Boris Bachmann
Level 8 Valued Member
SAME. Girl Scout cookies, man... They should list calories by the box because that's the serving size for me.
It's why logging EVERY SINGLE THING THAT GOES IN YOUR MOUTH is important.
Off-Topic Homeostasis - breaking it
- Thread starter Nightfly
- Start date
It's why logging EVERY SINGLE THING THAT GOES IN YOUR MOUTH is important.
I’m a sucker for a bowl of corn flakes… or bowls… mm or jiffy cornbread. Make that, put it in milk, and that whole box is gone.
Boris Bachmann
Level 8 Valued Member
One Box of Thin mints + about 10 tablespoons of PB = 2230 calories. Mint Oreos will do in a pinch.
Red_and_Black
Level 6 Valued Member
Not a diet or nutrition expert here, but I am a medical professional so I give lots of low key weight loss advice to patients with problems that can be improved by shedding a few pounds so have a bit of experience about some things, and these are the first things I tell people to do:
1) Make the easy wins first: stop fizzy drinks, don't snack between meals, cut out cakes, biscuits and crisps.
2) Make small easy improvements to your diet: cut down on fast food, switch out poor quality ready made meals for better ones.
3) Cut out sugar in tea and coffee.
4) Don't buy it, if it's not in the house you can't eat it.
Once they're done and settled in for a few months I'd think about the more complex stuff like meal composition etc.
As mentioned a food diary is highly recommended. IME people often massively misunderestimate how much they actually eat and the calorie content of it.
As an example I was eating a breakfast of oats, some seeds & nuts, oat or rice milk, a bit of yoghurt and a piece of fruit a good few years ago. Very healthy I thought (and it kind of is...) but one bored day I worked out the calories and it was about 1000! Now I eat a meal of 400cals every day for breakfast, and it has meant the weight has stayed off me as I get older (52 last week) compared to many of my peers.
Also, 4 weeks isn't very long, on't get demoralised, keep at it!
1) Make the easy wins first: stop fizzy drinks, don't snack between meals, cut out cakes, biscuits and crisps.
2) Make small easy improvements to your diet: cut down on fast food, switch out poor quality ready made meals for better ones.
3) Cut out sugar in tea and coffee.
4) Don't buy it, if it's not in the house you can't eat it.
Once they're done and settled in for a few months I'd think about the more complex stuff like meal composition etc.
As mentioned a food diary is highly recommended. IME people often massively misunderestimate how much they actually eat and the calorie content of it.
As an example I was eating a breakfast of oats, some seeds & nuts, oat or rice milk, a bit of yoghurt and a piece of fruit a good few years ago. Very healthy I thought (and it kind of is...) but one bored day I worked out the calories and it was about 1000! Now I eat a meal of 400cals every day for breakfast, and it has meant the weight has stayed off me as I get older (52 last week) compared to many of my peers.
Also, 4 weeks isn't very long, on't get demoralised, keep at it!
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Kenny Croxdale
Level 7 Valued Member
Calories In, Calories Out
As per, ...
The key to weight loss for the majority of individuals centers around consuming a deficit of calories that are below your body's maintenance level. In plain English, "You need to eat less to weight less".
Your Diet Plan
You have no diet plan per se.
You have no idea of how calories you are consuming in a day.
That driving around trying to find a place without a road map.
Over Eating Healthy Foods
Individuals who over consume heathy food will gain weight.
Individual who consume the maintenance calorie levels will not lose weight.
Losing Weight On A Junk Food Diet
Individuals can lose weight on a Junk Food Diet.
CNN Twinkie diet helps nutrition professor lose 27 pounds
Mark Haub, Nutrition Professor at Kansas State University, demonstrated the importance of Calorie Counting.
Haub went on a Calorie Deficit Twinkie Diet. He demonstrating individuals on a Deficit Junk Food Calorie Diet can lose weigiht.
Per the article...
I (Haub) was eating healthier, but I wasn't healthy. I was eating too much."
"In weight loss, pure calorie counting is what matters most -- not the nutritional value of the food."
He shed 27 pounds in two months.
Haub's "bad" cholesterol, or LDL, dropped 20 percent and his "good" cholesterol, or HDL, increased by 20 percent. He reduced the level of triglycerides, which are a form of fat, by 39 percent.
Haub went on to state he does not recommend a Junk Food Diet, "Processed Foods", for losing weight.
Processed
As per...
The Take Home Message
Losing or Gaining Weight for the majority of individuals come down to Calories In, Calories Out.
Most obese individual will lose weight on a Calorie Deficit Diet. However, some obese individual have a genetic issue that does not allow them get down to a more normal weight.
Your weight issue is primarily a Calories In, Calories Out one.
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bluejeff
Level 7 Valued Member
+1 here. When I was trying to make sure I was eating enough to GAIN weight, it turned out I was getting more calories than I originally thought
Dydo
Level 5 Valued Member
Today I had dinner before 08.00 PM (that's how long it is in my country) and I don't know how I'm going to sleep. I'm hungry and that's it. Still, I'm a little embarrassed to read SF's opinion that many people around the world go to bed hungry every night. And they probably ate little or nothing during the day. But I can't sleep early. I get out of bed at 6.30-7.00 AM and go to bed around or just after midnight. I've just noticed that if I eat dinner earlier I lose weight more easily. I count calories sometimes, but to begin with I will remove anything containing flour of any kind, desserts and alcohol. Let's see what happens in a month. I will aim for a maximum of 2100 calories per day.
metaldrummer
Level 6 Valued Member
I'm with the calories in calories out crowd. Eat less and do more is my non scientific answer. If it were me I would keep protein moderately high along with a healthy dose of "good" fats and reduce carbs. I'd also add a fair bit of cardio in with my normal lifting, but not to the point it was unnecessarily fatiguing my cns.
