Intake/General help needed please!

RachyD21

Hi guys!

I wonder if you would mind looking over my numbers/intake? I've weighed in today and I'm totally disheartened because I just can't seem to kick start this fat loss again.

I'm not terribly upset with how I look but I do carry most of my fat in a band around my middle and I would do anything in my power for this area to look 'normal'. I'm not even that bothered about the 'love handles' but I'd kill not to be embarrassed by my huge tummy.

I realise I don't have a *lot* of weight to lose and progress won't be fast but I don't seem to be getting anywhere at the minute and in the past I've never had a problem losing.

I'm 5'8", 135lbs, 30yrs old and my bf scales tell me my bf% is 20 (although I've read they're not very accurate).

I was eating 1200 before Insanity, kicked it up to 1400 when I started, and then again to 1600 7 days ago at the suggestion of everyone on the planet (well, it felt like that!)

Average intake over the past 8 days works out at:
Protein 114g
Carbs 193g
Fat 35g

I use an electronic scale to weigh everything & I also track everything daily.

I'm very good with my diet for 6 days of the week and then I'll have one cheat day when I visit my Mum. This generally isn't too excessive, but I will eat anything she's cooked so....... This past week the cheat day totalled 2000 kcals but another week it might be 2500.

Since April I've lost 12lbs, almost entirely whilst I was eating at 1200 a day (with the same cheat day).

I started Insanity 3 weeks ago, today is day 22. I've followed the calendar religiously and completed every work out. I also walk 2-3 times a week for around 30-40 minutes and dabble in a little at-home lifting 2-3 times a week. Don't laugh but I have a book called Smart Girls Lift Dumbbells (or something like that) and I follow the upper body routines every other day (using 6kg weights mostly). My lower body can't handle that and Insanity too. Prior to doing insanity I was walking daily for an average of 40 minutes and following this dumbbell routine every other day.

Apart from my workouts I am pretty sedentary I think. I work from home so, whilst I'm not sat down the whole day, I do spend a lot of time sat at a desk.

I haven't lost any real weight since June. July was on and off as far as diet was concerned though. I didn't go crazy but every week there seemed to be something to hinder my progress, lunch out or similar. Since I started Insanity I've lost 0.8lb and the bf scales say I'm -0.3%bf, which is really quite disheartening.

Weigh-ins look like this:

4/7 136.6
11/7 136.6
18/7 136.6
25/7 135.8
1/8 135.8
8/8 135
15/8 135

I'm not breastfeeding, nor do I have any medical conditions etc.

Any advice you have for me would be greatly appreciated. Maybe I'm missing something that's glaringly obvious? Many thanks in advance.

SideSteel

Tagging

Sarauk2sf

Can you open your food diary please.

RachyD21

Oh gosh, I'm so sorry Sara - I had it set to friends only *face palm*. Should be open now.

Sarauk2sf

When did you start insanity?

RachyD21

Today is day 26. I stuck to the calendar so I've done 6 workouts a week for almost 4 weeks now.

RachyD21

Bumping - but also wanted to add weigh in results from this week (

22/8 - 136.4lbs

That's up 1.4lbs from last week. And 0.6lbs heavier than when I started Insanity, lol. I haven't had a great week diet wise (lack of motivation & feeling sorry for myself. I know it won't get me anywhere good) but it wasn't bad enough to have added 1.4lbs of fat I don't think. Not unless my RMR is ridiculously low. BF scale says I'm up 0.6% from last week though, which is miserable.

Photo comparison added to my profile if that helps any.

I'm definitely thinking I'm going to drop kcals back to 1400 until I hear back from you guys. Thanks in advance

RachyD21

Bump :flowerforyou:

Sarauk2sf

Could you give us your weight, in weekly increments for the couple months prior to to those you gave us. You have changed your intake and activity a bit recently so I want to see what it was doing before.

RachyD21

Ok this is all I have....

