Confused and Stuck

RubyRunner14

Good morning, folks. I've been walking around MFP and reading articles and discussions for a long while now, but I figured now that I'd love to join in on the fun. I have read the stickies, including the "Newbies Read Me" and various other important posts.

Long story short, I have been dragging along my fitness journey for about 13 months. My goal was to lose 20lbs of fat. I started at 141 and right now I'm at 125.

I started last June, swimming 30 - 60 mins a day 5-6x a week. I was severely uneducated and ate about 700 calories a day. (I did BMR - 500 cals, not TDEE - 500 cals... TDEE wasn't even in my vocab until very recently, actually.) I lost 1 -2 lbs a week, of course a lot was muscle lost.

From Sept - Nov I ate to maintain due to marching band. October was a BAD month for me, I ate what I'd consider my maintenance calories. During that three month period I ate maintenance calories but weight loss was always on my mind.

In December I began running and improved pretty well at 1500 cals a day intake. Jan I was eating 1700 cals intake, and by May my intake was about 1900 intake.

Today, I currently eat about 2000 - 2300 a day (maintenance). I am very strict about my food, I eat clean, track macros and cals by hand, and stray from my diet once a month at most, typically by social pressure. I lift 3x a week and run 6 miles 3x a week, one day rest. I did Jillian Michaels/Insanity for a week or so in exchange for running, I like the programs but I prefer lifting and running... I have no issue going back to those instead of one or two running sessions, though. I am currently goaled towards muscle gain (unless I should not be), but it will take a while. I can feel my abs under my fat... they are nice and defined and perky, but there's the fat there, of course.

My problem, I'm sure you can tell, is that the fat hasn't disappeared! I still have fat on my belly, lower and upper back, and armpits (armpit fat is genetic but I'd figure I'd try anyways). I have tried a calorie deficit... doesn't do much. Anything less than 1700 - 1800 cals a day and I'm run down, hungry, dizzy and sluggish the entire time. So I don't go under that.

I have band camp starting Friday, I'll be marching w/drum from 9-9 for about 12 days in the summer heat. Not sure if I can take advantage somehow of all the activity, maybe add a deficit to help the fat go.

Considering I am still a young person, and I've been dragging myself along for over a year, I just want the weight loss part of my journey over. I'm really sick of this, considering other my age were finished in about 5 months flat. (Which means I probably would have been done in Feb/Mar.) I want to enjoy being young while I can, not worrying about missing one workout/eating bad for one meal. I understand a healthy lifestyle doesn't have an expiration date, and I plan to never return to where I was, but I just want to be at the point where I'm able to focus on maintaining my weight and lifestyle, if that makes sense.

I apologize for the "beefiness" of the post. Thanks for all your help, folks.

ladynocturne

Honestly, I think you're doing great. You've really learned a lot about your body and health that takes people... sometimes decades to understand.

It's my thought that perhaps weight training and putting on muscle is the best for your current situation. If you post in the fitness forum you will most likely receive the most educated information on calories and macros to achieve this.

One thing I'd like to point out is that it's nearly impossible to gain muscle while eating at a deficit, and sometimes not even maintenance is enough. From what I've seen as recommendations: Eat 10-20% above your TDEE for 6 weeks, then do a 10% TDEE cut to lose the fat you gained for another 6 weeks. Repeat until you like what you see.

There are a lot of really buff/ripped women and men on this site who I am sure wouldn't mind you picking their brains

RubyRunner14

Thanks for the kind words and advice, ladynocturne, much appreciated. I'll walk over to the fitness forum and take a peek.