Question About Losing Weight?

[New England]

I don't look at calories. They will drive you crazy bro. I eat Whopper from Burger King, breakfast from McDonalds and dinner in Wendys and work out like I normally do and I am in great shape. Not too thin looking healthy and slim sexy. **** diets bro they are a myth. Just stay exercising regularly and results will show. Good luck bro.

please dont listen to guys who have stuff like this to say
he clearly hasnt hit 20 yet



to answer your question your 2500 calorie limit will depend entirely on your weight


if you are a small guy that's a good/sizable amount of calories to be eating every day.
if you are a big guy that's probably not a horrible number to try and not go over each day


people tend to say that if you burn (through activity and your metabolic // biological processes [pumping your blood, metabolizing the food you eat, etc] more calories each day than you take in (eat) you will lose weight

there's a whole lot more to it than that

you gotta eat the right stuff

good foods make you healthy (veggies and fruit, lean meat, grain that isnt overly processed, milk, plenty of water, etc)
bad foods work against that. (burgers and fries, etc)


if you are young you might be able to get away with the "i eat tons of fast food but i'm still in shape" diet
but once you get through puberty that's going to catch up with you

get back to me after ten years of that **** and you'll probably have diabetes



if you want to lose weight you want to stay away from eating large meals and eating at night
eat five or six small // very small meals per day. a meal can be an apple.
only eat until you no longer feel hungry, and not until you are full

eventually your stomach will figure out that it's not getting a ton of food each day and shrink a bit, and stop making you feel hungry all the time. that's the first step


dont worry much about calories at first
they are lines in the sand, really.

it's all about healthy vs unhealthy foods if you want to think of it in terms of being healthy

if you eat 2500 calories worth of macdonalds every day you might lose weight for a while if you are working out visciously for a couple hours every day
but eventually you'll start *****ing liquid every day and become incredibly unhealthy


and finally, muscles burn calories, especially around the midsection (stomach and back, mostly) where humans are predisposed to store fat
if you want to lose weight you need to work your muscles

you dont need to make them bigger, you just need to make sure they are getting work each day.

[copelahama]

please dont listen to guys who have stuff like this to say
he clearly hasnt hit 20 yet



to answer your question your 2500 calorie limit will depend entirely on your weight


if you are a small guy that's a good amount of calories to be eating every day.
if you are a big guy that's probably not a horrible number to try and not go over each day


people tend to say that if you burn (through activity and your metabolic // biological processes [pumping your blood, metabolizing the food you eat, etc] more calories each day than you take in (eat) you will lose weight

there's a whole lot more to it than that

you gotta eat the right stuff

good foods make you healthy (veggies and fruit, lean meat, grain that isnt overly processed, milk, plenty of water, etc)
bad foods work against that. (burgers and fries, etc)


if you are young you might be able to get away with the "i eat tons of fast food but i'm still in shape" diet
but once you get through puberty that's going to catch up with you

get back to me after ten years of that **** and you'll probably have diabetes



if you want to lose weight you want to stay away from eating large meals and eating at night
eat five or six small // very small meals per day. a meal can be an apple.
only eat until you no longer feel hungry, and not until you are full

eventually your stomach will figure out that it's not getting a ton of food each day and shrink a bit, and stop making you feel hungry all the time. that's the first step


dont worry much about calories at first
they are lines in the sand, really.

it's all about healthy vs unhealthy foods if you want to think of it in terms of being healthy

if you eat 2500 calories worth of macdonalds every day you might lose weight for a while if you are working out visciously for a couple hours every day
but eventually you'll start *****ing liquid every day and become incredibly unhealthy


and finally, muscles burn calories, especially around the midsection (stomach and back, mostly) where humans are predisposed to store fat
if you want to lose weight you need to work your muscles

you dont need to make them bigger, you just need to make sure they are getting work each day.

Disregard everything in bold - its plain wrong.
Losing or gaining weight comes down to calories and calories only - so to say disregard calories is wrong. If you stay in a calorie deficit and eat mcdonalds every day you will still lose weight - although not in a healthy manner (as you won't be getting a good balance of micro nutrients) - though you will still be losing. Furthermore, even if you eat copious amounts of healthy food, if your eating over your calorie maintenance you are still going to gain weight. The reason people think that only eating healthy foods will make you lose weight is because they have high levels of SATIETY. That's why you tend to eat less of healthy foods as they make you feel full for longer.

