Going nuts over how to diet

EdwardMH2 · March 2018

I have tried Juicing and forced myself to drink the Doctor Oz Cleanse for 3 months (I know it is 3 days but I lost weight and could still eat the trash I liked)

I go nuts trying to figure out the proportions (%) of Carbs, Fat, and Proteins and the smallest thing would hurtle the numbers out of scale.

I am now looking into Keto/Paleo to see if I can make it work (90% of the food in my home is Carbs so I have A LOT of food to toss out like my loaves of bread, noodles, raman, etc.)

I started yesterday and right off the bat my first breakfast was wrong, I ordered what I THOUGHT was a healthy low carb meal and it was at 6% carbs... UNTIL I had the 1.5 cup bowl of fruit that put me at over 100% Today was better with 3 poached eggs, 2 grilled center cut pork chops, 4 slices of tomatoes and 2 glasses of unsweet tea I have so far 3% carbs but am afraid to eat anything else today. How do you figure out the needed Calories, the right Macro percents, and such, I am obsessing and frustrated and have never stayed on a diet more than 8 months. I just want to lower my sugar and cholesterol, get to 180 pounds (Internet says I should weigh 165-170.

cwolfman13 · March 2018

I plugged my stats and whatnot into MFP and MFP gave me a calorie target as per those stats and my desired rate of loss...I ate to hit those targets and lost 40 Lbs. I didn't get all wrapped up in macros and whatnot other than increasing my protein.

CoffeeNCardio · March 2018

EdwardMH2 wrote: »

I have tried Juicing and forced myself to drink the Doctor Oz Cleanse for 3 months (I know it is 3 days but I lost weight and could still eat the trash I liked)

I go nuts trying to figure out the proportions (%) of Carbs, Fat, and Proteins and the smallest thing would hurtle the numbers out of scale.

I am now looking into Keto/Paleo to see if I can make it work (90% of the food in my home is Carbs so I have A LOT of food to toss out like my loaves of bread, noodles, raman, etc.)

I started yesterday and right off the bat my first breakfast was wrong, I ordered what I THOUGHT was a healthy low carb meal and it was at 6% carbs... UNTIL I had the 1.5 cup bowl of fruit that put me at over 100% Today was better with 3 poached eggs, 2 grilled center cut pork chops, 4 slices of tomatoes and 2 glasses of unsweet tea I have so far 3% carbs but am afraid to eat anything else today. How do you figure out the needed Calories, the right Macro percents, and such, I am obsessing and frustrated and have never stayed on a diet more than 8 months. I just want to lower my sugar and cholesterol, get to 180 pounds (Internet says I should weigh 165-170.

My very first suggestion is to stop listening to Dr. Oz. Like ever. If Dr. Oz told me it was raining outside, I'd go check on that.

Second cwolfman13 on just plugging into MFP and letting it do the math for you. I feel like you're trying too hard and maybe instead of feeling overwhelmed with macros right now, you could start out a little easy on yourself, work into a calorie deficit, and then adjust the macros as you go. Nutritionally, that's all well and good, but all you need to lose weight is to eat fewer calories than you burn.

ETA: I lost 30 lbs in about 7 months JUST doing CICO, without even incorporating real exercise other than some walks. Losing weight is hard, why go out of your way to make it harder?

TeaBea · March 2018

Dieting is really very simple.....I know the internet, doctors, magazines, etc. likes to make it sound difficult but it's not.

Take in fewer calories than your body uses each day and you lose weight.

Plug your stats into My Fitness Pal, select a moderate weekly weight loss goal. Eat that many calories & lose weight. You can even eat food you enjoy......you just have to manage portions. If you decide to exercise, log that and eat some of those calories too.

I don't eliminate foods (unless I have to). Unless you have medical issues, you don't need to eliminate carbs. Keto starts off with a nice bump in water weight loss......but real fat loss is still calories in vs. calories out.

jennifer_417 · March 2018

Woah. Slow down, kiddo, you're making this way too complicated by obsessing over the numbers.

The absolutely only thing you need for weight loss is to consume fewer calories than you burn. The only reason any diet works is that it creates this balance in some way.

Plug your info into MFP, eat the number of calories it tells you to. It's really as simple as that.

