What am I doing wrong?

BabyBearFrigon

Hey, my name is Hannah. I've been using MFP for quite some time. Thinking that food consumption was the problem to my plateau, I've carefully logged my food, amped my water intake and I workout 6 days a week. PS I don't log my exercise on here because my workouts are too complex. As a competative powerlifter, I can't just cut calories and do cardio, so I'm getting rather frustrated. I know how to eat, I know how to exercise, and I don't eat candies or drink sodas. I've been tested for a thyroid issue, and it's normal, and I also have a slow matabalism, but I eat quite a bit of fiber. Anyways, I was just wondering if anyone out there might know something I don't, or have some helpful hints to losing fat mass that I haven't heard of yet?
Thanks, I look forward to reading your responses.

TheVirgoddess

Do you weigh your food? Can you open your diary, please?

BabyBearFrigon

I do, I measure and weigh my food all the time. And I just unlocked it.

arditarose

You say you log your food, but competitive power lifting or not-are you in a deficit?

BabyBearFrigon

I don't think so. I eat quite a bit, and according to how I lift, as far as I know anyways. I've seen doctors (which never seem concerned with weight anyways these days) and I've seen several nutritionists who say I'm one of their more healthy clients.

arditarose

BabyBearFrigon wrote: »

I don't think so. I eat quite a bit, and according to how I lift, as far as I know anyways. I've seen doctors (which never seem concerned with weight anyways these days) and I've seen several nutritionists who say I'm one of their more healthy clients.

So...what is your goal again?

TheVirgoddess

You can't lose fat unless you're eating at a deficit. It doesn't have to be a huge one, but you do need to be eating less than you burn.

And your diary is still closed.

davidm9238

Muscle as you know weighs more then fat. You lifting heavy gains more muscle, Its the nature of the beast, We have people in the gym who bulk to add muscle then cut with a diet. There is some who say you can gain muscle and lose fat at the same time. Been lifting for a couple of years and have found few that can do this. I have been trying to lift heavy every other day. On weight lifting day eat more calories and rest day with some cardio eat less . Good Luck

BabyBearFrigon

I'm sorry, what I meant to say was that I'm eating enough for my training, however I am eating under my "daily calorie goal".

Thanks David. Yes, I know muscle mass weight heavier than fat, and that's why I try to stay clear of the scale and base my fat loss on measurements. About a month+ ago my waist was a 38 and now it's down to a 35, so I know my body is shifting things around. I just can't remember the last time I was under 200 lbs. I'm tired of being in the heavy weight class. I could lift just as much is I weighed less, I just don't know what I'm doing to not weigh less.

I'll try to open the diary again.

arditarose

BabyBearFrigon wrote: »

I'm sorry, what I meant to say was that I'm eating enough for my training, however I am eating under my "daily calorie goal".

Thanks David. Yes, I know muscle mass weight heavier than fat, and that's why I try to stay clear of the scale and base my fat loss on measurements. About a month+ ago my waist was a 38 and now it's down to a 35, so I know my body is shifting things around. I just can't remember the last time I was under 200 lbs. I'm tired of being in the heavy weight class. I could lift just as much is I weighed less, I just don't know what I'm doing to not weigh less.

I'll try to open the diary again.

You have to figure out how much you want to eat to train properly, but still be in a deficit. For you, maybe only slightly under maintenance calories. Perhaps a 1/2 pound a week weight loss.

TheVirgoddess

Just a quick peek - it doesn't look like you're weighing stuff. A medium apple, 1 cup of cucumbers - stuff like that should be weighed. In fact, every solid should be weighed.

Here's a good read:

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/872212

And a good video that stresses the importance of weighing (shows estimation vs weighing):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjKPIcI51lU

fatjon73

BabyBearFrigon wrote: »

I'm sorry, what I meant to say was that I'm eating enough for my training, however I am eating under my "daily calorie goal".

Thanks David. Yes, I know muscle mass weight heavier than fat, and that's why I try to stay clear of the scale and base my fat loss on measurements. About a month+ ago my waist was a 38 and now it's down to a 35, so I know my body is shifting things around. I just can't remember the last time I was under 200 lbs. I'm tired of being in the heavy weight class. I could lift just as much is I weighed less, I just don't know what I'm doing to not weigh less.

I'll try to open the diary again.

Sorry....I am not a lifter (only of pies and pints) but have I missed something here??? you have answered your own question in your last post......you know muscle weighs more than fat....and you have lost inches in the last month or so.....so you are losing FAT.......but gaining muscle.....to me that means your doing just fine........


