My diet plan - good or bad?

[anteaters]

I currently weigh 250lb and I want to lose 10lb per month. I plan on doing this with a combination of diet and exercise.

I set up a points system for myself to stay motivated:

• If I work out in the morning, I get 1 point
• If I have a 1000 calorie deficit at the end of the day I get 1 point

At the end of each week, I count my points.

If I have 10 or more points that week, I add them to my total for all weeks and reward myself with a booster juice. Every 30 points I get, I additionally reward myself by allocating $250 of my savings towards the new computer I want.

If I have less than 10 points at the end of the week, I subtract 10 points from my overall total for all weeks, setting me back at least a week from getting me my big reward (computer).

My Diet:

I eat mostly Hol Food, a meal replacement. This makes it really easy to keep track of every nutrient and calorie I eat as well as making sure that my meals are well balanced. Just to be clear, I eat meal replacement because I love it and I have been doing so for a long time. I am not just eating it for weight loss reasons so please do not tell me that my diet plan is not sustainable because when I switch back to real food (which I will not) I will fail.

Anything else that I may eat, I also record for my calorie intake but with less accuracy. Today I have purchased a large container of whey protein. I plan on eating 1 scoop of this (27g protein) per day, mix in with my hol food.

Exercise

I mostly focus on cardio, with a little strength building. As I stated already, I try to work out in the morning whenever possible. Some mornings I will go to the gym and walking on a treadmill (max incline at 3mph for 40 minutes) and some weight lifting (5-10 minutes). Other mornings I will go for a bike ride for 30-60 minutes.

Then I try to get another workout in the evening. Usually biking, sometimes racquetball or tennis, sometimes martial arts. My best workout is when I bike to racquetball, play for an hour or two, then bike home uphill into the wind.

So I have a few questions about this diet plan.

1. I burn 4000+ calories a day and I want a 1000 calorie deficit. Does this mean I should be eating approx 3000 cal per day?
2. My measurement of burned calories comes from my fitbit charge hr 2. Is this accurate? I am worried that it is inaccurate and because of it, I am eating too much.
3. I started eating whey protein because I want to work out more but sometimes my muscles get too tired so I have to let them rest. Is extra protein a good solution for this?
4. What other effects will additional protein provide?

Thank you

[Daves_Not_Here · Accepted solution]

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@anteaters - welcome!   Plan sounds great.  Some will quibble with various aspects of food and exercise, but an imperfect plan you execute beats a perfect plan you do not.  What you are doing that is great: rewarding yourself for activity goals instead of end results.

Here are some answers and a few suggestions.

• Answers
  • Yes, burn 4000 eat 3000 yields a 1000 deficit which will lose you 2 pounds per week 
  • Fitbit calorie burn is only an estimate and the inaccuracy changes over time.  Use it as a starting point and adjust over time based on your actual results
  • Protein questions - pinging @Dominique and @WavyDavey
• Suggestions
  • Link to www.trendweight.com to avoid Water Plateau Derangement Syndrome
  • Post your results to the Weekly Weigh In thread for encouragement and accountability
  • Your exercise goal is ambitious, so guard against burn-out and soreness.  You may wish to insert recovery days.  
  • Be careful your point penalty deductions are not demoralizing.  If they are, consider adjusting so that you keep going after setbacks.
  • 1000 calorie deficit 7 days a week takes discipline, particularly with social events.  You may find it easier to mix 1500-2000 days with 0-500 days to net 7000 calories per week.

[anteaters]

Thank you so much for your well formatted answer! I asked this question once before and when people read "meal replacement" the whole discussion turned into chaos.

