a calorie question

[appleseeds]

So, the only way I really know how to lose weight is by counting calories,

And recently I'm trying to eat paleo, and have essentially only counted calories on days when I've eaten carbs (mostly as a sort of omg-panic-have-i-eaten-omg-panic-have-i-eaten-tooo-much) kind of thing.

Moving on, typically I strength train 2 times a week and do interval training 3 times a week (usually burning 500-600 Cal)

When I ate bread/rice I would have a daily calorie deficit between 500-1000 calories, sweet.

However, now I'm worried about not eating enough since I've cut the carbs.

Both Today and yesterday, I probably ended up with about a 1500cal deficit if I factor in my workout.

Even though I lift weights (and heavy weights at that) am I still risking a lot of muscle-loss? Do I just start eating bigger portions of meat?

NB: I'm about 6kg away from a 'normal' bmi

[carlcarson21]

I think you loose weight by burning more calories than you can consume. Our body needs all the help it can get when it comes to using up all those energy we get from our food intake. No exercise means not much opportunity for burning.

[appleseeds]

I guess my question more simply put is this, if when eating paleo we just eat when we are hungry, is it OK if that means are calorie consumption is super low? I ask because eating too little is suppose to ruin your metabolism/cause plateuo etc. Because calorie-wise I'm eating way less now even though I feel full.

[esteel]

And recently I'm trying to eat paleo, and have essentially only counted calories on days when I've eaten carbs (mostly as a sort of omg-panic-have-i-eaten-omg-panic-have-i-eaten-tooo-much) kind of thing.

When I ate bread/rice I would have a daily calorie deficit between 500-1000 calories, sweet.

However, now I'm worried about not eating enough since I've cut the carbs.

Both Today and yesterday, I probably ended up with about a 1500cal deficit if I factor in my workout.

Even though I lift weights (and heavy weights at that) am I still risking a lot of muscle-loss? Do I just start eating bigger portions of meat?

As i understand paleo its not so much about cutting carbs but more about eating (lots of) fresh lean meat, seafood, veggies and fruits. Especially the fruits should give you quite a punch of carbs, but together with lots of vitamins and fiber. At least the book 'the paleo diet' mentions that its not among the typical low-carb diets..

As the lean meat should make you feel 'full' it should be harder to overeat then on other diets. That being said i personally think that a deficit over 500kcal should be avoided if possible. Also given most women that do sports need at least 2000kcal per day and men around 2500kcal a deficit of 1500kcal as you mention seems to be really wrong. Either you miscalculated or i'd advice to eat more if possible.

Muscleloss can happen even when doing heavy lifting if the body does not get enough protein (or if your training does destroy more muscle tissue then the body can repair.. but thats unlikly). But again the paleo diet with lots of meat and seafood should give you plenty of protein. A good rule of thumb is 1 - 1,5g protein per kg bodyweight. So being around 70kg would mean around 90g protein per day..

[rtalencar]

You were losing muscle mass at the 500-1000 calorie deficit too. The greater your deficit, the greater the lbm to fat ratio. It's not a 'past this point you will lose muscle' sort of thing, it's a sliding scale.

How do you feel? Are you able to maintain high intensity through your workouts? Are you still make progress in your lifts? Do you feel dizzy or light headed or weak at all throughout the day? If you don't, don't worry about it too much.

[appleseeds]

Thanks guys, I definately havent felt dizzy/lightheaded and my workouts are at the same intensity/lifting progress etc. I think I'm going to try and combine the advice and make sure im getting more protein, but not worry about the cal count so much.

I previously lost about 10kg using a calorie counting website, where, if you were allowed 1500cal a day, but burned 600 in a workout you were expected to eat back that 600cal no matter what. I usually did, but really it just gave me an excuse to eat chocolate and still lose weight. I've been a lot more consistent since eating things like eggs for breakfast instead of cereal, and meat + salad for dinner instead of pasta, but this whole calorie count/starvation mode has been so drilled into my brain I KNOW i have been netting less than 1200cal a day, but i feel good and I'm losing weight. I'm just afraid of destroying my metabolism, or losing all this weight just to eat up skinny-fat.

[rtalencar]

Thanks guys, I definately havent felt dizzy/lightheaded and my workouts are at the same intensity/lifting progress etc. I think I'm going to try and combine the advice and make sure im getting more protein, but not worry about the cal count so much.

I previously lost about 10kg using a calorie counting website, where, if you were allowed 1500cal a day, but burned 600 in a workout you were expected to eat back that 600cal no matter what. I usually did, but really it just gave me an excuse to eat chocolate and still lose weight. I've been a lot more consistent since eating things like eggs for breakfast instead of cereal, and meat + salad for dinner instead of pasta, but this whole calorie count/starvation mode has been so drilled into my brain I KNOW i have been netting less than 1200cal a day, but i feel good and I'm losing weight. I'm just afraid of destroying my metabolism, or losing all this weight just to eat up skinny-fat.

MFP? =)

Eating exercise calories back is a tricky situation. Strictly speaking it makes sense and is a completely valid paradigm. If you eat 1500 calories a day, expend 2000 calories a day doing your normal day to day living stuff, and then burn 3000 calories in an insane workout session, you're not eating enough. That 3500 calorie deficit is massive and can cause lots of problems. The biggest issue is that people in general are notoriously bad at judging calorie intake (before you jump to scale and using labels, labels can be off by as much as 20%, the scale is innacurrate, and the count you use to get a total calorie amount from weighed food is also just an estimate). Generally speaking, they're even worse at judging calorie expenditure (HRM? An estimate calibrated for steady state running/walking/jogging exclusively in most cases, so HIIT, weight training, whatever throws off the estimate urther). When someone says 'I don't eat back exercise calories' what they really mean (even if they don't know it) is 'I make a larger deficit by not including exercise calories into my calculations'. Assuming it's not taken to an extreme like what I mentioned, that's perfectly fine too.

What I'd suggest is keeping an eye on net caloric intake, at least for a while. As long as you're not dipping too extremely low and you're not seeing any hits to performance, you're fine.

Also moar protein is a good thing.

[Gainsdalf the Whey]

If you're trying to eat a low carb paleo, just listen to your body: eat when you are hungry, don't when you are not, stop when you are full. Eating a higher ratio of protein and fat to carbs than you normally do will naturally result in eating less overall calories as protein and fat calories are more satiating per calorie than carbs. I wouldn't worry about eating too far into a deficit if you are not feeling hungry.