richardgavel Member

In truth, if you care about macros, generally the idea is "figure out minimum protein and fat grams" then fill in the rest with carbs (or some extra fat/protein depending on your food choices. But the first two macros drive the third.

Covid helped me as well. Trying to avoid cabin fever got me to go outside for walks, which turned into more walks and longer walks. Lockdown meant greatly reduced eating out. Just make little changes to get good habits back.

Never expected to see a reference between the Smiths and the Grabowskis in an MFP forum (it's a Chicago thing) 😆

You're right about 1200 being pretty low. MFP I think doesn't even allow a goal calorie count below it. How sure are you that you are ingesting 1200 and not more (how are you measuring servings)?

I assume you are choosing to stop walking to try and reduce the amount of calories burned and let more of them go to weight increases? How many calories are you taking in on the average day?

That's not a blanket statement. Building muscle in a deficit is based on having sufficient fat stores to pull from. For someone at the low end of BMI that might not be the case. In general, lifting during a deficit is primarily about preservation of existing lean mass with maybe a chance of building new lean mass if done…

I know how you feel, but I tend to think of it as not being satisfied with my body.

To be honest, my motivation for losing fat and building some muscle isnt much more than vanity, wanting to look better physically. Or the competitive aspect of performance in a running race or triathlon. In my brain, I know it will result in me living a longer, healthier life. But I also don't rely on motivation on a day…

You can do it one of two ways: adjust the profile and don't log the exercise, which is probably less precise. Or you can leave it and log your deliberate exercise. The second won't change the goal because MFP doesn't know your burn until you enter it, it will impact the calories remaining.

I would say I trust myself per se, but I trust the habits and routines I've constantly reinforced and learned the triggers that help me get back on them quickly when I falter.

For myself, stronglifts 5x5. Psychologically, I enjoy the raw barbell work over machines. And it's a very straightforward workout, easy to measure progress. Granted, being a novice, I'm sure I would progress given almost any weight training workout.

Let's assume that study is true. In your words you referred to "excess protein". That nessitates a baseline amount (excess compared to what?) I tend to follow the advice of roughly .8-1.2 g per lb of body weight. This is to help reduce the amount of weight loss that is lean mass instead of fat, and to help in potentially…

At some point, if your eating and exercise levels are fairly consistent week to week, you want to make adjustments based on your own prior history as opposed to theoretical calculators. Food scales, heart rate monitors, etc will make your measurements more precise and help figure out the why, but in the end, if current…

I remember back in about the 8th grade, McDonald's had introduced the double cheeseburger as a temporary item. Now you can get Double Quarter Pounders, Fuddruckers will sell 3/4 lb burgers, Super size was a thing until recently. And truthfully I don't blame the food producers, I more blame a lack of self control on the…

I reread your post and I didn't see anything shaming in it. Maybe some harsh realities that might exist depending on the severity of the weight, but not insulting.

If you want a sense of calorie differences in your base burn that's reflective of muscle vs fat, check out tdeecalculator.net. It includes a field that will take into account body fat percentage when calculating appropriate calorie levels.

Based on your current weight and your desire for progress on your lifting, I would highly recommend upping your protein as your method to increase calories before trying stuff like higher fat/carb items. Recommendations I've seen range from .7 g up to 1.0 g per lb of body weight.

All reasonable, but those are mostly traits that you have to discover over time about a person. The debate the OP brought up was more about initial impressions than longer term ones.

On the notion of "only your race or culture" or however it's worded, I see those a distinct. Race is something that is purely physical, it says nothing about who you are as a person. I don't know if I can say the same about culture. I think that does have a big influence. I'm not saying I would never be compatible with…

I usually gain or am stuck at maintenance in winter because my cardio activity goes down, less walking and no cycling outdoors.

It helped me that I still had all my old dress shirts from when I was at my ideal weight. I kinda use one as a tangible gauge of where I'm at.

Chicken and/or ground beef Frozen french fries (my vice but I bake them) Milk

This is why I've always seen the primary purpose of CICO is forming new habits. Because the more ingrained the habits are, the less likely anything will interrupt them more than momentarily. I've had unexplained water spikes, cheat meals, and just bad days, and they do piss me off. But I know from experience that my trend…

To me a cheat meal means it has to be against the plan and take me above maintenance for the day. If it's a day that I'm running 4-5 miles and I have a slice of cake that fits within the above average burn, it's in the plan. If I eat lighter in the day to compensate, it's in the plan. Even if it's unplanned, but the…

I'll answer if this way, do you think the people you see on My 600 lb life are that weight because their bodies think they should be that weight or could something else be involved?

I admire your goals, but I wonder if.its too much. As a long time triathlete, I've found that endurance goals and strength training goals often don't mix very well. Often, you have to be willing to compromise progress in one for progress in the other.

What specifically started this round of loss? Ironically it was Covid. The need to avoid cabin fever got me walking on a daily basis and one walk turned into two turned into longer walks and tracking calories again.

I've found that once you get somewhere in the ranges suggested by BMI, it becomes less about the absolute number and more about BF % and body composition as your target. Adjusting your weight is a path to that goal, as opposed to the actual goal itself.

Throw in sweet and you got me. Chocolate covered pretzels are sooo tempting to me.

Considering we are all about building habits that need to last a lifetime, it's not about never having one bad day. That's just not going to be posible. It's about making sure one bad day doesn't impact the next day and the next day. And that's where habit forming comes in, because motivation rarely exists 24x7x365.