something wrong with gf's daily caloric intake

[jnan30]

my girlfriend wants to lose weight and told me 1000 calories daily is sufficient. i found this hard to believe. she is 5'3, no more than 135-140lbs??? lifts weights 3 times a week and does cardio almost everyday. her diet is healthy and very controlled. she just recently started seriously dieting at the beginning of summer after a school year of not really counting calories. i've told her to ease into cutting back but she says shes gotten her information from a legitimate source. is there something wrong with this diet? will her fat loss be mostly from water? thank you

[sillygirl]

I hope she's not using a magazine like "Cosmo" or "Better Homes & Garden" for her 'legitimate' source. I've seen mags like these recommend kick-starting a "diet" with only consuming 1,000 calories per day! No no no no no no.

YOU are right. 1,000 calories is way too low. She'll lose weight, but it'll mostly be water and muscle, not body fat. I [as well as others on this board] can speak from experience. I lost a lot of weight, yeah, but most of it was muscle. It's not fun being a "fat-skinny" person and it's also not fun trying to undo the damage from being on a starvation diet.

That's what 1000 calories a day is.

She needs to be eating more, and she needs to make sure she's eating clean & healthy. And realistically. 1000 calories a day is NOT realistic. The weight will come off more slowly, but it'll mostly be bodyfat, not muscle and water weight. Plus, if she makes small [and realistic] modifications to her diet, she can keep it up year round. Instead of dieting heavily in the summer and pigging out on whatever for the rest of the year. That isn't healthy and it's only going to set her up for yo-yo dieting.

How much cardio a day does your girlfriend do? I'd say she should be consuming at least 1600 calories a day, possibly even more. I'll let Emma-Leigh handle that, she's very knowledgable about these things.

Your girlfriend should be consuming enough protein [I'm guessing about 80-100 grams a day] plus lots of veggies, fruits, and whole grains. Make sure she's also getting enough of the "good" [unsaturated] fats in her diet through natural peanut butter, pumpkin seeds, almonds, cold water fish, or flax seed oil.

Also, if it helps any, try to convince your girlfriend to throw the scale away. Pounds don't really matter as much as being healthy. If she makes small little changes, the weight will come off in a much reasonable manner and she won't sacrifice so much muscle mass. It REALLY isn't fun trying to build muscle mass back after you've starved it all away...

Don't be critical and tell your girlfriend, "I TOLD YOU SO!" with the calorie thing. She might get defensive and refuse to raise her calories. Just try to tell her you're concerned, because 1000 calories a day is low enough to put anyone in starvation mode. Her body will only cling onto the extra body fat she has and it'll sacrifice muscle mass. Plus all sorts of fun things begin to happen- your skin turns gray, your hair falls out, you're cold and crabby all the time...yuck.

Hope I helped some! You're awesome for caring that much about your girlfriend.

[Emma-Leigh]

Originally posted by jnan30
my girlfriend wants to lose weight and told me 1000 calories daily is sufficient. i found this hard to believe. she is 5'3, no more than 135-140lbs??? lifts weights 3 times a week and does cardio almost everyday. her diet is healthy and very controlled. she just recently started seriously dieting at the beginning of summer after a school year of not really counting calories. i've told her to ease into cutting back but she says shes gotten her information from a legitimate source. is there something wrong with this diet? will her fat loss be mostly from water? thank you

Arggg... No one - I mean NO ONE (ok... no one who is not in a bed-ridden coma, over about 13 years of age, of either sex) should drop their calories below 1200 a day. It is just not healthy or sustainable.

Your girlfriend might think that she is doing the right thing to help her loose weight - but she is mistaken. The only thing that she will acheive will be a metabolism that will grind to a screaming halt because her body thinks she is facing a famine. But, because she is still working out/living an active life, her bodies protein turn-over will still be high, so she will start to chew into her lean muscle mass, for her needs. Which means, whoops, there goes her metabolism even lower. This will result in her thinking that she is eating too much and she will have to drop MORE calories. But she will never seem to drop any fat and she will end up FEELING starved and hopeless, which will probably result in frustration binging... following which she will feel guilty and punish herself by starving and working out even harder for the next week!! Basically - It will turn into a never ending cycle of calorie cutting and binging.

If she has hit a rut in her weight loss the worst thing she can do is to cut her calories drastically. She needs to step back and re-evaluate her workout, training and diet.

