New here - Diet + exercise = very little difference?

H

Hellbore

New member
Hey all, I'm new here.

I'm 28, male, and I weighed about 240 lbs when I started my weight loss plan. I am a full-time college student and I also have a part-time desk job, so school and work both involve sitting most of the day. When I was in good shape I weighed 180 lbs. (rather muscular) and I want to get back down to that weight, so I guess i need to lose 60 lbs.

My plan simply consists of limiting my caloric intake to 1000 calories a day or less and doing at least 30 minutes a day of exercise 7 days a week. I have been alternating between 30 minutes of Tae Bo, or 30 minutes of jogging mixed with walking when necessary, or 30 minutes of rollerblading.

The Tae Bo was too intensive at first and I would have to stop after 20 or 30 minutes but today I got through the entire 45 minute workout for the first time. I can already tell I have a little more endurance now.

I also get a little bit of exercise walking from the far parking lot to my classes, which is 5 days a week. I walk about a mile and a half total on a school day, and right now that's 5 days a week.

I have been following this diet and exercise plan strictly for 2 weeks now, I have not cheated on my diet nor have I missed any days of working out. By my math, I should be losing weight. Well, something is wrong, or my body is magic or something, because the first 5 days I dropped about a pound a day, but now I have only lost a total of around 6 or 7 pounds (being careful that it isn't water weight). It seems like I should have lost more weight by now. I lost 5 pounds in the first week then the second week I have only lost like 1 or 2 pounds.

What am I doing wrong? My friend thinks I am replacing fat with muscle and since muscle weighs more, that's why I am not losing more weight. I don't think this is the case, because I really don't think it is possible to put on any significant amount of muscle in a mere 2 weeks. I think something else is going on here maybe.

Please let me know if you have any suggestions. Or, maybe I am miscalculating my calories? Here is an example of my daily diet, along with how many calories I THINK each thing contains. I eat pretty much this same thing every day:


Breakfast - 1 level handfull of rolled oats cooked in water, sweetened with Splenda no calorie sweetener.
Approx. calories: 300

Mid-day: Diet Mountain Dew to help me keep awake & on task
Approx. calories: 0

Lunch: 2 fried eggs (in very small amount of canola oil) garnished with 3 or 4 pepperoncini peppers, wash it down with Wal-mart "Fulfill" no calorie drink mix
Approx. calories: 200

Snack: 1 package of baby carrots
Calories listed on package: 25

Dinner: Lean Cuisine frozen entrees
Calories listed on package: 250 (sometimes less, rarely more)

Total approximate calories for the day: 775

I was looking at some website that had a calorie calculator and it claimed that a guy my weight burns around 3500 calories a day just resting or sitting. If that is true, and if you figure 300 calories or more burned by the 30 minutes of Tae Bo, that means I should be burning roughly 3000 calories more than I am eating. If you take 3500 calories to be 1 pound of weight loss, that should mean I would burn 85% of a pound a day, so about 6 pounds of weight should be lost PER WEEK. I only lost 5 pounds the first week and only 1 or 2 the second week.

So what gives? The numbers just don't add up and it's worrying me. I feel stronger and more agile already but I got into this for weight loss, not for athletic reasons. I really want to drop the weight!

P.S. - Another thing that worries me is that before starting this, I had regular bowel movements every day (gross I know). On this diet I have only been having bowel movements every other day or every 3 days. I don't know if this is a problem or just because I am eating smaller portions. Is there some no-calorie fiber I can use to make the food move through my system faster like it used to? It doesn't seem healthy for it to stay in there longer and I even wonder if my body is somehow extracting more nourishment from the food to compensate for me eating less. Maybe it's making super efficient use of the food since there is less of it, and that's why I'm not losing more weight?

EDIT: I forgot to mention, sometimes if I'm hungry and it's not time to eat yet, or if my stomach is growling, I eat a spoonful of mustard. It says right on the package, serving size is 1 teaspoon, zero calories. It helps settle my stomach and get rid of hunger, and I heard it speeds up your metabolism to eat spicy things.
 
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1000 calories is not NEARLY enough. Your body has gone into starvation mode.

What that means is that your body is going to try to conserve as many calories as possible and as much bodyfat as possible.

Since this isn't a diet that can be sustained, when you do go back to "normal" eating you will actually gain MORE weight and may end up weighing more than you did before.

What you want to do is SPEED UP your metabolism.....but what you're actually doing is slowing it down.

