Eating and burning calories

2

Replies

  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    edited May 2019
    Simple example of how listening to the body can fool someone if they don't understand the language - hence it being foreign until you learn it.

    The person that hears the advice to eat many small meals a day - and they make them healthy, fruits, vegetables, whole grain, milk-related, ect. But that's all they've heard and really know about nutrition.
    This is far from far-fetched level of knowledge for many - they've heard and remember a few pointers over the years.

    Their snacks are small 150-250 calories - high carb content since what they've heard.

    About 45-60 min after each snack - they feel very hungry so they eat their next snack even though it was for another 1-2 hrs out.

    They have no idea about the spike to insulin and then resulting low-blood sugar they receive, making them feel hungry well before they really need to eat.
    Making it very difficult to maintain that method - perhaps ultimately failing by some amount as more snacks are eaten.

    The other easy example is taking a steep deficit, and after a short bit not feeling hungry.
    Not realizing the body has likely slowed them down in daily activity, and perhaps some high level metabolism functions - so they are actually burning less daily than before - no wonder not hungry. Not a good sign though.
  • mrFerris
    mrFerris Posts: 122 Member
    I got to the overweight position that I am in because I used to get up in the morning and have a cup of tea then go to work and eat nothing until I returned home at 6 or 7pm ... I still wasn't hungry and could easily have 'listened' to my body but my head knew that I needed fuel so I ate. Thirty minutes after eating I felt hungry and spent the rest of the evening eating anything and everything because I 'listened' to my hungry body that had just been woken up.

    After many, many years I realised I was wrong and substituted the evening binges with only healthier options. The crisps and fatty snacks were gone and I had replaced them with low fat yoghurts and fruit and energy bars. I was still fat and the hunger remained so I continued to eat!

    Now I listen in a different way. My body still says it doesn't want to eat but I ignore it and have breakfast, even if it is only a banana. I have lunch, maybe a sandwich or salad or fruit. I eat an evening meal and find that the constant feelings of hunger in the evening has become less.

    I, in effect, retrained, or am in the process of retraining, my body to rethink its messages. I started this change about a month ago and I am feeling a difference already. I could have continued to listen to my body and got no where. It wasn't the foods that I was eating; it was the wrong messages my body was giving.

    Now, I'm off for that chocolate biscuit. Only kidding!

  • sardelsa
    sardelsa Posts: 9,812 Member
    And that's the point -- we just muddle along and make bad decisions, and that's why were are here.
    We eat an entire box of pasta, we have a 1500 calorie drink from Starbucks, a Happy meal, a box of pasta, day in and day out. Not because of miss reading our hunger cues.

    Beef, chicken, creamer, milk, cheese..

    Other people are here because they went through phases where they don't receive proper hunger cues which cause them to not eat enough and become underweight. So that happens too.
  • Commander_Keen
    Commander_Keen Posts: 1,179 Member
    mbaker566 wrote: »
    ceiswyn wrote: »
    Since every "body" is the same according to some
    When one's body says feed me do they choose the milkshake @1500 calories, or the 1500kal meal or do they choose, the 4/8/12 oz chicken/fish.

    "My body's signals are subtle (tiredness and indecision) and easily overlooked. My mind's signals are powerful and impossible to go against once established." Question , if you are already overweight, then you will always be overweight?

    Listening to what I thought were my body's signals resulted in my being morbidly obese for thirty years, yes. You know how I lost all that weight? By ignoring those signals. --- And you don't think you could have had the
    same result by making better food decisions?
    What I am saying, There are people who are hungry, they don't go for the 1500 kal meal, they go for
    cheese/fish/meat/ protein shake

    What I am saying is that this requires people to be able to accurately tell whether they're hungry and what they need. Many people can't.

    Hunger and need are two different thing... People don't need a Mcdonalds meal, they choose to eat it.

    "If I heard my body clearly, do you think I would binge eat" Again, why didn't you binge eat on fish/chicken/plain salad. Who fed the body the milkshake?. You heard your body correctly and clearly you choose something that was quick and easy and filled with calories and not something like celery. tuna, or something else.

    Why are you assuming that this had anything to do with signals from my body?

    Yes. from what you just said, Yes.
    "My mind's signals are powerful and impossible to go against once established"
    Your body stated it needed food. Your mind stated, let me eat an entire box of pasta.
    You choose to do that.

    ...and if my body actually did signal a genuine need for energy, why do you think it would be a good idea to give it things that provided almost none?

