I am working out at least five days a week and do a lot of cardio and strength training and resistance training. My diet everyday consist of a protein shake before the gym and a protein shake after the gym for lunch. When I make my protein shakes I add applesauce, fruit, oatmeal. They are so filling that I cant force myself to eat anything else. For dinner I will have chicken or tilapia, veggies, fruit, some source of high fiber. I was doing good with this and losing weight weekly. Are the protein shakes messing me up now? I dont know what im doing wrong. Any advice is more than welcomed! Thank you everyone!
Worried??
- Thread starter nena2011
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Irdanoob
New member
Nena if your doin resistance training you need to remembef that IF you are building muscle your weight will go up and or stay the same as you burn fat and build muscle weight training is like one of the BEST exercises even for weightloss as youll burn like 500+ calories in one hour of it as opposed to 200 a hour on treadmill so dont let the scale discourage you measure your bodyfat percentage notice if your clothes arefitting better take before and after pictures etc and if you AREN'T dropping fat try calorie shifting add or substract 500 cals from your normal daily intake it will confuse your metabolism and rejump start your weightloss good luck message me with your plan of attack and results please
If I were to subtract 500 cals from my diet i would be eating 50-100 calories a day. Sometimes I dont even eat 500 calories a day...could this be another issue that im not eating enough calories. My fat intake is normally 5g or less a day and once in a while it will be at most 8-9g's but i never let my fat intake go over 10g's a day.
I think you're miscalculating your calories. Given what you've described eating, there's no way you're only eating 550-600 calories a day (and if you are, yes, you are eating way, way too little. The bare minimum for women is 1200 and men is 1500 or 1800 depending on your source). Googling protein shakes, they seem to range between 120 and 160 calories per serve (and I'm pretty sure the 120 one I found was before you add milk- which starts at 35 cal per 100ml). Oats are 178 calories per 50g (which is what I use to make porridge, so you probably add less), fruit it depends (the apple I just ate was 138g and 69 calories), applesauce similarly (google tells me about 100 calories a cup). And then looking to dinner, chicken breast contains 260 calories per 100g (which most people would consider a small serve), and obviously anything with it (vegetables, sauce, rice/ pasta/ other starch) has calories as well, including the way in which it's cooked (unless you steam or boil everything, which would be pretty disgusting).
You need to get a handle on how many calories you're eating, and how they relate to you (use this website: which will tell you your calorie allowance to maintain your weight, according to your stats and activity level). I'd suggest you also need a more balanced diet, if not for the sake of weight loss, simply for the sake of your health. I very much doubt protein shakes are meant to be meal substitutes, and if they are, certainly not for 2/3 of all your meals.
You need to get a handle on how many calories you're eating, and how they relate to you (use this website: which will tell you your calorie allowance to maintain your weight, according to your stats and activity level). I'd suggest you also need a more balanced diet, if not for the sake of weight loss, simply for the sake of your health. I very much doubt protein shakes are meant to be meal substitutes, and if they are, certainly not for 2/3 of all your meals.
Irdanoob
New member
Also IF you are taking in TOO FEW calories your body will go into starvation mode abd actually HOLD ON too ALL the food you eat and store it as bodyfat i think the person who posted before is correct though if you are infact taking in that many calories then you seriously NEED to reanalyze your diet what your doing now is extremely unhealthy
Emerald1
New member
I can't imagine how you're only taking in 500 calories a day while eating 2 protein shakes mixed with things like apple sauce, fruit or oatmeal and eating chicken/tilapia with veggies a high fiber source and fruit for dinner unless your portions are ant sized.
Not to mention, I don't understand how you would have energy to work out 5 days a week doing cardio and resistance training on such a low calorie amount.
Like Amy said, I think you should recalculate your calorie intake.
I also really really stress that you eat more if your eating less than 1200cal....please....
Not to mention, I don't understand how you would have energy to work out 5 days a week doing cardio and resistance training on such a low calorie amount.
Like Amy said, I think you should recalculate your calorie intake.
I also really really stress that you eat more if your eating less than 1200cal....please....
