Weightloss

[soundsystem00]

Drinking a Gallon of water a day alone will knock a lot of weight off.

Also avoid sugars.

I have been on a small diet lately and can already see my belly disappearing. I just eliminated fast food to once a week. Helps a lot and I feel pretty good.

 

[Pagey]

Stupid question maybe, but why does water help to make you lose fat so much? Aside from the obvious 'it cuts your appetite'. Is there any other reason?
I ask because I've always had a bit of a problem with drinking in that I'm pretty constantly dehydrated...I just barely drink. About a year or two ago I'd have about a glass of water a day and that was it. I had a number of doctors point it out to me and tell me it was quite dangerous etc. and I've been doing much better recently but for soem reason I really have trouble with it. To be honest drinking makes me feel kinda sick. It's weird.
Anyway I'm trying to find all the possible ways to motivate myself to drink more (I force myself regardless, but motivation would be cool) so if someone knows why it contributes to weight loss that might help

 

[Jabberwocky]

far and away, it's just by increasing fullness / filling-in for junky shit. there's many smaller reasons but they're not remotely as significant, no. that said, don't look at water as only something relative to your weight, as it is fuckin VITAL to health. being just a bit dehydrated is bad for your body and mind, if it's a chronic thing for you (better err on the side of too much than too little in this case, w/o a doubt)
ppl will definitely overstate how much water is needed in some cases; are you ever thirsty? can you correlate the sick feeling to anything?(i know that, for me, heavy water on empty stomach can be dizzying..)
the amount of water you need is really variable but is nothing more than a function of what you need for metabolism + what you lose through perspiration/urination, but it should never ever be some trivial afterthought, and if you actually feel thirsty you can be sure you're dehydrated! (don't force-feed yourself 8 glasses in a day if you don't need it - while minor-dehydration is farrr too common, ppl definitely overstate how much is needed, probably in a (shady)attempt to make sure those listening to them get sufficient water. you may not need as much as most tell you, but you DO need to not get dehydrated often!

 

[Jabberwocky]

far and away, it's just by increasing fullness / filling-in for junky shit. there's many smaller reasons but they're not remotely as significant, no. that said, don't look at water as only something relative to your weight, as it is fuckin VITAL to health. being just a bit dehydrated is bad for your body and mind, if it's a chronic thing for you (better err on the side of too much than too little in this case, w/o a doubt)
ppl will definitely overstate how much water is needed in some cases; are you ever thirsty? can you correlate the sick feeling to anything?(i know that, for me, heavy water on empty stomach can be dizzying..)
the amount of water you need is really variable but is nothing more than a function of what you need for metabolism + what you lose through perspiration/urination, but it should never ever be some trivial afterthought, and if you actually feel thirsty you can be sure you're dehydrated! (don't force-feed yourself 8 glasses in a day if you don't need it - while minor-dehydration is farrr too common, ppl definitely overstate how much is needed, probably in a (shady)attempt to make sure those listening to them get sufficient water. you may not need as much as most tell you, but you DO need to not get dehydrated often!

 

[Pagey]

far and away, it's just by increasing fullness / filling-in for junky shit. there's many smaller reasons but they're not remotely as significant, no. that said, don't look at water as only something relative to your weight, as it is fuckin VITAL to health. being just a bit dehydrated is bad for your body and mind, if it's a chronic thing for you (better err on the side of too much than too little in this case, w/o a doubt)
ppl will definitely overstate how much water is needed in some cases; are you ever thirsty? can you correlate the sick feeling to anything?(i know that, for me, heavy water on empty stomach can be dizzying..)
the amount of water you need is really variable but is nothing more than a function of what you need for metabolism + what you lose through perspiration/urination, but it should never ever be some trivial afterthought, and if you actually feel thirsty you can be sure you're dehydrated! (don't force-feed yourself 8 glasses in a day if you don't need it - while minor-dehydration is farrr too common, ppl definitely overstate how much is needed, probably in a (shady)attempt to make sure those listening to them get sufficient water. you may not need as much as most tell you, but you DO need to not get dehydrated often!

