Weight loss - looking for opinions.

rpishells
rpishells Posts: 3
in Health and Weight Loss
Hello everyone,

Well, quite recently I've had something in my head click that decided to make me be fed up with the way I am living my life and most of all sick of being overweight! Well anyways, I've made some drastic changes in my life. 2 Months ago I quit eating fast foods, and sodas. Pretty much cut all foods out except for a couple things.

So... I'm struggling getting over 1200 calorie intake while eating healthy. I do not feel lack of energy, nor do I feel hungry so I don't think I'm starving myself, but I do defiantly have a major decrease in calorie intake. Basically my diet consists of a GNC Total lean protein shake for breakfast and lunch. I also combine a banana for breakfast and an apple for lunch. I eat 3 oz of carrots as a snack between lunch and dinner dipped in peanut butter, normally 2-3 table spoon ( to help get some type of fat, and makes the carrots easier to eat ) and for dinner I finish it off with 4 oz boneless skinless chicken breast. I drink lots of water ( over 8 glasses a day ) and also include 1 cup of green tea in the morning.

I exercise on an elliptical machine 5 days a week for 30 minutes, ranging my heart rate between 151-171.

I also take GNC CLA for breakfast and lunch after my shake.

Weight loss seems to be pretty slow... I was wondering if anyone had ideas on what I can do to increase the pace i lose weight. I'm currently losing maybe .5 to 1lb a week. I know after reading that I should be able to achieve at least 2 lbs a week safely.

I'm currently 285 lbs, 6'1. If you need anymore details please let me know.

Replies

  • healthygreek
    healthygreek Posts: 2,137 Member
    You are not eating enough for your weight! I'm 5'1", 124 lbs. and I net 1500-1800 calories daily and I still lose.
    1/2 to 1 lb a week is a healthy, sustainable loss.
  • shadow2soul
    shadow2soul Posts: 7,692 Member
    my opinions:

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1013683-my-thoughts-on-weight-loss
  • amebushi
    amebushi Posts: 2 Member
    Sounds to me like you are not eating enough. I know it sounds counter productive but your body will enter a "starvation mode" if you don't eat enough, or often enough. I am 5'8" and weigh a little over 170...I take in about 2000 calories a day and can still lose a little weight. Try some eggs with breakfast and a lean protein with your lunch...and don't be too afraid to snack (healthy snacks) in between. The body builds the most muscle and burns the most fat when it is not worried when it's next meal is coming. Good luck
  • rpishells
    rpishells Posts: 3
    Yeah, I'm trying... I never really felt like i ate much. Before I always skipped breakfast and lunch, and normally ate around 9pm at night. A large fast food combo which added up comes out to around 4500 calories in one meal. And I'd normally pass out a few hours after I ate. Yes I know.. Bad bad bad... Well now that I've cut out the junk food I'm actually having difficulty getting my calorie intake up. I'm getting enough protein, or at least myfitnesspal says I am. Everything is pretty much at the right levels but I'm low on total fat, and carbs, and calories. I was thinking of adding some boiled red potatoes to my dinner since my dinner is only totaling 240 calories, which would add pretty much only carbs and calories. But the problem i'm struggling to even finish the 4oz chicken breast. Some times I don't complete it all and my calorie intake is even lower. I just don't feel hungry.
  • amebushi
    amebushi Posts: 2 Member
    First off, let me just state I am far from an expert. One suggestion I would have is to eat something right after your workouts. I know that I for one am famished when I get home from the gym and your body is looking for proteins to rebuild muscle after workouts. The idea of potatoes is not bad although I am sure there are "better" choices like sweet potatoes to get in some good carbs and calories. Hopefully some others will have better advice for you, this is not easy and good on you putting in the work
  • ozchuck
    ozchuck Posts: 9 Member
    Hi Shells,

    At 285, you're not really endangered with a 1200 calorie intake.
    This is of course assuming your body is about 40% fat or more? (if you have a big gut and fatty thighs, it probably will be)
    The studies showing the existence of a 'starvation mode' were done on people with an average (at the time, much thinner than people are now) body, and the conditions were mimicking what happened in concentration camps during ww2 (no really, they were trying to learn more about the consequences of those horrible camps) over 28 weeks.

