Gaining weight on restrictive diet vs. eating in moderation page 3

[VeggieLover]

Does elliptical count as chronic cardio or walking a million miles a day?

[Dracil]

I recognize your name and see you've made similar threads in the past. Is this like your 3rd time doing paleo/primal?

You were at 5'6 105 lbs when you posted last year, which I think is an important bit of information for people here. That seems severely underweight so the weight gain's not necessarily a bad thing in your case.

Honestly, I'd get rid of stuff like the almond butter and gluten-free stuff and flax seed oil (why are you using that? If for the O3 it's the least useful form of it). It's just the wrong mentality. Go back to the basics. Some meat and vegetables. That's it! None of this processed substitute stuff. It's like those vegans who still keep eating all those fake meats.

[VeggieLover]

I recognize your name and see you've made similar threads in the past. Is this like your 3rd time doing paleo/primal?

You were at 5'6 105 lbs when you posted last year, which I think is an important bit of information for people here. That seems severely underweight so the weight gain's not necessarily a bad thing in your case.

Honestly, I'd get rid of stuff like the almond butter and gluten-free stuff and flax seed oil (why are you using that? If for the O3 it's the least useful form of it). It's just the wrong mentality. Go back to the basics. Some meat and vegetables. That's it! None of this processed substitute stuff. It's like those vegans who still keep eating all those fake meats.

Yeah, I am not 105 anymore. I think as I was gaining I was afraid to gain, but my body needed it. Now I just am talking a few pounds here.

THanks for your help, I apologize that I keep going back and forth, its hard not to be swayed by the media and their influence on people's understanding of nutrition. I will give this a shot and listen to all of your advice. I think I need to relax a bit on everything, focus on good nutrition (i apparently NEED the protein desperately) and tweak things as I go. I come here for the support and for the personal wisdom on nutrition/exercise, sorry if I keep asking the same questions. I want it to click for me and I guess I just want more and more stories/personal experiences on why this works.

[JoanieL]

I've never found this restrictive. It's the way I would have eaten if my parents hadn't intervened, but they were being given bad advice. Later in life I was given bad advice (by the "experts"). I don't obsess over every gram of food I eat. If I think some of my choices for the day are going to put me in a carb zone I don't like, I double check with a tracker, and make changes. I'm even getting less restrictive on calorie counting, though I do keep track, but I've been doing that for years, so I'm no more or less neurotic than I ever was.

If it's not for you, it's not for you. It is what works for me (and apparently some others).

[Zanna]

Yeah, I am not 105 anymore. I think as I was gaining I was afraid to gain, but my body needed it. Now I just am talking a few pounds here.

THanks for your help, I apologize that I keep going back and forth, its hard not to be swayed by the media and their influence on people's understanding of nutrition. I will give this a shot and listen to all of your advice. I think I need to relax a bit on everything, focus on good nutrition (i apparently NEED the protein desperately) and tweak things as I go. I come here for the support and for the personal wisdom on nutrition/exercise, sorry if I keep asking the same questions. I want it to click for me and I guess I just want more and more stories/personal experiences on why this works.

From what you posted re: food intake, it didn't look like you were eating much protein.

[MalPaz]

i think you have deeper eating and emotional problems that need addressing, beyond freaking out over a few pounds...maybe address the disordered eating and get off online dieting forums

[VeggieLover]

i think you have deeper eating and emotional problems that need addressing, beyond freaking out over a few pounds...maybe address the disordered eating and get off online dieting forums

Nope, no eating disorder here thanks though. If you scroll trough these forums plenty of people are struggling with understand this concept and how the body responds. I am one of those and I am fascinated by science and how the body works. I'd like to have a solid grasp on what works and doesn't work , why the body gains weight on more exercise, why cutting out carbs helps you lose/maintain weight. That's all, I am a curious and health conscious individual.

[denise]

I'd like to have a solid grasp on what works and doesn't work , why the body gains weight on more exercise, why cutting out carbs helps you lose/maintain weight. That's all, I am a curious and health conscious individual.

Oooer, I'm officially "lost" now. So, this is academic, nothing to do with you wanting to lose weight, nothing to do with how you personally exercise?? I'm curious too, but I'm not trying any number of other ways of eating that exist. Especially not trying things that "don't work" for me. Are you academically trying to disprove something?? Honestly, I am genuinely getting very confused.

As far as I know there is no one, neat answer to any of your questions (what happens to me won't necessarily happen to you or anyone else - on ANY WOE) but there's LOTS of anecdotal and more thoroughly researched material all over the forums for you to peruse.

"Works" and "doesn't work" - hell those are big labels to attach to anything with a complex organism like a human being involved.

Maybe this is a thread I need to step away from. NOT inteersted in the "heated personal debate" thing, not sure how to be helpful - but good luck!!!!

[Leida]

Body gains weight not on more exercise, but on more time spend on the exercise that your body became very efficient at, and where you reached your athletic ceiling. You run 5 miles a day; every week you spend less calories running the same 5 miles. So you bump it up a little and run 15 min more. Your body doesn't really care that much, that increase is << than the calories you consume. I really do not think anyone can estimate calories burned accurately. EVAR.

If you are carb-sensitive, like most people, when you do running your body burns carb, and go into panic mode. It pushes you to eat and over-eat carb - and you gain simply because you load up on sugar and wheat and god knows what else. Hence fat runners eating muffins and the whole bunch of disappointed ladies running at the heat of the day by the busy road who ain't turning into gazelles. Haven't you ever seen them, the determination 'to lose weight' written over their faces? They normally fail. The gazelles who jogg by effortlessly, chatting and waltzing look like a different breed...because they are.

Finally, lots of people are unlucky, and have appetite going up with exercise. Unsurprisingly, this group often gains weight when starts an exercise program. We only spend tiny amount of time we are designed to spend moving per day (6-10 hours), and our appetites are unchanged and increased. On the balance, even if we exercise "more", it is a tiny increment to the hunger increase.

Running as an exercise works only for the exomorphic girls in the long run (pardon the pun). But if you are 105 lbs, you amight be one of them...

[Lawyerchick12]

Agree with Malpaz and Denise..... and what does wanting it to "click" mean? The science is there of course but scientific results in not going to translate in real life to every single person. most people here share what works for them and what doesn't. You cannot know what works for you without experimentation. If you have issues with food and try every "diet" possible no one is going to waste time trying to make it click for you. People advice, u take or u don't.