SOS! What else can I do?!

Kai_Milla1

Alright guys, I need some advice. I have always counted calories and tried to eat as healthy
as possible but I realized that wasn't enough about a month and half ago.So since the end of May
I have been religious about working out, what I eat, how much I eat, and my life style. I am in
college still so its hard to never cheat! Since the end of May I have lost about 16 pounds. I
have went from 145 to about 129...my goal is 120, or 118. I was hoping I would be able to get
there by mid august before I go back to school but now I feel like im hitting a plateau. So to
give you a general idea of my diet and exercise everyday (except sat/sun) I usually eat a cup
of special K cereal with skim milk, multi grain cheerios, or a 90 cal low carb granola bar. I work
until about 2 everyday so at work I snack on fruit (strawberries, raspberries, blueberries and
cantaloupe) or some cold veggies (carrots or celery), and sometimes some dry roasted peanuts
(but keep it in the serving size). For lunch I make a turkey sandwich with bagel thins, reduced
fat cheese, lean turkey, lettuce and mustard (comes out to about 240 cal), and for dinner after
I work out I usually make fish, chicken, or a "Smart one/lean cuisine".

I stay around 1200-1300 cals a day. I drink nothing but water (except milk for breakfast). And I try not to eat past 9:00pm.
My workout switches up weekly but I do the stair stepper for 20 minutes at high intensity, then I do
strength intervals (legs, arms, shoulders, glutes) I switch it up. Then I go back to the treadmill
and walk/do some sprints for 60 minutes at 10 incline, 4.0 pace. So I burn about 600-700 calories at the gym a day.

The past two weeks Ive slightly stopped watching the calories so much and focused more on the carb
intake so I have tried to keep that between 25g-50g a day (that's what is needed for weight loss).
I drink about 88 ounces of water a day also, so what am I doing that's made me stop losing??! Is
there anything I can do to help speed it back up? help!!

Oh and by the way I am 5'4, 20 years old. My BMI was 23.6 when I first did an assessment with a
trainer at the gym a month ago, and now it is 21.3.

Mokey41

Eat more.

chantels1

Agreed. You are trying too hard. Eat more! You are only eating 1200-1300 calories a day which means you are not eating back your exercise calories... That is just too difficult to maintain. You should be losing .5 to 1lb per week now, so adjust your settings accordingly on here, and eat back your exercise calories!

AverageUkDude

Eat more.

apriljackss

Honestly, you don't have that much to lose. You don't mention how tall you are but at 129 your body might just feel comfortable. A lot of people struggle with the last 10 pounds or so, so that is why many refer to them as vanity pounds. You don't NEED to lose that weight, you just feel you will look better, but your body has found a weight it's comfortable at. The only suggestion is just to keep at it, there's no quick way to do any of this. Some people swear by taking a couple cheat days, or days of eating at maintenance then going back to a deficit. You might try it, also watch your sodium intake, it can be really high in those frozen prepared meals and can cause you to hold onto water.

stt43

1200-1300 calories is really low, especially if you are exercising as well. By dropping your calories so low there's no room for you to go any lower, and your body has got used to staying as it is without burning off any more body fat. Being on so low calories plus exercising you have damaged your metabolism, but this isn't too much of a problem. As Mokey41 said, just eat more. Basically you need to slowly increase your calories to recover your metabolism until it is back to normal so that it can go back to burning off your fat more effectively. Search on youtube or google for 'reverse dieting' or 'metabolic damage' to get some good info.

RobynLB83

Wow. You just lost a lot of weight really quickly. Amazing work. You might want to reassess your goal and the time you want to take to get there. Losing weight is more difficult and slower when you are already at a healthy or low/healthy weight. Try switching up your exercise routine to incorporate more high intensity work. Also, you're going to have to get up to maintenance calories at some point, so you should probably start upping them now-- along with your carbs to fuel some more intense workouts. Good job on the hard work, now back off a little.

Kai_Milla1

Thank you!

Kai_Milla1

I had a feeling I was going to be told I was eating too less! Any idea what kinds of foods I should add to my diet to help me out? I am going to try to keep doing the low carb thing for now-since bread is my weakness! So any good low carb, or good carb foods to add to help me up the cals and not just fat?

ItsCasey

The past two weeks Ive slightly stopped watching the calories so much and focused more on the carb
intake so I have tried to keep that between 25g-50g a day (that's what is needed for weight loss).

Who told you that?

lilcassers

Here is how I would tweak your nutrition:

-Switch to coconut or almond milk
-Ditch the cereal and go to whole oatmeal (not instant) and add in fruit and or honey with it
-breads (i don't care if they are thins) are simple sugars. switch to whole wheat or ezekiel bread.
-add more veggies in your diet
-eat every 3 hours. small portions. keeps your metabolism high.

ladynocturne

The way MFP is designed is that it gives you a number to reach that already has your daily caloric deficit built into it. This way, when you exercise and log it, you eat those calories on top of your daily goal. This allows you to have a safe deficit and prevents as much lean muscle loss as possible. You need to NET your calorie goal, not eat under it.

So if your goal is 1200 calories and you burn off 500 calories, you would need to eat 1700 calories that day.

1700-500=1200 NET calories. Same deficit.

Carbs are not "bad" and you don't need to cut them out to lose fat. When you eat low carb, you're actually losing water weight, as soon as your body gets carbs again it WILL gain all the water weight back.

Kai_Milla1

Jq2122- A trainer at my gym, so I confirmed it also on a few websites like livestrong and womens health.

lilcassers- thanks a lot, ill switch all those out and see how it goes...but other than fruits and veggies throughout the day what kinda of things should I be eating if i'm eating small portions that much?

psuLemon

Here is how I would tweak your nutrition:

-Switch to coconut or almond milk
-Ditch the cereal and go to whole oatmeal (not instant) and add in fruit and or honey with it
-breads (i don't care if they are thins) are simple sugars. switch to whole wheat or ezekiel bread.
-add more veggies in your diet
-eat every 3 hours. small portions. keeps your metabolism high.

