Approx. 2000 remaining cals a day and no significant weight

iAMaPhoenix
iAMaPhoenix Posts: 1,038 Member
edited September 27 in Food and Nutrition
Soooo....I am determined to reach at least 1200 cals today, hungry or not. So far I have taken in 320 and the rest of my day is planned so I can take in another 900Kcals. I spent 90+ minutes on the treadmill this morning and that gives me a remainder of 1370 cals to go(even after eating my 900 planned cals). I plan to work out during lunch today, and will join my wife for her walking when I get home this evening(approximately 60 minutes of Leslie Sansone DVD walking). I find that even though I get all this exercise, I am still not hungry and always end up in the deficit when it comes to remaining cals for the day.

Now comes the puzzle. If I am averaging about 2000 net cals remaining a day, I should lose a pound every two days if the math is right. I know that muscle weighs more than fat. Could this be a factor that is at play here? Nonetheless, I am not upset about this because I will be going out to buy a new wardrobe soon, as I am starting to run out of clothes that fits me at home(size42-38 in less than 3 months). Or...Am I at the WALL? Any advice or encouragement would be greatly appreciated and welcomed.

Replies

  • yankeefamily05
    yankeefamily05 Posts: 657
    You need to EAT more. Fuel that body. Even if its just small amounts at a time.
  • JodiS75
    JodiS75 Posts: 284
    I'd say EAT MORE! You guys need lots of fuel for those muscle machines :wink:
  • foxxybrown
    foxxybrown Posts: 838 Member
    The problem looks to be that you cut your calories so drastically that now you need to do something different. Looks as though you are doing more than enough in the exercise department so you need to change your diet. Eat more and eat clean.
  • JPod279
    JPod279 Posts: 722 Member
    Be careful relying on the machine for calories burned. You may want to invest in a heart rate monitor.
  • fitfarrah
    fitfarrah Posts: 3
    You are working out a lot! You need to consume more calories. Try eating smaller amounts throughout the day.
  • Jenni268
    Jenni268 Posts: 202 Member
    You're saying that you have NEGATIVE 2000 calories a day, after all your food and exercise? Before I give my input, I just want to make sure that's what you're saying.
  • lauristewart
    lauristewart Posts: 379 Member
    I concur with the others, eat more. Eat higher calorie food, nuts, nut butters, olive oil to your food. Those are easy ways to add calories. I never have that problem but wish I did!! Eat yogurt, fruit with a cheese stick as a snack, or a peanut butter sandwich as a snack......protein shakes is a good thing too. Also make sure you are eating enough protein......good luck! :flowerforyou:
  • PeachyKeene
    PeachyKeene Posts: 1,645 Member
    I concur with the others, eat more. Eat higher calorie food, nuts, nut butters, olive oil to your food. Those are easy ways to add calories. I never have that problem but wish I did!! Eat yogurt, fruit with a cheese stick as a snack, or a peanut butter sandwich as a snack......protein shakes is a good thing too. Also make sure you are eating enough protein......good luck! :flowerforyou:

    I would give the same advice to you!
  • iAMaPhoenix
    iAMaPhoenix Posts: 1,038 Member
    You need to EAT more. Fuel that body. Even if its just small amounts at a time.
    Trust me...I would love to eat more cause I love food. The dilemna with that is that I am never hungry. I had to almost forcefeed myself this morning and due to job demands, do not have the luxury of having regular meals throughout the day. Have you tried any of the nutritional shakes, and what is your thought on them?
  • iAMaPhoenix
    iAMaPhoenix Posts: 1,038 Member
    You're saying that you have NEGATIVE 2000 calories a day, after all your food and exercise? Before I give my input, I just want to make sure that's what you're saying.
    Yes...at the end of the day, my calories remaining is usually around 2000. As I usually get home late, I do not eat a huge meal adn it is very hard to make all that up in one sitting. Thanks for any advice.
  • bbialik
    bbialik Posts: 6
    I agree with what everyone else has said. You also sound like your over-estimating calories burned. I hit a wall around Easter and barely watched my diet on Easter Day and woke-up 1.5 pounds lighter. I also added instant flavored oatmeal (130 cal) to what I was already eating for breakfast and started losing again. I'm struggling with patience also. It looks like your doing great overall. Keep it up!
  • AllyS7
    AllyS7 Posts: 480 Member
    You need to EAT more. Fuel that body. Even if its just small amounts at a time.
    Trust me...I would love to eat more cause I love food. The dilemna with that is that I am never hungry. I had to almost forcefeed myself this morning and due to job demands, do not have the luxury of having regular meals throughout the day. Have you tried any of the nutritional shakes, and what is your thought on them?

