Negative calories question for folks with disorders
chunt87
Posts: 161 Member
I am trying to lose weight now that my medication is finally figured out. I have been trying to have a 7000 calorie deficit a week (not really too hard because I exercise for a good amount of hours a week doing cardio. My calorie burns to the best of my knowledge are accurate because I use a heart rate monitor. I also measure all my food with a food scale. Some weeks I lose only a pound doing this, some weeks I only lose half a pound, some weeks I lose no pounds.
For those of us who are successfully losing at the rate of 1-2 lbs a week,what is working for you?
For those of us who are successfully losing at the rate of 1-2 lbs a week,what is working for you?
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A healthy, sustainable loss is .5 lb. per week for every 25 lbs. you're overweight. That's just the way the human body works. Eating at a deficit that's too aggressive for one's size rarely works. In fact, it often leads to bingeing.
It took me a year & a half to lose 30 lbs.—but I've successfully maintained for nine months. So my advice to you is be patient.
Also, weight loss is not linear. Some weeks you do everything right but maintain—or even gain. Others you lose a whole lot in a "whoosh." So your experience is 100% normal. Just look for a downward trend.0 -
Thanks for the pick me up. I so wish it was linear but it is not, and has not been for the last year
![:\](https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/resources/emoji/confused.png ":\")
I did look at my long term graph after seeing your post and I have seen a downward trend, more like zigzags with a downward slope.
According to BMI since I am 175-176 pounds for my 5'3 frame I am between 66 and 31 pounds overweight, so now the between half and a pound a week makes sense over the last month. I got down to 166 in October, and then my thyroid did some crazy stuff and it wasn't until recently that I was able to get a new doctor, darn weight shot back up to 180 in like a month.
With the deficit I have been doing and aiming for I usually end up with -5000 to -7000 at the end of the week. From activity and everything this seems to allow me to eat around 1200-1500 a day and my appetite has been missing sometimes, along with the medication timing of hey dont eat 1hr before or 2-3 hrs after you eat for dosing, by that time im over being hungry.0 -
With the medication timing of hey dont eat 1hr before or 2-3 hrs after you eat for dosing, by that time im over being hungry.
Synthroid (levothyroxine) & Cytomel (liothyronine) leave your stomach within half an hour, so there's no reason to wait 2–3 hours to eat. One hour is more than enough.0 -
I think a lot of it is going to be trial and error and see what works for you. I've done a lot of trial and error and this is what I've found works best for me:
I find that a straight, consistent deficit isn't as helpful (I was doing around 750/day on average). It should be, but I find it's not as effective -- and I can't explain why truly. However, if I take the same weekly average (5250 or so) and achieve it by a 5:2 plan where you fast 2 days out of 5 and eat more on the non-fast days, that seems to create better results for me even when the weekly deficits were essentially the same. I got the best results when I implemented a 5:2 plan with a carb cycling regime.
I lift heavy 3 days per week (Starting Strength initially and now an intermediate program). So, I make sure I hit my protein goals every non-fast day (minimum 0.7 g protein/1 lb body weight or 1 gram/1 lb LBM if you know your LBM) and then eat a lot of carbs on my lifting days (especially after lifting) and much lower carbs (100 or less) on my non-lifting days. I also do one day of HIIT training -- just a series of hill sprints and I find that this extra 15 mins always makes a difference in my losses.
There is quite a bit of research out there why these various techniques work for many. The protein level is what has been shown to help maintain muscle/LBM in a caloric deficit -- so you'll lose more fat than muscle as you reduce weight, which is a good thing as you want to keep as much muscle as possible. I also need the protein to help my muscles recover from the lifting. The high carb on lifting days is to take advantage of the insuligenic response to shuttle protein and other nutrients into the cell for recovery/muscle repair. Carb/calorie cycling is pretty common. I ended up essentially combining a leangain style carb/cal cycling program with 5:2 -- and I've found that to have the best results for me when losing weight/cutting.
I also learned the hard way how important it is to make sure I keep all my meds and supps up -- I once stopped taking my DHEA (for no real good reason) and my weight loss literally totally stopped. Everything else was the same, but the DHEA. I started taking it again and it started up again. Hormones are extremely powerful, especially for those of us with issues like Hashi's in the first place.0 -
Is there a site for carb cycling to get a calorie estimate? I am following a program on bodybuilding.com which is lifting and some HIIT. Weight loss has been an issue for me since I've been diagnosed. I'm hoping being disciplined with lifting and food will help. I'm not so focused on a #as I am focused on looking better for myself. I have a physical in the next couple weeks so I'm sure blood will be tested as well. I'm on armour right now.0
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Really interesting post @lindsey1979, thanks!0
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Are you just doing cardio or are you incorporating weights also? Muscle burns fat far longer than cardio. My endo suggested I do weights and cardio either in the same workout or alternate days.0
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@kkauz42, Chris Powell has a great carb cycling program. He does have a site but you have to pay for it. But he has written several books on how to do it. I tried it and it does work, you eat a lot of food, but it is all whole foods nothing packaged. I lots at first and then stopped. Last year I had a full blood panel and found out that I have elevated insulin levels, so I have cut my total carbs to no more than 25grams every 4 hours. This works for me, and I have lost almost 70lbs in a year, and I feel so much better. Once I get to maintenance level I plan on upping the cabs a bit because I don't want to lose anymore.
I noticed that most of you take DHEA, What brand?, dosage? etc. It was recommended that I start taking this as well. Thanks.0 -
Is there a site for carb cycling to get a calorie estimate? I am following a program on bodybuilding.com which is lifting and some HIIT. Weight loss has been an issue for me since I've been diagnosed. I'm hoping being disciplined with lifting and food will help. I'm not so focused on a #as I am focused on looking better for myself. I have a physical in the next couple weeks so I'm sure blood will be tested as well. I'm on armour right now.
Here is a leangains calculator. I like it because you can adjust the protein you want to take, the cycling regime (cut, recomp, bulk), etc. It's the best one I've found, but you'll still probably have to tinker with the numbers based on your actual experience.
http://sareyko.net/leancalc/#/g=male/a=NaN/w=NaN/h=NaN/b=NaN/m=1.2/r=-20/t=20/p=2.5/e=NaN
Here's a good explanation of how it all works too -- but it's rather lengthy.
http://rippedbody.jp/how-to-calculate-leangains-macros/
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@kkauz42, Chris Powell has a great carb cycling program. He does have a site but you have to pay for it. But he has written several books on how to do it. I tried it and it does work, you eat a lot of food, but it is all whole foods nothing packaged. I lots at first and then stopped. Last year I had a full blood panel and found out that I have elevated insulin levels, so I have cut my total carbs to no more than 25grams every 4 hours. This works for me, and I have lost almost 70lbs in a year, and I feel so much better. Once I get to maintenance level I plan on upping the cabs a bit because I don't want to lose anymore.
I noticed that most of you take DHEA, What brand?, dosage? etc. It was recommended that I start taking this as well. Thanks.
As for DHEA, you really should have the blood test to see if you're low or not as too much can have some nasty side effects. It's weird because it's OTC so you can get it without a prescription, but you really shouldn't take it unless you actually need it.
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As for DHEA, you really should have the blood test to see if you're low or not as too much can have some nasty side effects. It's weird because it's OTC so you can get it without a prescription, but you really shouldn't take it unless you actually need it.
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@Lindsey1979. Yes, I have had a test stating that I was low. This was part of the full blood panel I had last year, as well as again at the year. Still same result.0
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