In Place Of A Road Map 3/2013

For all intents and purposes I'll quickly add that this works for just about everyone.
I've had 2 people that I know of, try this method and it didnt work.
I'll first say that:
1) You arent unique like a snowflake.
2) Patience is the number 1 tool for any type of lifestyle change.



This is the best I can do!

I'll hand you the tools for a successful and sustainable diet that you can use and manipulate to achieve your goals.
If you are looking to lose weight, you just eat the calories given by doing the simple steps below.

If you are looking to maintain weight, you eat the amount of calories given under the appropriate activity modifier.

I've said it several times here on this forum and i'll say it again and again:

True dieting needs the knowledge of 3 very important numbers.

1) TDEE or Total Daily Energy Expenditure.
This is the amount of calories you burn all day.
From before you wake up in the morning and pee to the time you lay your head down at night to sleep and into the night.
One of my biggest pet peeves is seeing a post on the forum or on someones Diary "Ugh! I feel sooo guilty because I went over calories today!" when the person went over a few cals over a 40% cut from TDEE.

Knowing TDEE allows you to understand that anything above TDEE is a surplus and you will "eventually" gain weight.
Anything at TDEE you maintain weight.
Anything below TDEE you lose weight to an extent. (see BMR)

2) BMR or Basal Metabolic Rate or RMR Resting Metabolic Rate.
If you were in a coma and in the hospital, the doctors would feed you your BMR in calories.
This ensures you have enough nutrients for vital organs to function.

http://www.brighthubeducation.com/science-homework-help/107443-ten-essential-organs-in-the-human-body/
This is just a small list of vital organs in the human body.

Eating at BMR and staying in bed should maintain things as long as you do nothing at all.
Most people who start using MFP dont really understand the importance of this BMR number.
They jump in with both feet thinking "I'm going to lose soooooo much weight and be fantastic!"
What they dont understand is by not eating back calories from working out, they are netting below BMR.
The only people who should be eating below BMR are folks who have had Gastric Bypass, 500-700 cals/day, or people who are morbidly obese and only for an extremely short time and only prescribed by a Certified Nutritionist/Dietician.
I know I know!
There have been recent studies on fasting for extended periods of time and losing weight, but for all intents and purposes we are going to assume that the people on this site hopefully love food and can learn to have a synergistic and healthy relationship with it.

Most people who eat at or below BMR will lose weight for a short time.
Their bodies are no longer getting energy from food and so their bodies turn to fat stores for energy.
Problem is after extended periods of time, their bodies will adapt to the new energy and attempt to balance things out.
This isnt starvation response, we've beaten that horse on the forums over and over, but it is a metabolic slow down.



This is a list compiled by Lyle McDonald on the effects of dieting on certain hormonal responses.
On the left is an anabolic state or "Fed" state.
On the right is a catabolic state or "Underfed" state.
Anabolic is the building of tissue, fat or muscle.
Catabolic is the breaking down of tissue, fat or muscle.

The further to the left you go, above TDEE, youll gain weight in the form of Muscle and or fat.
This is dependent of your activities and stress levels.
The further to the right you go, Below TDEE, youll lose weight in the form of Fat and or Muscle.
Again dependent on activity and stress levels.

If the body does not get enough energy from calories in, it will seek ways to slow itself down.
Leptin levels drop, cortisol levels rise.
Anabolism stops and catabolism begins.
The body switches gears hormonally and tries to maintain fat, a non active tissue that stores energy, by burning lean mass, an active tissue that uses calories.
So in essence fat mass starts to stay the same while lean mass drops.
You can see how this can extend your dietary lifestyle right?
I've even heard that leaptin drops up to 50% within the first week of cutting calories.
Leptin tells the body its not starving and its okay to release fat.

I have been an advocate for eating properly with Nutrition being #1 when it comes to dieting.
You can lose most of your excess weight just by dieting down with nutrition alone.
However, those who do this find themselves losing lean mass if they arent using their muscles and working out so its not really recommended.
And yes, because this has been asked before, you can eat just about anything so long as it fits your macros.
BUT, in the beginning it is recommended that whole foods make up 80-90% of your choices.
We dont want to shrink ourselves and end up at goal weight but with high body fat.
This is where the term "Skinny-Fat" comes from.
The person looks good in clothing but once the shirt comes off....you get the point.

3) Body Fat%
So many people dont really know what their body fat% is.
I'm shocked every time I ask a member and they dont have a clue!
Some people dont even know what a safe BF% should be!

Athletes (6-13% for men, 16-20% for women)
Fitness (14-17% for men, 21-24% for women)
Acceptable (18-25% for men, 25-31% for women)
Obese (25%+ for men, 32%+ for women)

A good way to diet correctly is to set a body fat% goal as opposed to a weight goal.
The human body fluctuates up to 5lbs on average daily!
That would drive any person crazy who likes jumping on the scale every 30 mins!
Measuring body fat is a more sane approach to the diet.
Expecting a 1-5% change in a month is certainly acceptable in the middle BF ranges.
In the higher ranges it really depends on your BF%, macronutrients and workout routine.
I had an MFP friend who lost about 9% within a few weeks!
An interesting paper written by Martin Berkhan, creator of www.LeanGains.com talks about the amount of fat the human body can burn in a day. After reading it I started working out 3 times a week and had better results than working out 5 days a week.
https://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=160054937436250

Understanding body fat and how you lose it will certainly keep you from hopping on the scale every day and probably have you running up to GNC for a handy set of calipers $20.
I'll also note that post workout nutrition, generally high in protein and carbs, can carry a lot of water back into depleted muscles and on occasion can be stored in the fat cells. This can mask actual fat loss.
Lyle McDonald talks about this here:
http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/of-whooshes-and-squishy-fat.html


So now that I have given you the 3 most important numbers to always know while dieting, i'll give you a good source to figure all this information out on your own.
This was the first source I used to help myself and countless others to lose weight.
Once you have this link you can keep using it as you drop weight and body fat to recalculate your numbers.
Remember that as lean mass rises and fat mass drops, youll have different nutritional needs!

http://www.fat2fitradio.com/tools/
Do all of the different calculators for body fat.
You'll need a tape measurer.
Find the middle number.
Some calcs will be high and some low.

