Starving doesn't work... but it does for celebrities?!

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pinkcouture

New member
There are many things I don't fully understand about expending more calories than you are consuming deal in order to lose weight.

Food wise, do I make sure to never eat till I am full, always staying a little hungry after each meal?

If that's not the case, and you can eat till you are just full, then how does one get to be as thin as the girl in my picture--Cheryl Cole? How she looks, body wise, is what I am aiming for. Can a body like hers be achieved through exercise AND still feeling full?

I just have trouble believing she has 3-6 square meals a day and still be able to look waiflike as she does now. She probably, like many starlets, "starve" themselves to a certain extent. All the literature says it DOESN'T work, but clearly it does work on these starlets and people like Cheryl Cole.

Can someone explain this for me?

Bottom line is I don't want to be chunky through doing too much exercise. I want to have a svelte waiflike figure like Cheryl's and I'm not sure she does much weight training.
 
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You can't get "chunky" from doing too much exercise. Women especially simply don't put on "chunky" muscle w/out the help of drugs.

But ultimately, to a large degree what you look like at a healthy weight depends on your genes. Some people simply are not built to look "waifish" and will harm themselves trying to achieve a look that simply is not possible for them.

Everyone can look slim and fit, but not everyone can be a "waif".
 
They do not (should not) starve themselves. They eat the appropriate amount of calories that is just slightly less than what they will burn off in a day to lose weight (Remember that you burn calories even while doing 'nothing' as your body still needs to pump it's heart and breath and ect)

For me I can eat about 1600 calories a day and lose weight quite easily (I am 5'4 and weight about 150)
So I can eat in a day something like this
Bagel w/ butter or lite cream cheese For breakfast
Apple for snack
Pasta dish from the frozen Michelina's for lunch
10 Almonds for snack
I have enough calories left over that I can pretty much have anything I want for supper such as potatoes or noodles and gravy, chicken or salmon, corn ect. (with proper portion controls)

And there I have 5 'meals' in one day yet I am still eating only 1600 calories a day and I won't feel hungry.

Then to maintain they eat the same amount as what they burn.
Majority of female celebrities do do some sort of strength/weight/ toning workouts.

And remember, if you are used to eating a LOT (which is probably true if you are overweight to begin with) then at first you will feel 'hungry' even while eating the right amount of calories because your body isn't used to it. Once it readjusts you will start feeling more 'full' than you used to.
 
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It's amazing how simple it really is. However, back when I was a human planet I was absolutely CLUELESS. The idea of running a calorie deficit was just not on the radar. Once you figure that out you are pretty much golden.
 
MysticRealm said:
They do not (should not) starve themselves. They eat the appropriate amount of calories that is just slightly less than what they will burn off in a day to lose weight (Remember that you burn calories even while doing 'nothing' as your body still needs to pump it's heart and breath and ect)

For me I can eat about 1600 calories a day and lose weight quite easily (I am 5'4 and weight about 150)
So I can eat in a day something like this
Bagel w/ butter or lite cream cheese For breakfast
Apple for snack
Pasta dish from the frozen Michelina's for lunch
10 Almonds for snack
I have enough calories left over that I can pretty much have anything I want for supper such as potatoes or noodles and gravy, chicken or salmon, corn ect. (with proper portion controls)

And there I have 5 'meals' in one day yet I am still eating only 1600 calories a day and I won't feel hungry.

Then to maintain they eat the same amount as what they burn.
Majority of female celebrities do do some sort of strength/weight/ toning workouts.

And remember, if you are used to eating a LOT (which is probably true if you are overweight to begin with) then at first you will feel 'hungry' even while eating the right amount of calories because your body isn't used to it. Once it readjusts you will start feeling more 'full' than you used to.
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Wow! Your plan sounds really great! It's embarrassing to admit but I've never really known how to count calories. How do I tell how many calories my body needs each day? I am 5'2 and weigh about 114LBS.

