GauchoMark Member

I broke my leg a while back in a motorcycle wreck. Had to have 2 surgeries to fix it so I was pretty much sedentary for about 18 months. I still went to the gym and did upper body a couple times a week, but my goal was simply to retain muscle mass. You DO, however, get a lot of sympathy/pity while hobbling around at the…

what does "plant based diet" have to do with anything? Are you saying to eat more salad or are you saying to go vegetarian? Neither one will necessarily help the OP to reach her goal. However, while we are on the subject of diet, making sure you get enough protein is going to help you keep your muscle mass. This helps your…

Like @SciWhiz stated, you can't spot reduce. Lifting weights can make you look better/firmer, but can't make you smaller. If someone is actually going to take a tape to you, your only option is to lose fat. Granted, I'm a huge advocate for both cardio and strength training, so don't forget about those, but first and…

You absolutely can't outwork a "bad" diet, for the most part. If you aren't losing fat like you would like, you simply need to cut calories a little more. I can tell you from experience that you can stall your progress for an entire week in one day of overeating. Alcohol is also an easy way to stall your progress. With as…

There is no "piece" of equipment that will do everything. Those claiming to do so, are not going to work that well. Things like a Bowflex are OK for light use, but will only take you so far before you get frustrated with it. Not that a Bowflex or similar doesn't have its place - I wouldn't mind having one in my basement -…

^^^ This is your answer. If you are losing what you expect to lose without weighing, then what is the point? You just happen to be good at estimating. If you start to slow down unexpectedly or are losing weight faster than you should, then weighing is the FIRST thing you should do to try to troubleshoot.

If you are at 2lb/wk and have totally stalled, it is not because of your new BMR at your lower rate. So recalculating is a good idea but is not going to fix the problem. Were you losing 2lb/wk previously? Either you are eating too much or your weight measurement is wrong or a combination of things are causing you issues.…

Just another little bit of info on top of what everyone else said - Even after you put calories/nutrition back, you are probably going to continue to lose hair for a month or two. The damage is already done and hair grows slowly, so the affect will continue. Kind of like @rainbowbow experienced. So, don't give up on adding…

yeah, like the others have said, relax and come to terms that weight loss is a slow process. Your weight will fluctuate, so you will gain a lb or so eventually - no big deal. Stressing over this too much can actually acerbate the issue - look up cortisol. As for advice, If you are really nervous, go get an activity monitor…

You have a decent amount of calories to work with. If you have cut out junk food, you will probably see that you can actually eat a fair amount of food. As for getting through workouts on a deficit, the best thing you can do is eat something about 30-45 minutes before you go work out. I usually try to target something that…

maybe you need to go talk to a professional? I probably don't have that much I can offer as advice, but I will say that there will probably always be a part of my mind that is still fat. I've been at maintenance for about 4 years now. Most everyone I know think of me as the fit, healthy guy, but every once in a while, "fat…

As long as you do it the same every time, then it is fine. Plus, its not a contest, so cheating doesn't exist! Yes, you can do things to make yourself weigh more or less fairly drastically, but in your case, as long as you do the same thing every time, it doesn't matter.

One thing you didn't tell us is how much you weigh and how often you weigh. More specifically, for the past month that you have been carefully tracking, what did you weigh when you started and what do you weigh now? Ideally, you would weigh daily during that month so you can get a decent trend. Here is a problem - if you…

If I can't find something in MFP, I go to the USDA database and search https://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/search/list It is easier to find things because there are not any "community added" entries that are likely to be wrong. Then I grab the name and search for that here. Like for the French fries, I would search for "Fast…

oh, and for the record, "don't cheat" doesn't mean not having "bad" food. It means sticking to whatever plan YOU create.

Most of it sounds mental. Like @Chef_Barbell said, you just have to decide that you want to do this bad enough and are going to stick with it. Commit to it hardcore for one month - don't cheat - and it will be easier for the rest of your time. You are overweight because you have bad eating habits. You have to break those…

But even then, it isn't right. For example - a 20 min 5lb arm workout is a lot different than a 20 min squat workout. Smaller muscles, fewer muscle groups, different weight, etc. Intensity makes a HUGE difference in strength training. It just isn't really "safe" or conservative to eat back strength calories while trying to…

take some protein bars with you for travelling and breakfast. If your business trips are like mine, you can pretty much assume that any food that is provided or readily available is going to be carb and fat heavy. I usually just try to limit what I can, then eat my own food and/or go to my own restaurant afterwards.

The best bet is to not count strength training calories if you are trying to lose weight. There are a lot of variables if figuring out how many calories are burned while lifting weights, so there is not a really good, easy and accurate way to log it. I log mine, but I usually don't eat them back unless I'm just really…

It is normal for your weight to increase after a dessert - especially if you typically eat low carb. It is just water weight, though. Go back to your normal eating and your weight will return within a day or two.

I'm addicted! I'm half Brazilian so I've been requiring coffee in the morning since I was about 4! The coffee isn't too bad - you just have to watch the sugar and cream. As for breads, I eat a B-Up protein bar every morning with my coffee. It's a compromise, but they seem more like a bready pastry as far as texture and…

That is called measurement error. You won't get rid of it even if you by a $1000 scale - you can only reduce it. You reduce it by controlling the variables - which scale, time of the day, clothes/no clothes, routine, etc. You can to keep as many of the variables as you can the same for each time you weigh. At the end of…

So your 1500-1700 calories that you eat/day. Is that total calories or net that you are eating?

As for burning calories easy, walking is probably your best bet. Swimming is great, too. Rowing, jogging, elliptical, etc. For caloric burn, you just want to do an activity that you can do for a reasonable amount of time while keeping your heart rate up, like 30-60 minutes.

Depends on which activity level he chose. Light Exercise (1-3 hours/wk of exercise; 1.375 multiplier) gives a TDEE of 3319 calories. 2 lbs/wk target loss would set calories at 2319. Its in the ballpark anyways.

nope. For you to maintain 300 lbs is going to be 3k+ calories, so sounds about right.

It sounds like you are doing it right. If you are using an activity monitor and have negative adjustments enabled, then it doesn't matter what activity level you choose - it will adjust it up or down to match the measured activity. That said, you can eat until your "Calories Remaining" is zero, but don't forcefeed yourself…

not very many. Unless you put it into a circuit and do it for a while. It is an intense exercise that is hard to do for very long, but works well in a HIIT circuit. Even then, figuring out the calorie burn is tough.

It is high in Medium Chain Triglycerides (MCT's). It is supposedly a healthier fat, like Olive Oil or Fish Oil. The way I look at it is if I am eating fat, I try to replace unhealthy fats with healthy ones - why not, right? However, it is still fat, has a lot of calories, and is not some miracle that will make you lose…

The 1200 and 1500 calorie rules of thumb are just that - rules of thumb. They have absolutely NOTHING to do with starvation or decreased metabolism. Rather, they come from a nutritional standpoint. It is difficult for the average person to meet proper protein and fat intake on diets lower than that. However, it can be done…