Counting Calories & Working Out & No Progress

skcrossley

I'm 5'4" and fluctuate between 128-130 lbs. I have been on a 1,100 calorie/day diet for the past month and have made zero progress.

I started my weight loss at the very beginning of April at 146 lbs. I dropped from 146 to 133 very easily just by eating 1,100 calories a day and working out minimally. The next 5lbs came off slowly with more interval training and healthier calories. I've been plateaud though now at 128 lbs for the past month. My waist and hip measurements haven't really changed and also my body fat which I measure with both a caliper and an Aria scale haven't changed either. I use a Fitbit Charge HR to track caloric expenditure daily to make sure I have a proper calorie deficit and also to make sure my workouts are effective. I don't understand why I'm not making progress. My average daily calories burned is 2,200. I could understand if the scale was staying the same but my body fat was going down, but that's not the case. My body fat is at 18-19%. What am I doing wrong?

My workouts consist of 20-35 minutes of interval cardio and then 30-40 minutes of full body strength training using body weight/free weights. I do Tabata as well. I do this 4-6x per week. My waist is 26.25".

I take some supplements daily. I take GNC DHA Omega-3's, GNC CLA Soft Chews, GNC Healthy Metabolism Soft Chews, Women's One a Day Multivitamin, and Celucor HD.

Is my body just where it is supposed to be weight and body fat wise? Should I just be focusing on tightening and toning areas where I would like to see improvement. I would ideally like to lose 5 more pounds.

PAV8888

How aggressive is your deficit? Are you fuelling your workouts or eating 1100 and burning 2200?

I have an Aria. I've done DXA scans. The aria body fat % is useless in helping you trully determine whether you are losing fat or muscle.

If you are willing and able to consistently exercise like you describe, seriously look at recomp.

Suggest you look into the Eat, Train, Progress group both to validate your body fat % and to get useful advice.

Alyssa_Is_LosingIt

How are you measuring your food intake? Are you using a scale or just using measurements like cups/tablespoons/etc.?

Have you considered lifting weights? Maybe you should look into a recomp.

arditarose

Why are you only eating 1,100 calories? Or at least aiming for that?

With your stats you should be aiming for .5 lb per week loss. This way you can be sure to get all the nutrients your body needs and fuel your work outs properly. 1200 is the minimum amount recommended for women, and that is for people who have much more to lose, or who are sedentary.

That said, if you're not losing-how are you measuring food? Are you using a food scale?

Also, we have similar stats. I'm a little heavier, 5'4" sitting between 130-133. I found it extremely hard to lose any more, though I know it can be done. I opted for a body recomp. Perhaps that's something you're interested in. Then you can eat and lift and be happy.

editorgrrl

The less you have to lose, the more slowly it comes off. That's just the way the human body works. Set your goal to .5 lb. per week, and be patient.

And the smaller you get the smaller the margin of error on your logging. So you need to log everything you eat & drink even more accurately & even more honestly.

Your Fitbit burn is TDEE—the calories necessary to maintain your current weight. If (and only if) you enable negative calories in your diary settings, eating back your adjustments means you're eating TDEE minus deficit.

You can learn more in the Fitbit Users group: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/1290-fitbit-users

skcrossley

PAV8888 wrote: »

How aggressive is your deficit? Are you fuelling your workouts or eating 1100 and burning 2200?

I have an Aria. I've done DXA scans. The aria body fat % is useless in helping you trully determine whether you are losing fat or muscle.

If you are willing and able to consistently exercise like you describe, seriously look at recomp.

Suggest you look into the Eat, Train, Progress group both to validate your body fat % and to get useful advice.

I am eating 1,100 and burning 2,200+. I have wondered if I'm not eating enough but I feel like I should be losing weight with that calorie deficit. I can understand that this might not be the healthiest which is why I'm looking for a change. I'm looking into seeing a dietitian as well.

Yeah I don't take the Aria BF % seriously, but I do however rely on my caliper since its more accurate and something I can use at home.

I'm interested in recomp. I have to do some more research. I actually never heard of body recomp until I asked this question so this is really helpful.

Asher_Ethan

skcrossley wrote: »

PAV8888 wrote: »

How aggressive is your deficit? Are you fuelling your workouts or eating 1100 and burning 2200?