2/5 147.2
9/5 144.0
16/5 143.2
23/5 143.2
30/5 141.6
6/6 140.6
13/6 139.6
20/6 137.6
27/6 136.6
4/7 136.6
11/7 136.6
18/7 136.6
25/7 135.8 *
1/8 135.8
8/8 135
15/8 135
22/8 136.4

The * is the day I started Insanity

RachyD21

I know you guys are busy but bumping after 48 as instructed

SideSteel

Posting this as a note for Sara and I:

Averages for August:

1576.964286 188.8214286 38.25 108.7857143




Rachy: Are you doing refeeds? Only asking regarding the high intake days that appear to be about 1/week.

RachyD21

Hi ss

The high intake days are once a week because that's when I visit my Mum! I'm only in the same country as her for a limited amount of time so I'd prefer not to have to change that day up too much - we only have 2 weeks left 'together'. I was following this same pattern when I was losing and tried to workout more/eat less the rest of the week in order to try and account for it. 2 more weeks and it won't be a regular occurrence though.

SideSteel

Do you have gym access?

RachyD21

Unfortunately not any more. I'll be in Tobago for a while and the only gyms are in the big hotels, about a 70 minute drive away. I'm currently in the UK with access to dumbbells however (quite a few; my brother is a body builder) and in 2 weeks I'll have my Fiancés weight lifting room to play in, with a simple bench and various weights.

Today's weigh in looked like this

29/8 134.6 (hurrah!)

Sarauk2sf

PM'ing you

RachyD21

Did you get my reply Sara? I'm not rushing you - just wanted to make sure it hadn't got lost in cyber space

Sarauk2sf

Did you get my reply Sara? I'm not rushing you - just wanted to make sure it hadn't got lost in cyber space

Thanks - I did. I will have a look at in the context of the info in the thread shortly.

RachyD21

Updating with this weeks weigh in

5/9 133.6

Sarauk2sf

Having a look at the trend, it appears that you were holding onto water weight there for a while as your weight loss is now ticking along nicely.

I would tweak your macros a little and get your fats up to nearer 45g, which would mean dropping your carbs but about 16g - so nearer 170g. Apart from that, I would not really change anything re intake as what you are doing appears to be working.

I would recommend adding a more strength training based workout for lower body however, even if that means dropping some of the insanity workouts. I would also look at the routine you are doing in general as the lifting routine should include progressive loading.

RachyD21

Thanks so much Sara :flowerforyou:

My weight does seem to have started dropping again so something's working. I'm really enjoying the Insanity workouts and I'd like to see it through to the end of the 63 days. I've only got 2 weeks left so I'm hoping to finish that off and then get started on more strength training :happy: I ordered TNROLFW yesterday as reading material for a trans-atlantic flight next week so that'll get me motivated I hope!

I'm not sure I follow you on the macros - I'm having one of those days so I'm sorry if I've got this wrapped around my neck somewhere! I've currently got the thingymajigs set to 40/35/25 (c/p/f) and that's giving me 140g/120g/39g. I realise I'm usually over on carbs & under on fat though. It's really hard for me to hit that carb goal as it is because I tend to eat a lot of salad/veg. Mostly because I love it but also to fill me up.

Could you just confirm the %'s I should set the goals to? I'll then try my hardest to stick to it! Thanks in advance.

*Edited because it really is one of those days...

Sarauk2sf

Sorry to confuse - I was suggesting to tweak your macros based on your actual intake (see SideSteel's post above) rather than your settings.

At say 1,600 (which you were close to) your %ages should be nearer

Protein: 110g which is appox. 35% (to the nearest 5% increment)
Fats: 45g which is approx 25%

as minimums, with the balance falling wherever based on preference and energy levels.

You are getting that for protein - but currently are low on fats (both actuals and your settings).

RachyD21

Thank you!! I lowered my calorie goal back to 1400 after two weeks at 1600 as it wasn't getting me anywhere. 1400 seems to be working though, despite it being pretty low. I stuck to it pretty religiously last week and lost 1lb so I'll stick with it. The next week/10 days is going to be ropey as I'm swapping countries but I'll do my best! I'll go and tweak my macros now.

Thank you so much for your time!