Not seeing results, prepared for some new ideas

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  • pinktoesjb
    pinktoesjb Posts: 302 Member
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    Are you getting enough sleep?

    I didn't think of this- I'm tired a lot but I have noisy nieghbours who wake me up a couple of times a week. I'm usually in bed by ten thirty, up at seven thirty unless it's a gym day then I'm up at 6.
  • benjib84
    benjib84 Posts: 125
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    Cant see the diary so hard to say but a few tips...

    1) LOTS of Salad and Veg with your meals.... Fill yourself up on them - Low Calorie.
    2) Get rid of oil - forget it exists... use Frylight - it will change your life and food will be better
    3) Make sure you get your 8 glasses of water a day in.
    4) Snack throughout the day on low calorie stuff, i.e Fruit.
    5) When MFP gives you back calories for exercise, only use up 75% of them....
    6) Have one day a week off from the diet - but dont go MAD... ie choccy bar, bag of crisps, some sweets, not multipacks. Stressing about loosing weight will 100% aid a weight gain or stunt a loss... trust me.

    That should put you on track - basically if you applied the principles of slimming world ie unlimited fruit vag and meat (fat trimmed) and monitor calories the weight will drop off....

    Good luck with your journey (Though 5kg lost - seems you are doing ok)

    Ben =)
    I'm not going to whinge about giving up or cutting to 3 calories a day or anything but I'd appreciate any thoughts on changes to make as it's about a month since I've seen any weight loss, had a miminal decrease in measurements and getting frustrated.
    I'm 32, 5'6", my diary is open. Yes I have digital scales, not I don't have a HRM. Based on TDEE less 20% I'm set at just under 1500 a day.

    I walk a couple of miles a day probably 4 days a week to get in and out of work, go to the gym a couple of times a week (30 mins cardio, 15-20 weights/resistence, 15-20 bodyweight resistance) and try to do the nerd fitness body weight circuits at home a couple of times a week. I tried some HIIT and didn't see any difference other than feeling like hell and really hungry for the rest of the day. I always eat back some, usually most of my exercise calories. I have a desk job.

    I don't really eat many sweets and watch my carbs as I had glucose tolerence problems a few years ago when i was a lot bigger than I am now. I limit my caffeiene, get plenty of water, eat home cooked meals more often than not, don't drink much booze, lots of fresh veg etc.

    Currently 85 kilos, down from 89 around easter. no loss recently at all.

    So go on, hit me with some broscience. I'll consider anything except the sunshine diet!!!!
  • pinktoesjb
    pinktoesjb Posts: 302 Member
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    dunno why everyone is saying they can't see my diary I've set it to all MFP members :-/
  • pinktoesjb
    pinktoesjb Posts: 302 Member
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    d'oh, changed my profile settings not the diary, it should be open now.
  • HollisGrant
    HollisGrant Posts: 2,022 Member
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    Your diary isn't public, so I can't make specific suggestions.

    Be sure you are logging everything. If you have a lot of sodium in your diet it will be harder to lose weight. Drink water, which curbs the appetite and help your body in other ways. I was drinking a shake with skim milk for breakfast, dropped it when I had a mini-plateau, and started losing again.

    I usually don't eat my exercise calories back, only if I'm hungry. I've read that MFP overestimates the calorie burn a lot of times, so take that into account. Change your exercise and diet around to see what happens. Good luck.
  • pinktoesjb
    pinktoesjb Posts: 302 Member
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    Cut the carbs

    Cut any fruit

    No coffee sugar dairy

    Loads of water

    8 hours sleep a night

    Get the weights out

    If you do that and don;t lose the weight I eat my dumbbells

    the scary bit of that is dropping my one daily coffee! *cries* I'm stronger than a latte craving, I'll finish all the fruit in the fridge then give this a try, thanks.
  • pinktoesjb
    pinktoesjb Posts: 302 Member
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    The stress point is really interesting actually, life is kind of a nightmare recently.
    Cant see the diary so hard to say but a few tips...