Also, 6 meals a day and not eating at night is complete crap. Nutrient timing does not matter at all - there have been so many studies on this and this myth has been cracked multiple times - if you ate 6 small meals with the same macro and micro nutrient make up across the day, it would be identical to eating them all right before bed (actually the benefit to eating them all at once would probably be better actually, as studies have shown periods of fasting between 14-20 hours actually speed up fat loss.)

Spot reduction is also a myth - yes its true that muscles do help to burn fat (the more muscly you are the higher your calorie needs will be) but the last place that fat comes from in males is the lower stomach and back - so the only way to actually reduce the fat in these areas is to lower your total bodyfat.

Seriously read up before you give such poor advice

[New England]

Disregard everything in bold - its plain wrong.
Losing or gaining weight comes down to calories and calories only - so to say disregard calories is wrong. If you stay in a calorie deficit and eat mcdonalds every day you will still lose weight - although not in a healthy manner (as you won't be getting a good balance of micro nutrients) - though you will still be losing. Furthermore, even if you eat copious amounts of healthy food, if your eating over your calorie maintenance you are still going to gain weight. The reason people think that only eating healthy foods will make you lose weight is because they have high levels of SATIETY. That's why you tend to eat less of healthy foods as they make you feel full for longer.

Also, 6 meals a day and not eating at night is complete crap. Nutrient timing does not matter at all - there have been so many studies on this and this myth has been cracked multiple times - if you ate 6 small meals with the same macro and micro nutrient make up across the day, it would be identical to eating them all right before bed (actually the benefit to eating them all at once would probably be better actually, as studies have shown periods of fasting between 14-20 hours actually speed up fat loss.)

Spot reduction is also a myth - yes its true that muscles do help to burn fat (the more muscly you are the higher your calorie needs will be) but the last place that fat comes from in males is the lower stomach and back - so the only way to actually reduce the fat in these areas is to lower your total bodyfat.

Seriously read up before you give such poor advice

lol


i was unbelievably fit in my youth. reading had nothing to do with that.

i didnt major in it, but i went to a school with one of the best exercise science programs in the states and took some classes in the building. plenty of reading there. when i was a student we were ranked as the fittest school in the country

my cousin is a nutritionist with a PHD (and a world class runner, even into her late 30's)

books don't make you fit, or tell you how to be fit, anyhow


go ahead and believe that eating 2500 calories of macdonalds is healthy and will help you lose weight

you'll literally get diabetes. do you want diabetes?

go ahead and eat your one huge meal before you go to bed
you'll be working against what you're trying to do when you're losing weight (filling up your stomach)


you need to balance the food to eat for your metabolism to work correctly
you need to take things other than the calorie amount of a food into consideration.


i dont have time now, but if you'd like i'll find plenty of sources later on.
try eating 2500 calories worth of steak only for a month and getting back to me if you wont take my word for it.


you'll be ****ting liquid


eating many times a day is a way to keep from getting hungry and going crazy and backwards
dont eat a lot during these meals
you can still have a normal dinner with reasonable portions. just dont go eating many times a day until you feel stuffed. thats how you gain weight


if you have a big stomach you're going to get hungry if you arent eating an amount of food you're used to eating.
over time the stomach will grow or shrink depending on your diet

you dont need a book to tell you that, either.

i told the guy counting every calorie isnt going to be as good of an indicator as his stomach and it wont be
if you are hungry all the time and not eating until you feel full, only until you feel less hungry you will be doing the same thing (making sure you eat less calories than you burn during the day)

thats what hunger is (wanting calories)


in short
if you want to listen to this guy you want to eat huge meals at night of complete junkfood at 2500 calories

.... to lose weight


right, guy


and on eating at night specifically: it might not be an issue for some
but the time of day has a huge impact on what your body is doing in there, especially if you are talking about sleep

when i was looking to gain weight i added an extra shake at night (on the advice of a guy with a degree in excercise science) and noticed a difference. i wouldnt feel as sore the next morning from the work i was doing in the gym and it helped me put a little extra weight on.

[copelahama]

Myth: Eat frequently to "stoke the metabolic fire".


Truth

Each time you eat, metabolic rate increases slightly for a few hours. Paradoxically, it takes energy to break down and absorb energy. This is the Thermic Effect of Food (TEF). The amount of energy expended is directly proportional to the amount of calories and nutrients consumed in the meal.

