Explain this "diet" to me

[rtdoplex]

Alright, I'm confused about something, something which is probably a pretty basic principle for some of you. It's this Diet everyone seems to be prescribing when someone comes on asking to lose weight.

Now for purposes of argument we'll say this person is a female who works out semi-regularly. Your very average Joe. It is easy to see how the metabolism for someone with 10% BF can be very high - but what about for a more regular, flabbier, lower-metabolism person? Not necessarily fat, but we're talking AVERAGE here. Low muscle mass.

Basically what they are told is to eat more. "How many calories are you eating," they'll ask... "Triple it!" They'll say...

Why is this advised?

Common sense would suggest that the diet that works is: EAT LESS, MOVE MORE. If you ingest less dietary calories than you burn, your body will begin to burn your body's fat stores as the primary source of energy.

In terms of DIET, I don't understand how eating more can lead to weight loss. On the same token, I don't think it's necessarily B.S., so I'm wondering if someone can explain the principles behind it.

 

[Aston]

It depends on how much the person is curently eating. Why dont you be a bit more specific. If someone is starving themselves their body has certain innate mechanisms that kick in that help prolong life. Your body starts to slow its metababolism which is the sum of all of the metabolic processess that occurring in your body, and also in that same arena your body is catabolising tissue that is energy dependent which is not life critical, i.e. muscle tissue. Thus feeding into the downregualtion of the metabolism even more. It gets more complicated involving hormones, mesengers, cascades etc...but you get the point.

 

[ZGzaZ]

Food fuels the metabolism, keep that in mind...when youre not eating very much, your metabolism is very slow. Start eating, and it kicks into gear.

"If you ingest less dietary calories than you burn, your body will begin to burn your body's fat stores as the primary source of energy"

Not necessarily true. If your maintenance cals is 1800, you need to be at a safe amount in order for fat stores to be burned...if youre only taking in 700 cals, would you expect to keep all your muscle? of course not...thats why its recommended usually that you go no lower than 500 cals under maintenance in order to SAFELY drop weight.

"Basically what they are told is to eat more. "How many calories are you eating," they'll ask... "Triple it!" They'll say..."

I wouldnt say TRIPLE your cals, lets use you as an example...what is your bodyweight? how many cals are you taking in a day? what type of ratio?

 

[SoreArms]

It is easy to see how the metabolism for someone with 10% BF can be very high - but what about for a more regular, flabbier, lower-metabolism person? Not necessarily fat, but we're talking AVERAGE here. Low muscle mass.

Basically what they are told is to eat more. "How many calories are you eating," they'll ask... "Triple it!" They'll say...

Why is this advised?

I don't think that I have ever seen such a thing advised on this board. If anything, people always try to help the person figure the amount of calories they should be eating for maintenance and help them spread those calories over 5 or 6 meals, rather than eating them over 2 or 3. Hmmm, might this be what is confusing you, the fact that more meals are advised? More meals are advised to 1: Eat smaller meals so that your body has an easier time digesting them and 2: to speed up your metabolism.

People are also usually advised on how to eat clean, and what kind of junk to stay away from. Advising anyone who is trying to loose fat to eat triple their maintenance cals would be absurd.

 

[rtdoplex]

I wouldnt say TRIPLE your cals, lets use you as an example...what is your bodyweight? how many cals are you taking in a day? what type of ratio?

This is certainly not for me as I am ~ 10% BF. Trying to gain weight if anything. This was really just a general question, although my girlfriend is also into fitness and subscribes to the move more-eat less club. She eats sparingly throughout the day - probably 3 or 4 "snack" type meals. Although I do not know the specifics, I am inclined to think it is very low calorie (maybe <1000). However it does work for her. (Also regularly strength trains and cardio, obviously.)

I do think that she has maybe slowed her metabolism down some by this diet though (she says she gains weight back quickly.. then again which woman doesn't have this complaint), so she's got some thermorexin she's going to try when she's faced with a big-eating occasion (wedding, party, whatever..) to make sure she doesn't gain it back when she eats a lot.

But like I said that question really doesn't apply to me. I was simply interested in the theory behind it.