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Moderators: Boss Man, cassiegose
Re: Urgently need some opinions and help.
Hi Hope, good to talk to you and thanks for clarifying things. I'm proud of you for talking about some difficult things and you should be too as obviously discussing doctors appointments and tests wouldn't have been enjoyable, but it helps to narrow down what sort of questions or ideas, others such as myself may wish to present.
Firstly muscle and fat cannot convert from one to the other, they are separate things, but muscle can help to burn fat, as every 1lb you gain urns an extra 45-50 calories per day, so muscle building improves metabolic activity and as a by-product fat burning.
Conversely however, the opposite remains the case when muscle atrophies.
You may very well be eating too much carb with a vegan diet, but you may also be under eating and not knowing it.
Sedentary females require 1,800 calories a day versus 2,000 for sedentary males, but add in some exercise and on workout days, you could add another 200 - 300 calories in.
You may also still be exercising too much, as 3+ hours a day was overkill, but even something like 1:45 - 2 hours a day could be too much, so maybe you're doing a bit too much still.
I presume as you've had doctors appointments, you're not taking any medication(s) known to elicit weight gain as a side effect, so we could rule this out, unless you say different.
So I think we have identified possible areas to look at and I think the diet would be the first thing.
So what times do you eat at and what foods do you eat at those times?
Firstly muscle and fat cannot convert from one to the other, they are separate things, but muscle can help to burn fat, as every 1lb you gain urns an extra 45-50 calories per day, so muscle building improves metabolic activity and as a by-product fat burning.
Conversely however, the opposite remains the case when muscle atrophies.
You may very well be eating too much carb with a vegan diet, but you may also be under eating and not knowing it.
Sedentary females require 1,800 calories a day versus 2,000 for sedentary males, but add in some exercise and on workout days, you could add another 200 - 300 calories in.
You may also still be exercising too much, as 3+ hours a day was overkill, but even something like 1:45 - 2 hours a day could be too much, so maybe you're doing a bit too much still.
I presume as you've had doctors appointments, you're not taking any medication(s) known to elicit weight gain as a side effect, so we could rule this out, unless you say different.
So I think we have identified possible areas to look at and I think the diet would be the first thing.
So what times do you eat at and what foods do you eat at those times?
Re: Urgently need some opinions and help.
I bet you are frustrated, but you've come to a good place. Bossman is very knowledgeable!
Re: Urgently need some opinions and help.
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Last edited by HopeArbu on Wed Dec 07, 2022 3:13 am, edited 1 time in total.
Re: Urgently need some opinions and help.
Thanks Hope for mentioning all that.
One thing I would suggest you research is the effects of grapefruit and grapefruit products in conjunction with medications, as grapefruit is contraindicated in relation to some medicines and I believe birth control pills are one such thing, so if you were thinking of eating that or drinking the juices, it's best to be aware beforehand.
As for the carb intake of your diet, yes the starchier carbs are one thing to potential limit I:E: white breads, pasta, potatoes etc, but also high carb intake can cause fat gain as the carbs can convert to fat if they are not sued for energy.
High carb low fat used to be a well touted mantra back in the 80's and 90's but now it is considered to be bunkum.
I would suggest moderating your macronutrient percentages in one of three ways
Protein / carbs / fats
40 / 30 / 30
35 / 30 / 35
33 / 33 / 33
In terms of fat intake a sedentary who is supposed to eat 2,000 calories a day, is recommended to have 70g total fat as a limit, with 20g, or 28.28% approximately being saturates, but a sedentary female needs around 1,800 a day, but allow another 200-300 a day for exercise.
So in this respect based on the ratios, you'd be looking at limiting fats to around18g saturates on non-workout days, but you'd probably get away with a little more on workout days, if you were slightly increasing your calories accordingly, so maybe limit to around 22g-25g.
The issue surrounding saturates is that not all are created equal, for instance Lauric Acid, Caprylic Acid and Caproic acid in Coconut oil, are known as MCT's Medium Chain Triglycerides, sometimes MCFA's, Medium Chain Fatty Acids as well I believe and just like short chain triglycerides, they are not highly provocative in relation to atheromas in the arteries or plaque, as they are distributed into the lymphatic system and eventually get converted to energy in the liver, though I admit to not knowing how these two processes occur.
