How Did You Decide?

fitnessGETZeasy
fitnessGETZeasy Posts: 79 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
There appear to be two very different schools of thought on weight loss. There's the eat more to lose weight crowd and then there's the calories crowd. How in the world did you pick which is best for you?

I do cardio (2 or 3 spin classes a week) and I lift pretty heavy 2 or 3 times a week (by pretty heavy, I mean I lift to exhaustion). I've read all the articles and have read the pros and cons to each. How the heck did you figure out which one worked best for you? NONE of it seems to be working for me. I've told my husband I'm just going to tell folks I'm "bulking". LOL This was never so hard for me before. Now I feel like no matter what strategy I try, how much I work out, what I eat, I'm gaining weight every single week! I'm kind of over it.

Replies

  • jonesin_am
    jonesin_am Posts: 404 Member
    Pick whatever is sustainable for you over the long haul. I knew there is no way that I can eat 1200 calories and be healthy...and continue that for the rest of my life (because this IS a lifestyle change). I calculated my BMR and TDEE and eat over 2,000 calories a day usually. The last two weeks I haven't been tracking everything as I am trying the eat when I'm hungry thing...but I basically know how much I am consuming because I typically eat the same things for breakfast, lunch and snacks.
  • allshebe
    allshebe Posts: 423 Member
    Are you honestly and accurately tracking every bite you eat? What is your average daily calorie intake? I think that's the place to start. If you're eating between 1200 and 1500 calories per day and gaining weight, maybe you need to see your doctor just to make sure you don't have metabolic issues, but if you normally eat on the high end of that range or higher, I'd try cutting back calories by 100-200 per day (never lower than 1200) and maintain the same level of activity. Generally, taking in a few fewer calories than you burn each day will equal weight loss. You might also try changing your macro ratios - some people do better if they "favor" protein or fat a little more than current "USDA" recommendations (meaning "lowered" carbs, but not ultra low carb). Sometimes all you need to do is eat the same, but avoid high sugar/salt processed "foods" ("foods" in quotes because there is room for debate whether highly processed items really classify as "food" or "products that in some way resemble actual nutritious food items ")
  • kendernau
    kendernau Posts: 155 Member
    I don't really feel the two crowds you listed are that different...they are just different aspects of the same spectrum.

    If you are overweight because you are eating too many calories, you need to be in reduced calories group. If you are already low calorie (or extremely low calorie), you need to evaluate what you are eating against what your body at a minimum needs. If you are below minimum, you need to join the eat more to lose weight group.

    I also strongly believe smaller steps are better and more sustainable. If you drop 300 calories a day from your diet, after a little while it becomes easier to stay at that level, and you can then drop another 300 when you are ready.

    On the other hand, if you drop 1500 calories a day, you will see faster weight loss (at least initially), but for most people that is not sustainable, and will bounce back to what you were doing before fairly quickly.
  • cuterbee
    cuterbee Posts: 545
    I count calories; it's pretty simple with this website. So far it works well, and makes me mindful of my intake.
  • AmyRhubarb
    AmyRhubarb Posts: 6,890 Member
    Eating more to lose is about calories - it's about making sure you're getting the right amount of calories, not too many, but not too little either, which is a mistake may of us make when we first start trying to lose weight at "dieting".

    I started with the standard 1200 setting - hated it and wasn't very nice to be around! :tongue: Hungry, grumpy, tired, with some weight loss, but didn't see the results I wanted.

    Along the way I found the In Place Of A Road Map thread along with the Eat More crowd, and I liked what I saw in the photos and what I read in their posts. So I ran my own numbers and found that I could and should be eating a lot more than I had been! Best move I ever made was bumping up to my TDEE minus 20% - ate that way for a year and had my best success at dropping the fat and seeing the results I wanted, without being hungry, stressed out about going over my limit every time there was a birthday, dinner out, or a holiday.

    You say you've tried "all the methods" or something like that - if you did up your cals, how long did you give it before deciding it didn't work? It takes time - at least 4-6 weeks before making adjustments up or down.

    I finally hit goal weight, but more importantly, I've steadily lost fat and inches while eating 1800+ calories for over a year. :drinker: And I can eat this way for the rest of my life, stay in shape, and look and feel better than I have in years!

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/937712-in-place-of-a-road-map-ver-3-0

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