Most Obese Claim to Eat Healthy

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Aldeth, the 3,000 guideline is just that – a guideline. I was trying to keep it simple, but I’ve also seen 3,500 calories for 1 pound. I haven’t come across your 150 / 10 pound rule before.

When you say “if the 9 Calories is true, then with 454 grams to one pound, that works out to 4,086 Calories to burn a pound”, I’m not sure that makes sense to me. It’s true that 1 pound of fat consumed equals 4,086 calories, but it doesn’t necessarily mean 1 pound of fat gained. Also, it’s important to realize that calories are calories; it doesn’t matter whether they come from fat, carbs or protein – if you consume too many, you will put on fat. But 1 pound of carbs or protein is only 1,816 calories, while (as you point out) 1 pound of fat equates to 4,086 calories.

One other point – when I said that a 3,000 calorie shortfall equates to 1 pound of fat lost, that’s actually not quite correct. It’s 1 pound of bodyweight – ie. both fat and muscle. So this is another reason why resistance training is an important component of a weight loss program – you want to try to avoid the muscle loss that goes along with losing weight.

 

I know what you mean Splunge. I did a lot of reading up on this too when I started weight training about 4 years ago. A lot of it also has to do with how your body processes food as well.

Maybe I can make my example by analogy. Say I get on a scale and it reads 180 lbs. If I then sit down and consume one pound of something, and get back on the scale my weight will register 181 lbs. Now, unless my body is perfectly efficient, there's no way that consuming a pound of something is going to make me permanently gain a pound. Of course, there's a big difference of how much weight I can potentially gain if that pound of food was a big cheese steak as opposed to a head of lettuce.

Still I think I understand your thinking, and I concede that you do have a point. Just because a pound of fat contains 4,086 calories, it does not necessarily follow that in order to lose a pound of fat you need to burn off an extra 4,086 calories. In fact, as a biochemist, I am embarrassed that I suggested such.

First of all, when you are working out, you are burning very little fat. Fat takes a long time to metabolize for energy. The body uses that for energy storage, not for quick release. When you are working out you are actually burning glycogen, which CAN be quickly metabolized for energy. Glycogen is basically chains upon chains of glucose molecules, or carbohydrates if you prefer to categorize it as one of the three principle food sources - fat, carbs or protein.

However, after a workout, your body has severely depleted it's glycogen stores, and it is at this point where it starts metabolizing more fat. You aren't still working out, so your body does not have a demand for energy fast, so the slow metabolizing fat works just fine. The only problem here is that fat cannot be processed into glucose - the only fuel source your brain and most of your nervous system can effectively run on. However, protein is gluconeogenic - meaning your body can metabolize it into glucose - which is why you also tend to lose some muscle when you lose weight. However, by weight training you body starts building muscle rapidly after about 2 months. At that point it is possible to be building muscle at a faster rate than your body is processing muscle for glucose, which is how you gain muscle mass.

One other point. Most men who do weight training will find that after about 2 months, you'll stop losing weight as quickly as you previously were. There's no mystery to why this is true. It's because you're gaining muscle mass. While you are actually burning fat at a faster rate than you were before you started working out, your weight loss of fat will be partially offset by your weight gain in muscle.

 

I'm pretty much slap in the middle of recomendations in terms of weight. 5'8", 155lb.

Most people think they can eat more calories than they actually can (Anyone heard the 2000 for women, 2500 for men?)

The Basal Metabolic Rate (i.e. no exercise) gives a basic calorie intake based on the body at rest (not asleep) which is quite a lot lower than the normally quoted figures. The link below means you can personalise it.

http://www.1is2fat.com/basal_metabolic_rate_calculator.htm

I come out at about 2000 calories per day.

 

Sorry to be thick, but just how much preparation is required to eat a banana or an apple?

 

Well, they also opt not to eat healthy foods, fruits and vegetables, but rather a few Big Macs and a mountain of fries. There are a lot of shows on TV nowadays where they try to make fat people eat healthier. From what I have seen, *every* fat man or woman on these shows act childish when they are being asked to eat a piece of fruit, for example. They often refuse in the beginning, and when they finally get around to try toeat it, they spit it out. I guess fast-food really changes your sense of taste.

 

So Bahir you dont think that is made for TV? That they know how to pick their participants and probably ask them to react in certain ways?

 

It told me that I need 3175 calories per day.

I also need to be more active. When the temperature comes down to a more humane level, I may get out and work some more which would put me up to the 3440 calories per day...

The only problem is that when I try to get some regular activity, I get interrupted to work, and sometimes that work aggravates my back, making it harder to be active...

 

Of course they do. But if the fat people that regularly eat at fast-food joints preferred fruit and vegetables over fast-food, they probably wouldn't even be fat.

 

If its 2500 calories per day for the average man, and you appar to be quite short from what you have said earlier, why would you need 3175?

 

I say screw the "average caloric need per person". The chanse of that fitting in on you is very, very slim, since every person is different, and does different things. Instead, calculate the calories you get from eating and drinking (and if you want to be even more serious, calculate how much of those calories comes from each energy source (fat, carbs, protein and alcohol)). Do this every day for a week, and then calculate your average.

 

Because as Gnarff has said, he weighs about 300 lbs. The more you weigh, the more energy your body needs on a daily basis to maintain that weight. If Gnarff weighed 200 lbs instead of 300 lbs, he probably couldn't lose weight if he ate 3175 Calories per day. But at his weight, he will be able to lose weight with that number. Remember, the fatty areas of your body still require blood vessels through them, and they still need to be oxygenated. That's why someone who is overweight does not have to cut their Caloric intake to an average level in order to lose weight. Simply reducing it closer to an average intake will be sufficient until the weight starts going down.

 

I'm 6'2" and 165 pounds and it tells me I only need 2,275 calories to maintain weight, but it would seem that with my personal experience, if I'm consuming less then at least 2,500 calories per day I loose weight. Hell it took me 4 months at 3,500-4,000 calories to put on 30 pounds. Got up to 175 lbs my freshman year of college and haven been able to get back to that weight.

 

Are you physically very active? Do you play any sports? Do you exercise frequently? Anything like that ups your daily caloric requirement. Plus, that site deals with averages. The metabolism from one person to another varies, sometimes to a fairly large extent. Swings of 10% one way or the other are not all that uncommon. If you metabolism runs 10% faster than most people's that's going to add anther 200+ calories onto your daily requirement to maintain weight.

 

I'm 6'2", and don't consider myself short.

That and getting off my @$$ and actually excercising so that if my food intake doesn't decreace, then maybe the requirements will increase to pick up the slack. Then I need to make better choices with my food...

 

That site said I only needed 1,921 kcal/day. That doesn't sound like much. I wonder how much I actually eat a day.

Hmm, looking at that other thread on 'Pop Tarts' reminds me of how much junky crap many people eat.