How to properly 'up' calories?

burtsr7

Now I know that it will seem like I'm jumping the gun, since I've only been doing turbo fire for 4 weeks, but I've seen no results! I haven't lost any inches, I'm at the same body fat percentage, and I've gained a pound. I was eating about 1400-1600 calories a day which seemed like a lot but I'm pretty active.....I do a modified Turbo Fire plan (1 HIIT, 3 Fires, 3 Weight a week) in addition to a 3x a week 3 mile walk/jog, and I horseback ride 4x a week (and horseback riding is actually very intense!). Also, I'm eating A LOT cleaner. I realize that calorie is still a calorie but gosh...I lost 30 lbs in 1.5 months eating fast food and now that I'm preparing my own meals and eating raw I've had no results. It's really disheartening.

Because of my lack of results I figured maybe I needed more calories? Sure I'm above my BMR but I figure I do a lot of extra stuff so maybe it was still too low. Well, I upped my calories to around 1800-2000 the past 6 days and the scale says I've gained a lb of body fat (not muscle). This was measured two days in a row just to be certain.

A little about me, I'm 156 lbs, 5'5, and 28% body fat. I actually am surprised that I'm that high in body fat because I look a lot leaner...but calipers confirm the same thing.

Could I have gained weight because I upped my calories too quickly? Is it normal to see an initial increase in weight before your body adjusts to your new calorie amount? I am playing around a little with the zig zag dieting as well...

If anyone could suggest any tips that would be great. I've noticed that I'm starting to lose all motivation and cancel some of my workouts because I haven't seen any results in weight, inches, or body fat percent.

SteelySunshine

Whoa slow down there. OK not really your activity level looks good. 1700-1800 is a reasonable goal to lose weight. I think you could slow down quite a bit if you eat 2000 or more. And if you go lower for some reason you could stall. But, the thing is you will have to try it for more than a few days or even a month to see how it works out. It takes 6 or more weeks to see real results. My guess is if you stick to 1700-1800 you will see around a four pound loss in a month's time, if you maintain or up your activity level.

nxd10

Like she said.

LexiAtel

For one, I wouldn't weight yourself everyday... if you must, once a week, but every 2 weeks is best. After that, MAYBE change something up.

What foods are you eating? You can still cook at home and eat the wrong type of foods...

Are you measuring your meals? If not, sometimes you will THINK you are having a proper serving, when you're not.

And last, if YOU think you look fine, why would you worry about what a stupid machine says? You sound like a healthy weight to me, if I were you, I would focus on just eating better foods.

burtsr7

Before I was becoming more health conscious my diet consisted of about 50 oz coke, one huge chocolate chip Belgian waffle, a 1.5 turkey paninis, abouth three pieces of toast with butter, a small cookies and cream milk shake from chickfila, and then dinner with the family (usually meat and veggies.) I worked as a waitress so I was a snacker! I'm not even sure how many calories this was but I'm sure it was a ton!

Now I eat about 1/2 cup Greek yogurt with 1/8 cup granola and 50 blueberries. Lunch usually a hot roast beef sandwich with gluten free bread, spinach, and 3 oz of roast beef, and for dinner I usually have 6 oz various meat and veggies. I still have 12-20 oz of soda (i used to be terribly addicted...I am down from 80 oz daily... hooray!) and will splurge on a small candy bar a few times a week (also a reduction...I swear i used to down at least 12 a week). Usually I also have a snack such as peanut butter on apples or celery and 8 oz of almond milk. Without the extra 8 oz of soda and the candy bar i tend to reach around 1400, but this is my basic daily meals and I do some variations quite a bit

It's just frustrating that I was a pig and eating all this yummy food and maintained my weight, since I was used to so many calories I was sure that 1600 calories would make the lbs fall off.

And thanks for the motivation...I definitely need it! I'm mostly just trying to tone up my stomach...I used to never hold weight there but since I've reached my 20s I have a little more roll than I'd like. I usually only weigh once a week but I was so confused about the one reading that I weighed again at a different time of the day to see if it was a fluke.

And the other frustrating thing...I HATE cardio! I love lifting. This is the first time I've made cardio a priority with TWO workouts (turbofire and jogging). Before my cardio consisted of horseback riding, waitressing, and the 10 min I hopped on a bike to warm up before lifting.

Maybe my body sustains itself better on unhealthy carbs and low cardio/high weight training? Haha (for the record I'm still doing the same amount of weight training, just upped the cardio)