Please Scroll Down to See Forums Below Hi ladies. I have always been very active although recently gained twenty pounds-I'm really upset! Anyways I'm going on a trip in three weeks and would desperately love to drop that 20 pds. I'm working out everyday for two hours and eating under 1000 calories. Any other tips? Thanks alot!
Please help!
- Thread starter cashy
- Start date
Sassy69
New member
Hi cashy, welcome to EF.
Well, first I'm sure you didnt' gain 20 lb in 3 weeks, so reality is that you won't drop 20 lb in 3 weeks. I think you are going to screw yourself w/ the under 1000 cals. It tends to kill your metabolism and probably burn muscle too.
I realize for the moment you are probably interested in just losing whatever you can in the next 3 weeks, blow your diet while on vacation and then get back on track w/ a HEALTHY program to get back to a place where you are happy.
For the short term, can you list exactly what you are eating now, i.e.
Meal 1: 8 am
1/2 c oatmeal
1 whole egg + 2egg whites
Meal 2: 11 am
1 c cottage cheese
Meal 3: 2 pm
4 oz chicken
1 c spinach
1 tbsp vinegar & oil
whatever you are eating - just list in detail like above so we know very specifically what you are eatign now.
And also your training - what specifically are you doing in each day's program. Another thing you may be dealing w/ is if you train 2 hrs / day -- you may be overtraining and not allowing enough time to recover which will also cause your body to slow down.
You are trying to force a change by putting your body thru some short term extremes -that usually does 2 things - 1) slows down your metabolism if you dont' feed your body enough to run efficiently and 2) when you stop doing the extreme program you will rebound back to or even further beyond where you were when you started.
Also realize there si a limited about of real bodyfat you can drop in a short period of time. You can however dump some water weigth that you may be holding via "bloat" if your diet isn't really clean.
Post up what you are doing now & we can probably make some tweaks to get you in the right direction for a 3 week goal. Then I woudl really encourage you to come back and start a healthy long-term program so you aren't unhappy w/ yourself and get caught in that OMG I NEED TO LOSE 20 LB NOW! cycle of non-success.
Well, first I'm sure you didnt' gain 20 lb in 3 weeks, so reality is that you won't drop 20 lb in 3 weeks. I think you are going to screw yourself w/ the under 1000 cals. It tends to kill your metabolism and probably burn muscle too.
I realize for the moment you are probably interested in just losing whatever you can in the next 3 weeks, blow your diet while on vacation and then get back on track w/ a HEALTHY program to get back to a place where you are happy.
For the short term, can you list exactly what you are eating now, i.e.
Meal 1: 8 am
1/2 c oatmeal
1 whole egg + 2egg whites
Meal 2: 11 am
1 c cottage cheese
Meal 3: 2 pm
4 oz chicken
1 c spinach
1 tbsp vinegar & oil
whatever you are eating - just list in detail like above so we know very specifically what you are eatign now.
And also your training - what specifically are you doing in each day's program. Another thing you may be dealing w/ is if you train 2 hrs / day -- you may be overtraining and not allowing enough time to recover which will also cause your body to slow down.
You are trying to force a change by putting your body thru some short term extremes -that usually does 2 things - 1) slows down your metabolism if you dont' feed your body enough to run efficiently and 2) when you stop doing the extreme program you will rebound back to or even further beyond where you were when you started.
Also realize there si a limited about of real bodyfat you can drop in a short period of time. You can however dump some water weigth that you may be holding via "bloat" if your diet isn't really clean.
Post up what you are doing now & we can probably make some tweaks to get you in the right direction for a 3 week goal. Then I woudl really encourage you to come back and start a healthy long-term program so you aren't unhappy w/ yourself and get caught in that OMG I NEED TO LOSE 20 LB NOW! cycle of non-success.
Thank you so much for your response. The scary thing is that I did gain twenty pounds in a month! I know it's hard to believe but sitting on my tush eating crap has done that! Okay my diet has been the following
Breakfast: 4 oz protein-egg whites/or chicken
sometimes I'll have plain nf yogurt also
Lunch: 4oz protein with 8 0z vegetables
Dinner: 4-6 0z protein with 8 0z vegetable and a mixed green salad
Thanks again for the help!
