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Author: fidget54
Date: 01-17-03 17:52
I was just wondering if not getting enough calories can cause you to gain weight. I know that's a weird question, but I keep reading on this site that if you don't get enough calories it can make your body hold onto fat. I was just wondering because I'm still going through that plateau. It feels like I've been stuck in between 173 and 175 for ever. I'm getting about 800 - 1,000 calories per day (not counting my birthday ~_^ lol) according to fitday.com, and I've been doing toning exercises such as sit-ups, pushups, and arm excursive w/ 5lb. weights. I also usually get on the treadmill about 3 times a week for 20 min., but I haven't been able too this week because I pulled a muscle in my leg. Here's an example of a regular day's worth of eating for me taken from fitday.
Breakfast:
2 cups of coffee with French vanilla coffee creamer - 44 cals.
1 Multivitamin
1 medium banana - 109 cals.
Lunch:
7 oz. 2% Milk - 106 cals.
1 bowl of Campbell's Select: Italian-Style Wedding Meatballs & Spinach in Chicken Broth - 240 cals.
1 medium muffin - 162 cals.
Snack:
2 pieces of Trident sugarless gum - 10 cals.
Dinner:
1 Healthy Choice meal, Slow Roasted Turkey Breast & Mashed Potatoes - 200 cals.
Total Calories: 871
I keep my calorie count that low because I'm not a very active person. Other than my regular exercise, I don't really move around that much. I'm taking a video home schooling course, and I work for my parent's online business, so I'm literally sitting in front of a TV or computer all day long. I haven't really changed anything in my diet since I started this in July, so I'm a little confused as to how my weight loss went from about 10lbs. a month to barley any at all. Am I doing something wrong that is causing me to not loose weight anymore?
~~fidget_54~~
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Author: AnonGuy
Date: 01-17-03 18:28
You can't gain weight from eating to little. However you can HALT weight loss if you do not eat enough calories. Our bodies think they are falling into starvation so they hold onto every bit of fat possible. They don't know our good intentions. (haha if they only did). I suggest increasing your calorie intake. I gurantee you won't GAIN weight unless you go over 1700 calories for your weight and height and even at that you'd be maintaining your current weight. Increase your calorie intake, make sure you have enough vitamins in your diet (take multivitam if you can). Try to increase your excercise. Small things like taking the stairs instead of the elevator or walking to the store instead of driving. It all adds up over time.
Good work so far, keep it up. Don't give up.
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Author: GoingDown
Date: 01-17-03 18:59
Yea your body has been getting the idea of "wait a minute this girl is starving us"...I definitly would add a nutritious snack instead of the sugarless gum...I wouldn`t even count the gum as part of the food. I mean you can count the calories from it but don`t say you`ve eating something if you chew gum....Why don`t you go on the main page and figure out what your calorie intake for your height and weight should be for you to maintain and then take off 500 calories to lose 1 lb a week....At 169lbs I know that for my metabolism to work properly I need around 1300-1500 calories a day because of what I burn in my work outs and when I plateau or just maintain I know I haven`t been eating enough....Hope this helps..G
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Author: Doug
Date: 01-18-03 00:00
Yes... all weight loss specialist will tell you that it is better to eat 6 small meals a day than 2 big ones. When you severely hungry your metabolism will drop and you will hit a plateau.
For more help go to:
www.herbalhealth4all.com/weightloss.htm
Doug
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Author: miranda
Date: 01-19-03 07:59
I'm going to jump in here with a dissenting opinion. Based on what my doctor has told me, and my experience and the experience of other people I know, I no longer believe in "starvation mode;" instead, it's been my experience that plateaus are caused by total long-term calories creeping up, total long-term exercise creeping down, and/or decreasing body weight--you burn fewer calories the less you weigh. If the changes have been gradual, you don't always notice them. I'd take a close look at how much you've been eating on days that aren't typical and how much exercise you've been getting. Also, if you've only been stuck for a couple weeks, that could just be a natural water weight fluctuation, not really a plateau. Just another opinion.
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Author: Doug 272/160/165
Date: 04-18-03 17:27
Those of you who have read posts from "Pat" have probably seen his advice about how important it is to "optimize your metabolism" instead of counting calories.
What you may not know is he is running a website which coincidentally happens to sell expensive herbal concoctions that claim to "optimize your metabolism".
Please hold this in mind before you take his advice about "optimizing our metabolism" instead of watching what you eat.
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Author: Doug 272/160/165
Date: 04-23-03 17:09
It depends on how you define dehydrated.
There are 2 different factors involved. The first is how much water your body can hold, kind of like measuring the capacity of a gas tank in gallons. The second is what percentage of that capacity is being used.
If you define dehydration using just the second factor it is impossible to become dehydrated if you are drinking a lot of water. If you include the first factor you can become dehydrated even though you are drinking plenty of fluids. I have always heard that drinking too much coffee or alcohol causes dehydration so I think the definition of dehydrated includes both factors
The first factor can be influenced by a number of things. Caffeine and other diuretics will reduce the amount of water your body holds. Salt will increase it. I have heard a lot of people in this group say that drinking a lot of water will also reduce the amount of water your body retains.