Thanks bmxxx. I definitely don't just look at water as something important for my weight, don't worry, I do know how vital it is haha. And I really do force myself to drink more. I'm pretty much permanently thirsty but I feel nauseous whenever I drink... Now that I think about it I should maybe see a doctor about it soon.
Like right now, I've got the worst dry mouth, I tried to drink and now I'm feeling sick
It was more just that since drinking really is something really unpleasant for me, the more incentive I have to do it, the better - even though I'll do it regardless since obviously I know it's pretty much the most important thing to keep myself alive.

 

[Jabberwocky]

how many calories are you putting down? if i'm low on calories, water will make me nauseous, too.. if you could post up what you ate yesterday it'd help put things in perspective (don't mean portion-weights, but give a sml/medium/lrg ratings and the foods eaten yesterday, and what training you did; it'll really help put this in perspective - i imagine you can drink water while eating, if you just have sips between bites?)

 

[Pagey]

Uuh let's see...yesterday I had subway at lunch with a cookie & drink so about 1200 calories, then a large salad and fruit at dinner (400/500 calories) and I did something like 30mn on the treadmill, 10mn cross-trainer, 20mn exercise bike and hour-long walk I think. And yeah, I can drink okay when I'm eating, it's between meals that I really find it uncomfortable.

 

[Jabberwocky]

...your water requirements will be much lower if you're eating sub-2k calories (CUT THAT SHIT OUT!! that's not the right way to do this pagie!! it's not even the most effective way!)

 

[addictivepersona]

^ Shorter, smaller people typically do not need 2000 calories or above. For instance, my BEE to maintain is about 1900 calories. To lose, it's about 1500-1600. If I regularly ate 2000+ calories, I'd gain weight.

And because we get some of our water from food, if you're eating fewer than 2000 calories, your water requirements would actually be higher than someone eating 2000 calories, presuming the same amount of water per calorie.

 

[Jabberwocky]

are you jogging regularly? (she is)

And because we get some of our water from food, if you're eating fewer than 2000 calories, your water requirements would actually be higher than someone eating 2000 calories, presuming the same amount of water per calorie.

not so much; digestion requires a significant amount of water, so as your calories (and sheer bulk mass/volume of food/consumed) rise, so does water requirement.

 

[Serotonin101]

protein also requires the most water to breakdown if I remember correctly as well. she could always go keto diet as well. seems to work well if one sticks to it.

 

[Pagey]

(CUT THAT SHIT OUT!! that's not the right way to do this pagie!! it's not even the most effective way!)

?! Where's that coming from? To maintain weight I've got to eat about 2000 a day, I'm eating 1800 with 300 burned at the gym, I'm hardly being strict about this...

 

[modern buddha]

^ you said you were doing about an hour of medium intensity cardio? Some treadmill, some elliptical or whatnot? That's more tuan 300 calories burned, hun. Depending on your intensity and if it's varying, you could be burning 600 or more. So now you're at 1,200 calories for the day, which will break yourbody down and you'll give in and binge and then hate yourself later.

As long as you are eating the right macros in a better proportion (gah, conventional wisdom has it completely backwards) then you shouldn't need to exercise anymore (at least, not cardio based) than half an hour a day.

