Is it possible to be too strick with your diet?

jeremya · Fri, February 16th, 2007, 02:57 PM

Lately I have found when I am very strick and eat purely clean foods I tend to not lose much weight. When I eat a little bit more "loose" but still with in calories (or close) I tend to lose more weight.

Anyone else had this experience?

-- Jeremy

dluc · Fri, February 16th, 2007, 03:02 PM

I work in the opposite direction I find.

MannishBoy · Fri, February 16th, 2007, 03:18 PM

Maybe that means your macros/calorie ranges aren't optimal on your "clean" diet? Maybe you need to bump calories slightly or adjust something else.

JeremyLikness · Fri, February 16th, 2007, 04:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jeremya

Lately I have found when I am very strick and eat purely clean foods I tend to not lose much weight. When I eat a little bit more "loose" but still with in calories (or close) I tend to lose more weight.

Anyone else had this experience?

-- Jeremy

Strict means what?

Clean foods are what?

I know people who have come to me for coaching and cannot understand why they won't lose weight. They are on a "strict" diet. However, I analyze and find out they're eating nothing but processed foods and keeping fat low. We switch them to foods that have healthy fats and are whole foods, and suddenly their metabolism goes up and they lose weight.

Is it because of "strict" versus "not strict" ... no, it was their definition of strict was off.

No one agrees on the definition of strict. For some people, it means chicken breast and broccoli.

I don't have anything strict. I think strict is temporary. I've coached too many people who diet and then fall back into old habits. I'd rather follow something I can stick with.

However, "strict" doesn't mean I get away with anything. When I'm cutting to low body fat, I still have to watch my calories and I have a choice of eating foods that are nutrient dense and will fill me up or junk foods that will take up my calories and force me to burn a lot of extra calories to make up the balance.

Your body doesn't know "strict" or "clean" or whatever, only your head does ... your body does know calories, nutrients, fiber, healthy fats, etc ... and the difference isn't going to be "strict"/"clean"/etc but rather what the ratios are and what nutrients, fibers, fats, etc you are getting.

From a weight loss perspective you can lose weight doing a lot of things ... from a health perspective, however, there are definitely certain things that have been shown by science to be beneficial over others (i.e. getting lots of vegetables, fruit, whole grains, etc)

Jeremy

jeremya · Fri, February 16th, 2007, 09:10 PM

Ok I will give an example of a quick "Clean" day:

1 Serving Nitrean w/ water

1 egg
2 egg whites
28g of 2% Cheese
2 slices of center cut bacon (ok not so clean, but its comparable to turkey bacon)

28g raw cashews
1 banana

6oz Chicken Breast
2 servings brown rice
1/2 tbsp Olive oil
1 cup of veggies (Brocolli, Green beans, dices peppers)

1 Power Bar

6oz Chicken Breast
2 servings brown rice
1/2 tbsp Olive oil
1 cup of veggies (Brocolli, Green beans, dices peppers)

60g Nitrean w/ water
1 Banana

Cals Fat Carbs Protein
2526 72 267 216
26% 42% 34%

I am currently 279 (down from 317 last sept). I was exercising 5 days a week 3 day full body split and 2 days of LISS 40 mins.

A typical "unclean" would be something like this

1 egg
2 egg whites
2 slices of center cut bacon

28g raw cashews
1 banana

2 Slices of Whole Wheat Bread
2 Tbsp Natural Peanut Butter
1 Cup of baby Carrots
maybe a 100cal bag of reduced fat chips

1 apple

4 oz 93% lean ground beef
1 hamburger bun
1 potato (sliced to make fries baked)
1/2 Tbsp Olive oil to coat fries with seasoning

I don't have macros on this one because I really wasn't tracking. I think the calories were way lower... more like 1900.

The past couple of months I have been trying to stick to the "clean" diet. I really hadn't lost much weight. This past weekend I was pretty sick and my wife was out of town so I didn't feel much like cooking. I ate out at least once a day. I plumped up because of water weight and I got slightly constipated. This week after being fairly strict with myself I started taking off the water weight and the constipation worked itself out. I looked down at the scale this morning to see that I had lost 3.5 pounds.

I am a bit baffled.

-- Jeremy

karatetricker · Fri, February 16th, 2007, 09:30 PM

I could be wrong, but I think you need to eat a good deal more.

MannishBoy · Fri, February 16th, 2007, 09:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by karatetricker

I could be wrong, but I think you need to eat a good deal more.

I agree. I eat that to cut slowly, and I'm 185. Jeremya weighs 100 lbs more.

