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[Ecrofirt]

I've decided to cut my calorie intake while increasing my physical activity so I can lose a bit of weight.

Is there a problem with lowering my calorie intake to around 1000 calories per day? That's the limit I've had set for myself for the past few days.

I'm doing basic exercises to start getting myself into shape again. pushups, situps, and diamond pushups are the exercises I'm going to be doing until I can get myself a gym membership again to start weightlifting.

Now, onto some questions:
I've decided I'd like to lose 20-30 lbs. How long should this take if I can keep myself physically active?
How important is eating breakfast? I usually don't eat until lunch. If breakfast is really important, what would be a good breakfast to eat?
Is it ok to drink diet soda? Will this have any adverse effects on my dieting?

 

[teiresias]

Most people I talk to wouldn't go below 2000 calories a day even on a diet. 1000 calories certainly sounds quite low (that's like two bowls of cereal a day, lol!!). I stick to 1700 per day (or thereabouts).

I've plateaued with my wait loss at about the 190lbs. mark though and have been stuck there for like a month even though I haven't upped my 1700 calorie per day figure, and even at my current weight calculating my metabolic rate and everything says I should be losing at least 1lbs./week at 1700/day, so I don't know what's going on, lol.

Soda = gone!!

breakfast = eat it. Depriving your body of fuel in the morning ultimately just lowers your metabolism for the whole day.

 

[Archaix]

1000 calories is far too few for a male that weighs 200 pounds(Just a guess, based on how much you want to lose).

1500 is a pretty good lower limit to set.


And you can expect to lose around 2-3 pounds a week with increased activity and lowered calories.

 

[Ecrofirt]

Yes, I'm about 200 right now.

Thanks for the input on the number of calories. I had no idea what amount to set for myself, so I thought 1000 sounded pretty good.

No diet soda either? I never drink non-diet anyway, but I should cut the diet soda out as well?

 

[teh_pwn]

Diet soda is bad for your health. Drink water.

The reason why 1000 calories a day is bad is because the human body adapts. Instead of burning energy at the same rate when it starves just to lead to death by starvation faster, the body lowers its metabolism to give you more time to find food.

So extremely low calorie diets just means you get tired and drowsy. You'll make more gains by going with a 2000 calorie diet and doing 30-45 minutes of cardio 5/week. After about 10 minutes of continuous cardio your body switches from carbs as a main source of energy to your body fat. So don't take breaks so you don't have to lose weight by starving.

I'd go with an eliptical machine because it spreads the load over to your arms somewhat and it doesn't stress your knees and bones. It makes working out longer and harder easier, but you get the same results. I've always liked the Life Fitness eliptical machines at gyms.


Food cravings can be reduced by eating whole foods and, if necessary, geniune dietary supplements (hint: not centrum).

 

[Cerebral Palsy]

Smoke crack

 

[ChrisReid]

I've read that people should realistically expect to only lose about 10% of their weight over six months, as long as they keep with the diet and exercise. Limiting the calorie intake really isn't the problem unless you're just gorging on the junk food. 2000 normal calories is just fine as long as you exercise a healthy amount.

 

[Cubsfan23]

3,600 calories is a pound.



and that's all i have to contribute.......

 

[DodgerBlue]

As people have already mentioned, 1000 is way too low (You will create a cycle of binge eating no matter how strong willed you think you are). I would probably shoot for atleast 2000 but probably even closer to 2500 without knowing your body chemistry. Remember, losing weight is not about eating less, it's about eating smart. Since I don't know your target heart rate, activity level, or body fat percentage I would suggest working off 2500 calories with 25% coming from protein, 25% fats (Stay away from saturated fats), and 50% from carbs.
-weight your self everyday at the same time
-use a mirror to examine your body
-The clothes will be a good indicator of your sucess

The key to successful fat loss is to create a caloric deficit (burn more calories than you take in). To lose 1 pound a week, you need to create a caloric deficit of 3500 calories for the week. However, if you're too low, your body will look beyond the energy from the food being consumed and the depleted fat cells and start the process of muscle depletion(very bad). Just try to keep moderation in mind when dieting.

