Putting on weight with strict diet & lots of cardio

Kiayaxo

My diary is open so please stop by and have a look, although I haven't filled it in in a little while it's been much of the same.

My typical day:
weetabix/porridge for breakfast, a salad type lunch and a chicken or fish salad dinner with a yogurt desert.

I'm always around the 1200 kcal mark for a day with little snacky bits included ( I drink ALOT of green tea)

I workout atleast 4 times a week, usually min-fri
typically 20 min running(220cals), 20 min elliptical (100 cals) and 20 min bike(no meter high intensity). Always on interval/fat burn settings. Then I do a small amount of strength with low weights which I've recently added to my routine.


I'm looser at the weekends at about 1600kcal as I work at a cafe so no time to gym and it's tricky to resist a cheeky cappuccino!

I completed 30 day shred then insanity over the summer and lost about half a stone, but since going to gym for the past month I've actually put on 1.5kg.

I would say I'm genuinely putting in my all at the gym and constantly trying to push myself but it seems the harder I try, the more I weigh. I'm not at the point where I'm lean and could be building muscle, there's still a good stone of fat to go!

Please please help me, it's sending me into an obsessed state where all I can think about is going to do cardio trying desperately to shift some fat!

Ninkyou

If you have 75+ lbs to lose 2 lbs/week is ideal,
If you have 40-75 lbs to lose 1.5 lbs/week is ideal,
If you have 25-40 lbs to lose 1 lbs/week is ideal,
If you have 15 -25 lbs to lose 0.5 to 1.0 lbs/week is ideal,
If you have less than 15 lbs to lose 0.5 lbs/week is ideal.

^I got this from somewhere/someone else on the forums, but it's good info. You're about 19 lbs from your goal, right? I would try being less aggressive with your diet. Change your MFP goal to lose either .5 or 1 lbs/week. This will give you more calories to eat, yes. The closer to your goal you are, the less aggressive you should be, to prepare you for maintenance.

This is my opinion/advice. Also, your diary isn't open.

Kiayaxo

Thank you for your advice,
I would say around 19lb would be good.
I'll be giving my goals a rejig to see if this helps. perhaps I'll try adding in some clean mini-meals around brunch and pre gym?
Also I've opened my diary now.

ravenrainchild

I hate to say it, but you're not eating enough to sustain going to the gym that much.

You're not really eating that much period.

PrincessMissDee

I had the same when I was going to the gym twice a day, strictly eating 1200 and I hit a plateau. Not sure about putting on weight. Are you eating 1200 net? That was the mistake I was making last year. I was only ever eating 1200 which meant my net calories for the day would be more like 600/day. Big mistake.

blurppp

Looking at your diary (been a LONG time since you've track hasn't it? :P) you're net is in the negatives. That's how many calories your body is getting.. a negative amount. All over the web, you'll find multiple sources stating that 1200 is the minimum you need to eat. You throw your body into starvation mode if you stay under that extended periods of time and it starts storing calories.

I would personally recommend tracking again. If you're used to be in the negative, I would try to at least make your net calories 500. It does need to be more though..

My body is temperamental too. I can eat low calorie for 3 days then have to eat more for 2, back and forth, to keep the weight loss going.

_Zardoz_

You're eating far more than you think. Without accurate tracking you have no clue what you're eating. You use words like about in your post which shows you don't know. Weigh and measure everything log it then you'll have a real idea of what's going on.

ironanimal

Target of 1000 calories per day. Young person.

jwdieter

OP is not logging. Need to set a realistic target and start logging.

AlongCame_Molly

After seeing your profile, and that you say you want to learn as much as you can about taking care of your body, I'm here to say you are NOT taking very good care of it at all. :frown: Your heart's in the right place, and you seem very determined. That's awesome. But you are not eating nearly enough, and if you really want to learn about fitness, you should start by understanding that to be bikini ready, cardio is going to get you next to NOwhere. Neither is lifting light weights. You are majorly wasting your time. Look into "New Rules of Lifting for Women", or "Starting Strength", or "Stronglifts".

Get into heavy lifting. Like really HEAVY. You will not get bulky. Good luck.

psuLemon

If you have 75+ lbs to lose 2 lbs/week is ideal,
If you have 40-75 lbs to lose 1.5 lbs/week is ideal,
If you have 25-40 lbs to lose 1 lbs/week is ideal,
If you have 15 -25 lbs to lose 0.5 to 1.0 lbs/week is ideal,
If you have less than 15 lbs to lose 0.5 lbs/week is ideal.

