Intake questions

j99li

Hi,

I have recently started stronglifts 5x5 (just completed the second week) and I am feeling so hungry all the time! I would love some opinion on food intake!

1) What's your current intake of calories, on average? This is TOTAL CALORIES EATEN so this would include anything you eat for exercise calories. In other words, how much are you eating? It was 1735, but I have upped it yesterday to 1,795

2) What's your current average intake of protein, carbs, and fats, in grams? Carbs: 165 Fat: 98 Protein: 165

3) Do you use a food scale and measure everything? I am trying my best to measure lunches and dinners and breakfasts during the weekdays. I sometimes forget to measure on the weekends for lunch and dinner.

4) Do you track all of your intake, daily? (Everything?) Yes but sometimes I dont log a snack that I only have a bite of

5) Do you take cheat days or days off? I will usually have one cheat meal a week (usually on weekends)

6) How much weight have you lost so far? 55lbs

7) What is your activity like, both exercise and non-exercise? I am an accountant so I have a full-on desk job. I walk to and from the subway station. Currently I work out mon, wed, fri for an hr (this is when I do stronglifts, and then cardio during whatever time is left over); On tues and thurs, I spin for an hour

8) How long have you eaten at your previous amount and what happened in that time frame? I was eating at 1735 for a long time and I lost a lot of weight during that time, but for the past month, my weight has stalled and I was not losing. Also, I was feeling really hungry the past couple of weeks, even if I just had lunch

9) What's your height, current weight and if you know it, bodyfat%? Height: 5'7; current weight: 175-180 fluctuations; I got my bodyfat measured at the gym by stepping on a scale that have metal under my feet and it said 33% (I dont know if this is trust worthy)

10) If you're stalled, for how long and is it a complete stall (zero change in weight)? I have been stalled for a month, and am continuing to stall. I also seem to be constantly fluctuating between weight

Thanks so much in advance for your hard work!

SideSteel

Tagging.

Sarauk2sf

^^yerp

SideSteel

You are logging in the upper 1600s for calorie intake but it is incredibly likely that you are eating well over this amount based on your admitted logging inaccuracies (we all have this to some degree or another).

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/872212-you-re-probably-eating-more-than-you-think


We would like you to do the following exactly as written for two weeks. You may consider this a pain in the *kitten* but you will likely learn some important lessons in this process along with this breaking your plateau, most likely.

Get a food scale and use it meticulously.
Log everything. EVERYTHING. No bites of snacks go unlogged.
No eyeballing things. If you eat it, put it on the food scale and log it.

Please set your calories and macronutrients at the following levels:

Calories: 1700
Protein: 140
Fat: 60
Carbs: 150

You do not eat back exercise calories on the above numbers.


Please post here with any questions and please follow up with us in two weeks with an update so we can then make any necessary adjustments to the above numbers.

j99li

Hi thank you for that.

I was only able to update today as I did not have access to a computer to update properly. I dont know how to do it on the app.

I weigh in on Saturdays so I will provide an update on either Aug 10, or Aug 17.

Thanks so much!

Sarauk2sf

Unlocked at OPs request

j99li

Ok, so I have completed almost 4 weeks of Stronglifts. On July 27, I was able to get down to 172.2. This morning, I felt excessively bloated and so I peeked at the scale....175.8!!!!!!

I am feeling super hungry all the time, and I have not been eating back my exercise calories as suggested. So, for example, with today's spin class calories, I really am only netting about 600-700 calories a day. I was making progress before at 1790 calories a day and eating some back...this is making me stall and gain some weight.

Also, I have been logging in my foods and measuring everything. I am not sure what to do to get myself back down to that 172.2. Also, my TOM is next week (sorry for the info steel)

Any tips/suggestions?

Sarauk2sf

Ok, so I have completed almost 4 weeks of Stronglifts. On July 27, I was able to get down to 172.2. This morning, I felt excessively bloated and so I peeked at the scale....175.8!!!!!!

I am feeling super hungry all the time, and I have not been eating back my exercise calories as suggested. So, for example, with today's spin class calories, I really am only netting about 600-700 calories a day. I was making progress before at 1790 calories a day and eating some back...this is making me stall and gain some weight.

Also, I have been logging in my foods and measuring everything. I am not sure what to do to get myself back down to that 172.2. Also, my TOM is next week (sorry for the info steel)

Any tips/suggestions?

I am a little confused. When we pulled your diary, you were logging in the upper 1,600, gross, and you were stalled per your OP.

What was your weigh in a week ago?

j99li

173.2

Sarauk2sf

The only way it is fat gain is if you ate a *kitten* ton of food. Your cycle is next week which likely means that you are retaining extra water.

Are you hungrier on certain days v others? Have you been hungrier more recently?

j99li

I just seem hungry all the time.

Recently, I've been having a entire avocado with my salad....is that too much? I know avocados have a lot of fat, could this attribute to weight gain?

Sarauk2sf

I just seem hungry all the time.

Recently, I've been having a entire avocado with my salad....is that too much? I know avocados have a lot of fat, could this attribute to weight gain?

Not if you are under your calorie target,

Temporary weight gain due to water can be attributed to carbs however.

I had a quick look at your diary - your protein is lower than recommended. Protein is satiating so I would focus on trying to increase that as well as getting more higher volume food in like veggies. You get quite a bit of fruit but that can be high in cals, depending on the fruit. I am not saying to stop eating fruit at all. Just maybe think about volume v calories (and carbs).

