Will my plan work?

Cherrydropsify
Cherrydropsify Posts: 4
in Health and Weight Loss
Hey all =)

I tried the 1200 cal/day diet for about 2 weeks and GAINED weight =S

So iv created my own plan to loose a pound a week...

I want to have a net intake of 700 cal/day (if I eat over I just exercise off the excess)

If I do this I will have an intake of 4,900cal/week which is 3,500cal less than if I was eating 1200cals/day.

3,500 = 1 pound

Therefore I should be reducing my diet by 3,500cals a week and hopefully loose a pound ( or at least something!)

Will this work?

Replies

  • kaervaak
    kaervaak Posts: 274 Member
    Please don't eat VLCD (very low calorie diet: defined as anything under 900 cal/day) without medical supervision. You can very easily do very bad things to your body. Go see a doctor if you want to follow a plan like this.
  • kaervaak
    kaervaak Posts: 274 Member
    Also, can you open your diary and maybe tell us a bit about yourself? That would help form a better idea of how to give you advice.
  • Cherrydropsify
    Cherrydropsify Posts: 4
    Im new to this, how do I open my diary?

    Then you can see what I eat!!
  • Mummyadams
    Mummyadams Posts: 1,125 Member
    You are eating too little, which is why you are gaining. Find Eat More to Lose Weight posts - it will tell you all you need to learn.
  • Sidesteal
    Sidesteal Posts: 5,510 Member
    If you gained on 1200 it is very very likely that you are not counting accurately.
  • kaervaak
    kaervaak Posts: 274 Member
    Im new to this, how do I open my diary?

    Then you can see what I eat!!

    Go to "My Home" -> "Settings" -> "Diary Settings"
    Go to the bottom of the diary settings page and change the Diary sharing setting from private to public
  • MB_Positif
    MB_Positif Posts: 8,897 Member
    I do not recommend following this plan at all. Like Sidesteal said, something doesn't sound right, if you gained at 1200 maybe your diary entries are inaccurate! There is NO reason to go that low!
  • Tony_Brewski
    Tony_Brewski Posts: 1,376 Member
    I eat between 1500 and 2500 a day and I still lose 4 pounds a WEEK! Eat right and sweat your buns off. I dont eat chips, candy or junk food I dont drink soda pop or fruit juices. I eat lean meats like fish and chicken. Very little beef very little bread. Cereal 2 days a week is all. My carbs mainly come from fruits and vegis. And I work out for 2 hours or more a day burning 1200-2500 calories in a stint. Once I hit my goal weight I'll back off on my output and balance out my intake to maintain not lose. Dont be dumb. Eat right. Other wise you can look for system wide organ failure over time, along with a wide range of other medical issues... as well as hair loss, weak britle nails... loose teeth... dry skin... the list goes on and on.

    If you are gaining... you are not entering correctly, or you are putting on lean muscle mass. DITCH the scale! Use a body fat % calculator. Your weight can swing by 10 lbs in a given day. Its NOT fully accurate all the time.
  • Uxorial
    Uxorial Posts: 38
    Is it possible that you are guessing the size of your servings incorrectly?

    It is very easy to think 1.5 cups of rice was a cup....

    Primarily, though, I think you may need to eat more as well. How much are you exercising?
  • jonilynn70
    jonilynn70 Posts: 145 Member
    Incorrect portion sizes, processed foods instead of natural, and too low calorie count could all be possibilities of why you are not losing. 1,200 should be very sufficient - especially with exercise - may even need a little more. But not less. Processed foods are evil - eliminate ALL of them and perhaps keep carbs limited and see how that goes.
  • Sidesteal
    Sidesteal Posts: 5,510 Member
    Incorrect portion sizes, processed foods instead of natural, and too low calorie count could all be possibilities of why you are not losing. 1,200 should be very sufficient - especially with exercise - may even need a little more. But not less. Processed foods are evil - eliminate ALL of them and perhaps keep carbs limited and see how that goes.

    You don't need to eliminate processed foods given the comparison across diets of equal macronutrient intake. Your body will still metabolize the macronutrients in exactly the same way whether it's hamburger helper or vegetables.

    Whole and nutrient dense foods will provide better satiety in most cases (I think it would be in most peoples best interest to make sure processed food is not the majority of your diet), and you'll typically get way more micronutrients, but in terms of actual differences in weight it does not matter at all.
  • 2hobbit1
    2hobbit1 Posts: 820 Member
    If you are interested in permanent heart and organ damage than go ahead and follow your plan.
    If not then take a look at this link for a good discussion of how to set you calorie intake to levels that will allow you to loose with out hurting yourself or stalling out.