You should be eating 6 small meals a day consisting of:

A serving of LEAN protein (the size of your palm)
A serving of COMPLEX carbs (the size of your fist)
A serving of vegetables (without butter or fattening sauce)

You should be doing 3 days a week 20 minutes a day of intense cardio
and 3 days a week of resistance training to build muscle tone and speed up your metabolism.

Alternate upper body workout and lower body workout.

Example:

Mon - Upper body routine (shouldn't take more than 45 min)
Tues - 20 min interval cardio training
wed - lower body workout (shouldn't take more than 45 min)
thurs - 20 min interval cardio training
fri - upper body workout (again, shouldn't take more than 45 min)
sat - 20 min interval cardio training

ALWAYS take a day off....make it the same day though.
Also if you follow this program to the "t" you can have 1 splurge day where you can eat whatever you want. Just make sure that you are right back at it when Monday comes around.

The next week will be the same except you switch the upper and lower body days so you do 2 days of lower body where as the wek before you did 2 days of upper body.

Make sense?

To get more detailed information about this specific program and workout routines you should visit the Body-for-life website. It's completely free and it really does work.


Cindy
 
Thanks for the advice and I appreciate it...I'm not arguing BUT I'm a little bit skeptical so don't take this the wrong way. After all I did ask for advice. Anyway my concern is, your plan looks like it involves less exercise than what I'm doing now. Also, I don't have access to a gym right now so I can only do body weight exercises, I can't do weight training (I also can't afford to buy weights). Is it enough for now to just do pushups and situps and things like that for the resistance training part? For example, if I did pushups, situps, lunges, wall squats, wall pushups, umm...what else... you know what I mean...

Also, you mention starvation mode. I just read someone else's rant post that says starvation mode doesn't exist and that it takes a long time for your body to lower its metabolism a significant amount. How could it happen in 2 weeks? I find it very hard to believe that my body could be burning anywhere near 1000 calories in a day, it HAS to be a lot more than that. I work out, I walk around campus (I also wear 5 lb ankle weights to school), I take the stairs to my 3rd floor class... I dunno...

Couldn't there be some other explanation to why I'm not losing more weight? I really want to lose 60 lbs in the next 6 months and I don't think I can do that unless I stay on a strict diet like what I'm doing now. I know a guy at school who lost 100 pounds in a year and he didn't even exercise, all he did was limit his calorie intake, that's who got me started on this diet.
 
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Ive read something that sounds about what she is talking about, the whole thing was called Clean eating or something, but it was from like a woman's health magazine(bored in the bathroom).

Where you want to keep your metabolism constant while really cutting out sugars and the bad fats, but still eat good fats and good carbs etc. etc.

I don't know if shes talking about the same thing or not, but it recommended 6 smaller meals a day. So I dunno. :)
 
If you want proof of the results I'm talking about go to bodyforlife.com

I can't explain to you here how the body works, it would take too much time and space.

At least check it out.


Cindy
 
Your body is an engine...it needs fuel to run efficiently. It gets this fuel from food. It NEEDS more than 1,000 calories. In fact, it NEEDS more than 1,500 calories to run itself properly. You're going to drive yourself into the ground with this diet.
 
dariqueen said:
Your body is an engine...it needs fuel to run efficiently. It gets this fuel from food. It NEEDS more than 1,000 calories. In fact, it NEEDS more than 1,500 calories to run itself properly. You're going to drive yourself into the ground with this diet.
Click to expand...

Why is that? I have so much fat... why can't I just let my body use it? Isn't that what fat is for?

I never understood all this stuff about starvation mode and not burning fat.. It doesn't make sense to me, when times are good and there is plenty of food, your body puts on fat...FOR WHAT PURPOSE? Because people say, when there isn't enough food, well tada! Your body goes into starvation mode and DOESN'T burn the fat, or it burns muscle instead, etc? That makes no sense to me! If that is the case, why do we put on fat in the first place, to what purpose?? Stupid body!

Also my friend who lost 100 pounds, he looks great, he was 300 pounds when he started his diet. His diet was a 1200 calorie diet and he STAYED on that diet for a solid year. By the end of the year he had lost 100 pounds so he increased his calorie intake to maintain, he didn't need to lose any more. Is he special? Can't I do the same thing?

Would I make believers of you guys if I stay on my 1000 calorie diet for the rest of the summer, and lose 5 pounds a week or die trying?? :)
 
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I guarantee he lost lean muscle in the process.

Did you check out the body for life website?

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CindyF said:
I guarantee he lost lean muscle in the process.

