Yeah. It’s a nice IDEA to be able to calculate it out like that, but in the real world, it’s a non-starter. Otherwise just dropping your calories (irrespective of what they are) and upping your workrate would solve the obesity epidemic, wouldn’t it?
Should you restrict calories and fat when fat adapted to lose weight?
mememe
#22
Hi Magnus,
As many have said here, you can lose weight by reducing calories. Though, it’s easier for some than others.
If you are looking for where to cut the calories from (fat, protein or carbs), that’s a question for your personal preference. Fat is the most obvious answer but, it’s probably the one you will notice the most. As fat might directly affect your hunger levels.
The reality is, It’s a balancing act. You will probably not have many carbs available to reduce, so any reduction will naturally come from fat and protein. Reducing fat should be the first port of call for you, especially as you want to build body mass. See how much you can reduce by, without going too hungry…WARNING if you reduce fat by too much, you will significantly increase your risk of ‘falling off’ the diet due to hunger, and losing the psychological fight. I would balance the protein intake, with the amount of training you’re doing. I don’t know how best to do this but, I’ll bet some guys at your gym will be able to guide you (if not, try a body building forum).
Overall, you should count/track what you’re doing and changing, so you can make informed decisions about what is working for you, or what doesn’t. Take as much of the guess work out as you can. There is some good advice here about how to go about reducing your calories eg fasting, IF etc. Try them out and see what works for you.
240lbfatloss
(Ken)
#23
That’s a surprisingly reasonable article. It pretty much covers all the bases and presents some reasonable options. Many such articles tend to push only a limited approach.
The real point is that nutritional biochemistry is very adaptive, and your body will always adapt to chronic patterns. That’s why shaking things up often yields results. Becoming mired in Dogma is a sure way to hinder reaching your goals.
Of what it’s worth, I consider the idea of a “Set Point” to be fairly absurd. It flys in the face of objective reality, as when people are faced with Starvation, when the body will use all available tissues for energy production. I think the concept was pushed because of people’s tendency to regain fat when following carb based diets. It provides an unscientific rationalization. You just have to understand how to overcome Lipostasis, which the article I referred to does a pretty good job of.
Jennibc
(Jennibc)
#24
Well that article just lost credibility with me when it brought up the tired and false notion that saturated fat is bad for us.
Vladaar_Malane
(Vladaar Malane)
#25
No, but you should experiment with what works for your body, sometimes you have to do this or that when you reach a plateau.
RobC
(Robert C)
#27
AND - they also assume that daily calorie restriction is the way to lose weight.
It is not because it eventually causes adaptation to the lower intake - regardless of macro breakdown.
juice
(Running from stupidity)
#28
Yep, but that’s because they think it’s a closed system with no external(?) inputs like the brain, endocrine system, and so on and so on. It doesn’t even BEGIN to make sense.
Rgb0414
#30
There is no need to count calories. Eat when you are hungry until you are full. Don’t eat again until you are hungry. It is that simple.
Jennibc
(Jennibc)
#31
I don’t think that necessarily works for everyone. It’s not a bad idea to start tracking what you are consuming when suddenly you stop making progress. I don’t know if you are male or not, but men have a much easier time than women dropping weight, even on something like Keto. I have managed to take off almost 100 pounds, but I have about 25 left to go until I hit my goal. My DXA and BMI say about 13 minimum but I’d like to do another 25. If that means ensuring I am not going over 1600 -1800 a day, then I am willing to do that and at that level I am not worried at all about slowing down my metabolism.
Rgb0414
#32
As long as you are not hungry when you cut calories, then go for it. I have no idea what you eat, but you can try tweaking a few things and/or cutting out some foods to see if that helps. Stick to your moderate exercise as that is the best for losing weight. HIIT is not the way to go for weight loss IMO.