Calorie deprivation - how bad is it really?

[channlluv]

Okay, so DH bought me an iPhone for my birthday and I've set it up with their Lose It! app (free, if anyone's got an iPhone and is interested). It's a weight loss program that allows you to record your food intake and exercise. You input your age, current weight, goal weight, and it tells you how many calories you can budget for each day and how long it should take you to reach your goal. My calorie budget is 1553. (ETA to goal weight: July 2010.)

You record everything you eat as you eat it and it tells you how many calories you have left for the day. I've heard of a similar concept with someone doing this by hand using a checkbook register to calculate. When you add in your exercise, it adds back more calories.

I only started a few days ago, on the 25th, and it's an easy program to use, and I already see that I really need to watch my sodium intake and up my protein intake vs. carbs.

On Saturday, when I rode 50 miles, I had a calorie deficit of 1,500. DH said I should eat more that day (this was after we'd already gone to Islands for lunch), so we stopped for frozen yogurt on the way home from driving his century route (he's riding the Tour of Poway this Sunday). I still had a 1,000 calorie deficit for the day.

Now, for you nutrition experts, is that really that bad? Won't my body pull on my fat stores to make up the difference? I didn't work out today and I'm only down 200 calories for the day, so I'm guessing cumulatively, it will even out, but still. Two or three 2,000-calorie deficit days on top of the already-budgeted-to-lose-2lbs-per-week, that would make me lose even more, wouldn't it? Or will it backfire and make my body think it's starving and I'll never drop below 240? Argh. It's just all so doggone complicated.

Roxy

[staceysue]

When you try to lose weight too fast, it backfires because your body goes into a hypometabolic state. It thinks it's starving and becomes very efficient at saving calories. Your energy drops. You have to keep your energy level high.

I lost over 60 lbs several years ago and I've kept 40 lbs of it off. My personal experience has been that it's good to alternate days that you have a big calorie deficit with days where you get enough calories or even a few extra calories. You have to shake things up a bit. I also found that my weight loss would show up the morning after a day that I ate a lot. For example, I ran about 5 days a week and watched my calorie intake closely. Friday (the 5th day of being "good") the scale wouldn't have budged. Saturday, I'd skip working out and go out drinking and consume a lot of extra calories. Sunday morning, the scale would show I'd dropped 2 lbs. It worked that way pretty consistently.

[Maxxxie]

The Lose It app sounds very similiar to the Biggest Loser Club's system. Basically recording calories in vs calories out.

From memory, BLC recommend a daily deficit of between 300-500 calories from exercise. They also recommend that you get within 200 calories of your daily intake allocation, and never below 1200 calories. Their recommended intakes are based on your current weight and current activity levels. For reference, I started out at 1800 cal per day when I was 95Kg. Now I'm at around 67Kg, and my daily allocation is 1500 per day.

If you under-eat, your body will go into starvation mode (though the deficit required to produce that result is not known to me). When I started doing longer rides, burning up to 3000 cal, I asked the BLC nutritionists for advice on whether I should eat more, and if so, what. Their response was that if I felt hungry, that I should feel free to eat more, even if meant going over my normal daily intake allocation (which is based on the assumption that the exercise you do is between 300-500 cal per day - not 3000!). They recommended high protein foods so that I would feel full for longer. Their emphasis was on making sure I ate good food - not processed snacks or calorie-dense rubbish or whatnot. For me, a couple of bananas really hit the spot after a long ride. Boiled eggs are good too.

You need to ensure you don't overdo it. Regular small lots of exercise will produce weight loss. Regular huge lots of exercise will leave you feeling tired, hungry and unmotivated. The key is balance (which you already know, since you're monitoring cals in vs cals out). I can tell you from experience that if you stick to your calorie allocation, and exercise moderately 2-3 times a week, you will lose the weight (28 kilos, gone)! The weight loss I achieved on weeks where I did one or more very long rides (on top of the regular 2-3 moderate sessions) was not substantially different from the weight loss achieved from weeks where I did 2-3 moderate exercise sessions.

Hope this helps

Max

[aeiea]

Argh. It's just all so doggone complicated.

Yeah... this is why I don't count calories anymore nor do I work out incessantly. Both require vigilance which is not sustainable for a lifestyle change, which is really what most people are going for when they want to lose weight for the long-term.

And by work-out vigiliance, it wasn't the tiresome working out that was getting to me. It was constantly watching and monitoring what I ate and when I ate it, so that I wouldn't bonk out and/or overeat to compensate for a long workout. Then it was the injuries and recovering from injuries from working out...

And counting calories ... as much as Lose It was helpful in the beginning, mostly for portion control and understanding of current ways, it just got tedious in the long term. Which I suppose is a good thing -- that you can feel like you've graduated from it since you now have a better informed guesstimate of how what you're eating will impact your diet.

Not that I recommend this as a great piece of writing nor health advice, but the general concept of the book "French Women Don't Get Fat" is aim for long-term temperance and portion control. Bryan Kest, Power Yoga guy, said it in a more succinct way. He said you do yoga for fitness, for balance, for calmness. But not for weight loss: "If you want to lose weight, eat less."

Of course, making an informed decision of what to eat less of is useful... but generally I feel like all the math weighs us down.

To each their own, btw.

