they tell you to eat less and move more???

bubbles

Regular Member
I am totally confused after reading various websites as they all say something differant when it comes to weight loss. Im trying to lose 2 1/2 stone in the first week i lost 7 pounds which was great but know thats mainly water, since then 2 weeks later not one pound!! i dont understand what im doing wrong? ive started walking loads as i did nothing before, im following a very low carb diet and really just having one main meal a day in evening which is chicken and loads of veg. In day just soup and some oat cakes that have nothing in them at all really. I am now being told to stop the excercise?! apparently im not on enough calories to do this or up what im eating? this doesnt make any sense!! i dont believe the starvation theory u never see people in starving countries fat do you? im not trying to lead an anorexic lifestyle but I dont understand! they say eat less and move more so i do that and nothing happens? and i cant be building muscle yet its far too soon and im not walking marathons or anything. Please can someone give me some advice as im so close to giving up again :(
 
HI!
Sorry to hear about the way your diet is going, but i can sympathise with you! I tried to do alsorts of making my own diets up and it got me no where. But i decided to try slimming world as my friends told me i could eat loads and still lose the weight. It really does work, so maybe look into that? I have been going since january and i have lost 1stone 7lbs, and that is not even being strict on it! I hope this helps you a little bit!
x
 
thanks for your reply i tried slimming world but didnt like it, the eat as much as you want bit wasnt good for me and i found it quite confusing as well. I really thought low carb and excercise would work, i did cambridge and lost loads but i cant stick to that anymore. I have been to doctors and they have tested my thyroid and done other tests all ok, its so unfair!!x
 
Hi :)

I am also sorry to hear that your having a tough time of it. I have tried doing similar things, doing loads of exercise and living on cupa soup and a meal similar to yours in the evening. I can say for me this doesnt work. I was so tired all the time, im not sure if thats how your feeling but I was like the walking dead lol! Yeah I would lose half a stone or something but then eventually this sort of diet is not sustainable. Well thats not to say some people cant sustain it for life but for me I certainly couldnt.

I had about the same amount to lose as you. I joined slimming world and have now lost 20 pounds in 14 weeks - leaving me with 17 to go :) I honestly think slimming world is the way forward and takes the stress out of it a bit. You get to know the plan inside out and dont worry about not being able to have this and that. Its a way of life rather than a diet if you see what I mean. Like your title says, eat less and move more. This does make sense - but in my opinion the starvation theory is right, your body will hang on to the fat for dear life if it isnt getting enough nutrition. Slimming world also brings in the importance of body magic, getting your exercise so that you burn up some of what you eat - so yeah eat less (or better) move more.

I dont know if that helped at all, but I would say if you really want to lose weight dont give up, if your anything like me you will only end up regretting it and eventually try and lose weight again. A never ending circle! I think you need to think about the future, if you can honestly say you can carry on eating like this for a long time then carry on but if you cant then maybe look at something that will sort you out for life!

:)
 
hi thanks for reply. I really dont understand the starvation thing though because how does this explain anorexics who eat nothing at all but still lose weight? they dont barely have any weight to lose yet still do without their bodies hanging onto it? and as i said before u dont see fat people in countries where they are starving? im not wanting to starve myself but ive never ever understood this 'your body hangs onto fat' thing, surely eventually it has to stop doing that? last time i went to slimming world the women confused me no end as she said it was no longer just red and green days like it was years ago and even after reading all the books i was still confused! ive now been told to stop the excercise im doing? honestly dont want to give up but im being told so many differant things I just have no idea what to do anymore!!x
 
The woman who told you its not just red and green days is right, but they are still a key solution in the diet. We now have extra easy, which lives up to its name, and if you could get your head around that, the weight will melt off.
But by what you are eating and the excersize you are doing its like your body is freaking out about the lack of calories going in vs out. It will cling onto what fat you have as fat takes ages to burn. try eating more fresh fruit and vegetables, fat free yoghurt, try to have 28g of cheese, like cheddar every day? you need calcuim. ummmm Eat filling foods like pasta and pasata sauce, or baked potato and baked beans. Just a few tips!
 
Im not sure, I understand what your saying about starving people etc. I guess I have just read about the starvation theory and believe it. Tend not to question things too much lol! To me it makes sense if your body isnt getting enough it will hold on to what its got. I understand what your saying about anorexic people and they are proof like you say that eating very little results in massive weight loss but at what cost! I guess eventually yeah your body would lose weight if you continued to eat less and move more, maybe at the moment your just building muscle from the exercise and this is the reason the loss isnt registering on the scales...

You already lost 7 pounds which is fab, so if you think you can carry on doing it maybe just hang in there and keep trying. If you dont like the idea of slimming world thats fair enough, we all do things different ways :)

I dont really understand why you have been told not to exercise. I guess the only real reason would be that your not getting enough energy from your diet to justify doing lots of exercise. I think if it were me I would carry on the exercise and maybe just eat a bit more. Not fatty things but just bulky foods that are low in calories for their weight, just to make sure you dont burn out!

xx
 
thanks i think il up my calories and carry on doing the excercise see if that helps. I cant touch pasta i love it and it sets my binge eating off as do most carbs! il have lots of fruit thought as i like that and it doesnt trigger anything. its so hard losing weight, people who say oh just eat less havent a clue have they!!
 
