Weight Loss Question

[tricia]

I am just wondering if you are not eating enough. The calorie range you listed is perfect but ONLY if you are not exercising. You said you exercise 4-6 times a week. You have to be eating those exercise calories back or you will not lose. You need fuel to lose. Believe me, I've been through this fire. A year ago I joined Jillian Michaels online website and began her grueling workouts. I learned fast that if I didn't eat back most of those calories I wouldn't lose, or worse would gain. Her team of fitness experts are awesome. Let me explain.

 

For me I wear a heart rate monitor so I can gage what I am burning during workouts. So a 'normal' workout for me is burning between 500-800 calories per workout. (I am a beast, I love working out and I work hard) A more normal workout would/should be around 300-500 but I'm obsessed.:tongue_smilie: Seriously.

 

So, I set my calories at 1500

I burn 700 through exercise. If I do NOT eat back my calories I will only be getting 800 calories for the day. NOT good when my BMR is 1800 without exercise and I burn another 700 through exercise. This tells me that if I exercise and burn 700 calories I need 2500 just to maintain. To lose I would set my goal at 1500, exercise, then eat back most of the calories which I burn. So if I decide only to eat back 500 of the 700 I burn then I will be at 2000 total for the day. But remember, I needed 2500 to maintain. Having that 500 calorie deficit will put me at about 1 lb per week which is great.

 

Never drop below 1200 calories a day. And you will be if you only eat 1400, and burn off even 300. Doing this you will only be getting 1100 calories a day and by doing that everyday you will certainly not lose any weight.

 

Try googling eating back exercise calories and you will find much on it. I even went to the fitness center to talk to a trainer and he said the same thing. You need that fuel from food. Not only to fuel the workouts, but to keep your body from going in starvation mode and holding onto the weight.

 

Hope this helps. It sure turned me around. At first I freaked out about it. But after weeks of starving and not losing I figured it couldn't hurt to give it a couple week. Low and behold I actually lost 4 pounds in 2 weeks. Now I know it works and every time I get busy and fail to eat back my calories, (or at least most of them) I stay the same or gain.

 

Oh, and I was going to say. Stay away from fad diets. In the end there is only one way to really lose the weight and keep it off. And that is simply counting calories and exercising. Everything else is most likely a quick fix. Do what your body was made to and eat within your means.

 

Good luck

[Negin]

When I was stalling I was told to eat more and I gained weight, so obviously higher calorie for me does not work. I did this more than once so it was not a fluke.

Same here. That whole eating more thing has never worked for me, and, quite frankly, it just doesn't really make sense to me. Not my body anyway.

 

Okay, I'm just realizing that my posts are silly and pointless, so I'm :leaving:.

[Renee in NC]

:iagree: :iagree: :iagree:

For me, hcg was the only diet that really and truly worked.

I can't wait to start my 2nd round in a few months. :D

 

Am I understanding this correctly? You lose weight by injecting yourself with pregnancy hormones? I must be misunderstanding.

[Renee in NC]

I really think this eating too little and not losing weight thing varies from person to person. I was burning 1000 calories a day and eating about 1400. With a BMR rate of roughly 2600 (based on my weight then) my deficit was such that I should have been losing 4.4 pounds a week. In actuality, I was losing 6 pounds a week. I lost 80 pounds and didn't plateau until I quit exercising daily and I added back processed carbs.

[Negin]

Am I understanding this correctly? You lose weight by injecting yourself with pregnancy hormones? I must be misunderstanding.

Renee, no, I took homeopathic hcg drops.

Some go the Rx route, which is a lot of work and, to me, a lot of hassle. But they have good results. I don't know much at all about the Rx route.

Others, like me, prefer homeopathic.

[Negin]

Check out HIIT and Tabata if you are interested in intervals. They are very efficient and quick workouts. I plan to incorporate more of these into my workouts. I'm all about efficiency! :)

Could you please share or recommend any DVDs, etc.? I've never heard of either of these. Quick and efficient is very appealing. :D

I searched Tabata on amazon and came up with some Amy Dixon DVDs. Is that right? Do you have any favorites?

 

 

Guess I need to go and see some on collagevideo and see if they're suitable for me. Knee and ankle injuries are always concerns of mine.

 

Thank you. :)