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Personally, I would rather be dead than be fat, so my answer would be losing weight is more important. With that being said, I have let myself become fat and I can not deal with it. I am 5'11 and weigh 190 (at start). My goal (which I will achieve) is 150. I have now went on a severely restrictive diet of only salad with fat free dressing, apples, bananas and oranges. Obviously, I am not giving up the beer so I have cut my food intake really low. I eat only once a day now and keep my food calories down to no more than 300-500 a day. I am also now taking ephedrine pills to eliminate my hunger and speed up my metabolism. I started my diet on March 7 and have already lost 8 pounds (182), and this is with NO exercise. However, I do plan to start working out and drinking less when I reach my goal weight. I currently am too embarrassed to go into a gym with the way I currently look.
Ok first off 5'11 and 190, for a man, is far from fat. And 5'11/150 is VERY thin for a man. No way you need to weigh 150!
I ask this because Ive noticed a lot of people here posting things about super outrageous diets (HCG, "master cleanse" fasts, acai diets, etc.) that are far far far from being healthy. There are others (few here, but many out in the real world) who prefer to lose weight AND get healthy at the same time by exercising and eating right.
It just baffles my mind that people would choose to lose weight in a way that hinders their health all because they want to lose pounds.
Also, I find it outrageous and silly that people say that they want to lose weight BEFORE starting exercise. WTF?
For me, the #1 most important thing is my health. I dont really care about what the scale says. I care more about improving my health and fitness level. I must admit, that Ive never been overweight in my life. The heaviest I have ever been was 199 pounds (tried to get to 200 but couldnt) while on a bulking/muscle building program. If I dont workout, I lose weight and increase my body fat %. But my goal has always been health/fitness.
Just curious what others here find is most important to them - losing weight or getting healthy. One would think that they are one in the same, but based on some of the really stupid diets that people go on, its obvious that they are not.
LaoTzuMindFu,
I am replying without having read any response, and I might get flamed for this, but...
I would venture to state that many "civilians" (people who do not live w/ regular exercise and who do not know sports nutrition) are simply impatient and want quick results. They would love to look like the models seen on the advertisements for fat-loss products, but they do not know that it takes a lot of effort to transform one's body.
Someone who is 40 pounds overweight can healthily lose all that excess fat simply by taking up cardio and by adopting a healthier diet. Throw in some weightlifting in there as well. It may take a couple of months, and for some, it may take many months. But it would probably lead to permanent improvements, and not just physical. The given individual would learn (by trial and error as well) what to eat and what not to eat. How much cardio he/she can handle and how to progressively increase resistance. Losing fat this way helps one's metabolism get faster and stay fast far more than fasting or eating acai or what not.
Currently, I'm on a cut, which began nearly 1 month ago. I have gone from strength training in the winter (which saw me eat like a beast) to a bodybuiding split routine 4 days a week (but with poundages as heavy as I can muster) and with lots of cardio. I've drastically cut carbs. In these weeks, I've lost 6 pounds, and my cardiovascular endurance has increased substantially. I feel far less winded when I walk fast during a commute or while on a treadmill. I don't think I lost any lean mass and except for chest (probably because I work pecs on Monday after doing delts and triceps on Saturday), my strength has not gone down at all.
For me, being healthy is inseparable from losing weight, and for me, losing weight is losing FAT ONLY. I've spent way too much during these these past years: money on gym memberships and supplements; time at the gym and researching; money, time, and energy preparing healthy meals, etc... for me to lose the lean muscle I struggled for so long to build. And if I do lose some lean mass, I know that come wintertime, I can easily bulk again.
This lifestyle, of permanent, constant, deliberate, consecutive, and informed healthy decisions is what helps a person to gradually lose fat and to keep it off. Fad diets and their likes are for those who either can't or won't take the time to learn, and that's why so many of these folks who go for the quick fixes often gain all the fat back if not more once they go back to their "normal" lifestyles. Such is the mentality of the "civilian."
EDIT: as for the scale, I do care about what it says but only because after a number of weeks, I need to see whether I've stalled. Other than that I generally opt for the mirror to determine if progress has been achieved.
The great thing about making an effort to get healthy is that the weight will automatically come off.
I wish you'd tell this to my body, then, because I don't think it knows this.
