Feed to shed fat

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  • Zsangel
    Zsangel Posts: 202
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    Thanks for posting! It has some really helpful information but I am Beyond lost!
    I have been tracking my calories for about 20 days now and have lost about 9 lbs but it has come back up in the past 2 days... I stepped up my exercise this week and try to eat back at least some of my burnt off calories but my net is below 1200 fairly frequently.
    I exercise 5 times per week (circuit training ft cardio and weight training 3 times per week, and I'm on C25K week 2) and I have my daily activity level at sedentary because I don't currently work and don't do much else, but I'm wondering if I should change it? my calorie intake is currently set at 1450 for a 1.5 per week loss. I was wondering what your thoughts were to help me get back into weight loss mode.
    According to MFP, my BMR is 1722 and my maintenance calorie intake would be 2180.

    Any help or advice you could give me would be MAJORLY appreciated =)
    PLEASE HELP ME =) xx
  • Newfiedan
    Newfiedan Posts: 1,517 Member
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    Well your fist mistake is letting your net get below 1200, that is bad. The fist few weeks on mfp is going to be a roller coaster for you as the body gets shook up and starts to respond, for some of us that means big loss and for some that is a sudden loss and then a small gain back. This is usually due to water weight fluctutations. My weight can vary by as much as 6 pounds daily from water intake. If you are working out 5 days a week or more you should be set to active, or lightly active, sedentary lifestyle means no workouts or very few a week (maybe 2 at most) and those are not intense workouts more like walking. So set yourself up as lightly active to start, then from there set your fat loss to 1 lb/wk (do not worry you will lose more) then on days 1 and 2 the lowest you are allowed to go is 1200 net and on day 3 maintenance (if you have a lot to lose then you can go slightly below that, maybe 200 or so below) then repeat. Many of us make the mistake of underestimating our lifestyle or overestimating it to start with. I am a heavy equipment tech/shop foreman, some days are really active, some not so much so I am set to active but on days that I work really hard I eat more and on days I do not I eat less. If you workout 6 times or more a week you are active, 4 times is lightly active, and less is sedentary unless these workouts are very intense like a HIIT or MRT routine (High intensity interval training or metabolic resistance routine) I use MRT and workout 3-4 times a week.
  • Jonicha26
    Jonicha26 Posts: 107 Member
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    BUMP!
  • Newfiedan
    Newfiedan Posts: 1,517 Member
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    bump for those whom need to read this.
  • dorairwin
    dorairwin Posts: 210
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    Thank you..:smile:
  • MamaGraves2
    MamaGraves2 Posts: 203 Member
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    Thank you for sharing! Such good info!
  • mrsjcmyles
    mrsjcmyles Posts: 119 Member
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    Bump
  • Zsangel
    Zsangel Posts: 202
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    Thank you heaps!
    I will re-set my activity level and keep my calories up and see how I go =)
  • deathtaco
    deathtaco Posts: 237
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    Although I dare not slander the name of Tom Venuto - the concept of "stoking the metabolic fire" every 2-3 hours has been debunked. Insulin spiking and control can be achieved in multiple ways, and for a lot of people the 2-3 hour thing isn't practical.

    As previously stated, you certainly can gain muscle/lose fat at the same time through nutrient:workout timing and cycling on/off day nutrient breakdowns and caloric intake. Again though, comes in practicality. The amount of precision and effort this takes is not practical for most people, and is only really highly effective at certain fitness levels anyway.

    What IS very practical is losing fat while MAINTAINING muscle!

    Again, this isn't to slam this post or denounce "Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle," just saying that although this is ONE method (Zone diet, BTFFTM, etc). There are plenty more methods out there that people may be able to adopt to their schedule (Leangains, Eat Stop Eat, Keto, etc).

