Help, Advice, Encouragement, Ideas...anything???

AmandaJ12

Hello. I am in need of advice or help, or both. About 5 years ago, I lost 40 pounds. I honestly ate a little better and only exercised a little as well. So...fast forward to today. I have been heavy lifting (following a program from bodybuilding.com) for the past 7 weeks. I have also been eating fairly healthy. I do allow myself one "cheat" meal a week. On average I work out 6 days a week for about 40 minutes and I almost always eat about 500 calories less than maintenance.

I have not lost one single ounce. Not one. I weigh myself weekly and the scale has not budged. I did not take measurements before starting the weight lifting, but I don't feel like I've lost many inches (judging by how my clothes fit). Now, I do FEEL better and healthy and definitely stronger, but I really, really need and want to lose about 50 pounds. I feel like I am killing myself at the gym.

Can someone take a look at my diary for the past few weeks and let me know what I may be doing wrong.

THANK YOU VERY MUCH for any advice or words of wisdom.

Amanda

janejellyroll

Consider getting a food scale to measure solid foods. Measuring cups can be very inaccurate.

Also, try to avoid using generic/homemade entries created by other people. You have no idea how they made their version, so it could result in you eating much more than you think (example: your chicken enchilada entry or your cucumber salad entry).

TavistockToad

If you're not enjoying your workouts then stop doing them and find something you enjoy.

Do you log your cheat meal? If so how much are you eating?

What is your calorie goal? Do you weigh everything you eat with scales?

AmandaJ12

I actually love my workouts, they are just tough. I do log my cheat meal. It's usually something chocolate or from Starbucks. My calorie goal before working out is 1500, with my workout, I try to stay under 1800. I do not have a scale.

TavistockToad

AmandaJ12 wrote: »

I actually love my workouts, they are just tough. I do log my cheat meal. It's usually something chocolate or from Starbucks. My calorie goal before working out is 1500, with my workout, I try to stay under 1800. I do not have a scale.

So how do you know you're eating 1500 cals?

middlehaitch

Without a scale you are guesstimating how much you are eating.
Agreeing with the above posters- get a food scale.

Cheers, h.

Juniper210

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01JK4XPVW/ref=twister_B01LAVADW2?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

Buy a scale. It's difficult to lose when you are guessing at how much everything weighs.

StaciMarie1974

Get a food scale. How much rice you fit in the cup, how much peanut butter you get in the tablespoon, etc. is likely more than the 'cup' and 'tablespoon' should hold based on weight. Cups/spoons are terribly inaccurate for solid food.

If you were eating at a deficit, 7 weeks should be enough time to see SOME results on the scale. Enough for the water weight for muscle repair due to a new workout to wear off. So you're eating more than you think.

jpuntney

My advice would be to add a little bit of cardio at least 3 times each week. Lifting weights helps build muscle which will eventually help you to burn more calories, but it will take time and only boosts your metabolism a little. Even the really hard weight training sessions don't burn a lot of calories during the actual work-out. Adding at least 20-30 minutes of cardio 2-3 times per week will really boost how many calories you burn which will lead to fast results.

Phonicblue

Your hard workouts are stress on your body. You are probably overtraining and your cortisol levels are elevated because of it. When you couple that with cutting calories, it's double the stress. Lot's of people make the mistake of thinking more workouts less calories is the answer, but it's not. Your fight or flight hormones (cortisol) will increase and will fight you to hang onto every ounce you have because it is trying to repair muscle and energy stores with basically no food. It thinks it's starving. And if you are not eating enough to repair and grow those muscles after training then they won't grow either, they have very little to work with. You have to feed workouts, there is no way around it.The body really only can handle one thing at a time, you're either losing weight or gaining muscle, not both. So make a decision, one or the other. Forget the scale and do lots of weight training, increasing your calories back to maintenance (trust that you will not gain weight, you won't) Or cut back to 2 or 3 heavy sessions a week (eating maintenance calories on those heavy days) to maintain what you currently have with some added light cardio to lose weight the rest of the days.

mom23mangos

Like others mentioned invest in a scale. I'm also assuming that without the scale you are not using the recipe builder for the things in your diary like the crab salad or meatloaf. It also looks like you have a lot of calorie dense items. Salad dressings, mayo, etc. Your carbs and fats are way higher than your protein. I'd try to decrease those items and up your protein. Use low fat dressing or just flavored vinegar with a little bit of oil and lemon. Also, because you are eating calorie dense meals, it doesn't look like a lot of food. If it keeps you satiated, that's one thing, but if you are hungry or just want more volume, try to keep the fat a little lower.

