Doc says one thing, calculators another
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QuilterInVA wrote: »There is an article in the new Reader's Digest on Diet myths. Guess what - research supports that losing weight faster has longer lasting results than taking it slow. 1200 calories is required to get adequate nutrition. So I think your doctor is right.
Reader's Digest is not a peer-reviewed medical journal.
OP, 1600-2100 calories is a big range, and when you add in your "weekends off" (not a sustainable habit, by the way, it just continues the idea that you are "on a diet" and that sensible eating is something that has a finish line.) you are very likely not operating at a deficit for any reasonable period of time.
Listen to MFP, set to say, 1900, but BE 100% honest and accurate about it. No more of this "weekends off" or "cookies, LOL!" business. Weigh your food, measure your liquids. Drink lots of water. Eat back about half of your exercise calories. Give it a month or two and THEN you can talk about frustration. It sounds like you haven't even given a sensible moderate approach a try yet...you've gone from crazy starvation plans to "I'm reducing...but not really, LOL."
You won't lose an ounce until you buckle down and get to it. Log everything, hold yourself accountable. I bet you start seeing a change.
Yup. Take control, set a reasonable goal, and be on top of your intake.0 -
How much you eat AND what you eat matter. Protein is more filling than carbs. This is a fact. She also said she does not meet her protein and fiber goals...no wonder she is hungry!!!!! Fiber also keeps you feeling full.MoiAussi93 wrote: »You should take your doctors advice...when you upped the calories you started to gain. That should tell you something.
Some advice on what worked for me...you absolutely can be full and workout on 1500 calories. I am 5'9 1/2" and did it on even less. The key is what you eat. I don't know your full diet, but just looking at your post...you mention whole grains, rice, pasta, bread. If carbs are over 50% of your diet, the problem is they don't keep you as full as protein...and even fat. I'm not telling you not to eat that stuff...I'm just saying you will be less hungry if they are a relatively small part of the diet, and you have more protein and fat. Playing with the macros can make a huge difference. BTW, I was 267 at my heaviest and running and later added interval training. So my workouts are pretty intense and I never had any problems with energy.
Yup, it sure does: water weight gain. The weight will stabilize and likely lower itself. I have had MUCH experience increasing my calories over my 8 months here, and yes, half the time it led to a temporary gain. I lost way more than I wanted to the last 2 weeks on 2100 calories so I'm going back up to 2200, actually to 2250. It's not a huge jump in calories though so I may not see any noticeable scale weight increases from it. But I sure as hell will feel better at the gym - and my gym performance has suffered slightly on the 2100 calories despite getting in plenty of fat and 125g+ of protein every day.
For you to advocate that she should be eating so little when she did not feel good eating at a low number is just ridiculous. The key is not what you eat, it's how much you eat. OP eating <1500 calories of lettuce and chicken isn't going to make her feel any better at the gym and in daily life than if she ate ice cream along with it at the same caloric intake level. Some people DO feel full on high carb, others don't.
Think that OP should eat 1200 calories when she felt horrible? Great advice. Top notch.
Water weight is temporary fluctuations...and at most a few pounds. If she is consistently gaining, it is because she is eating too much. Period.
And a lot of people here like to assume doctors are idiots. The vast majority are not. If he says 1500, I would not take random internet advice over a trained medical professional who actually knows her history and situation.
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MoiAussi93 wrote: »
How much you eat AND what you eat matter. Protein is more filling than carbs. This is a fact. She also said she does not meet her protein and fiber goals...no wonder she is hungry!!!!! Fiber also keeps you feeling full.MoiAussi93 wrote: »You should take your doctors advice...when you upped the calories you started to gain. That should tell you something.
Some advice on what worked for me...you absolutely can be full and workout on 1500 calories. I am 5'9 1/2" and did it on even less. The key is what you eat. I don't know your full diet, but just looking at your post...you mention whole grains, rice, pasta, bread. If carbs are over 50% of your diet, the problem is they don't keep you as full as protein...and even fat. I'm not telling you not to eat that stuff...I'm just saying you will be less hungry if they are a relatively small part of the diet, and you have more protein and fat. Playing with the macros can make a huge difference. BTW, I was 267 at my heaviest and running and later added interval training. So my workouts are pretty intense and I never had any problems with energy.