The saturates that can provoke arterial problems are the long chain triglycerides, but you'd struggle to know how much of these things are in your food, because they are not listed separately, just under the heading of saturates, probably to avoid confusing the public, in the same way alpha, beta, gamma and delta tocopherols are labelled as vitamin E for probably the same reasons; so then barring coconut oil which you now know about the guidelines for saturates I suggested would be a good thing to adhere to, although I'm not saying you can drink coconut oil like it's going out of style however
If you're going to cook with fats then I suggest you google "smoke point", to ascertain which fats have a better heat stability, as some don't and if they are exposed to an intolerable heat for too long, the fats can smoke, undergo a toxic conversion and become carcinogenic, so any food you eat that's exposed to toxic fat could increase cancer risk.
The better ones are things like lard, butter and olive oil, versus flax seed oil which is poor for heat stability.
If you're looking for snack options then you've got plenty of options that can be snacks or be part of snacks, like microwave baked bean, soup and rice dishes, vegetables including raw carrot, celery sticks and pineapple, fruits including tomato and cucumber, peanuts, nuts, bread, sandwiches, oat granolas, flax seeds, ham, turkey, chicken, pork and beef from a packet, pre-boiled eggs and low fat cheese.
The exercise levels you're doing now seem okay, and not too excessive, though I don't know if you're doing any weight lifting at the moment, but if not consider it, as muscle building helps to burn more fat, as every additional 1lb, burns 45-50 more calories per day and for females it's normal, healthy and can improve a females beauty, providing you don't use potentially unnatural moves like wrist curls and behind the neck movements and you don't use poor technique or too much weight.
Oh and as long as you don't do that 20 reps on a peck dec with 2 plates nonsense, that does virtually nothing in terms of weight management .
Hopefully all that makes sense.
Oh an by the way I think you look beautiful, so the changes to your life are clearly benefiting and there's another reason to be proud of yourself, y looking in the mirror, but remember the bigger picture; which is change happens to benefit your inner workings primarily, the things you can't see like bone density, cholesterol, blood pressure etc and what you do with diet and exercise can do more than just create cosmetic change, so if you have certain weeks where you might feel not much happened you might have done more than you think
.
One thing I would suggest you research is the effects of grapefruit and grapefruit products in conjunction with medications, as grapefruit is contraindicated in relation to some medicines and I believe birth control pills are one such thing, so if you were thinking of eating that or drinking the juices, it's best to be aware beforehand.
As for the carb intake of your diet, yes the starchier carbs are one thing to potential limit I:E: white breads, pasta, potatoes etc, but also high carb intake can cause fat gain as the carbs can convert to fat if they are not sued for energy.
High carb low fat used to be a well touted mantra back in the 80's and 90's but now it is considered to be bunkum.
I would suggest moderating your macronutrient percentages in one of three ways
Protein / carbs / fats
40 / 30 / 30
35 / 30 / 35
33 / 33 / 33
In terms of fat intake a sedentary who is supposed to eat 2,000 calories a day, is recommended to have 70g total fat as a limit, with 20g, or 28.28% approximately being saturates, but a sedentary female needs around 1,800 a day, but allow another 200-300 a day for exercise.
So in this respect based on the ratios, you'd be looking at limiting fats to around18g saturates on non-workout days, but you'd probably get away with a little more on workout days, if you were slightly increasing your calories accordingly, so maybe limit to around 22g-25g.
The issue surrounding saturates is that not all are created equal, for instance Lauric Acid, Caprylic Acid and Caproic acid in Coconut oil, are known as MCT's Medium Chain Triglycerides, sometimes MCFA's, Medium Chain Fatty Acids as well I believe and just like short chain triglycerides, they are not highly provocative in relation to atheromas in the arteries or plaque, as they are distributed into the lymphatic system and eventually get converted to energy in the liver, though I admit to not knowing how these two processes occur.
The saturates that can provoke arterial problems are the long chain triglycerides, but you'd struggle to know how much of these things are in your food, because they are not listed separately, just under the heading of saturates, probably to avoid confusing the public, in the same way alpha, beta, gamma and delta tocopherols are labelled as vitamin E for probably the same reasons; so then barring coconut oil which you now know about the guidelines for saturates I suggested would be a good thing to adhere to, although I'm not saying you can drink coconut oil like it's going out of style however
If you're going to cook with fats then I suggest you google "smoke point", to ascertain which fats have a better heat stability, as some don't and if they are exposed to an intolerable heat for too long, the fats can smoke, undergo a toxic conversion and become carcinogenic, so any food you eat that's exposed to toxic fat could increase cancer risk.