I only eat all natural and organic foods so my protein powder is only 110 calories and 0g's of fat. My milk is fat free and only 90 calories for one cup. I dont eat chicken breast I eat all natural chicken slices which is only 90 calories for a half of a cup. Like I said I dont consume a lot of calories. yesterday i consumed 940 which is very rare for me and the closest to 1000 calories ive been in months. Nine months ago I weighed 430 pounds and now today when i weighed in I weigh 295. So I must be doing something right to have lost that much in nine months but now I am worried about what im doing to my body. I want to keep losing weight and reach my goal weight. I dont count the calories from the fruit so maybe thats where Im wrong. I see fruits and vegetables as "free" foods because no matter how much I consume of them they arent gunna make me gain weight. The applesauce is 70 calories when I add it which isnt very often. I dont eat a lot of tilapia more so chicken and tuna. I only eat one meal a day and I think im consuming more calories from my protein shakes then I am from my one meal a day. Maybe my body is already in starvation mode because I just started adding in the one meal a day because my doctor told me to start there. When I tried to eat solid foods it would make me sick. I think my body was depending on just the protein shakes. Im so confused and lost with all of this. Thank you though guys for your time and advice.
I also do steam and boil everything because I dont like cooking with oil or butter because its contains too much fat. I also think that I have become too overly obsessed with losing weight and go to extremes to make sure I lose every week. Yes I am very tired as well because I work over nights and only get 4 hours of sleep on the days I work which I know isnt good for me either especially working out for as long and hard and with how many days I work out in a week. I think I would break if I saw a gain one week and I know its gunna happen sooner or later but I guess Ill cross that bridge when i get to it. Thanks for all of the support guys. I really appreciate it.
Losing weight shouldn't be your only or end goal. Ideally, the aim should be to be more healthy. On that metric, sure, you might be losing weight, but at what cost? Is it really worth getting down to that magic number (or dress size, or attracting someone you like, or any of the many other reasons people give as to why they want to lose weight) if you end up in the hospital, with bad health complications when you're older, or even slashing years off your life? I strongly recommend- no, urge- that you speak to your doctor again if you can't eat regular food, and tell him/ her that. It sounds to me like you've put your health at serious risk and may need serious medical intervention to get yourself to be able to handle food normally again.
"Natural" and "organic" isn't necessarily everything it's cracked up to be. Organic food has no additional health benefits over conventionally farmed food (except it may be higher quality as it has to be as you're charged more for it), and it really does depend on what you mean by "natural". If you mean "I try not to eat processed food", that's good (but protein shakes are as processed as everything else?)- I can't think of any other meaning of "natural" food that isn't either a marketing scam or some other form of nonsense.
Fruit and vegetables aren't "free"- water is just about the only thing that's "free" when you're calorie counting. But that's really the least of your worries.
Seriously- go look at that BMR calculator I linked above. Put your details in. The minimum for you is 1000 calories under your maintenance number (so, for example, my BMR is 1538.9. I went to the Daily Calorie Needs page from there and multiplied by my activity level- I'm moderately active, so 1.55- and came up with a rounded figure of 2385. That's how much I need to eat every day if I want to stay the weight I am. I take off 500 to lose a pound a week, 1000 to lose two. My absolute minimum, at my current weight, is 1385 calories per day).
"Natural" and "organic" isn't necessarily everything it's cracked up to be. Organic food has no additional health benefits over conventionally farmed food (except it may be higher quality as it has to be as you're charged more for it), and it really does depend on what you mean by "natural". If you mean "I try not to eat processed food", that's good (but protein shakes are as processed as everything else?)- I can't think of any other meaning of "natural" food that isn't either a marketing scam or some other form of nonsense.
Fruit and vegetables aren't "free"- water is just about the only thing that's "free" when you're calorie counting. But that's really the least of your worries.
Seriously- go look at that BMR calculator I linked above. Put your details in. The minimum for you is 1000 calories under your maintenance number (so, for example, my BMR is 1538.9. I went to the Daily Calorie Needs page from there and multiplied by my activity level- I'm moderately active, so 1.55- and came up with a rounded figure of 2385. That's how much I need to eat every day if I want to stay the weight I am. I take off 500 to lose a pound a week, 1000 to lose two. My absolute minimum, at my current weight, is 1385 calories per day).
I agree with steaming or boiling (preferably steaming) vegetables- it's better for you. As for meat, I don't think it's so bad to cook in other ways (also, you actually need to eat fat, it should be about 20% of your daily intake if I recall- some say as much as 30% although I can't come at that personally). I don't know if you have this where you are, but I use a cooking spray which is 1 calorie per squirt (and I use about 4 squirts on a small pan, 6-8 on a very big one), so it's hardly worth worrying about (doesn't cook as well as oil, but doesn't cling to your hips as much either). This is the stuff I use: (I count it on my calorie counting, but it's not going to be the difference between me gaining or losing weight unless I drink the stuff)
Your second post reinforces what I already thought- you need to talk to a doctor. Possibly also for the psychological elements of this as well (I'm not trying to be insulting, it's just that what you've written is very worrying- your health should always come first).