I know if I only eat a bagel for breakfast and an apple before noon, I'll still feel hungry. Is this a "safe" feeling to have in order to achieve healthy weight loss? To have a little hunger leftover still?
 
It's embarrassing to admit but I've never really known how to count calories. How do I tell how many calories my body needs each day? I am 5'2 and weigh about 114LBS.
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At 114 lbs, you would need to eat around 1200 calories a day to lose weight. But also at that height and weight, you are a healthy weight and should not be losing any more. It's more likely that you need to shape up by exercising to tighten up your body and get that "toned" fit look.

I know if I only eat a bagel for breakfast and an apple before noon, I'll still feel hungry.
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Probably the reason you're hungry still is that you're carb loading and not getting any protein or healthy fats. Protein and fat help you feel full for longer. A better breakfast would be yogurt w/ fruit or eggs or oatmeal. Then with your apple for a snack you could have a bit of peanut butter or some cheese or something like that. Adding in the fat and protein will help you not be so hungry.

Here's what I eat most days:
Breakfast - yogurt w/ fruit
Snack - apple and cheese
Lunch - tuna or chicken sandwich on whole grain bread, small salad
Snack - tomato juice and boiled egg
After my workout - protein powder
Dinner - some kind of lean mean (fish, chicken, shrimp, pork), rice or potato, veggies (either a salad or roasted veg or whatever).

That comes to about 1400-1600 calories per day, depending on how much butter or oil I use in preparing my food.
 
KaraCooks said:
At 114 lbs, you would need to eat around 1200 calories a day to lose weight. But also at that height and weight, you are a healthy weight and should not be losing any more. It's more likely that you need to shape up by exercising to tighten up your body and get that "toned" fit look.

Probably the reason you're hungry still is that you're carb loading and not getting any protein or healthy fats. Protein and fat help you feel full for longer. A better breakfast would be yogurt w/ fruit or eggs or oatmeal. Then with your apple for a snack you could have a bit of peanut butter or some cheese or something like that. Adding in the fat and protein will help you not be so hungry.

Here's what I eat most days:
Breakfast - yogurt w/ fruit
Snack - apple and cheese
Lunch - tuna or chicken sandwich on whole grain bread, small salad
Snack - tomato juice and boiled egg
After my workout - protein powder
Dinner - some kind of lean mean (fish, chicken, shrimp, pork), rice or potato, veggies (either a salad or roasted veg or whatever).

That comes to about 1400-1600 calories per day, depending on how much butter or oil I use in preparing my food.
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Thanks for the tips.

I am at a healthy weight but I do have some flab around my abs that I want to get rid of.

If I eat something like what you eat daily would I skip out on the boiled egg and the cheese in the morning to come below the 1200 quota? Thanks!
 
I didn't say it was the best/healthiest eating plan. (I am an extremely picky eater but anyways) I just wanted to show her how much food one could eat while still being in a calorie deficit.
 
KaraCooks said:
At 114 lbs, you would need to eat around 1200 calories a day to lose weight. But also at that height and weight, you are a healthy weight and should not be losing any more. It's more likely that you need to shape up by exercising to tighten up your body and get that "toned" fit look.

Probably the reason you're hungry still is that you're carb loading and not getting any protein or healthy fats. Protein and fat help you feel full for longer. A better breakfast would be yogurt w/ fruit or eggs or oatmeal. Then with your apple for a snack you could have a bit of peanut butter or some cheese or something like that. Adding in the fat and protein will help you not be so hungry.

Here's what I eat most days:
Breakfast - yogurt w/ fruit
Snack - apple and cheese
Lunch - tuna or chicken sandwich on whole grain bread, small salad
Snack - tomato juice and boiled egg
After my workout - protein powder
Dinner - some kind of lean mean (fish, chicken, shrimp, pork), rice or potato, veggies (either a salad or roasted veg or whatever).

