Help!

fitspace25

I'm 5ft 2, 138lbs and 24y.

So I had worked out my TDEE - 20%, had a bad week eating wise and ate 1000 calories over my weekly goal, but lost a 1lb which was my weekly goal. So happy with that.

This week I stuck to my TDEE -20% religiously. Did MORE exercise than the week before and have lost nothing. I only weigh weekly (same time, same clothes etc).

My TDEE- 20% is 1750 calories using Scoobies Calculator- Moderately active and my current exercise schedule is-

Monday-40 min Pilates
Tues- 40 min Boxercise, 40 min cross trainer, 30 min 30 day shred
Wed- 40 min cross trainer, 45 min v. heavy lifting
Thurs- 40 mins circuits
Fri- 45 min v heavy lifting
Sat- 1hr road cycle at approx 7mph
Sun-Rest

Have I been under/over eating?

mymodernbabylon

Looking at how much you have to lose, 20% is WAYYYYY to big a chunk to deficit. You should be looking at 15% max and probably 10%. With being very active (more than 7 hrs of working out) you'd have between 2300 - 2440 to eat and still lose weight.

BUT remember that weight loss is NOT linear - you may not lose weight in one week and then lose it in the other...it's a journey and not a sprint.

Jennbecca33

Hi there! Yes, you are under eating and over training! EM2WL recommends using no more than a 15% deficit, so that will give you more calories there. Also, when using the Scooby calculator, you also have to take into consideration your daily activity outside of exercise. Are you completely sedentary or do you walk around or are you on your feet a lot? You're young, so I'm guessing you probably move. That would already have you at lightly active, then add all your exercise on top of that - you're now at the 5-6 hour activity level. Again, just take 15% off this TDEE number. The body sees too much exercise as a stressor, especially heavy cardio - and eating too low calories is a stressor too - combine those and progress will halt and you'll spin your wheels. Eat more, exercise a bit less. Keep the heavy lifting a few times a week with a couple of short cardio sessions. Eat for the correct activity level that you are. You'll see much better results!

mymodernbabylon

Jenn - I'd actually put her up even higher cause she's exercising over six hours a week. Honestly, I'd cut back on the high level cardio because that's stressing your body and stress causes the body to lose weight even more slowly.

Jennbecca33

Hey Modern...that's very true! It's even more exercise than I quickly added up - and then you add in daily activity on top of that. 2 full rest days is always a good thing and certainly wouldn't hurt in this case. And yes, eliminating some cardio will help. Be careful when increasing calories...just increase slowly to let your body adjust to the extra calories.

heybales

fitspace25 wrote: »

I'm 5ft 2, 138lbs and 24y.

So I had worked out my TDEE - 20%, had a bad week eating wise and ate 1000 calories over my weekly goal, but lost a 1lb which was my weekly goal. So happy with that.

This week I stuck to my TDEE -20% religiously. Did MORE exercise than the week before and have lost nothing. I only weigh weekly (same time, same clothes etc).

My TDEE- 20% is 1750 calories using Scoobies Calculator- Moderately active and my current exercise schedule is-

Monday-40 min Pilates
Tues- 40 min Boxercise, 40 min cross trainer, 30 min 30 day shred
Wed- 40 min cross trainer, 45 min v. heavy lifting
Thurs- 40 mins circuits
Fri- 45 min v heavy lifting
Sat- 1hr road cycle at approx 7mph
Sun-Rest

Have I been under/over eating?

So a basic concept I think you may not have gotten - you must always eat correctly for your level of activity.
And that includes when you do a deficit, closer to the above recommended 10%.

This - "I stuck to my TDEE -20% religiously. Did MORE exercise than the week before"

So you stuck to a TDEE figure that was appropriate (that's debatable) for prior week, but then worked out more?

Just so you know, the mere act of doing more exercise increased your TDEE, thereby increasing your eating level.

So you have 1 rest day, and one recovery day, or at least 7 mph bike ride would be like walking for most people.

But the other days all in a row. Here's another truth you need to think about with your routine.

Exercise if done right tears the body down. Unless merely spinning your wheels for calorie burn and don't care about body improvement.

But it's the rest for recovery and repair that actually build it back up, stronger if diet allows.

And when eating in a deficit, recovery takes longer.

Where is your rest?

Is the heavy lifting and circuits NOT working out the same muscles at all?
Then good.
Because heavy lifting repair can take 36-48 hrs, if you do circuit hard within that time - you just killed the repair process and wasted the heavy lifting workout basically.
And now with unrepaired muscles, if the next day heavy lifting is same muscles, you can't actually lift as heavy as you could.

And heavy lifting only has positive improvements when it's actually an overload of weight on fresh muscles. Tired muscles don't get overloaded to need repair to be stronger, they need more glucose to go longer.

Maybe you do have it spread out nicely for good effect, I've just seen more examples of where it's not, perhaps bad assumption in this case.