On February 18 I had some alarming pains in my chest and shoulder that made me worry about my heart. THAT DAY I started eating better and walking. I haven't eaten fast food since then.
A few days later, I went to the doctor and she told me to lay off the diet sodas and alcohol (because I have acid reflux or indigestion or whatever it's called). Check. In the 4 weeks since, I've had a few swallows of diet soda and no wine.
I added ground flax meal to my daily diet, adding it to my salads and other dishes. I also take a spoonful of flaxseed oil at night. I drink a (nasty!) concoction of water/apple cider vinegar/baking soda to ease my acid reflux. It's gross, but it works.
The doctor put me on a prescription-strength Vitamin D supplement (because I'm deficient), which I've taken as directed. I'm also taking a B-complex vitamin, chromium, and biotin.
I drink 2 to 3 liters of water every day.
I walk 4 or 5 days per week, 30 minutes per time. More on the weekends.
I've added whole grains to my diet, and I'm not talking "whole wheat bread" or "bran cereal." I've recently discovered quinoa and millet, and I eat more brown and wild rice. And I eat beans just about every day. I even switched from canned beans to dry beans which I cook myself so that I could avoid the preservatives and salts.
Dinner every night is a salad with yummies like spinach, lettuce, onion, red pepper, almonds, clementines, green olives, quinoa, ground flax seed, daikon. Whatever I'm buying and trying. A little dressing, olive-oil based.
I've cut meat from diet almost completely, except for fish and a few other seafoods. I get my protein from my beans, my grains, my eggs.
I was getting protein from milk/dairy, but last night, I switched from cow's milk to almond milk.
I eat at least one serving of fruit every day, usually 2.
(And before y'all say I'm not eating enough...I think I am. I eat breakfast, lunch, afternoon snack, dinner, and sometimes a light something before bed if I'm still hungry. I've tracked my calories on SparkPeople, and I'm right around 1400-1800. It varies from day to day. But it's not a starvation diet, in other words.)
So I'm doing all this stuff...all this "right" stuff, right? All this healthy stuff. You'd think my body would just lose weight naturally.
Nope.
In four weeks, I've lost 3 pounds...and those 3 pounds were lost in week 1. For the last 3 weeks, the scales have said the same thing every morning: 197.5 Every day. No matter how much water I drink or walking I do or what I eat. 197.5.
My clothes don't fit any better. My face -- usually the first part of me to lose weight, even if the rest of me isn't -- isn't any thinner. I don't feel/look any less bloated. I feel moderately less tired, and moderately more focused mentally.
I have a follow-up appointment with my doctor on April 22, and she told me that if I'm still not losing weight by then, we'll look at "other options." Whatever that means. In the meanwhile, I'm just going to keep on keeping on. I keep hoping that EVENTUALLY my body will respond to all these positive changes I've made. I've read that if you can lose 5% of your body weight, your body will begin to heal itself. That's exciting news. I hope I get there someday.
Being healthy is #1 and losing weight came along with being healthy. One of my friends was on the Slim Fast diet and it didn't work because you can't eat like that for life plus it's not healthy at all!
Niftybergin........It is taking me more than that to loose weight.........I am in the 1300 calorie range and excercise hard 60-90 minutes a day at 80% max hr and am loosing about 1.5 lbs per week. Am at about 42 lost so far since October - very hard to take off pounds but my weight loss has been sustained at the same rate since then. A linear regression line drawn through the data has R^2 of 0.98!. No supplements. Just healhty eating, calorie counting, and excercise.
It sounds like you have made some major healthy changes though. Quinoa is great stuff too. I am not at all exceited about amaranth though....at least not what we have tried so far. We bought a stainless pressure cooker for our beans and I like to sprout them when I can and stir fry in olive oil.
For some it comes off just by doing minor changes but for others it takes a real concerted effort.
-----------------------
Oh before all that, I worked with a nutritionist at a doctors office and they told me not to go below 1600 calories as that was what I needed to eat. I went for three months on that approach with a 5lb weight loss. I did my own research and realized more really was needed.
Last edited by grannynancy; 03-21-2010 at 05:50 AM..
Reason: More info
I wish you'd tell this to my body, then, because I don't think it knows this.
On February 18 I had some alarming pains in my chest and shoulder that made me worry about my heart. THAT DAY I started eating better and walking. I haven't eaten fast food since then.