She also needs to re-evaulate to see if her GOALS are realistic. There is no way to loose weight quickly and healthily. If it is going to be a long term shift then it has to be slow and steady. 1 pound a week or, at the most, 3 pounds a fortnight. That is it. There is no reason to go any faster than this (unless you are morbidly obese and under direct medical supervision). If she tries to she is asking for a lot of muscle loss - yes, initially it will be water (due to glycogen depletion) but then her body will chew into her muscles.

Bump on most of the above advice (wow - I got a mention Thanks Sillygirl).

So - With her diet:
Her exact calorie needs will depend on a few things:
1. Your girlfriends exact weight. Although this is probably the more variable. It really has more to do with....
2. Her bodyfat levels. This is because the lower body fat, the more lean mass she has and the greater her energy needs.
3. Her activity levels are also important. If she is active she is better off eating MORE. This will push her metabolism sky high - the whole 'adding fuel to stoke the fire' philosophy.
4. Her age - the older you are the slower your metabolism. Although, once again, this is variable as you can manipulate the effects of age to a certain extent by staying active and having good dietry and exercise practices.

So - at 135-140 pounds her needs will vary drastically if she has a bodyfat of 20 or a bodyfat of 30%. It will also vary on her activity and age. But, as I said before (and as Sillygirl pointed out) 1000 is a starvation diet. Can you give an estimation of her body fat? If she is 135-140 pounds and at 5'4 she is not 'overweight' (her BMI is about 24, so she is still in the high, but 'healthy' range of 19-25). But she is probably concerned about her body fat levels. If she is working out as much as you say (cardio every day, lifting 3 times a week) and she is young, I would not drop her calories below about 1400. 1500 is probably better. It is also really maintainable in terms of adequate meals to make sure she feels like she is not on 'a diet'. This means she can maintain it for longer to get the results she desires (that is, it turns into a lifestyle, rather than a diet). As sillygirl said - they may take longer but they will be real gains - not just muscle loss.

Food wise, what type of stuff is she eating? Sillygirl had some good points - clean and healthy foods. Nothing that is too restrictive as it will never work. The focus should be on lean proteins (fish, seafood, fat-free cottage cheese, lean meats, eggs), vegetables, wholegrains, legumes, low glycaemic fruits, low fat dairy and moderate levels of healthy, unsaturated fats (from nuts, seeds, avacados, olives and fatty fish).

Eating frequent small meals will help keep her metabolism active (it 'tricks' the body into thinking that it has adequate energy when in reality she is in negative calorie balance), she will burn more energy via the thermogenic effect of food plus, it will help keep her full, which means she is less likely to cheat. 5 meals is probably best. Breaking the calories realitively evenly over the day but keeping most of the carbohydrates early in the day.

She is not an athlete, but still needs to keep her proteins high (to prevent muscle catabolism) so I would think 0.8-1g protein per pound is reasonable. Around 120g per day. Spread this evenly over the 5 meals if possible.

Fats - she also needs to make sure she is getting enough healthy (unsaturated) fats. No less than 15-20% of her daily intake. So - 25 to 30g/day. This she would probably get from her foods so there is no need to 'add' fats.

That means that the split (carbs, protein, fat) will be about 50:35:15. Maybe 45: 35: 20. This is managable for most people as a moderate carbohydrate (low GI) diet.

As for training - this is what she should be focusing on. It is what she can manipulate to get results.

What cardio is she doing? To loose fat 5 days of cardio is best. She has to make sure she is pushing herself each time she steps onto the treadmill/bike/stepper. If she is not getting her heart rate up to about 70% for 30 - 40 minutes then it is not worth it. Her body might also be 'stuck in a rut' so she should vary her routine. Do the bike, treadmill, stepper, elliptical trainer etc. A few days of HIIT might also do the trick by shocking her system. Maybe suggest 3 days a week of moderate intensity 30 minute workouts and 2 days a week of 20 minutes of HIIT.

As for lifting - what type of stuff is she doing? If she is lifting piddily little weights this might just be her problem. Mixing up her weights routine and adding some pounds to the barbell might be just what she needs. There is no better way to burn fat than lean muscle mass. 3 days a week of lifting is good - as long as it is 'lifting'. Try to get to the gym with her and be her spotter. Get her to push herself.

This is how she will make gains, not by cutting the calories.

[sillygirl]

Great advice Emma-Leigh, as always!