Looking to get serious.
JanetL86
Posts: 10 Member
Alright, so in the past I have never been successful in exercising and eating healthy at the same time. But last month I decided to work on exercising regularly and not focus on diet. Here it is a month later, and so far I have been successful.
Now, I am looking to change my diet. My plan is to make a list of 3-4 meal ideas per meal/snack with set calorie counts and portions to make it as easy to stick to as possible to include making everything ahead of time as my work schedule is pretty unpredictable week to week.
So I've tried just about any diet imaginable (low carb, low fat, low calorie, etc) and I honestly have no idea what I should do for the best chances of fat loss. Does body type play a role in what I should eat (I carry fat in my stomach and thighs)? Is 3-4 meals a day best or is 6 small meals best? Do I need protein shakes and other supplements? How do I know when I should eat and do I still eat all my meals even if I don't feel hungry?
Additional information: As far as exercise goes, I currently do Jillian Michaels beginner shred 3 days a week. and walk approximately 3 miles 2 days a week working towards Couch 2 5k. I plan on sticking to this until I can maintain both diet and exercise before stepping up the exercise side of things. Simply because this time around I've committed to this for life and I know one day I will get where I want to be. Might as well enjoy the journey and do it right for the final time.
Thanks for your time!
Now, I am looking to change my diet. My plan is to make a list of 3-4 meal ideas per meal/snack with set calorie counts and portions to make it as easy to stick to as possible to include making everything ahead of time as my work schedule is pretty unpredictable week to week.
So I've tried just about any diet imaginable (low carb, low fat, low calorie, etc) and I honestly have no idea what I should do for the best chances of fat loss. Does body type play a role in what I should eat (I carry fat in my stomach and thighs)? Is 3-4 meals a day best or is 6 small meals best? Do I need protein shakes and other supplements? How do I know when I should eat and do I still eat all my meals even if I don't feel hungry?
Additional information: As far as exercise goes, I currently do Jillian Michaels beginner shred 3 days a week. and walk approximately 3 miles 2 days a week working towards Couch 2 5k. I plan on sticking to this until I can maintain both diet and exercise before stepping up the exercise side of things. Simply because this time around I've committed to this for life and I know one day I will get where I want to be. Might as well enjoy the journey and do it right for the final time.
Thanks for your time!
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Replies
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The only thing that matters to weight loss is that you're in a calorie deficit. Everything else--type of diet, foods eaten, meal frequency, types of exercise--is personal preference.0
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I will second this.The only thing that matters to weight loss is that you're in a calorie deficit. Everything else--type of diet, foods eaten, meal frequency, types of exercise--is personal preference.
Low calorie is the way to go, because it’s the only thing that matters when it comes to weight loss. I don’t think you should overthink the types of diets out there and all that stuff: at the end of the day, the only thing that matters is that you’re maintaining that caloric deficit. It doesn’t matter where your calories come from. Of course, it’s a good idea to get enough protein (to help maintain muscle mass) and fat (for overall body functioning), but beyond that, it’s all up to you.So I've tried just about any diet imaginable (low carb, low fat, low calorie, etc) and I honestly have no idea what I should do for the best chances of fat loss.
Nope. Unfortunately, you can’t spot reduce fat. Your body will lose weight where it wants to lose weight. The type of food you eat makes no difference at all, beyond maybe the fact that some foods could cause bloating and make the stomach appear bigger.Does body type play a role in what I should eat (I carry fat in my stomach and thighs)?
It really doesn’t matter. Do what works for you. For instance, I don’t eat breakfast, just because I’m not hungry in the mornings, and I’m losing weight just fine.Is 3-4 meals a day best or is 6 small meals best?
Need them for what? Weight loss? Nope.Do I need protein shakes and other supplements?
You should probably ensure you’re hitting your macros (protein, fat, etc), so I wouldn’t eat below the point where you’re getting enough nutrition.How do I know when I should eat and do I still eat all my meals even if I don't feel hungry?