Let's assume that we are measuring TEF during 24 hours in a diet of 2700 kcal with 40% protein, 40% carbohydrate and 20% fat. We run three different trials where the only thing we change is the the meal frequency.

A) Three meals: 900 kcal per meal.

B) Six meals: 450 kcal per meal.

C) Nine meals: 300 kcal per meal.

What we'd find is a different pattern in regards to TEF. Example "A" would yield a larger and long lasting boost in metabolic rate that would gradually taper off until the next meal came around; TEF would show a "peak and valley"-pattern. "C" would yield a very weak but consistent boost in metabolic rate; an even pattern. "B" would be somewhere in between.

However, at the end of the 24-hour period, or as long as it would take to assimilate the nutrients, there would be no difference in TEF. The total amount of energy expended by TEF would be identical in each scenario. Meal frequency does not affect total TEF. You cannot "trick" the body in to burning more or less calories by manipulating meal frequency.

Further reading: I have covered the topic of meal frequency at great length on this site before.

The most extensive review of studies on various meal frequencies and TEF was published in 1997. It looked at many different studies that compared TEF during meal frequencies ranging from 1-17 meals and concluded:

"Studies using whole-body calorimetry and doubly-labelled water to assess total 24 h energy expenditure find no difference between nibbling and gorging".

[copelahama]

Myth: Eat smaller meals more often for hunger control.


Truth

Given the importance of finding the most favorable meal pattern for hunger and appetite control, there's a surprising scarcity of studies on the topic. The most widely cited study is one where obese males were fed 33% of their daily calorie requirement ("pre-load") in either one single meal or five meals before being allowed to eat ad libitum five hours later (meaning as much as they desired).

A: One single meal was consumed. 5 hours later they were free to eat as much as they desired, "buffet"-style.

B: Same setup as above. However, the single meal was now split into five smaller meals, which were consumed every hour leading up to the ad libitum meal.

The results showed that subjects undergoing "A" ate 27% more calories when given the ad libitum meal. The same setup was used by the same researchers on lean males and showed similar results. However, upon closer scrutiny it's clear how little real world application those results have. The macrocomposition of the pre-load was 70% carbs, 15% fat and 15% protein; given as pasta, ice cream and orange juice. The situation created was highly artificial and abnormal. Who sits around nibbling on pasta and ice cream, sipping orange juice, every hour leading up to a regular meal?

The latest research, performed under conditions that more closely resemble a real-world scenario, shows the opposite result. In this study, three high-protein meals lead to greater fullness and appetite control when compared to six high-protein meals. You can read my summary of the study here: Three Meals Superior for Appetite Control.

There's no doubt that meal frequency is highly individual. However, absolute statements claiming smaller meals are superior for hunger and appetite control are untrue and are based on studies using methods that greatly differed from real-world meal patterns. Current research with a normal meal pattern and protein intakes that are closer to what can be seen in a typical non-******ed diet, suggests superior appetite control when eating fewer and larger meals.

[copelahama]

lol


i was unbelievably fit in my youth. reading had nothing to do with that.

i didnt major in it, but i went to a school with one of the best exercise science programs in the states and took some classes in the building. plenty of reading there. when i was a student we were ranked as the fittest school in the country

my cousin is a nutritionist with a PHD (and a world class runner, even into her late 30's)

books don't make you fit, or tell you how to be fit, anyhow


go ahead and believe that eating 2500 calories of macdonalds is healthy and will help you lose weight

you'll literally get diabetes. do you want diabetes?

go ahead and eat your one huge meal before you go to bed
you'll be working against what you're trying to do when you're losing weight (filling up your stomach)


you need to balance the food to eat for your metabolism to work correctly
you need to take things other than the calorie amount of a food into consideration.


i dont have time now, but if you'd like i'll find plenty of sources later on.
try eating 2500 calories worth of steak only for a month and getting back to me if you wont take my word for it.


you'll be ****ting liquid


eating many times a day is a way to keep from getting hungry and going crazy and backwards
dont eat a lot during these meals
you can still have a normal dinner with reasonable portions. just dont go eating many times a day until you feel stuffed. thats how you gain weight


if you have a big stomach you're going to get hungry if you arent eating an amount of food you're used to eating.
over time the stomach will grow or shrink depending on your diet

you dont need a book to tell you that, either.

i told the guy counting every calorie isnt going to be as good of an indicator as his stomach and it wont be
if you are hungry all the time and not eating until you feel full, only until you feel less hungry you will be doing the same thing (making sure you eat less calories than you burn during the day)

thats what hunger is (wanting calories)


in short
if you want to listen to this guy you want to eat huge meals at night of complete junkfood at 2500 calories

.... to lose weight


right, guy


and on eating at night specifically: it might not be an issue for some
but the time of day has a huge impact on what your body is doing in there, especially if you are talking about sleep

when i was looking to gain weight i added an extra shake at night (on the advice of a guy with a degree in excercise science) and noticed a difference. i wouldnt feel as sore the next morning from the work i was doing in the gym and it helped me put a little extra weight on.

