How much differnece will swimming make?

[Eason]

If you stick to a high-satiety meal plan (lots of protein, some carbs, just enough fat) and spread the meals out, you will find yourself full even though you're only taking in as little as 1200/1600 calories. People just don't understand that wating long periods is bad, and that their hormones which lead them to eat will elevate at certain times of the day, and eating keeps those hunger hormones down.

 

[drizzt3117]

Basically for most intelligent people, the calorie in/calorie out model will work. The reason most diets fail is because people aren't accurately keeping track of their calories, whether it's by cheating themselves or for other reasons. Also, it's certainly possible to have the model fail by eating the wrong foods, if all you ate was 2600 calories of chocolate cake a day, and you burned 3000 calories per day, you probably wouldn't be losing weight, but that's obviously an extreme example.

The point is, with a good balanced diet with good timing, and resistance/cardio training, you're going to lose weight pretty much as the calorie in/out model suggests. It won't be exact, especially once you get to lower bf%s but it's still a pretty good guide.

 

[ken]

Originally Posted by Eason

The calories in/out model is true, period.

Yeah, but the human body is a little more complicated than what most people understand. It's impossible to determine exactly how many calories you take in (due to differences in digestion, thermic effects of food, etc.) and expend throughout the day and during exercise (due to different thyroids, intensities, etc.). In states of extreme caloric restriction for long periods of time, these numbers get even more out of whack.

I find it hard to believe you've never encountered these people: those who start dieting heavily, lose some weight, and then plateau even though the "calculations" say they should still be losing weight.

 

[Eason]

Originally Posted by ken

Yeah, but the human body is a little more complicated than what most people understand. It's impossible to determine exactly how many calories you take in (due to differences in digestion, thermic effects of food, etc.) and expend throughout the day and during exercise (due to different thyroids, intensities, etc.). In states of extreme caloric restriction for long periods of time, these numbers get even more out of whack.

I find it hard to believe you've never encountered these people: those who start dieting heavily, lose some weight, and then plateau even though the "calculations" say they should still be losing weight.

I haven't encountered those people because the clients I deal with are part of a medically-supervised weight loss program where they meet weakly with physicians, psychiatrists, dietitians, and personal trainers. If they aren't losing weight, at the weekly overview meetings these clients are highlighted and all the big brains figure out why and change it.

Interesting thing to note is that when people record their caloric intake, they almost always under report actual intake, usually by around 1000 kcal. They won't believe it even if you show them.

 

[drizzt3117]

Originally Posted by lee lin

i always thought a calorie in is still a calorie in no matter what like 1 cal vegetables=1 cal of cake? i haven't had the need to go on a diet though so i haven't read much on the subject.

No, fats, proteins, and carbs are metabolized in different ways. Proteins require more energy to digest than fats/carbs, and carbs are metabolized through the glycolytic cycle directly to glucose which will trigger release of insulin. Basically a high carb + high fat diet is about as bad a diet as you can get.

 

[lawyerdad]

Originally Posted by Eason

If we just stickied all the information people needed, and somehow people read it, then there would be no posts in this forum and I'd be more bored.

No, there'd be just as many threads like this started, except the follow-up responses would be a mix of substantive advice and "try the search function, jackass!" posts.

 

[mensimageconsultant]

Some findings through http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q...ng+weight+loss

 

[Viktri]

Originally Posted by Eason

I haven't encountered those people because the clients I deal with are part of a medically-supervised weight loss program where they meet weakly with physicians, psychiatrists, dietitians, and personal trainers. If they aren't losing weight, at the weekly overview meetings these clients are highlighted and all the big brains figure out why and change it.

Interesting thing to note is that when people record their caloric intake, they almost always under report actual intake, usually by around 1000 kcal. They won't believe it even if you show them.

yup

The calorie intake/outtake theory isn't at fault; people who use it incorrectly are at fault. These same people look and say, "screw this model, it doesn't apply to me" instead of saying, "maybe I haven't been properly measuring the calories I consume".

Most of my friends have tried to copy the way I eat but when I ask them about their daily consumptions they go, "I had a huge turkey sandwich, probably 120kcals because it had brown bread, etc etc etc" and "and since I'm big I burn 3000 kcals a day doing nothing" and obviously it doesn't work.

 

[adversity04]

www.fitday.com

Site that you can input all the food your eating and it'll give you calorie counts and the macronutrients (carbs/fat/protein). If you put all the number in correctly it saves you the math

 

[SUPER K]

My swim coach is fat

 

[gdl203]

I found that NY Mag article quite enlightening actually.

 

[jhao]

Originally Posted by MatthewTH

so i recently joined a new gym, and am swimming laps 3 days a week, and also doing cardio - eliptical:recently had ACL surgery.....how much toning is this going to do? i'm currenty at a 32-33 inch waist, but love handles have got the best me. will the swiming help lose fat? i don't want to gain anymore muscle mass...thanks!


to know what distance you swim and in what time could be helpful.

 

[rjmaiorano]

Originally Posted by Eason

I haven't encountered those people because the clients I deal with are part of a medically-supervised weight loss program where they meet weakly with physicians, psychiatrists, dietitians, and personal trainers. If they aren't losing weight, at the weekly overview meetings these clients are highlighted and all the big brains figure out why and change it.

Interesting thing to note is that when people record their caloric intake, they almost always under report actual intake, usually by around 1000 kcal. They won't believe it even if you show them.

Wait? If its already common knowledge, what line of work are you in Eason?

 

[rjmaiorano]

Random that today was the first time ever, literally ever, that I counted calories throughout the day... in an attempt to stay right around 2,000 calories.

I did a rather strenuous chest workout with some legs and static holds this morning, closed and finished with some jump roping for a total of just under an hour... I placed most of my carbs around the workout... The rest of the day was primarily high protein and water... As of now I am just over the 2k mark with a protein shake to come before bed.

My conclusion was that I was pretty hungry throughout the day, although it was doable (granted I didn't get my goal). But also it was considerably less food than what I normally eat, I would estimate 600-700 calories less. I am usually more active than I was today and already in good shape so I'm interested to see how much return I can get from this sort of deficit... or if I can maintain ~2000 with more exercise..