Yup, it sure does: water weight gain. The weight will stabilize and likely lower itself. I have had MUCH experience increasing my calories over my 8 months here, and yes, half the time it led to a temporary gain. I lost way more than I wanted to the last 2 weeks on 2100 calories so I'm going back up to 2200, actually to 2250. It's not a huge jump in calories though so I may not see any noticeable scale weight increases from it. But I sure as hell will feel better at the gym - and my gym performance has suffered slightly on the 2100 calories despite getting in plenty of fat and 125g+ of protein every day.
For you to advocate that she should be eating so little when she did not feel good eating at a low number is just ridiculous. The key is not what you eat, it's how much you eat. OP eating <1500 calories of lettuce and chicken isn't going to make her feel any better at the gym and in daily life than if she ate ice cream along with it at the same caloric intake level. Some people DO feel full on high carb, others don't.
Think that OP should eat 1200 calories when she felt horrible? Great advice. Top notch.
Water weight is temporary fluctuations...and at most a few pounds. If she is consistently gaining, it is because she is eating too much. Period.
And a lot of people here like to assume doctors are idiots. The vast majority are not. If he says 1500, I would not take random internet advice over a trained medical professional who actually knows her history and situation.
If my doctor told me to eat 1500 calories without telling me how she came up with this number and why this was recommended, then I would 100% not listen to her.
OP's problem with not losing has to do with things like not logging accurately and having inconsistent intake, thus she is eating more than she realizes. eating 1200 calories while feeling like shite is not going to help her. The best thing to do would be to follow the numbers that MFP has set up for her, eat back at least half of her calories, and if she doesn't lose at her expected rate then she can lower the calories by 100 every week until she does.0 -
Just pick a number and stick to it - all the numbers are guesstimates.
My biggest concern is your apparent claim that eating "one meal a day" caused you to gain 60 pounds - that's either one hell of a huge meal, or not an accurate reflection of eating habits.
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justsayinisall wrote: »Thank you everyone. I am just frustrated. I have been following 1600-2100 calories/day and the result is 14# weight gain these last 3-4 months. Now to be fair, when the scale started climbing, I would stop food logging and take weekends off and it IS Girl Scout cookie season lol. But even not logging on weekends, I didn't go out and eat cheeseburgers and ice cream. I just didn't measure the butter I put on toast, or the dressing I put on my salads. But other than that, I do log and measure yada yada yada.
You have just identified the source of your problem: you're eating more than you think. The post I just linked to is quite informative. Even with careful logging of everything, I was missing over 200 calories a day in my first month or so on MFP.
Butter, dressing, and cookies are all calorie dense items, where a small difference in quantity can mean a big difference in calories. You'd be better off logging dressing and not logging lettuce than vice-versa.
I keep my diary closed, because I want it to be an honest reflection of what I eat, and I know that I won't be honest if other people can see it. If you're not logging everything out of shame, then I would advise closing your diary and being more honest with yourself.
Good luck!0 -
Yeah what he said ^^cwolfman13 wrote: »So the rate at which you are losing seems to bother your doctor? I don't know a lot about fatty liver, I'm sorry. But your doctor also doesn't seem informed on nutrition either. Maybe see a nutritionist and coordinate the results with your doctor, because 1200 is too low for your stats.
Eta: my doctor found out I was eating 2k cals a day and losing last year...but advised me that for my frame I should eat 1000, lol. I told him to go *kitten* himself in my head and did nothing of the sort.
This. Doctors don't know everything- way too many specialties to be informed about all things, all the time. I would ask for a referral to a nutritionist who has experience with you Dx.
Make that a dietician. Anyone and their cousin can be a nutritionist....
A dietitian is a health professional who has university qualifications consisting of a 4-year Bachelor Degree in Nutrition and Dietetics or a 3-year Science Degree followed by a Master Degree in Nutrition and Dietetics, including a certain period of practical training in different hospital and community settings (in the U.S. 1200 hours of supervised practice are required in different areas). Some dietitians also further their knowledge and skills by pursuing various Specialist Dietetic qualifications. Dietitian is an expert in prescribing therapeutic nutrition.
A nutritionist is a non-accredited title that may apply to somebody who has done a short course in nutrition or who has given themselves this title. The term Nutritionist is not protected by law in almost all countries so people with different levels of and knowledge can call themselves a “Nutritionist”.
