Few questions on weight loss for the "pro's" here.

[Deleted]

Hiya,
So quick few questions .. hope anyone here can help with as there are quite a few people lurking these forums that know a LOT more then I do on these things.

So I been trying to lose a few pounds again (I got up and down in weight quite a lot due to my work mostly) and I been eating a lot healthier in the past 4 weeks.
An example for a day's worth of food would be:

Breakfast:
2 boiled eggs + some fruit (mango, apple or kiwi's or something).

Snack:
Half a cucumber + a hand full of cherry tomatoes.

Lunch:
Usually a homemade salad, some chicken, gabbage, carrot etc. - usually comes to between 200 and 250 calories.

Snack:
Usually some fruit, same as breakfast + other half of the cucumber.

Dinner:
Home made bologonese sauce with 100/150g of pasta.

Snack:
IF I have anything after dinner its usually some cherry tomatoes or something light, 9 out of 10 times I don't really eat after dinner.

Besides that I drink water mostly and 1 can of Coke Zero with dinner.


Now the question is.. if I add all this up id be between 900 and 1200 calories but I don't seem to be losing weight very fast.
Is this because I don't eat enough? As you can see I eat all day, just healthy options really..
I am quite confused to why this is to be honest.

Hope anyone has an idea..

Thanks!

[Triks]

Hiya,
So quick few questions .. hope anyone here can help with as there are quite a few people lurking these forums that know a LOT more then I do on these things.

So I been trying to lose a few pounds again (I got up and down in weight quite a lot due to my work mostly) and I been eating a lot healthier in the past 4 weeks.
An example for a day's worth of food would be:

Breakfast:
2 boiled eggs + some fruit (mango, apple or kiwi's or something).

Snack:
Half a cucumber + a hand full of cherry tomatoes.

Lunch:
Usually a homemade salad, some chicken, gabbage, carrot etc. - usually comes to between 200 and 250 calories.

Snack:
Usually some fruit, same as breakfast + other half of the cucumber.

Dinner:
Home made bologonese sauce with 100/150g of pasta.

Snack:
IF I have anything after dinner its usually some cherry tomatoes or something light, 9 out of 10 times I don't really eat after dinner.

Besides that I drink water mostly and 1 can of Coke Zero with dinner.


Now the question is.. if I add all this up id be between 900 and 1200 calories but I don't seem to be losing weight very fast.
Is this because I don't eat enough? As you can see I eat all day, just healthy options really..
I am quite confused to why this is to be honest.

Hope anyone has an idea..

Thanks!

Are you exercising? Usually that combined with the diet makes you lose weight.

[Deleted]

Are you exercising? Usually that combined with the diet makes you lose weight.

I walk for 40 min a day - 2/3 days a week (work to home) but its very boring (hate working out, waste of time).

[Xyanide]

I walk for 40 min a day - 2/3 days a week (work to home) but its very boring (hate working out, waste of time).

How do you expect to lose weight if you hate working out and see it as a waste of time? Contrary to popular belief your weight won't just magically fall off, you've gotta actually do stuff to make it drop

[Deleted]

How do you expect to lose weight if you hate working out and see it as a waste of time? Contrary to popular belief your weight won't just magically fall off, you've gotta actually do stuff to make it drop

Thats why I went from unhealthy eating to eating very healthy.
I was told by a dietitian a few months ago that its 90% diet and 10% working out.

Again, I am not a pro at this and just working from what I have read and been told.

[Joozt]

I walk for 40 min a day - 2/3 days a week (work to home) but its very boring (hate working out, waste of time).

Lol no it is not a waste of time.

What do you mean by walk as in running?
You dont have to run long to burn more. If your running try running in intervals rather than steady pace it is a lot better for burning calories

[Deleted]

Lol no it is not a waste of time.

What do you mean by walk as in running?
You dont have to run long to burn more. If your running try running in intervals rather than steady pace it is a lot better for burning calories

Just walk in a decent pace, can't really call what I do running at the moment :P.