• I have never heard of Water Plateau Derangement Syndrome but I will read up on it.
• I have thought about whether the point deduction system would bring me down. I was hesitant to introduce this punishment system for that reason, but I know that if I fail once and see that there are no immediate negative repercussions, it will be less effective to me.
• I am also paranoid that my calorie burn measurement is inaccurate (resulting in me eating to much). Especially after I weighed an extra 10lb after one week of doing this. But I think that extra 10lb was a combination of using an inaccurate/old weight scale as well as building muscle. My girlfriend says I am getting smaller already so I dont think this extra weight is gained fat.
• My knees are kind of bad, so rest days are mandatory for me whether I like it or not haha. That is why I have two methods of gaining points rather than one. If I miss my 1000 deficit a day goal for one day, I lose a point, but I can get that point back by doing a morning workout one extra day. This way I can take rest days without feeling like I am falling behind. I have put a lot of thought into this system, trying to make it as simple as possible but also effective. As I get into a routine of working out in the morning I may have to adjust it to make it easier or more difficult.
• I am trying to get used to doing a wide variety of sports/exercises such as cycling, racquetball, tennis, weightlifting, hiking, swimming, martial arts, and dancing. That way, if I burn out with one activity, as I have done in the past, I can just focus on another for a while.
• Is 2000 cal deficit safe? I have achieved that a couple times already (by accident) and thought "oh crap I should eat some more so my body doesnt go into starvation mode" 

Thank you again for your help.

[WavyDavey]

If the strength training portion of your workout is only 5-10 minutes, I wouldn't worry about protein because it's unlikely you'll see much change in muscle mass with that short of an amount of time.

I would shoot for 30-60 minutes strength training 3-4 times a week. Unless you feel cardio is much more important, in which case I would continue as you are. Increasing muscle mass is a good way to raise your metabolism, which will contribute to fat loss.

[anteaters]

Thank you! 

I forgot to mention actually, I do have another source of strength training. I normally ride a fixed gear bike, with a high gear ratio in a hilly and windy area. Obviously cycling builds lower body strength, but riding this type of bicycle in these conditions is a KILLER total body workout. I have ridden it consistently a few years ago (getting back into it now) and was amazed at the upper body strength I didnt know I was building. I tried doing pull ups one day and was amazed that I could do 10 consecutively. 

I normally commute everywhere by bicycle, and I am trying to depend more and more on this bike because it is such a better workout.

I will try to ad more strength training at the gym, like you suggested. At this point I see it as less important and would rather focus on cardio. Honestly I get so bored doing weight training that it is hard for me to keep up the motivation. 

Thank you for your response.

[Daves_Not_Here]

@anteater -- forgive me for being factitious on "Water Plateau Derangement Syndrome" -- I made the phrase up to explain a very common frustration that people here frequently complain about -- you work your butt off for 3 weeks, accumulate a 25,000 calorie deficit, but the scale doesn't move, or even goes up!  You can find dozens of this problem reported in this Community.

This is caused by your water weight, which fluctuates within a 4 pound window and masks your actual progress.   Trendweight provides a running weighted average of weight, and smooths out the water weight fluctuations to more accurately indicate your progress.

[WavyDavey]

Oh, now I miss my fixie bike!

[MagsOnTheBeach]

For the the weakness is the diet - are you planning on 3-4 a day?  what is the other food you'll be eating?  Sometimes when doing shakes or meal replacement people think they have "been good" and eat more at other times.  Maybe come up with ideas about what you plan on consuming other than the meal replacements. 

[anteaters]

@Daves_Not_Here:

haha thats ok. "Water Plateau Derangement Syndrome" sounded like it was a real thing. As long as it only masks the result, but the results are still real, I am fine with it. I try not to weigh myself more than a couple times a month in order to factor out any random fluctuations of my weight +- 5lb. Perhaps I will give Trendweight a try rather than doing it my way. Thank you.

[anteaters]

@WavyDavey: Yes it is quite fun. I have only started using it a couple weeks ago after a year and a half break because I moved away. I can already feel my back getting stronger from using this.

[anteaters]

@MagsOnTheBeach: Yes I am aware of the risks of living off meal replacements and then suddenly overindulging on real food because you missed it. I have done this in the past, and through trial and error, I believe I have found a good balance. 

