Frustrated
HilTri
Posts: 378 Member
I am 5'6 and am currently 137 lbs. I lift three days a week for 75 min plus 10-15 min of cardio warm up. I run two days per week 6-8 miles per day. I hike with my dog about 4 days per week 1-2 miles. My calories from MFP are suggested at 1540. I am pretty acurate with logging my calories. I just can't get back to 130. I do always push myself to increase my weights in the gym and I don't alway eat my calories burned from exercise. Can anyone see anything I am doing wrong or offer suggestions to get back down to 130ish?
1
Replies
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First off, are you using a food scale so therefore accurately recording your calorie intake?
At your height 1540 seems reasonable to lose, I'm smaller and probably not as active as you yet I can lose 0.5lb a week eating 1750-1800 calories.
Tighten your logging is my advice.2 -
At your weight, those pounds will come off very slowly. How long have you had a calorie goal of 1540, and are you hitting it consistently?3
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Oh yeah, I am 48 and eat primarily vegetables and protein. I don't have sweets, although I will enjoy a piece of cake at a birthday celebration.1
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Sounds like you're pretty well off in the exercise area. You should try eating a couple hundred more calories than what MFP is suggesting. I did that once & it helped with losing a couple lbs. With the amt of work you're doing I think your body may need a little more than what you're giving it. Make sure they're healthy calories though! Not Doritos and beer!! lol. good luck
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Not very important.Oh yeah, I am 48
Not important, not necessary, not healthy, not likely.and eat primarily vegetables and protein.
Not important, not necessary.I don't have sweets,
And there you just cancelled the previous rule out.although I will enjoy a piece of cake at a birthday celebration.
Weight management is about calories and time, not food choices and virtue.23 -
kommodevaran wrote: »
Weight management is about calories and time, not food choices and virtue.
well said as usual @kommodevaran2 -
katygruber wrote: »Sounds like you're pretty well off in the exercise area. You should try eating a couple hundred more calories than what MFP is suggesting. I did that once & it helped with losing a couple lbs. With the amt of work you're doing I think your body may need a little more than what you're giving it. Make sure they're healthy calories though! Not Doritos and beer!! lol. good luck
I believe that is the way to go. When you are not eating enough calories your body enters into "save mode", so believe it or not, at some points, eating a bit more actually helps losing weight. I increased my calorie goal by 200 when I hit a plateau (stayed in the same weight for weeks) and it totally helped.35 -
sergzapico1980 wrote: »katygruber wrote: »Sounds like you're pretty well off in the exercise area. You should try eating a couple hundred more calories than what MFP is suggesting. I did that once & it helped with losing a couple lbs. With the amt of work you're doing I think your body may need a little more than what you're giving it. Make sure they're healthy calories though! Not Doritos and beer!! lol. good luck
I believe that is the way to go. When you are not eating enough calories your body enters into "save mode", so believe it or not, at some points, eating a bit more actually helps losing weight. I increased my calorie goal by 200 when I hit a plateau (stayed in the same weight for weeks) and it totally helped.
OP says she is 'pretty accurate' at tracking her calories in her post so she doesn't really know how many calories she is eating. Eating more calories does not work - if the calorie deficit is negligent, weight loss will not happen.4 -
sergzapico1980 wrote: »katygruber wrote: »Sounds like you're pretty well off in the exercise area. You should try eating a couple hundred more calories than what MFP is suggesting. I did that once & it helped with losing a couple lbs. With the amt of work you're doing I think your body may need a little more than what you're giving it. Make sure they're healthy calories though! Not Doritos and beer!! lol. good luck
I believe that is the way to go. When you are not eating enough calories your body enters into "save mode", so believe it or not, at some points, eating a bit more actually helps losing weight. I increased my calorie goal by 200 when I hit a plateau (stayed in the same weight for weeks) and it totally helped.
There is no save mode, the only thing the body does is try to adapt to the calories you are eating and at some point what was once your deficit has become your maintenance. In her case, it's tough to say other than the fact that she is already lean which would make it harder for her to lose more weight. I know on my last cut, once I hit under 160 lbs (I am 5'9 and a male), my caloric deficit became my new maintenance after a couple of months of losing weigh plus I was already lean at that point, I could've stopped there if I wanted to.