- Big Baby Max Jones
- Big Baby Max Jones
Congratulations! You made it to military retirement! What's next?
BTW your well-described struggles with weight remind me of a lot of what I'm hearing in this book; you might find it interesting if you've never read it. The Secret Life of Fat by Sylvia Tara, PhD
Adachi
Level 7 Valued Member
Lucky for me , my last sergeant knew me pretty well. He warned me: "spend as much time as you can with you can with your family. Don't start playing gigs, or anything"
At this point, I'm just looking for as much boring as I can. More boring is more good for me, and the family, right now.
I'll definitely check out the book. Might be a bullseye for me.
I saw you say you bought/read Easy Strength for Fat Loss. Love to hear your thoughts and takeaways, here or a separate post.
GreenSoup
Level 6 Valued Member
This topic is interesting. I have been stuck at homeostasis where I was dieting at 2200 and not loosing weight. I believed my calorie counting was accurate. So when I read about reverse dieting I decided to try it. This is not the idea where you slowly reduce your deficit until you get to maintenance, but you go to maintenance and then boost your calories slowly so you do not get fat gain with them. Read this one:
www.precisionnutrition.com
...and maybe this:
From a calculated maintenance calories of 2600 and up to 2800 this week I am the same weight and dimensions I was when my dieting was stalled out at 2200 calories. My electrical impedance scale claims I have dropped 0.8% fat. I suspect that as I add additional oatmeal to my breakfast that the carbs will carry enough water weight into my glycogen system that I will gain at least a little weight. Average daily weigh ins are not showing that so far.
This is definitely a phenomenon to explore. I like the idea of repairing your hormonal response (I checked the PN page's bibliography) when following that bodybuilder. Interestingly, his RMR pretty much returned to usual right away with maintenance eating even if the hormones they tracked took about as much time to return to normal as they took to drop during the deficit.
I'm not saying this is definitely useful to break homeostasis, but if I can keep increasing my maintenance calories like this it might be. Imagine jacking your system up to 3300 calories as maintenance and turning your original maintenance calories into the relative equivalent of an extreme crash diet? It will be interesting to see what the weeks ahead have for me as I keep adding 100 to my daily calories for +700 each week. It takes the same attention to detail as a cutting diet but when cutting stalls out this might be an interesting way around it.
Reverse dieting: Can you really get better results by eating more?
Learn the truth about the reverse dieting method—plus everything you need to know to try it for yourself.
www.precisionnutrition.com
From a calculated maintenance calories of 2600 and up to 2800 this week I am the same weight and dimensions I was when my dieting was stalled out at 2200 calories. My electrical impedance scale claims I have dropped 0.8% fat. I suspect that as I add additional oatmeal to my breakfast that the carbs will carry enough water weight into my glycogen system that I will gain at least a little weight. Average daily weigh ins are not showing that so far.
This is definitely a phenomenon to explore. I like the idea of repairing your hormonal response (I checked the PN page's bibliography) when following that bodybuilder. Interestingly, his RMR pretty much returned to usual right away with maintenance eating even if the hormones they tracked took about as much time to return to normal as they took to drop during the deficit.
I'm not saying this is definitely useful to break homeostasis, but if I can keep increasing my maintenance calories like this it might be. Imagine jacking your system up to 3300 calories as maintenance and turning your original maintenance calories into the relative equivalent of an extreme crash diet? It will be interesting to see what the weeks ahead have for me as I keep adding 100 to my daily calories for +700 each week. It takes the same attention to detail as a cutting diet but when cutting stalls out this might be an interesting way around it.
Nightfly
Level 5 Valued Member
Ok an update - and of course, an appeal for free advice 
- from the original poster.
14 days of food tracking:
2500 kcal advised by the tracking app (seemed too low..) for a 240lb male
2800 kcal eaten daily for 14 days, average
105g protein on average daily
lost 2.7kg on the scales so far, 1.4 kg of that was on day 2.. the other 1.3kg on days 3-14.
Strength training has continued on track and my life is fairly active (10000 steps daily pretty constantly).
Your suggested problem definition and solutions were accurate, well done! Thoughts on the next few months, up calories etc? TIA
- from the original poster.14 days of food tracking:
2500 kcal advised by the tracking app (seemed too low..) for a 240lb male
2800 kcal eaten daily for 14 days, average
105g protein on average daily
lost 2.7kg on the scales so far, 1.4 kg of that was on day 2.. the other 1.3kg on days 3-14.
Strength training has continued on track and my life is fairly active (10000 steps daily pretty constantly).
Your suggested problem definition and solutions were accurate, well done! Thoughts on the next few months, up calories etc? TIA
silveraw
Level 9 Valued Member
Shoot for averaging 1-2% BW loss per week. Make adjustments as needed. There are some apps that are really good at this like Carbon Diet Coach and MacroFactor. But if you already have a handle on it with a regular calorie tracker, you shouldn't need the extra features like that.
Also nice job!
I would suggest eating 250-500 calories less per day to lose weight. If 500 is too hard, do 250. If 250 is too hard, you’ll probably need to change food choices to improve fullness and satisfaction.Ok an update - and of course, an appeal for free advice
14 days of food tracking:
2500 kcal advised by the tracking app (seemed too low..) for a 240lb male
2800 kcal eaten daily for 14 days, average
105g protein on average daily
lost 2.7kg on the scales so far, 1.4 kg of that was on day 2.. the other 1.3kg on days 3-14.
Strength training has continued on track and my life is fairly active (10000 steps daily pretty constantly).
Your suggested problem definition and solutions were accurate, well done! Thoughts on the next few months, up calories etc? TIA