Anyone else discovered low calories are their only option?
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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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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.0 -
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!0 -
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.0 -
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.0 -
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."0 -
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.0 -
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.
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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.0 -
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.0 -
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.0 -
Sorry to disappoint but the only reason I gain weight is because I like eating and drinking nice food and eat out a lot with friends. After a while of being healthy I start eating what I want again and the weight gradually creeps up. I also love the taste of sweet foods and all the things we are told not to eat, that's it. Period. I want to lose weight because having had a taste of being thin for a while I like how I feel, how clothes fit me and how I can wear what I want and know I look great. I also like being fit because it makes me feel like I'm doing something good for my health.
I don't know why my body fat hasn't changed with all this training either and I'd love to know the answer but it's the reality. The only thing I'm stressed and anxious about right now is my weight as apart from the usual money worries in times of recession I have nothing else to stress about. Not everything has to be psychoanalysed you know, call me shallow but i just love food and that's it. My mum tells me my favourite word when I first learned how to talk was 'more'. By rights I should be 100 lbs overweight but I've managed to keep it in check to a certain extent.0 -
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.
WOW. After reading this entire thread, I do believe your writing here captures the problem. OP - start healing your mind and your body will follow. That is alot of self-loathing and negative projection in that piece of writing. Awful, really.0 -
To the last poster not sure who you're referring to but firstly I am not talking about eating 8500-9000 calories - 3000 for calories burned as that would be way too little. I was actually talking about eating that amount in total.
Hmmm... Here you said:My weeks total needs to be lower though ie. around 8500-9000 for the week instead of 1000-11000 which I have been eating.
And here you said:In addition I add up my total calorie burn for the week and subtract 20% to allow for overestimation anyway. so when I say I burn off 2500 calories it's actually over 3000 ish and if I burn less another week I'll do the same and eat less to make up for it.
8500 to 9000 calories intake per week minus 3000 calories burned per week equals a NET daily caloric intake of 786 to 857 calories, just like I said.
But I'm glad you at least agree that it is "way too little".0 -
You just have to give it time. Think how long it took to put on that weight. You're actually losing it at a much faster rate.0
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edited due to posting twice0
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Re. numbers maybe it's still not clear but my weekly figure of 8500-9000 is after subtracting the 2500-3000 foe calorie burns. Before taking that off the numbers are 11500-12000. Up until last week my total calorie intake for each week was 10000-11000 on total for a few weeks.
To the poster who talks about self loathing, I don't know one single woman who is happy with their body or looks 100%. It's nothing to do with self-loathing, just about taking pride in your appearance and doing the best you can for your health. If that didn't matter to people then there wouldn't be websites like this or TV shows like Biggest Loser, Extreme Makeover or 10 years younger. I read fitness magazines because I think it's amazing to know you're getting stronger and fitter through training and part of it is eliminating unhealthy and unnecessary fat from your body. What you eat is important too. I wish I'd been educated about healthy eating as a kid and about the importance of exercise and maybe I might not be in this position today.0 -
If you're on a very low calorie diet, you'll have to be extra diligent about choosing nutrient rich foods to make sure that you're getting everything you need in the small volume of food that you are eating. I'd also recommend taking a multivitamin as well, though they certainly aren't as effective as whole foods.0
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Hi, I do take a multivitamin daily as well as omega 3 tablets. I also try and eat low fat foods and only cook wirh good fats plus I try and aim for 20g fibre each day mainly from fruit and vegetables. I try and keep red meat to 1-2 days a week and eat mostly chicken and a little fish plus nuts for protein. I have a protein shake too on weights days and drink at least 2 litres of water each day.0
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Would you open your food diary for a minute?0
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I can open it but I' doing 5:2 so I have some very low calorie days in there and each day is different so different intake and generally I have some days which are more relaxed due to eating out etc.0
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I just need to see sodium. Maybe you know your daily average for sodium over a 30 day period?
If you read this article, it will give you a clue to what may be your trouble
.http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/sodium/NU00284
I was eating 1200 calories/day and not losing weight. When I got my sodium intake below 1200 mg/day, the weight has been coming off @ 3 lbs/week.
Had to edit 1200 mg sodium/day not 1200 -
Ok, I wasn't tracking sodium before but I've changed it in the settings to track this, does it really make that much of a difference? I'll read the article you posted later about it to find out a little more.
Looking back over the last couple of weeks it's been quite variable. Some days with 2500 mg and other days with 800! I'd say on average it's been about 1500 mg but that doesn't take into account salt added to food and I do like salt on things (although I use low salt). I have no idea how much sodium is in a 'pinch' of added salt either so even if I can keep it below 1200 on here I need to know that too, although I'm gonna try and cut down on salt anyway.