The better ones are things like lard, butter and olive oil, versus flax seed oil which is poor for heat stability.
If you're looking for snack options then you've got plenty of options that can be snacks or be part of snacks, like microwave baked bean, soup and rice dishes, vegetables including raw carrot, celery sticks and pineapple, fruits including tomato and cucumber, peanuts, nuts, bread, sandwiches, oat granolas, flax seeds, ham, turkey, chicken, pork and beef from a packet, pre-boiled eggs and low fat cheese.
The exercise levels you're doing now seem okay, and not too excessive, though I don't know if you're doing any weight lifting at the moment, but if not consider it, as muscle building helps to burn more fat, as every additional 1lb, burns 45-50 more calories per day and for females it's normal, healthy and can improve a females beauty, providing you don't use potentially unnatural moves like wrist curls and behind the neck movements and you don't use poor technique or too much weight.
Oh and as long as you don't do that 20 reps on a peck dec with 2 plates nonsense, that does virtually nothing in terms of weight management
.Hopefully all that makes sense.
Oh an by the way I think you look beautiful, so the changes to your life are clearly benefiting and there's another reason to be proud of yourself, y looking in the mirror, but remember the bigger picture; which is change happens to benefit your inner workings primarily, the things you can't see like bone density, cholesterol, blood pressure etc and what you do with diet and exercise can do more than just create cosmetic change, so if you have certain weeks where you might feel not much happened you might have done more than you think
.Re: Urgently need some opinions and help.
Your strength training wants in relation to fat loss are very honourable and I never condemn or criticise the idea of females wanting to be stronger, because when done correctly it can promote a healthier, more beautiful state of being for a female.
only slight gripe would be the big bodybuilder types who use heavy amounts of steroids and take unnecessary health risks for success, but that's a different thing to what you do and I'm almost certain would choose to do in the future, but you should be proud of the change you have made Hope and I am proud of you too, as it's always nice to hear about what people have done to positively change their well being.
As for macro nutrient percentages, you don't have to be a slave to the numbers for any reasons, I:E: percentages, grams of this, ounces of that etc, but in relation to grams it would be a case of knowing a few basic bits of maths.
1. Protein is 4 calories per gram except casein in things like milk, which is 8 calories per gram and therefore slower digesting.
2. All carbs bar alcohol carbs, are 4 calories per gram.
3. All fats are 9 calories per gram, regardless.
So then you can look at the 3 different macro setups I mentioned and work out the numbers I:E: grams of protein, carbs and fats, based on what you choose to eat in terms of daily calories, so as an easy example, if you wanted to eat around 2,100 calories a day and chose the 33 / 33 / 33 percentages setup and you don't have to, you'd be consuming 700 calories of all the macros per day.
This would work out at around 175g protein, 175g carbs and 78g fats, approx, per day, but based on a 6 meal eating strategy you'd be having 29g protein, 29g carbs, 13g fats, approx per meal, which is around 116 calories protein, 116 calories carbs and 116 calories fats, approx, obviously; so that's how you can work out your numbers.
It's not about being towards such things, otherwise people would be counting every grain of rice they eat every time they eat it, or every single cornflake and adding milk on it with a pipette and that's taking things too far.
So therefore if you have a meal where you ate 34 / 32 / 33, P / C / F, not 33 / 33 / 33, that's not that important, as it would only be important if you tried something like 33 / 33 / 33 and most meals were something like 30 / 40 / 30, or 40 / 25 / 35 as examples, because then you'd be getting it wrong somewhere in terms of accuracy.
So you should have a clearer understanding now of how to work out your macros, based on your intended meal daily calories, versus the number of meals and type of macro percentages you wanted to use.
You might also want to factor around 10%-15% of the calories you consume on workout days, out of your non-workout days, to account for you not exercising, which could be done one of two ways I feel.
1. Reducing calories by a small amount across all meals.
2. Reducing calories in the last 2-3 meals, when your metabolism towards the end of the day starts to wain, as opposed to in the first part of your waking day when it's more prime.