AliceDark · March 2018

When it comes to structuring an eating plan for losing weight, there are some things that are more important than others -- not every factor has equal weight or deserves equal attention. Total calories is by far the most important, and you should get that under control early on. Your macro split is next, but only to a point. Your goal is to get your macros in the right ballpark, not to the exact right gram every day. Just in the ballpark is fine. You should be looking to build healthy, sustainable habits, not to obsessively control every detail, because as you hinted in your OP, that's not going to last long.

This chart is a really good illustration of the relative impact of some of the dietary factors. Spend the most time and energy with the factors at the bottom of your pyramid, and worry about the factors higher up if/when you have the ability to do so.

ZoneFive · March 2018

What everybody above has said. Let MFP do the number-crunching. Eat those calories at the default macro split; weigh, measure and log everything you eat or drink. Weigh yourself daily or weekly or not at all (personally I'd recommend daily, but that's up to you). Just do that for four weeks. Revisit; see if it's going the way you want. Ask questions on these boards.

There is no magic potion or pill, no pre-packaged diet or super-secret regimen that works instantly or for everyone. Eat fewer calories than you burn; choose nutrient-dense foods 80% of the time. Don't make yourself crazy. Live your life.

MegaMooseEsq · March 2018

Honestly, I've managed by keeping it simple, especially at first. I logged everything that I ate and drank for a while, then sat down and came up with a few ways to cut back on calories that I figured I could live with long-term. More people lose weight and regain then lose and keep it off, and I'm determined to do my best to make changes that will stick. It sounds like you're trying to do a lot of things at once - you might have more luck making one or two smaller changes, giving yourself time to adjust, and then making another small change or two. Don't be afraid of food, just start teaching yourself to have a better relationship with it. Nutrition (i.e. macros) is important for health and can make a difference in sticking with your diet, but it's not necessary to eat anything in specific at any particular ratio to lose weight. If losing weight is your most important goal, start with that first.

Also, anything that sounds too good to be true probably is. Juicing and cleanses "work" by cutting your calories down dramatically, but they do nothing to help you learn to eat less long-term, and can have some pretty unpleasant side-effects, as you may have noticed. Keto and Paleo aren't magic bullets, either - they're just ways of eating that many people find leads to a calorie deficit, but that plenty of people also find difficult to stick with long-term, because they can be quite restrictive. If you're having to throw away 90% of the food in your house (presumably food that you LIKE to eat), that might not be the path for you right now.

Good luck - you can do this!

CoffeeNCardio · March 2018

http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/

If you're looking for a good resource to play with the numbers, Scooby's is very helpful, you can manually adjust for macros and exercise, just as you can on MFP, but it's a little quicker and easier and it's all on one page easy to see.

Again though, I must stress that all you need to do initially is to control your caloric intake. Plugging in your height, weight, and daily physical activity level on MFP and then picking a moderate loss goal like 1lb per week or so is all you need at this point. Advance the math after you've actually advanced the weight loss. One baby step at a time. It's also gonna do a whole helluva lot for your motivation if you start slowly, get to eat those foods you prefer, and still see a drop in the scale. Then later, if you're so inclined and so motivated, you can start to slowly adjust your macros for nutrition or muscle gain which I imagine is important to you.

xxerniexx · March 2018

a lot of great advice so far! my only add would be to drink a truck ton of water!

kimny72 · March 2018

I just used the numbers MFP gave me, and mostly just eat the food I like, just not always as much as I'd like.

I would be in jail for some sort of violent crime if I had to rely on liquid diets or not eating fruit to lose weight!

fb47 · March 2018

EdwardMH2 wrote: »

I have tried Juicing and forced myself to drink the Doctor Oz Cleanse for 3 months (I know it is 3 days but I lost weight and could still eat the trash I liked)

I go nuts trying to figure out the proportions (%) of Carbs, Fat, and Proteins and the smallest thing would hurtle the numbers out of scale.

I am now looking into Keto/Paleo to see if I can make it work (90% of the food in my home is Carbs so I have A LOT of food to toss out like my loaves of bread, noodles, raman, etc.)