Sunna_W

Phonicblue wrote: »

Your hard workouts are stress on your body. You are probably overtraining and your cortisol levels are elevated because of it. When you couple that with cutting calories, it's double the stress. Lot's of people make the mistake of thinking more workouts less calories is the answer, but it's not. Your fight or flight hormones (cortisol) will increase and will fight you to hang onto every ounce you have because it is trying to repair muscle and energy stores with basically no food. It thinks it's starving. And if you are not eating enough to repair and grow those muscles after training then they won't grow either, they have very little to work with. You have to feed workouts, there is no way around it.The body really only can handle one thing at a time, you're either losing weight or gaining muscle, not both. So make a decision, one or the other. Forget the scale and do lots of weight training, increasing your calories back to maintenance (trust that you will not gain weight, you won't) Or cut back to 2 or 3 heavy sessions a week (eating maintenance calories on those heavy days) to maintain what you currently have with some added light cardio to lose weight the rest of the days.

Love this post! The only thing that I would add is that maybe tweak the macros and lower your carbs. 40% fat; 45% protein; 15% sugar/carbs. You will lose inches and the lack of carbs will help you lose weight by putting you into "keto-land."

TavistockToad

Phonicblue wrote: »

Your hard workouts are stress on your body. You are probably overtraining and your cortisol levels are elevated because of it. When you couple that with cutting calories, it's double the stress. Lot's of people make the mistake of thinking more workouts less calories is the answer, but it's not. Your fight or flight hormones (cortisol) will increase and will fight you to hang onto every ounce you have because it is trying to repair muscle and energy stores with basically no food. It thinks it's starving. And if you are not eating enough to repair and grow those muscles after training then they won't grow either, they have very little to work with. You have to feed workouts, there is no way around it.The body really only can handle one thing at a time, you're either losing weight or gaining muscle, not both. So make a decision, one or the other. Forget the scale and do lots of weight training, increasing your calories back to maintenance (trust that you will not gain weight, you won't) Or cut back to 2 or 3 heavy sessions a week (eating maintenance calories on those heavy days) to maintain what you currently have with some added light cardio to lose weight the rest of the days.

Eeeeeerm..... So what's recomp then??

TavistockToad

Sunna_W wrote: »

Phonicblue wrote: »

Your hard workouts are stress on your body. You are probably overtraining and your cortisol levels are elevated because of it. When you couple that with cutting calories, it's double the stress. Lot's of people make the mistake of thinking more workouts less calories is the answer, but it's not. Your fight or flight hormones (cortisol) will increase and will fight you to hang onto every ounce you have because it is trying to repair muscle and energy stores with basically no food. It thinks it's starving. And if you are not eating enough to repair and grow those muscles after training then they won't grow either, they have very little to work with. You have to feed workouts, there is no way around it.The body really only can handle one thing at a time, you're either losing weight or gaining muscle, not both. So make a decision, one or the other. Forget the scale and do lots of weight training, increasing your calories back to maintenance (trust that you will not gain weight, you won't) Or cut back to 2 or 3 heavy sessions a week (eating maintenance calories on those heavy days) to maintain what you currently have with some added light cardio to lose weight the rest of the days.

Love this post! The only thing that I would add is that maybe tweak the macros and lower your carbs. 40% fat; 45% protein; 15% sugar/carbs. You will lose inches and the lack of carbs will help you lose weight by putting you into "keto-land."

Low carb doesn't automatically equal weight loss... It's the calorie deficit that does that.

AmandaJ12

Thank you so much everyone. I will order a food scale today!