    Better to give that body - Plain salad w/chicken than a McDonald meal
    As everybody states, a carb is a carb no matter where it comes from,
    So if a person is hungry, allow them to have plain salad w/chicken than a McDonald meal.

    idk. i lost 20lb or so eating a mcchicken on a regular basis and fries and nuggets. sometimes the mcchicken has lower calories than some salads and the fat keeps me more satiated than the salad ever would

    Ahh.. So you listen to your body when you were hungry and you stopped when you body said so. -- Interesting.
  • Commander_Keen
    Commander_Keen Posts: 1,179 Member
    ceiswyn wrote: »
    @tinkerbellang83 - You can gain weight by over eating anything. But -- How much plain salad w/chicken would one have to consume to get over weight.
    " also don't seem to grasp that some people have a psychological struggle with hunger cues which means that logging is far more effective than listening to their body." Please choose to eat crap.
    show me one person who became overweight, because they had too many apples, or chicken, or fish. That they ate only 3200 Kal of, veggies and protien


    Its not the hunger cues thats the issue, its what you put in your body.

    Oh. You completely ignored everything I said in favour of your own unsupported prejudices after all.

    Well, OK then. You just carry on being wrong, if it makes you happy. And I'll just carry on being right, since it's made me thin :)

    And people lost weight by getting on the Keto diet and changing the food options that they ate. Are they wrong?
    Hmmmmm?



  • Commander_Keen
    Commander_Keen Posts: 1,179 Member
    mbaker566 wrote: »
    ceiswyn wrote: »
    Since every "body" is the same according to some
    When one's body says feed me do they choose the milkshake @1500 calories, or the 1500kal meal or do they choose, the 4/8/12 oz chicken/fish.

    "My body's signals are subtle (tiredness and indecision) and easily overlooked. My mind's signals are powerful and impossible to go against once established." Question , if you are already overweight, then you will always be overweight?

    Listening to what I thought were my body's signals resulted in my being morbidly obese for thirty years, yes. You know how I lost all that weight? By ignoring those signals. --- And you don't think you could have had the
    same result by making better food decisions?
    What I am saying, There are people who are hungry, they don't go for the 1500 kal meal, they go for
    cheese/fish/meat/ protein shake

    What I am saying is that this requires people to be able to accurately tell whether they're hungry and what they need. Many people can't.

    Hunger and need are two different thing... People don't need a Mcdonalds meal, they choose to eat it.

    "If I heard my body clearly, do you think I would binge eat" Again, why didn't you binge eat on fish/chicken/plain salad. Who fed the body the milkshake?. You heard your body correctly and clearly you choose something that was quick and easy and filled with calories and not something like celery. tuna, or something else.

    Why are you assuming that this had anything to do with signals from my body?

    Yes. from what you just said, Yes.
    "My mind's signals are powerful and impossible to go against once established"
    Your body stated it needed food. Your mind stated, let me eat an entire box of pasta.
    You choose to do that.

    ...and if my body actually did signal a genuine need for energy, why do you think it would be a good idea to give it things that provided almost none?

    Better to give that body - Plain salad w/chicken than a McDonald meal
    As everybody states, a carb is a carb no matter where it comes from,
    So if a person is hungry, allow them to have plain salad w/chicken than a McDonald meal.

    idk. i lost 20lb or so eating a mcchicken on a regular basis and fries and nuggets. sometimes the mcchicken has lower calories than some salads and the fat keeps me more satiated than the salad ever would

    Did you lose weight on that, or was it CICO type of diet? ....
  • Misskcm
    Misskcm Posts: 143 Member
    Hi! I Agree with a lot of what has been said. And congrats on the loss, that’s amazing!!
    Personally I listen to my body. There are days where I only eat around 800 calories but then eat 2000 a few days later. As long as your net calories consumed for the week are less than calories lost then you will lose weight.
    My average is probably 1300 cal per day.
  • ceiswyn
    ceiswyn Posts: 2,256 Member
    ceiswyn wrote: »
    @tinkerbellang83 - You can gain weight by over eating anything. But -- How much plain salad w/chicken would one have to consume to get over weight.
    " also don't seem to grasp that some people have a psychological struggle with hunger cues which means that logging is far more effective than listening to their body." Please choose to eat crap.
    show me one person who became overweight, because they had too many apples, or chicken, or fish. That they ate only 3200 Kal of, veggies and protien


    Its not the hunger cues thats the issue, its what you put in your body.

