ones.

Diligent on the workouts? What exactly do you mean by that?! I work out 6-7 days a week, normally 3 days of weight training with as heavy as I can lift for 60-90 minutes!! What more do you think I should be doing. On the other days I have an enjoyable walk, some cardio on the rowing, running and elliptical machines or maybe some yoga.

Call me impatient but you try staying the same weight or losing then gaining the same 4 lbs for 4 months! I don't know anyone who would be prepared to do that. I only ever asked how much body fat it's possible to lose as I wasn't sure but anyway I am at my start weight and body fat now so of course I'm frustrated.

I DO NOT need to eat more fresh food and less processed food as I made that change a long time ago and no longer eat so much processed foods. I already took in to account that I may have been overestimating calorie burns in the past and I now work out my weekly calories to be 20% less taking this into consideration.

As for my BMR, I don't believe any of the figures the online calculators tell me as they have already been proven wrong as my supposed TDEE is 1700 without exercise and 2200 with exercise but I now know through trial and error that my true TDEE including exercise is 1600. That means my BMR is also overestimated quite considerably too.

I am being consistent in that I've been training almost every day for over 4 months but patience is something that doesn't last forever. I have experimented with what works for me and hopefully I've found the correct formula. I don't do anything to excess and I don't believe i should give up all the things I like including a little alcohol from time to time or the occasional dessert but 85% of the time I'm eating well so the only area where there's room for improvement is my calorie intake.

Alta2000

Quote by JAT74:

"Regarding fresh fruit and vegetables the food in Spain I can buy here is COVERED in pesticides and will probably do me more harm than good. 90% of organic food is sold outside of Spain and there is nowhere here to buy organic where I live so I eat some vegetables and a little fruit but generally try not to overload my body with this. Plus I'm always trying to meet my protein goals so try not to eat so much fruit and veg as I don't want to go over on calories.

every week in my weekly shop (which I've just done) I always buy onions, mushrooms, garlic, carrots, sweet potatoes, avocados, red/green/yellow peppers, tomatoes, aubergine, asparagus and green beans. I also eat frozen mixed vegetables, tinned tomatoes, frozen mediterranean vegetables and with my breakfast I usually have blueberries. raspberries or grapes. Every day I have these vegetables in some combination or another.

Also, I have been eating processed foods like sausages, ham, salami etc. due to the cost of this food compared to fresh meat/fish or canned fish as I'm on a budget but I have decided to cut right down on these foods now as I know they're bad for you but even if I ate them before I always drain off the majority of the fat from these foods using a grill or by blotting it away and I cut fat off bacon so can't see how that's the problem.
...



Regarding my training I was doing Jillian Michaels Body Revolution for 7 weeks and that consisted of 6 workouts with 4 of them containing weights and body weight exercises and the other 2 were pure cardio. In addition I was adding in 2-3 days of additional cardio on the running machine, elliptical etc.

I stopped BR last week as I wasn't happy with the speed of my results so I'm now doing Insanity plus I've added weight training for 45 minutes 2 x a week when I do Insanity also on that day. My new weights routine includes all the things you've said ie. legs, biceps/triceps, chest, back, abs etc. and I have a fully equipped home gym so I can lift heavy. I have started doing this twice a week for 45 mins to 1 hour per workout.

I'm doing Insanity now but I might skip an Insanity workout on my weight training days, for example tomorrow I'm doing weights and I was supposed to do Plyometric Cardio circuit too but maybe I'll skip it. I have a heart rate monitor and always use it and I discovered that on Sundays when I clean I actually burn a lot of calories too even though I'm not doing a workout so I think there's no need to double up on workouts some days."

As others posters have told you before, after you said that you eat a lot of vegetables:
"Went through your diary to last weekend, both Sat and sun you've eaten over 2,000 cals. There's not much veg in there."

All your questions are very similar and you keep getting the same answers in every thread, every month. As other posters have stated previously, are you may be too stressed with personal problems and that's why you are obsessing with the weight loss, in order to avoid dealing with the real issues you may be facing? You are in your ideal weight range for your height after all.

JAT74

I have no idea what these so called 'real issues' are you're referring to, sorry. My dog was put down a couple of months ago and that was sad but nothing to do with weight loss and how I feel about being fat.. As I have been saying which you are obviously not listening to as you have some kind of personal vendetta against me I ate more at weekends and less during the week so my average daily weight loss was TDEE -20% but you only bothered to see what you wanted to see.

In addition what's it to you that I'm within the 'healthy' BMI range for my height. 31% body fat is by no means healthy and BMI doesn't take that into account.

Alta2000

As I have been saying which you are obviously not listening to as you have some kind of personal vendetta against me

I do not know you, I have no clue who you are, I live in a different continent, but I still spent a considerable amount of time to look at your diary, read your previous posts, and have tried to be helpful. Everybody who disagrees with you is immediately attacked and you state that they do not listen. Do you think it might be you that you do not want to listen? As another poster said, you are like Teflon and people have been giving you the same advice every 3 weeks that you post a similar question, but you still do not want to listen to any of their advice and accusing them that they do not listen. You have been obsessing about macros, diets, exercise regimens, and you do not stick enough to any of them. With so much exercise that you do, it is incredible that your body fat has not moved at all (which you check with your tanita bf scale and multiple calibers). You have gained 20lb in the last 2 years, which indicates high stress and anxiety. Slow down, plan a program, and stick with it. I do not know what your real issues are. Your job? The relationship with your boyfriend? Is the biological clock ticking? Do you feel lonely because you live away from your friends and relatives in the UK? Relationship with parents? Kids?
These are just some general life questions people face, just throwing them here as I do not know your personal circumstances. But the weight and body image are just used to mask the underlying problem. We are here to help. Nobody has a personal vendetta against you, quite the opposite.