One of the biggest intermediate-to-long-term effects of eating that way was (and is) that I can put away a lot of food. At first, it was uncomfortable to force 700+ calories down at a time, but gradually, I adapted and those huge meals merely satisfied me. In the short term, this allowed me to eat a ton of calories and not feel like a beached whale. In the long term, it made for a rough transition to small, low-calorie meals.
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| My smallest IF meal |
I don't fast anymore. Why? Each of these consequences of IF exacerbates an unhealthy habit (for me): either my tendency to overeat or my proclivity to restrict.
Of course, restrict I did not (other than the hours during which I ate), which is why I topped out at 145lb last winter. (I am very short and prefer the way I look and feel at about 120lb.)
I should rephrase that. I thought I was restricting. That's what happens when you read the forums at bodybuilding.com religiously, especially the cutting/dieting/fat loss threads. Read "I'm losing 2 pounds a week while eating 1700 calories a day and doing no cardio!!!!" enough times, and you'll think it's totally normal and that it should be true for you, too.
The scale wasn't really moving but I kept waiting for the magic to happen. My thought process was: If it's easy for other people, it should be easy for me too. It never occurred to me that maybe it wasn't as easy as these other girls claimed, or maybe they were overestimating their calories, or maybe they were different people with different bodies and their results had no bearing on mine.
Basing my cut on the parade of supposedly-effortless diets on BB.com held me back. Had I simply gone back to what I knew worked for my body (lower calories and, yes, the much-maligned c-word: cardio), I probably would have actually, uh, lost weight.
Live and learn.
Fat loss is not easy for everyone. Not everyone can cut on 1700+ calories a day. Do what you know works for your body, and don't pay attention to what everyone else is doing/saying/claiming.
"Do what you know works for your body, and don't pay attention to what everyone else is doing/saying/claiming." YES something I'm constantly working on as well. I think it can be so easy to be influenced by others, especially in the blog world; gotta find your own unique balance :)
ReplyDeleteI admire you so much for finding what works for YOU and realizing the comparison game is pooptastic haha
Have a wonderful day girl!
Absolutely!! I think we really see this phenomenon in the trends that spread like wildfire through the blogging community - chia seeds, CrossFit, Paleo, etc. It's very easy to lose your sense of self.
DeleteExcellent advice. It's too easy to believe everything you *think* other people are doing and then think it will be a magic solution for you too.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely! =)
DeleteThis is something that's become so clear to me since I started training others: everyone responds differently! My body sucks and realistically I need to be on about 1400-1500 calories a day to lose fat. It's hard dealing with women who eat more than me and do less intensive workouts yet still look better than I do.
ReplyDeleteBoy oh boy I can put away food though. Ever since I was little I used to get comments from everyone about how much I can eat in one sitting. It's impressive haha
Haha - I'm the same way. I can inhale an insane amount of food.
DeleteIt's funny you guys should mention this! I distinctly remember being in first grade when I was part of a medical trial (that produced Advair!), the nurses ordered pizza for us and I said I could eat a whole pizza. They were all, no you can't! and I was all, watch me! And then I did it. Maybe this is a talent I have always possessed ;-)
DeleteI have eaten entire pizzas MANY times. This is why cheat meals can be very dangerous! I see people have one scoop of ice cream or whatever, and I think, are you freaking kidding me?!
DeletePreach it, sista!! Teehee. This is part of the reason I decided quickly to get off of SC...because everyone has to do what works for them. I saw a handful of people (the same people, of course) consistently criticizing what other people were eating, or their calories, or the fact that they were doing IIFYM, or restricting carbs...all with the assumptiont that what has worked or has not worked for them would be the same for others. Nevermind that a national level or IFBB bodybuilder is going to have a much different eating regimen than a first time figure or bikini competitor...or that some people seem to be able to do tons of cardio without metabolic crash...or that some people use the goal of a show for weight loss after having a baby (ahem...not me, of course! LOL). What a lot of people don't realize is that this blog is still just a snap shot of what you are doing, what you are learning and what the process entails. You do a good job of stating that over and over...and hopefully some people hear it. :) One day I will learn how to write shorter comments! Ha!
ReplyDeleteI'm still hanging out at SC but I have noticed that - there are a couple of really forceful voices on that board and I don't agree with them 100%. It's a great community though!
DeleteSo true!! I can lose slowly at about 1800 calories/day, but I have friends who eat around 1500-1700 to maintain... and yet others who can take in 2000+ and maintain. It really is different for everyone, and the trial and error to figure it out can be very frustrating at times! It's funny because the 2000cal/day is drilled into us from a young age from the ADA, but for many that's too much, and for some it's not nearly enough!
ReplyDeleteI kinda wish they would stop setting forth cookie-cutter requirements like that =/ But I guess there is no alternative - it's vague advice or none at all, ya know?
DeleteI love that last line. Diet is one of the most personal things I can think of. It takes a lot of tweaking to find your "perfect" combos.
