3 weeks dieting and not a lb lost - check my diary?

zekerella

Maybe you're not eating enough calories? I am not training, however I hit a severe plateau when I first started out. I was eating around 1900 calories a day and not losing a dang thing. After two months of this my doctor sent me in for a MedGem which tests your resting metabolic rate. It turned out that just to lay in bed and be alive would take me a little over 2000 calories. Add in walking to classes, walking home, water aerobics and normal life and I was needing around 3000 calories if I wanted to maintain. My dietician bumped me up to 2100 calories a day and since then I have steadily been losing weight.

^^This^^
Also at this level, the types of food as many people mentioned can make an impact.
Good Luck!

Wow I didn't think of that. Maybe I should get my metabolism re-tested. interesting!

embrace_the_darkside

Focus less on "weight" as a metric for success. As an athlete, its likely that you have an immense amount of muscle which is denser than fat. Your weight (and BMI) would misleadingly tell you that you're less fit than you are.

I'd suggest trying to get a pair of calipers or access to a semi-decent body fat measurement place and use those to track your progress over a scale

2BeHappy2

You are a training athlete... so you need the calories and your diary looks great. What I will tell you is that I am doing a self imposed 100 day challenge and I during it I am cutting back on my nut and peanut butter consumption, since one of my friends suggested it. Trying to get that protein from other things like lean meats etc. Perhaps that is something you could try.

I wont lie.. 2 weeks in and I do miss my peanut butter.

I signed up with MFP 3 wks ago, a few days into it I had PB toast and was shocked at how much 1 TBSP was and I haven't had any since....and I miss it :sad:

zekerella

Focus less on "weight" as a metric for success. As an athlete, its likely that you have an immense amount of muscle which is denser than fat. Your weight (and BMI) would misleadingly tell you that you're less fit than you are.

I'd suggest trying to get a pair of calipers or access to a semi-decent body fat measurement place and use those to track your progress over a scale

are calipers easy to use? Ive never used/seen them

FireOpalCO

I would also suggest tracking your water. With as much as you exercise, you may need way more then 8 glasses a day. Making sure your body has enough water to flush it self out, might help. (To be really personal, if your pee isn't close to clear, you need more water.)

I understand about artificial sweeteners as well, some of them give me migraines.

How do you feel about turkey sausage? 3 links has 100 calories and 12 g of protein. Greek yogurt can also be a good source of protein. Both would pair well with fruit or veggies. Also, don't overlook the value of a baked potato (with skin). It might be around 300 calories, but with the other half of your plate being a green veggie, you would probably be at 400 calories with a very filling meal. (That assumes going very light on toppings: one pat of butter, a smidge of steak sauce, etc.) That potato will give you 7g of protein, 18% of your iron, and 7g of fiber.

Edit because I forgot hummus! Hummus and veggie or fruit slices makes an excellent small meal.

embrace_the_darkside

Focus less on "weight" as a metric for success. As an athlete, its likely that you have an immense amount of muscle which is denser than fat. Your weight (and BMI) would misleadingly tell you that you're less fit than you are.

I'd suggest trying to get a pair of calipers or access to a semi-decent body fat measurement place and use those to track your progress over a scale

are calipers easy to use? Ive never used/seen them

They are fairly easy... the best thing to do is to have a friend do them for you or go to a personal trainer who has experience using them to measure BF%.

embrace_the_darkside

Seriously, though... forget tracking by kgs/lbs. If anything, it will do more harm to your training than anything else.

2BeHappy2

Here are 10 terrific sources of lean protein:

1. Fish

2. Seafood

3. Skinless, white-meat poultry

4. Lean beef (including tenderloin, sirloin, eye of round)

5. Skim or low-fat milk

6. Skim or low-fat yogurt

7. Fat-free or low-fat cheese

8. Eggs

9. Lean pork (tenderloin)

10. Beans

FireOpalCO

Another quick source of protein that I just remembered. Costco sells sleeves of frozen turkey burgers for a reasonable price. 200 calories in one, 35 grams of protein. I quite often have one of those (grilled) with a smear of Dijon on a sandwich thin plus a veggie side (steamed corn, green beans, or broccoli). Total meal lands me under 400 calories.