I aim for 50-75% of my daily calories to be from meal replacement, and "treat" myself to one real meal per day which is usually loaded with a wide variety of veggies and some source of protein (I love eggs).

Sometimes I will also eat fast food. Almost always one of the lower calorie options from subway while being careful to still remain within my calorie/fat/sugar limits for the day. Any real food that I eat, I still record, just not as accurately as meal replacement obviously.

Thanks for the advice!

[Baltoscott]

I like the gamification approach you are taking.  Should help you focus, which is a big piece of the puzzle, both for weight loss and for eventual maintenance.

Agreeing with @Daves_Not_Here about linking your Fitbit account to TrendWeight.  (You  can also focus on weekly averages in the fibit app, but TrendWeight is better).  Weigh in daily, first thing in the morning is best, so that you can get a good moving weight average to measure progress. 

Given your size, shooting for a 1000 calorie deficit sounds fine for a start and theoretically will result in a 2lb loss per week.  That is less than 1% of your current body weight, which is a pretty good goal.  Trying for higher weekly weight loss risks muscle loss which is hard to get back. 

Fitbit may or may not be estimating your burn accurately, however.  For me it seems to overstate my burn by about 500 calories/day, but @Daves_Not_Here started about where you are last year and his loss was in line with fitbit projections.  The one great positive about a meal replacement program is that it simplifies the calories in part of the equation.  If you find that your weight is not dropping as fast as you like, just cut the calories a bit more.  Also, I would not worry about an occasional 2000 calorie deficit.   No need to eat more just to get to your daily 3K allotment if you aren't hungry.  But if your weekly weight loss (again, the moving average, not just one day change) starts to regularly fall into the 3-4 or more pound range for a couple of week, you probably should eat more to avoid losing muscle.

[Baltoscott]

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@WavyDavey wrote:

Oh, now I miss my fixie bike!

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I am impressed by some of the fixie nuts I see around Baltimore, but I personally thank god for inventing granny gears every day on my bike commutes!  

Side note to @anteaters --  I find hitting 100+ floors a day on fitbit very motivating and I've changed my bike commute to much hillier routes over the years to I can hit that amount.

[Dominique]

Being able to do 10 pullups at 250 lbs while carrying a significant amount of extra weight (as suggested by your weight loss goal) and only lifting weights for 5-10 minutes is truly impressive. Many guys much lighter than you can’t do a single one. You should take advantage of your potential by incorporating more resistance training in your programme.

[anteaters]

@Baltoscott:

Thanks, I never thought of using floors climbed as a goal but that does make sense. Perhaps that will encourage me to bike up more hills. There is no way I could do that on my fixed without breaking my knees though haha. Also, I will try to be more careful about losing muscle like you suggested. Perhaps the extra scoop of whey protein I started to add will help with this.

@Dominique:

I should have clarified. The pullups I mentioned was a few years ago when I weighed probably 200lbs or so and was a lot more fit than I am now. I was amazed that I could accomplish this without any strength training at all except cycling. My health at that time is basically the goal I set for myself now. I want to get back there again.

[MagsOnTheBeach]

It wasn't overindulging...just not taking food seriously?  MRs are fake foods.  They have done studies where they have proven milk/dairy can reduce blood pressure.  They thought - hey save calories - take a calcium, vitamin D and potassium pills and skip dairy.  But there was no effect on health when they swapped the food out for a supplement.

I just think your plan would be stronger if it was more clear - If I have 2 MR's a day, I will have nutritious whole foods 6 days a week including x amount for fresh veg, fruits, dairy, and protein at each whole food meals.  One meal a week I will splurge but keep my calorie consumption to x during my splurge and it will be limited to one meal.  I will limit alcohol to a max of x a month.

I guess it also depends - if you want a diet plan to get weight off quickly and then stop the plan or if you are looking at how to maintain the loss beyond your challenge.