P.S. Highly recommend the use of a food scale to measure your portions - it’s a lot more accurate than cups.
[Edited to respond to each question]0 -
Thanks for the reply, but my personal preference is what got me into this mess. I am not a nutritionist and all my doctor told me was to stick to 1500 calories and find a diet that works for me...which isn't the least bit helpful0
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Is 3-4 meals a day best or is 6 small meals best? Do I need protein shakes and other supplements? How do I know when I should eat and do I still eat all my meals even if I don't feel hungry?
As long as you're in a calorie deficit the rest is up to you.
Find what works best for YOU that YOU can stick with indefinitely. Ultimately you want to have a diet that can be maintained long term otherwise whatever loss you may have will only be temporary. As far as your "problem areas" this is very typical for women. Ultimately it doesn't matter where you carry fat since you will be losing all-over and you cant spot-reduce fat loss.0 -
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Alright so if I wanted to eat nothing but carbs I could do that as long as I stayed in a deficit? How would that help me? If anything isn't excess carbs what causes fat? How do I know I had to many carbs?0
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no but having someone say try and eat more of this and less of this is more helpful then saying figure out yourself!0
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Alright so if I wanted to eat nothing but carbs I could do that as long as I stayed in a deficit? How would that help me? If anything isn't excess carbs what causes fat? How do I know I had to many carbs?
No. Excess calories cause weight gain, not excess carbs. As I said, you should meet your macronutrient recommendations, but beyond that it doesn’t much matter.0 -
Deficit deficit deficit. What you eat and how much is most importnat. Its good you have the consistency with exercise and thats helped, but its the deficit and most importnatly the one from consumption that is the key.
Learn about basic nutrition, eat things you like and ht your calorie goals. I prefer a variety of fruit and veg with complex carbs and lean protein(supplements are only for convenience for not being able to hit the traget, real food is better imo). Make a plan that suits you in terms of being food you like or is ok(includes eating pattern), stops you feeling hungry and provides enough nutrition that your body needs.
Maybe get some friend with open diaries or hang out on the food pages for recipes. Its no a bad plan to have 3 or 4 of different meals to make it easy and keep it simple, but as long as the calories are controlled then its not oing to matter if you vary a little.
You are doing well especially becayse youve picked one aspect and have started to become consistent.
Its also nice to see you asking qyestions becayse knowledge will really help you.
Good luck.0 -
Carbs over maintenance will cause fat. Same with fat. And protein.Alright so if I wanted to eat nothing but carbs I could do that as long as I stayed in a deficit? How would that help me? If anything isn't excess carbs what causes fat? How do I know I had to many carbs?
From a weight loss perspective, you could eat 100% carbs and lose weight if you eat fewer calories than you burn. That's likely not a feasible long term approach, but unless you have medical issues -- your doctor apparently didn't say you did -- carbs are not the problem.
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Alright so if I wanted to eat nothing but carbs I could do that as long as I stayed in a deficit? How would that help me? If anything isn't excess carbs what causes fat? How do I know I had to many carbs?
Excess calories cause fat. If you eat 300 grams of carbs and are still within your calorie goal, you'll lose weight.
The key is to find out what works for you. Many people succeed on LCHF diets; others can't. Many people go paleo. Many more practice moderation of everything, while others have to cut foods out that they can potentially binge on. Try a diet out for 4-6 weeks and see if you can stick to it.0 -
I'd rather someone tell me try and eat so many cups of fruits and vegetables (or grams) and less carbs then someone tell me eat all you want of whatever you want as long as your in a calorie deficit. The food pyramid is a bunch of bs, because one size isn't fit all....I figured people with the same body type as me would have personal experience on what they feel works best for them0
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Figure out how many calories you want to eat to lose weight.
Eat .6g of protein per pound of body weight. Eat (your total calories * .30) / 9 in fat grams. Eat the rest in carbs.