I really dont understand the starvation thing though because how does this explain anorexics who eat nothing at all but still lose weight? they dont barely have any weight to lose yet still do without their bodies hanging onto it?

But they get to the point where there is no fat to burn and to just survive the body starts burning muscle include vital organs like heart muscle. It's why anorexics can die of organ failure.

I like to think of the metabolism as a furnace. To keep the fire going in the furnace you have to keep feeding it fuel. Stop feeding it enough fuel and the fire dwindles and eventually goes out.
 
sorry to go on i hate refering to people who are in the situation where they are starving or have anorexia as its a terrible thing but its the only way i can explain what i mean, i understand they are burning muscle but they still drop weight whereas im not dropping weight yet ive got 2 stone extra on me, thats why i dont understand it. I always assumed your body needs energy to survive so if you dont have food for it to use it would use your fat. sorry i should just accept it it just confuses me so much! i think cambridge has messed my head up i did that was on 500 calories and lost loads, now im on more and exercising im not losing. man diets are so hard!!
 
I do know exactly what you mean about the starvation theory thing but what you have to remember is that people who are anorexic weren't fat and then just stopped eating. They were probably a healthy weight or possibly even a little overweight and then have started dieting like you and me and the rest of us. They have then lost weight but then not known when to stop and taken it to an extreme. They have already lost most of their fat through ordinary dieting before ending up doing the starvation thing due to anorexia. You must also remember that their starvation has been a long term thing - they've not become so very thin in a fortnight. They've not eaten properly for years often.

Circes is right, when the body has no fuel and nourishment it will start to devour itself. Muscle and organs will be used in order to survive. That's why anorexics are literally skin and bone - their body has used up the muscle too.

Not wishing to diss any particular diet plan because different things work for different people, I agree with you that, in principle, losing weight is a straightforward equation 'Eat less + exercise more = lose weight'.

Putting exercise aside for the minute, let's say your body needs 1,800 calories a day (your basal metabolic rate) just to cover the basics of survival and everyday activities. You reduce that to 1000 calories a day and your body still needs to get 800 from somewhere (fat!) You need to get rid of 3,500 calories in order to lose 1lb of fat. So, for arguments sake, when you're 'losing' 800 calories a day, in just over four days you should be managing to lose one pound.

Now factor in the exercise. You mention doing more walking. Are you walking at pace or are you ambling along? How long are you walking for? Yes, even if you amble along for half an hour you will burn some calories, but you'll burn a hell of a lot more if you walk quickly and for a decent length of time. I don't buy into this 'do half an hour of exercise a day, broken down into 10 minute chunks if that's all you can manage'. I personally think that's bullshit. To really get some calories burned and make a difference to your fitness you need to exercise until you start to sweat and feel at least warm. What I'm basically saying is that if you are doing half an hour of easy walking then you might only be burning 70 calories whereas a really fast power work will maybe burn 200 calories in the same amount of time.

If you're doing the eat less/move more you do really need to move more!

Hope this makes sense. Sorry for rambling!!
 
hi thanks that does make sense and I was very surprised when someone told me to stop the excercise as excercise is a good thing whereas not eating much isnt so ive now upped my calories to 1000 and im keeping to my walking, i dont walk very fast but im not slow either and I get out of breath by the end so must be helping.
Also the other thing that was confusing me was why people who have had gastric bands continue to lose weight until they reach goal when they cant eat barely anything. Maybe I need to stop stressing myself out over it and just see if this works for me afterall we are all differant. Thanks again for all your replies im feeling much better today about it all!x
 
Sorry but I think 1000 calories a day is still too low. Personally I think you shouldn't be aiming for anything less than 1200.
 
sorry to go on i hate refering to people who are in the situation where they are starving or have anorexia as its a terrible thing but its the only way i can explain what i mean, i understand they are burning muscle but they still drop weight whereas im not dropping weight yet ive got 2 stone extra on me, thats why i dont understand it. I always assumed your body needs energy to survive so if you dont have food for it to use it would use your fat. sorry i should just accept it it just confuses me so much! i think cambridge has messed my head up i did that was on 500 calories and lost loads, now im on more and exercising im not losing. man diets are so hard!!

But they (anorexics) stop losing weight at the same rate or at all. Even someone taking in only 400 cals a day will stop losing weight eventually as the body adjusts which is why anorexics can struggle for years with such a restricted diet. This is how people survived concentration camps whilst looking like skeletons. The body is fantastically adaptable and you don't want it to learn how to cope with only a few cals because it may not unlearn it. Stop worrying about what they do and try to find a solution that works for your body. The maths is simple: a = BMR or how much you need to maintain your weight (including activity levels); b = the amount you consume. There are 3600 cals in a pound of body fat. So, (a - b) / 3600 = the number of pounds you'll lose each day.

E.g. My BMR is 2300 - 1100 cal diet = 1200 cals (under-consumed) divided by 3600 = 1/3rd pound per day weight loss (about 2lb per week).

Simples. Good luck.
 
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