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2003/01/20, 10:25 PM
Hey everyone. I am interested in just toning up, not losing any more weight. I am actually in counseling because I am so fixated on counting calories and exercising, so weight loss should not be my concern. My concern is this: If I eat well all week (around 1200-1600 calories with a good balance of carbs:protein:fat) but have a slip day once a week, say 1800-2100 calories with more carbs, will this hurt me in anyway? Metabolism wise? Or in any area that I want to tone? For example, today I ate well but then at 7 pm I had 2 slices of banana bread and a spoonful of sorbet. Now, this took me to the 1700 calorie range. But I did do an hour of kickboxing afterwards? Is this ok? Sorry it's so long, I'm just confused! Thank you!
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2003/01/21, 01:51 AM
For how long have you been eating like that?
Do you weight train often? (please fill in your profile)
If your diet works or not well then you should be the very best one to answer now having a cheat day or meal once a week shouldn't cause any problems.
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- Nina :o) Les Victoires éternelles sont celles du coeur.
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2003/01/21, 05:34 AM
Your calorie intake seems very low, average intake is recommended at around 2,000 (for women) but without a profile I guess that might be right for your body size. Though if you have not got this checked from somewhere reputable I would – you don’t want to starve yourself. Cheat days are common in many diet plans, so I would not worry about them as long as you don’t go over the top (several thousand calories extra is a bad balance). I prefer to spread out my intake, but that’s a personal thing. I would also give the advice to remember with toning you are trying to improve muscle structure so will need more protein then just a weight loss program.
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2003/01/23, 06:25 AM
Occasional gorges are not good over for your metabolism (it is better to keep a regular intake), however they are not that bad and have definite good points. Because of this the best way to answer your question is to explain the reasoning behind cheat meals so you can decide if they work for you.
Cheat meals are there for three main reasons,
To stop fixations,
*If you know you cannot eat chocolate for example, you become more fixate on eating it because you are constantly thinking about not eating it; hence a splurge one a week gets this out the system.
To ease guilt,
*When your will breaks or something bad happens, many people (and because of its effects particularly over weight people) comfort eat. However now you have broke your diet, so you feel worse and often eat more eat to feel better – a downward spiral.
Allow for a normal life,
*Any diet needs to attract people to it, and let them live a relatively normal life whilst on it, if you can never go to a restaurant or out for a few drinks this is not happening – hence cheat meals get over this.
So although they are not necessarily perfect for your metabolism they are a good idea in that they make you much more likely to succeed in weight loss. In short you decide if they are suitable for you, they are for many people – I eat so much (about twice what anyone else I know eats) I do not need to worry about them!
Also from your profile you have achieved your goal of weight loss – well done, and are now looking to remain active and tone (possibly adding a little muscle mass). To do this you do not need to be quite such a restrictive in your diet. If what you were eating before was so little you lost weight you will need to increase to maintain. There are lots of free calorie calculators available on the net, feed in your info and find out the average results of a few of them (a safer answer is done by using several). From what you have told me I get that your intake should be at least 1600 a day right at the top end of what you are actually taking in, BUT you will get better results as you can give better info on your life style. I have also written a couple of tips (and explained them below) but as I have written so much already really ought to get back to work.
Eat 5-6 meals a day.
*You do not want to gain fat, so eat small meals through out the day. Large meals mean excess calories are stored as fat, which your body dos not want to relinquish latter. Eating the same amount in smaller regular meals means your body not put this down as fat.
Have a regular protein intake.
*Eat protein in every meal. If you eat lots of protein in one meal it gets stored as fat, which cannot latter be converted back to protein. However your body needs protein to put down new or improve old muscle, otherwise all it can do with excess energy is store it as fat.
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2003/01/23, 11:16 AM
Thank you so much for all the information! That was really helpful! I am finding that I am still losing weight, even though it is not my goal. I do a over 6 hours of cardio a week and I don't think I'm eating enough to balance my weight. Thank you for the advice...especially about the "mini meals". I think I will give that a shot!
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