Another one of these threads...

With only 5 pounds less to lose, she may not need to eat less. She may need to eat more because she is very close to maintenance. If she hasn't adjusted her goal to half a pound a week, MFP may have her at too much of a calorie deficit. Not enough info here to tell though.

This is almost completely wrong. Time of day of consumption of Calories is irrelevant. It's overall intake vs. overall outgoing.


Toadie (may I call him/her that?) has it right - you need to track everything - including the day you go out to dinner. You might be surprised at how many calories are in that meal - especially if you're having dessert. I was shocked to find out that the carrot cake at Outback is considered 2 servings, and there's a lot of Calories in only one serving (491 per serving, IIRC). Thus, almost all of those 1000 Calories (were you to eat all this carrot cake, for instance) would be gone - even without the "real" dinner.

Depends on the person I guess. But my 23 lbs of loss in 12 weeks and body fat drop from 19% to 13% in the same time would say its working for me, so it can't be wrong. Eating the big meal at night should make your body work harder to digest that during its valuable reparation time and MAY effect quality of sleep. Just another option for someone who has tried a lot of stuff already it would seem. No need to worry about trying to negate other comments folks.

But scientifically speaking, meal timing and meal frequency has zero to do with weight loss. If calories where consistent, you would have seen the same results if you switched your meals, ate less or more meals or did a program like interim fasting. And your bodies metabolism is constantly working; whether it's maintain your organs, digestion or repairing muscles. Overall, you will burn the same amount of calories digesting food regardless of when or how often you eat. That's the point.

Scientifically speaking...When you eat, your body will digest the food and use it for energy first, before it goes to fat stores. Your metabolism is constantly working but it does change the way it is working based on different factors. If you eat less at night, when your metabolism is slowest because you aren't burning extra calories other than basal metabolic rate, it does not have much to digest while it is in the reparation mode. The way I've always learned is that your body does the most reparation at night while it is at rest. It has to have energy from somewhere to do so. If there is less food to digest, it has to burn fat to make the energy. Exact opposite in the daytime. You are awake and doing something, so you are burning above basal. You will burn off the calories easier that way and get to the fat.

I never said anyone was wrong. Calories in, calories out, blah. Its the same concept I use, but timing does make a difference in forcing your body to burn the fat. Just watching calories will absolutely help, especially if you know what your basal rate is, but most people don't. I believe from my education, experience, and reading that timing does make a difference. The original pounds drop easier, but the last few are harder, and burning fat is what the OP seemed to be looking for. Maybe I'm wrong, maybe not. Show me scientific evidence that proves your point and I'll show you the same. Science is inexact and none of the research is scientific law, so just do what works.

bump

Thanks for all the information!

Some people asked for more stats, so here it goes.

I'm 5"3. I easily maintained 110 pounds just two years ago, before I got sick and put on all this weight. Easily, as in, I ate all the time, never counted calories, and wouldn't put on weight. So my goal weight is 115. That's 5 pounds higher than I was, so I feel like that's realistic!

Right now I'm 121ish pounds. I go from 120 - 122 depending on the day, so I just say 121.

I have some calipers, and I get a body fat reading of about 22% with them.

I do track everything I eat. I just track on another website because it's where I started and I find it easier to log on there. And I mean everything, I'll track a single m&m!

And the 1000ish calorie dinners are only once a week. Otherwise my three meals are evenly proportioned calories wise.

I really don't even know what my maintenance level is? I was eating 1200 calories, but increased it to 1400-1500. My one day off, I probably hit around 2000 calories. I mean, I was maintaing at 1200, and I'm maintaining here.

I do include HIIT training and plyometrics in my cardio and weights.


Thanks for all the help so far!!

Your true maintenance is definitely not 1200 calories, it's probably your bodies way of fighting you since you are already at a normal level. Based on your activity level and stats, you should be cutting around 1800 calories. The problem you might face is if you been suppressing calories for a long time, it will take some time to get your calories back up to a normal level. With that said, I would suggest bumping your calories up by 100 every week until you hit around 1800. I generally suggest macro's to be around 35/40/25 (c/p/f). And if you can, concentrate on lifting heavy. This will help with fat loss.

One question: You say you have lost 93 lbs in two years: Have been at a defict for 2 straight years?

Since you are so close to your goal weight, you should seriously cut down on the excessive exercising. Your exercise activities and volume should be ideal to what you intend to do during maintenance. With that said, stick to 3-4 days of weight-training with maybe 1 day of cardio (just for the benefits of maintaining stroke volume).

At your weight, you shouldn't have much fat mass to lose. Thus, your intake should be about 250 to 375 calories less than what's your present and adjusted TDEE is. You likely don't know what that number is since you've been at a deficit for so long. Losing the last few lbs takes patience. But if you've maintained a deficit for two years, your RMR can be several 100s below its optimal amount which restricts how much you can eat without gaining fat.

Since you are so close to your goal weight, you should seriously cut down on the excessive exercising. Your exercise activities and volume should be ideal to what you intend to do during maintenance. With that said, stick to 3-4 days of weight-training with maybe 1 day of cardio (just for the benefits of maintaining stroke volume).

Your post contains good advice, except maybe for the cardio. I believe current medical research suggests that 30 min sessions of aerobic exercise at least three days per week are needed to show a reduction in heart disease risk.

Keep in mind that is for the average American who isn't exercising or probably at a weight of the OP. If the OP wants, she can do compound lifts and get the same benefit of increasing her heart rate. Anaerobic workouts can easily get your HR in the 150-170 range.