ChrisM8971

Looking at your diary over the last 3 or 4 days I don't think its the fact you go over occasionally and are under at other times, I think it is down to your calorie estimations being wrong

There are a lot of entries showing measurements in cups, tbsp, 1 serving, 1.67 slices, you need to weigh solids and measure liquids.

Are you also using the correct brands or are you choosing entries that look similar?

This in my opinion is the biggest cause of calorie counting inaccuracies on this site

Try weighing foods raw and uncooked and if using fresh ingredients try to use the official MFP entries (the ones without the *)

steffenson

Maybe you're not eating enough calories? I am not training, however I hit a severe plateau when I first started out. I was eating around 1900 calories a day and not losing a dang thing. After two months of this my doctor sent me in for a MedGem which tests your resting metabolic rate. It turned out that just to lay in bed and be alive would take me a little over 2000 calories. Add in walking to classes, walking home, water aerobics and normal life and I was needing around 3000 calories if I wanted to maintain. My dietician bumped me up to 2100 calories a day and since then I have steadily been losing weight.

^^This^^
Also at this level, the types of food as many people mentioned can make an impact.
Good Luck!

Wow I didn't think of that. Maybe I should get my metabolism re-tested. interesting!

First sorry for the long reply.

I would agree with the above. Metabolic slow down IS real.
I am not a racer but I do like doing a lot of biking and 12 months ago I was having the same sort of results as you current are. I was training about 10-15 hours a week and kept dropping my calories with no real loss of weight/body fat. I started with dropping to 1,500 calories per day (eating back exercise calories) lost a couple pounds in 2 days then stalled. After about 3 weeks I dropped to 1,200/day and once again dropped a few pounds in the first couple days then stalled. Finally I dropped to 1,000 cal per day (which including what I burnt off doing exercising meant 1,500-1,800 total eaten) with the same sort of results. At this point I was so ravenously hungry I started to be in a bad mood and not able to function as well. I also had no energy for my workouts and would look forward to the first gel/clif bar I would allow myself 45min into my bike ride after which my energy level would pick up. After a few months late last summer of not tracking calories (and completing my first solo 20+mph bike ride!) I discovered www.iifym.com and used the calculators to calculate out my TDEE and macro nutrients. After testing for a few months last fall I realized it was quite accurate (though works best for steady/weightlifting type workouts where you are not burning multiple thousands of calories in a single century ride). Just remember for TDEE you do NOT eat back your workout calories. This winter I kept on a strict diet/workout plan for 2 months following the TDEE from iifym and while eating 2,450 cal a day (650-950cal more then my lowest 12 months ago- but much more carefully measured) lost at a very STEADY 1.5-2lbs, 0.5% body fat and 0.25” waist measurement per week for all 8 weeks.

As others have been mentioned the start of your race season is not the best time to be dropping weight or re-figuring out your maintenance calories. Any cutting of calories means you are not going to be building muscle very effectively (or at all) and will have less energy to train. To train/compete at the level you are I know you must have great will power and self motivation so if you say you feel like you are starving you might actually be.
If previously you tested out as maintenance calories between 1,950-2,250 then with calculating what you burn exercising you could easily eat 2,000 or even 2,500 on some days and still lose 1lb/week. I know it takes a big leap of faith to up your calories by that much (and normally a couple weeks for your body to readjust from starvation mode to being properly fed) so it is something you will have to decide to do on your own or not though it did work for me. Best of luck!

SnicciFit

Hi! I am a 26yr old female 5'5" 136lb Ironman triathlete who is looking to drop 10-15lbs to reach my race weight of 16% body fat.

I started weighing/counting/logging seriously about 3 weeks ago to achieve my goal...netting 1500 calories a day. Sometimes a little over sometimes a little under.