    Never think there's only one way to a goal!
  • kdouglas11
    kdouglas11 Posts: 185 Member
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    I think you were much more intelligent in this post! I agree with you and you did it in a non-offensive way!
  • bacanbit
    bacanbit Posts: 58 Member
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    Great info, thanks!
  • kayemme
    kayemme Posts: 1,782 Member
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    i noticed that my calves, which are genetically huge, have actually reduced in size by about 1.5" with 25lbs of loss, which I thought was near impossible, since they didn't seem overly fatty in the first place.

    my thighs, of course, are a totally different story. but my calves have always been rather lean and strong. this actually gave me hope that i will soon be able to fit into knee high boots, which is something i have wanted for a long time.

    so while we do build muscle (my calves did actually become slightly more muscular) i also lost considerably more fat than i even knew i had... hope t hat makes sense w/#1.

    i sort of disagree w/ the eating back calories part, but at the same time, i don't under-eat often. i commute by bicycle to work 4 days a week and then also bike for both business and pleasure for the other 3 days. some weeks i have 1 day where i don't go anywhere, but with nice weather, that's rare.

    anyway, i usually eat around 1500-1700 cals, which is NOT all of my exercise "earnings" or whatever (i really don't like that term because i just try to eat when i'm hungry, and try to not eat when i'm not hungry, rather than thinking about "earning" "treats").

    anyway, i sometimes plateau a little, but i have consistently been losing 2lbs a week on average or about 10lbs a month.

    so while i somewhat disagree w/the whole eat all of your calories back, the main thing isn't so much the calories, but the nutrition you give your body to continue to work well. i dont' eat a lot of processed food (hardly any at all) so i have to eat quite a bit to get enough calories, but that's good.

    but what i wouldn't say is to eat a pint of ice cream just because you want to eat your calories back. all this stuff isn't rocket science; it's common sense.

    warm regards!
    k
  • Newfiedan
    Newfiedan Posts: 1,517 Member
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    @deathtaco yes I am aware that there are other methods however I have found this one to be the most effective I have tried thus far and it promotes the health aspect over it, I was once big into weight lifting and got quite huge and during cutting phases I had tried atkins/keto diets and many others I always lost muscle and on this one I have maintained almost all of my muscle mass and am shedding fat quite easily. I like that he focuses on the health aspect and what he says makes sense. I am aware that some things have been refuted and hey that is all good whatever works. I just know that this works and its is quite healthy which is why I promote it.
  • cowlover22
    cowlover22 Posts: 309 Member
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    I agree wit you b/c of what my dietician said..she told me that basically we are getting more muscle we are making our muscle fibers we have bigger and by doing that they burn more energy than fat...also takes more cals to keep muscles too. That is why weight lifters consume so many cals
  • LaurnWhit
    LaurnWhit Posts: 261 Member
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    Bump
  • skinnyb450
    skinnyb450 Posts: 288
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    Bump :)
  • jrobertson37
    jrobertson37 Posts: 90 Member
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    Thanks for this info. I to have my activity level set at sedentary bc i work at an office. But i also exercise 5 times a week doing either kettlebells or walking/running outside and i always try to burn atleast 500 cals. That must be why im so hungry all the time. I only eat half of my exercise cals back bc i do not trust what mfp says about my cal burned and i cannot afford to get an HRM. So im going to try to up my activity level starting next week. Cant wait to see the results. Plus for the mth of may I will be doing kettlebell and walking/running for the first two weeks then i am going back to the pool to waterjog for 60 mins.
  • jrobertson37
    jrobertson37 Posts: 90 Member
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    Okay i just upped my activity level to very active and i still only get 1200 net cals. Now im confused, I thought i would get more net cals. I do not exercise until i get off work around 6:30 so i end up eating dinner late in the evening.
  • dave4d
    dave4d Posts: 1,155 Member
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    Okay i just upped my activity level to very active and i still only get 1200 net cals. Now im confused, I thought i would get more net cals. I do not exercise until i get off work around 6:30 so i end up eating dinner late in the evening.

    You only have less than 10lbs until you reach your goal. Are you set at 1/2 lb weight loss per week? As you get that close to your goal, you should set the deficit to 1/2 lb or less.

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