From my understanding of MFP......(which is limited) do you know what your maintenance level is without the lifting???? this may help you to figure out what your true intake should be in a day to lose......I am not losing no where near what MFP says I should be so I am currently trying to find my true maintenance level so I can understand my intake / outtake properly.......not sure for you......it may be completely different for power lifters rather than just fat blokes like me trying to lose blubber....lol

BabyBearFrigon

Thanks TheVirgogoddess, I'll take a look at that video. I have no problem moving totally to weighting my food instead of both measurements and weight. I thought they'd be roughly the same, even though weighing more accurate.

I know MFP is limited, I just use it to see what my intake is every day. I don't think it's going to work miracles for me, hahaha. And if I were consuming 1400 calories and walked an hour a day and had a different diet, I'm sure I'd lose fat mass quicker, but I don't, and I'm not. Like I mentioned before, I've worked with nutritionists before I started lifting, and after but not as much! and my body just didn't do what we thought it'd do - lose weight - and that's why I had my thyroid tested. Right now my BMI is 36.0 (11% away from being "healthy" weight for women in America) and my Body Fat is 97 lbs which is 46% and my
Lean Mass is 113 lbs, which is the other 54% of my body.

You see, I feel as though I know a lot, about health and exercise (although one could always know more) so I'm just not sure why I'm not seeing more productive, visual, results. Sure my gains are going up, slowly, but as far as my fat mass, I'm just not seeing it. Since I've started training strictly, and my diet improves, I'm still a size 16 jean..... Ugh. I'm just at a stand still looking for answers.

arditarose

So what is your daily deficit?

BabyBearFrigon

Normally I'd take in about 1900 cal, while my deficits is about 1300. I'm generally around 1600 though, because of my training diet.... I've tried to get around it, but I can't because technically, while being as active as I am, I could consume 3000 calories a day, and have an aggressive approach to having a deficit of 30%... I can't eat that much though, makes me sick. I guess it's complicated. It changes all the time, whether I'm in season or out of season.

killakyle420

It sounds like you know alot about health and excersise but it doesn't seem like you are putting it to use.. if your goal is to lose fat while maintaining muscle you should be in a 500 cal deficit everyday and you should be dropping a lb of fat every week. Keep protein high and eat 5 or 6 meals a day to keep metabolism boosted. Keep lifting heavy and don't over do the cardio! I would suggest hiit interval training 3 to 4 times a week because it boosts muscle retention. Hope this helps goodluck! Consistency is key so be patient.

arditarose

BabyBearFrigon wrote: »

Normally I'd take in about 1900 cal, while my deficits is about 1300. I'm generally around 1600 though, because of my training diet.... I've tried to get around it, but I can't because technically, while being as active as I am, I could consume 3000 calories a day, and have an aggressive approach to having a deficit of 30%... I can't eat that much though, makes me sick. I guess it's complicated. It changes all the time, whether I'm in season or out of season.

I'm still confused at what your maintenance calories are and if you are eating 15, 10, 20% less or what. If you don't want to lower your calories too much, subtract 15% from your maintenance, eat that, and weigh all your food on a food scale. You'll lose .5 pounds a week.

BabyBearFrigon

Okay, to maintain my weight, I'd eat 2900 calories, making my deficit 2400 calories, and I wouldn't lose every week even with my activity level at that deficit.

BabyBearFrigon

And thanks for the encouragement KillaKyle,my patience is wearing low after such a long time.

killakyle420

No prob, 3500 cals is equal to 1lb of fat, so 500 a day should lose you a lb a week.. do you count macros?

BabyBearFrigon

I do count them! I try and take in 200g of protein a day because of my training lifestyle, although I generally get up to 160/190 depending on my level of intensity that day. My carb intake is somewhere around 400g and my fat is about 100g.

killakyle420

Nothing wrong with that! Something you could try is cardio in the morning on an empty stomach which will help burn fat but it's not for everyone.. or you could lower your carbs a little because your body learns to use fat for energy when your carbs are lower. I would wait till after training to get majority of them carbs in unless you really need them for your training.

BabyBearFrigon

I generally walk a mile everyday after training. I'm a morning person, but I'm not if I don't have to be, ya know? But I've done that before, woke up and gone out to work up an appetite for breakfast. With this cold Maine weather, I'm more than unimpressed to go out in the cold in the morning. A lot of my carbs are healthy carbs. If I eat pasta or anything similar to that, it's after a workout. Or it's oatmeal in the morning.

killakyle420

Seems like you got everything under control! Just keep it steady and you'll see results soon. Good luck!