[Triks]

Thats why I went from unhealthy eating to eating very healthy.
I was told by a dietitian a few months ago that its 90% diet and 10% working out.

Again, I am not a pro at this and just working from what I have read and been told.

You lose weight by creating a calorie deficit. To do that you need to exhaust more calories than you consume. The easiest way to do it is through exercising. What you are doing is a good start but you also need some more intense forms of exercising such as cardio or weights.

[Joozt]

You dont have to work out hours on end if you find it boring just do a 15-20 min run a day sprinting in intervals.

Also the average a male burns might be 2100 calories a day but that depend on what you actually do...

[MasterHamster]

Well, in your case since you don't really exercise, like 90% of your burned calories is due to your BMR so depending on that and eating up to 1200kcal per day you can't expect to lose much in a week. Perhaps a kg.

So if you have a BMR of 2300 kcal (which is relatively high) you'd burn a kg deficit over 7 days... but perhaps you have a cheat day as well?

I think you'd see quite a difference if you forced yourself to a couple of hours of cardio per week. It can be boring but I mean it's 2 hours out of 168. Pushing yourself that's "easily" another 0.2kg per week lost. That adds up. And exercising boosts your metabolism even more.

Also, depending on how strict you are I personally think it's a big risk of "just a bite" snacks when you eat something that many times in a single day. Like eating a big slice of cheese when preparing a sandwich, that sort of thing.

[tankbug]

I started running to work, and it's painful as hell at first, but it get's better quickly. Give it a go.

[Deleted]

You lose weight by creating a calorie deficit. To do that you need to exhaust more calories than you consume. The easiest way to do it is through exercising. What you are doing is a good start but you also need some more intense forms of exercising such as cardio or weights.

Got a treadmill at home, guess Ill start using that! Thanks for the advice!

[Triks]

Got a treadmill at home, guess Ill start using that! Thanks for the advice!

No probs. Throw in some calistenics and you are solid.

[Jibjub]

Run/walk 10 miles per day and eat 1500 calories (or less) per day. If you're losing weight too fast, eat more.

[Deleted]

You dont have to work out hours on end if you find it boring just do a 15-20 min run a day sprinting in intervals.

Also the average a male burns might be 2100 calories a day but that depend on what you actually do...

hmm.. well what I do is walk to and from meeting rooms and spend most of day at my desk other wise.
Walk 10/20 min during lunch and walk home or to the bus after work.

So .. kinda the normal desk job I guess.

[Nfinitii]

How old r u? What's ur gender? How much water r u drinking? Height/weight?

Everyone is different, so different things work for different ppl. It could be that u r not eating enough. 40min walk 2-3 times a week is not much, how fast r u walking? If it's not intense it won't do anything. I would suggest trying to change it up and do some exercises, the body can adapt quickly so u need to do different exercises otherwise the body adapts and u don't gain the same benefits.

[MasterHamster]

Run your height, weight, sex and age through 3 different BMR calculators (there's different formulas), then average those. That should be somewhat accurate.
Then calculate how much you have to cut daily intake to lose whatever amount you want to lose in a week.

Sadly losing like 1.5kg (my personal motivational loss rate) a week is veeeery strict. Those diets that aim for 0.5kg a week is so slow and then you eat like a hamburger and suddenly your loss fell to .3kg instead. Dull.

[Nethlord]

Hiya,
So quick few questions .. hope anyone here can help with as there are quite a few people lurking these forums that know a LOT more then I do on these things.

So I been trying to lose a few pounds again (I got up and down in weight quite a lot due to my work mostly) and I been eating a lot healthier in the past 4 weeks.
An example for a day's worth of food would be:

Breakfast:
2 boiled eggs + some fruit (mango, apple or kiwi's or something).

Snack:
Half a cucumber + a hand full of cherry tomatoes.

Lunch:
Usually a homemade salad, some chicken, gabbage, carrot etc. - usually comes to between 200 and 250 calories.

Snack:
Usually some fruit, same as breakfast + other half of the cucumber.

