August 2006 Weddings
bunnybean
member
Dear Community,
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
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Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
XP: (#) related
I am supposed to eat between 1200 and 1550 calories according to Spark
People. I just can't manage to stay under 1550. Ever. I'm not even
necessarily hungry, I just feel unsatisfied. Tonight I finished at
1635. I know it's not a huge deal, but it makes me feel bad and
confused that I can't stay in my parameters. I'm never destroying my calories, and I seem to be able to stay in the 1600s range just fine, it's like I just willfully want to get over that 1550. Any suggestions or helpful hints?
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Re: XP: (#) related
1200 is a freakishly low amount. It's unhealthy. Your body needs more calories than that to function. Not to mention, if you eat too few calories, your body thinks it is starving itself and will stop burning fuel...you'll be more likely to gain weight or have your weight stay the same. At best, it will slow down the weight loss.
The problem with that Spark people calculator is its based on a set formula and there's no red flag to tell you if something is unrealistic or unhealthy.
I'm not a dietician, but I'd guess that you probably want to eat 1500-1800/day. That's usually the calorie range I've seen for healthy, sustainable weight loss.
Good call. It's definitely more about what you eat (and the healthier foods are lower in calories so you can eat more :-), which is bonus). If you ask this on H&F, they'll tell you that eating too few calories puts your body in starvation mode -- if you're not getting enough calories, your body will hoard the ones you do put in, but won't really burn any. Or something.
Hmm, I have used SP, but I now use WW. I know that on WW, most veggies are 0 points. They are not 0 calories, but because they are fat-free and high in nutrients and fiber, you don't have to count it toward what you're eating for the day. On SP, you count that 30 calories of broccoli or green beans. (They say that if your weight loss is slowing to make sure you're not overloading on 0-point foods because at some point, even broccoli will make you gain weight. But let's face it, that's not most people's problem.)
On WW, a point ~ 50 calories. But the points value of a food is affected by its fat and fiber content. So a food with 100 calories, 7 grams of fat, and no fiber will jump up to 3 points, but a food with 140 calories, 1 gram of fat, and 6 grams of fiber will only be 2 points. Basically, on WW, if you foods that are high in fiber and low in fat, you will be eating more calories. But they will be keeping you fuller, they will be providing more nutrients, and you won't be cramming your pie-hole with fat.
I would focus on trying to meet your fat, protein, and fiber ranges, and not worry if the calories are slightly high. Does that make any sense?
That does make sense! I almost never look at those aside from the protein, because as a vegetarian that's a concern for me. I know a calorie is a calorie is a calorie, so if I eat a nice balanced day or 1500 of pizza, I'll still lose weight, I just won't be full, satisfied, or particularly healthy. I think you're right that I need to look at WHAT I'm eating, making sure I'm packing in the fiber and protein, and eat some more of the "bargain" type foods. Who really cares if I'm 200 calories over from fruits and vegetables?
If you want to track your calories and keep a low target, maybe count, say 1400 calories of everything that is not fresh fruit or veggies. So, count the calories in the hummus that you dip your broccoli into, but not the broccoli. That will probably help you stay on target, but also stay full, healthy, and satisfied.
And here's a snack tip. Do you like edamame? They are my new favorite snack. A frozen bag at Whole Foods or TJs is a couple bucks, there's 3 servings in there, the servings are ginormous, and there's only 110 calories in one serving. There's so much protein and fiber in there that I am super full after a bowl. I heat them up, put a tiny drop (like a half teaspoon) of olive oil (so, 30 calories-ish) and a lot of kosher salt. It's a 150 calorie snack and it fills you up. It's nice and salty too, so it's like eating chips.
I'm having a big breakfast today, so I may just eat a bowl of those for lunch.
One more thing...this isnt' entirely true. It's easier for your body to burn carb calories faster than it burns protein and fiber calories. And you burn calories by digesting food (small amounts, but still). So your body burns more calories digesting protein and fiber calories than it does carbs. There are no negative calorie foods (eg foods where you burn more calories eating them then they have in them), but part of the reason protein and fiber calories are better than carb ones is that they keep you full because they take so much longer to digest.
That's part of the reason why people on Atkins and other high-protein diets lose so much weight despite not eating normal diet foods.
And that's the extent of my nutrition and diet knowledge.
I found a nerdy, scientific explanation of this:
http://www.nutritionj.com/content/3/1/9?
Somehow I missed this post earlier! That's a good idea about not tracking the fruits and veggies, and I want to try edamame. I've had it in things, but never by itself. Sounds like something I would like.
Thanks mr+ms! I will definitely read this.
The Atkins thing may help you burn fat, but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone b/c of the risk of ketosis (among other less immediately dangerous issues). ?Your body is not supposed to get all your calories from one type of food, ignoring other types.
One thing I'd recommend is that you cut back on some of the processed food. ?I know it's easy to get into that b/c of the veg thing, but regardless of calorie count, they're really not good for you. ?So, no fast food, even without the cheese, and try to limit your frozen meals. ?Easier said than done, I know, but you'll feel much better for doing it.?
BB,
not sure if you're still reading this, but it is very possible to keep it at 1200 calories and lose weight in a healthy way. I'm doing something called carb-cycling and in short, I have high, medium, and low days. 4 days out of the week are my "low" days and are around 1000 calories, plus I'm probably burning about 300 calories in exercise every morning of my low days. The other 3 days are a slightly higher calorie count to rest my body and "recover."