Calories, calories, calories..

kwedman488

So I'm getting really frustrated at the lack of results I'm getting and I'm hoping you all can help me out or offer some advice. I know this is a really repetitive topic, but I digress. I am 5' 2", 20 years old, 107 pounds, and I work out 6 days a week. I work 2 jobs (McDonald's and snack bar at a pool) that require me being on my feet for long periods of time, so when I track it as exercise I track it as "cooking and food preparation", but I only log half of the hours that I worked to avoid over-logging. Because I work 2 jobs, though, my workouts and eating routines end up being nearly the same every single day.

As far as workouts go, I run a 5k every morning up and down hills and such before I eat anything and participate in the 30 day squat and arm challenges that have being cycling the Internet by doing what they say to do for that day right after I get home from running (I have a protein shake afterwards). Later in the afternoon I do my insanity workout(s) for the day (I'm on week 4 right now) an hour after having a protein bar, and I have a protein shake right afterwards as well. On the recovery/yoga days on Thursdays and on fitness test days I try to go to the gym and do my 45 minute circuit training workout on my Nike fitness app on my iPod, although the last couple weeks have been to hectic to do so (the gym was closed on the 4th unfortunately). I also do a 20 minute Pilates video at some point during the day that focuses on legs and abs.

Now I used to eat in the 600-800 calorie range, but I kept reading that starving yourself of too many calories can cause your body to hold onto the fat and such that you have, so I bravely stepped it up to 1200 and have been sticking to it, fluctuating between 1200-1280 ish calories. Now I don't have a food scale, so there is a chance that the calories might be a little bit off, but I use measuring cups and such for what I can and pay close attention to the serving sizes on labels, so even if I was off it wouldn't be by a significant amount. My diary is open to the public, by the way, so any advice on that end would be great. I'll say right now that the weekends are a little bit more iffy than the weekdays since I have longer shifts at work those days, making it harder to fit in workouts and I generally bring a snack to work with me to eat when I get hungry after my break.

I don't have much more to go for weight loss; I'm at the low end for my ideal weight for my height as it is, but I'm trying to lower my body fat percentage. I have all of my fat in my stomach and thigh areas that I'm trying desperately to get rid of. I feel that I'm making slow progress, but not by very much and I have been the same weight for at least 3 or 4 months now and I feel that I don't look all that different now than a couple months ago. Should I drop calories, add more, do more weights kinds of things? I really don't want to drop the activities I'm doing now; I really enjoy them-but I can always add more.

I should note that I did buy a food scale a couple hours ago online, so I'm curious to see how
Everything weighs out in comparison to what I've been estimating.

Any help at all would be awesome-I changed the amount of calories to start with today from 1750 to 1314-->1314 is my calculated BMR. The 1750 I had before was my calculated TDEE-500 calories for weight loss, but since MFP takes exercise out of that already, I was starting to find it confusing on what my net actually was. However my intake and calories burned has been the same. I also have a HRM that I use when exercising, so those calculations are definitely correct.

Tykk

I know it isn't what you want to hear, but if that profile picture is at all accurate, you really don't have any weight to lose. You sound like you're at a great weight, and very healthy through activity. Enjoy it!

kwedman488

I know I'm at a good weight, but toning is really what I'm after now. I really want to have abs, although I know you can't really tone individual areas-which is why I'm doing a lot of fitness to reduce my body fat percentage, but I feel that I'm not getting anywhere. Should I be doing more weights to get more muscle in addition to the cardio I'm doing? That's also why I wanted to know if I should be eating more, since muscle gain requires more calories..

ladynocturne

Yes exactly, it's nearly impossible to gain muscle while having a caloric deficit. You might want to post in the Fitness forum to find out what you need to do to put on the most muscle, since your free time is somewhat limited and valuable.

You'll need to do more lifting and less cardio.

j6o4

if your at the low end of the weight that you want to be but still want to tone up, you might need to bulk up a little or eat at maintenance with some type of strength training to increase you lean body mass. After gaining some lean body mass, then start cutting slowly at like 0.5 - 1 pounds a week. Do a lean bulk and then cut very slowly to preserve your muscle. When you cut, you want to keep as much muscle as possible while losing fat.

ngyoung

For many people their bodies get to a certain range where they feel good and decide to stay put in that range. Yours may be trying to do that as well. I would focus on building strength, endurance, and agility. Many people no matter what weight still nitpick at certain spots. Growing up being bombarded with airbrushed models in everything can skew anyone's perception.

mebepiglet123

I would google weight training and eating clean....
Man I wish I was you...lol

Establishedn1986

You are netting too low. By looking at your diary you are burning over 1000 calories and only eating 1200. You need to eat back some calories.

moondawg14

You don't realize it yet, but you're starving yourself by eating at a deficit AND doing all of that cardio.

Long story short: In your effort to lose weight: You did, and you will. The bad news: You lost muscle.

Ditch the cardio. Start lifting. and start lifting HEAVY. You need to build muscle mass so that you can safely lose some fat mass and still stay healthy and still get the look you're going for.

You're already on the low end of "healthy" so losing WEIGHT is not what you want to do. You need to change your body composition. Get rid of, or ignore your scale. Put the thought of WEIGHT out of your mind. Realize that your goal is a LOOK and not a WEIGHT.

TL;DR: Eat more, and lift really heavy things. The rest will take care of itself.

drop_it_like_a_squat

You don't realize it yet, but you're starving yourself by eating at a deficit AND doing all of that cardio.

Long story short: In your effort to lose weight: You did, and you will. The bad news: You lost muscle.

Ditch the cardio. Start lifting. and start lifting HEAVY. You need to build muscle mass so that you can safely lose some fat mass and still stay healthy and still get the look you're going for.

You're already on the low end of "healthy" so losing WEIGHT is not what you want to do. You need to change your body composition. Get rid of, or ignore your scale. Put the thought of WEIGHT out of your mind. Realize that your goal is a LOOK and not a WEIGHT.

TL;DR: Eat more, and lift really heavy things. The rest will take care of itself.

^ Agreed.

KarenJanine

As you are a fairly low weight already but want to 'tone' then be prepared to gain a bit of weight as you build muscle. Eat at maintenace or above and lift heavy.

Read this for inspiration: http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2011/07/21/meet-staci-your-new-powerlifting-super-hero/