Am I Doing Something Wrong?

motivatekait

Hi guys! I've absolutely been killing it for a month now, and and I can't really understand why my weight hasn't changed. I'm not being impatient, I absolutely love what I'm doing and I'm enjoying the process, but I just want to make sure I'm not doing something wrong that's slowing my progress.

Before I started tracking my macros I was probably only eating like 600-800 calories a day (not on purpose), so over the course of the month I've pushed them up gradually from 1200 to around 1300/1400. I'm 5'5" and 129lbs, so my BMI is around 1400. I also used to eat very few carbs, but have since upped my carb intake to 140g. Could my low calorie intake have slowed my metabolism or could I be retaining water from eating more carbs or something?

I work out 5 days a week lifting weights, with 15-20 min of HIIT usually 6 days a week. I weigh and track everything I eat to make sure I am as accurate as possible, and I eat relatively clean. Drink about 2L of water a day. I started lifting weights sort of recently(but have worked out for years), so I understand newbie gains and water retention from sore muscles, but while I can definitely see more definition in my muscles, my measurements haven't budged.

My diary is open for everyone to see. Let me know what you think about my current macro split and general diet intake and I'm definitely open to critique.

emdeesea

None of that is going to matter if you're not in a calorie deficit, and since you are basically already at a healthy BMI, your deficit is a pretty small target to hit.

I notice you don't appear to be weighing your food on a scale. You're using cups and spoon entries. You need to get and use a food scale if you want to be accurate to hit that calorie target.

sijomial

A month is a very short time frame when you have changed both your diet and your exercise.
Give it another month to let those effects settle out then you will have a better idea.

terbusha

It's not surprising that you're not losing weight since you're upping your intake to an appropriate level. To be honest, that's the most important thing. Your metabolism can for sure get reduced from prolonged extreme calorie deficits, so focusing on getting your metabolism up by slowly increasing calories is the right thing to do. The good news is that you're at a great weight. I would continue to hit the weights and HIIT sessions hard and continue SLOWLY upping you're calories. You're doing it right for sure. When you get to the point of maintaining your weight at ~1800-2000 cal/day, I would at that point do a calorie cut to drop some inches if you want. Keep on rocking! You're doing awesome! Also, if you need more help with the reverse diet (that's essentially what you're doing), let me know. I'm always happy to help out.

motivatekait

emdeesea wrote: »

None of that is going to matter if you're not in a calorie deficit, and since you are basically already at a healthy BMI, your deficit is a pretty small target to hit.

I notice you don't appear to be weighing your food on a scale. You're using cups and spoon entries. You need to get and use a food scale if you want to be accurate to hit that calorie target.

I do weigh everything. The cups/spoons are based on the grams in the serving size. If I workout 6 days a week and eat 1400 a day, not including any calories burned from exercise, shouldn't I already be in a deficit?

motivatekait

terbusha wrote: »

It's not surprising that you're not losing weight since you're upping your intake to an appropriate level. To be honest, that's the most important thing. Your metabolism can for sure get reduced from prolonged extreme calorie deficits, so focusing on getting your metabolism up by slowly increasing calories is the right thing to do. The good news is that you're at a great weight. I would continue to hit the weights and HIIT sessions hard and continue SLOWLY upping you're calories. You're doing it right for sure. When you get to the point of maintaining your weight at ~1800-2000 cal/day, I would at that point do a calorie cut to drop some inches if you want. Keep on rocking! You're doing awesome! Also, if you need more help with the reverse diet (that's essentially what you're doing), let me know. I'm always happy to help out.

Ohh that totally makes sense to me, thanks so much! I'm totally okay with temporarily gaining a little at first if it means having a healthier metabolism in the long run. How quickly would you recommend I add in more calories?

zoeysasha37

There is definitely a chance that your retaining water from beginning a new workout routine( lifting) and upping your carb intake ( there's nothing wrong with upping your carbs unless you have a medical condition. I eat around 180g per day and lost all of my weight and have maintained it for three yrs) but it's still best to give it some time and let things settle down so to speak. This is what I would do-get yourself a food scale if you don't already have one. Weigh all your solids. Measuring cups for liquids. I would be as accurate as possible with logging.
Remember- since your already at a healthy weight you don't have much of a deficit. So inaccuracies in your logging could completely wipe out your deficit. You don't have a lot of wiggle room so being accurate is important! Someone who has a lot of weight to lose has more room to play with as far as little inaccuracies go but you don't have that luxury. ( I'm not saying being small is a bad thing, just pointing out that you have less wiggle room then others)

zoeysasha37

sijomial wrote: »

A month is a very short time frame when you have changed both your diet and your exercise.
Give it another month to let those effects settle out then you will have a better idea.

This

amusedmonkey

If your BMR is around 1400 this means your TDEE is somewhere around 1600. You are eating around 1300-1400 and are basically at a 250 calorie deficit or less. You have also been lifting weights. Since you are set to lose weight so slowly it's very possible you have masked your loss by the water retention caused by your new exercise regimen. How often do you weigh yourself? Have you noticed any kind of trend for your weight going even slightly down? The last 5-10 pounds go down very slowly, especially if you are being smart about it with a reasonable reficit like you currently are.

motivatekait

zoeysasha37 wrote: »

There is definitely a chance that your retaining water from beginning a new workout routine( lifting) and upping your carb intake ( there's nothing wrong with upping your carbs unless you have a medical condition. I eat around 180g per day and lost all of my weight and have maintained it for three yrs) but it's still best to give it some time and let things settle down so to speak. This is what I would do-get yourself a food scale if you don't already have one. Weigh all your solids. Measuring cups for liquids. I would be as accurate as possible with logging.
Remember- since your already at a healthy weight you don't have much of a deficit. So inaccuracies in your logging could completely wipe out your deficit. You don't have a lot of wiggle room so being accurate is important! Someone who has a lot of weight to lose has more room to play with as far as little inaccuracies go but you don't have that luxury. ( I'm not saying being small is a bad thing, just pointing out that you have less wiggle room then others)

I weigh everything and try to be as accurate as possible, but definitely will keep my eye on it more... no more little nibbles haha. Thanks so much for your input.

amusedmonkey wrote: »

If your BMR is around 1400 this means your TDEE is somewhere around 1600. You are eating around 1300-1400 and are basically at a 250 calorie deficit or less. You have also been lifting weights. Since you are set to lose weight so slowly it's very possible you have masked your loss by the water retention caused by your new exercise regimen. How often do you weigh yourself? Have you noticed any kind of trend for your weight going even slightly down? The last 5-10 pounds go down very slowly, especially if you are being smart about it with a reasonable reficit like you currently are.

I weigh usually every day just to get an average. It's always between 128-129 (except one 127). What seems to happen is my weight will go from 129, then 128.5, then 128, and then shoots back up to 129 pretty consistently. Very annoying haha but I'm sure you're right about the water retention.