[cylegoddess]

If you want to lose and keep it off, your going to need some weight training.
Its the only way to decrease body fat, increase muscle which will need more calories per pound.( its 17 kj per fat kilo,as opposed to 310 or so for muscle, at rest).
Too much calorie lack and your body will not function as well( immune system, ect).
Cardio will only take you so far.

[witeowl]

It depends. I can easily handle a deficit of 500-1000 calories. Get me up to 1500 or beyond and I'm biting off heads. I've heard that it's a hormonal reaction.

[Veronica]

Have you talked to a doctor or a nutritionist?

Veronica

[azfiddle]

I'm following this discussion with some interest.... trying to maintain a weight loss program (weightwatchers) as my cycling has increased from a few miles a week up to 80 -90 right now. I've increased how much I'm eating but possibly not enough, and I'm still losing but it's been averaging about 1/2 lb a week.

Sharon

[Veronica]

How long are you exercising per day?

Personally, I don't increase my calorie intake for a normal day's workout and I workout on average 2 hours per day 4 days a week on 1500 calories. I weigh 146 and have 20% body fat. I don't measure my food or count calories - I just tend to eat the same thing every day. I use to weigh 180 and had 30+% body fat so I'm only relating what has worked for me. Losing weight is hard. There is no easy formula and it takes discipline. I know the OP has been struggling with her weight for a while from her posts here and I really think talking to a doctor or a nutritionist would be a good thing.

Just because you've increased your output, you can't increase your intake if you want to lose weight.

The only time I increase my intake is if I have raced. Even if I do a seriously long ride the only increase in my intake is what I ate while riding.

I second the poster who said something about doing weights. Even just a routine of doing push ups and crunches on your own will build muscle mass and that will burn more calories.

Veronica

[shootingstar]

Channelluv, just view cycling..as a way of seeing more golden eagles..figurativey speaking so that you cycle several times / wk.

Having a vague idea about overall calories is helpful but on a daily basis ...I dunno how some people do it.

Instead relook at the type of food one eats and how it's flavoured, prepared. Subtract nearly all the deep fried foods and reserve it for occasional times annually.

Does your food have much in hidden sugars?..I was amazed when visiting a friend who told me she was trying to lose weight. I believe her since she keeps up faithfully her 45 min. daily solo walk rain, snow or shine. But some of her savoury cooking...I could really taste the ...sugar. If I have sugar, then I stick to something I expect to have sugar..which is dessert.

Just fall in love with cycling but don't feel it obligates you to eat more..unless you are cycling across California. (You never know! )

[Veronica]

I didn't know what Islands Restaurant was, so I Googled it and discovered it was a hamburger joint. Now don't get me wrong, I love my burgers. But think about what you had there. Their nutritional information is online. http://www.islandsrestaurants.com/me...nal/facts.aspx

Was it healthy? Did you really need more calories from a frozen yogurt?

If you keep doing the same thing in the same way, you are going to keep getting the same results. If you are not happy with those results, you need to change something up.

But that is something only you can decide. Most of the posters on TE are going to be positive and say you're doing great. That's what women do. But I say if you are seriously unhappy and really want to change, you need to seriously look at every aspect of your nutrition and exercise program. Take out the sugars, increase the protein, start doing weights...talk to a professional. Most of the chicks here on TE, myself included, only know what has worked for them. We're all different

Be the change you want to see.


Veronica

[Pedal Wench]

Their nutritional information is online. http://www.islandsrestaurants.com/me...nal/facts.aspx

Veronica

Yikes -- their salads are at least 1,000 calories - sandwiches too. Wow.

[limewave]

Personally, I don't increase my calorie intake for a normal day's workout and I workout on average 2 hours per day 4 days a week on 1500 calories. I weigh 146 and have 20% body fat. I don't measure my food or count calories - I just tend to eat the same thing every day. I use to weigh 180 and had 30+% body fat so I'm only relating what has worked for me. Losing weight is hard. There is no easy formula and it takes discipline. I know the OP has been struggling with her weight for a while from her posts here and I really think talking to a doctor or a nutritionist would be a good thing.

Just because you've increased your output, you can't increase your intake if you want to lose weight.

I too tend to eat the same thing everyday when I am sticking to my plan. It's so much easier than counting calories everyday.

It is my understanding, according to my nutritionist, that I should maintain a 1500-1600 calorie a day diet regardless of my activity. But that if I am to be working out for 90 minutes or more, that I should add some nutrition (like a gu packet) during that session--not another meal.

Now if I could only stick to her recommendation

[Jones]

I am not an expert on anything and have struggled with weight my entire life, that being said my heart rate monitor and my garmin both give me some wild estimate about how many calories burned during a work out. I don't believe either of them. My garmin would read I had burned more than 700 calories on a 10 mile 1 hour mountain bike ride. There was no way. "The Daily Plate" seems to give high estimates of calories burned too.
The Iphone tool sounds great but I think I would take Veronica's advice and go see a nutritionist or a doctor or both.

[witeowl]

It is my understanding, according to my nutritionist, that I should maintain a 1500-1600 calorie a day diet regardless of my activity. But that if I am to be working out for 90 minutes or more, that I should add some nutrition (like a gu packet) during that session--not another meal.

This is what drives me crazy about so many "experts". If you ride hard for 90 minutes, you can easily burn well over 1,000 kcal. There's no reason that doesn't justify another reasonable-sized meal. And then we blame ourselves for straying because we "lack willpower". :

(Note for anyone following my blog: I know that's not what's going on for my current insanity; that's just a personal issue...)