I've seriously not even lost 1/8th of a lb. I'm feeling discouraged. Can someone look at my diary for the past week and let me know their thoughts?

I drink 8-10 glasses of water a day. And eat mostly lean proteins/whole grains/veggies and a small treat (because deprivation blows) like 1/2c of sherbet or a bite/fun sized Hershey chocolate. Nothing crazy.

Can't help but feel hopeless when you feel like you're doing everything right but nothing is changing.

Changing your bf% won't always result in a change on the scale. I think you need to decide which to measure, weight or bf% and then go from there.

RedHotRunner

Wait...you're running 12 miles at under 6 minutes a mile? 12 miles divided by 70 minutes? That's close to world record territory. I find that amazing.

zekerella

Wait...you're running 12 miles at under 6 minutes a mile? 12 miles divided by 70 minutes? That's close to world record territory. I find that amazing.

Oh god no! Haha woopse. I ran it averaging 6:30/mi that comes to about a little less than 11 miles lol. My bad.

analisedubner

I didn't scan the comments to see if anyone else suggested this, but I was working out 6 days a week, eating under 1200 calories/day and never lost weight UNTIL I tried a Ketosis regimen. I upped my calories to 1400 (so my body stopped clinging so desperately in starvation mode to those fat calories), made sure my fat intake was *higher* than my protein and I cut all processed sugars and grain carbs out of my diet. It is not sustainable (because who can eat that much fat all the time - gross), but it will train your body to eat fat after about a week, and it worked to kick my notoriously sluggish metabolism in the *kitten*. I dropped the majority of my remaining body fat in a month, and when I finally started eating normally again, my metabolism has been much more efficient.

frood

If the goal is related to bf%, what about some recomp? bulk and cut?

Or are have you already done the bulk phase?

SEAFOODMAN

cut calories down to 1500-1600, cut carbs down under 200.

JacquiKerzman

Just went back a couple days but one short thing I can add. I compete professionally so I work out a good bit as well as you do if you are training. I would suggest starting your macros at 40c/40p/20f and seeing how your body responds. I eat around 1800-2200 calories a day BUT my macros are way different than yours and 50% of my fuel is protein. Try messing with your macros and find what is right for you because everyone is different. Best wishes :-)

opoliakova

I would try never going over with calories. Vegetables can be very filling and yet low on calories. Good luck! Keep at it!

lthames0810

Regarding calorie burn from cycling: There is a per mile way of estimating this similar to the running method. It was 33 to 37 cals per mile. I've been trying to find that cycling forum where I read that but I've lost it. Sorry.

My Garmin HR monitor gives me suspiciously high burns. I now use it to get my average heart rate then plug that into the calculators on shape sense.com.

One last thing: It may be that you will find advice more suited to the needs of athletes in the Fitness and Exercise section of these forums. Also there may be a group for triathletes.

Good luck on your weight loss and in your competitions.

MelodyandBarbells

I am not trying to argue or prove them wrong. I am just adding more information as not everyone can get the whole picture from just a food diary/not the same athletic background as that changes things and can make some suggestions actually wrong. I am weeding out the suggestions I know are incorrect and finding the ones that I think might be spot on or something I didn't think about before.

Understandable. I appreciate your trying to explain your situation and sorry if I repeat something that's already been said. But...

You better not be losing weight on 1500 net calories - that is, if you're using the world correctly. I'm a 152 lb 5'5" female and 1500 net is my target to lose 1/2 lb per week and has been working pretty consistently. One main thing to drastically change the equation for you is if you're very active *outside* of exercise. Like if you don't really do cars and walk everywhere , if you're a waitress , mail man or contractor for a living, etc. All things being equal, caloric target of a tinier chick would be less.