A few days later, I went to the doctor and she told me to lay off the diet sodas and alcohol (because I have acid reflux or indigestion or whatever it's called). Check. In the 4 weeks since, I've had a few swallows of diet soda and no wine.
I added ground flax meal to my daily diet, adding it to my salads and other dishes. I also take a spoonful of flaxseed oil at night. I drink a (nasty!) concoction of water/apple cider vinegar/baking soda to ease my acid reflux. It's gross, but it works.
The doctor put me on a prescription-strength Vitamin D supplement (because I'm deficient), which I've taken as directed. I'm also taking a B-complex vitamin, chromium, and biotin.
I drink 2 to 3 liters of water every day.
I walk 4 or 5 days per week, 30 minutes per time. More on the weekends.
I've added whole grains to my diet, and I'm not talking "whole wheat bread" or "bran cereal." I've recently discovered quinoa and millet, and I eat more brown and wild rice. And I eat beans just about every day. I even switched from canned beans to dry beans which I cook myself so that I could avoid the preservatives and salts.
Dinner every night is a salad with yummies like spinach, lettuce, onion, red pepper, almonds, clementines, green olives, quinoa, ground flax seed, daikon. Whatever I'm buying and trying. A little dressing, olive-oil based.
I've cut meat from diet almost completely, except for fish and a few other seafoods. I get my protein from my beans, my grains, my eggs.
I was getting protein from milk/dairy, but last night, I switched from cow's milk to almond milk.
I eat at least one serving of fruit every day, usually 2.
(And before y'all say I'm not eating enough...I think I am. I eat breakfast, lunch, afternoon snack, dinner, and sometimes a light something before bed if I'm still hungry. I've tracked my calories on SparkPeople, and I'm right around 1400-1800. It varies from day to day. But it's not a starvation diet, in other words.)
So I'm doing all this stuff...all this "right" stuff, right? All this healthy stuff. You'd think my body would just lose weight naturally.
Nope.
In four weeks, I've lost 3 pounds...and those 3 pounds were lost in week 1. For the last 3 weeks, the scales have said the same thing every morning: 197.5 Every day. No matter how much water I drink or walking I do or what I eat. 197.5.
My clothes don't fit any better. My face -- usually the first part of me to lose weight, even if the rest of me isn't -- isn't any thinner. I don't feel/look any less bloated. I feel moderately less tired, and moderately more focused mentally.
I have a follow-up appointment with my doctor on April 22, and she told me that if I'm still not losing weight by then, we'll look at "other options." Whatever that means. In the meanwhile, I'm just going to keep on keeping on. I keep hoping that EVENTUALLY my body will respond to all these positive changes I've made. I've read that if you can lose 5% of your body weight, your body will begin to heal itself. That's exciting news. I hope I get there someday.
If you are physically capable you need to do some real exercising. Walking is better than nothing, but it does a lot less than people think. I don't know how fast you are walking or how much you weigh so I can't estimate, but you may only be burning off 200 calories a day. 200 calories times 5 days a week = 1,000 calories burned per week. You need a 3,500 calorie deficit to burn off a single pound. That's three and a half weeks to drop a pound.
Don't be fooled watching a show like the Biggest Loser, don't think every time you step on the scale you are going to see big results. Remember, all that fat you are carrying around is energy storage, a hold out from our hunter gatherer days when our bodies retained as much energy as it could get from the foods we ate - our bodies did not know when its next meal would be coming. A part of our biological make up is to store excess fat, and to not give it up easily. This is part of why our species has survived, fat storage is a hedge against starving to death. It's always easier to put it on than to take it off.
Stay the course. You are doing quite well. You are going to have plateaus, don't worry about it.
If you are physically capable you need to do some real exercising. Walking is better than nothing, but it does a lot less than people think. I don't know how fast you are walking or how much you weigh so I can't estimate, but you may only be burning off 200 calories a day. 200 calories times 5 days a week = 1,000 calories burned per week. You need a 3,500 calorie deficit to burn off a single pound. That's three and a half weeks to drop a pound.
I do know that walking is not getting me fit. It's not improving my cardiovascular health or endurance. I do think that my stamina has improved in the 5 or so weeks that I've been walking regularly. And my body in general isn't as achy as it was when I started, so that's an improvement. Walking is helping, but I know that as this journey continues, I'm going to have to add more and different types of (more aggressive) exercise into my regime in order to lose all the weight I need to lose.
