My meeting with a Sports Nutritionist

In dieting, like comedy, timing is everything. That’s the conclusion of a new Spanish study that suggests that when you eat might be just as important as what you eat.
During the first few weeks of the 20-week study, run by researchers from Brigham and Women’s Hospital in collaboration with Tufts University and the University of Murcia, all 420 subjects lost weight at about the same rate. But starting around week five, weight loss for dieters who ate their main meal after 3 p.m. began to stall and remained sluggish for the duration of the study. In the end, they lost 22 percent less weight than dieters who ate the bulk of their calories earlier in the day.

(Please don't be subject recall to determine intake...please don't be subject recall to determine intake...please don't be subject recall to determine intake...please don't be subject recall to determine intake...)

I can't find a free copy of the full study, but from the abstract there appears to have been no attempt to even calculate caloric intake at all.

yes...but is it worth arguing about? thanks for posting, wonderwoman

With all due respect, I don't think the guidance applies to you. I think it's more for people who have had (over)weight issues and learn to manage them with new habits.

(Please don't be subject recall to determine intake...please don't be subject recall to determine intake...please don't be subject recall to determine intake...please don't be subject recall to determine intake...)

What's the problem jof? People are surprisingly accurate it reporting their own caloric intake!

I'd cite specific studies but there are just too many to support my claim! See...

http://scholar.google.com.au/scholar?q=caloric+self+reporting&hl=en&as_sdt=0&as_vis=1&oi=scholart&sa=X&ei=X0giU82FCYf1kQXXl4C4CA&ved=0CCkQgQMwAA

:laugh:

I had a great meeting with one of the top Sports Nutritionists in the country today. I went in expecting to discuss how many calories I should be eating, macros, etc. Here are the highlights of the meeting:

- weight loss of more than 1 lb. per week is 97% likely to be regained and lost muscle tissue is replaced by fat when regained
- people who KEEP weight off do the following: eat breakfast, don't allow themselves to get overly hungry, eat everything in moderation, exercise, weigh themselves regularly and keep a food journal.
- when ovulating, women can need an additional 300-500 calories, so instead of feeling like you have no willpower when you are PMS'ing, you should eat more.....your body needs it
- eating protein AND carbs after working out is essential - carbs fuel, protein rebuilds....we need both
- saving all your calories until dinner causes you to gain weight; you are supposed to fuel during the day and lose weight while you are sleeping - so eat the majority of your calories throughout the day and SPOIL YOUR APPETITE for dinner and then just have something light
- you CAN gain muscle on a deficit for the first 6 months of starting a weightlifting program and then you plateau
- using a scale as the only method to assess your progress is a BAD idea, especially if you are weight training; instead, use your mirror, tape measure, and how your clothes fit. if you see less fat, you are losing fat, even if the scale is not moving much.
- sustainable weight loss is about managing your intake and NOT allowing yourself to get overly hungry is really important. When you allow yourself to get overly hungry, your body has a physiological response that causes you to overeat, and you ultimately take in more calories than you would have consumed if you had just kept up with your hunger
- you should eat when your body is showing signs of hunger - it is a sign that all the energy you gave it has been used up and it needs more fuel to keep going. You should stay in the 4-5 range, where 1 is starving and 10 is stuffed and 5 is content. Most dieters stay in the 3 range, are always hungry, and "blow" their eating because their body rebels eventually and they overeat. That is why managing your hunger is hugely important.
- you need to eat just as many calories on your rest day as your workout days to rebuild your muscles, so go ahead and eat when you are hungry on your off day....it's beneficial
- metabolic damage is a REAL thing, but you have to eat very little to cause it - and you will know it's happening because you will be hungry all the time, day in and day out.....and that is not sustainable. Most people underestimate the calories they are consuming....for example, my 80 calorie apple I was munching while we met was really 140 calories, she told me!
- You DO NOT need to eat when you aren't hungry just to meet a calorie goal (unless you are underweight). Your body is the best calorie counter there is, she said. And apparently I am right on track!

Her name is Nancy Clark, in case anyone wants to check out her credentials and website. Hope this is helpful. The meeting has changed the way I've been looking at my weight loss, for the better! The diet industry has made all of us afraid to trust ourselves...and they make billions as a result.

WOW. There sure is a lot of negativity. I appreciate the time you took to post this information. It's a shame that some people want to bash what you said. If the info is not applicable to you...move on. This is supposed to be a supportive group. Thanks for sharing. Maybe not all of it will be applicable to me but some is. Thanks!

So what you're saying is we should all ignore inaccurate or misleading information? Questioning information that is given is not 'Bashing' A supportive group is a group that points out if something is incorrect or misleading. To ignore or not question things and except anything at face value is why a lot of people get unfit or over weight.

There are some interesting points but a others have said there are some conclusions and geralisations that really have no causal basis

Meh. Some of her information is good, and some is flat out wrong.

Meh. Some of her information is good, and some is flat out wrong.

Meh. Some of her information is good, and some is flat out wrong.

Very true. I have to admit that it's difficult to tell whether some of these experts are simply misinformed themselves or whether they are using rules of thumb to help guide people without going into great detail. Let's face it, the group in here cares deeply about learning detail, and most people don't.

Honestly it reads to me like she's mostly using correlations. Which are fine if a person isn't counting calories, but counting negates a lot of it. For example, having a small dinner seems mostly intended to cause a person to eat less calories overall without bothering to count. But if a person keeps calories equal there's no difference between a small breakfast/large dinner and the inverse.

Honestly it reads to me like she's mostly using correlations. Which are fine if a person isn't counting calories, but counting negates a lot of it. For example, having a small dinner seems mostly intended to cause a person to eat less calories overall without bothering to count. But if a person keeps calories equal there's no difference between a small breakfast/large dinner and the inverse.

The question is whether she is targeting calorie counters and I'm going to guess that she isn't. It's the same issue with the American Heart Association's message on refined sugar. We all (the self identified group here) agree that refined sugar isn't "bad" but what is being said is to cut it down because it's an easy way to cut calories.