    1) LOTS of Salad and Veg with your meals.... Fill yourself up on them - Low Calorie.
    2) Get rid of oil - forget it exists... use Frylight - it will change your life and food will be better
    3) Make sure you get your 8 glasses of water a day in.
    4) Snack throughout the day on low calorie stuff, i.e Fruit.
    5) When MFP gives you back calories for exercise, only use up 75% of them....
    6) Have one day a week off from the diet - but dont go MAD... ie choccy bar, bag of crisps, some sweets, not multipacks. Stressing about loosing weight will 100% aid a weight gain or stunt a loss... trust me.

    That should put you on track - basically if you applied the principles of slimming world ie unlimited fruit vag and meat (fat trimmed) and monitor calories the weight will drop off....

    Good luck with your journey (Though 5kg lost - seems you are doing ok)

    Ben =)
    I'm not going to whinge about giving up or cutting to 3 calories a day or anything but I'd appreciate any thoughts on changes to make as it's about a month since I've seen any weight loss, had a miminal decrease in measurements and getting frustrated.
    I'm 32, 5'6", my diary is open. Yes I have digital scales, not I don't have a HRM. Based on TDEE less 20% I'm set at just under 1500 a day.

    I walk a couple of miles a day probably 4 days a week to get in and out of work, go to the gym a couple of times a week (30 mins cardio, 15-20 weights/resistence, 15-20 bodyweight resistance) and try to do the nerd fitness body weight circuits at home a couple of times a week. I tried some HIIT and didn't see any difference other than feeling like hell and really hungry for the rest of the day. I always eat back some, usually most of my exercise calories. I have a desk job.

    I don't really eat many sweets and watch my carbs as I had glucose tolerence problems a few years ago when i was a lot bigger than I am now. I limit my caffeiene, get plenty of water, eat home cooked meals more often than not, don't drink much booze, lots of fresh veg etc.

    Currently 85 kilos, down from 89 around easter. no loss recently at all.

    So go on, hit me with some broscience. I'll consider anything except the sunshine diet!!!!
  • rbbrrmqn
    rbbrrmqn Posts: 132 Member
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    OK, the biggest thing I see is --DON'T eat back your workout cals! Here is the 'secret formula'--

    1. If you exercise 7 days/week and burn 500 cals each day, 1 lb lost each week (500 X 7 = 3500 cals gone = 1 lb.)

    2. If you eat 500 cals less per day X 7 d/wk, then that will be 1 lb. lost /week; same math as above.

    I know there is a lot of back and forth on to eat back or not BUT u r working out to create a cal deficit, so don't ruin it. Goo luck.

    Def, try to min 7 hrs or so of sleep, too.
  • AverageUkDude
    AverageUkDude Posts: 371 Member
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    Are your macros correct? Your protein seems slightly on the low side.

    Also are you sure that 1500 cals is enough? It still seems rather on the low side as you described you are doing a lot of exercise. How did you calculate your tdee?

    If I was you I would try doing a basic refeed for a week and take a Deload week together, don't stop working out fully just severely drop the intensity.
  • pholbert
    pholbert Posts: 575 Member
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    Watch the sodium.
  • AverageUkDude
    AverageUkDude Posts: 371 Member
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    just to update i did a quick check on your calories based on what your doing using:

    http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/

    based on you doing 3-5 hours a week of exercise, which is what i guessed at from what you said, you should be eating 2137 a day (you dont eat back your exercise calories in mfp if you do this)

    You should defiantly be eating more protein and carbs also.

    Remember eating too low can cause 'metabolic damage' (ugh i hate that term) and really slow your progress down.
  • becka63
    becka63 Posts: 712 Member
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    Just a thought (and I've only just skimmed the other comments, so sorry if this has been mentioned).

    You say you've set your calorie intake at TDEE-15%?
    You say you're eating back your exercise calories?

    My understanding is that TDEE-n% takes into account your activity level so that you only eat back the exercise calories that would otherwise make you net less than your BMR.