How has your energy been?

j99li

energy has been a touch low. Sometimes i feel like my energy is crashing in the afternoon and that's when I crave sugar like my life depends on it.

What would you recommend to have to increase my protein intake?

Sarauk2sf

energy has been a touch low. Sometimes i feel like my energy is crashing in the afternoon and that's when I crave sugar like my life depends on it.

What would you recommend to have to increase my protein intake?

Here is a list of higher protein foods compared to calories:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/926789-protein-sources

j99li

Should I give the current nutrition another few more weeks? My concern isthat I am grossing 1700, however, after exercising, I am only netting about 1100 or less.

Sarauk2sf

Should I give the current nutrition another few more weeks? My concern isthat I am grossing 1700, however, after exercising, I am only netting about 1100 or less.

Yes please. I would like to see what happens when you take out water weight fluctuations so we get a better trend line.

This may help to have a read of: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1058378-oh-noes-i-am-eating-below-my-bmr

j99li

Ok. I will provide an update again in 2 weeks! Thanks Sara!

Sarauk2sf

Locking again until ready to update. Thanks

j99li

Good morning Sara and SideSteel!

I weighed in this morning and I am still at 175.4. I have been weighing everything and trying my best to get the correct macros. (please review food intake and weight as I had dropped to 172.2 three weeks ago)

I have finished my 5th week of stronglifts 5x5. Squatting 105lbs, bench 70lbs, rowing 85lbs, OHP 60lbs, and deadlifting 90lbs. I know of this "newbie gains" but i feel that that is now over.

I am feeling quite hungry on some days and my energy level hasn't been too high. not low; but not high. My TOM started yesterday.

I have also been reading the new rules of lifting for women, and that is suggesting that i eat approx 1751 calories on non-workout days and 2,024 calories on workout days:

This is the assumptions i made for that:
- weight in kg: 80
- RMR is 1,367.
- BMI is 27.5 (i think...i got this number from a chart)
the number of calories to eat per day has already been reduced by 300 calories from my supposed maintenance calories.

please help me figure this out as to why my weightloss has stalled.

I am currently doing strong lifts 3 times a week. On those days, I aim to exercise for 1 hr, so whatever time is left over after lifting is used on the elliptical. On tues and thurs, i do spin for an hr. Sat and sun are my rest days.

Thanks for all your help!

j99li

24-hr bump

Sarauk2sf

Hi! we will try to get to this today but we ask people to bump after 48 hours.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/910264-why-dont-you-reply-to-my-post-you-pecker

j99li

Oops! My bad!

j99li

48 hr bump

Sarauk2sf

Sorry - not ignoring you on purpose. We will get to this shortly.

j99li

protein powder and ice cream bump :bigsmile:

Sarauk2sf

Hi!

Our original advice was:

Calories: 1700
Protein: 140
Fat: 60
Carbs: 150

Over the last 2 weeks or so, since you updated us, you have had. per your diary:

Calories: 1650
Protein: 106
Fat: 53
Carbs: 190

Also, you have quite a few entries that are throwing the numbers off:

- you have quite a few meals out. I am not saying that you cannot eat out, but these are never accurate as you cannot control how much of each ingredient is used
- you are using the net carb entry for some, so your carbs are higher than noted
- you have some entries with no macros, which will also be throwing your macros above off
- you have quite a few 'homemade' selections from the database. If these are not done by using the recipe builder, they will not be accurate, and they often do not include macros.

I would recommend checking all your entries to ensure accuracy. As a check, look at the macros and see if they add up to the total calories. Protein and carbs are 4 calories per gram and fat is 9g. They will not completely add as there is rounding and fiber is about 2.5g per calorie, depending on the type of fiber, but it should give you an indication if they are in the ball park.


As an additional question, do you have PCOS or thyroid issues that you are aware of?

j99li

Good morning!

I dont usually eat out. At max I eat out twice a week in total. And I always use the nutritional values provided by restaurants.

I am unaware of any conditions that I may have. I just know that I get pretty hungry easily. For example, last Wed or Thursday, I was ravenous but I didn't allow myself to eat because I had already set up my food intake.

I will try to use more accuracy in logging macros but it is difficult when I have my bf or parents cook food for me. Also, as mentioned in my previous post update:

I have also been reading the new rules of lifting for women, and that is suggesting that i eat approx 1751 calories on non-workout days and 2,024 calories on workout days:

This is the assumptions i made for that:
- weight in kg: 80
- RMR is 1,367.
- BMI is 27.5 (i think...i got this number from a chart)
the number of calories to eat per day has already been reduced by 300 calories from my supposed maintenance calories.

Please let me know your thoughts. I am uncertain if I am eating enough for what I am working on. I am still lifting 3x a week and spinning twice a week.

I have gotten my squats to 120lbs, bench 75, ohp 65, deadlift 100.

Also, I dont know what I am at this morning due to a disastrous eating yesterday at the Canadian Exhibition (fair foods)....

Thanks!

Sarauk2sf

I noted your prior post re NROL recommendations but we still recommend for your intake to be as you have stated. Upping calories will not make you lose weight faster as you will be decreasing your deficit.

j99li

Ok. Do you have any other tips? Since I have decreased my intake to 1700, I have not lost any weight.

Sarauk2sf

Yes, stick to the recommendations we made.

j99li

Alright. What are the implications of eating more? I have been feeling really ravenous the past 2 days. I am also wondering if this impacts my lifting.