The thing about weight loss is that the changes you make to lose weight need to be ones that you can maintain for the rest of your life- if you go back to your old habits, the weight will creep back up again. Is this sustainable for the rest of your (hopefully long, happy and productive) life? It doesn't sound it to me.
Your second post reinforces what I already thought- you need to talk to a doctor. Possibly also for the psychological elements of this as well (I'm not trying to be insulting, it's just that what you've written is very worrying- your health should always come first).
The thing about weight loss is that the changes you make to lose weight need to be ones that you can maintain for the rest of your life- if you go back to your old habits, the weight will creep back up again. Is this sustainable for the rest of your (hopefully long, happy and productive) life? It doesn't sound it to me.
I didnt post to be insulted first of all. I posted for advice on what I should do to change my diet or if I was consuming too much of the protein shakes or if I should just add more food to my diet. I've been insulted enough in my life with just being over weight that I dont need it now from someone online. Everyone is entitled to their opinion and my belief on organic and all natural food is different. At almost 450 pounds my doctors didnt even think that I would make it to see the age 22 so Ive come a long ways to be as healthy as I am now despite I have a long ways to go to be where I need to be. My whole motivation is to lose weight to be healthy not to be with someone or to fit into a dress. I have a wonderful supportive boyfriend and dont need to worry about trying to impress anyone. Ive done that to the extreme already in losing this much weight. I lost my brother at the age of 32 in 2009 due to a blood clot and they wouldnt transport him to a better hospital by helicopter because he weighed 305 and the weight limit was 300. My whole family doubted me most of my life about losing weight because its in my "genes". My whole family is over weight and I dont care if its in my genetics to be over weight, Obviously genes dont mean anything otherwise I wouldnt of been able to lose weight and keep it off. I dont have mental issues, its just very important to me to lose weight and be healthy. You never know what could happen to you at any point of your life. My health is only something I have control over. As far as going back to my "old" diet will be never again. Ive worked too hard to regain all of this weight.
I'm not trying to insult you, and I sincerely apologise if you see it that way. It's just that what you're posting worries me greatly. You sound like you're damaging your health (and I wasn't saying that you wanted to lose weight for those reasons, I said that these are some reasons people give as to why they want to lose weight. I didn't know your reasons and didn't presume), and your health has to be the most important thing. That's what I was getting at with the first point. Yes, it's great you've lost all that weight- whatever your motivation is (and I didn't know what yours was), and you have a noble one- but if you're not getting the right nutrients, who knows what health conditions may lie ahead?
The second point is, if you can't digest food without being ill, this becomes a medical issue, and it may be in part psychological. I'm just making suggestions here. (As to natural/ organic- believe what you like, that concerns me not at all. I think it's mostly hype/ scam, but I'm entitled to think that, and say so, and you're entitled to think differently, and say so. Great thing about living in free countries)
As to genes, that's possibly another thing that you may want to talk to your doctor about. I'm not saying you're destined to be overweight- no one should ever think like that. What I am saying is, you and/ or some members of your family may have an unresolved/ undiagnosed medical condition that makes it difficult to lose weight or easy to put on weight. Of course you may already have thought of this. I'm just trying to help, throwing anything out there that I can think of.
Again, I'm really sorry for offending you- that wasn't my intention in the slightest.
The second point is, if you can't digest food without being ill, this becomes a medical issue, and it may be in part psychological. I'm just making suggestions here. (As to natural/ organic- believe what you like, that concerns me not at all. I think it's mostly hype/ scam, but I'm entitled to think that, and say so, and you're entitled to think differently, and say so. Great thing about living in free countries)
As to genes, that's possibly another thing that you may want to talk to your doctor about. I'm not saying you're destined to be overweight- no one should ever think like that. What I am saying is, you and/ or some members of your family may have an unresolved/ undiagnosed medical condition that makes it difficult to lose weight or easy to put on weight. Of course you may already have thought of this. I'm just trying to help, throwing anything out there that I can think of.