Pending calories are equal, none of these will improve weight loss.

psuLemon

Jq2122- A trainer at my gym, so I confirmed it also on a few websites like livestrong and womens health.

lilcassers- thanks a lot, ill switch all those out and see how it goes...but other than fruits and veggies throughout the day what kinda of things should I be eating if i'm eating small portions that much?

There is no benefit from going low carb over a conventional diet unless we are talking from the prevention of binges. In the end, it takes 3500 less calories in than out to lose a lb of fat and it doesn't matter which macro it comes from. Now protein and fats have other benefits such as improved satiety (p & f) and muscle retention (p).

Based on your stats, a daily goal of 1700 calories would be much better. But I would question what kind of exercise are you doing? If you are looking for more composition changes, a good weight training routine would provide better results than if you did just cardio.

Kai_Milla1

"Based on your stats, a daily goal of 1700 calories would be much better. But I would question what kind of exercise are you doing? If you are looking for more composition changes, a good weight training routine would provide better results than if you did just cardio."

Well I dont do just cardio- but I will admit I spend way more time on cardio than strength. I spend about 30 mins of strength training in between my two cardio sessions. I do 3 reps of 8-12 on every circuit that I do. Arms I usually do mostly bicep curls, and two machines a trainer showed me. Shoulders/back I do triceps, lateral side raises, and squats while throwing up the 16lb ball every time. Legs I do wall sits, squats, lunges occasionally, and leg press. Core I do planks, side and regular, the thing that you stand on, put your fore arms on it and lift your legs up to your abs and crunchers.

So what other strength should I do, or what should I replace?

psuLemon

"Based on your stats, a daily goal of 1700 calories would be much better. But I would question what kind of exercise are you doing? If you are looking for more composition changes, a good weight training routine would provide better results than if you did just cardio."

Well I dont do just cardio- but I will admit I spend way more time on cardio than strength. I spend about 30 mins of strength training in between my two cardio sessions. I do 3 reps of 8-12 on every circuit that I do. Arms I usually do mostly bicep curls, and two machines a trainer showed me. Shoulders/back I do triceps, lateral side raises, and squats while throwing up the 16lb ball every time. Legs I do wall sits, squats, lunges occasionally, and leg press. Core I do planks, side and regular, the thing that you stand on, put your fore arms on it and lift your legs up to your abs and crunchers.

So what other strength should I do, or what should I replace?

I would drop some of your cardio and start upping your weight training. Muscle retention is much higher with a good weight training routine and adequate protein. More muscle = leaner and tighter body. There are tons of good beginner programs like strong lift 5x5, beginner lift, new rules of lifting for women or you can use www.bodyrock.tv or www.nerdfitness.com or even youtube. You will also get stronger from using free weights over the smith machines as you are forced to use more muscles. Generally, i would suggest 3-4 days of weight training (8-12 reps is fine) and 1-2 days of cardio. Cardio is great for burning calories but the more you burn, the more you need to eat. So if you splurge on a day or two, just add more cardio, lol .

Kai_Milla1

Very helpful, thanks a lot! I'll look into those strength training tips.

PikaKnight

Jq2122- A trainer at my gym, so I confirmed it also on a few websites like livestrong and womens health.

lilcassers- thanks a lot, ill switch all those out and see how it goes...but other than fruits and veggies throughout the day what kinda of things should I be eating if i'm eating small portions that much?

There is no benefit from going low carb over a conventional diet unless we are talking from the prevention of binges. In the end, it takes 3500 less calories in than out to lose a lb of fat and it doesn't matter which macro it comes from. Now protein and fats have other benefits such as improved satiety (p & f) and muscle retention (p).

Based on your stats, a daily goal of 1700 calories would be much better. But I would question what kind of exercise are you doing? If you are looking for more composition changes, a good weight training routine would provide better results than if you did just cardio.

^This. Carbs, fats, and proteins don't make you fat. eating at a calorie surplus (over your maintenance) is what makes you gain. I've lost a good amount of weight still eating "lots" of carbs.

I also agree what Psulemon says about weight training. I lost a lot of weight on cardio but not much in the inches department and was flabby. Once I focused on weight training, the inches started melting off and I've tightened up in much needed places.

If you are able to get to a gym with weight equipment, then check out Stronglifts, Starting Strength and NROLW. Pick one and go for it! Don't be scared to start getting heavier with the weights

If you don't have access to equipment, check out You Are Your Own Gym and Convict Conditioning.

Kai_Milla1

"^This. Carbs, fats, and proteins don't make you fat. eating at a calorie surplus (over your maintenance) is what makes you gain. I've lost a good amount of weight still eating "lots" of carbs.

I also agree what Psulemon says about weight training. I lost a lot of weight on cardio but not much in the inches department and was flabby. Once I focused on weight training, the inches started melting off and I've tightened up in much needed places.

If you are able to get to a gym with weight equipment, then check out Stronglifts, Starting Strength and NROLW. Pick one and go for it! Don't be scared to start getting heavier with the weights

If you don't have access to equipment, check out You Are Your Own Gym and Convict Conditioning."

Ok this was very helpful also. I do have access to all equipment, but I never really use any of the weight machines besides biceps and legs. How do I know what strong lifts or NROLW is there? What weight training did you start that made such a difference? When I do my reassessments with a trainer I am losing inches everywhere, except arms and legs because im gaining muscle there he said....but I cant tell.

Corinne_Howland

bump.. There's good information in all the replies. I want to save this!