Starting a new healthy eating regime, and need help!

rednip3 · April 2015

Hi, I've been on this website for 4 years now, and managed to go from being 227lbs (UK size 18-20) to 175lbs (making me a UK 12-14) which was all good. Until life kicked in and I gained weight, making me now 203lbs.

I'm planning on eating less carbs and more fibre, and exercising more so I can get back to the 12st 5lbs I was, however I'm a 6ft tall female who has more of a endomorph/mesomorph body type, and I don't know whether to follow the diet plans for a man rather than a woman, seeing as I'm not particularly woman sized (to put it bluntly). I think I'm getting rusty with all this stuff.

Should I go for the woman amount of calories or the male amount (but with more of the 'woman friendly' foods, I guess)?

Thanks!

IsaackGMOON · April 2015

Why would you plan on eating less carbohydrates? Is it a medical thing or just a 'health kick'? There's really no point to cutting out carbs, unless you're cutting weight for a tournament or something... which isn't likely.

I've never heard of diet plans tailored for men or women. What foods are more friendly for women?

Just stick to a caloric deficit, eat whatever you want, do whatever exercise you want.

TavistockToad · April 2015

Why not just use MFP?

MKEgal · April 2015

rednip3 wrote:

... making me now 203lbs... I'm a 6ft tall female

This BMI chart shows that at 6' tall, 140 - 180 lb is a healthy weight range. http://www.shapeup.org/bmi/bmi6.pdf
So you're not far off, and losing weight will go slowly.

This calculator will tell you not only your BMI, but how many servings of various foods to eat to maintain that weight.
If you enter your healthy goal weight, this will help you plan your food intake.
https://www.bcm.edu/cnrc-apps/healthyeatingcalculator/eatingCal.html

Start off with whatever it recommends, give it a couple weeks, see what happens.
If you're not losing weight, drop 100 calories & give it a couple weeks to see what happens.

.

I'm planning on eating less carbs and more fibre

First thing you need to do is get a handle on what a carbohydrate is.
Fiber is a carb. Table sugar is a carb. The sugar in fruit is a carb. Grains are carbs.
Some are absorbed by the body quickly (table sugar), some slowly (whole grains, generally), some not at all (fiber).

And before you go trying some fad diet that might harm your health,
here's a table showing healthy ranges for macros, from the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/88/1/1/T1.expansion.html
carbs, 45 - 65% of calories (4 cal per gram)
fat, 20 - 35% of calories (9 cal per gram)
protein, 10 - 35% of calories (4 cal per gram)

Yes, eating higher protein & lower carbs leads to more weight loss. Links to studies in this post.
In order to stay in the healthy % ranges, try 45% carbs, 20% fat, 35% protein.

MKEgal · April 2015

BTW, when I saw your headline:
Starting a new healthy eating regime, and need help!
I thought you were recruiting for minions to help take over the world & abolish fast food.

Liftng4Lis · April 2015

What in the heck is a woman friendly food?

Liftng4Lis · April 2015

Also, why would you even consider eating at a males calories? Your body doesn't work the same as a male.

Justygirl77 · April 2015

MKEgal wrote: »

BTW, when I saw your headline:
Starting a new healthy eating regime, and need help!
I thought you were recruiting for minions to help take over the world & abolish fast food.

LOL!!

LolBroScience · April 2015

rednip3 wrote: »

Hi, I've been on this website for 4 years now, and managed to go from being 227lbs (UK size 18-20) to 175lbs (making me a UK 12-14) which was all good. Until life kicked in and I gained weight, making me now 203lbs.

I'm planning on eating less carbs and more fibre, and exercising more so I can get back to the 12st 5lbs I was, however I'm a 6ft tall female who has more of a endomorph/mesomorph body type, and I don't know whether to follow the diet plans for a man rather than a woman, seeing as I'm not particularly woman sized (to put it bluntly). I think I'm getting rusty with all this stuff.

Should I go for the woman amount of calories or the male amount (but with more of the 'woman friendly' foods, I guess)?

Thanks!

You should go for the YOU amount of calories.