When you go on a crash diet or fast your body will tap into its glycogen before it resorts to cannibalizing muscle tissue for energy. Glycogen is stored with a lot of water so when you use it for fuel it will greatly reduce the amount of water your body can hold. No matter how much water you drink you cannot exceed the amount of water your body wants to hold, the excess just passes through you. So even if you are drinking plenty of water the result is that most of the weight lost is water and this weight will come back as soon as your body gets a chance to replace the glycogen it used while you were fasting or on a crash/liquid diet. I found this article that explains this in more detail.
I always heard that most body builders avoid the sort of diet you were on since they cause muscle loss. I doubt you could do much if any damage in a day or two of such a diet though. If you are convinced the weight you gained is all water you might want to address it directly by using some sort of diuretic. I saw a thread about using vitamin B6 for this purpose, it sounds like that may have fewer undesirable side effects.
But if it was all water retention caused by Creatine the best thing to do would be to wait a week or two without taking any vitamins or supplements and see what your weight does. Any new variable like taking a diuretic will make it impossible to tell if the extra weight was just water or new fat.
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Author: Doug 272/158/165
Date: 05-14-03 05:57
Your body always operates as efficiently as possible, it will not wait for a diet to start using as few calories as possible. Lots of people lose weight by diet alone. While I do a lot of cardio and some weight lifting I have found that losing weight is about 80% diet, particularly if you are seriously overweight.
How many calories you burn is more determined by your weight than any other variable. As you lose weight your body will burn fewer calories each day, regardless of whether you work out or not. As you lose weight you will have to keep eating less and less if you want to keep losing at the same rate. Weight lifting is not going to change this significantly.
If you look for real medical studies you will see that most people that actually measured the difference have found that a pound of muscle burns about 3 –6 more Calories each day than a pound of fat. The 50 – 100 number is usually found on sites promoting gym equipment and exercise plans, I have never found a study to back this claim up. I have added a significant amount of muscle in the year I have been lifting weights while maintaining my weight and seen no noticeable increase in the number of Calories I can eat each day without gaining weight. I am sure there is a difference but it has been too small to notice.
I do think weight lifting is beneficial but do not expect miracles. If I did not think it was worthwhile I would not being doing it myself. This article is in health club newsletter but seemed pretty unbiased when it comes to the effects of resistance training on weight loss.
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Author: Doug 272/158/165
Date: 05-14-03 05:59
Your body always operates as efficiently as possible, it will not wait for a diet to start using as few calories as possible. Lots of people lose weight by diet alone. While I do a lot of cardio and some weight lifting I have found that losing weight is about 80% diet, particularly if you are seriously overweight.
How many calories you burn is more determined by your weight than any other variable. As you lose weight your body will burn fewer calories each day, regardless of whether you work out or not. As you lose weight you will have to keep eating less and less if you want to keep losing at the same rate. Weight lifting is not going to change this significantly.
If you look for real medical studies you will see that most people that actually measured the difference have found that a pound of muscle burns about 3 –6 more Calories each day than a pound of fat. The 50 – 100 number is usually found on sites promoting gym equipment and exercise plans, I have never found a study to back this claim up. I have added a significant amount of muscle in the year I have been lifting weights while maintaining my weight and seen no noticeable increase in the number of Calories I can eat each day without gaining weight. I am sure there is a difference but it has been too small to notice.
I do think weight lifting is beneficial but do not expect miracles. If I did not think it was worthwhile I would not being doing it myself. This article is in health club newsletter but seemed pretty unbiased when it comes to the effects of resistance training on weight loss.
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Author: Doug 272/158/165
Date: 05-14-03 06:00
Your body always operates as efficiently as possible, it will not wait for a diet to start using as few calories as possible. Lots of people lose weight by diet alone. While I do a lot of cardio and some weight lifting I have found that losing weight is about 80% diet, particularly if you are seriously overweight.
How many calories you burn is more determined by your weight than any other variable. As you lose weight your body will burn fewer calories each day, regardless of whether you work out or not. As you lose weight you will have to keep eating less and less if you want to keep losing at the same rate. Weight lifting is not going to change this significantly.
If you look for real medical studies you will see that most people that actually measured the difference have found that a pound of muscle burns about 3 –6 more Calories each day than a pound of fat. The 50 – 100 number is usually found on sites promoting gym equipment and exercise plans, I have never found a study to back this claim up. I have added a significant amount of muscle in the year I have been lifting weights while maintaining my weight and seen no noticeable increase in the number of Calories I can eat each day without gaining weight. I am sure there is a difference but it has been too small to notice.
I do think weight lifting is beneficial but do not expect miracles. If I did not think it was worthwhile I would not being doing it myself. This article is in health club newsletter but seemed pretty unbiased when it comes to the effects of resistance training on weight loss.