Breakfast: 4 oz protein-egg whites/or chicken
sometimes I'll have plain nf yogurt also
Lunch: 4oz protein with 8 0z vegetables
Dinner: 4-6 0z protein with 8 0z vegetable and a mixed green salad
Thanks again for the help!
Sassy69
New member
A couple things tho -- its not all bodyfat that you gained -if you did a radical change in diet & started eating crap, the good news is that you are probably holdign all sorts of water, and also you should go back to "normal" very quickly because your body hasn't really had a lot of time to settle into a new "set point" as far as adjusting its metabolism around your "lifestyle".
Just so you can have a solid grip on what you are eating, I'd suggest putting your speicfic meal plan into a food counts program like www.fitday.com -it will tell you exactly the total calories as well as the macronutrient breakdown - %, grams of proteins, fats & carbs. The point is you want to eat enough calories so your metabolism doesnt' slow down & you can establish an efficient burn rate, but also make sure you are eating the right ratios of stuff to both fuel that burn rate (carbs) as well as ensure you arent' eating away your muslce mass --- more bodyfat always looks better when it has muscle along with it isntead of no muscle at all.
Also can you tell us your stats - height, weight, est bodyfat? "I gained 20 lbs in a month!" doesn't really tell me where you are at now. Also that helps us set an optimal total cals & ratios.
Generally in teh diet you have no good quality fats or carbs. Fats help provide energy when you are on a low carb day, but if you stay low carb / no carb all the time, even Atkins people will tell you that you will drop a whole bunch of water weight but you will feel like shit, be moody, have headaches and be tired all the time. THat impacts the quality of your daily life as well as leaves you w/ nothing to run on when it comes time to hit the gym. You can do that for a short period of time but your body will figure it out & start to bog down your metabolism and when you start to eat normal again you will gain it all back.
Just so you can have a solid grip on what you are eating, I'd suggest putting your speicfic meal plan into a food counts program like www.fitday.com -it will tell you exactly the total calories as well as the macronutrient breakdown - %, grams of proteins, fats & carbs. The point is you want to eat enough calories so your metabolism doesnt' slow down & you can establish an efficient burn rate, but also make sure you are eating the right ratios of stuff to both fuel that burn rate (carbs) as well as ensure you arent' eating away your muslce mass --- more bodyfat always looks better when it has muscle along with it isntead of no muscle at all.
Also can you tell us your stats - height, weight, est bodyfat? "I gained 20 lbs in a month!" doesn't really tell me where you are at now. Also that helps us set an optimal total cals & ratios.
Generally in teh diet you have no good quality fats or carbs. Fats help provide energy when you are on a low carb day, but if you stay low carb / no carb all the time, even Atkins people will tell you that you will drop a whole bunch of water weight but you will feel like shit, be moody, have headaches and be tired all the time. THat impacts the quality of your daily life as well as leaves you w/ nothing to run on when it comes time to hit the gym. You can do that for a short period of time but your body will figure it out & start to bog down your metabolism and when you start to eat normal again you will gain it all back.
Sassy, what to say but thank you! You are so nice for helping me. I now weigh 140-I was 120. I'm 5'5 27 yrs old. I guess I'm just upset because none of my clothes fit! lol! I was also wondering if you are on a low carb plan-which I am- is it okay to not count carbs in vegetables. I've been eating this pumpkin puree stuff like there's no tomorrow! It's only pumpkin nothing else. Do you recomend carb and calorie cycling-few days low one day higher? Thanks again!
