caurinus Member

Sort of. This guy lost 11 pounds in a month eating only junk food (donuts, candy, crackers, etc) for 30 days, just to prove a point: http://www.bonappetit.com/entertaining-style/trends-news/article/junk-food-diet-jeff-wilser But he has more willpower than I do, I think. I couldn't eat such a small volume of food, notice he…

If done correctly, yes, it's very sustainable. But you have to set a reasonable calorie target -- some people get impatient and try to lose weight too fast to be sustainable for them. I find it's also helps to track carbs, protein, fat, and fiber. That way I know I'm getting enough of all the macro nutrients and the fiber…

I shelled out $50 for the year but I wouldn't do it again. I don't really use any of the premium features, and I don't mind seeing the ads. I might do it for $12 or $15 per year if they add some new premium feature that I really really want, but as of now I'm feeling a little burned. So when my premium subscription runs…

(replying to my last post) note that this is a wild guess without knowing OPs current height or weight. Also, full disclosure: I'm doing 40%P / 40%C / 20%F and losing 1.8 lbs per week with very few cravings.

You're right, the 1200 calorie goal is probably too aggressive for a goal weight of 150 pounds. I'd probably go with 1400 or 1500. But 40% protein and 30% fat is fine. That's not even low fat. I do better with 20% of calories from fat, and that gives me more calories to spend on fibrous fruits and vegetables. Lean proteins…

Lots and lots of chicken and fish. Beef is pretty fatty, even the lean cuts, so I limit beef to a meal or two per week. Whey isolate shakes with lowfat or nonfat milk (the isolate is more expensive, but isn't so chalky and has a lot less lactose). I have one of these with about 50-60 grams of protein for breakfast every…

What he said. You're not losing muscle. You lost a few pounds of water weight in addition to the fat you've lost. Everyone drops a few pounds of water when first restricting calories, as the body's stored glycogen reserves are reduced. Then when you go back to maintenance calories, you'll put on 5 pounds of water weight in…

Consistency builds consistency. You have to be more disciplined on those 4000 calorie days, or you're not going to make progress towards your goals. Honestly, I do go over my goals when I'm hanging out with friends and family, but I try to keep it within 100-200 calories of my maintenance calories so the extra doesn't get…

I count em because I want to see that number for fiber go up. I'm aiming for high fiber and high protein (because they're filling), while getting as close as possible to my calorie goals.

I don't focus on eating less bread (and butter, and nuts, and other items that are not-so-filling per calorie). Instead I focus on eating more lean proteins and green vegetables. Those are very filling per calorie, so I'm less tempted to overeat. I will eat bread, if I'm not over my carb budget for the day (170g), but I'll…

Kind of weird they didn't include any green vegetables in that study. I agree, but there are going to be some things that are universal -- lean proteins and fiber are filling for physical reasons -- protein stimulates hormonal release that reduces appetite and slows movement through the small intestine. Fiber is bulky and…

Most people are sedentary, and spend a lot of the day sitting. For you, I'd say go with lightly active. You are on your feet for a good part of the day, doing a lot of walking around. You're not digging ditches or carrying bags of cement all day, but you're moving around a lot.

I'm curious where you get those satiety ratings, do you have a link? Personally I find lean proteins and fibrous vegetables the only things that have really high general satiety per calorie, for me. Bread and potatoes can be satisfying, especially after exercise or if I haven't eaten carbs recently, but if I'm not…

Finding the right running shoes for you is huge. Nikes tend to run a little narrow, you might try Asics. Or, ideally, if you live near a big city you can probably find a local store dedicated to running shoes, where they will measure your feet and analyze your stride, and recommend a good shoe for you.

These are pretty arbitrary. Ideal targets depend very much on height and lean body mass.

You can't take flabby fat tissue and turn it into muscle. It will just sit on top of the muscle. You just need to burn the fat off. :smile: Set your total calorie target at TDEE minus 30%. Divide those calories up into 20% of calories from fat (at 9 calories per gram), 40% protein (4 calories per gram), and 40% carbs (also…

By the way, I know Powerade also has electrolytes, but I was operating under the assumption that it was low blood sugar that was the problem since the symptoms exactly matched low blood sugar. Later I always kept an emergency apple or a snack pack of Skittles in my gym bag in case it happened again, and in each case, a…

I would feel dizzy after a workout and unable to safely drive myself home from the gym. The gym personnel recommended Powerade, which I purchased from them, and it provided instant relief from the low blood sugar. This went on for six weeks before I finally said "to hell with this BS" and went back to a diet that was…

I agree, I got the same results. A good weight loss target for a 5'0" woman at 146 lbs is 1100-1200 calories per day. If you want to accelerate your fat loss, I would try these things, in the order listed: 1) Track your cheat meal calories and make sure they don't put you more than about 100 calories over your maintenance…

Check out stronglifts 5x5 for a good, free, whole body beginner lifting program that will get you real results rather than just a muscle imbalance.

Low carbs, vs. even lower carbs. I tried Paleo for about six weeks. I found intense exercise to be exhausting, and even when just working at my desk job I felt dull and easily distracted. So I'm never even going to try straight Keto. Neither works for me, I need carbs for physical and mental performance. John Jackson:…

It doesn't really matter whether the source is vegan or meat, but you need protein! If you're restricting calories, you'll lose muscle if you're not getting enough protein (a safe minimum is around 0.8g per pound of goal body weight). If you're doing resistance training, especially if you're new to resistance training and…

Check out https://www.reddit.com/r/Fitness/wiki/index

You can also trigger them with a refeed day, where you eat mostly carbs all day and stop at your TDEE/maintenance calories, or just a little over. Some people do this every week, or every two weeks. I was trying to do a refeed this past Sunday but ended up drinking a bunch of wine and went way over my calorie target, so…

CICO isn't a diet. It's the (very well-supported) idea that if you're eating less calories than you're burning, you'll lose weight, which is true for any diet you're losing weight on, low carb, high carb, or whatever. Were you tracking your activity, and how many calories you ate, when you were doing a low carb diet? If…

It depends how big you are. If you're a small female, 2 pounds a week is going to be too aggressive. I'm a medium-large guy. My TDEE is about 2500 calories, and I get irritable if I'm targeting 2 pounds a week, so I'm aiming for 1.5 pounds per week and doing pretty well. I read in one of Tom Venuto's books that your…

My last post implies Paleo restricts fruit completely, as it does with dairy, pickles, and legumes. I know it doesn't, fruit is OK in moderation according to the Paleo guidelines. My point is that fibrous carbs like fruit are really good for you, and as long as you're tracking what you eat, and eating within your calorie…

To get back to the topic.... Things I like about Paleo: Lots of veggies and protein, which are very filling, very nutritious, and should probably be the source of most of the calories everyone eats in a day. Restricting trans fats and fruit juices. Trans fats are really bad for you. Juicing takes the fiber out of the…

"having a really hard time meeting my daily calories" This is a little confusing, because I think some people are taking it like "2000 calories is more than I want to eat," and other people are taking it like "2000 calories is less than I want to eat." If you have lost 15 pounds in two months, don't change anything. That's…

I wouldn't start looking for problems or to change anything until your plateau stretches on for about two weeks. After that, start looking at what might be going wrong. Losing the water weight is a good sign, it means your body's glycogen stores were being depleted, which is normal at the start of calorie restriction. If…