Too Few Cals?

Korrie

Korrie

Moderator
My hubby has been on a diet for about 3 wks now. In the 1st 2 wks he lost about 12 pds, but now for his weigh in on the 3rd week, he has lost no weight at all.

I believe this is b/c of his very low calorie count. He is about 370 pds and is eating only 1500 cals averagely. He thinks I'm crazy.

What do you think??
 
the 12lbs in the first two weeks could be explained by cleaning up his diet -- but i'd be wiling to wager that he's not counting calories correctly...
 
well, i'm counting his cals for him, I have to make him all of his meals....do you think that having about 2000-2500 is more of a healthy range??? OR do you suggest he stay w/ his 1500 that he's more comfortable with and just wait it out??
 
Here is a sample day for him....

Breakfast
1 serving of regular oatmeal OR 1 serving of egg beaters and maybe a banana if we have any

snack
sometimes snacks on pretzels at work

Lunch
2 ff. turkey and lettuce rolls in high fiber wraps, about 350 cals
3 bananas
baby carrots

dinner
chicken breast
potatoe
veggie

snack
2f.f. chocolate popsicles
OR
s.f. jello w/ ff. cool whip
 
maleficent said:
1500 is low... and you know that...

higher is more sustainable long term...
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I know and I've been preaching it, I told him I should be eating 1800 and that he SHOULD be eating 2400......I can't make him eat more if he doesn't want to. but the question is, is too low of a diet why he didn't loose weight this week or just a coincedence b/c I know it happends from time to time.

he thinks 1500 might be too low, but he doesnt' believe it would keep him from loosing AND he's not comfortable consuming much more than that.
 
what's he eating when you arent in front of him?


depending on the size of the banana - that can be anywhere from 80 calories to 130 calories per banana...


Why so much fat free stuff? fat isn't totally evil - a little bit of fat adds some satisfaction..
 
As far as the fat free stuff goes, thats just the way he is. He's very weird about dieting. Lets say if I have 1200 cals for the day, I'm "supposed" to have 1800 right? So, i go ahead and get a snickers bar for 300 cals, according to him, thats cheating on my diet. Even though my cal count is actually 300 cals short.

ANYWAYS, I know he's not eating anything else b/c he runs a guitar store by himself. He can't leave or take a break. Besides, even if he worked at McD's I know him enough to know that he wouldn't tell me he's not cheating and then cheat, thats not his style. When he goes on a diet, he's on it, ya know?

So the final word here is that although the 1500 is too low, its not keeping him from loosing? Maybe his body's trying to catch up to the 2 good weeks he had?
 
Something doesn't add up.

He's comfortable eating 1500 calories per day (that you know of) yet he's 370 lbs?

I'll be blunt....

If he was eating 1500 calories day in and day out.... that's his natural intake..... he wouldn't be 370 lbs unless something was going on medically and even if that were the case, it would be a stretch.

So either a) he is eating more than you know, or b) his body has found a way to break the rules of thermodynamics and if that's the case, scientists are going to want to get their hands on him.

As far as the caloric intake, it seems a bit low. I'd shoot for 2500ish as it seems more sustainable on paper. However, I'm still thinking he's eating more than you realize.
 
As far as the fat free stuff goes, thats just the way he is. He's very weird about dieting. Lets say if I have 1200 cals for the day, I'm "supposed" to have 1800 right? So, i go ahead and get a snickers bar for 300 cals, according to him, thats cheating on my diet. Even though my cal count is actually 300 cals short.
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He's (and you too because you have the same thing going on) is stuck on a diet mentality and not a lifestyle change which is the only thing that will work long term...

How many "diets" has be been on - how many times has he lost weight and regained it again...

eat what you like, within moderation and learn portion sizes and calorie ranges....
 
if he's 370 pounds... even 2,000 calories seems incredibly low (if you go by the harris benedict formula). I'm not saying that I don't dip below that on bad days, but at 322, I know that if I tried to maintain a 1500 cal, or 2000 cal diet that I would feel miserable.
 