I'm more of a protein guy and less carbs. I definitely would add protein to your "clean" meal 2 and do away with the power bar for something better for a start.

jeremya · Fri, February 16th, 2007, 10:20 PM

To clarify the second meal I posted was more typical of what I was eating when I lost the first 20 pounds.

Ok my BMR works out to be 2544.91 * 1.55 = 3944.73 (w/ activity)
2.5 pounds a week * 3500 / 7 = 1250

3944 - 1250 = 2694 calories a day

I might of been under, but not by much. Unless I am doing something wrong.

-- Jeremy

SwoleCat · Fri, February 16th, 2007, 10:57 PM

What about your cardio?

Workouts?

Etc??

I mean, listing food is fine, but why you eat what you eat, when you eat it, with what, how much, etc., all play a HUGE part in a body composition change for the better. It's much more complex than just what you eat.

~SC~

chris0374 · Sat, February 17th, 2007, 05:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jeremya

Lately I have found when I am very strick and eat purely clean foods I tend to not lose much weight. When I eat a little bit more "loose" but still with in calories (or close) I tend to lose more weight.

Anyone else had this experience?

-- Jeremy

Define "strict"

TheLemonSong · Sat, February 17th, 2007, 06:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jeremya

Lately I have found when I am very strick and eat purely clean foods I tend to not lose much weight. When I eat a little bit more "loose" but still with in calories (or close) I tend to lose more weight.

Anyone else had this experience?

-- Jeremy

My question here is: How often are you getting on the scale?

I feel like it's highly possible in this scenario to lose BF while maintaining a similar or only slightly diminishing weight loss. Thus, you could be making great gains in all tangible ways except the arbitrary number your scale throws at you...def. some more info needed.

Foley · Sat, February 17th, 2007, 08:00 AM

After looking at your clean day, I think it could be cleaner. Don't take this the wrong way.

1. 28g of 2% Cheese
2. 2 slices of center cut bacon (ok not so clean, but its comparable to turkey bacon)
3. 1 Power Bar

Get rid of those.

Next thing.

1 Serving Nitrean w/ water is not a meal IMO

Unless it is pre-cardio or something along those lines.

------------------------------

28g raw cashews, 1 banana. Where is the protein in this meal? Have you researched fat and carb mixes. I would personally get rid of one and replace it with some protein.

------------------------------

I agree with Swole. What about your workouts and cardio?

------------------------------

Oh forgot to mention. I am eating around 2300-2500 per day, and I am 183lbs

You need to eat more. You said you have been doing this for months. Perhaps because you have not been eating enough, your body began to drop weight, and then cottoned on, and now is stopping you from losing anymore. IMO increase calories until you get a 500 calorie deficit.

Hope this helps

guava · Sat, February 17th, 2007, 12:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jeremya

Lately I have found when I am very strick and eat purely clean foods I tend to not lose much weight. When I eat a little bit more "loose" but still with in calories (or close) I tend to lose more weight.

Anyone else had this experience?

Yes, I find that when I eat intuitively what I feel like I need, I come closer to meeting my goals than when I try to eat by the numbers.

A goal of 2.5 pounds of weight loss per week might work for several weeks, but it's difficult (and possibly unhealthy) to sustain over periods of several months. Have you cycled in some maintenance periods? You might want to try some zig-zagging of your calories.

jeremya · Sat, February 17th, 2007, 09:28 PM

Thanks gang. I apparently need to educate myself some more and redo my meals. I guess 2.5 pounds a week might of been a bit ambitious.

I am doing a 3 day a week full body split... basically gravityhomer's workout from his post and 2 40 min LISS sessions a week.

-- Jeremy

TheChop · Sun, February 18th, 2007, 06:39 PM

If you're basing this on your experience with losing the 3.5 lbs over the course of eating out and being sick then I've got to say that you're basing conclusions on very shakey evidence. Being sick w

I find that if I deviate over 75% from my plan that the progress stops. If I'm doing everything but miss a workout here or there then my progress goes well. If I'm taking everything when I need to be and eating what I need to eat when I need to eat it 100% of the time then the fat just comes off.

It is possible that coming off of a cheat meal you'll find the scale will jump down a bit. I experienced this one weekend when a friend came to visit and the weekend consisted of grilling out thick hamburgers and eating out at an Italian place. I dropped down 2lbs in scale weight the next day. I would say this progress was not due to what I ate that weekend but was due to the two weeks prior of being very on plan. A cheat meal can spur the metabolism and shock the system and generally help you along but if you find that you're losing more the less strict you are then something is wrong with the plan. I certainly wouldn't let this get into your head that somehow it's good to play fast and loose because that will lead you down a road where you become looser and looser until you're completely off of any sort of plan.