    Maybe eat more calorie dense foods. Greek Yogurt, Peanut Butter, Meats...
  • iAMaPhoenix
    iAMaPhoenix Posts: 1,038 Member
    I agree with what everyone else has said. You also sound like your over-estimating calories burned. I hit a wall around Easter and barely watched my diet on Easter Day and woke-up 1.5 pounds lighter. I also added instant flavored oatmeal (130 cal) to what I was already eating for breakfast and started losing again. I'm struggling with patience also. It looks like your doing great overall. Keep it up!
    Thanks for the input. I usually try to compensate for the calories burned on the treadmill by inputing my weight at 10#less. I know it is not accurate, but is pretty close. From what I am reading, the common thread is that I need to eat more. I think I will have fun eating mysel thin...LOL.
  • foxxybrown
    foxxybrown Posts: 838 Member
    Yeah you can add protein shakes to your diet. I like the GNC Amplified Wheybolic in Chocolate. Great with skim milk or water. Or pack high calorie foods with you when you are out. Try some nuts.
  • kdiamond
    kdiamond Posts: 3,329 Member
    Can I ask why the excessive amount of cardio?

    If you don't want to eat those calories back, why not cut down the treadmill time in half? You're not really doing anything to help yourself by walking on the treadmill for 90+ minutes. I'd either do half of that and add in 30 minutes of strength, or only do half and eat less. It ends up being a wash.
  • iverayna
    iverayna Posts: 48 Member
    You really need to search Starvation Mode. Itll help you a lot to understand everything..
  • go2grrl
    go2grrl Posts: 190 Member
    Ditto to all of the above regarding eating! I lost and kept off over 100 pounds while typically consuming around 2100 cal a day. I'm getting a bit older tho and it's harder to lose, so I've recently dropped that to 1910. I track exercise, but I try not to eat those calories. Which is not to say I won't drink them in craft beer....But I do like to just let them ride. So yeah, you can eat yourself thin! Stick with whole foods and try to avoid processed foods as much as possible.
  • Pebble321
    Pebble321 Posts: 6,423 Member
    You need to EAT more. Fuel that body. Even if its just small amounts at a time.
    Trust me...I would love to eat more cause I love food. The dilemna with that is that I am never hungry. I had to almost forcefeed myself this morning and due to job demands, do not have the luxury of having regular meals throughout the day. Have you tried any of the nutritional shakes, and what is your thought on them?

    I suggest that you need to stop moving for a few minutes, sit still, and think about what is happenning here ... losing weight is about more than just numbers, it takes some mindset changes too.
    It seems that you can make time for exercise, but consider meals a luxury???
    Eating is essential. If your job is busy then pack lots of little snacks/meals that you can eat in 5 minutes, and perhps cut down a little on the cardio minutes, so you are taking in a decent amount of net calories to keep you healthy for the long term.
  • chrisdavey
    chrisdavey Posts: 9,834 Member
    Can I ask why the excessive amount of cardio?

    If you don't want to eat those calories back, why not cut down the treadmill time in half? You're not really doing anything to help yourself by walking on the treadmill for 90+ minutes. I'd either do half of that and add in 30 minutes of strength, or only do half and eat less. It ends up being a wash.

    Agree with this.