^I got this from somewhere/someone else on the forums, but it's good info. You're about 19 lbs from your goal, right? I would try being less aggressive with your diet. Change your MFP goal to lose either .5 or 1 lbs/week. This will give you more calories to eat, yes. The closer to your goal you are, the less aggressive you should be, to prepare you for maintenance.

This is my opinion/advice. Also, your diary isn't open.

I post it all the time, so it might be from me, lol.


OP, how do you even have 20 lbs to lose, you look really thin in your photo. If it's recent, you might be too aggressive with your weight loss goal. Also, drop the cardio and pick up some weights as you will see composition changes. But I suspect you should be eating closer to 2000 calories, not 1000 calories, but we can't tell until you start logging consistently.. at least for a month.

Kiayaxo

I appreciate your honest and helpful reply. I'm very new to this and it's kinda built in that cardio will shift weight so this will be a new way of looking at it for me. As for the lifting, I'm currently learning how to do it correctly, first sessions being last week. As soon as I'm sure I won't hurt myself I'll try heavier stuff.
Are you suggesting to cut the cardio completely or just shift focus?

Kiayaxo

My picture only shows my shoulders which have always been unproportionately thinner than the rest. I've re-addressed my cal goals following the majority advice although it feels soooo wrong to eat more! Thanks for your advice, I'm defo going to srart logging better again

Kiayaxo

So helpful...

Kiayaxo

I think this might be the case, once I've deducted burned cals I'm too far under! I'm going to make a real effort to try to fix this

psuLemon

I appreciate your honest and helpful reply. I'm very new to this and it's kinda built in that cardio will shift weight so this will be a new way of looking at it for me. As for the lifting, I'm currently learning how to do it correctly, first sessions being last week. As soon as I'm sure I won't hurt myself I'll try heavier stuff.
Are you suggesting to cut the cardio completely or just shift focus?

I woudl cut cardio to 2-3 days a week and then do 3-4 days of weight training. You can either do stronglift 5x5, beginner lift 5x5, new rules of lifting for women or you can find some lifting routines on www.nerdfitness.com or youtube. Also, bodybuilding.com has some good beginner routines.

More importantly, getting your nutrition on par is where you will see the greatest results. What is your weight and height anyways and we can evaluate your caloric needs.

Kiayaxo

Okay I'll give that a go over the next few weeks.
I'm 5'10 and weigh 75kg
At the beginning of last week I weighed 73.5, gave it a few days to see if I had retained more water than usual but today checked and it's still 75.
"Caloric" makes me feel panic, is there certain places to find the extra calories such as in my chicken portions that will be better for me?

geekyjock76

1. Get a digital scale and weigh everything so you get a more accurate intake estimate.
2. Cardio is not needed for fat loss - simply being in a calorie deficit will reduce fat mass.
3. Lifting weights of adequate intensity, along with sufficient protein intake, will help minimize lean mass loss in a deficit.
4. Be realistic about your body in terms of total fat mass and choose the suitable caloric deficit.The less weight you have to lose, the smaller the deficit needs to be.
5. We are limited to how much fat mass that can be burned a day - the less fat mass you have, the less can be burned in a 24 hour period. Thus, excessive deficits won't burn more fat but will burn excessive amounts of lean mass. For those in the lower fat category, excessive deficits will also lead to an even greater decline in 24 hour total energy expenditure (meaning your body will begin burning less and less calories while chronically eating low calories). In other words, you'll need to eat substantially less to maintain weight.

psuLemon

Okay I'll give that a go over the next few weeks.
I'm 5'10 and weigh 75kg
At the beginning of last week I weighed 73.5, gave it a few days to see if I had retained more water than usual but today checked and it's still 75.
"Caloric" makes me feel panic, is there certain places to find the extra calories such as in my chicken portions that will be better for me?

Your stats would have you at 2000 calories. I would add another 200 calories a week until you get close to that. I prefer macro's at around 40% carbs, 30% protein and 30% fats. You can get calories from anywhere you feel is beneficial to you. Protein shakes, nuts, larger meat quantities, etc... Heck, look at my diary if you want some ideas.

Also, keep in mind when you up calories, you might see some water weight as you generally add carbs, which add glycogen/water weight. But stick with the plan for a 4-6 weeks once you hit 2000 calories.

Also, make sure you have a food scale to be accurate

Kiayaxo

i took your advice, upped my cals reduced my cardio and added heavy weight training to my routines and just over a week later ive lost 1.5 kg
thank you so much, really appreciated!

MACnificence

Yay ! I'm delighted you got results
Just out of curiosity exercise routine like now ?