Don't Starve! The Eat More to Weigh Less Group

[ShirleyKnot]

Hello!

OK, stemming from this thread I promised to start a thread to explain a little bit more about eating well and still losing weight.

I'll start by telling you about me because I love to talk about me

About 5 years ago (when I was 34) I went back to work full time, this time locally, in a sedentiary desk job. I drive to work everyday and was often far too busy lazy to do any exercise at all. My weight remained fairly static (At about 11 stones, I'm 5ft 7.5 and fairly chunky) for a good couple of years and then it started creeping up.

For the past two years I have skipped on and off WW, SW and I have tried low calorie diets, the lot. My weight has gone up to 12 stone 11 lbs at it's highest and I'm carrying it pretty much all over. My gut though TERRIBLE - It hangs over my knickers and in January my size 16 clothes were starting to strain.

Miserable ain't the word. It has affected my confidence (yes, honestly) and I know that at my age (39) it is only going to get harder to lose.

So, in January I started back on WW. I watched everything I ate, I thought about food compulsively, I went for walks in my lunch hour, and every weekend I fell off the wagon and stuffed my face. WHY? It makes no sense! I gobbled bread and cakes and biscuits and sweets like mad.

In April, after having lost and gained the same 7lbs over and over again I joined BIWI's Low Carb Bootcamp, and started upping my exercise at the gym (Doing classes mainly and swimming and I also started the Couch 2 5K) this is where it got weird...I stuck to the diet, it was pretty easy! I loved the food and didn't feel hungry at all - my endurance during exercise was affected but I thought I'd break through that barrier sooner or later. I watched as people on the thread lost masses of weight and I was completely stalled out. What? WHY IS THIS HAPPENING? I believe that during this time I was eating a good couple of thousand calories per day, plus exercising almost every day.

I left the group as I felt so fed up with not losing and limped back to my fitness pal, but decided to stick with the no crap (no white bread/pasta/rice, easy on the white potatoes, easy on the fruit) WOE. MFP gave me a calorie limit of 1,200 cals per day and I did this for a a few days before starting to feel rotten. I started looking around the MFP community pages and found the Eat More To Weigh Less Group and read every link, and lots of the discussion boards.

It was a lightbulb moment - WHY was I expecting my body to cope on less calories than it needs just to exist? WHYYYYY?

I started EMTWL on 16th May and have lost 1 lb. That doesn't really mean very much though, as the scales are FILTHY liars - but I have eaten very well and am losing inches consistently. Since I started eating more calories (I include BIWI's brilliant Bootcamp in this calculation) I have lost 4.5 inches from my waist and a good couple of inches from my hips, arse and bust. I have dropped a dress size.

OK. I'm going to post this essay and then I'm going to talk a bit about metabolic rate calculations and the sciency bits.

Hi bigwombat.

If you picked sedentary then this will be why your TDEE is so low. I'm sure that with a profoundly disabled child that you are certainly not sat on your arse the whole time that you're at home!

A couple of questions for you, because I KNOW that I can find you a little bit of time in your day somewhere to stick an exercise DVD on, or some way for you to have a little walk/run. I know it's hard, and you think "ARGH! No way can I find any extra time!" but it's so important, and once you start upping your activity level a little bit, you will WANT to do a bit more. Please believe me. This will improve your life, give you MORE energy and boost your metabolism.

So you say you work at a desk? Are you WOH or WAH? Do you have a partner who lives with you?

Yes, i have a few workout dvds, life seems to always get in the way of sticking to them regularly, might manage once a week on a good week. Have an old exercise bike too. I guess if I was really motivated I would make the time. Oh dear!

Foosty - circuits are a killer! Have you heard about heart rate monitors? I have one and it is a far more accurate way to track calories burned. I do about 800 in a Step class

I totally understand what you mean about initial weight gains, but I can't stress enough how unimportant they are in the grand scheme of things. Remember that this is the way you'll be eating for the rest of your life! Healthily, but with the odd treat AND a meal out if you like, and the odd party/drink up - the Rest Of Our Lives. A small gain in weight now, for a great gain in LIVING forever!

Does the thought of being able to eat more motivate you bigwombat? It does me, that was my initial reason for starting to exercise.

2 months on and I have fallen back in love with it. I LOVE the rush of endorphins, I LOVE the time with just me and my thoughts (which are generally 'THIS HURTS, THIS HURTS!" instead of "oh god, I hope I can afford my loan repayment this month"), I LOVE the changes I can see in my fitness levels and the energy I have and I LOVE the way my body is starting to change and look better.

When you first start exercising it feels like lots of painful hassle, but if you keep at it, it becomes a looked forward to part of your day.

I work in an office about 3 miles from home. I have considered cycling, but know that at current fitness levels this is too ambitious in the time available! Also parking a bit further away and walking is sometimes possible, but not usually as I have to pack my work into limited hours and get back in time for dd to come home on her bus. I recently bought a special 3 wheeler buggy on ebay in the hope of going for longer walks with dd, but so far she hates it and is not playing ball. Maybe getting up earlier for a dvd workout is the answer (or even a bike ride). I know I could do more, it just requires organisation and motivation which seems to be very variable.....

You are right Shirley, I used to love going to the gym and being fit and healthy. Seems a huge uphill struggle to get back there, a lot of the struggle is in the mind.... Thanks for all your info, it's very helpful!

