tyreegiles' Forum Posts

I have a question about this statement:

“1800 cals a day is too low!
i found it really hard to lose wait when i was wating 1800 cals a day.
i am 6’3, 195 lbs.
i upped it to 2300-2500 and have lost weight every week since.”

Did anything else change besides calorie intake? Why would weight loss go up if you increased your caloric intake by 6-800 but burned the same amount every day? (assuming nothing else changed, same dietary schedule, ‘healthiness’, nutrient proportions etc). Does getting less calories than you need present some other problem that makes it harder to lose weight? Sorry i’m not that knowledgeable about the topic, but trying to learn…

Topic: Diet and Nutrition / Only losing weight on "cheat day." Problem?

Does anybody know why DB measures the whole grains intake goals in oz instead of cups or just counting servings? I see information all over the place about what counts as one serving of grains- but if it doesn’t show up automatically based on barcode scanner etc, it’s difficult to figure out how to track that. It doesn’t seem like 1oz would be a serving is it?

I’m sure i’m looking at this all wrong, so if someone could set me straight I’d appreciate it :)

Topic: Diet and Nutrition / measure whole grain intake in oz?

Wedzir- I see, thanks for the info. I’ve personally had a tough time with getting my recommended intake of calories while at the same time trying to hit my other nutriet goals (proportion of nutriets, servings of fruits/veggies/grains etc.

When I first made the change to start eating healthier, I found I was eating more meals as part of that (used to skip breakfast), but getting SO many fewer calories. When I joined dailyburn to track my eating, I realized I was getting only like 800-1000 calories, and always going to bed hungry. I /have/ been losing weight, but I know that’s not a healthy deficit- and I even got sick because (i’m guessing) my immune system was probably not working optimally. Once I noticed that I tried to correct it, but I’m still finding it difficult to hit 2k Kcal a day without getting more sodium than I need- or get enough fruits without getting more sugars that I want etc… I guess I have more to learn about balancing my diet- but I should really look at the big picture- I’m definitely eating better than I used to when the only ‘vegetables’ I got were french fries…

Topic: Diet and Nutrition / Only losing weight on "cheat day." Problem?

Sorry if I’m not totally understanding this- but on the original question someone answered “probably not” because in general losing wait→ caloric deficit, gain muscle → caloric surplus.

But when I spoke to my doctor about fat loss, he suggested weight training as part of that, both because it burns calories, and because the other common saying about muscle being more efficient at burning calories (I know i’m probably saying it wrong, but hopefully i’m getting the point across). That seems to suggest then, that he was saying I put on more muscle as part of my effort to lose fat. Also- I assume you could put yourself at a calorie deficit with the calories burned through weight training being part of that too couldn’t you? What would happen in that case, would you just gain strength without gaining muscle mass?

I’m glad I ran into this topic because my primary goal is definitely to lose fat, but I definitely want to build muscle as well, and it’s a good way to mix up my daily exercise instead of just doing cardio every time..

Topic: Fitness and Exercise / Put on lean muscle while losing weight?

thanks a lot chaddukes, I appreciate the feedback. That makes sense. I’m kind of in the middle of those types you mentioned. I’m 30, and trying to turn around a bout of letting myself go in my mid 20’s that lasted far too long (and I was way too successful with!). If I have to wait till I lose the fat before I can really start trying to gain muscle (outside of newbie gains), I’m fine with that. I just hope I can minimize muscle loss during the fat loss phase so I’ll have a better starting point when I get there

Topic: Fitness and Exercise / Put on lean muscle while losing weight?

I should have joined this when I first joined the site…I already lost 11.5 lbs so far :P But hey- i’m not done yets, time to keep going!

Topic: Fitness Challenges / Lose 10 Lbs by Gyminee

I was going to start a new topic, but this one really fits my experience as well. When I started trying to eat healthy- at first I was well meaning, but didn’t know what I was doing. I was eating healthy foods, but just eating a lot LESS. I was probably taking in between 800-1200 calories a day, and not getting much exercise. When I was doing that I lost weight fast…about 8-10 pounds in a month. As I started learning more about how to eat a balanced diet, and trying to target the amount of calories I /should/ be getting in a day, I upped my caloric intake to target 2000, and I started doing weight training and cardio for the deficit. Once I started getting more calories though- my weight loss slowed to a virtual stop. I started hovering at 1-3 pounds around the same weight. I wasn’t even hitting my caloric target most of the time, I was probably getting 1500-1800 a day, and I really HAVE been counting grams and servings as closely as possible, using dailyburn and using a food scale etc. It’s possible there’s some extra calories unaccounted for by error (but that would go both positive and negative).

I’ve had to really try to get that many calories in when eating healthy foods… I don’t ever feel hungry, and many times feel full. I’m afraid that if I try harder to hit my target calories i’m going to end up GAINING weight again… It’s definitely frustrating to be working so much harder and seeing no results when before I was just eating less and losing weight at a fast pace… I could be gaining a little bit of muscle from the weight training, but I don’t think it’s possible that i’m gaining it at the rate I was losing weight before…

Topic: Diet and Nutrition / Not eating enough to lose weight?

I do whey protein shake w/ skim milk and a banana for my simple carb. The only real reason I use milk is because I do my workout right before bed, and I’ve read you want both the faster and slower acting protein in that case. From what I’ve read milk is mostly casein, so it seems like a good mix to me. If I was working out during the day I’d probably mix with water instead.

Topic: Diet and Nutrition / Ideas needed - Post-Workout snack

Don’t mean to be disagreeable, but it seems to be that what viaravis said could be considered true. Even if you are not looking to really bulk up or anything, getting fast acting protein and carbs in your body ideally in that window right after your workout will aid in muscle recovery and repair. And muscle is more efficient at burning calories(this is something i’ve “heard” but since it also came from my doctor I tend to believe it) it would seem that would help one lose weight.