Sassy69
New member
I'm not really sure the point of pumpkin puree? Anyone else have any experience w/ this? I rarely do a "low carb diet", but rather a carb cycling. I've never bothered w/ calorie cycling as I tend to train in one form or another every day and my lighter days (e.g. cardio only) match up w/ low carb days. Like I said w/ the Atkins approach - if you stay "low carb" for more than 5 or so days, your metabolism will slow down, go into ketosis - there the idea is that your body has to switch over to burning ketones instead of carbs for energy and then you burn fat as well. The problem is that since you don't have an optimal choice of energy source (carbs) your system slows down a bit. And as I mentioned, your body basically learns how to run on the lower carb & cal intake - but its not running optimally - optimal is in the sense that you fuel yourself w/ pretty close to exactly what you need to "run" and support the level of training / activity you, do then refeed every 2-3 hours (since proteins, carbs & fats are metabolized w/in 2-3 hrs of eating.)
I guess I've never done pumpkin puree - a sample of what I usually eat is:
Meal 1:
1/2 c oatmeal or 1/2 grapefruit
1 whole egg + 2-3 egg whites
Meal 2:
4 oz chicken
1 c green leafy veggies
3-4 oz sweet potato
Meal 3:
4 oz chicken
1 c green leafy veggies
1 tsbp vinegar / oil
Meal 4:
4 oz chicken
1-2 c green leafy veggies
3-4 oz sweet potato
Meal 5:
4 oz chicken
1-2 c green leafy veggies
Meal 6:
4 oz steak
1-2 c green leafy veggies
Something like that - I usually train at night.
I don't get too hung up on the cals / carbs in veggies - I mostly make sure I have green leafy veggies at most of my meals. On low carb days I remove the carbs & replace w/ same cals in fats so my total cals are pretty much the same.
I guess I've never done pumpkin puree - a sample of what I usually eat is:
Meal 1:
1/2 c oatmeal or 1/2 grapefruit
1 whole egg + 2-3 egg whites
Meal 2:
4 oz chicken
1 c green leafy veggies
3-4 oz sweet potato
Meal 3:
4 oz chicken
1 c green leafy veggies
1 tsbp vinegar / oil
Meal 4:
4 oz chicken
1-2 c green leafy veggies
3-4 oz sweet potato
Meal 5:
4 oz chicken
1-2 c green leafy veggies
Meal 6:
4 oz steak
1-2 c green leafy veggies
Something like that - I usually train at night.
I don't get too hung up on the cals / carbs in veggies - I mostly make sure I have green leafy veggies at most of my meals. On low carb days I remove the carbs & replace w/ same cals in fats so my total cals are pretty much the same.
J
jenscats5
Guest
Pumpkin puree is pretty healthy - it's just pumpkin & full of nutrients......now the pumpkin PIE filling isn't.....I would count all carbs & net them after the fiber.....
Thanks again. Would you all recommend taking a fat burning supp? I'm taking lipo 6 and it doesn't seem to be doing much of anything. I'm sorry I feel like such a pathetic girl with all my weight loss questions. I'm just uncomftorabe in my own skin and I'm pist I let myself go like this. So getting the 20 pds off in 3 weeks is still my goal although I know it's tough to do. I'm also not working so I have alot of time to work out. Thanks!
J
jenscats5
Guest
cashy said:
No problem!! Ask away!! And don't feel pathetic.....there's a lot to learn!!
Sassy69
New member
Also let's set expectations on "fat burners" -- any of that stuff only has a small increase in "fat burning" but its only goign to be as good as your diet & training and you can't like, start taking it and expect to drop 10 lb in 2 days. None of them are miracle pills so honestly, sure keep taking whatever you are using now, but don't focus on that as your secret to dropping 20 lb.
There is a lot of great info here!!!cashy said:
Cashy, just to clarify, it is going to be near impossible for you to drop 20 lbs of fat weight in 3 weeks ... The majority of weight lost will be water, which MAY show a lower # on a scale.
The 20 lbs of weight you 'gained' was most likey some fat and some water. Breaking it down to the #'s... Not meaning to confuse but I felt like getting mathematical and am using this example to explain this to someone as I type so hear goes:
* You would have to eat ~3500 cal to put on = 1 lb bodyfat
* 1400 cals = Your Generic BMR (the mimimal caloric requirement needed to sustain life in a resting individual...i.e. the amount of energy your body would burn if you stayed in bed all day)
* You said you were very active & this isn't even figuring IN your cals burned during workouts, keep that in mind.