I do know this is true, but I also know that weight loss results from a combination of calories burned and a deficit of calories consumed (vs. how many calories your body needs to sustain all systems). Exercise is only part of the equation. Nutrition is the other part.
My BMR is about 1575 at my current height/weight/age and gender. Since I work in an office and sit on my bum at a desk 8 hours a day, I'd consider myself to be naturally sedentary. Using the Harris-Benedict equation, my daily caloric needs would be about 1890. (1575 x 1.2)
I've begun walking more...walking my 30 minutes a day, often more, but also parking farther from the doors, and walking my dog longer, etc. (And I know it sounds silly, but all the water I drink means a lot more steps per day because it means more trips to the bathroom!) My point is just that I've increased my overall activity on a daily basis. So I'd be willing to go so far as to consider myself "lightly active," and according to the Harris Benedict equation, my caloric needs as a lightly-active person with my BMR would be 2165. (1575 x 1.375)
So... It might be true that I burn only about 200 calories on my 30-minute walking gigs, and that may only amount to 1000 calories in a week...about 1/3 of a pound. But I think it's also true that I'm consuming fewer than the 2165 daily calories my "lightly-active" self needs to keep all systems operating. If I'm eating 1550 calories per day -- and I think that's a fair generalization, based on my trackings at SparkPeople -- that's a daily deficit of 615 calories per day. Multiply that by 7 days in a week and you have a deficit of 4305 calories per week.
Add the 1000 calories burned in my walks to the 4305 calorie-deficit, and that's 5305 calories...1.5 pounds per week.
I'm fine with losing 1.5 pounds per week. That seems like a healthy weight-loss pace. I just want to LOSE those 1.5 pounds per week. It's frustrating when I know how the numbers add up...how they should add up...and yet the results don't show the math.
I just have to focus on the positive changes I HAVE noticed: my feet and ankles ache and burn less, my lower back aches less, I seem to have more balance, I'm sleeping better during the night, my skin has improved (not as dry/flaky), my acid-reflux is better, I feel a bit more focused and alert mentally, and I don't get that debilitating fatigue in the afternoon. Those are all good changes that suggest an improvement in my HEALTH, so that's what I have to hold onto until my body begins to lose weight. I know that EVENTUALLY, it will.
I think you are finding that the formula is "typical" not exact.
By Harris Benedict, with NO excercise I should loose 1.5lbs a week at 1318 calories. I am burning 450 calories each of 6 days a week on the treadmill [if you trust their calculations] and eating an average of 1300 calories, therefore my net [because I claimed sedentery] is only 850 a day......That is not even counting the fact that I do other stuff on the weekends like in the woods, yardwork etc......I am, BTW, losing at approx 1.5 lbs per week. According to the "math" I should be loosing 2.3 lbs a week. I know others who loose faster and easier than the "formula" and after years of denial, figure I have to do what it takes to get there and stay there.
It is what it is. The equations are a starting place. Your mileage may vary.
Not for nothing but, I don't know of any fit, "regular" people (meaning not a serious athlete) who go on about Harris Benedict and their BMR or any other sort of formula. And the fat people who got fit didn't go on and on about it either. I think many of you overweight folks over-complicating weight loss and that is a part of your problem. You're both going on and on about math as though you have something to prove.
A certified trainer at my gym was telling me about how overweight people always ask her for advice at parties and stuff when they find out what she does for living. Her advice is always this: Stop eating garbage and exercise more, then you will lose the weight.
You're both going on and on about math as though you have something to prove. .
If you read what I had to say........it was that the equations are some approximation but you have to do what you have to do and not worry about them as they are only an approximation.
.... Actually, answering the thread was the first time I put my numbers through the formula because I was just doing what has been working, steadily, for 5 months at approx 1.5lbs per week and 41 lbs later. If I relied on the formulas I would be very disappointed.
I came up with my own approach after spending 3 months following the advice of a nutritionist and excercise MD [which I think is a BS degree because they really don't seem to know SQUAT] and losing 5 lbs as well. Once I buckled down and realized I had to take control and make it happen and that it was all on me.........that was when I started losing weight.
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However, I do plan to start working out and drinking less when I reach my goal weight. I currently am too embarrassed to go into a gym with the way I currently look.
