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LDRSHIP's avatar

Suggestions for slimming waist and losing weight?

Asked by LDRSHIP (1795points) February 12th, 2014

And also getting a thicker neck for taping reasons. Been doing shoulder shrugs and similar exercises.

I’ve already dropped about 8lbs some of it is water.

Also from what I’ve read going below 1,500 calories is not the best idea. I am on a fairly strict diet. Drink water only. Extra vitamins, salads, lean or 99% fat free chicken and what not. Trying to stay away from very salty foods I didn’t notice at first.

For example today I think I was just around the 1,500 mark if I include the calories burned from working out. But sometimes pretty sure I went under that. Supposedly I can actually gain weight by eating too little as my body goes into starvation mode?

Open to any ideas.

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10 Answers

lillyhop's avatar

Water, vitamins and calories – you are doing great. You can create a slimmer waist if you do cardio – it will burn the fat all over your body. And crunches are your best friends now. Start eating food that has no advertisement whatsoever and make sure you consume enough of proteins. It’s a long way but the results are worthy of every minute of it.

livelaughlove21's avatar

Just keep doing what you’re doing. It won’t happen overnight. It’s nice to see someone losing the healthy way and not starving themselves on 1000–1200 calories per day.

What are “taping reasons?”

SSS911's avatar

For what its worth..When our metabolism is low (we’re not eating enough) our bodies stop sending out the hormone to use fat for energy. It needs fat for survival and will protect its stash. Instead, it will signal your fat cells to collect and store fat, while using proteins from your muscles for energy. This is why people stop or have trouble losing fat when they’re over restricting their calories: also known as starvation mode. (Not mine, but I did sleep at a Holliday Inn last night) :)

JLeslie's avatar

What weight are you trying for? 1500 calories a day with a little exercise is probably 125–130 for most people.

Eat lots of veggies, especially veggies that are high in protein so you can eat less meat. More fruit should cut cravings for sweets. Counting calories is good, makes you aware of how many calories is in everything and helps reinforce eating more vegetables.

janbb's avatar

It all depends on how big you are. I can only lose weight if I cut down to around 1,000 calories a day.

Lifting will bulk up your neck..

Stinley's avatar

One piece of internet advice doing the rounds is to eat the calories for the weight you want to be. Eg if you want to be 140lbs and the average person at that weight needs 1800 cals a day to maintain their weight then you eat 1800 calories (being strict with weighing and measuring every bite you take). The heavier you are, the more calories you need to maintain your weight

livelaughlove21's avatar

I want to add that the amount of calories you need is not only dependent on weight. It also depends on your sex, height, age, and activity level.

For example, a 25-year-old 5’7” 140lb male needs 1900 calories to maintain their weight without exercise. A female of the same age, height, weight, and activity level needs 1700 calories. 200 calories may not seem like a huge difference, but that’s 1400 calories a week.

So, 1500 calories is not what every 130 lb person should eat. That’s way too broad if a statement, and quite inaccurate.

Calculate your TDEE (there are calculators online) to find out how many calories YOU burn in a day based on YOUR age, weight, height, sex, and activity level. If you want to lose weight, subtract 15–20% from that number.

LDRSHIP's avatar

Thanks very much for the suggestions, I looked at the TDEE and with my current exercise routine it suggested about 2,550 calories which was mind blowing to me. I typically exercise 3–5 times a week. Sometimes extra or on weekends really depends on how my body is doing if I am very sore and tired, I take it easy or just have a rest day. Perhaps I am eating a bit too little where it is possible making a slower progress to cutting down. Without exercise or BMR (I think?) is 1776 calories.

It also has another calculator which suggest numbers for grams of fat,protein,carbs….What I thought was interesting according to this calculator eating less than about 1,900 calories is “reckless” so at 1,500 I am not sure how exactly my body reacting, I do seem to be sore longer than usual. Maybe I can up calories or move food around but get more protein in or the good stuff if you will.

But please give more feedback I never knew about this stuff, very interesting.

livelaughlove21's avatar

@LDRSHIP I could get a better idea if you disclose your age, weight, height, and sex.

The “no exercise” option is different than your BMR. BMR tells you how many calories you’d burn while lying in a coma all day. The other is the amount of calories you’d burn just working a desk job, but not doing any real exercise.

What I like to do is take the “no exercise” option, subtract 20% from it, and set my goal to that many NET calories per day (meaning you eat back the calories you burn during workouts). For example, if my goal is 1500 net calories per day and I’ve eaten 1500 calories and burned 250 calories in a workout, I’d eat back those 250 calories to bring my net calories back up to 1500.

The reason I do that is because that calculator doesn’t know what your 3–5 workouts a week consist of. So, the amount of calories you burn and need to replenish will vary. If you take a 20-minute walk 3 nights a week after dinner, you won’t burn many calories. If you do intense cardio intervals for 30–45 minutes 3 times per week, that’s another story. So, just count your burned calories as you go, depending on what your workouts are like.

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