    Oh. You completely ignored everything I said in favour of your own unsupported prejudices after all.

    Well, OK then. You just carry on being wrong, if it makes you happy. And I'll just carry on being right, since it's made me thin :)

    And people lost weight by getting on the Keto diet and changing the food options that they ate. Are they wrong?
    Hmmmmm?

    Sorry, did you mean this as a reply to me? It doesn't seem to have anything to do with anything I've said.
  • diannethegeek
    diannethegeek Posts: 14,776 Member
    WinoGelato wrote: »
    Yes you should eat them. MFP is a NEAT calculator meaning it calculates a calorie goal independent of any exercise you would do. If you don’t exercise at all, and eat at the calorie target MFP provides you should lose weight at the rate you selected over time. When you exercise you are meant to log and eat back those calories so that you NET 1200. In your scenario, if you burn 800 cals and eat 1200 you are netting 400 cals which is far too low.

    That said - a couple of points.

    Some people find the exercise calorie burn estimates to be inflated so they often start by eating back 50-75% and monitoring progress to ensure it’s accurate for them. In your case 800 is a lot - what sort of exercise are you doing and where did you get the number from?

    1200 is the lowest recommended calorie amount for women and most people don’t need to go that low in order to lose. What are your stats? How much weight are you trying to lose? What rate of loss did you choose?

    Read the stickied most helpful forum posts at the top of the getting started section they have a wealth of information.

    Thank you for replying .
    I started my weightloss journey last year and so I've lost 6 1/2 stone (87 lbs) I did this by going to the gym 6 days a week and eating low fat food/cutting rubbish out.

    My weightloss has slowed down now (I knew it would) so I've decided to calorie count. I've put my stats into MFP and they've said 1200 cals a day. I go to the gym 4 days a week now and burn approx 750-900 calories. I have a active job and walk a few miles a day

    So, following your advice, I need to up my calories on the days I go to the gym?

    Thank you again for your reply, it's very much appreciated

    Emma

    I want to get back to the OP for a moment. I just want to be sure you've set your activity level on MFP properly because I was under the impression that it wouldn't set a calorie goal as low as 1200 if you have an active activity level? It might be worth double-checking your settings just to be sure.
  • Commander_Keen
    Commander_Keen Posts: 1,179 Member
    erickirb wrote: »

    48 cals extra/day above maintenance will lead to a 5lb weight gain per year... do that for 10 years that is 50lbs with only eating slightly more, it doesn't take crap food to add 48 cals to your day.

    You can gain wait from anything... provided you ate to your TDEE to a T.
    but show me one person, that gain 50lbs over 10 years from eating an apple, or chicken

  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,294 Member
    erickirb wrote: »

    48 cals extra/day above maintenance will lead to a 5lb weight gain per year... do that for 10 years that is 50lbs with only eating slightly more, it doesn't take crap food to add 48 cals to your day.

    You can gain wait from anything... provided you ate to your TDEE to a T.
    but show me one person, that gain 50lbs over 10 years from eating an apple, or chicken

    is that all you eat, apples and chicken? think most of us have a varied diet and for those that don't count calories, eating 48 cals of healthy food is easy to do. and with such a slow rate of gain, it can "sneak" up on you. or if you eat like you always did, but become slightly less active.
  • Commander_Keen
    Commander_Keen Posts: 1,179 Member
    edited May 2019
    "erickirb wrote: »

    is that all you eat, apples and chicken? think most of us have a varied diet and for those that don't count calories, eating 48 cals of healthy food is easy to do. and with such a slow rate of gain, it can "sneak" up on you. or if you eat like you always did, but become slightly less active.

    No, its an extreme example.

    I would love to meet a few people who is on this board that is here, because they ate too much protein, or veggies

    Can you also show me, a person who kept to their TDEE average via weekly or monthly. And what is the likeliness of that occurring.

  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,294 Member
    "erickirb wrote: »

    is that all you eat, apples and chicken? think most of us have a varied diet and for those that don't count calories, eating 48 cals of healthy food is easy to do. and with such a slow rate of gain, it can "sneak" up on you. or if you eat like you always did, but become slightly less active.

    No, its an extreme example.

    I would love to meet a few people who is on this board that is here, because they ate too much protein, or veggies

    Can you also show me, a person who kept to their TDEE average via weekly or monthly. And what is the likeliness of that occurring.

    I didn't say they keep tdee weekly/monthly, just for most people, they don't track calories, making it very easy to go over maintenance and gain weight over time