I started yesterday and right off the bat my first breakfast was wrong, I ordered what I THOUGHT was a healthy low carb meal and it was at 6% carbs... UNTIL I had the 1.5 cup bowl of fruit that put me at over 100% Today was better with 3 poached eggs, 2 grilled center cut pork chops, 4 slices of tomatoes and 2 glasses of unsweet tea I have so far 3% carbs but am afraid to eat anything else today. How do you figure out the needed Calories, the right Macro percents, and such, I am obsessing and frustrated and have never stayed on a diet more than 8 months. I just want to lower my sugar and cholesterol, get to 180 pounds (Internet says I should weigh 165-170.

After reading what you just wrote, you got really bad information. I don't blame you, you probably get bombarded with all kinds of bad information wheter it's from tv or in magazines. Unfortunately, this world is full of snake oil salesmen. The fact you think carbs is evil proves my point. I was able to lose 25 lbs (and I only did it as a challenge, I didn't really need to lose weight, I just wanted my six pack to be revealed for once) doing no cardio (lifting was my only activity) and I was still able to eat carbs. All I had to do was just make sure I hit my minimum protein and make sure I ate at a caloric deficit.

Here's a hint on how to lose weight....you eat less than you burn. I know it sounds boring, it doesn't have a catchy name, but 99% of the population will lose weight through a caloric deficit, regardless if you eat carbs or not.

mmapags · March 2018

fb47 wrote: »

EdwardMH2 wrote: »

I have tried Juicing and forced myself to drink the Doctor Oz Cleanse for 3 months (I know it is 3 days but I lost weight and could still eat the trash I liked)

I go nuts trying to figure out the proportions (%) of Carbs, Fat, and Proteins and the smallest thing would hurtle the numbers out of scale.

I am now looking into Keto/Paleo to see if I can make it work (90% of the food in my home is Carbs so I have A LOT of food to toss out like my loaves of bread, noodles, raman, etc.)

I started yesterday and right off the bat my first breakfast was wrong, I ordered what I THOUGHT was a healthy low carb meal and it was at 6% carbs... UNTIL I had the 1.5 cup bowl of fruit that put me at over 100% Today was better with 3 poached eggs, 2 grilled center cut pork chops, 4 slices of tomatoes and 2 glasses of unsweet tea I have so far 3% carbs but am afraid to eat anything else today. How do you figure out the needed Calories, the right Macro percents, and such, I am obsessing and frustrated and have never stayed on a diet more than 8 months. I just want to lower my sugar and cholesterol, get to 180 pounds (Internet says I should weigh 165-170.

After reading what you just wrote, you got really bad information. I don't blame you, you probably get bombarded with all kinds of bad information wheter it's from tv or in magazines. Unfortunately, this world is full of snake oil salesmen. The fact you think carbs is evil proves my point. I was able to lose 25 lbs (and I only did it as a challenge, I didn't really need to lose weight, I just wanted my six pack to be revealed for once) doing no cardio (lifting was my only activity) and I was still able to eat carbs. All I had to do was just make sure I hit my minimum protein and make sure I ate at a caloric deficit.

Here's a hint on how to lose weight....you eat less than you burn. I know it sounds boring, it doesn't have a catchy name, but 99% of the population will lose weight through a caloric deficit, regardless if you eat carbs or not.

This^^!!

Lounmoun · March 2018

Just put your info into MyFitnessPal and select a goal like 1 lb a week and get a calorie goal. No need to think that hard about macros or follow a particular diet.
Eat what you normally would and log as accurately as you can. Make small dietary changes over time like getting more protein or eating more vegetables.
Read the stickied threads on these forums.

EdwardMH2 · March 2018

Thank you all for the advice and the burn more calories than you eat approach looks great if I can get active again. One thing always confused me though. MyFitnessPal app says I should have 1500 calories a day. Is that the Calories I need each day to reach my loss of 2 pounds a week goal? Do I have that by end of day? Or if I eat 1500 do I need to burn off 1500 or more? Or if I eat 1500 and and burn off 500 do I need to eat another 500 calories

janejellyroll · March 2018

EdwardMH2 wrote: »

Thank you all for the advice and the burn more calories than you eat approach looks great if I can get active again. One thing always confused me though. MyFitnessPal app says I should have 1500 calories a day. Is that the Calories I need each day to reach my loss of 2 pounds a week goal? Do I have that by end of day? Or if I eat 1500 do I need to burn off 1500 or more? Or if I eat 1500 and and burn off 500 do I need to eat another 500 calories

If your MFP goal is 1,500 then you should eat 1,500. If you want to burn more via exercise, then you can. But under MFP's plan, you would then eat back the calories you burnt (some people eat back just a portion of these to account for potential over-estimation of calorie burns).