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Author: Doug 272/158/165
Date: 05-14-03 06:01
Your body always operates as efficiently as possible, it will not wait for a diet to start using as few calories as possible. Lots of people lose weight by diet alone. While I do a lot of cardio and some weight lifting I have found that losing weight is about 80% diet, particularly if you are seriously overweight.
How many calories you burn is more determined by your weight than any other variable. As you lose weight your body will burn fewer calories each day, regardless of whether you work out or not. As you lose weight you will have to keep eating less and less if you want to keep losing at the same rate. Weight lifting is not going to change this significantly.
If you look for real medical studies you will see that most people that actually measured the difference have found that a pound of muscle burns about 3 –6 more Calories each day than a pound of fat. The 50 – 100 number is usually found on sites promoting gym equipment and exercise plans, I have never found a study to back this claim up. I have added a significant amount of muscle in the year I have been lifting weights while maintaining my weight and seen no noticeable increase in the number of Calories I can eat each day without gaining weight. I am sure there is a difference but it has been too small to notice.
I do think weight lifting is beneficial but do not expect miracles. If I did not think it was worthwhile I would not being doing it myself. This article is in health club newsletter but seemed pretty unbiased when it comes to the effects of resistance training on weight loss.
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Author: Doug 272/158/165
Date: 05-14-03 06:03
Your body always operates as efficiently as possible, it will not wait for a diet to start using as few calories as possible. Lots of people lose weight by diet alone. While I do a lot of cardio and some weight lifting I have found that losing weight is about 80% diet, particularly if you are seriously overweight.
How many calories you burn is more determined by your weight than any other variable. As you lose weight your body will burn fewer calories each day, regardless of whether you work out or not. As you lose weight you will have to keep eating less and less if you want to keep losing at the same rate. Weight lifting is not going to change this significantly.
If you look for real medical studies you will see that most people that actually measured the difference have found that a pound of muscle burns about 3 –6 more Calories each day than a pound of fat. The 50 – 100 number is usually found on sites promoting gym equipment and exercise plans, I have never found a study to back this claim up. I have added a significant amount of muscle in the year I have been lifting weights while maintaining my weight and seen no noticeable increase in the number of Calories I can eat each day without gaining weight. I am sure there is a difference but it has been too small to notice.
I do think weight lifting is beneficial but do not expect miracles. If I did not think it was worthwhile I would not being doing it myself. This article is in health club newsletter but seemed pretty unbiased when it comes to the effects of resistance training on weight loss.
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Author: Doug 272/158/165
Date: 05-14-03 06:07
Your body always operates as efficiently as possible, it will not wait for a diet to start using as few calories as possible. Lots of people lose weight by diet alone. While I do a lot of cardio and some weight lifting I have found that losing weight is about 80% diet, particularly if you are seriously overweight.
How many calories you burn is more determined by your weight than any other variable. As you lose weight your body will burn fewer calories each day, regardless of whether you work out or not. As you lose weight you will have to keep eating less and less if you want to keep losing at the same rate. Weight lifting is not going to change this significantly.
If you look for real medical studies you will see that most people that actually measured the difference have found that a pound of muscle burns about 3 –6 more Calories each day than a pound of fat. The 50 – 100 number is usually found on sites promoting gym equipment and exercise plans, I have never found a study to back this claim up. I have added a significant amount of muscle in the year I have been lifting weights while maintaining my weight and seen no noticeable increase in the number of Calories I can eat each day without gaining weight. I am sure there is a difference but it has been too small to notice.
I do think weight lifting is beneficial but do not expect miracles. If I did not think it was worthwhile I would not being doing it myself. This article is in health club newsletter but seemed pretty unbiased when it comes to the effects of resistance training on weight loss.
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Author: Doug 272/158/170
Date: 08-08-03 19:03
I have always heard that the BMI charts were inaccurate for tall or muscular people. I also have to wonder about the claim that a 6 foot man should weigh the same as a 6 foot woman.
I recently went for my first real physical in 25 years and the doctor told me he thought I was about 10 or 20 pounds below my ideal weight. He also said I was in no way harming my health by weighing what I do but that I would not increase any health risks if I gain some weight. If you plot health risk vs. weight you get a bathtub curve and I am in the flat part. If I was to go up to 170 I would look better, be able to eat a little more, and be able to increase the amount of weight I can lift.
I have been lifting weights for over a year and progress has really slowed. I think that I need to gain weight to see progress. I do not want to become a body builder but a little more muscle would be nice.
If I was you I would go down to 157 for all the reasons you mentioned. Just being able to say you lost an even 300 pounds would make it worthwhile for me. But once you get there you might be surprised how scrawny you end up looking.
I took a picture of myself in a T-shirt a few months flexing what few muscles I have a few ago and was kind of surprised by how scrawny I looked. I decided not to post the picture it was so unflattering. But since most people do not read old threads I am going to post it here. I do not want to discourage you from going down to 157 but be warned. If you do get down to 157 you could look like this:
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