All credits from above posts go to Martin berkhan - for helping me prove my point. Read them and learn something, need i say more.

[New England]

Myth: Eat smaller meals more often for hunger control.


Truth

Given the importance of finding the most favorable meal pattern for hunger and appetite control, there's a surprising scarcity of studies on the topic. The most widely cited study is one where obese males were fed 33% of their daily calorie requirement ("pre-load") in either one single meal or five meals before being allowed to eat ad libitum five hours later (meaning as much as they desired).

A: One single meal was consumed. 5 hours later they were free to eat as much as they desired, "buffet"-style.

B: Same setup as above. However, the single meal was now split into five smaller meals, which were consumed every hour leading up to the ad libitum meal.

The results showed that subjects undergoing "A" ate 27% more calories when given the ad libitum meal. The same setup was used by the same researchers on lean males and showed similar results. However, upon closer scrutiny it's clear how little real world application those results have. The macrocomposition of the pre-load was 70% carbs, 15% fat and 15% protein; given as pasta, ice cream and orange juice. The situation created was highly artificial and abnormal. Who sits around nibbling on pasta and ice cream, sipping orange juice, every hour leading up to a regular meal?

The latest research, performed under conditions that more closely resemble a real-world scenario, shows the opposite result. In this study, three high-protein meals lead to greater fullness and appetite control when compared to six high-protein meals. You can read my summary of the study here: Three Meals Superior for Appetite Control.

There's no doubt that meal frequency is highly individual. However, absolute statements claiming smaller meals are superior for hunger and appetite control are untrue and are based on studies using methods that greatly differed from real-world meal patterns. Current research with a normal meal pattern and protein intakes that are closer to what can be seen in a typical non-******ed diet suggests superior appetite control when eating fewer and larger meals.

you air some fair points


the problem is that in these specific studies nobody is mentioning if these guys are acutally eating amounts small enough to produce weight loss

in fact, they are eating until they are full.

our OP will not be eating until he feels full


hell, the methodology of the study seems outright absurd to me

he hit on it a bit himself

the best way to go about this "study" would be to go through testimony


in my experience with testimony (and i'll tell you to a degree of certainty that this is how my stomach feels [for reference i am a good sized guy with a very big stomach who loves to eat]) i've found people almost uniformly agree with my stance; that they feel less likely to go backwards on the weight loss process if they arent taking huge breaks in between meals

they feel less hungry. food isnt constantly on their minds
they dont feel the urge to either binge
or eat total crap (which, like it or not, is not good for you. even if consumed within the "caloric intake" one should be looking at for the day)


i'm not saying its impossible to do, i'm saying it's generally not what you see (people being able to eat one or two gigantic meals each day and lose weight without feeling hungry)


who goes all day without eating and thinks "damn, i really want a salad rightnow?"

its usually, damn.... i want a fuccking burger


one meal, dude?
i mean really?

i dont care what one "study" says, outside of the data that is presented, which has a face value (it is what it is)



those studies (and most on the subject, in my experience,) lack real world applicability.


you dont want to be hungry all day if you are trying to lose weight
it will eventually get you into trouble and into the front door of the in and out burger



and also, the studies arent done on a long term it seems, only for the day (i'm at work and it's possible i missed something.)

you're not dealing with one of the main issues. if you eat big meals your body gets used to them and wants them on the regular. they will make you hungry.

weight loss through diet takes months

[Dan...]

I'm at ~168 pounds and 178cm so i find it relatively fine to drop weight. If you have a sweet tooth like me yeah ill cheat every now and then but it's really easy to be smart about it.

http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showth...hp?t=130999643

this thread is all good healthy food you can buy that will make it feel like your not even dieting, it really helped me. Like for example you can get really low sugar/fat ice cream and topping and stuff like that which has really minimal fat and cals and will still satisfy your sweet tooth.
Also since your from Australia - kangaroo meat!! This stuff is crazy man its like 90% protein, minimal fat minimal carbs and less sodium than regular meat. I love eating so i eat like a god lol but im just smart about my food choices, and make sure it fits into my macros (protein/carbs/fats) and calorie requirements.