I have an Aria. I've done DXA scans. The aria body fat % is useless in helping you trully determine whether you are losing fat or muscle.

If you are willing and able to consistently exercise like you describe, seriously look at recomp.

Suggest you look into the Eat, Train, Progress group both to validate your body fat % and to get useful advice.

I am eating 1,100 and burning 2,200+. I have wondered if I'm not eating enough but I feel like I should be losing weight with that calorie deficit. I can understand that this might not be the healthiest which is why I'm looking for a change. I'm looking into seeing a dietitian as well.

Yeah I don't take the Aria BF % seriously, but I do however rely on my caliper since its more accurate and something I can use at home.

I'm interested in recomp. I have to do some more research. I actually never heard of body recomp until I asked this question so this is really helpful.

What makes you think you are burning 2200+?

PAV8888

Sorry.

With the amount of free fat you currently have you are probably burning away a *kitten*-load of lean muscle mass.

By under-eating to this degree your body is also (probably) doing its best to get you to shut down all un-necessary non-exercise related activity in an attempt to reduce the deficit.

Take a day off and read ALL the stickies at the tip of the forum. Including the starvation ones.

Get some pictures prepared (hide your face, fake Id, new bikini--whatever makes you more comfortable) and get help from sidesteel and Sarah at the mfp discussion group I mentioned (pics to help them estimate your body fat).

Realize that sub 20% body fat is very lean for a woman.

Re-evaluate your goals based on where you're really at.

fwiw, I do believe you are currently damaging your body (as in causing long term and hard to reverse damage) in an attempt to reach a number.

Are you after a number, or after a healthy body?

About the only thing I can hope for is that your logging is totally innacurate and that you have not been logging negative calories for a month. Or at least not as bad as -1000 a day

Your pace of weight loss argues that you may have.

0.7% of bodyweight per week would have been your most fat/least muscle lost strategy. Together with eating about a gram of protein per lb of body weight and lifting weights.

What's done is done.

But please stop!

And re evaluate.

Best of luck.

skcrossley

Asher_Ethan wrote: »

skcrossley wrote: »

PAV8888 wrote: »

How aggressive is your deficit? Are you fuelling your workouts or eating 1100 and burning 2200?

I have an Aria. I've done DXA scans. The aria body fat % is useless in helping you trully determine whether you are losing fat or muscle.

If you are willing and able to consistently exercise like you describe, seriously look at recomp.

Suggest you look into the Eat, Train, Progress group both to validate your body fat % and to get useful advice.

I am eating 1,100 and burning 2,200+. I have wondered if I'm not eating enough but I feel like I should be losing weight with that calorie deficit. I can understand that this might not be the healthiest which is why I'm looking for a change. I'm looking into seeing a dietitian as well.

Yeah I don't take the Aria BF % seriously, but I do however rely on my caliper since its more accurate and something I can use at home.

I'm interested in recomp. I have to do some more research. I actually never heard of body recomp until I asked this question so this is really helpful.

What makes you think you are burning 2200+?

I use a heart rate monitor

leggup

Can you open your food diary? You're probably eating more than you realize, especially if you're not using a food scale.

Your heart rate monitor is only 'accurate' for steady state cardio, like running (no intervals), walking, cycling, etc. It is not accurate for strength training or tabata. If you are currently using it for those two activities, you are greatly overestimating your calorie burn.

LKArgh

1) With the scale not moving for a month, you are probably burning way less than you think, and are probably also eating way more than you think.
2) Regarding calories burned, at your weight, I would be very surprised if the workouts you mention burn more than 300-400 calories or so, probably less.
3) How do you log your food, do you use a scale?
4) Unless you have been training for a long time, there is no way your body fat is anywhere close to where you think it is. Below 20% body fat means for a woman very visible muscles, and this has not happened since April when you say you started. In the unlikely scenario where you really are that athletic, what is the goal of trying to lose weight? Lose muscle?

skcrossley

Ok so since I originally posted this in June I started running 5 miles 5x week and increased my calories to 1430 a day. I dropped to 124.4 lbs at my lowest and my waist went down to 25.5" and my hips to 35". So I needed more cardio and more calories? I don't know but it worked for me.