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I'm a 155 lb male who does weight training 3 times a week with a personal trainer and if I eat more than about 1500 calories a day, I gain weight (mostly as fat

I'm a 155 lb male who does weight training 3 times a week with a personal trainer and if I eat more than about 1500 calories a day, I gain weight (mostly as fat). When I was completely sedentary, anything more than about 1200 calories per day would cause me to gain weight (entirely fat). And this is with an extremely controlled diet of mostly fresh fruits and vegetables over the course of a year. I wish I could eat 2100 calories per day. That sounds like such a luxury. The thermic effect of various foods is so wide that you can have a 30% effective calorie swing based on what you eat. Protein for instance requires about 30% of the calories just to digest it. Fat? 3%

Nimi 13y ago
Wow, sounds rough, having to limit yourself to such a diet. If I may, have you considered experimenting with different macro nutrient compositions for your diet? Low-fat, low-carb?
- Aloisius 13y ago
  I've done low fat and low carb both for over 6 months each. Really no difference except that low carb was a bit easier to feel satiated.
  - Nimi 13y ago
    Sorry to hear that, I was hoping low carb might be a solution for you. Best of luck.
grannyg00se 13y ago
So then diet and exercise are a proven effective way for you to control your weight. Except for the fact that you wish you could eat more. But why do you want to eat more? You can't be feeling "like crap" as anonymous suggested or you wouldn't even be able to train. Maybe you just enjoy food and feel it would be nice to enjoy it more often. I think that's really where most people are at. With varying degrees of consumption capacity. So the question is, do we want to "fix" ourselves so that we can consume more just because we like to eat? I don't really feel like that's a direction we should be trying to go.
snowwrestler 13y ago
You could eat 2100 calories a day without gaining weight if you expended 2100 calories a day on average. Weight training does not necessarily burn a lot of calories, particularly fat calories. It primarily depletes glycogen reserves, which are quickly replenished in 1-2 meals and a good night's rest. There is good evidence that people who seem "naturally thin" actually burn a lot more energy throughout the day by moving in small, maybe unconscious ways: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18223609 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18223609 This is the concept behind products like the FitBit, which attempts to show people the totality of their activity throughout the day.

Nimi 13y ago

Wow, sounds rough, having to limit yourself to such a diet. If I may, have you considered experimenting with different macro nutrient compositions for your diet? Low-fat, low-carb?

Aloisius 13y ago
I've done low fat and low carb both for over 6 months each. Really no difference except that low carb was a bit easier to feel satiated.
- Nimi 13y ago
  Sorry to hear that, I was hoping low carb might be a solution for you. Best of luck.

grannyg00se 13y ago

So then diet and exercise are a proven effective way for you to control your weight. Except for the fact that you wish you could eat more. But why do you want to eat more? You can't be feeling "like crap" as anonymous suggested or you wouldn't even be able to train. Maybe you just enjoy food and feel it would be nice to enjoy it more often. I think that's really where most people are at. With varying degrees of consumption capacity. So the question is, do we want to "fix" ourselves so that we can consume more just because we like to eat? I don't really feel like that's a direction we should be trying to go.

snowwrestler 13y ago

You could eat 2100 calories a day without gaining weight if you expended 2100 calories a day on average. Weight training does not necessarily burn a lot of calories, particularly fat calories. It primarily depletes glycogen reserves, which are quickly replenished in 1-2 meals and a good night's rest. There is good evidence that people who seem "naturally thin" actually burn a lot more energy throughout the day by moving in small, maybe unconscious ways: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18223609 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18223609 This is the concept behind products like the FitBit, which attempts to show people the totality of their activity throughout the day.