There you go.0 -
It seems like this is all kind of a bit overwhelming so let's take a step back. When/what do you like to eat? what do you think you can live without, or what do you think you could not? All in all, if all you care about is pure weight loss (both fat and muscle) then yes, calories in calories out is something easy to follow.0
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Alright so if I wanted to eat nothing but carbs I could do that as long as I stayed in a deficit? How would that help me? If anything isn't excess carbs what causes fat? How do I know I had to many carbs?
In theory you could. It would be relatively unhealthy because you need protein to keep your lean muscle and your body needs fats to function. But for pure weight loss, all you need is a calorie deficit.
Generally you want to fill your diet with enough protein to keep your muscle and enough fat for your body to function, and the rest as carbs up to your calorie limit (at least that's the way I'm trying to do it). But you can really do it however you want.0 -
I'd rather someone tell me try and eat so many cups of fruits and vegetables (or grams) and less carbs then someone tell me eat all you want of whatever you want as long as your in a calorie deficit. The food pyramid is a bunch of bs, because one size isn't fit all....I figured people with the same body type as me would have personal experience on what they feel works best for them
Hit.your.macros. Beyond that, eat whatever you like. Maybe play around with the IIFYM calculator to figure out what that entails. You say you want to get serious - getting serious usually implies wanting to put in the effort to learn good sustainable eating habits.0 -
Alright so if I wanted to eat nothing but carbs I could do that as long as I stayed in a deficit? How would that help me? If anything isn't excess carbs what causes fat? How do I know I had to many carbs?
Nope.
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/11/08/twinkie.diet.professor/
This guy lost 30 pounds in two months eating.... nothing but twinkies.
CALORIES are what make you gain weight or lose weight. Let me break it down for you because you seem like you want someone to spell it out for you.
Okay. You already know to eat 1500 calories per your nutritionist, right?
Calories are energy. All of the food you eat consists of the following three things. Carbs, protein, and fats (also alcohol but lets ignore that for now). These are called Macros. There are also trace amounts of vitamins and minerals. These are called micros. All of the food you eat consist of this.
All macronutrients have energy.
Carbs have 4 calories per gram
Protein has 4 calories per gram
Fat has 9 calories per gram
No ONE macronutrient will make you fat. An excess of TOTAL calories will make you gain fat. On the flip side, a deficit of TOTAL calories will make you lose fat.
Now... It goes without saying that you will be able to eat MORE (quantity) of items that are LOW calorie. This includes things like fruits and veggies, lean meats, fish, etc. It is UP TO YOU depending on how hungry you are, what keeps you full, what you enjoy eating, etc.
My approach would be to eat the foods you ENJOY in smaller quantities to fit your calorie goal. See if that works for you. If not, and you're eating way too many calories on one single meal, try making substitutions that you can live with. For example, you want a burger and fries? Try a burger and then substitute the fries for an apple or something. The goal here is to include foods you will ACTUALLY eat, because once you lose all the weight and start maintaining you need to be able to eat these foods FOREVER. If you go right back to eating the way you did before you will just yo-yo and gain the weight back.
My suggestion would be first focus on hitting your calorie goal consistently.
Then if you want to focus on hitting certain macro goals you can. If you want to decrease fat, or carbs, or protein, or whatever you can.
Since you're not tracking your diet yet you should go ahead and start tracking what you're eating RIGHT NOW. This'll give you an idea of where all your calories are coming from. From there you can look into cutting certain things out or changing the portion size to hit your calorie goal.0 -
Thank you Ty. I was seriously regretting posting this. Pretty bad first post makes you want to give up before you even start because the answers are so discouraging. I'm looking to lose only fat, which I understand may be impossible for the most part unless you eat certain ways. I know I need to eat less carbs but I also know certain days are ok to eat more carbs. I'm not a huge fan of fish and dairy is not a friend. I have basic knowledge but not the knowledge I need to get where I want to be. I know I'm not working out intensely enough yet to have "the ROCK" size carb up days. But I need a starting point.0
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Thank you Ty. I was seriously regretting posting this. Pretty bad first post makes you want to give up before you even start because the answers are so discouraging.