    The results of these studies get hyped all the time, without care for what the actual results were and how the methods compare to peoples circumstances. Your body has a lot of available fat at the moment for fuel. If you eat a healthy ammount of protein and get sufficient micronutrients and dietary fat, you wont experience any metabolism slowdown. This only happens to people when they reduce bodyfat to levels that cant provide a majority of your bodies needs.

    Other people who claim to have suffered from a 'starvation mode' simply were not being accurate with their calorie logging, or failed to take into account their body simply did not need their previous calorie levels.

    If you're truly not getting hungry on 1200calories, you can probably cut the CLA supplementation out (its a scam invented by health food companies) and probably swap your breakfast back over to something solid with fibre. You could probably throw some bacon and egg on toast in if you wanted.
  • _Aimée_
    _Aimée_ Posts: 190
    Try replacing the shakes with actual food and you'll be able to bump up your calories.
  • broscientist
    broscientist Posts: 102 Member
    2 Months ago I quit eating fast foods, and sodas.
    So... I'm struggling getting over 1200 calorie intake.
    I exercise on an elliptical machine 5 days a week for 30 minutes, ranging my heart rate between 151-171.
    Weight loss seems to be pretty slow... I'm currently losing maybe .5 to 1lb a week.
    I'm currently 285 lbs, 6'1. If you need anymore details please let me know.

    So, you are 285 lbs.
    Exerciser 30 mins 5x a week.
    Eat only 1200 calories a day.
    Losing only .5 to 1 lb a week.
    This has been going on for 2 months?

    Something is not adding up.
    Most common mistake here is not accurately counting your calories.
    Measuring peanut butter with a spoon is a BAD BAD idea. I am 99% sure you are under-estimating how much 1 serving is Get a food scale and weigh it. People are always shocked at how little peanut butter equals 1 serving.
    But, other than that, you have a very "structured" diet that doesn't lend itself to miscounting calories.
    Still, just the peanut butter doesn't account for why you're not losing weight as fast as you should.

    You should open up your diary to the public so we can take a look and perhaps troubleshoot the problem.
    In reality, you should be able to eat around 2000 calories a day and still lose 2 lbs a week.
  • broscientist
    broscientist Posts: 102 Member
    Try replacing the shakes with actual food and you'll be able to bump up your calories.

    I agree that real food is better than shakes but, that doesn't mean he can bump up his calories. A calorie is still a calorie whether it is in a shake or in real food.
  • broscientist
    broscientist Posts: 102 Member
    First off, let me just state I am far from an expert. One suggestion I would have is to eat something right after your workouts. I know that I for one am famished when I get home from the gym and your body is looking for proteins to rebuild muscle after workouts. The idea of potatoes is not bad although I am sure there are "better" choices like sweet potatoes to get in some good carbs and calories. Hopefully some others will have better advice for you, this is not easy and good on you putting in the work

    The need for Protein immediately after a workout has been scientifically debunked.
    What exactly is a "good" carb?
  • LeanneGoingThin
    LeanneGoingThin Posts: 215 Member
    If you're really struggeling, eat nuts. They contain a lot of calories, so it shouldn't be a problem to meet your goal.
  • rpishells
    rpishells Posts: 3
    I appreciate everyone information. The peanut butter measuring is done by an exact table spoon measurement, but I did inflate the calorie count more than I am actually consuming. I will try measuring it out on my food scale and see what it comes out to.

    I was considering losing the peanut butter all together and eating just nuts, but I'm not really sure yet if I want to eat the carrots plain lol.

    Maybe I could eat a piece of toast with the shakes to help bump up a few hundred calories.

    MFP is suggesting I consume 3000 calories a day, and I have no clue how I'd reach other than eating high processed foods.

    There is just a lot of information about lack of eating, and over eating, that its all getting kinda difficult to understand. I seems so many people have a certain idea on what you need and others have the opposite.

    If I'm not sitting here starving myself where I know I should eat more but I actually feel full from what I'm eating am I causing harm to myself?

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