It's been 20 days, not dropped an oz!

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  • kuntry_navy
    kuntry_navy Posts: 677 Member
    Good idea, what should a cheat day contain?

    my cheat days usually are filled with simple refined carbs and starchy carbs(white bread, sweets, potatoes). if you go overboard, it just means you'll need more discipline during the rest of the week. i eat under 100 carbs all week then have a cheat day. you'll gain weight because of the cheat day. but it will burn off within around two days. you don't have to make a day of it, you can also just have a cheat meal(something for that spike). where you'll include something you removed from your diet. judging by your profile, that would be a perfect time to indulge in your nutella.
  • XXXMinnieXXX
    XXXMinnieXXX Posts: 3,459 Member
    I think you'd be better changing your goal on here to - 1lb per week. With only 32lbs to lose that's a more reasonable deficit. Instead of the 700 cals you get of fitbit it would be 1200. A much more reasonable amount! You may feel ok at those calories for a short period of time, but I won't last in my opinion.

    Does your nutritionist know fitbit is setting your goal at 700? I'm sure that they wouldn't recommend that unless you were massively overweight! Doing the low carb will get the weight of even with eating with a smaller deficit. With your TDEEs a 1000 cal deficit is just too large!

    Zara.
  • Scottb4857
    Scottb4857 Posts: 38 Member
    I think what people are saying is that you need to fuel your body enough that it doesn't perceive it is going through a famine, but not so much that you remove the calorie deficit.

    Quick story to illustrate. When I was on my fitness journey before I went through a month long period without dropping a pound. I had gone from 252 to 225 over roughly 3 months. Since I am a 6'5" tall guy, I had set my calorie target for 2000/day which I always ate to, but never under and never over by more than 100 cals and no cheat days. Was in the gym 6 days per week, cardio everyday, lifting 3-4 days depending on muscle group rotation - burning a bare minimum of 1200 cals per day. During the no loss period, after two weeks I thought I must not be working hard enough, so started pushing more. Added 10-15 minutes to cardio, longer lifting sessions, still nothing. Started researching and before long figured out that at that point my BMR was probably around 2200-2300 given my size and activity level. So as an experiment started eating around 2300-2400 per day with the same workouts. You can guess what happened - I started dropping like a stone again - 2-3 pounds per week until I leveled it out around 205.

    In other words, calorie targets are different for everyone, but from looking at your logs and activity - it appears you are not putting in the bare minimum needed to fuel your body. Yes, you can tweak macros and carb/protein/fat ratios, but unless you have some very different metabolism issues (like your husband), you appear to be basically slowly starving yourself and your body doesn't like it.

    Just for kicks and giggles, try keeping up the activity level but eat around 1400-1500 cals per day. Your size and height indicate a current BMR of around 1500 - 1600. Can't guarantee, but would be willing to bet you would start losing weight, whereas right now you're not.

    All the best!
  • asbandr
    asbandr Posts: 39 Member
    No, I'm not ignoring people. I'm just not going to listen to the whole 1200 calories or else! approach which so many people get so bullish about, as I'm under direction from a doctor/nutritionist right now.

    Question, is it YOU specifically that's under a physicians care? Or your husband. Because you started out this post saying that you eat the way you do in support of your husband who has Celiac's and type 1 diabetes. I am ALL for you supporting your husband, but you have to take care of you too. Studies show that there is no benefit of following a diet for Celiac's unless you actually have it. In fact, the way you're doing it now, with minimal calories, it's causing you more harm than good. You said it's hard to get to a calorie target without eating carbs. Ok, if you don't have a gluten allergy (which you have not said you do) then eat carbs. Eat them wisely. Higher carb veggies, wheat breads and pasta's.

    I know that I'm going to sound like a broken record, but I cannot post this with any peace of mind without laying it out for you. You're getting very defensive about the suggestions to eat more. You have people that are telling you over and over, "this is what helped me" AND they're saying it helped them when they ate more! This is a win-win in my book! So how it works out is this, my BMR (basal metabolic rate) is about 1200 right now. That is just to keep me alive without eating all my muscles as I lay in bed all day long. But I don't lay in bed all day long. I run 3 times a week and weight train 4 days a week. So if I am burning 500 calories from just exercise and daily activity (just an example because I don't feel like pulling up my stats) that leaves my body with 700 calories to do the job that requires 1200 calories. And 700 is a total you've gotten on one of the days I've looked at. So my body is going to hang on to fat, and burn muscle. Muscle that if I had more of, it would burn more fat. So make sure your net amount of calories is MORE than your BMR! You can still be at a deficit and that's what makes you lose weight, but your body is burning fat, not hard earned muscle.