 

[Jabberwocky]

?! Where's that coming from? To maintain weight I've got to eat about 2000 a day, I'm eating 1800 with 300 burned at the gym, I'm hardly being strict about this...

it's coming from the same spot it was when i (and others) were telling you not to dip too low whne you started the new program ~3wks ago (iirc), i'm concerned for you going too hard to the point of being unhealthy; 1800/d when you spend an hour running may not feel strict, but it is very hard to imagine getting the proper nutrients for your body running those #'s (if your diet were ketogenic or close to it, raw/paleo and just incredibly dialed-in, it's...doable. if you're eating 'normal-healthy' it's cutting it wayy too close for my liking)

/it's coming from a spot of concern pagie, i fear i came across wrong. based on what you said you ate 2d ago, i find it a stretch to imagine that was suffficient nutes for a day (there's a common misconception that weight-loss programs are just 'intentional malnurishment'; while restrictions are part/parcel, it doesn't change the baseline req's that you need for proper, basic function. in fact, walking the line of low, but sufficiently healthy, dieting requires much more precision to do so healthily)

 

[Pagey]

^ you said you were doing about an hour of medium intensity cardio? Some treadmill, some elliptical or whatnot? That's more tuan 300 calories burned, hun. Depending on your intensity and if it's varying, you could be burning 600 or more. So now you're at 1,200 calories for the day, which will break yourbody down and you'll give in and binge and then hate yourself later.

As long as you are eating the right macros in a better proportion (gah, conventional wisdom has it completely backwards) then you shouldn't need to exercise anymore (at least, not cardio based) than half an hour a day.

Really? I just said 300 based on what the machines are telling me - I also read that they tend to overestimate the number of calories burned so I figured it was fine...I'm confused

it's coming from the same spot it was when i (and others) were telling you not to dip too low whne you started the new program ~3wks ago (iirc), i'm concerned for you going too hard to the point of being unhealthy; 1800/d when you spend an hour running may not feel strict, but it is very hard to imagine getting the proper nutrients for your body running those #'s (if your diet were ketogenic or close to it, raw/paleo and just incredibly dialed-in, it's...doable. if you're eating 'normal-healthy' it's cutting it wayy too close for my liking)

/it's coming from a spot of concern pagie, i fear i came across wrong. based on what you said you ate 2d ago, i find it a stretch to imagine that was suffficient nutes for a day (there's a common misconception that weight-loss programs are just 'intentional malnurishment'; while restrictions are part/parcel, it doesn't change the baseline req's that you need for proper, basic function. in fact, walking the line of low, but sufficiently healthy, dieting requires much more precision to do so healthily)

Yeah no sorry maybe it sounded like I was offended/mad at you or something, that wasn't the intention at all, just surprised. But I mean supposing I'm only getting a deficit of about 500 a day, that's like losing a pound a week which is really slow...and I feel like -500 a day is what they usually recommend in weight loss programs?

 

[Jabberwocky]

it's not remotely as straightforward as counting calories, sadly.. i'll be the first to acknowledge i made that (erroneous) assumption and tried to oversimplify it like that in the past :/ calories are very very important and one of the bigger 'yardsticks', but teh quality of what you eat (even controlling for calories) is a very big factor in fat accumulation as well.

 

[Pagey]

^No yeah of course I get that, but what I meant is, is a 500 cal deficit really that dramatic? I take extra vitamins and stuff as well so I'm certainly getting what I need in that department.

 

[Serotonin101]

^No yeah of course I get that, but what I meant is, is a 500 cal deficit really that dramatic? I take extra vitamins and stuff as well so I'm certainly getting what I need in that department.

if you drop weight too rapidly it doesn't give the body a chance to adapt to its new weight, size, etc. the quicker the weight comes off, the more easy it is to put back on. that's why its recommended not to drop more than 1-2 pounds a week unless you're morbidly obese and doing keto. also rapid weight loss also usually means lots of muscle loss on top of fat :/

 

[Pagey]

Well I know but that's what I'm saying, I'm probably not dropping more than a pound a week, and since I'm going to the gym daily I highly doubt I'm losing much muscle - if any at all. I honestly feel like I'm doing this right aside from maybe not eating healthily enough all the time.

 

[Jabberwocky]

^a pound a week is actually VERY in-line with what i'd call smart/healthy, and is a much better guideline for weightloss than a calorie-deficit count.