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sergzapico1980 wrote: »katygruber wrote: »Sounds like you're pretty well off in the exercise area. You should try eating a couple hundred more calories than what MFP is suggesting. I did that once & it helped with losing a couple lbs. With the amt of work you're doing I think your body may need a little more than what you're giving it. Make sure they're healthy calories though! Not Doritos and beer!! lol. good luck
I believe that is the way to go. When you are not eating enough calories your body enters into "save mode", so believe it or not, at some points, eating a bit more actually helps losing weight. I increased my calorie goal by 200 when I hit a plateau (stayed in the same weight for weeks) and it totally helped.
lol - is this a new way to avoid saying 'starvation mode' ?? whatever you call it, it does not work like this. have you not seen children or anorexics who are actually starving to death? how is it they skipped 'save mode' ??10 -
Muscleflex79 wrote: »sergzapico1980 wrote: »katygruber wrote: »Sounds like you're pretty well off in the exercise area. You should try eating a couple hundred more calories than what MFP is suggesting. I did that once & it helped with losing a couple lbs. With the amt of work you're doing I think your body may need a little more than what you're giving it. Make sure they're healthy calories though! Not Doritos and beer!! lol. good luck
I believe that is the way to go. When you are not eating enough calories your body enters into "save mode", so believe it or not, at some points, eating a bit more actually helps losing weight. I increased my calorie goal by 200 when I hit a plateau (stayed in the same weight for weeks) and it totally helped.
lol - is this a new way to avoid saying 'starvation mode' ?? whatever you call it, it does not work like this. have you not seen children or anorexics who are actually starving to death? how is it they skipped 'save mode' ??
Agreed there is no "save mode" or "starvation mode." That said, I have in the past, on a previous weight-loss journey, managed to knock myself off a plateau/trigger a "whoosh" several times by completely gorging myself for a day or two. Think me, myself, and an entire large pan pizza from Pizza Hut (pineapple and green olives, obviously) gone in <2 days. The key is to go back to healthy eating habits after that pizza, and if I did this on a Friday and Saturday, I would always see a whoosh by Monday or Tuesday that took me lower than my pre-pizza weight.
To be completely honest, I have no idea why this worked and do not recommend it because for all I know I'm just a freak with a body that reacts very strangely to such behavior. It's possible that other people's bodies would react the same, but more likely that they would wipe out a week or more of deficits attempting this feat of gluttony.2 -
JMcGee2018 wrote: »Muscleflex79 wrote: »sergzapico1980 wrote: »katygruber wrote: »Sounds like you're pretty well off in the exercise area. You should try eating a couple hundred more calories than what MFP is suggesting. I did that once & it helped with losing a couple lbs. With the amt of work you're doing I think your body may need a little more than what you're giving it. Make sure they're healthy calories though! Not Doritos and beer!! lol. good luck
I believe that is the way to go. When you are not eating enough calories your body enters into "save mode", so believe it or not, at some points, eating a bit more actually helps losing weight. I increased my calorie goal by 200 when I hit a plateau (stayed in the same weight for weeks) and it totally helped.
lol - is this a new way to avoid saying 'starvation mode' ?? whatever you call it, it does not work like this. have you not seen children or anorexics who are actually starving to death? how is it they skipped 'save mode' ??
Agreed there is no "save mode" or "starvation mode." That said, I have in the past, on a previous weight-loss journey, managed to knock myself off a plateau/trigger a "whoosh" several times by completely gorging myself for a day or two. Think me, myself, and an entire large pan pizza from Pizza Hut (pineapple and green olives, obviously) gone in <2 days. The key is to go back to healthy eating habits after that pizza, and if I did this on a Friday and Saturday, I would always see a whoosh by Monday or Tuesday that took me lower than my pre-pizza weight.
To be completely honest, I have no idea why this worked and do not recommend it because for all I know I'm just a freak with a body that reacts very strangely to such behavior. It's possible that other people's bodies would react the same, but more likely that they would wipe out a week or more of deficits attempting this feat of gluttony.