Dinner:
Home made bologonese sauce with 100/150g of pasta.

Snack:
IF I have anything after dinner its usually some cherry tomatoes or something light, 9 out of 10 times I don't really eat after dinner.

Besides that I drink water mostly and 1 can of Coke Zero with dinner.


Now the question is.. if I add all this up id be between 900 and 1200 calories but I don't seem to be losing weight very fast.
Is this because I don't eat enough? As you can see I eat all day, just healthy options really..
I am quite confused to why this is to be honest.

Hope anyone has an idea..

Thanks!

Hey, just directly speaking to you, here. Didn't want to address/belabor other's points. Cutting calories isn't the greatest way to go about losing weight, Any diet that tells you to restrict calories alone is a bad idea. You need calories, period. As a 5 day shock to your system to get your metabolism functioning differently cutting calories is O.K...but that's about as much as you should. And even then sub 1000 is bad, short or long term. There are plenty of professional organizations that can explain the effects this has on the body better than I can (and they are accredited sources, unlike me a person that made change by reading and learning about what to do).

The better insight I can give you is the quality of the calories you are taking in and also the quality of the foods you eat. Whole foods (and not the damn supermarket) and the serving size amount you need is important. Your body needs fats,carbs and protein. More protein will speed up weight loss (but don't eat nothing but protein) and at the same time don't cut out fats. Not all fats are the same, as it is with carbs. Most nutrition (vitamins and minerals) need fats, just choose healthly ones.

I also stress you try to mix up your activity. Walking is good but you need to do some cross training (light weights circuit training etc), and your body benefits from both. You can do 30mins a day of exercise and benefit, but do the 30 mins everyday. It's just 30mins of a 24hr day...not that big of sacrifice.

Just don't starve yourself hoping you will lose weight. Putting yourself in constant starvation mode (example, person that eats 3000+ cals a day, suddenly starts eating 900cals) does the opposite. Your body slows down and digests fats in the body much slower. Drink lots of water, quality whole foods (nothing from a bag,nothing that is proceeded in a factory i.e pizza rolls) work 30mins a day and personally i'd tell you to get around the 2kcal a day mark....just do it with good foods.and cut that coke zero out, it's just terrible for you. If that's a treat, then fine...don't cut out treats...just have them when they count as a treat and not a "habit."

More than everything I said above, you have to want to do it. Not because your health might be in danger, but because you want to make the change. Don't listen to anyone else here, you have to want it. You want to "Be Better" and you want to "Be Happy". All people like me can do is point you in a different direction.

As for me....
160lb-(for the last 3 years maintaining)
resting heart rate 38-42 bpm (male/white/35-40 age range)
HiiT-like training 5 days a week/Run 5-10k 1 a week/bike 20-30miles a week.
8-10% Bodyfat
30in waist

I was (3 years ago)
230lb
didn't know my resting heartrate, I didn't care
28% Bodyfat
42in waist.

Feel free to personal message me if you have any questions, i'm not patrolling this post, just showed up on the front page of mmochamp and had something to impart
*Not a personal coach, or trainer, just someone that made a change for themselves and is better and happier for it.

[Netherling]

It sounds (to me) like you're trying to lose weight too fast, 900-1200 calories a day for a male is very low. Lose the weight more slowly and healthily, diets like this will most probably end up with you putting on the weight again quite quickly (and you say your weight goes up and down a lot anyway). I think you should eat more AND exercise a bit more.

[Torgent]

Thats why I went from unhealthy eating to eating very healthy.
I was told by a dietitian a few months ago that its 90% diet and 10% working out.

Again, I am not a pro at this and just working from what I have read and been told.

That dietitian lied to you, as they usually do. It's 100% thermodynamics. Burn more calories than you take in. Just diet or just exercise produces very little results. Combination provides great benefits, not only for weight, but health as a whole.

If you are cutting calories too much (as I've already seen one poster suggest) your body will not respond well. You need to still be eating in order to lose weight.