If something as simple as "you need to learn what works best for you" is discouraging, then, as you said, maybe you're not ready to start.
Everyone has their own preferences for food and what works for some will not work for all. You dont like fish and dairy? Dont eat it! That was exactly my initial point. Thank god your nutritionist didn't tell you to only eat lean fish and dairy.0 -
Thank you Ty. I was seriously regretting posting this. Pretty bad first post makes you want to give up before you even start because the answers are so discouraging. I'm looking to lose only fat, which I understand may be impossible for the most part unless you eat certain ways. I know I need to eat less carbs but I also know certain days are ok to eat more carbs. I'm not a huge fan of fish and dairy is not a friend. I have basic knowledge but not the knowledge I need to get where I want to be. I know I'm not working out intensely enough yet to have "the ROCK" size carb up days. But I need a starting point.
What? The answers are discouraging? So basically you’ve ignored everything I said? Oh well. Good luck to you.0 -
No, I am ready to start. Like my post said I'm looking to lose fat. NOT lose fat and muscle. I want to build muscle and tone up. Not on a bodybuilder level. But even they had to start somewhere and I doubt do a calorie deficit and find what you like is the advice they received.0
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Honestly, go on IIFYM.com and use their calculator. It will tell you exactly what to eat, and you can break it down into however many meals you want. I use it, just as many others have. It's easy and sustainable. I myself had some success with low carb, but I also lost a lot of muscle, so a big thing to keep in mind is yes, CICO does lose WEIGHT, but what kind of weight is the big question. When you lose weight, naturally you will lose muscle, but the amount can be reduced. Feel free to add me if you want support/more help.0
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I have never commented on a post before. You must find what works for you. My friend loves the 5:2 dirt, whereas it leaves me feeling angry. I think the posts have been both informative and encouraging.Thank you Ty. I was seriously regretting posting this. Pretty bad first post makes you want to give up before you even start because the answers are so discouraging. I'm looking to lose only fat, which I understand may be impossible for the most part unless you eat certain ways. I know I need to eat less carbs but I also know certain days are ok to eat more carbs. I'm not a huge fan of fish and dairy is not a friend. I have basic knowledge but not the knowledge I need to get where I want to be. I know I'm not working out intensely enough yet to have "the ROCK" size carb up days. But I need a starting point.
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No, I am ready to start. Like my post said I'm looking to lose fat. NOT lose fat and muscle. I want to build muscle and tone up. Not on a bodybuilder level. But even they had to start somewhere and I doubt do a calorie deficit and find what you like is the advice they received.
For someone who is "looking to get serious" and wants to "enjoy the journey and do it right for the final time." you're not really looking at things objectively. You seem to be taking the victim role here. Take control over your nutrition, diet, exercise plan, and do what works best for you! You think the people who are bodybuilders put the responsibility of their routine on someone else? Or did they take responsibility for their diet and actually LEARN what works for them? They educated themselves on nutrition, they educated themselves through trial and error on eating styles, they educated themselves through consistent failure and refused to give up.
No one diet fits all.0 -
Alright LOOK. I was graced with a naturally athletic body that I could eat anything and do whatever. Then I joined the Army and after 3 years I suddenly came down with a medical disorder and started stress eating and eventually they kicked me out. So after continually stress eating and never having learned what I should and shouldn't eat. Im here asking for help from others who have gained weight and wanted to lose it. I'm not here for eat in a deficit. Find what works for you. I'm here for GUIDANCE. For REAL LIFE EXPERIENCES on what people tried and had the best luck with. Apparently you must have had luck. What worked for you. What are u currently doing? Must be doing more then eating whatever you want and remaining in a deficit. IF you are that doesn't work for everyone. Where do I start where all I have to do is tweak it to fit me instead of starting over fresh. Its called learning from others failures.rainbowbow wrote: »No, I am ready to start. Like my post said I'm looking to lose fat. NOT lose fat and muscle. I want to build muscle and tone up. Not on a bodybuilder level. But even they had to start somewhere and I doubt do a calorie deficit and find what you like is the advice they received.
