Zone diet - not enough calories?

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sherkert
sherkert Posts: 22 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hello,
I've been following the Zone diet pretty consistently for about 5 days. I am 5'2 and 132 lbs. I run, bike, and also do Crossfit 3x weekly. I put myself in the category of "small female" so I've been eating two block meals and feel quite full. The problem is, I still log on MFP and have noticed that I am nowhere near meeting my calorie goal of 1500, even when I "cheat" and go over my 2 blocks. For example, today I ate all of my blocks, but had to add even more food (a protein shake) to even get my calories above 1000. My total calories for today will be only a little over 1000. What gives? Should I not be counting calories anymore, since the Zone diet has me eating clean, balanced meals? Would appreciate input from anybody who has followed the Zone diet. Thanks!

Should also add- I'm not looking to lose any weight. The only reason I even know my weight is because I went to a doctor appointment a few weeks ago and they weighed me. I'm simply looking to keep toning up, as I seem to have hit a plateau. Thanks.

Replies

  • Supern0va81
    Supern0va81 Posts: 168 Member
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    Hi, I'm Helen,

    I read your post as it caught my interest - your activity is my goal. I crossfit but had fallen off the wagon in not fueling adequately and making poor food choices. Coach recommended I look at following the zone diet and I can see the huge benefits it would bring so that is what I am working towards now. Could you work out what category you would fall into if you ate more from the plan within the guidelines but at the level that MFP recommends?

    This is my initial plan to see how it goes because I am uncertain of the category that I fall into also. MFP seems to make it fairly easy - I have a sedentary job and add on my exercise calories and use a heart rate monitor to check what I've burned up.

    For my research so far I have been using this site http://www.crossfit-noreaster.com/the-zone-diet/ and 2 books by Dr Sears. 'Mastering the zone' and 'The zone diet'. I also got this one as a quick reference since it summarizes the information really nicely http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0879838493/ref=oh_details_o02_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

    Anyway, I hope this helps! Good luck too in working towards your goals
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
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    Hello,
    I've been following the Zone diet pretty consistently for about 5 days. I am 5'2 and 132 lbs. I run, bike, and also do Crossfit 3x weekly. I put myself in the category of "small female" so I've been eating two block meals and feel quite full. The problem is, I still log on MFP and have noticed that I am nowhere near meeting my calorie goal of 1500, even when I "cheat" and go over my 2 blocks. For example, today I ate all of my blocks, but had to add even more food (a protein shake) to even get my calories above 1000. My total calories for today will be only a little over 1000. What gives? Should I not be counting calories anymore, since the Zone diet has me eating clean, balanced meals? Would appreciate input from anybody who has followed the Zone diet. Thanks!

    Should also add- I'm not looking to lose any weight. The only reason I even know my weight is because I went to a doctor appointment a few weeks ago and they weighed me. I'm simply looking to keep toning up, as I seem to have hit a plateau. Thanks.

    if you're not trying to lose weight you shouldnt be in a deficit... so why would you only eat 1000 cals?
  • Supern0va81
    Supern0va81 Posts: 168 Member
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    if you're not trying to lose weight you shouldnt be in a deficit... so why would you only eat 1000 cals?

    Hazarding a guess here that she might not realise how many calories she's burning up through all that exercise, or what difference it is making to her lifts and times in eating at such a deficit...
  • BernadetteChurch
    BernadetteChurch Posts: 2,210 Member
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    I have no idea what the Zone Diet is, but if you don't want to lose any weight why not just either follow MFP's guide as to how much to eat for maintenance, or calculate your TDEE and eat that number of calories. If you have trouble meeting your calorie goals then load up on things like avocado, cheese and nuts which are high in calories but won't add too much bulk to your meals.
  • Mokey41
    Mokey41 Posts: 5,769 Member
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    She has to follow the Crossfit rules, that's why the Zone diet. If you don't drink the Kool-Aid, you can't play.
  • alissadough84
    alissadough84 Posts: 95 Member
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    How many blocks a day are you eating? I think that you need to bump that up to the blocks for athletic female. When I was doing Zone I was eating 12 blocks a day, I had the hardest time some days hitting over 1,000 calories a day. But the good news is everything that you are eating is clean, less calories. Try to incorporate more protein and more calorie dense healthy carbs, like sweet potatoes.

    I think others are right, you need to take into consideration how many calories you are burning. I only CrossFit 3 times a week, and it sounds like you are a little more active than me, I was eating more blocks than you are.

    Honestly, I stopped eating the Zone in August. I have been eating Paleo Primal since then it's so much easier!! For me the Zone was a good base to clean up my eating, but now that I have the general concepts in my head, I know better than to sit down and eat 12 tablespoons of almond butter (you get the idea).
  • ridelikeagirl616
    ridelikeagirl616 Posts: 48 Member
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    I'm with ya! I just started the Zone diet a week ago, combined with the Paleo concepts I've been living by for almost 2 years. While I've been eatting a wicked healthy and balanced daily menu, I've had days where I don't even hit 900 calories! I too crossfit a lot (like 5 times per week), run and play ball hockey. I don't genereally find I'm hungry, but tired sometimes. I'm following the 3 block meals and 1 block snacks. I get the concept, but the calorie defecit just seems a little extreme for us!
  • sherry0717
    sherry0717 Posts: 2 Member
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    I wanted to start zone as well. Almost same stats at, 5'2", 134 lbs. I selected small female but going to change it to athletic female which would increase from 10 blocks to 14 and that still seems to be less that 1200 calories a day.
  • rwg1989
    rwg1989 Posts: 1 Member
    edited November 2017
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    @sherkert - To more accurately determine the number of blocks, a person should have a accurate measure of their %-Body-Fat. Why? You need to know your lean muscle mass and activity level to determine overall caloric intake requirements. You want to make sure that you are eating enough to feed hungry muscles.

    Best,

    Bob

    [Edited by MFP Mods]

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