    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12
  • AnyaCJ
    AnyaCJ Posts: 3
    If you are eating a NET 700kcal a day instead of just 700kcal a day those are 2 different things. So all the attacks on your idea are a bit unwarranted. For it to be safe to have a net intake of 700kcal you would have to burn an extra 800kcal a day so your intake is still 1500kcal. It's tiring and you might give up. I've set mine to 500kcal and burn 1000kcal so my intake is still 1500kcal but it is hard work and probably won't last passed the holiday prep. It might be good to do a weighed food diary for a week to see if your portion sizing is accurate too.
  • AnyaCJ
    AnyaCJ Posts: 3
    If you are eating a NET 700kcal a day instead of just 700kcal a day those are 2 different things. So all the attacks on your idea are a bit unwarranted. For it to be safe to have a net intake of 700kcal you would have to burn an extra 800kcal a day so your intake is still 1500kcal. It's tiring and you might give up. I've set mine to 500kcal and burn 1000kcal so my intake is still 1500kcal but it is hard work and probably won't last passed the holiday prep. It might be good to do a weighed food diary for a week to see if your portion sizing is accurate too.

    That said, you don't have much weight to lose so a 700kcal net is a bit low. Maybe 1000kcal?
  • Cherrydropsify
    Cherrydropsify Posts: 4
    Because im focussing on my net intake - i'm eating more than 700cal a day (probably about 1000), but working off about 200cals a day.


    I'll take all the advice and stop eating so much processed foods and be more careful with how im measuring my portions - dose anyone have any tips to help me accurately measure my portions?
  • GauchoMark
    GauchoMark Posts: 1,804 Member
    Because im focussing on my net intake - i'm eating more than 700cal a day (probably about 1000), but working off about 200cals a day.


    I'll take all the advice and stop eating so much processed foods and be more careful with how im measuring my portions - dose anyone have any tips to help me accurately measure my portions?

    Get a digital food scale and weigh everything for a couple of weeks. Every food item has a serving size listed in grams, so it makes it very easy. If the serving size is 64g and you eat 143 grams, you just enter in 143/64= 2.234 servings. If you are diligent about this for a while, you start getting a feel for estimating. However, I still (after a year and a half) use the scale if it is convenient.

    Also, understand that the food database here is mostly entered by other members. Don't trust it blindly. A lot of the info is accurate, but there is a LOT out there that is wrong. Make sure your entry matches the label.
  • Chairless
    Chairless Posts: 583 Member
    If you gained on 1200 it is very very likely that you are not counting accurately.

    Simply this
  • supplemama
    supplemama Posts: 1,956 Member
    Eh why don't you just eat and exercise?

    I eat around 2,000 calories a day and lose around 2 pounds a week, sometimes more. And I exercise.
  • GauchoMark
    GauchoMark Posts: 1,804 Member
    just a VERY quick look at your diary - do you eat "crispy rice" cereal dry or with milk? I see very few drinks listed - I don't log drinks if they are zero calories. Are yours zero? If not, they should be logged. One other thing I noticed is that there were no condiments or sauces listed - sugar, butter, mayo, etc. Be sure you are logging that stuff. It all adds up, especially if you don't have much weight to lose.
  • chickentunashake
    chickentunashake Posts: 164 Member
    If you gained on 1200 it is very very likely that you are not counting accurately.
    ^^^ definitely agree. Unless you are very very petite. But even then, there is no way you can gain on 1200 cal a day
  • cjc166
    cjc166 Posts: 222
    Look into "Eat to Live" by Dr Furhman. If you eat that way, you are certain to make progress towards not only a healthy weight, but actually being healthy as well. This plan will also remove the necessity to measure, weigh, or count calories, as your body will get back in touch with true hunger, which will naturally guide your eating to the amount of calories actually required.
  • PLUMSGRL
    PLUMSGRL Posts: 1,134 Member
    The short answer is noooooooooooooooooo!

    GO look and educate yourself about your body:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IirSqtulw08&feature=channel&list=UL

    http://www.oxygenmag.com/Community/Expert-Q-A/How-does-starvation-versus-eating-fewer-calories-affect-fat-loss.aspx

    http://eatmore2weighless.com/

    http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/


    Get rid of the old mentality of less is better~
  • vegamy
    vegamy Posts: 204 Member
    I want to have a net intake of 700 cal/day (if I eat over I just exercise off the excess)

    Will this work?

    My opinion? No. It doesn't seem like you have much weight to lose. If that's the case, it's harder to lose weight (especially if you are within or near a healthy weight range) and it's not healthy to eat too little, it is not sustainable long term and can lead to binges. Giving it two weeks might not have been enough time for your body to adjust (plus, there's measuring properly, and normal weight fluctuations to take into account). I'm no expert, but I steadily lost weight at a rate of between 0.5-2 lbs/week for almost a year and a half, and I ate back all of my exercise calories. Now, I can maintain eating at least 1800 NET calories, but when I was losing and close to goal, I ate 1500 net.
  • Cherrydropsify
    Cherrydropsify Posts: 4
    Thats very helpful =) Ill get myself a digital weighing scale!

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