Ok.. I need your guys help. I am having the worst trouble getting a handle on this. I hear that I am not eating enough calories in order to lose weight. I have heard people mention this before and mention the RMR and other calculations... According to those .. its right. I'm not eating enough calories..

I am having a difficult time getting used to the idea of eating more... my mind registers "Lose weight, cut calories". I know i have heard the reasons why but can you guys mention them again? Let me know exactly why i need more calories than 1500 a day?

Maybe if I hear it more I can get used to the idea..

Thanks,

- Michelle -

From an earlier post.

From a dieting perspective, it appears that many of you are consuming an almost shockingly insufficient amount of calories. So few, in fact, it's a wonder to me how some of you people can operate on a daily basis.

When you limit yourself to 1,000, 1,200, 1,600 calories per day or whatever the number is, you have to realize your doing yourself a great disservice. Whether you exercise or not, your body burns calories for it to perform the basic daily functions that keep you alive. For those of you aware of what I’m talking about, I’m referring to your metabolism or, more specifically, your basal metabolic rate.

For all of you calorie counters out there, you must include your basal metabolic rate (which is the amount of calories your body needs to burn every day to maintain and sustain function) in your daily calorie calculations. If your basal metabolic rate is, say, 1,600 calories and you only consume 1,200 and burn off 400 through exercise, this leaves you with a calorie deficit of 800 calories.

If you think this sounds like a great diet to alleviate your weight problems, you are dead wrong. If your daily caloric intake is consistently in the red you will slowdown your basal metabolic rate, which in turn will make your body burn less calories at rest and therefore make it even harder for you to lose weight. In essence, you decrease your body's natural fat-burning efficiency.

In order to maintain long-term weight loss, you must eat enough calories to keep your basal metabolic rate up, even WITH exercise. The goal here is to get your body to be a more efficient fat burner, and the only way to do that is to feed it properly and torture it in the gym. Not to sound too cliché here, but the adage “No Pain, No Gain” definitely has its merits.

Every time you step into a gym or onto a piece of exercise equipment, you should go into it fully-knowing that the torture you’re about to put your body through will be not be fun. Any feelings of levity that you may have before you start exercising should be crushed the moment you perform your first rep or run your first mile. Quality, body shape-altering exercise can only be achieved through sheer effort and HIGH intensity. THIS should be your goal every time you step into a gym or onto a piece of exercise equipment. If it’s not, then enjoy the status quo.

You literally need to teach your muscles to burn more calories. And they only way you can teach them is by beating the crap out of them on a daily basis. If you tear your muscles apart and feed them enough quality foods to fix and rebuild themselves, they will respond by giving you a greater ability to burn calories. You should want your weight loss to be a result of better muscular function than through an inane attempt at what is, for all intents and purposes, starvation.

Thanks for the information! I really need to work on this I can tell.

Linaeve,
Use your hunger to determine if you're not eating enough. If you truly are starving yourself, your body will let you know.

I eat about 1200 calories a day since the New Year. I have lost 15 lbs so far, and have gained about 5 lbs of muscle, give or take (average of several body fat calculators). If I were starving myself, I would be losing muscle, not gaining it! I weigh 192 lbs as of this morning.

BMR calculators suggest I should eat 1800 calories to lose weight, and 2500 to maintain my weight. Baloney! Calculators are guidelines - your metabolism, and the TYPE of metabolism (fat vs. carbohydrates) determine your BMR, and everyone is different. If you're primarily burning fats for energy as I am with my metabolism, you don't need as many calories since fat burning is more efficient (more net energy produced, less energy consumed in converting fat to energy), and therefore less total calories are needed. Those calculators don't work for me since they're based off of metabolism that primarily burn carbohydrates (less efficient process = more energy needed to produced same amount of usable energy.)

So - get your tape measure, get your scale. See how much weight you've lost, see how many inches you've lost. Are you losing body fat? Are you losing muscle? If you're not losing muscle, you're doing great. Keep up the good work - your calorie intake is fine.

I agree with Angie.

When I eat as many calories as the calculations say, I gain weight, and gain it fast.

Haha Dave, that is the best cartoon EVER. I've got to keep a copy of that around.

lol.