By the way I haven't actually had a full week of eating 1200 calories yet, this is my first week but so far still no weight loss!0 -
Wow, scary reading! I didn't realise sodium was so bad and that there was so much of it about!0
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Sorry it took so long. We live in the country and computer is slowwwwww!
For the last 7 days your sodium intake average = 1,741 mg/day.
I think that if you get it down below 1200 and keep it there you will see better results. It worked for me and my wife so far. She has lost 19 lbs in 9 weeks.0 -
Ok, I wasn't tracking sodium before but I've changed it in the settings to track this, does it really make that much of a difference? I'll read the article you posted later about it to find out a little more.
Looking back over the last couple of weeks it's been quite variable. Some days with 2500 mg and other days with 800! I'd say on average it's been about 1500 mg but that doesn't take into account salt added to food and I do like salt on things (although I use low salt). I have no idea how much sodium is in a 'pinch' of added salt either so even if I can keep it below 1200 on here I need to know that too, although I'm gonna try and cut down on salt anyway.
By the way I haven't actually had a full week of eating 1200 calories yet, this is my first week but so far still no weight loss!
Those little pinches of salt = 295 mg of sodium each. I add salt to nothing. If you add salt to your salad, potato and meat thats 885 mg of added sodium0 -
Wow, scary reading! I didn't realise sodium was so bad and that there was so much of it about!
I had no idea either until a friend told me about that article and that I need to get my sodium below my calorie intake. Sodium is important so I try and keep mine @ 1000 mg/day. I aslo got off 7 different blood pressure meds in the first 3 weeks after lowering the sodium
It is late and I need some sleep. I am online at least 2 times every day. If you want to stay in touch ,send an FR or a message and I will get back to you.
Later:glasses:0 -
Wow really! Did your wife have trouble losing the weight before lowering sodium? I drink a lot of bottled water and the bottle says 6mg per 100ml and i normally drink at least 2000ml every day so that's an extra 120mg per day right there. Plus the added lo salt and what's already in food so maybe I'll look at some low sodium brands of water and try adn stop adding salt to food and that will be enough as I put salt on everything!0
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You say you have tried all these other options but you've only been doing this for 4 months? If you change your calorie intake you should give it at least 6-8 weeks for your body to adjust.
Often when people have been on low calorie diets when they increase their calories they see an initial weight gain maybe as much as 5 pounds. This scares people and they think they are gaining when really their body is just adjusting. After staying on the TDEE - 20% calorie amount you should start losing again once your body makes the adjustment and gets used to eating more calories.
Or you can just eat less long term. I would not find that sustainable if it were me so I would give these other approaches a more realistic try than just a week or two.
This. For 12 years I had various eating disorders. During recovery and now being recovered, I was certain I couldn't ever eat more than 1500 and lose. I started on 1000 and gradually increased to 1500 in stages. Any time I went over 1500, I would gain.
Now, a few months later, I eat up to 2027 calories a day (my TDEE) and workout 2-3 times a week in the gym (mainly strength and then a bit of HIIT). For the first month or two I stayed roughly the same or gained a couple of pounds. Now after 3 months, I lost 1.4lb. I'm not in a rush. If I can lose 1lb a month, then I'll be at my goal weight in 3 months. My net calories for the week are always over my BMR.
Ofc, there is the question as to how you work out your burnt calories and consumed calories - weighing foods, HRM etc.
If you have no medical condition as you stated, then you have no reason to eat 1300 calories a day and never more.0 -
There you go, maybe it's all water retention rather than fat. How cool would that be
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Yes that would be amazing but I'll believe it when I see it! That said I know it's not good to eat too much sodium so I'm gonna cut down and if I has the added benefit of water loss then great! The does does funny things. For example this morning first thing after going to the loo I weighed myself and I was 146.5lbs and 32% body fat. I had a coffee, went into the gym and did my weights workout, drank lots of water and then had a yogurt as it's my fast day. I drank more water and went to the loo another 3 times and had a shower. Got back on the scales which now read 145.5lbs and 30% body fat. Not quite sure why this happens but I suppose it's to do with water loss.
I work out my calories consumed by weighing and measuring the majority of the time and calories burned via a heart rate monitor. I'm currently reading a book called Dr. Abravanel's Body type diet which I've had for ages but wanted to re-read it. It basically says that my body type is a thyroid type and I should completely avoid eating refined carbohydrates ie. white carbs and sugar. It also says to eat eggs every day, steer clear of too much fruit and eat fresh vegetables and plenty of protein in general with every meal. I have ben thinking about lowering carbs for a while but I think I'll do this a little more now and stick to the other things he suggests too while sticking within my calories for the week.0
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