So if your goal is 1,500 and you take a walk and burn 150 calories, you can now eat 1,650 and still be at your goal.

MFP's goal already gives you the calories you need to be at a deficit (assuming you told MFP you wanted to lose weight when you set up your account). You don't *have* to do any exercise unless you'd like to.

EdwardMH2 · March 2018

By the way I am not a weight lifter type or runner, not wanting to build up muscle just want a healthy weight, flexibility and good range of motion for my Pickleball. Often I post about weight loss and I get bodybuilders telling me to stop using my total gym and go lift weights and get such and such protein drinks.

diannethegeek · March 2018

EdwardMH2 wrote: »

Thank you all for the advice and the burn more calories than you eat approach looks great if I can get active again. One thing always confused me though. MyFitnessPal app says I should have 1500 calories a day. Is that the Calories I need each day to reach my loss of 2 pounds a week goal? Do I have that by end of day? Or if I eat 1500 do I need to burn off 1500 or more? Or if I eat 1500 and and burn off 500 do I need to eat another 500 calories

Your body burns calories every day just keeping your organs alive (this is your BMR) and more calories doing every day activities like brushing your teeth or going to work (your NEAT). The total number of calories you burn every day is your TDEE (total daily energy expenditure). If you eat fewer calories than this number, you should lose weight. MFP takes all of the information you plug into it about your activity level, height, weight, etc. and it figures out about how many calories you burn each day, ignoring your exercise (it doesn't trust you to exercise like you say you will). The number it gives you is a goal to let you eat that many calories and lose weight. If it gave you 1500 then you should be able to eat 1500 every day and lose weight with no exercise unless you have some specific health issues that might throw those numbers out of whack. Once you exercise and log it, then MFP adds those calories back onto your calorie goal for you to eat because you've earned them. Most people eat some of those calories but not all because it's hard to measure exercise calories exactly, so they leave a little margin of error behind for wiggle room.

WinoGelato · March 2018

You've already gotten good advice OP about not listening to everything you hear about what's required for weight loss, and not overcomplicating things. I just wanted to reiterate that you can lose weight, eating a variety of foods and types of foods, and with as much or as little exercise as you want to do. MFP is built off of the premise that any combination of foods, logged accurately to the goal you are provided, will enable you to lose weight at the desired rate you've chosen. That's independent of exercise, a NEAT goal, so when you do exercise, you're actually meant to log and eat back those calories as well to keep your NET intake at the goal that MFP sets for you.

EdwardMH2 · March 2018

Last year I stopped drinking sodas and now even drink unsweetened tea, So I am making progress on healthier but STILL gaining weight I don’t want (I am a bit less active but hope to change this as well) I winter I tend to get lazy as I hate the cold so I sit around the house on the computer more. I do cheat time to time and have a Dr. pepper or something or 1/3 sweet 2/3 unsweetened tea but for the most part dropped the sugar drinks (am drinking more Gatorade which is probably not best soda replacement)

MichelleSilverleaf · March 2018

I'm going to wager a guess that 2lbs is probably too aggressive a goal, MFP won't let the number go below 1500 for men and 1200 for women. Going 1lbs a week would give you a little more and make it easier to figure out how to eat to keep you satisfied. It really is as simple as eating less than you need.

EdwardMH2 · March 2018

I do not drink enough water if any.... I do not like water but love eating ice, any suggestions on a ice machine that makes small edible pellets? I think I would get more than a days worth of water if I had one.

Jennymarie57 · March 2018

Yes I was going to say plug the food in before you eat it. I do that every morning before breakfast to plan my daily eating to make sure it is balanced and I'm not starving at the end of the day. Also eat whole foods as much as possible, prepped at home.

EdwardMH2 · March 2018

Ok....
Next issue then.
On calories burned from exercise, walking, biking, hiking, playing with the dog, Pickleball (tennis type game) etc. I know if someone weighs 200 pounds and does the same exercise as someone 180 pounds they will loose weight faster at first as they are moving more weight.
But how accurate are the suggested calories burned on MyFitnessPal? Is there an accurate ethos to track calories burned? I have tried Fitbit, farming, and now have a gear 2 watch tracking my steps and such.

