Checking intake vs goals - plateaued for 3 months
EmilyJackCO
Posts: 621 Member
Good morning...
I've been following and reading many many posts about targets and macros and such, and have made adjustments slowly. I have seen a little bit of progress in appearance, but it seems that my bodyfat percentage still sits around 23% and I consistently waver between 135 and 137 pounds. I dropped below 135 once after a particularly horrible week where I didn't eat hardly at all - I'm not willing to go there.
Here are my intake questions:
Provide your stats (height/weight/age/bodyfat% if you know it/etc): 5'9", 136, 40, 23% (estimated)
What's your current gross intake of calories, on average? Looking at my reports for the past 30 days, it looks to be right around 1700. My goal for non workout days is 1580 and I do try to eat back my exercise calories.
What's your current average intake of protein, carbs, and fats, in grams? (GRAMS, not percent!): Based on the daily goal of 1580: Portein - 119, Carbs - 158, Fats - 53.
Do you use a food scale and measure everything? When I'm at home, yes. When I'm not - I estimate over.
Do you track all of your intake, daily? (Everything?): Yes, just not water, because I know I'm always way over the 8 glasses, and it gets time consuming.
But other than that, yes, I track everything.
Do you take cheat days or days off? Not intentionally, but I have no issue with going over on somedays.
How much weight have you lost so far and over what time period? I lost 7 pounds from December to February and pretty much flatlined at 135.
Describe your activity (exercise and non exercise) and did you change that activity withing the last couple of months?
I do work a desk job, so on non workout days, I'm fairly sedentary. But here's a sketch of my workouts (from an earlier post):
I do both lifting and cardio, and I do them both 4x a week. BUT, I don't do heavy cardio... I can't run.
I have tried, I'd love to, I really really would, but my lungs essplodey. Stupid asthma.
Tues/Thurs
I walk at 4mph for 30-45 minutes, depending how much time I have. Then I go to the stationary bike doing hill intervals on resistance 7 for 30 minutes. The bike allows me to go all out with all I can and not absolutely keel over (though, there's been times that I turned beet red and almost fell off - I had to learn my limits) and flop like a fish. THEN I lift with my trainer for 30 minutes.
Sat
I have less time on Saturdays, so I limit it to 15 minutes on the bike, 45 minutes of lifting on my own.
Sun.
Repeat of Tues/Thurs, except I may do a full three miles on the treadmill, and another 45 minutes of lifting.
I do back off on the various cardio depending on the leg work I'm doing. The thing is - the walking, especially, is really necessary for my sanity. It helps me cope with my stress, it allows me to tune out and not think. Or to think through things, if I'm having some really bad issues (of which there's been a lot lately). And the bike work has helped me make some pretty major improvements with my asthma, and that's unheard of. I'm not living by my inhaler this spring! YAY!
I added in the weight training on the weekends in February.
How long have you been stalled and if it is not a complete stall please be very specific as to how much you have lost over the stalled period. I've bounced between 136 and 134 since February.
Are you breastfeeding? No.
Do you have thyroid issues/risks or PCOS? Nope - my labs are perfect, I'm as healthy as a moose.
Also, please ensure that you have your diary open. It is.
I posted this on my feed on Friday and have been mulling it over ever since and decided to get some advice...
Hmmm... so I went through my Fitbit stats since I got my new toy. I've been under calories by 2800-3500 calories every week (3) and still not losing anything. So, if I'm 5 lbs from goal, is it TDEE -10% or 20%? The difference is 1950 vs 1720 calories, so it's a big difference. I'm not even sure I WANT to drop to 130 lbs - but I'd like to try before swapping out to maintenance. AND, I'd like to drop 2-3% bodyfat...
I talked to my trainer, and my trainer is admittedly and honestly rather clueless when it comes to nutrition - 'get your protein' - that's his best advice. I'd rather that than someone who doesn't know what they are talking about. He's also a bit biased with me - I work harder, go further and do a lot more than most, even on my own. I have to push him to push me these days, but he's still worth every penny.
Thanks for the input!!
I've been following and reading many many posts about targets and macros and such, and have made adjustments slowly. I have seen a little bit of progress in appearance, but it seems that my bodyfat percentage still sits around 23% and I consistently waver between 135 and 137 pounds. I dropped below 135 once after a particularly horrible week where I didn't eat hardly at all - I'm not willing to go there.