Also a great site is leangains.com - iv'e actually been on this diet for about 5 weeks (fasting 16 hours every day and having an 8 hour eating window) - this has helped me put on muscle and lose fat simultaneously, which generally is really rare. I'm around 10%bf atm.

Sounds good man. Yeah I'm on the leangains 16/8 IF diet as well. Makes cutting a fair bit easier.

[Dan...]

please dont listen to guys who have stuff like this to say
he clearly hasnt hit 20 yet



to answer your question your 2500 calorie limit will depend entirely on your weight


if you are a small guy that's a good/sizable amount of calories to be eating every day.
if you are a big guy that's probably not a horrible number to try and not go over each day


people tend to say that if you burn (through activity and your metabolic // biological processes [pumping your blood, metabolizing the food you eat, etc] more calories each day than you take in (eat) you will lose weight

there's a whole lot more to it than that

you gotta eat the right stuff

good foods make you healthy (veggies and fruit, lean meat, grain that isnt overly processed, milk, plenty of water, etc)
bad foods work against that. (burgers and fries, etc)


if you are young you might be able to get away with the "i eat tons of fast food but i'm still in shape" diet
but once you get through puberty that's going to catch up with you

get back to me after ten years of that **** and you'll probably have diabetes



if you want to lose weight you want to stay away from eating large meals and eating at night
eat five or six small // very small meals per day. a meal can be an apple.
only eat until you no longer feel hungry, and not until you are full

eventually your stomach will figure out that it's not getting a ton of food each day and shrink a bit, and stop making you feel hungry all the time. that's the first step


dont worry much about calories at first
they are lines in the sand, really.

it's all about healthy vs unhealthy foods if you want to think of it in terms of being healthy

if you eat 2500 calories worth of macdonalds every day you might lose weight for a while if you are working out visciously for a couple hours every day
but eventually you'll start *****ing liquid every day and become incredibly unhealthy


and finally, muscles burn calories, especially around the midsection (stomach and back, mostly) where humans are predisposed to store fat
if you want to lose weight you need to work your muscles

you dont need to make them bigger, you just need to make sure they are getting work each day.

LOL @ you telling the OP not to listen to the guy you quoted and then going on to post some of the biggest myths related to weight loss.

It is ALL about calories in vs calories out. In terms of body composition, a gram of protein is a gram of protein, whether you get it from grilled chicken breast or a Big Mac.

It is incredibly simple. Steps:

1) Calculate your maintenance level of calorie intake, based on online calculators and trial and error (personally I think mine is around 2400)

2) Set your daily calorie limit (500 under your estimated maintenance level is a good place to start)

3) Set your daily protein and fat requirements (as previously stated around 1 gram of protein per pound of lean body mass and 0.4 grams of fat per pound of body weight is a reasonable guide)

4) Adjust your caloric intake accordingly based on weight loss levels over time.

The food choices you use to achieve these goals is irrelevant for body composition.

Also meal timing is basically irrelevant. As is the number of meals you consume a day.

[New England]

LOL @ you telling the OP not to listen to the guy you quoted and then going on to post some of the biggest myths related to weight loss.

It is ALL about calories in vs calories out. In terms of body composition, a gram of protein is a gram of protein, whether you get it from grilled chicken breast or a Big Mac.

It is incredibly simple. Steps:

1) Calculate your maintenance level of calorie intake, based on online calculators and trial and error (personally I think mine is around 2400)

2) Set your daily calorie limit (500 under your estimated maintenance level is a good place to start)

3) Set your daily protein and fat requirements (as previously stated around 1 gram of protein per pound of lean body mass and 0.4 grams of fat per pound of body weight is a reasonable guide)

4) Adjust your caloric intake accordingly based on weight loss levels over time.

The food choices you use to achieve these goals is irrelevant for body composition.

Also meal timing is basically irrelevant. As is the number of meals you consume a day.

lol dude seriously?
am i reading you correctly?


if you eat all donalds all day you'll die young. very young.
and you'll be flabby as hell.

period.

how is the food you eat not relevant?