Also, once you get your gym membership, seek out a trainer (If you can find a good one, he/she will be worth it). Look for one you feel is knowledgable and you feel comfortable talking to and he/she will be able to put something together that will be tailored to your goals (fat loss, muscle gain, etc.).

 

[Liu Kang Baking A Pie]

A good bet is to do something around your weight x 10. So 1700-2200 calories a day will be good for you. You absolutely have to eat, because your body is naturally designed to stay alive by any means necessary, and with too little calories, it'll start storing way more fat and start retaining more water and it will eat away at muscles to do that. 1000 calories will murder your metabolism and you will actually gain weight in the long run that way from your blood sugar levels going crazy and creating extra fat and you eventually getting hungry as shit and going on eating binges. You want to eat 5 small meals a day, all of them just before your body ever gets hungry and makes you eat way more than you need.

Breakfast is absolutely important. It's more important than anything you'll eat for the rest of the day on a diet. I usually do my cardio right when I wake up when my body's low on carbs to maximize potential, then have a protein shake loaded with fruit right afterwards for breakfast (fruit is actually full of fast carbs that you should only eat after a workout, but whatever, you can read up on that if you feel like getting really in-depth).

Diet soda is okay if you get cravings for it. One and maybe two a day is fine whenever you get just sick of plain water. But you need water to keep yourself hydrated, reduce retained water and to get your muscles going. Water is dozens of times better than diet soda for this. You should be drinking a ton of water. Bodybuilders typically go as far as to drink 2 or 3 gallons of it a day, but you should aim for just 1 gallon so you don't make yourself sick.

Don't eat for a few hours before you go to sleep. If you absolutely have to, eat something with little to no carbs so your body doesn't turn it into fat while you sleep. You should actually be eating more and eating better choices while on a diet, but you should cut out the fat and carbs before sleep above all else if you're going for weight loss. You can change this later on when you're going for muscle gain.

 

[WrathOfOtaibah]

1000 will put you in starvation mode and burn muscle instead of fat. 2000 is best.

20 - 30 lbs of fat should take about 3-5 months. Depends on how clean your diet is, your exercise regimen, sleep, etc. Also get to the gym as soon as you can. Muscle requires more calories to burn and you'll look much better when you are done losing the weight.

geniune dietary supplements

Unless he's going to get illegal shit, dietary supplements are more wallet burners than anything else. Don't mess with the Ephedra free burners. They're just caffeine and Green Tea pills plus a few other worthless ingredients.

Someone who is just looking to cut should only get Whey protein and a multivitamin.

20% Fat, 40% Carbohydrates, 40% Protein

Some food that I used to cut:

Olive Oil
Natural Peanut Butter (tastes like the real thing)
Whey Protein
Chicken Breasts
Fat Free Cottage Cheese
Brown Rice
Egg Whites
Oatmeal
California Mix Vegetables

Thats it. Along with a cup or two of coffee daily. I actually enjoyed this food. Plus fruit as long as its a couple of servings. Bananas seem to be the popular fruit for cutting.

 

[teh_pwn]

Unless he's going to get illegal shit, dietary supplements are more wallet burners than anything else. Don't mess with the Ephedra free burners. They're just caffeine and Green Tea pills plus a few other worthless ingredients.

I didn't want to look like I was promoting something because I've mentioned these a few times.

I've been taking these for two months and since my allergies and ADD are like 90% reduced:

http://dan.xtend-life.com/products.asp?product=tb&page=mens_plus
http://dan.xtend-life.com/products.asp?product=oe&page=main



Before I had trouble breathing through my nose while working out in the winter. Now I may have a little drainage after mowing the lawn in the Spring.

I used to take 30 mg or Ritalin a day. Now I take 5mg once every few days.

I've got more energy than I did before and my vision is a little better. I've gone from a 32" waist to a 30" in the last month. Nothings changed directly, I just don't have the urge to eat pizza anymore, and I workout more because I'm up to it more often. Ritalin also increases your heart rate and reduces hunger, so I think that says something.

