Need a New Diet

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caloric deficit

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This is the only way to lose those last ten pounds. If you stalled, you needed to cut more out of your diet.

I’m not a fan of the “grazing” method of dieting because you’ll never satisfy that mental desire to eat a really big meal. Six small meals can also become problematic if on meal three you overeat a bit. Then you’re looking at three tiny meals to make up for the big meal, and what fun is eating crackers and a blueberry for dinner?

In terms of hitting 170g of protein and carbs, I’m not sure how to help you. You need to tell us your overall calorie need to hit your goal weight. You can get 170g of protein easily with chicken breast. Low calorie and high in protein. Might get monotonous but without knowing your fat allowance, I can’t help you with other ideas there.

If you were doing well with IF and simply got stuck, I’d recommend finding the time to add 30 minutes of brisk walking to your day and try to snip a few calories off your daily intake.

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170g protein and 170g carbs daily. That seems extreme to me. That’ll put me eating WAY more than I normally would during the course of a day.

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How tiny are you? 170g P and 170g C is only 1360 Kcals.

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I’m convinced the caloric deficit and keto diets just aren’t for me.

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Caloric deficit is the only way to lose weight period. It is just like a car's gas tank if you burn 1 gallon of gas a day and put 1.1 gallons in a day the tank is going to get fuller at the end of every day.

The last 10 pounds are always the hardest (the lower that takes your body fat the harder it is). The body will do everything it can to keep that stored energy. Note that stress causes increased cortisol levels and negatively impacts fat burn as it is a preservation mode of the body to keep energy stores to deal with whatever the stress is.
To get that last 10 off most people have to do something to kickstart an otherwise depressed metabolism. For me, it is front-loading calories in the day and suffering in the evening. By suffering I mean extended workouts at 80% of max heart rate preferably in high heat. If you don't have the base fitness for this then interval training works as well. Note there are people that this does not work well for, everyone's body is different and you have to search for the right keys which is why some people have great luck on one regimen and others fail with the same one.

If you do go the 6 meal route (constant grazing is my norm but I need close to 4,000 Kcal a day) I suggest front-loading the carbs and eating more protein later in the day especially if your workout is in the evening. If you wake up at night hungry try adding a little extra fat to your last meal it digests slowly and may be just the ticket to getting you through the night.


One other note if you are indeed working out hard one of my favorite snacks is dill pickles. It is a good source of sodium and chloride which you are sweating out and are essentially a zero-calorie food. During the summer I eat 3-4 jars a week.

ETA one thing I forgot to mention is to limit carbs before your exercise. While normally counterintuitive carbs produce an insulin release which limits the bodies ability to burn fat during the exercise.

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For those last 10lbs, I always find that alcohol/sleep/stress are the culprits. Go for a walk, don’t drink at all, get your sleep.

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Sleep has never been an issue for me. I quit drinking caffeine a while ago except for the occasional tea. This erased all my sleeping issues. Since I'm working from home now, it's been WAY easier to have a couple of beers every night. Job is stress free, kids are out of the house, wife is great.

Based off those targets for protein and carbs, My Fitness Pal says that I should be eating (4) 6oz chicken breasts and (4) medium sweet potatoes daily to meet those targets. That's 2x as much as I'd normally eat during the course of a day. Not sure I can double my food intake and lose weight. It's counter intuitive, which is why I'm here asking.

No weight lifting for me. I have a bad lower back and get tendinitis real bad in my elbows after prolonged lifting. I've given up on that. I run about (30) miles a week 6/6/12+/6. My pacing has dropped since I started at 11 mins a mile to a training pace of 9:15 min a mile (faster on race days). I walk three miles every day regardless if I run that day or not. I've been doing this for several months now.

Over 40. 5'8". Started at 175lbs and I'm down to 155. Waist went from 36 to 32. I'd like to get down to 145 and lose the last bit of belly fat I'm carrying. That should put my BMI towards bottom of the BMI calculator.

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No weight lifting for me. I have a bad lower back and get tendinitis real bad in my elbows after prolonged lifting

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Give lunges a shot. Try 400 meters for fat loss 3-5 days a week. Lower back pain can often result from weak glutes. Your metabolism will improve greatly if you can add some muscle to your lower body. Once you have that down start holding some dumbbells or a weighted vest while doing them.