Hopefully some or all of suggestions help and remember muscle can help to burn more calories so you may have lost more weight than you think, but replaces some of it with muscle, I:E: 35lbs of weight loss, versus 38lbs of weight loss and 3lbs of muscle gain.
There's actually lots of vegetarian protein options as well and apologies for recommending some meat based snack options in a previous post, your vegetarian way of life had slipped mind, but things like legumes, (peas, beans, peanuts and lentils), rice, mushrooms, flax seeds, oats, barley, broccoli, dairy, quorn, (mushroom based protein, (mycoprotein)), hemp protein, nuts, wheat, protein enriched pasta, triticale, spelt, spirulina, chia etc.
there are some protein powders you might be able to get that taste better E:G:
Nutrisport protein 90+ Vegan which contains rice, soya and pea proteins.
Alternatively try custom mixes on True nutrition.
I hope things work out for you, as you certainly deserve it and please do keep us updated and let us know how you're getting on and anything else you want to ask or need to know just ask okay.
only slight gripe would be the big bodybuilder types who use heavy amounts of steroids and take unnecessary health risks for success, but that's a different thing to what you do and I'm almost certain would choose to do in the future, but you should be proud of the change you have made Hope and I am proud of you too, as it's always nice to hear about what people have done to positively change their well being.
As for macro nutrient percentages, you don't have to be a slave to the numbers for any reasons, I:E: percentages, grams of this, ounces of that etc, but in relation to grams it would be a case of knowing a few basic bits of maths.
1. Protein is 4 calories per gram except casein in things like milk, which is 8 calories per gram and therefore slower digesting.
2. All carbs bar alcohol carbs, are 4 calories per gram.
3. All fats are 9 calories per gram, regardless.
So then you can look at the 3 different macro setups I mentioned and work out the numbers I:E: grams of protein, carbs and fats, based on what you choose to eat in terms of daily calories, so as an easy example, if you wanted to eat around 2,100 calories a day and chose the 33 / 33 / 33 percentages setup and you don't have to, you'd be consuming 700 calories of all the macros per day.
This would work out at around 175g protein, 175g carbs and 78g fats, approx, per day, but based on a 6 meal eating strategy you'd be having 29g protein, 29g carbs, 13g fats, approx per meal, which is around 116 calories protein, 116 calories carbs and 116 calories fats, approx, obviously; so that's how you can work out your numbers.
It's not about being towards such things, otherwise people would be counting every grain of rice they eat every time they eat it, or every single cornflake and adding milk on it with a pipette and that's taking things too far.
So therefore if you have a meal where you ate 34 / 32 / 33, P / C / F, not 33 / 33 / 33, that's not that important, as it would only be important if you tried something like 33 / 33 / 33 and most meals were something like 30 / 40 / 30, or 40 / 25 / 35 as examples, because then you'd be getting it wrong somewhere in terms of accuracy.
So you should have a clearer understanding now of how to work out your macros, based on your intended meal daily calories, versus the number of meals and type of macro percentages you wanted to use.
You might also want to factor around 10%-15% of the calories you consume on workout days, out of your non-workout days, to account for you not exercising, which could be done one of two ways I feel.
1. Reducing calories by a small amount across all meals.
2. Reducing calories in the last 2-3 meals, when your metabolism towards the end of the day starts to wain, as opposed to in the first part of your waking day when it's more prime.
Hopefully some or all of suggestions help and remember muscle can help to burn more calories so you may have lost more weight than you think, but replaces some of it with muscle, I:E: 35lbs of weight loss, versus 38lbs of weight loss and 3lbs of muscle gain.
There's actually lots of vegetarian protein options as well and apologies for recommending some meat based snack options in a previous post, your vegetarian way of life had slipped mind, but things like legumes, (peas, beans, peanuts and lentils), rice, mushrooms, flax seeds, oats, barley, broccoli, dairy, quorn, (mushroom based protein, (mycoprotein)), hemp protein, nuts, wheat, protein enriched pasta, triticale, spelt, spirulina, chia etc.
there are some protein powders you might be able to get that taste better E:G:
Nutrisport protein 90+ Vegan which contains rice, soya and pea proteins.
Alternatively try custom mixes on True nutrition.
I hope things work out for you, as you certainly deserve it and please do keep us updated and let us know how you're getting on and anything else you want to ask or need to know just ask okay
.