+1 The local YMCA has a "nutritionist". She doesn't know a bloody thing.0 -
^^smart man^^justsayinisall wrote: »Thank you everyone. I am just frustrated. I have been following 1600-2100 calories/day and the result is 14# weight gain these last 3-4 months. Now to be fair, when the scale started climbing, I would stop food logging and take weekends off and it IS Girl Scout cookie season lol. But even not logging on weekends, I didn't go out and eat cheeseburgers and ice cream. I just didn't measure the butter I put on toast, or the dressing I put on my salads. But other than that, I do log and measure yada yada yada.
You have just identified the source of your problem: you're eating more than you think. The post I just linked to is quite informative. Even with careful logging of everything, I was missing over 200 calories a day in my first month or so on MFP.
Butter, dressing, and cookies are all calorie dense items, where a small difference in quantity can mean a big difference in calories. You'd be better off logging dressing and not logging lettuce than vice-versa.
I keep my diary closed, because I want it to be an honest reflection of what I eat, and I know that I won't be honest if other people can see it. If you're not logging everything out of shame, then I would advise closing your diary and being more honest with yourself.
Good luck!
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This is an interesting thread for me because my doctor also recommended 1200 for me and MFP says 1540. I've been trying some where in between. I've on been at it just under three weeks. I lost my first two weeks but the start of a diet i always lose easily. Tomorrow is week three weigh-in and i don't know what to expect. I haven't been hungry the week eating 1200 - 1540 and it worries me.
I'm almost never hungry and I've lost 30lbs eating about double.
You're HALF their age, and lift weights for 5hrs hours a week.
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The best thing to do would be to follow what her doctor tells her to do. If she is unhappy with her doctor, she can find a new one. But that is still better than listening to anonymous people on the Internet.MoiAussi93 wrote: »
How much you eat AND what you eat matter. Protein is more filling than carbs. This is a fact. She also said she does not meet her protein and fiber goals...no wonder she is hungry!!!!! Fiber also keeps you feeling full.MoiAussi93 wrote: »You should take your doctors advice...when you upped the calories you started to gain. That should tell you something.
Some advice on what worked for me...you absolutely can be full and workout on 1500 calories. I am 5'9 1/2" and did it on even less. The key is what you eat. I don't know your full diet, but just looking at your post...you mention whole grains, rice, pasta, bread. If carbs are over 50% of your diet, the problem is they don't keep you as full as protein...and even fat. I'm not telling you not to eat that stuff...I'm just saying you will be less hungry if they are a relatively small part of the diet, and you have more protein and fat. Playing with the macros can make a huge difference. BTW, I was 267 at my heaviest and running and later added interval training. So my workouts are pretty intense and I never had any problems with energy.
Yup, it sure does: water weight gain. The weight will stabilize and likely lower itself. I have had MUCH experience increasing my calories over my 8 months here, and yes, half the time it led to a temporary gain. I lost way more than I wanted to the last 2 weeks on 2100 calories so I'm going back up to 2200, actually to 2250. It's not a huge jump in calories though so I may not see any noticeable scale weight increases from it. But I sure as hell will feel better at the gym - and my gym performance has suffered slightly on the 2100 calories despite getting in plenty of fat and 125g+ of protein every day.
For you to advocate that she should be eating so little when she did not feel good eating at a low number is just ridiculous. The key is not what you eat, it's how much you eat. OP eating <1500 calories of lettuce and chicken isn't going to make her feel any better at the gym and in daily life than if she ate ice cream along with it at the same caloric intake level. Some people DO feel full on high carb, others don't.
Think that OP should eat 1200 calories when she felt horrible? Great advice. Top notch.
Water weight is temporary fluctuations...and at most a few pounds. If she is consistently gaining, it is because she is eating too much. Period.
And a lot of people here like to assume doctors are idiots. The vast majority are not. If he says 1500, I would not take random internet advice over a trained medical professional who actually knows her history and situation.
If my doctor told me to eat 1500 calories without telling me how she came up with this number and why this was recommended, then I would 100% not listen to her.
OP's problem with not losing has to do with things like not logging accurately and having inconsistent intake, thus she is eating more than she realizes. eating 1200 calories while feeling like shite is not going to help her. The best thing to do would be to follow the numbers that MFP has set up for her, eat back at least half of her calories, and if she doesn't lose at her expected rate then she can lower the calories by 100 every week until she does.
