Reality check: Counting calories page 10

[Adrianag]

I had one of those well-muscled physiques at 52, and lemme tell you, it was HARD WORK. Yeah, I ate ad lib, had no trouble IFing, didn't go hungry, didn't weigh, measure or count----but I worked out HARD to get there. Crossfit workouts 3 times a week. Long distance cycling on weekends. Heavy lifting.
At 5'6" tall, I weighed a very well-muscled 140 lbs. I looked GREAT.

If you are not over-eating, I think you are setting yourself up for problems if you restrict calories. To get a more athletic physique, you have to be more, well, athletic. Specifically, for women our age, lifting heavy does wonders. Which is what I would recommend rather than calorie restriction. Build muscle.

This doesn't have to take over your life. Just find someone who really knows about lifting. That's my .02 cents fwiw!
Pea

PrimalWannabeGirl everyhthing you say refers to the past. Now that you are primal what's the situation in terms of intensity and frequency of your workouts and the state of your weight and physique?

[Digby]

I have found with every decade since my thirties (now in my sixties) I have to do more and get less in return. It is aging, pure and simple. Especially for females. Our bodies would rather do anything than give up a pound of fat. Which is not to say that it isn't worth making the best effort one can. There are lots of benefits to the exercise and eating carefully that go beyond the size of our trousers. Some of the people on this blog don't have to work as hard as others; but for many of us, and more who are no longer in the bloom of youth, it means a lot more effort. Ever notice how the great results on big loser books/tv are almost always under 40?

[Bodhi]

If you are having trouble losing weight, I would agree with you on the calorie restriction, just make it realizable. I would also try going hardcore like the "Whole30". I think the 80/20 rule and eating an unweighted/unmeasured will work after you get to your ideal weight.

[aktres]

Thyroid is fine and San Diego sunshine gives me all the vit D I need.

I wouldn't count on that. As we get older our ability to produce Vit D from sun exposure declines. You should get your levels checked next time you have blood work.

[Adrianag]

I'm using the Lose It app, so calories and carbs/fat/protein are automatically tracked. It helps me to be more mindful of what I'm eating since I can easily just go off eating without even thinking about whether I am hungry or not. .

HeyChelle thanks for mentioning the Lose It app. What a nice application. The little voice in the back of my head has been telling me I need to track but, being a WW alum I hate the thought of tracking. I was even resisting having to figure out what my calorie target should be. Well, how sweet it is. Lose It! Is free and it:

- Calculates target calories based on height current weight, target weight and weekly weight loss goal
- Is a snap to input food consumed
- has this cool " wheel " you use to input quantities
- can incorporate exercise
- tells you how many calories you have left at a glance

The negative reviews mostly have to do with the food data base. I suspect it won't be a problem for us PB folks.

[lil_earthmomma]

Hey Paleobird,

I have to agree with you. I lost the first 60 lbs of overweight post babies fat like nothing. Scarfing all the bacon wrapped bacon I wanted. Then I stalled. I stalled for 8 months. :S I counted calories/fat/carbs etc for a week and realized that while my carbs were below 50, everything else was WAY too high.

Now I'm losing with moderate fat intake and moderate calorie intake. I won't gain an ounce even if I totally overdo the calories and fat, as long as the carbs are low.

I don't have to go really low calorie like WW (they wanted me to eat 1100 calories a day. STARVING!!!) I aim for between 1300-1500 and I'm losing steadily again.

I see PB in it's pure forms as a formula for maintaining a lean healthy body. I still need to get there!

[Minxxa]

Thyroid is fine and San Diego sunshine gives me all the vit D I need.

I live in San Diego too (have for most of my life) and my Vitamin D was in the gutter. Just saying that until you test it you really don't know (and I spent lots of time outdoors and went to the beach, etc. etc. )

I was also told my thyroid was fine for 5 years before I found a doctor who wasn't an idiot and knew what they were talking about.

For what it's worth (I'm guessing not even 2 cents!), I was one of those healing types. And yes feeling better was great, but not losing weight (or more accurately fat or size) sucked ass. I'm not gonna sugar coat that. It took a good couple of years of fixing things and testing myself and eating right and making changes before finally I lost some size, and that was just this past month.

[geostump]

Even though I am only about 2 month primal, I have seen a huge loss in fat and I am talking 15 lbs which was as of Feb 12th. I only weigh once a month. Prior to PB, I couldn't lose that in 3-4 months no matter what I did in a CW fashion. This is totally new for me. I am also losing inches which I find lovely as well. I started out at 225 at 5'5" and am down to 210. I also believe that due to having higher than normal testosterone levels I may be able to lose fat more easily as my body in some way may mimic a mans. I also put on muscle easily. The only working out I have done is move slowly and I am gaining muscle from that in all areas. I do IF on occassion, once or twice a week tops. And from what I can tell I am keeping my caloric intake around 1500 cals/day. Just my 2 cents as to what I have seen.

[Paleobird]

I can't find the citation, but when I first researched IF online, I found a study that examined gender differences in IF in mice. The study had four groups---male mice eating a fixed composition, fixed-calorie diet in divided "meals"; male mice eating the same diet but on an IF schedule; and two groups of female mice with the corresponding feeding schedules.

What struck me was that the female IF mice did NOT lose weight while the male IF mice did relative to the divided meal groups, leading to the conclusion that IF---at least for female mice----did not in itself provide a weight-losing metabolic 'advantage'.

This makes sense to me, if you think that women's metabolisms would lead to a more vigorous defense of fat in the face of "starvation." It is my opinion that IF in women WITHOUT the heavy lifting that promotes muscle growth might actually hamper weight-loss efforts.

Very interesting. It does seem like most of the sites advocating lots of IFing, e.g. Leangains, are predominantly aimed at men and those women who really lift hard.

[Paleobird]

Even though I am only about 2 month primal, I have seen a huge loss in fat and I am talking 15 lbs which was as of Feb 12th. I only weigh once a month. Prior to PB, I couldn't lose that in 3-4 months no matter what I did in a CW fashion. This is totally new for me. I am also losing inches which I find lovely as well. I started out at 225 at 5'5" and am down to 210. I also believe that due to having higher than normal testosterone levels I may be able to lose fat more easily as my body in some way may mimic a mans. I also put on muscle easily. The only working out I have done is move slowly and I am gaining muscle from that in all areas. I do IF on occassion, once or twice a week tops. And from what I can tell I am keeping my caloric intake around 1500 cals/day. Just my 2 cents as to what I have seen.

Hi Georgette,
From what I've seen in your posts and journals, you look like one of the people I called The Switchers in my original post. It's a magical and wonderful transformation and I wish you the best with it.