Renegade

I was reading that when you are on a calorie deficit diet, aka sedentary calorie to maintain my weight is 2550 and I eat 1800-2000 calories a day and do some exercise, that it's very important for one day to eat a lot more calories than usual to spike your metabolism so that your metabolism doesn't slow down with the smaller amount of calories you eat during the week. Any truth to this?

stogie1020

I take in about 1200 calories now due to a restricted calorie diet, and I make sure to vary it BOTH directions once or twice a week.

One day I only get 1000, one day I may go to 1700. Other days in the week I stay around 1200.

Seems to work, although I have kind of plateaued with regard to weight loss, probably more from inconsistency in exercise lately.

Renegade

wtf? Is 1200 healthy? Especially with exercise. I'm 5 8 180lb and to not gain or lose a pound if I sat on my ass all day I'd need to eat about 2250 calories a day.

With exercise and a diet of about 1900 calories a day I'm on track to burn about a lb and a half a week I believe.

stogie1020

October 12 I was 191 pounds.

December 12 I was 171 pounds.

I have maintained that while slowly losing body fat percentages. 1200 calories is PLENTY. If I told you what I eat, you would be like "Oh, that sounds reasonable."

Whiskers

For about 2 years now eaten about 1200-1500 calories from M-F with the exception of Wednesday (which I call wacky Wednesday). On Wednesday I allow myself to eat more junk and food in general (probably 2K to 3K calories). On the weekend, I tend to eat very little for breakfast and lunch but eat what I want for dinner and desert.

I also exercise 30 minutes a day for 5-6 days a week.

Its letting me KEEP my weight off, but I wouldn't be loosing any more.

bgsm1th

I'm at 1,600 calories a day with vigorous exercise 5 days a week (net 700-800 calories per day on work-out days) - that allows for about 2 lbs. per week of weight loss.

Also, it's important to understand what KIND of calories you're taking in.
Calories from fat, grams of fat per day, carbs per day, protien per day, etc...
A good healthy balance of all of those things is how you're really going to loose weight effectively.

As far as a "cheat" day, I don't have much advise on that.

subinf

Shit 1200 calories.

hornyleprechaun

Can you post what you eat? I think I'd go crazy if I ate 1200 calories.

stogie1020

Breakfast (7 AM)
- 1/2 oroweat whole wheat muffin with 1-2tsp of whipped cream cheese
- 1/2 cup (two eggs equivalent) of egg substitute (or one whole egg and one egg white on weekend) cooked in skillet with Pam spray
- cup of black coffee

Lunch
- 11 AM - apple
- 12 PM - Zone bar (Costco sells in bulk pack)

Snack
- 3 PM - ~20 almonds, raw

Dinner
- 6-8 ounces of grilled chicken breast
- 2 cups steamed broccoli with butter substitute spray
- 6oz cubed cantaloupe

Mix in about 2-3 liters of water per day.

CUNextTuesday

whiskers/stogie - Only eating 1200-1500 calories a day and that's just to MAINTAIN your weight?

That's fucking insane to me... I hope my metabolism never changes

Whiskers

you are 22.We are late 30's...do the math...

hornyleprechaun

Thanks for the post

RMATIC09

Jesus, you guys don't eat. I don't "cheat" often, maybe once or twice a month. But then again, I eat double or triple the amount of calories you fellas do (healthy food sources of course).

Although, I have heard that "cheating" every now and then is important as it "shocks" the body.....

dom

Interesting thread. I've lost 12 pounds in just over 3 weeks eating about 1-1.2K Calories per day with regular exercise. I'm not really Calorie counting though, just eating healthy and smaller portions. I've been throwing a cheat day in there (usually Fridays) just to maintain some sanity but it sounds like it may actually help.

stogie1020

Read the whole thread. I eat like that AND exercise and LOST 20lbs in two months.

hornyleprechaun

I'm pretty sure Whiskers does "only" cardio.. do you do just cardio or do you lift weights also? Just wondering.. thanks.

Whiskers

I do mostly cardio. I do pudhups here and the now a days.

stogie1020

Plyometric cardio. Hardest shit I have done.

http://www.beachbody.com/product/fit...INSANITYDOTCOM

RMATIC09

"metabolic conditioning"

Beelzebub

Holy crap.

I eat like 3000 calories a day, and most of it utter crap. I have tried the low calorie diets but I am then weak and tired all day. I am 5'6" and 142lbs. All I need to do to loose some weight is cut out sweets, and I will drop 1 to 2 pounds a week.

Of course I exercise7 days a week,
Monday and Friday 25 minutes in the morning light spin on the rollers
Tue - Thur 25 minutes in the morning light spin on the rollers and then 1 hour later in the gym either running or eliptical.
over the weekend I can ride up to 5 hours each day during the summer and around 2 during the winter.

But I also know that if I don't exercise I will have to drop down to under 2000 calories a day. I had to do it after my knee surgery as I couldn't do my usual routine. But I don't think I could survive on that few calories a day.

Whiskers

You dont sound overweight...

Beelzebub

I am not... anymore.