ReplyDeleteSide note: How short are you? I always pictured you being tall!
I have been measured as 5'0 to 5'2...but I am most frequently measured as 5'0 =( My license says 5'2. haha!
DeleteI don't know whether it's funny or sad but your 'small IF meal' is about a standard size Jessica meal :P Or it would be if I ate what I wanted/until I was satisfied.
ReplyDeleteWhat I never understand with calorie needs is this: clearly I am like you in the sense that we do not have the metabolisms of the 'lose on 1700' club, but you'd think that on that basis I wouldn't be as hungry, if not hungrier, than the girls with higher needs? I'm probably being daft and missing something, but you'd think I would have no appetite at all with a metabolism in the gutter.
I'd rather like to bottle whatever the 'easy losers' or 'hard gainers' or whatever have and then drink gallons of it. My problem is that, unlike you, I stamp my foot like a two year old because to me it doesn't seem fair that it takes a lot for me to lose even a pound, whereas I think you're more proactive about accepting the situation and moving on. I should probably stop reading so many skinny-girl-eating-a-tonne blogs I guess :/
xxx
I probably should have been more descriptive - my bigger meals - ie, the other two - were at least 2x the size of the smallest one, pictured above :/ and bear in mind I was doing absolutely NO cardio.
DeleteI'm with you, though - even when I was undiagnosed with hypothyroidism and my metabolism was just crawling along, I was frequently hungry and not satisfied by my caloric intake, even though it was obviously more than sufficient. I'm not quite sure why that is and it seems incredibly unfair - I know that sounds whiny, but it's the truth.
So much truth here - everyone's bodies are different and can lose/gain weight at different rates.
ReplyDeleteAlthough eating that much in one sitting? Yea, I could put that away. :-)
The pain of being old.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was in my 20s I could eat 2500 and not gain weight. I had the metabolism of a bird (heart rate of 115 BPM and body temp of 99.6). I had to eat to keep from disappearing.
In my 30s, 2000 calories kept me trim. Then I went on a low-fat, high carb diet because of bad cholesterol and screwed everything up.
And the metabolism kept slowing down.
Now my RMR is 1330 and to lose weight I have to hover just above that. And rarely go over the 1600 mark.
(sorry girls, but as you get older, it just gets harder!).
Plus cardio (which has hard to impossible for me for the 21 months), and heavy resistance training. When I do lose the fat, it's easy to keep it off by eating enough quality calories. But losing is an impossible thing, I think.
Oh God. If my maintenance now is like 600 calories less than yours was at my age I am really in for it, huh? =(
DeleteI seriously love how much emphasis on how every single person is different. I think a lot of people and bloggers are very neive about weight loss. I don't know-I just love how you talk about your training so straight forward. It's so interesting to me!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much Hollie! I definitely think a lottt of bloggers make weight loss look effortless, and while it may be easy for some people, I think it just makes those of us who have to work really hard for it feel bad.
DeleteSable, this is so true.
ReplyDeleteI read the Women's fat loss forums religiously everyday on BB.com
Everyone's advice was " you can eat whatever you want as long as it's within your calorie/macro level!!!!" and do no cardio and just lift weights!!!
UMMM yeah that didn't work for me.. I got bulky/fat/plump... whatever you want to call it. I didn't think I had to do cardio, just like the other girls on the fourm, so i stopped.
As soon as i started eating "cleaner" foods and doing cardio, i lost weight. go figure.
I did pack on some good muscle in those 3 years!!! haha
Ugh EXACTLY. That is exactly what happened to me. And I was in denial the whole way through - it works for them, I just have to give it more time! Blah.
Deletelive and learn is right. it looks like you are doing what you feel is right, with trial and error. Ya know?
ReplyDeleteYep! I just wish there was more trial and less error ;-)
DeleteAaaaamen.
ReplyDeleteKnew you'd get it!!! =)
DeleteSounds like you have learnt a lot about yourself and what works for you! So true that everyone is different and even what works for us changes!
ReplyDeleteOh absolutely. And in a way I'm glad I've had to go about things the long & rough way - it's definitely made me more independent!
DeleteSO TRUE!!! You couldn't have said it any better or more clear!
ReplyDeleteThank you Cassidy!!! =) =)
Deleteah,love this post!!!!!
ReplyDeleteit took me 2 years to figure out what nutrition plan works for me both on and off the stage...
and yes,i too followed everyone elses nutrition plan on bb.com and was wondering wth? why isnt anything working for me like it did them???
it took some trial and error,but i finally figured out what works!!!!
and i cant believe you are 2.5 wks out already?????yeeeeee! im getting so giddy and excited for you!!
Laughing at Tara's comment...who eats only 1 scoop of ice cream, they are totally lying!
ReplyDeleteAnd yeah, everybody is different. I found that when I was done training and went back to 3 meals a day, I lost weight with doing nothing. I've also lost muscle, but honestly, at this point in time, I don't care. I was just so tired of carrying food with me and eating six times a day.