Hello, I just wanted to introduce myself! I also wanted to post about what I am eating, and what you guys think :)

I have been reading this site, and in particular some of the stickies. I love what I see! I am a 26 year old female who used to be in the Army. I ate so badly, I was only keeping slim because of physical training. When I got out, I kept eating the same way. Then last summer I quit smoking.....hello 30 more pounds. All in all, I now weigh 227 pounds, which is by far the heaviest I have ever, ever been. I am 5'5". Yuck!

I have lost a lot of weight before doing yo-yo starvation diets. I didn't know that was what I was doing at the time, but I was. I was eating a small salad for lunch, and a small dinner....period. I lost a lot of weight, but I couldn't stand it for very long and then it would come back fast.

My husband got out of the Army last year. He was deployed twice, and spent a fair amount of time lifting while he was gone. He wasn't eating enough (I have since discovered) and didn't see great gains. He was very fit though, and did a lot of running. He has also put on weight. He quit working out completely when he got out. We both noticed that after Iraq his shirt collars were too tight from lifting. Then they got loose again. Now they are tight again, but not from weight lifting, haha.

Anyway, I am rambling. I think it would be easier to post my eating plan and my husband's in two different threads. I have lots of questions! I started all of this Monday. Today is the first day I feel like I have really done like I am supposed to.

Wake Up 8ish:
3/4 Cup Oatmeal
Skim Milk ¼ Cup
1 TBS Honey <----- First question. I loooove sweetened oatmeal, always have. Is it really bad to use a sweetner? I tried Splenda and hated it.

Cottage Cheese 4 oz



About an hour later:

20 oz Skim Milk Latte + 2 ½ Splenda



At noon:

3 oz Chicken
1 Cup Squash Soup
2 oz Nonfat Yogurt
1 Clementine

At 4:00 or so:
1 Can Tuna
1 Tsp Olive Oil
3 oz Green Beans

Workout at Five

2 Scoops Protein

At 8:00 or so:
3 oz Shrimp
1 Tsp Olive Oil
3 oz Carrots
3 oz Sugar Snap Peas

By my calculations, that is:
Calories 1620
33.3 Fat
173.70 Protein
152 Carbs

I plan to eat some cottage cheese before bed to bring those calories up closer to 1800. I didn't mean to hit that low.


I believe that I need:

Carbohydrates
50%
909 calories
227.25 grams
Protein
30%
545 calories
136,35 grams
Fat
20%
363 calories
40.4 grams

That is running a 1,000 calorie deficit for 2 pounds of weight loss a week working out 5 days a week.

I am doing weights MWF and cardio TTH and the occasional Saturday.

I know I need to get protein at every meal, and try to limit carbs in the evening. Any other important things I need to know?

I feel like I have rambled forever! Thanks so much if you made it this far, lol.

I wanted to add that I have only a small amount of control over when I eat due to class schedule. I wonder how some of ya'll do it!

Hi Groovy,

I'm a fellow soldier, but one going on active duty very soon, not one on the way out.

It looks like you've done your homework and have a good idea of what is going on. That's a great start. I have a few comments...

1. At 227 pounds you may be able to cut more than 1000 calories safely and with better results. Take a look at this research... http://www.mindandmuscle.net/articles/lyle_mcdonald/maximum_fatloss

I ran into it a couple years ago when I was cutting down, and the theory seems very solid to me. Arbitrarily choosing a 500 or 1000 calorie deficit is probably inferior to figuring out what your individual body can or can't actually sustain. The gist of the article is that if you know your lean body mass and fat mass, you can very accurately calculate your daily maintenance. Then you can subtract about 31 calories for every pound of fat you carry. For some people that works out somewhere between 500 or 1000, but it could be more or less for you. Check out your body composition here... http://www.healthcentral.com/cholesterol/home-body-fat-test-2774-143.html

2. Eating around a class schedule should not be a big deal. I've been in college for the last 4 years, and I don't find it to be a challenge. Professors don't mind if you eat something during lecture, and I have plenty of time in between classes to eat. I'm pretty sure that in the academic environment we have a lot more freedom than most people working a full-time job. Regardless of that, though, I've never stressed over eating at exact times. In a perfect world that's what we would do, but missing a meal by an hour or two isn't going to have that much of an effect on your metabolism.

3. The Army does some really good things with their training, but also some really bad things. First, I wouldn't choose the same exercises. Most of what the Army does is very light weight calisthenics that don't help anyone build muscle. Besides that, there is no balance. Everything is abs, chest, and triceps oriented - nothing for the back, nothing for the legs. There is also the strange obsession with distance running. Instead, lift heavy weights using exercises that work your upper body pushing and pulling musculature, legs, and back evenly. Run shorter distances but go faster. One thing the Army is good at is encouraging intensity. Most people go to a gym and do a workout that might include pushups or running for the sake of working out. When soldiers work out, they train to be able to do as many pushups as possible in 2 minutes, or run 2 miles as fast as possible. Continue to push yourself toward those kinds of performance goals and you will see results and have a lot more fun.

Tim

Thank you for that article, it is very interesting.

I have a question though about the body fat test. Is it really fairly accurate? The reason I ask is that it is giving me a body fat of 27%. According to BMI charts, I am in the upper 30s and quite obese. When I was in the army and being taped, I hovered around 29-30%. The upper limit for females was somewhere in there, probably like 30.5 or 31. I have lost a lot of muscle and gained tons of fat since that time, so I am very dubious of the 27%.