    Also, as much as we like to simplify things it isn't all a numbers game with losing weight. The different types of foods, marco and micronutrients, types of exercise, hormone changes will all be factors into if you lose weight or not. Also, the aim is to lose fat not weight. You want to do all you can to preserve lean body mass and severely undereating will definitely not do that.
  • Schwiggity
    Schwiggity Posts: 1,449 Member
    GOMAD
  • somigliana
    somigliana Posts: 314 Member
    Can I ask why the excessive amount of cardio?

    If you don't want to eat those calories back, why not cut down the treadmill time in half? You're not really doing anything to help yourself by walking on the treadmill for 90+ minutes. I'd either do half of that and add in 30 minutes of strength, or only do half and eat less. It ends up being a wash.

    I agree with this also.

    I found that I got great results by shortening my cardio sessions drastically (and doing intervals instead of steady state cardio) and then adding in strength training.
  • JennLifts
    JennLifts Posts: 1,913 Member
    Can I ask why the excessive amount of cardio?

    If you don't want to eat those calories back, why not cut down the treadmill time in half? You're not really doing anything to help yourself by walking on the treadmill for 90+ minutes. I'd either do half of that and add in 30 minutes of strength, or only do half and eat less. It ends up being a wash.

    Thank you. If you aren't able to eat it, you need to do less.
  • Schwiggity
    Schwiggity Posts: 1,449 Member
    3x cardio per day is pretty excessive. Mix in some strength, and maybe try out some HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training).
  • natskedat
    natskedat Posts: 570 Member
    It's nearly impossible that you're gaining muscle with that kind of a calorie deficit.

    Here's an explanation of how your metabolism changes during a calorie-restricted diet, and what you can do to begin losing weight again.

    www.fitnesswithnatalie.blogspot.com
  • crisanderson27
    crisanderson27 Posts: 5,343 Member
    Can I ask why the excessive amount of cardio?

    If you don't want to eat those calories back, why not cut down the treadmill time in half? You're not really doing anything to help yourself by walking on the treadmill for 90+ minutes. I'd either do half of that and add in 30 minutes of strength, or only do half and eat less. It ends up being a wash.

    I agree with this also.

    I found that I got great results by shortening my cardio sessions drastically (and doing intervals instead of steady state cardio) and then adding in strength training.

    Bingo!!

    If you're going to do cardio...which has been proven in many studies to be useless for weight loss...do it in interval format. Sprint on the machine for 20 solid seconds...walk 10 seconds, then sprint again for 20 more. If you google interval training you'll find a hundred ways to incorporate it into most workouts. I do my 'cardio' on my 100lb heavy bag...and I even interval train there. 20 seconds of HEAVY, fast paced, 100% max effort punches...10 seconds of lighter, less intense punches...for 4 minutes straight.

    I want to die when it's over lol.

    I would also advise heavy weight training (heavy being subjective...what's heavy for me may not be for you, etc). Muscle, burns fat. Cardio KILLS muscle.

    Take a look at this article:

    http://members.rachelcosgrove.com/public/The_Final_Nail_in_the_Cardio_Coffin.cfm

    She sites a slew of studies at the lower end of the article which back up her information...and other forward thinking trainers are tending to agree with her.

    Now...EAT!! Eat!!! EAT!!!! I'm 5'7", 187lbs (mostly solid), and my maintenance is 2400is calories a day...pre exercise. I eat nuts (love sea salt cashews), peanut butter and apples, and other calorie/protien dense foods that contain good fats and moderate amounts of carbs (note, I didn't say NO, or LOW carbs...just moderate!). I also eat every three hours. 1 ounce of cashews is 160 calories. You could eat 2 or 3 ounces and have yourself a full fledged caloric banquet throughout your day. Today I ate almost 2800 calories worth of food, due to 15 minutes on the heavy bag and 45 minutes of bodyweight strength training.

    Anyhow...luck to you, and I hope this all helps!!

    Cris
  • zacherybinx
    zacherybinx Posts: 215 Member
    If you're doing -2000 Calories a day you're going to put yourself in the hospital eventually.
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