Did you check out the body for life website?

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Click to expand...

You're not gonna let me off the hook until I check that website are ya? Hehe...

I'm going there right now...

P.S. - I do feel kinda funny on this diet, by the time dinner time comes around I start getting a bit dizzy, I definitely know it's time to eat! Also when I finished my 45 minute Tae Bo workout today I hit the showers, and I kinda passed out in the shower, so maybe I pushed too hard today. I'm just really determined to change things, I want to look attractive and sexy again so I can find the kind of girlfriend I want. In fact there's a girl in my class I'm trying to impress, that's kinda what got me started hehe. I'm tired of feeling gross about my body. It really makes me unhappy.

P.P.S. - Even if my diet is wrong... I just want to say... I really like Tae Bo! Anyone else do it? I bet it's a pretty hilarious sight to watch a fat guy flopping around donig Tae Bo lol...
 
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Hey CindyF I checked out that website. Do you work for them or something? I found lots of info on there, but the most prominent thing I see is them pushing all kinds of supplements.

I don't believe in supplements to lose weight, I think it's a bunch of crap. I have tried MANY kinds of supplements in the past for weight loss and not had any special kind of success with any of them. Besides, most of the time, if you use those supplements and do everything they suggest along with the supplement, such as diet and exercise, you would lose weight anyway without the supplement hehe...

I'll keep looking around the site for useful information but I am definitely not impressed by all the snake oil stuff they are selling...
 
No, I don't work for them. I just used their fitness philosophy to get in great shape.

The only supplement of theirs that I ever used was the Myoplex Lite meal replacement (chocolate cream, yum). I like the way it tastes and it helps me get the needed nutrition when I work out alot.

Don't pay any attention to the supplements just read the information about eating properly and exercise. Plus the before and after pictures are highly motivating.

I love looking at the pictures. I can't believe some of the changes, it's amazing.

Again, just read the information about diet and exercise. It REALLY DOES WORK.


Cindy

P.S. I'm trying to help you here.

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You can keep on eating 1000 calories if you want, its your choice. Bowel movements are gonna be less because everything you're eating is being used, whats left.

Just because someone else did, doesnt mean it was the best or smartest choice. I believe you could lose lots of weight on that diet if you do it, but I wouldnt advocate it.
 
Well, I'll try increasing my calorie intake to 1500 or so, but I will probably have to wait until next week to try that because I only have enough food in the fridge for my current diet and I don't have any money to buy more food right now. So, I'll probably stay on this diet another week then I'll try higher intake.
 
Check other people's diaries out and you'll see there are some women who are weighing about 150 pounds and losing a lot of weight on about twice as many calories as you are. You really will do yourself a disservice of you try and limit yourself to 1000 calories per day. You may lose weight, but as previously has been mentioned your body will go into starvation mode and you will stop losing. You may even wind up gaining. Take advantage of some of the knowledge that is available here and elsewhere and you will find your efforts much more effective. Good luck.
 
Oops I just realized I made a mistake.

When I started I weighed myself on my bathroom scale. My latest measurement was done at my parents' house on their scale. I thought it would be the same as mine but I I just weighed myself on my own scale to check, and it says I have lost 10 pounds! That makes me feel a little better.
 
Hellbore,
Congratulations on your recent weight loss. I always recommend celebrating any type of success.

I do agree with CindyF to a certain degree.
You will need to increase your calorie intake. You have to remember that everyones body is different, and you may not get the same results as someone else.

Personally I am not a believer in supplements either, as your body can only heal itself. No medication, pill or supplement will give you that miracle cure, or magic weight loss.

I have worked with many Nutritional companies in the past 5 years, and have received a lot of knowledge from them, but have decided to venture out on my own to look for more natural ways for people to become healthier.

But in the meantime, increase your calorie intake, number 1, number 2 start drinking more water! This is the first thing you can do to start flushing out your system of all the toxins from your fat cells. Must be distilled or bottled water, ABSOLUTELY no tap water.

Hope this helps, and understand weight loss, and getting your body back to a fat burning machine rather than a fat storing machine, is a marathon, and not a sprint.

I hope this helps, and hope you keep updating your success with all of us.

- Aaron
 
Read this post of mine from another thread:

People will never get this on this board. Let's pretend your maintenance is 2500 calories per day. This means, you are eating 2500 calories worth of energy per day and you are expending roughly 2500 calories worth of energy per day. Results in a net break-even and theoretically, there is no weight gain or loss. Right?