While I was in college I was 180. I lost it my last year there and have managed to keep it off for 18 years. That year I dropped down to 132 but that was unmaintainable. My summer riding weight is around 138, at 8% body fat. Right now I am around 10%. Starting next month I start pushing it on the bike and doing weights Monday and Friday to increase my power for the summer months.

stogie1020

^ What he said.

Renegade

I'm very out of shape, I tried to do crossfit but I just couldn't do it because I was so out of shape, then I kind of just forgot about cardio all together because I hate the elliptical. As gay as it sounds at Marshall's I saw this thing called barrys bootcamp for $20, i looked up reviews and it seems decent, probably more crafted for women, but I must say I did the 21 min upper body workout today for the first time and I was definitely sweating like crazy and it was challenging.

Because I really don't cook much, I've been trying to just eat healthier and smaller portions. Panera bread you pick 2 is really helping me out wiht that. The salmon on whole grain bread and a low cal soup gets me around 400-500 calories, I'm also eating some of the healthy fast food grilled chicken sandwiches, some 500 calorie boston market meals, and some taco's/soup at baja fresh for around 500-600 calories.

Renegade

So I've played with modifying some of the items from Panera, and their meals just seem so healthy for someone who cant cook. My meal was you pick two salad and sandwich was 380 cal 580mg sodium 3.5 sat fat and 27g protein

I'm eating about 4 400 calorie meals a day with light exercise, and weight lifting 3 times a week

stogie1020

Renegade,

Calculate the following to determine your base metabolic need (no exercise, just 'existing'):

66 + (6.3 times your weight in pounds) + (12.9 times your height in inches) - (6.8 times your age in years).

Report back.

Renegade

1908, but I don't think that's right, all the other calculators I use say between 2200-2400 calories

stogie1020

I did the calculation, and then lopped off about 500-600 calories and built a meal plan around that. worked for me.

Street Spirit

If you aren't sure and really want to be sure to do it in a healthy way, just visit a nutritionist or dietician. I'm sure you can find one willing to help you out for a very reasonable cost - even if it's a 3-4th year nutrition student at your local university.

Renegade

They have a test at my university for $25, I can also get body composition test for $5

"Resting Metabolic Rate

Resting metabolic rate is the number of calories burned during rest. This information is essential for individuals initiating a weight loss or weight gain program. In addition, a computerized nutritional analysis investigates your current eating behavior and pinpoints where improvement is needed. Our Nutrition Educator will analyze your current diet along with your metabolic rate and get you on the right track."

Is that the right test?

stogie1020

I wouldn't get to wrapped up in the EXACT number. Different methods will give you plus or minus a couple of hundred calories.

Run the numbers a few times a few different ways, and then average them for your resting rate.

Then, drop the number by 200-400 calories and exercise like a muthafugga, and if your results don't come fast enough in 4 weeks, drop the calories by another 200 per day.

Time to stop planning and start DOING!!

Renegade

The exercise is what is hardest for me to be motivated in. Lifting is fine, but cardio ehh...so I'm signing up for boot camp at my school and kickfit

stogie1020

If you hate cardio, just knock off an extra 200 calories per day from the diet. Shoot for 1500 instead of 1900 RMR.

03bl AC k CL

stogie we have similar diet plans ... im taking in no more than 1600 calories a day. i started at 180 2 weeks ago but working my way to 160. im currently at about 176-177. i do 35 mins on the elliptical 6 to 7 days a week as well... i dont really cheat because i am very stubborn in the sense that im either all in or all out. i didnt know a cheat day could be beneficial.

Renegade

How tall are you? I'm trying to go from 180 to 160 as well, started a week ago eating about 1600 calories a day, my cardio isn't as often as you, but I do lift 3 times a week and mix in cardio when I can, usually about 20min on the elliptical than 15 or so suicides on the basketball court. My original question wasnt really answered, which was is it beneficial? I've heard that a cheat day once a week where you eat more calories than usual will help spike your metabolism.

stogie1020

A question for those closely watching calories:

How do you monitor the exact amount of calories per serving of food and also how do you track total calories per day?

Whiskers

Labels...

stogie1020

Well, sure, but I didn't know if anyone else had a food scale to see exactly how much food was in a serving of breakfast cereal or how much one serving of meat or veggies really was.

I was amazed at how skewed my perception of portion size was when I started really looking at and weighing food.

03bl AC k CL

im about 5'10''. i dont cheat on my diets because i dont like the guilty feeling afterwards. its my humble opinion (and im no health expert whatsoever) that positive thinking helps. it should be noted that in march 2007 i weighed 224 lbs. by august 2007 i weighed 160 (my lowest being 157). so i put back on some of that weight but im working back to where i was. so not cheating certainly never hurt me.

i do about 35 mins a day on the elliptical. i do a very light amount of push ups, crunches, and some weight machines, because im focusing on losing the weight i want to lose, then will work on building muscle afterwards.


i keep a tally in my cell phone which i keep on me most of the day... if i dont have exact nutrition facts... i tend to over estimate the calories. measuring-wise i use measuring cups, and for restaurants nutrition facts you can find them online

dom

Some pretty good calorie count ipod apps out there as well. I use Lose It.