Is it true that if you reduce calories over time you will longterm put on weight? Confused.

[50shadesofcray]

I did a profile for The Body Coach and got my plan last week. In their summary of my diet they said that I was eating in a way that would eventually cause me to get Metabolic Syndrome. Ie, by eating low fat foods or going on low calorie diets my body thinks there is "not enough" so starts retaining fat.

I can see that the body coach menu is high carb and high protein and high calorie (providing you also do the interval training they recommend.)

As someone with a heart condition who cannot do a lot of CV exercise, my weight control over the course of my life is mainly limited to being controlled by my calorie intake. Does that mean it is inevitable I get metabolic syndrome as I get older?

If I cannot do strenuous exercise for fear of aggravating my heart condition, and I cannot go on a low calorie diet for fear of getting metabolic syndrome, how they hell am I supposed to lose weight?

have you calculated your TDEE ?

What's that?

Low fat food is basically loads of fresh fruit, salads and vegetables with meats/fish eaten cooked without added fat. That is a good way to eat. Processed food that takes out fat or uses sugar instead of fat is not good nor is it natural. I read a lot of times that low fat is bad but its not if you eat naturally.

Fat doesn't make you fat, provided that it is not highly processed junk fat; eat things like real butter, full fat milk, avocadoes, virgin olive oil, coconut oil. These fats will satiate your hunger and nourish your body. Ditch the calorie counting and hone in on nutrients - if you are eating fresh, whole foods you will lose weight. Stop eating refined sugar in all its forms (there are over 60 names for it! and it's in things like mayonnaise and ketchup!), only drink water/black coffee/tea. You will drop the weight without much effort, and you will be healthier.

Go to Slimming World or Weight Watchers lose weight healthily with group support and none of these guilt trips

So if I ate whole foods, and low fat (lots of fruit and veg etc) and did mild-medium exercise my whole life, I would be okay? And don't have to worry about this metabolic syndrome stuff?

50shades, it's your Total Daily Energy Expenditure. I recently calculated mine and because I'm quite short and at the moment I'd say I'm sedentary, My TDEE is fairly low. Like, 1500. which sounds like a diet doesn't it!? but the brutal truth (and it is brutal) is that we don't need as many calories as we wish we needed. I would like to be able to eat more. When I have eaten less, I have lost weight but generally when I relax even though I make healthy choices I'm eating about 1.10% more than I need to so I put on weight. I weigh about 1.1% more than I wish I weighed.

Anything will make you gain weight if you overeat it. Eating mindfully is the way to maintain weight and lose it over your lifetime. Eating when your actually hungry and stopping when you are satisfied.

Reducing your calories won't make you gain weight, are you thinking about starvation mode? It's a myth. As your weight reduces your metabolism does too, larger folk nearly alwys have a higher basal metabolic rate so you do need to account for that.

TDEE is good and as said upthread, eat good, non-processed food. Plenty of fruit and veg, smaller amounts of real, full fat food, reducing carbs and sugars will help.