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Talk to your doctor before making any changes to your diet. If you feel it is too little calories, talk to them. They may have some suggestions for you.0
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Sabine_Stroehm wrote: »This is an interesting thread for me because my doctor also recommended 1200 for me and MFP says 1540. I've been trying some where in between. I've on been at it just under three weeks. I lost my first two weeks but the start of a diet i always lose easily. Tomorrow is week three weigh-in and i don't know what to expect. I haven't been hungry the week eating 1200 - 1540 and it worries me.
I'm almost never hungry and I've lost 30lbs eating about double.
You're HALF their age, and lift weights for 5hrs hours a week.
Yup. Age slows things down a lot.
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OP, I did your TDEE calculation and came up with a different number than you did. I only entered 3 days a week exercise for you, though.
While I'm not always on the bandwagon to go with what a GP says to lose weight (my doctor's recommendation was way too high for me to lose, oddly), I think a happy medium can be reached somewhere between the 1500 and the TDEE of 2500 minus a certain percentage of say 10-15%.
I honestly think that you might be entering too much for your exercise burns if you're eating up to 500 calories more since you say that you're eating 1600-2100. That combined with your weekends "off" could be accounting for a big portion of your problem.
Were I in your shoes, I'd pick a number around 1800-1900, enter more realistic exercise burns (you can use the shapesense calculators based on heart rate and use them in two steps to find a decent rate of net calories burned for treadmill workouts), skip logging any burns for weight workouts, and only eat back half your exercise calories. No more weekends off, weigh all solids, measure all liquids.0 -
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Remember that sometimes Doctors aren't always right. I went to the doctor about a year ago and she suggested I loose 50 pounds in four months. She thought that was a reasonable amount for me to loose. I went home and did some research and learned that a safe weight loss for me would be 2lbs a week.
I also opted to find a new doctor.0 -
Every doctor I have ever talked to about my weight wanted me to eat 1200 calories and would just print out a "sample menu" and send me on my way. Most docs don't really know what to tell you so they just say "1200!" and send you on your way.
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Yup. Sure does!mamapeach910 wrote: »Sabine_Stroehm wrote: »This is an interesting thread for me because my doctor also recommended 1200 for me and MFP says 1540. I've been trying some where in between. I've on been at it just under three weeks. I lost my first two weeks but the start of a diet i always lose easily. Tomorrow is week three weigh-in and i don't know what to expect. I haven't been hungry the week eating 1200 - 1540 and it worries me.
I'm almost never hungry and I've lost 30lbs eating about double.
You're HALF their age, and lift weights for 5hrs hours a week.
Yup. Age slows things down a lot.
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What did you weigh at the time? 50 pounds in 4 months is a little under 3 pounds per week. Depending on what your weight was, that could be a reasonable goal.kathrynrf89 wrote: »Remember that sometimes Doctors aren't always right. I went to the doctor about a year ago and she suggested I loose 50 pounds in four months. She thought that was a reasonable amount for me to loose. I went home and did some research and learned that a safe weight loss for me would be 2lbs a week.
I also opted to find a new doctor.
The two pound per week number gets thrown around a lot, but it really should be based on weight. 1% of body weight is probably a better rule of thumb and what my doctor had recommended. When a person is heavy they can even lose slightly faster safely, but it slows down as you become lighter.
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Your doctor is just giving you a pat arbitrary number.
With my doctor, it's 1200 if you're a woman. She just pulls out a sheet with a 1980s style 1200 calorie a day diet on it. I'm sure she hands that that thing (she has a stack of them) to active 125 lb. 18 year olds and menopausal 200 lb. women alike.
Do your own calculations (barring some medical condition that includes restrictions and or other methods to manage).0 -
No but the research was published in peer reviewed medical journals. The popular press often re-reports scholarly research, in laymen's terms.QuilterInVA wrote: »There is an article in the new Reader's Digest on Diet myths. Guess what - research supports that losing weight faster has longer lasting results than taking it slow. 1200 calories is required to get adequate nutrition. So I think your doctor is right.
Reader's Digest is not a peer-reviewed medical journal.
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OP, sorry but I think it is one of the few cases where you cannot do this alone, or with MFP. You have a serious health problem and a history of eating disorders. You need a medical team to help you, not strangers on the internet or MFP at this poitn. If you do not trust your dr, get a second or third opinion, talk to a nurtritionist, and in your shoes I would start seeing a therapist too. You need to figure out how to completely change your lifestyle, and your past shows you need help in this direction. It is not something to feel ashamed about.0
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