BTW, 2500 calorie maintenance level would be for someone roughly 170 lbs. The bigger you are, the higher your maintenance level is.

INFORMED individuals looking to lose weight will cut calories by some small margin, say 10-20%. As they begin to lose weight, their metabolism will slow, even though they are going about weight loss in an appropriate fashion. You can't continue losing weight forever at your original deficit. Your metabolism catches up to you and it slows to a point where you won't see results. At this point, depending on a few factors, you could cut calories again to trigger another deficit based on your NEW maintenance level.

There comes a point where this will become counter-productive. You can't expect to continually play the "slashing calories" game and expect to be healthy AND expect to see results. There comes a point where you CAN'T eat any less and ideally, you don't follow the path this far! After a certain point, I recommend starting a cyclical diet where you bounce calories up and down. Or a diet including refeeds of carbs. There are multiple options you can execute once you come to this fork in the road.

Now, around here, most people cut calories originally by some ridiculous amount. Still using a maintenance of 2500 calories, I find many around here will slash to 1200, or something ludicrous like this. Why a 50% calorie slash seems OK to some of you I will never understand. Our bodies are very adaptive, finely tuned machines that are built to survive. And you better believe that you are sending many, many signals to your body that say, "Time to change physiologically because it looks like we are going through some hard times."

One of the greatest, actually, the greatest metabolic studies ever conducted was the Minnesota Starvation Diet. Here, they slashed calories by 50% off of maintenance to realize the impacts STARVATION had on post war and Jewish victims of the Nazis, and how to best go about rehabbing them. The sad thing is, I see a lot of people doing this same thing around here.

When you do this the right way, your body will adapt and progress will slow. What do you think doing it the wrong way does?

I have no idea any of the original poster's stats or how she is going about weight loss, so please don't think I am directing this at you.

But something that is directed at you is this. You say you don't understand how you can lose weight for weeks and then, plateau. That is because you don't understand how your body works. Your body adapts. The same technique, have it be a certain calorie intake, a certain way of exercising, or whatever have you will have to be manipulated and changed if you are going to realize continued success.

And for those of you who do things the least optimal way through starvation* are going to have a long, hard road ahead of you if your goal is actually looking and feeling good, and not just what the number on the scale says.

*realize that starvation does not actually mean eating nothing and being on the verge of death. i mean depriving your body of the basic macro and micro nutrients as well as sufficient calories in so that you are creating a below par atmosphere for your overall health and continued success.
 
And this:

Let's keep this simple.

Why doesn't our body utilize our existing fat stores as energy, to aid in hypertrophy (muscle building)?

You have to remember this very simple fact. Having an abundance of food at arm's length is a rather new dilemna, in the grand scheme of things. I mean, go back a thousand years and you were not able to eat, how we eat today. And 1000 years isn't that long even. Go back 10,000 years and wow, things were much, much different.

We did not have a continuous foods supply. Excess food was not an issue and humans had to develop the ability to survive periods with low to no energy.

Because of this, our bodies want to store excess energy as fat. It is calorically dense and easily stored. On the flip-side, muscle is energetically costly. This means adding new muscle is not a *cheap* process in terms of energy (calorie) utilization.

Add to this, ultimately, aside from the base level of muscle that each of us has, additional muscle is worthless in our *body's mind.*

When the early man found a huge stash of food, he would gorge until he was full and then some. It doesn't take science to tell us that this will result in a gain of fat. He did this so that when the winter came and everything died or ran for the equator, he had enough energy to maintain life during this period.

Mind you, this went on for more years than you can fathom from your short time here on lovely Earth. Adaptation is an amazing thing. It takes a VERY long time to happen. Extremely slow process.

We adapted for survival during a time when food (energy) was scarce.

Back when, if the body decided to use a ton of energy to make muscle instead of fat, you would have stored less gross energy in a tissue that is harder to extract energy from, and ultimately it would have died during food-scarce periods.

To add to this, this is why we have many systems in place physiologically that ensure we don't under-eat. Stop eating for a few days. See how hungry you become. See how your cravings shoot through the roof. The endocrine system, primarily, is amazingly responsive to under-consumption of food.

Flip this. With over-consumption (something that is commonplace this day in age) not so much. Our bodies are relatively weak at detecting over-consumption due to the times long ago.

So, in a nutshell: Our bodies like storing fat for survival even though we don't need it today. Our bodies don't like storing muscle.

Hence, you will never find a human that is able to convert fat to muscle. At least not in the 21st century. Things might be different in the 31st.
 
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