James said:
if he's 370 pounds... even 2,000 calories seems incredibly low (if you go by the harris benedict formula). I'm not saying that I don't dip below that on bad days, but at 322, I know that if I tried to maintain a 1500 cal, or 2000 cal diet that I would feel miserable.
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Believe it or not, if an obese people prefers to eat low calories relative to their supposed maintenance and it seems sustainable for them, personally, I don't have an issue with that.

50% of their maintenance is about as low as I'll go in most cases.

However, red flags shoot up when you have an obese individual claiming they are eating at this level, or less even, and not losing.
 
I wasn't interjecting professional advice, merely my opinion based on my personal experience. On days where I don't get the right kind of food, or enough of it, the first thing that happens is I reach for whatever crap food is lying around to make up for my lack of energy.
 
James said:
I wasn't interjecting professional advice
Click to expand...

No, I get that, and I certainly wasn't making the implication that you were. Sorry if it came across as if. I was simply saying what's low to some isn't low to others once diet modification is established.

merely my opinion based on my personal experience. On days where I don't get the right kind of food, or enough of it, the first thing that happens is I reach for whatever crap food is lying around to make up for my lack of energy.
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And truthfully, I tend to believe this is true for most people... big or small.

The fact of the matter is the more fat you are, the more *severe* you can afford to be with your deficit. This doesn't make it right for all fat people. Just b/c you can get away with something doesn't mean you should do it.

If you can, great. The weight will come off faster. If you can't, yet you keep trying... have fun spinning your wheels for years to come.

**The first sentence was pretty much the only thing directed at you James, everything else is general
 
Steve said:
Something doesn't add up.

He's comfortable eating 1500 calories per day (that you know of) yet he's 370 lbs?

I'll be blunt....

If he was eating 1500 calories day in and day out.... that's his natural intake..... he wouldn't be 370 lbs unless something was going on medically and even if that were the case, it would be a stretch.

So either a) he is eating more than you know, or b) his body has found a way to break the rules of thermodynamics and if that's the case, scientists are going to want to get their hands on him.

As far as the caloric intake, it seems a bit low. I'd shoot for 2500ish as it seems more sustainable on paper. However, I'm still thinking he's eating more than you realize.
Click to expand...

no, he hasn't always eaten 1500 cals....i know he's big b/c he always ate alot. I'm saying since he started the diet, he only feels comfortable eating 1500 cals, anything more than that he feels like he is cheating on his diet. I went to the store today and they tend to sell individual pieces of pie and cake, I bought him a single slice of sugar free cherry pie and he absolutely refused to take it to work with him, he said "sugar free doesn't mean calorie free" which duh, i get that, but thats my point, he doesn't eat ANYTHING more than 1500 cals and he will not eat anything junk food related.
 
You also know that the scale isn't a real reflection of how someone is doing - that it doesn't take into consideration waste etc.. your food plan is incredibly low in fiber and all the fat free stuff is high in sodium - so what's his beverage consumption like?

Has there been a change in measurements? or how his clothes are fitting
 
maleficent said:
He's (and you too because you have the same thing going on) is stuck on a diet mentality and not a lifestyle change which is the only thing that will work long term...

How many "diets" has be been on - how many times has he lost weight and regained it again...

eat what you like, within moderation and learn portion sizes and calorie ranges....
Click to expand...

I know, and thats why we've been arguing about the dieting alot. He goes for a "diet" and I try to go for the lifestyle change..we certainly do not see eye to eye on this matter.

He has only tried to loose weight a couple of times. Once long before I met him, he lost 70 pds and then saw he gained 1 pd back and got so discouraged he gave up all together, and the only other time since then (that I know of) was this past march or so, he lost like 30 pds in a month or so, then easter came and he ate easter dinner, and that was the end of that diet.
 
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