Here are my intake questions:
Provide your stats (height/weight/age/bodyfat% if you know it/etc): 5'9", 136, 40, 23% (estimated)
What's your current gross intake of calories, on average? Looking at my reports for the past 30 days, it looks to be right around 1700. My goal for non workout days is 1580 and I do try to eat back my exercise calories.
What's your current average intake of protein, carbs, and fats, in grams? (GRAMS, not percent!): Based on the daily goal of 1580: Portein - 119, Carbs - 158, Fats - 53.
Do you use a food scale and measure everything? When I'm at home, yes. When I'm not - I estimate over.
Do you track all of your intake, daily? (Everything?): Yes, just not water, because I know I'm always way over the 8 glasses, and it gets time consuming.
But other than that, yes, I track everything.Do you take cheat days or days off? Not intentionally, but I have no issue with going over on somedays.
How much weight have you lost so far and over what time period? I lost 7 pounds from December to February and pretty much flatlined at 135.
Describe your activity (exercise and non exercise) and did you change that activity withing the last couple of months?
I do work a desk job, so on non workout days, I'm fairly sedentary. But here's a sketch of my workouts (from an earlier post):
I do both lifting and cardio, and I do them both 4x a week. BUT, I don't do heavy cardio... I can't run.
I have tried, I'd love to, I really really would, but my lungs essplodey. Stupid asthma.Tues/Thurs
I walk at 4mph for 30-45 minutes, depending how much time I have. Then I go to the stationary bike doing hill intervals on resistance 7 for 30 minutes. The bike allows me to go all out with all I can and not absolutely keel over (though, there's been times that I turned beet red and almost fell off - I had to learn my limits) and flop like a fish. THEN I lift with my trainer for 30 minutes.
Sat
I have less time on Saturdays, so I limit it to 15 minutes on the bike, 45 minutes of lifting on my own.
Sun.
Repeat of Tues/Thurs, except I may do a full three miles on the treadmill, and another 45 minutes of lifting.
I do back off on the various cardio depending on the leg work I'm doing. The thing is - the walking, especially, is really necessary for my sanity. It helps me cope with my stress, it allows me to tune out and not think. Or to think through things, if I'm having some really bad issues (of which there's been a lot lately). And the bike work has helped me make some pretty major improvements with my asthma, and that's unheard of. I'm not living by my inhaler this spring! YAY!
I added in the weight training on the weekends in February.
How long have you been stalled and if it is not a complete stall please be very specific as to how much you have lost over the stalled period. I've bounced between 136 and 134 since February.
Are you breastfeeding? No.
Do you have thyroid issues/risks or PCOS? Nope - my labs are perfect, I'm as healthy as a moose.
Also, please ensure that you have your diary open. It is.
I posted this on my feed on Friday and have been mulling it over ever since and decided to get some advice...
Hmmm... so I went through my Fitbit stats since I got my new toy. I've been under calories by 2800-3500 calories every week (3) and still not losing anything. So, if I'm 5 lbs from goal, is it TDEE -10% or 20%? The difference is 1950 vs 1720 calories, so it's a big difference. I'm not even sure I WANT to drop to 130 lbs - but I'd like to try before swapping out to maintenance. AND, I'd like to drop 2-3% bodyfat...
I talked to my trainer, and my trainer is admittedly and honestly rather clueless when it comes to nutrition - 'get your protein' - that's his best advice. I'd rather that than someone who doesn't know what they are talking about. He's also a bit biased with me - I work harder, go further and do a lot more than most, even on my own. I have to push him to push me these days, but he's still worth every penny.
Thanks for the input!!
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Hello there Emily,
Your average intake for the past 6 weeks is as follows:
1859.3 kcal
226.9 carbs
71.2 fat
87.0 protein
Set your new intake to the following, and this is not an exercise calorie method. Eat this daily:
1700 kcal
150 carbs
70fat
120 protein
Report back in two weeks with any changes or updates. You need to be very diligent about tracking and weighing things as much as possible in the next two weeks for purposes of accurate data.
There are also a few training improvements you may be able to make as well, but I wanted to get this intake situation covered immediately.0 -
Thanks a bunch! I will do that today and work a lot harder on the measuring! 0
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