3500 cals --> amount you'd have to eat to gain 1 lb of body fat
x
20lbs --> the amount you said you gained in a month
= 70,000 cals --> the amount you needed to eat to gain 20 lbs of fat.
-------------------------------------------------------
Take
70,000 --> the amount you needed to eat to gain 20 lbs of fat
Divide that by
30 days --> the number of est. days in a month
= ~2300 cals --> the amount of cals you would need to eat NOT including your BMR or calories burned from ANY activity during the course of the day
--------------------------------------------------------
2300 cals --> from above
+
1400 cals --> for your BMR
= 3700 cals a day
You would have to eat 3700 cals a day, with NO activity in order to put on 20 lbs of fat in a month. Since you were working out & active, that number is higher, maybe even by 500-1000 more...
So again, The 20 lbs of weight you 'gained' was most likey some fat and some water.
Also, keep in mind if you overdo it, your body may just do to the opposite of dropping water & fat, but hold onto it b/c it won't know what's going on. It's job is surivial ... if your body thinks that is compromised it will hold on to whatever you feed it for 'back up' and storage (i.e fat and munch on yummy muscle.. NOT good).
Sassy is basically giving you a recipe for success here.
I hope I didn't confuse you.
I understand thanks for the help. I'm doing an hour of cardio and an hour of circuit training everyday. I know I'm being crazy with my way of thinking-just very determined! I feel so much better when I am comftorable with my body-which I'm not right now. I was also wondering if it's best to not eat at night? Can that really make a difference? I understand diet and exercise needs to be a way of life but this is the one time I'm willing to make a exception to get this crap off! Thanks!
J
jenscats5
Guest
cashy said:
Nope, it's more about overall daily calories and what exactly you are eating at nite....provided it's not ice cream & chips, then you can eat @ nite no probs.......
EXCELLENT post Bunny!!
Sassy69
New member
That is what we generally follow - god knows I've done a shit load of Am cardio for competition.
At this point I think you just need to "do" and not keep looking around for "other ways" - the basic stuff either works or it doesn't. Sometiems a radical change in diet requires a week or two for your body to adapt to it, sometimes you just dump the water like crazy. All you can you do is stick 100% to your plan, give your body a few days to respond and make adjustments as needed.
At this point I think you just need to "do" and not keep looking around for "other ways" - the basic stuff either works or it doesn't. Sometiems a radical change in diet requires a week or two for your body to adapt to it, sometimes you just dump the water like crazy. All you can you do is stick 100% to your plan, give your body a few days to respond and make adjustments as needed.
Good advice given ....
Points to really think about .....
~ Less calories does NOT mean faster weight loss. If you eat too little, you will STOP losing.
~ Taking weight off usually takes longer than putting it on took.
~ Fat burners usually burn ABOUT 150 calories a day. Don't expect miracles from it.
~ Tons of cardio and working out does NOT make losing FAT easier. It makes losing MUSCLE easier.
~ Being determined is good, expecting things to happen overnight (or in 3 weeks) is bad.
Points to really think about .....
~ Less calories does NOT mean faster weight loss. If you eat too little, you will STOP losing.
~ Taking weight off usually takes longer than putting it on took.
~ Fat burners usually burn ABOUT 150 calories a day. Don't expect miracles from it.
~ Tons of cardio and working out does NOT make losing FAT easier. It makes losing MUSCLE easier.
~ Being determined is good, expecting things to happen overnight (or in 3 weeks) is bad.
Bunny can do whatever she wants.
TY about little daisy ... she is something else.
TY about little daisy ... she is something else.
J
jenscats5
Guest
Daisy_Girl said:
Exactly!!
OMG, what a cute avi!! Love the description too!!
LOL, she gets that look when you have her do something she doesn't want to do - sucks in the lower lip and gets scrunchy.
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