Again, I'm really sorry for offending you- that wasn't my intention in the slightest.
Irdanoob
New member
Nena i read your doing one meal a day this plus a low calorie diet is NOT a good idea at your weight losing stored body fat will be fairly easy use the BMR calculator linked in a couple posts above and aim for about 1500 calories under that a pound is about 3500 cals so eating 1500 will bring you down about 2 lbs a weak if you feel you can do lower than that go ahead but do it at your own risk more than 2 lbs a week is not recommended but with your BMI you may lose more also rather than one meal a day do 5 small ones breakfast have a low cal meal replacement shake 2-3 hrs later a apple then another 2 hrs have lunch maybe some salad with olive oil instead of salad dressing and some chicken 2 hrs later a banan 2 hrs later dinner time have somethimg that will keep you from getting too hungry for the rest of the night maybe a chicken breast lil rice and some brocolli as for the dr telling you one meal a day i would seriously question that advice from any man who calls himself a dr..but i dunno if he gives you advice like that ask for a new dr he sounds like a douchebag but thats just my advice please keep us updated and how it turns out
Irdanoob
New member
I dont know amy even if that is the case any half way decent dr would say 5 small meals a day..
hey guys im gunna tell you what im going through today because today is the perfect example and i dont know how to get out of this problem (hence why im here for advice). Today i woke up at 10:30am and didnt eat until 1:45 which was a protein shake. The protein shake consisted of 8oz of fat free milk, protein powder, very low fat peanut butter, and cinnamon. So just now I made 1 cup of pasta added some chicken strips, pico de gallo which is tomatoes green peppers and onions, and added a can of pinto beans. Knowing that I would probably have at most a cup of this dish and the rest I would eat tomorrow for lunch. So I got out a bowl and took four bites of this and felt so full that I couldnt eat another bite. My boyfriend is extremely worried about me and says that I need to stop the protein completely until I can get my body use to solid foods again. Later about 8pm tonight I am going to attempt eating that bowl of food I made. I never thought in a million years that this would happen to me. I use to be addicted to food and eat everything in sight and now i cant even eat a cup of solid food. please help!
To top it all off tomorrow I am going home to my parents house and dont eat the same foods they eat but I havent told my mom whats going on with my health either because she is one to worry herself until she is sick. So now I will be with her all night sunday and all day monday and she is gunna question me why Im not eating much so Im gunna have to force myself to eat "normal" meals while im there even if it makes me physically sick. ugh!
I don't think this is something you can solve today. As I say, I'm no doctor (just a random forum member), but I'd say the first thing you need to do is get a plan from a doctor as to how to fix this. I would really guess that this is a medical issue that can't be dealt with on a free online forum where you could be talking to anyone who could tell you anything (as I say, I have no relevant qualifications- I mean well, but you'll have to take my word on that. Others could be doctors or not, but there's no way of knowing despite what they tell you)
I suspect what you need to do is wean yourself off the shakes and onto small amounts of proper food. I don't want to go into how I imagine this would work because I am eminently unqualified (my qualifications are in the humanities) and I really, really think this is something too serious to be resolved on a forum.
As to your mother, unfortunately I think you're going to have to tell her the truth. You're not going to be able to hide the fact you can't eat. She'll probably be upset, but presumably she can support you as you get the help you need?
I suspect what you need to do is wean yourself off the shakes and onto small amounts of proper food. I don't want to go into how I imagine this would work because I am eminently unqualified (my qualifications are in the humanities) and I really, really think this is something too serious to be resolved on a forum.
As to your mother, unfortunately I think you're going to have to tell her the truth. You're not going to be able to hide the fact you can't eat. She'll probably be upset, but presumably she can support you as you get the help you need?
no surgery just depending on protein shakes as two of my meal for the past 4 months. My body isnt use to "normal" food anymore and I have to stop the protein completely and get my stomach use to solid food again. Its gunna be a long process but I have to. I never knew that something like this would happen. I also cant drink a cup of milk with a meal because the milk will fill me up before i can even eat anything which is another issue. A protein shake and a cup of milk isnt solid food and i know i should be consuming more food. Some days are better than other. I think the only reason I was able to eat dinner last night was because I had 2 protein shakes yesterday and the last one i drank was at 1pm and i ate my meal at 10pm. The protein shakes are hurting me instead of helping me. I am also drinking them everyday weather Im exercising or not which isnt what they are suppose to be used for. thank you guys for your support again.