After you consider the money I save from allergy shots/nasal sprays/pills/checkups, I think I'm saving money.


If you do some research, you'll find that the forms of the nutrients inside the vitamins can be absorbed more easily by your body. For example, these use Zinc Citrate, which is easily absorbed:

"The more easily absorbed forms of zinc are zinc picolinate, zinc citrate, zinc acetate, zinc glycerate, and zinc monomethionine. If zinc sulfate causes stomach irritation, another form, such as zinc citrate, should be tried."

http://www.umm.edu/altmed/ConsSupplements/Zinccs.html


Centrum uses Zinc Oxide I believe (I'm looking at the Kroger imitation, so I'm guessing its the same). That's a cheap form that usually just passes through your body.





So I'm not talking about diet pills. I'm talking about a quality supplement/vitamin that increases overall health and consequently makes losing weight easier.

 

[SickBoy]

I think the other posts have why 1000 calories is bad covered. If you want to find a target, there are tons of calculators on the net that will give you a ballpark figure for how many calories you likely burn in a day. Cut the number by 500, add some activity and all will be well.

This is one of the several that came up in a quick google search: http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm

Also, a tip contrary to a previous one: Don't weigh yourself every day, even if it's at the same time. Your weight day-to-day will fluctuate based on a billion different factors. If you see a gain, or no progress day-to-day, psychologically it might have the effect of encouraging you to cut more calories or make other tweaks that are unnecessary or even harmful in the big picture.

I agree with the recommendation to cut diet soda, but I'll admit that I personally drink far too much of the stuff. First, to feed a caffeine addiction (I'm not huge on coffee), second because we still need to set up our water cooler since moving and I'm not a big fan of the stuff out of the tap. Can it if you can, but I'm not dead yet (wow, a testimonial!). And yeah, I've heard the fearmongering about Aspartame and the rebuttals, and so on. I think the most important thing is avoid artificial sweeteners if you can. They're all chemicals in the end.

Some diet tips:

- One thing I enjoy is an egg in the morning. One, scrambled or however. My wife and I got this stupid little one-egg pan for Christmas that works great for it. That and a cereal with some fibre in it and not a lot of sugar (current favorite: Weetabix) makes for a good start and only about 300 calories.

- Omega-3 fatty acids: try to get it in food if possible, a lot of flax stuff is high in omega-3 and so are fish, etc. Get the omega-3 eggs too. It's good for your heart, it's an anti-inflammatory and always worth making a larger part of your diet.

- Find a natural food that you enjoy snacking on. A veggie if possible. I eat a ton of carrots at work to snack on.

- IMO, focus on cardio first. It's just my opinion, but I think good cardio training is far more important than pumping iron. BIG IMO, I also personally believe that you should focus your lifting workouts more on higher reps than higher weights... but it depends on whether you want to build bulk or just general tone.

- Re eating at night, it appears to be more of a myth: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/3263249.stm

"Time and again, we've been told that eating late at night should be avoided because it will cause weight gain," said Dr Cameron (note: doctor at Oregon Health and Science University).

"However, there isn't a lot of research to back up this commonly held belief, which may in fact be somewhat of an urban myth.

http://www.goaskalice.columbia.edu/2225.html

One aspect of weight management that is vital to understand is that we gain and lose weight over periods of time — weeks, months, years — not hour by hour.... There is no magic time after which the body stores fat

Anyhow, just some thoughts out there... I think no matter what you do, it's important to find a balanced approach that is sustainable and you enjoy (or at least don't hate). My goal is to get back to where I was before I got married (or maybe before I met my wife). I'm half-way there and still making progress. I still eat junk food and other stuff that counts among "guilty pleasures," but it's all about moderation, or making sure it fits into the overall picture. I'm also exercising a fair bit, which is crucial (I plateaued for about a month-six weeks because I had a business trip in which I was wined and dined like I've never been before, and had some issues that affected my ability to work out).