    The idea of 1200+ calories a day is not arbitrary, it's scientific. This isn't a number dieters have pulled out of their hats, it's what doctors and dieticians have said is our absolute minimum.

    I really hope you can get all this sorted out and eat healthy, I want you to see your weightloss goals realized, but I don't want to see another person depriving their body what it needs. Whether you feel comfortable with your calorie intake or not, your body isn't.
  • sanandresisland
    sanandresisland Posts: 2
    try the military diet ...I have been on it 2 weeks and I have lost 7lbs...easy nothing special to buy 3 days of dieting and then 4 days off with the help of fitness pal on your 4 days off keeps you on track...
  • hellokitty41489
    hellokitty41489 Posts: 93
    I'm not going to repeat what everyone else has said.

    You're not losing weight, so obviously you're doing something wrong. You ask for help. A bunch of people give you the same answer, which you disregard. Then you come to your own conclusion about it being related to your protein intake, am I right? So why did you even ask?

    Listen to the others, read the link that's been posted, and take it into consideration.

    This.
  • maegmez
    maegmez Posts: 341 Member
    I have to agree, it's your calorie intake. I find when I don't eat enough, it's harder to lose the weight but if I eat about 1400 a day along with my running, it melts off!

    Your body will hold onto everything it gets when not eating properly. I think it's great you want to support your husband but I can't see a dietician agreeing to the amount of calories you are eating. Nothing wrong with going low carb but not your calories.

    Please trust us when we say that 1200 should be the minimum. I was in denile at first too.
  • clarebigbelly
    clarebigbelly Posts: 21 Member
    Hi,


    Yes, I'm supporting my husband by eating like him, although he has the health issues, we are seeing the nutritionist as a family which is recommended. The difference between my husband and I is that he is not trying to lose weight but I am. I am finding it hard to change eating habits of a lifetime for us as a family. Those aren't necessarily bad eating habits but normal ones, as the norm is no longer recommended.

    I am not deliberately eating under he MFP recommendation. I am eating a 1000 deficit based on my calories burned according to fitbit. I will take on board your advice to try t eat more however this is esker said than done. I am trying to re educate myself to feed myself and my husband under a particular amount of carbs over day. For him, he has to eat 6g for breakfast, 12 g for lunch and 12 g for dinner. I am actually eating more than him at 50g or under a day.

    Based on the various advise which I WILL be taking on board:

    I will up my protein intake a lot, I thought I was eating high protein but it seems I could be eating a lot more which will help bring my calorie n take up. This will take some adjustment as its hard to eat more of something u are not used to.

    I need to drink more water to flush out the sodium from my quorn intake - yes!!!

    I need to watch what type of protein I'm eating as quorn is processed so may contain too much sodium

    I need to do more weights

    I need to avoid more sugary fruit- tricky one but I will look to see what has the least carbs in.

    Thank you for your advise. Hopefully I can find more calories to eat without feeling too full.
  • Skratchie
    Skratchie Posts: 131 Member
    My husband is diabetic and I am eating better to support him, but that doesn't mean I'm eating to my own detriment. I don't think any nutritionist would be telling YOU to eat less than 800 calories a day, unless you had more than 100 pounds to lose in a very short time. Maybe the next time you see this person, you should mention what you're doing yourself and get their opinion on it.

    Good luck.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,427 MFP Moderator
    With 20 lbs to lose you can only aim for 1/2 - 1 lb per week... otherwise you will just catabolize your muscle... muscle is what makes you tight and lean.... fat loss is greater than weight loss...


    You do not need to eat leas sugary fruit. Fruit is a carb and if carbs are moderate fruit is fine. I eat 3-4 servings a day and never had an issue losing fat. Calories are more important than macros. 1400-1500 seems good based on your fitbit. Protein is key to maintaining muscle and maintaining your metabolism. Every active women i know is eating 1700-2100 calories.

    Also, if your husband has celiac why did you guys choose vegetarian? Just curious as a paleo type diet would be better for getting more protein... not to say you cant do it from being a vegetarian. Especially since you guys have to minimize carbs. Proteins improve insulin resistance so its hard to understand why you are trying to be low carb and vegetarian.

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