I believe this is why alot of body builders have a cheat day each week. Just Google "the rock cheat day", people can get pretty crazy with them, lol! From what I have read taking in excess calories for just a day or two can help to confuse your metabolism enough that it starts working harder/better. I know your really attached to 130, but you might have to shake things up to get there.8 -
When you say you just can't get to 130 - how long a time frame are we talking about? How long have you been at 137? How consistent has your lifestyle been in that time? Exercise? Diet?
5'6" and 137lbs, my guess is that your margins are going to be pretty tight, and any deviation from whatever your established consistency is could be enough to skew the readings on a scale. Are you using anything to track trend weight vs static readings?2 -
JMcGee2018 wrote: »Muscleflex79 wrote: »sergzapico1980 wrote: »katygruber wrote: »Sounds like you're pretty well off in the exercise area. You should try eating a couple hundred more calories than what MFP is suggesting. I did that once & it helped with losing a couple lbs. With the amt of work you're doing I think your body may need a little more than what you're giving it. Make sure they're healthy calories though! Not Doritos and beer!! lol. good luck
I believe that is the way to go. When you are not eating enough calories your body enters into "save mode", so believe it or not, at some points, eating a bit more actually helps losing weight. I increased my calorie goal by 200 when I hit a plateau (stayed in the same weight for weeks) and it totally helped.
lol - is this a new way to avoid saying 'starvation mode' ?? whatever you call it, it does not work like this. have you not seen children or anorexics who are actually starving to death? how is it they skipped 'save mode' ??
Agreed there is no "save mode" or "starvation mode." That said, I have in the past, on a previous weight-loss journey, managed to knock myself off a plateau/trigger a "whoosh" several times by completely gorging myself for a day or two. Think me, myself, and an entire large pan pizza from Pizza Hut (pineapple and green olives, obviously) gone in <2 days. The key is to go back to healthy eating habits after that pizza, and if I did this on a Friday and Saturday, I would always see a whoosh by Monday or Tuesday that took me lower than my pre-pizza weight.
To be completely honest, I have no idea why this worked and do not recommend it because for all I know I'm just a freak with a body that reacts very strangely to such behavior. It's possible that other people's bodies would react the same, but more likely that they would wipe out a week or more of deficits attempting this feat of gluttony.
Green olives DO NOT belong on pizza!!!11 -
OP, I would suggest investing in a food scale, and weighing everything. It can be tedious, but you'll be amazed at the difference between measuring, weighing, and serving sizes. Oh, the day I realized my eyeballed tablespoon of peanut butter was actually three tablespoons...
Give it a couple weeks of religiously tracking your intake, weighing foods and then see how it goes. You would be surprised at what calories you are actually taking in.
That being said, with your height and weight, it may take some time for those pounds to come off. Slower, sustained weight loss is better than rapid, extreme cuts.
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OP, if you are weighing solids and measuring liquids and still not losing after 3-4 weeks then congrats you found your maintenance cals at your current weight, try cutting 100-200 cals from there. If you don't weigh and measure do that, as more than likely you should be losing at 1540 cals1
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What's wrong with 5'6" and 137?
Do you look fat?
>
Darren Sproles, NFL RB 5'6" 190 lbs. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darren_Sproles
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What's wrong with 5'6" and 137?
Do you look fat?
>
Darren Sproles, NFL RB 5'6" 190 lbs. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darren_Sproles
My profile pic is me at 5'6" 142. Sproles carries a lot of muscle mass, look at his arms, and his legs are tree trunks0 -
What's wrong with 5'6" and 137?
Do you look fat?
>
Darren Sproles, NFL RB 5'6" 190 lbs. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darren_Sproles
My profile pic is me at 5'6" 142. Sproles carries a lot of muscle mass, look at his arms, and his legs are tree trunks
You've got visible abs at 142. If OP is in a similar boat, she might not need to go much below 137; recomp might be a better goal.1 -
Is it possible you aren't drinking enough water? I find that can lead to plateaus.9
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Great point! I drink 40-60oz per day, maybe I will up that amount4
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