Can someone point me in the direction of the 'vegetarian rules' for low(er) carbing? thanks!

ok i did it. Have a bmr of 1598 gives me a calorie allowance of 2100 which seems loads. I havent quite mastered the exercise thing yet? I do 30m cardio and 30 mins weights every other day what do i need to do?

bigwombat I have been doing the c25k and am really enjoying it because its set workouts so i get a great sense of achievement when i finish rather than wonder if ive done enough.

I also used to do the shred dvd's which i enjoyed for the same reasons.

I had my 5th child a year ago at 43 and just couldnt find the time to exercise again untill recently where i just started on the spur of the moment.
I feel so much better for it and I work part time and have ds2 on the transplant list so lots and lots of hospital appointments.
It really has given me the energy to cope with it all.
I hope you can find a few mins for yourself.

I LOVE my circuits classes Shirley - have been going for about 3 or 4 months now. Started at one a week and now go to 2, plus am upping it with a shred in at some point and a run another day. Know what you mean about the time to yourself, and man it HURTS but I feel amazing after doing it. I go with a few friends and we've made it so that's it's COMPULSORY to go, we don't have a choice unless there's something else that we just can't avoid. Like a leg falling off or something.

SO I started this way of living today., but mainly just reading up on it, and trying to plan ahead - tomorrow it's the real deal, baby....I'm committing myself to it...hope you don't mind me asking a zillion questions!

Bigwombat - you can do this! You can find a way to fit it in and then you will fall back in love with it!

Led - did you choose MODERATE as your exercise choice? If so then 2100 is the amount of calories for you to eat everyday. Do not eat back your exercise calories unless they take your net cals to under your BMR.

Foosty - I don't mind a bit!

Yesterday I finished well under my TDEE-15% :( Me, of all people, not eating enough! Today I will finish 2 calories over by the time I've had my evening snack. But I'm not hitting the "goals" for protein, fat or carbs. Is that right, or have I messed it up?

Shirley, I found a use for the almond milk, I'm making smoothies with it, with oats and fruit. Tonight it's banana, sultanas and some cocoa powder too. Absolutely delicious, it's like liquid chocolate without the guilt! Chocolate cravings are usually my downfall, so this is a major breakthrough!

Shirley, can I ask you for some advice on the protein powder stuff? There's so many on that site and I have no idea where to start. If I just want to use it in a homemade smoothie, to bump up my protein, what type do I need? TIA

Bigwombat, isn't looking after your dd pretty physical? It may be that you're underestimating how active your life is.

Almond milk in smoothies is EPIC!

Ok the protein stuff. If you look at the Impact Whey Protein section you'll see that you can buy samples for 99p each. There are LOADS of flavours. I like the chocolate coconut, banana, vanilla and the latte one. The strawberry one is nice as well - in fact I haven't had one I didn't like.

The unflavoured one is alright in fruit smoothies and isn't as sweet as the other ones.

So, if I were you I'd get a bunch of sample flavours and see how you get on.

Gosh what a lot of calories to nosh on? Im nowhere near up to target but its hard to eat when its so hot. I am going to make some pasta in a bit with some chorrizo and veggies.

shirl thanks for agreeing with my baby being stupid. She has been trying to close my lap top as i type she cant do anything for herself either-so demanding and selfish

Right, just so I can be sure - can someone confirm what I should be aiming for?
Here's my figures:
BMR: 1369
TMEE: 1883
15% cut: 1600

So do I, as MaryZ suggested, start by sticking to my TMEE for a bit?
And what about exercise? Do I eat more to make up the cals lost in exercising (minimal, in my case), or stay at the TMEE regardless?

I've already managed 2031 today (includes 2 pieces of birthday cake, which I wouldn't normally have), but I know I can eeasily make the 1800 cals, even eating clean!

Depressingly, my birthday weekend has already added a good 5lb onto the scales, although I usually take my (lighter) morning weight as the right one ao we'll see tomorrow. And I held back .

I'm struggling to eat my calories but I think that's because I've done a lot of walking and I'm just not eating my exercise calories. I don't know if I struggled with low carb before because I just wasn't eating enough or it was the low carbing itself?

Today I have hit my carbs because I had a huge blowout meal in the beach cafe: prawns in seafood sauce, potato salad, jacket potato, coleslaw and loads of salad. Yum, yum.

I think it's going to take a while to reset my eating. I have lost 2lbs though, but gained 2inches round my waist. Probably due to horrid virus which meant I ate little and exercised not at all. I have been sort of low carbing, doing weights and keeping a food diary on and off for a few years. Just not analysing the results. Time to be more scientific.

I have no idea how you are all struggling to eat 2000 or so calories in a day. Is it because you've been on crazy restrictive diets up til now?

OK I'm 14 chapters in to John Briffa's 'escape the diet trap' (bought this morning!) it's making SO much sense, it's very exciting to have all this information!

Agree Trills - I put away well over 2,500 on Saturday and could have managed a lot more .

I m now back from my weekend of cocktails and crisps (and I did try to mainly eat crudites rather than crisps with my dip) and will be trying to eat "cleaner" this week. Unfortunately it's my birthday this week and I have a work night out planned so I don't think alcohol-avoidance will go very well.

I could easily manage to eat all my calories if it was on chocolate wine and bread i just had 2 glasses of vino and added them but alas still not up to my limit.