Seriously though. For some people those calculations just don't work.

LOL ... So.. Dave.. Who do you agree with then?

Thanks you guys for all the tips.. its hard to figure out. I am really worried that if I eat too many that I will gain weight. As of right now I am working out and eating right (or so I thought) and I haven't lost...

So i'm not sure what I am doing wrong...

What are your measurements doing? Shrinking, increasing, or staying the same? Use your measurements to keep track of your body fat - that should be your primary gauge in determining if your weight loss strategy is working.

oh boy, here we go

FWIW, I eat around 2300 calories... if I just do weight training, I stay about the same weight, or lose .75lbs/week. If I add cardio 2-4X/week, I lose 2lbs/week. When I get to around 225lbs, I will probably eat even more as I will be going to primarily weight training for about 2 months...

I would *never* risk not eating enough, as that causes the body to conserve fat and get rid of muscle. Because of the way your body creates energy, it's somewhat unlikely you could ever train your body to burn fat primarily for energy, no matter what doctor says you can... There is no scientific proof for this, and no significant amount of anecdotal evidence.

You can, however, trick your body into thinking it's not hungry by eating higher amounts of fiber.

Your body primarily burns fat for fuel as long as you're below50% VO2 max. :-D

I'm burning fat right now, at my desk - just not a whole lot of it.

If you don't primarily burn fat for energy, how on earth do you lose body fat in the first place?

Unfortunatly I haven't measured. I'll do that tonight and start keeping track... BUT... my clothes fit the same, don't seem to be tighter or looser... So I don't know that there has been much change...

So for a compromise here. I will try to up my caloric intake to 1800 a day. I will start measuring instead of just weighing and I will increase my cardio a little just to make me feel better about the situation...

Any additional tip? I could use all the advice and tips I can get right now...

(oh on a plus note my fiance just told me that he wants to join the gym i go to and start going with me! Yay for more motivation!)

Absolutely correct! I mean during exercise, and I am retarded today... Fat is what your body uses all the time to keep things going

What I mean to say is that you can't really alter the way chemical reactions work in your body - they work a certain way because that's the only way they can work. (peep the Kreb's cycle and glycolysis for background).

I would prefer to not get into a discussion of the efficacy of fats or carbs (that thread already exists, and it was fun ), and just say that if I have any recommendation, it is to err on the side of eating too much and work a little harder in the gym.

Thanks Dave, Thanks everyone! You have really helped me. I am eager and trying to get in a new mind set for this life change for me. Time for me to think healthy and not just "Try to get" healthy!

Dave, agreed. I'm right, and I just haven't convinced you yet.

I think this is a pretty interesting article about the Thermal effect of foods, though I wouldn't put too much faith in the concept of 'negative-calorie' foods (it is a misnomer). Anyone that says those words together just sounds stupid

Like others have said, the most important this to do is to be able to measure results. The scale is probably the least effective way to do this.

You need to find something that works for you. Than involves experimentation, recording results, and modifying based on those results. Otherwise your just guessing. The great thing is after you put in a good amount of time measuring, recording, and modifying, you get really good at eyeballing it. If you start slipping, start nailing down the variables again.

It's the same reason I'm trying the Warrior Diet for 30 days. I read the book and it made some interesting points about how the human body evolved to process foods. The Warrior Diet advises 1 meal a day, in the evening. That flies in the face of the 5-6 meals per day majority. But what the hell, I'm not recommending it to people and I want to know for myself how it works/doesn't work for me. That's the key.

I third measuring!

I just lost 4-5 lbs in about two weeks. Body fat % down to 15.5% from 18%. I'm eating roughly 2,500kCal a day, but getting 400 to 600 kCal lost in exercise. Next week when I up my exercise, I'll start allowing myself cheat meals again.

You have to measure, and you have to give it time. 2 to 4 weeks should be enough to evaluate your program's effectiveness.

On a side note, if you're satisfied eating what you're eating now then this is an excellent opportunity to fill that calorie gap with something geared exclusively towards building muscle, like soy or whey protein powder or plain chicken breasts / tuna in water. You could look like ChickenTuna!