For someone who is "looking to get serious" and wants to "enjoy the journey and do it right for the final time." you're not really looking at things objectively. You seem to be taking the victim role here. Take control over your nutrition, diet, exercise plan, and do what works best for you! You think the people who are bodybuilders put the responsibility of their routine on someone else? Or did they take responsibility for their diet and actually LEARN what works for them? They educated themselves on nutrition, they educated themselves through trial and error on eating styles, they educated themselves through consistent failure and refused to give up.
No one diet fits all.0 -
And if you think eat in a deficit and eat what works for you is supportive and encouraging then I'll be nice and say. I'm not on here looking for generic "supportive and encouraging answers" Like in my previous post. I want REAL, trial and error results that others tried. I'm not looking to waste years finding what works for me because in the end I'll always default to my past ways when things get hard because nothing has worked for me in the past. I want someone to say heres what worked for me so I can tell myself on day 3, 4, or 5 when *kitten* gets hard and cravings set in " hey this worked for them. Lets try this another week before we tweak it and see how it goes". Like I said I'm not a nutritionist so ask me what to eat and lose weight and Ill tell you generic crap I've read and tried and failed at.0
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I gave you a formula for what's worked.0
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Alright LOOK. I was graced with a naturally athletic body that I could eat anything and do whatever. Then I joined the Army and after 3 years I suddenly came down with a medical disorder and started stress eating and eventually they kicked me out. So after continually stress eating and never having learned what I should and shouldn't eat. Im here asking for help from others who have gained weight and wanted to lose it. I'm not here for eat in a deficit. Find what works for you. I'm here for GUIDANCE. For REAL LIFE EXPERIENCES on what people tried and had the best luck with. Apparently you must have had luck. What worked for you. What are u currently doing? Must be doing more then eating whatever you want and remaining in a deficit. IF you are that doesn't work for everyone. Where do I start where all I have to do is tweak it to fit me instead of starting over fresh. Its called learning from others failures.rainbowbow wrote: »No, I am ready to start. Like my post said I'm looking to lose fat. NOT lose fat and muscle. I want to build muscle and tone up. Not on a bodybuilder level. But even they had to start somewhere and I doubt do a calorie deficit and find what you like is the advice they received.
For someone who is "looking to get serious" and wants to "enjoy the journey and do it right for the final time." you're not really looking at things objectively. You seem to be taking the victim role here. Take control over your nutrition, diet, exercise plan, and do what works best for you! You think the people who are bodybuilders put the responsibility of their routine on someone else? Or did they take responsibility for their diet and actually LEARN what works for them? They educated themselves on nutrition, they educated themselves through trial and error on eating styles, they educated themselves through consistent failure and refused to give up.
No one diet fits all.
what if i told you... that's the advice i got and i DID find what worked for me? Every single answer from every single individual here will be different. We are all different.
I am a vegetarian and have been my entire life. What worked for me? Eating the $h!t i like but less of it.
What makes you think if you've " generic crap I've read and tried and failed at." that you'll succeed by doing it again? That is essentially what you're asking for. Hey guys, i know i've tried and failed in the past just doing what other people said worked for them and eating foods that worked for them, but can i try it again?
Honestly, I am done. I have been on MFP for 4 years and i HAVE reached my goals. I stick around to help others reach theirs. But if you refuse to read any of the information we've given and want to be stubborn, your success or failure is up to you. good luck.0 -
I am going to guess you and I have the same body type, ectomorph. You lose fat by eating less than you do now. Start thinking portions rather than types of food. I suggest getting a scale and measuring out a portion of your food before you eat it. This will help you visualize what portions are reasonable. Your idea of preportioning at the beginning of the week is good. I use mason jars a lot for my premade salads and refrigerator oatmeal. Ziplocks are handy too. Log everything you put in your mouth, including snacks. If you have 1500 a day, try and limit main meals to about 400 to 500 each so you don't run out of calories before the end of the day.0
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I eat everything except rich loaded desserts that are 3000 calories each.0
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