EdwardMH2 · March 2018

jenny6157 wrote: »

Yes I was going to say plug the food in before you eat it. I do that every morning before breakfast to plan my daily eating to make sure it is balanced and I'm not starving at the end of the day. Also eat whole foods as much as possible, prepped at home.

One MAJOR setback is that I rarely or don’t cook at home though I am slowly trying to do more breakfasts (learning to cook slowly) I eat out 90% of my meals.

Jennymarie57 · March 2018

yikes..I would be afraid to eat out that much:)

start small..hard boiled eggs, baked chicken breast with rice, look up some overnight oats recipes, tuna wrapped in lettuce, smoothies..maybe move to soups ,different meats, roasted veggies (those are simple), try grilling..it's fun..

EdwardMH2 wrote: »

jenny6157 wrote: »

Yes I was going to say plug the food in before you eat it. I do that every morning before breakfast to plan my daily eating to make sure it is balanced and I'm not starving at the end of the day. Also eat whole foods as much as possible, prepped at home.

One MAJOR setback is that I rarely or don’t cook at home though I am slowly trying to do more breakfasts (learning to cook slowly) I eat out 90% of my meals.

AliceDark · March 2018

EdwardMH2 wrote: »

Ok....
Next issue then.
On calories burned from exercise, walking, biking, hiking, playing with the dog, Pickleball (tennis type game) etc. I know if someone weighs 200 pounds and does the same exercise as someone 180 pounds they will loose weight faster at first as they are moving more weight.
But how accurate are the suggested calories burned on MyFitnessPal? Is there an accurate ethos to track calories burned? I have tried Fitbit, farming, and now have a gear 2 watch tracking my steps and such.

Any tool or website that tells you how many calories you burn is an estimate. As you gather more data about yourself and your rate of loss under different conditions, you can be more accurate in your estimations, but there's no real way to be 100% accurate.

It would be really beneficial to take 4-8 weeks and get into the habit of logging your food. Try to be as consistent as possible -- it really seems like you're getting paralyzed by having too many options, and you're changing your variables too frequently to get good data collection. Just pick a course of action (a calorie goal, a way of measuring your intake, and a way of measuring your activity) and stick with it as closely and consistently as you can for 4-8 weeks. After that time, assess your results and make changes as necessary.

If you use estimates from MFP for your exercise burns, a good rule of thumb is to eat back 50%-75% of your exercise calories. That'll mostly account for inaccuracies in the number MFP gives you, because it's just a general estimate of your burns (but again, it's not really much more or less accurate than other methods).

EdwardMH2 · March 2018

Well after sitting in the restaurant for over an hour I left after 2 teas and no food as I was afraid of ordering wrong lol, hey I might loose weight this way.

AliceDark · March 2018

Think about it this way -- you could spend the next 4-8 weeks researching, trying different things, coming up with the most optimal plan that you'd then start on. Or, you could spend the next 4-8 weeks implementing a plan that might not be absolutely optimal, but that will get you moving in the right direction. You'd have a good deal of real-world data about how your body responds so you can make changes and improve your results in the next block of time, and you'll have lost anywhere between about 4 and 16 pounds. I'd much rather go with the second option.

diannethegeek · March 2018

EdwardMH2 wrote: »

Well after sitting in the restaurant for over an hour I left after 2 teas and no food as I was afraid of ordering wrong lol, hey I might loose weight this way.

That's no good. I'm sorry you're going through this much stress. Did that restaurant have nutrition information available either online or in person? I usually pre-plan when I'm eating out by checking out their nutrition info ahead of time to see what fits into my calorie goals.

AnvilHead · March 2018

AliceDark wrote: »

Think about it this way -- you could spend the next 4-8 weeks researching, trying different things, coming up with the most optimal plan that you'd then start on. Or, you could spend the next 4-8 weeks implementing a plan that might not be absolutely optimal, but that will get you moving in the right direction. You'd have a good deal of real-world data about how your body responds so you can make changes and improve your results in the next block of time, and you'll have lost anywhere between about 4 and 16 pounds. I'd much rather go with the second option.

As somebody (I think it was Eric Helms) said, "Doing something that's 60% optimal 90% of the time will yield better results than doing something that's 90% optimal 60% of the time."

Going nuts over how to diet

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