Making the Cut - Results?

First - Congrats on the weight loss!

There's actually a couple other threads on this forum right now with this same content.

Basically - if you were 240 and eating only 1800 calories a day, I'm surprised you lost any weight at all. That is NOT ENOUGH FOOD. I suspect the reason you lost weight quickly with Jillian's program is because your body was finally not starving so it was able to let go of the fat reserves. If you don't take in enough quality calories, and enough protein/carbs/fats (and at the right times) - your body will basically go into starvation mode and hang on to the fat it has ... we can't really blame it, after all it's just trying to protect you - it thinks you're starving.

If you are working out regularly and hitting (but not exceeding) your caloric intake for the day - you will lose weight. It's that simple. Please do not severely limit calories and carbs - that can potentially become very dangerous and eventually could lead to some pretty serious illness (that's not just for you - that's for everyone reading this thread).

Your numbers (generalized, as I don't know you and haven't done an assessment with you) should look like this:

Daily caloric requirements for a 180lb athlete with HIGH intensity training level:
3200-4300 calories
540-810g carbohydrate
90-135g protein
+/-100g fat

Mix lean proteins with carbs at every meal ... and eat every 2-4 hours so you are getting 5-6 small meals a day. Ensure you're getting a good source of protein shortly after a training session. And get rid of those sports bars/drinks (good to have on hand for emergencies, but that's about it).

And drink at least 8 cups of water daily. At least.

Have you reduced sodium in the last few days by any chance?  Her making the cut plan is very low compared to what people normally eat.  Even I can drop a couple of pounds in three days when I cut out sodium drastically.

I've been intaking the same amount of sodium.  Also, when I was 240 lbs and on 1800 cals a day -- I did a bit of backsliding from time to time, one day a week to be exact.  I was far from the goal of avg 1800 cals a day, but I definitely tried.

Jillian's Program calls for me to not consume more than 1990ish cals a day while doing her intense program.  Do you think this is too little?  I have drastically cut back on the Tri training/swimming for the last few days and I am doing exclusively her program for the 30 days, with perhaps a bit of running/biking mixed in.  Do you still think 3200 cals a day is what I need?  I'm really only doing her program for 30 min a day (one time through each circuit) and 15-25 min of cardio afterward.

Thanks for all the help and responses.

Edit: Look at my logs, you can very easily see how much physical activity I do each week -- like I said this last week is cut down to just JM's program.

-Jono

Edited by jonnyfive82 2009-06-27 4:03 PM

Well, I'm gonna answer only on the basis that I've read her book and am familiar with the program.  I'm not a nutritionist or a trainer (just a hobbyist) so obviously I can't advise on what an appropriate intake is for you or even whether or not her program is total crap.  Anyway...

But I feel that if you're going to do the program, you should follow it exactly.  Jillian's advising that you eat your BMR - which is more than you were previously eating so that's a good thing.  Personally I don't see the point in eating below that point ever unless you are completely sedentary and wish to lose weight, or if you have some other strange circumstance.  Are you following her macronutrient profile as well?  I came in as one of the 40/30/30's, which I always kind of felt my best at anyway except on my longest workout days.

Furthermore, Jillian's sessions are 4x per week, and she says the strength portion is supposed to end up around 45 minutes.  She also recommends additional cardio after the circuits are done to bring you to 60 minutes for the session.  So if you bring all your sessions to the full 60 minutes with added cardio, then that's 240 minutes a week.  This doesn't look like all that much less than you have been doing when we consider that most of your activity this month came from softball.  Since her circuits are designed to get your heart rate up, you'll probably be burning more calories than you had been on your old lift sessions, which look like they include your rest time (that's how I log mine too).

Anyway, just my opinion.  Good luck with whatever you decide to do. 


Edited by DMW 2009-06-28 11:02 AM