    So for me, my TDEE-15% is 1725 and my BMR is 1388. 1725-1388=337. If I burn more than 337kcals then I should eat some back to ensure I net at least 1388. Otherwise, I don't eat back my exercise calories.

    Ooh, the guy above me - what he posted, that's the site I used to calculate my TDEE!
  • pinktoesjb
    pinktoesjb Posts: 302 Member
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    Are your macros correct? Your protein seems slightly on the low side.

    Also are you sure that 1500 cals is enough? It still seems rather on the low side as you described you are doing a lot of exercise. How did you calculate your tdee?

    If I was you I would try doing a basic refeed for a week and take a Deload week together, don't stop working out fully just severely drop the intensity.

    macros are MFP set, my fat tends to go over when I'm watching the sugar. I did the TDEE on an online calculator, if i did it sedentary then off 20% it gave me 1500 to lose. If I set at exercise three times a week (this is about right) it said 1780 then that would be the goal without eating back on the exercise. When I eat back the gym calories I tend to be about 1650ish for my gross total. I went with the 1500 then eating back as there are times when I'm busy, away etc that I don't make the full work out 3 days a week, then times when I go every day so it's variable. Maybe time to re-jig this.
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,811 Member
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    Have you considered 5:2 fasting?
    My wife and I have been doing it almost a year and it's been a life changer for us.

    Two non-consecutive days a week at 500 cals, 5 days a week at maintenance calories.

    For info:
    http://thefastdiet.co.uk/
    Book available on Amazon etc..

    There's a couple of groups on here as well.

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/8628-5-2-diet

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/8005-5-2-fasting
  • jaxxie
    jaxxie Posts: 576 Member
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    Make sure you have a digital scale and weigh everything, eyeballing and guessing is the fastest way to overestimating. Get a proper Tbsp, tsp measure and ensue you use it. Read labels and as others have said mix it up. Even if you stick to your current workout, change up the days/intensity/reps/weights/etc. Good luck.

    edited for typos
  • sbarella
    sbarella Posts: 713 Member
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    As everyone else said, take a break.
    Also, try moving some calories from dinner to lunch. I know it's hard if you're not used to it, but it helps metabolism a lot.
  • conniemaxwell5
    conniemaxwell5 Posts: 943 Member
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    Based on the info you supplied I calculate your TDEE at 2200, so less 20% you should be eating closer to 1700-1800 calories (this included exercise calories so you wouldn't eat additional calories back). In addition, I used to have almost the exact same routine as you and wasn't seeing results and increased my cardio and strength to 5 times a week and the weight started coming off again.
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
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    OK, the biggest thing I see is --DON'T eat back your workout cals! Here is the 'secret formula'--

    1. If you exercise 7 days/week and burn 500 cals each day, 1 lb lost each week (500 X 7 = 3500 cals gone = 1 lb.)

    2. If you eat 500 cals less per day X 7 d/wk, then that will be 1 lb. lost /week; same math as above.

    I know there is a lot of back and forth on to eat back or not BUT u r working out to create a cal deficit, so don't ruin it. Goo luck.

    Def, try to min 7 hrs or so of sleep, too.

    you are right, but the one thing you are forgetting is that MFP already gives you that deficit BEFORE exercise... thats why you should eat exercise calories back....
  • RHSheetz
    RHSheetz Posts: 268 Member
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    Cut the carbs

    Cut any fruit

    No coffee sugar dairy

    Loads of water

    8 hours sleep a night

    Get the weights out

    If you do that and don;t lose the weight I eat my dumbbells

    This... If you have issues with Glucose, you need to drop your carbs way back and drop the fruit.
  • ILiftHeavyAcrylics
    ILiftHeavyAcrylics Posts: 27,732 Member
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    If I were you I'd pick a flat number and stick to it, and forget about trying to log exercise calories. Since you already know how to calculate TDEE I'm not doing to do it for you, but whatever TDEE-20% is, set your calorie goal to that and then don't add exercise calories into the equation. Since you're using a food scale your calories burned are the weak spot in terms of accuracy.

    Also, how long have you been at it? Have you taken any diet breaks?

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