.... No offence but i just looked at "ChickenTuna" and I hope I never look like her.. she looks hideous to me... ewww.... That does not seem like a healthy image to try and get people to strive for.

My hubby says she needs to pull her panties up, hahahahaha.

I'm not into the chickentuna lady either.

Everybody is going to be different in how many calories they can consume and still see steady progress.

But if it helps... I'm 50 years old, 225 pounds, 5'7" and have some injuries, so my exercise is primarily in the pool with a little Nordic Track skiing and a bit of bodyweight resistance training. Nevertheless, I put my all into what I can do.

I eat around 2000-2100 calories average per day. That's an average, because actually, on heavy workout days, I often eat around 2300-2400 cals. On lesser workout days, more like 1800-1900 calories and on rest days, 1600-1700 calories.

My progress is not particularly speedy, but I am losing.

If you are going to up your calorie intake, I suggest doing it gradually. Add a couple hundred calories a day for a couple of weeks, take measurements, see how you are doing with that.

I'm with the mouse, ChickenTuna has a great body! I'd prefer that over where I am now ;) I've never pictured my "goal" body as a smaller version of myself, I've pictured muscles, definition and a six-pack. I have to say too, her blog is freaking hilarious, no matter how sporadic it is.

I'm with Angie on the calories and calculators; every person has their own body type and metabolism. ONE calculator can't be right for all of them.

Whoa, Chickentuna scared me.

What the hell kinda bodyfat % is that? (Too low for my sexy-o-meter in any case! ; ).

And those implants are just---not doin' it for me, not that they ever do, WHY must so many women go overboard with those damn things?

There's fit and there's fanatical, IMNSHO...

Chicken Tuna actually didn't look so bad when she wasn't "posing". I looked through all the pictures, and she had a couple of comparo pics of when she was relaxed vs. when she was clenching muscles to make them pop out. In the relaxed pics she looks much better, and even (gasp!) feminine. At any rate, like my hubby said, she needs to pull up the underwear, hahaha, that was bugging the hell out of me.

I agree, fake boobs are a huge turn off. I'm a C cup and I wish they were smaller.. damn things are always in the way! I couldn't imagine getting implants.

So, does it matter where the calories come from?

Are there good calories and bad calories?

By that I mean a small bag of chips vs. a bananna or something a little more healthy?

I know that's probably a dumb question but I wanna know so don't throw things at me *LOL*

Yes! You should buy a book or do some research online. There are tons and tons of sources that will explain good and bad carbs, fats, and proteins.

Some rules to live by:
1) Eat as much fiber as you can - it keeps you feeling fuller longer. Vegetables are the best source, followed by most fruits, followed by whole grains (a very distant third).
2) Learn to read nutrition labels. Fiber doesn't contribute calories since it can't be digested by us humans; however, some nutrition labels will count fiber towards the calorie count. There are 4 calories per gram of protein and carbohydrates, and 9 calories per gram of fat.
3) Avoid saturated fats. Keep overall fat intake low (about 30% of total caloric intake), but make those fats "good" fats. Monounsaturated is the best, followed by polyunsatured. Avoid Trans Fats (which is manmade, usually found in margarine or anything with "hydrogentated" anything in the ingredients list). Also learn about Omega 3 fats and try to increase your intake. Fish is rich in Omega 3 fats.
4) Lean meats! Avoid fatty protein, as they are usually rich in saturated, bad-for-you fats. Salmon is a notable exception (and could still be considered fairly lean)
5) Learn about the glycemic load of carbohydrates and their effect on your insulin levels. This education will help steer you in the right direction for your carbohydrate choices.

Haha! No one is going to throw anything at you!

I think your common sense had already told you the answer to this. Yes of course a banana is a lot better for you than a small bag of chips. A banana provides all kinds of nutrients, good carbs, fiber, and potassium - while a bag of chips provides grease, processed nasty carbs, and more grease.

There are people who say, it doesn't matter where the calories come from as long as you burn more than you eat, you will lose weight, which is true, BUT you probably aren't going to feel very good or be healthy if you eat cheesecake and potato chips all the time. Your body needs the good nutrients to fuel those intense workouts or even just day to day living.