Edit: but hey, three weeks is a very short length of time. In the improbable event that you're eating below maintenance, could just be your muscles retaining water for repair due to all of your strenuous physical activity or some such reason

kawaiibabykisses

alrighty the whole "starvation mode" is total crap. Starvation mode is when you're so skinny that you barely have any muscle so you're not burning any calories, and it needs every single calorie to do basic bodily function. This comes from a gradual metabolic adjustment to that low weight, but by the time you actually got to "starvation mode" you'd be well underweight.

Debbie_Ferr

With high caloric foods, be sure to weigh/measure accuately. 'cause even if you're off a bit in measuring, the calories can be off a HUGE amount.

Peanut butter ~ think you're using 3 Tablespoons ? take the amount that you normally do. Then RE-measure with an official measuring Tablespoon. Level it off with the back of a knife, ie run the knife over the top and remove any excess /rounded amount.

you may be surprised that you're consuming more than 3 Tablespoons, ... might even be consuming an extra 100 calories or so.

Sadie_j

I was going to say something similar. Weigh your food. Every time. Also, your fat looks a little high, carbs and protein low. Your body needs fuel to burn.

Debbie_Ferr

Are are you able to track 8 different nutrients ? Please share

My settings only allow 6 nutrients.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/diary_settings

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/reports/printable_diary/zekerella


.

SoreTodayStrongTomorrow222

you want a quick fix? drink more water, dont eat bread, pasta, white rice, potatoes, carrots. - you'll get rid of all the bloat and imediately look and feel thinner.

brown rice, steel cut oatmeal, yams, sweet potatos, lentils, bananas are fine (in moderation) and eat them earlier in the day.
Lay off the bottled salad dressings and use stuff like salsa to add taste. No diet drinks. Avoid dairy as much as possible. Eat veggies that are dark green, red, yellow.... and don't go nuts on the fruit.

** and fit all this into 1600 calories a day. Everything will automatically be lower calorie and you'll get plenty to eat.

Personally, if I am dying of a craving - I have a couple hershey kisses. I can't deprive myself of EVERYTHING!!

Also - looks to me like you're perfectly healthy athlete and your body probably likes exactly where its at so its going to be a struggle to lose more weight. I know everyone says "you dont have to deprive yourself etc etc etc" but I think in this case, you are going to have to.

3dogsrunning

cut calories down to 1500-1600, cut carbs down under 200.

You realize she is training for a distance event right? A half Ironman in the next couple of months if I am correct.

alrighty the whole "starvation mode" is total crap. Starvation mode is when you're so skinny that you barely have any muscle so you're not burning any calories, and it needs every single calorie to do basic bodily function. This comes from a gradual metabolic adjustment to that low weight, but by the time you actually got to "starvation mode" you'd be well underweight.

That's not starvation mode either.
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1077746-starvation-mode-adaptive-thermogenesis-and-weight-loss

Debbie_Ferr

Another quick source of protein that I just remembered. Costco sells sleeves of frozen turkey burgers for a reasonable price. 200 calories in one, 35 grams of protein.

I think you've overstated the protein by 30-40%

http://www.jennieo.com/products/70-Lean-Turkey-Burger-Patties 21 g
http://www.fatsecret.com/calories-nutrition/generic/burger-turkey 25 g

zekerella

Wow thanks everyone for your help and input. I do weigh/measure things. I dont weight my banana - but i do put my pb in a tablespoon and scrap off the excess. I do weight my chicken/sweet potato ect...

at this point I have no problem depriving myself. ]

But Ill also note that I am so hungry all the time. I dont mean "oh i could eat." I mean weak anxious I cant concentrate starving. The thought of eating less makes me want to cry.

I am a stop motion animator as my job which means on my feet all day running around the studio crawling under tables and doing squats and stretches between shots Im not doing contractor work but its not sitting at a desk. I also walk my dog and hour every day and do abs or handstand work 10 minutes every other day that I dont log.

I dont even know how I have time for this all now that I see it written down.

zekerella

I could play with my macros more.

Like I said. I think ill be super spot on this week and see where that gets me. Ill deprive myself of treats and weigh everyhting that goes in my mouth (even though Ill get weird looks haha)