I’m not saying someone should eat even if they feel like they don’t want to, just that viaravis’ comment makes sense to me.

Topic: Diet and Nutrition / Ideas needed - Post-Workout snack

Thanks for the replies guys:

wedzir- I appreciate the time you took, and no you didn’t offend me :) Actually my food log has some lags here and there for some things that I eat and dont’ know the nutritional info for. Sometimes I try to estimate sometimes I leave it off. The days around 1500 are probably the most accurate, but a little under my real intake. So I think I DO need to up it, I was just afraid that maybe I was still somehow getting more calories than I thought when my scale stopped moving…

As for my exercise log- that is NOT even near up to date :) I do 5-6 days a week of resistance training, rotating chest/back, arms/shoulders, legs/abs. I’d say they’re pretty good workouts. I’ve also been doing about 30-40 min of cardio daily. It was off and on before, but now I try to do it every day.

I use resistance bands for my exercise and found that none of the stuff I do was in the database…so sometimes I try to estimate, others I don’t find anything close enough so I just kind of give up.. most of the stuff in my exercise log is just there when I get the urge to put something in just to remind myself that I did it, or estimate calorie deficit.

Anyway, I guess I have to up my calories…hopefully I don’t end up gaining weight. I am NOT lean right now (about 6’ 232 lbs). I’d like to lose a little more than 4lbs a month if possible, but if it’s not possible to do it in a healthy way, then I’ll have to adjust my expectations.

Topic: Diet and Nutrition / Not eating enough to lose weight?

oh, I see what you mean now.

Topic: Diet and Nutrition / Ideas needed - Post-Workout snack

The main reason I use the bands is because they are a space saver in my cramped place and I don’t have the money for a gym membership. But trust me, the routine I have going kicks my ass good, my muscles can’t tell the difference. With the different door attachments and my incline bench there’s a pretty large range of workouts I can do. I probably should be mixing it up with my free weights though. I planned to switch up my routine about every 3 weeks or so.
I’m definitely not a body builder as you said- but what do you mean? Should that routine only be for body building? For me I just thought of it as a balanced resistance work out to hit major muscle groups and be part of my calorie burning. I go at a pretty quick pace to help that out. I’ve been feeling and seeing the results with that workout, I guess that’s partly why I’m confused that the scale is not telling the same story!

For food- I do have a cheat day every once in a while. Probably about once a week. I don’t go nuts, but I just don’t watch what I eat as hard. last time I had 2500+ was probably the weekend before last. I hear you guys though, I just need to take in more calories. I’ll try to get over the mental hump and do it. I feel like I have to eat a LOT to do that without getting excess fat, sodium etc, but I’ll keep working on it.

Topic: Diet and Nutrition / Not eating enough to lose weight?

I think maybe my workout log might be contributing to the confusion- as I mentioned it isn’t even close to up-to-date. I tried for a little while to find similar exercises to a few of the ones I was doing, but for the most part gave up because it was too much work to try and add them all and a lot of them weren’t there.
Trust me though, my biceps and triceps are not getting most of the attention, haha. That’s not what I mean when I say I’m seeing results. I meant I could feel it in my whole body, and I can actually see myself looking slimmer and shape starting to change- not just in my arms. I actually have been doing compound exercises using resistance like squats, lunges etc, and BW stuff like pushups and pullups as you mentioned-as part of my routine. While I appreciate the advice from everyone on my resistance training, I think i’m going to stick with what I’m doing there, as it’s been working for me. I don’t feel like I need to be a bodybuilder or be interested in gaining muscle mass at the moment for it to contribute to my goals (and I have read all about bulking/cutting etc). I think right now i’m seeing a little bit of gains because It’s new, but I’m sure that will slow down and I’ll just be maintaining strength as I try and lose fat- that’s fine with me.

The results i’ve been seeing are starting to be reflected on the scale again, probably because of the more regular cardio, so I’m glad about that. I’ll still try to up my caloric intake though so I can get closer to the range I should be in.

Topic: Diet and Nutrition / Not eating enough to lose weight?

I’m sorry, but I’m going to have to go with gwen on this just losing 20 lbs period in 30 days (especially without exercise) is a ridiculous claim, I can’t think of anything but unhealthy dangerous ways to accomplish that. A ton of people eat healthy by not eating ‘white’/refined carbs or avoiding fruit juices etc- that’s no special secret- it’s just a healthier way to eat. Regardless of what you’re eating, weight loss is a fairly simple equation, right- it’s just about calorie deficit (although what you eat will obviously be more or less healthy for you, but that’s a separate topic).

http://www.caloriesperhour.com/tutorial_pound.php

500 calorie deficit a day = about 1lb a week loss, 1000 calorie deficit = 2lbs. As the article states, the 2lb a week number is a ‘generally’ accepted maximum for safe, healthy weight loss. According to what this guy advertises- you’d have to be getting what, a 2500 calorie deficit per day?! depending on your BMR that would be like eating nothing (if none of the deficit is coming from exercise as he suggests). And even then- this is talking about pounds of WEIGHT loss, not fat loss… some of that is lean muscle etc… so you’d need even more of a deficit to be losing 20lbs of /fat/ in 30 days… call me crazy but I think it’s pretty clear that this guy is selling a lie, which absolutely would make him a scam artist. Being good at marketing only makes him an effective one : /

Topic: Fitness and Exercise / Anyone pre-order Tim Ferriss' new book "The 4-Hour Body"?

oh- on a separate note- the dailyburn app (at least for iPhone) does let you add your own pictures. I do it all the time when I can’t find a food and have to upload it myself.

Topic: Fitness and Exercise / Anyone pre-order Tim Ferriss' new book "The 4-Hour Body"?