That comes to about 1400-1600 calories per day, depending on how much butter or oil I use in preparing my food.
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Actually after using this little calorie calculator:

ACS :: Calorie Counter

it tells me that at 114 pounds, and with light activity level, someone like me needs 1814 calories to maintain my current weight. So in order to lose a pound a week I will need to achieve a calorie deficit of 500 per day.

Now, wouldn't I feel hungry each day because of this deficit? Afterall, according to this calculator, 1814 calories is what I need to feel full each day. So if I eat only 1200 calories a day, there is a 600 calorie deficit... WOULDN'T THAT MEAN I WILL BE HUNGRY??

For example, very often after a workout, I'll literally be starving, and I will gorge myself with food. Maybe because I hadn't eaten enough prior to the workout, but I've never been able to figure out what to do with that hunger. I didn't know if I should endure it (thinking that must be the deficit kicking in!) or eat (this will make the deficit less - not good for weight loss).

You can tell I am new to the concept of counting calories.
 
Now, wouldn't I feel hungry each day because of this deficit? Afterall, according to this calculator, 1814 calories is what I need to feel full each day.
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How can a "calorie" make you feel full? :)

The number of calories has NOTHING to do with "feeling full". 1814 calories are the number of calories you need to take into your body in order to maintain your current weight.

WHAT you eat will dictate whether you feel full or not ... you can eat 1800 calories of candy and not feel full. You can eat 1200 calories of broccoli and be stuffed.

For example, very often after a workout, I'll literally be starving, and I will gorge myself with food.
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Again, WHAT you eat is as important as how many calories you eat. Most people are often very hungry right after working out. The goal here is not to "gorge" yourself on random food, but to find the right food that helps you feel full AND provide nutrients for your body.

A good post workout snack should contain a good amount of protein and some carbs. Ideally something like cottage cheese or yogurt and some fruit - not "gorging" but just a single serving of each. Many people use protein powder after their workout - mixing it in skimmed milk or even in juice as a way to get a nice protein boost and to assuage that hungry feeling.

But again ... the whole point here is not to gorge on food, but to make healthy choices that fall within your calorie guidelines.
 
KaraCooks said:
How can a "calorie" make you feel full? :)

The number of calories has NOTHING to do with "feeling full". 1814 calories are the number of calories you need to take into your body in order to maintain your current weight.

WHAT you eat will dictate whether you feel full or not ... you can eat 1800 calories of candy and not feel full. You can eat 1200 calories of broccoli and be stuffed.

Again, WHAT you eat is as important as how many calories you eat. Most people are often very hungry right after working out. The goal here is not to "gorge" yourself on random food, but to find the right food that helps you feel full AND provide nutrients for your body.

A good post workout snack should contain a good amount of protein and some carbs. Ideally something like cottage cheese or yogurt and some fruit - not "gorging" but just a single serving of each. Many people use protein powder after their workout - mixing it in skimmed milk or even in juice as a way to get a nice protein boost and to assuage that hungry feeling.

But again ... the whole point here is not to gorge on food, but to make healthy choices that fall within your calorie guidelines.
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Oh, I never saw it like that. Thanks for clarifying it for me.

Do you know anything about BMR? I'm trying to figure out what my true BMR is. According to different sources, I am either 1334 or 1840. 1840 if it takes into account my daily light exercise, and 1334 if using only my weight, age, height, and gender. I have a little diet and fitness journal that allows me to log how much of a calorie deficit I made each day. In it they give a formula that goes like:

Calories consumed - Calories used (i.e. burned) = Net Calories - BMR = Net Calorie Deficit

If I can get my daily calorie deficit to be 500, then in 7 days' time I will have lost 1 pound.

I believe the 1814 figure is my BMR, i.e. the number of calories I must have in me each day to live and function properly. I can't understand how going below that number could lead to healthy weight-loss. If 1840 is what I need to function, then wouldn't going below that be highly dangerous? Many books say you shouldn't deprive your body of too many calories, and women should not go below 1200 calories each day. And yet the little example in my book goes like:

1351 (Calories consumed) - Calories used (606) = Net Calories (745) - BMR (1657) = 912 (Net calorie deficit)

This person only had 745 calories to work with that day! how is that healthy?
 