Write this info down or screenshot it.

Next you'll go back to tools and do the BMR tool.
This tool turned into a big discussion on the old post so I'll try to keep this as simple as I can.


Here you'll enter all your info from the MBF Calc.
But, under GOAL weight, I want you to put in your CURRENT weight.
This will give you a page that looks like this:


I use Light Activity for my modifier.
I wouldnt ever use Sedentary unless I was unable to walk or simply sat in front of the TV all day.

So looking at Light Activity, 2036, this is a guesstimate on how much I should be burning within a 24hour period.
If you work out 5 days a week, try Moderate activity!
Screenshot or write this info down.
You'll also notice the Katch McArdle reading of my BMR.
I like to eat and I like my muscles so I tend to stay away from this number unless i'm pulling an Eat Stop Eat Day.

On to MFP and custom settings.
To customize MFP you click SETTINGS>GOAL>CHANGE GOAL>CUSTOM>CONTINUE...



I have my MFP set to my TDEE so I know that I can eat up to and below that number to lose weight.
I also know that I can add 250-500 cals to that number on heavy lifting days in hopes of muscular growth.

For Morbidly Obese you can go as low as 30% below TDEE but beware the hormonal drops and if you plateau you'll need to come back up to TDEE for a few days.
I recommend 20% below TDEE.
If after 2 weeks the inches arent coming off then reassess your activity level and try a lower/higher setting.
I just figured out my wife, who claims to be sedentary, burns 2500-2900 calories a day.
I've been feeding her 1400-1600 calories a day because shes 5'3" at 40%BF.
She hasnt been losing any weight!
Upped her cals to 2k and guess what???
The weight is coming off.

This study shows that individuals who have dieted down with moderate to low deficits are more likely to maintain weight loss and health as opposed to those who diet down on a Very Low CalorieDiet.
http://www.nature.com/oby/journal/v9/n11s/full/oby2001133a.html

If you want simplified macronutrients, set Protein and Fat both to 30% using the drop down numbers.
Carbs should fill in at 40% unless you live in a wormhole and the laws of standard percentages dont apply.
This is similar to The Zone Diet in terms of macros.
If you just want to monitor your macros and custom tailor them on a daily basis, more advanced, calculate 1g protein per pound of Lean Mass(from MBF Calc) and .30-.70g Fat per pound of Lean Mass.
When monitoring your macros it's common on heavy lifting days to drop fats down to minimal, .30xlbm, and raise carbs up to fill in the remaining calories.
This can be the opposite on rest days if you low carb when you dont lift.
Some are known to go well above TDEE on lifting days and drop down below TDEE on rest days.
This is cyclical dieting in a nutshell.

To truly benefit from a FAT BURNING program you will need to have some type of resistance training.
If you are not lifting weights or doing body weight workouts, you will have a very hard time maintaining lean mass while in a caloric deficit.
I always suggest for gym goers, the Stronglifts 5x5 or Starting Strength programs.
Both teach basic compound moves and can help catapult your strength.
I'm sure you can find many other lifting programs but do keep in mind, if you lift Minnie Mouse dumbbells youll have Minnie Mouse muscles. =D

Cardio is great for accelerated fat loss but if you are overweight or obese I would only recommend a brisk walk.
Every pound of fat on your stomach is 8 on the knees and 10 on the upper back.
Once you get down to an acceptable BF level then run to your hearts content.

Rest and recovery is just as important as the actual workout.
Make sure when you rest....you really really rest!
Take a walk!
You'll see changes in no time!

If anyone has any questions feel free to ask.
If I missed something important please let me know.

Hugs!
=D

"Great bodies are built in the kitchen and while we sleep! Everything else is secondary."


PM me any Qs and if you need custom numbers run we can discuss it 1 on 1.

Bump...I have tried calculating my numbers this way before and I'm doing something way wrong...Perhaps I will try yet again. Thanks for the info.

The biggest thing that I found was, as Dan-the-Man mentioned in the OP - is patience. When I made the adjustment the first time, I had to jump from 1200 calories (the MFP standard) to 2199. I had to add 200 calories a week until I got to the high point. That was 5 weeks without a loss. In those 5 weeks, I put on 11 pounds. It was a LONG 5 weeks, and I wanted to quit, but as soon as I got there - bam! The weight started falling off!

I was really successfull for a long time, and then it just stalled out. After MONTHS of what I thought was a plateau, I finally ran my numbers again. I was WAY under where I should have been, but this time - I just did it all at once. I ate AT TDEE for a week, then went to TDEE - 20%, and that quick... I've lost 4.5 lbs, and 7 inches overall in just two weeks.

Be patient, and don't freak out if you see a small gain when you first adjust your calories up - because it WILL happen. Stick to it, and once your body adjusts to getting the right amount of fuel, it will start shedding the unnecessary.