Beyond that, I like the theory, although I am loving all of this eating, haha. As I mentioned last night, I have done starvation diets and hated it. I like the fact that I am eating what seems to me to be a pretty good amount and yet I am still "dieting" (I hate that word). I would eat less if I really found it to help my fat loss accelerate, however.

Don't think of it as a diet. Think of it as a lifestyle change. Dieting makes me think of depriving myself of food. If you change your lifestyle to eat healthy foods 5 or 6 times a day and exercising, your body will eventually fall in line with your new healthy lifestyle. And you will more than likely learn to enjoy the healthy foods when you see that they make you feel better and help promote the weight loss you are looking for.

I have a question though about the body fat test. Is it really fairly accurate? The reason I ask is that it is giving me a body fat of 27%. According to BMI charts, I am in the upper 30s and quite obese.


If i'm reading this right, your comparing BMI (Body Mass Index) to Body Fat Percentage. I just wanted to make sure you weren't thinking of them as one in the same. BMI is only a number on a chart, it doesn't indicate Body Fat %. BMI doesn't factor in the % of lean musle mass/store body fat. It just factors height/weight off of any average person.

Thank you for that article, it is very interesting.

I have a question though about the body fat test. Is it really fairly accurate? The reason I ask is that it is giving me a body fat of 27%. According to BMI charts, I am in the upper 30s and quite obese. When I was in the army and being taped, I hovered around 29-30%. The upper limit for females was somewhere in there, probably like 30.5 or 31. I have lost a lot of muscle and gained tons of fat since that time, so I am very dubious of the 27%.

Beyond that, I like the theory, although I am loving all of this eating, haha. As I mentioned last night, I have done starvation diets and hated it. I like the fact that I am eating what seems to me to be a pretty good amount and yet I am still "dieting" (I hate that word). I would eat less if I really found it to help my fat loss accelerate, however.

Welcome... another ex-Army soldier here. Been out for quite sometime now. My husband retired about 6mos after I got out.

I think you are right about the 27% being off. While I can't see the site he sent you too, are you sure you check the FEMALE entries and not the male (I do this all the time with the online calculators). That stat sounds closer to a male the height and weight. At 5'7" and 177lbs, most calculators show me between 28% and 31%

With that being said, body fat calculators are estimation and different ones will give you different results (as much as a 6-7% difference), but it's a helpful tracking tool when losing weight. If you pick one and just stick with that one, it will be close enough to acurate on how much fat you lose and Lean mass you gain, versus the scale which can only show you lbs lost.

All in all the menu looks pretty good actually. I do agree you should be aiming for the 1800 calorie mark (if not even a bit higher). When you allow yourself room to adjust as you lose weight, it will make it all the more easier.

Of course one last tidbit... no matter what, stick with it. Almost 4years ago I started off about where you are (about 215lbs). I've had a lot of ups and downs, but I keep sticking with it and the weight has slowly come off me. Like jbivens said, I didn't treat this as a diet trying to deprive myself until I got skinny, but looked at it more as a lifestyle change and teaching myself how to live with it permenantly. I spent the better part of this year in the low 170s and this year plan to make the 160s my new standard.

Good luck!

Don't think of it as a diet. Think of it as a lifestyle change. Dieting makes me think of depriving myself of food.

No, it is a "diet" for all intensive purposes. We are talking about eating a temporary caloric deficit. That doesn't mean you're "depriving" yourself. It's still possible to eat at a deficit and never feel hungry.

Food choices and exercise can be a long term lifestyle change, but calorie intake is not. That will always be shifting as your body and goals change.

You WILL NOT lose fat unless you are at some kind of caloric deficit for some period of time, I don't care how "healthy" you eat and how much exercise you do. It still comes down to the laws of thermodynamics.

Tim

I have a question though about the body fat test. Is it really fairly accurate? The reason I ask is that it is giving me a body fat of 27%. According to BMI charts, I am in the upper 30s and quite obese. When I was in the army and being taped, I hovered around 29-30%. The upper limit for females was somewhere in there, probably like 30.5 or 31. I have lost a lot of muscle and gained tons of fat since that time, so I am very dubious of the 27%.

First, I don't think that the Army's method of testing is accurate. It uses very few measurements and is extremely easy to manipulate (we've all seen soldiers who have a bag of tricks for "taping out"). I find the Healthcentral.com test to be extremely accurate for me. Make sure you read all the instructions carefully about how to conduct it, and have someone else do the measuring. I think it's almost impossible to do the test for females if you are doing the measuring yourself.

Beyond that, I like the theory, although I am loving all of this eating, haha. As I mentioned last night, I have done starvation diets and hated it. I like the fact that I am eating what seems to me to be a pretty good amount and yet I am still "dieting" (I hate that word). I would eat less if I really found it to help my fat loss accelerate, however.

I'm not saying you'll have to eat less. It may be the case that you can effectively cut even more calories but I just wanted to point you to a method that is a little more scientific. You are on a course for disaster if you think you can just ride a 1000 calorie deficit until you reach your goal weight. You have to continually recalculate your needs and your proper deficit for fat-loss.

Tim