No, going below that is not dangerous (as long as it isn't crazy low). To my knowledge your BMR or whatever is the amount of calories you need to maintain your weight to live and function properly WITHOUT using up the fat and such on your body (only functioning on the calories you eat that day). Since you want to lose the fat on your body then eating a bit less allows your body to work off of it's fat stores.
(someone correct me if I am wrong)
 
Do you know anything about BMR? I'm trying to figure out what my true BMR is. According to different sources, I am either 1334 or 1840. 1840 if it takes into account my daily light exercise, and 1334 if using only my weight, age, height, and gender.
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If it takes into account your daily exercise, then it's not your BMR.

BMR is your Base Metabolic Rate. That's the amount of calories you burn if you were to do nothing else all day but lie in bed. It's the amount of calories your body needs to live - to breathe, to make your heart beat, to circulate your blood, etc. Your BMR is usually figured out using the Harris-Benedict equation. For women, the equation is:
655 + (9.6 X weight in kilos) + (1.8 X height in cm) - (4.7 X age in years).
For you, using that equation, you get a BMR of 1393 (I'm estimating your age at 25yrs).

Of course you don't just lie in bed every day and do nothing, so you have to figure out how many more calories you need to do the things you do every day - get up, go to work, eat, clean house, exercise, etc. If you are lightly active, then you multiply your BMR by 1.35.

So that gets you a maintenance figure of 1881 calories. That's MAINTENANCE. That's what you have to eat to maintain your current weight if you keep the same level of activity.

So that's close to the figures you got.

AS for the rest of it, you're WAY overthinking it. Look, if you eat 1300 calories a day (that's 500 less than your maintenance), you're still getting all the nutrition from those 1300 calories. You're burning them off and winding up in a bit of a calorie deficit at the end of the day, which will cause you to lose weight. But you're not starving yourself because you're still getting the nutrition from those 1300 calories. Ok? Net calories, in terms of nutrition, mean diddly squat, so dont' even worry about those. That's just a number to confuse you.

And the other thing to remember is that you're not doing this for the rest of your life. You're going to do it until you drop a few pounds and then you're going to go back to eating maintenance calories to keep that healthy weight.

BUT.

This is important, so really pay attention to this part: At your height, you are already a HEALTHY WEIGHT. You don't need to lose more weight. What you need to do is exercise and firm up the muscles you've got so that you get that lean, fit look that you want.

Dieting yourself into a "waifish" look when your body might not be able to achieve that *IS* dangerous and unhealthy. If you currently weigh 110 lbs, you're near the bottom of the weight range already for someone who is 5'2". The lowest recommendation for someone of your height is around 107 lbs or so.

So again, EXERCISE. Lift weights. Do bodyweight exercises. Walk, use the elliptical or the bike, or whatever cardio you like. You really don't need to lose more weight where you are now.
 
KaraCooks said:
Dieting yourself into a "waifish" look when your body might not be able to achieve that *IS* dangerous and unhealthy. If you currently weigh 110 lbs, you're near the bottom of the weight range already for someone who is 5'2". The lowest recommendation for someone of your height is around 107 lbs or so.

So again, EXERCISE. Lift weights. Do bodyweight exercises. Walk, use the elliptical or the bike, or whatever cardio you like. You really don't need to lose more weight where you are now.
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^^ this.

If your goal is to get "toned" then you're not going to do that by cardio and losing weight. What you need to do is up your calories, and hit the gym doing resistance training.
 
Jynus said:
^^ this.

If your goal is to get "toned" then you're not going to do that by cardio and losing weight. What you need to do is up your calories, and hit the gym doing resistance training.
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I don't know. At this point I would be happy to just lose the flab first. Could I lose the weight first and THEN think about toning? It just feels like on the one hand I need to lower my calories and do cardio to lose weight, but I also want to tone up which means I have to up my calories. I have to go at this one thing at a time!
 
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