On the right track to lose a size or two?

SkyKC253

Hi there! I'm 21 years old, about 5'5'' and I'm guilty of gaining a great amount of weight in a pretty short amount of time. I used to be about 120 lbs my entire life and then went up to about 175 for a good portion of last year. After limiting my calories back in April I made it to 166 and have been stuck here ever since starting to work out. It seemed like I was losing like crazy when I wasn't exercising. ,

Now I'm eating 1400-1500 calories a day and I'm doing strength training + cardio 6 days a week but after 2 weeks, I saw no change on the scale. In fact I went back up 167. I'm wondering if this really is because I'm building muscle for the first time or really just because I'm doing something wrong. My net calories are usually around 1200 so am I eating enough? I want to see change relatively fast. Hoping to be around 135-140 sometime in September. I thought that was realistic at first, but now I'm losing hope.

I didn't even lose any inches in those first 2 weeks either. I just don't want to be a size Large anymore. I'd like some size 29 jeans before fall and a Medium tee. That's all. Am I on the right track? Why was it so easy before when I wasn't working out?

_KitKat_

You are not gaining enough muscle in a deficient to move the scale. New exercise programs cause water retention as your body tries to make repairs. 1450 net calories would be about your BMR, depending on how active you are your TDEE is probably about 1900-2400. 2lbs per week loss would be a deficient of 1000 calories, this is very aggressive and not the best way, liable to lose some hair, be skinny fat and only look good in clothes. Eating between 1350-1600 should have you lose at a decent rate and give you the energy you need.
Weigh all solid foods, measure all liquids with calories, log EVERYTHING (Oils, condiments, just a Bite's), careful with exercise calories MFP, gym machine almost always way over estimate them. If you use the MFP method eat 50%-75% of exercise calories back, if using TDEE you don't eat them back. You can go to http://www.iifym.com and use their TDEE calculator. For aggressive loss make your goal TDEE-20% and do not eat exercise calories. You really are not big enough for -20% so if that number is below BMR, switch and choice a number over BMR. Also after you lose 10-20 lbs. You will have to recalculate because smaller bodies burn less. Most likely you will eat the same, just rate of loss will slow down. Heavy lifting and enough protein can help retain lean body mass while you lose fat, and make it so at goal you look great naked. For the weight you need to lose 1lb per week loss is probably best. That is TDEE - 500= goal


ETA anything new you try, you have to give it a month at least. Anything less isn't enough time.

JoanneLynn

What kpost323 says ^^^

terbusha

It is very unlikely that you are building muscle at a calorie deficit. It sounds like you need to optimize your diet to get things started back up. How are you eating? Are you sticking to specific calorie/macro goals? How is your exercise going? What are the proportions of strength training and cardio? Are you exercising with intensity?

These are important things to consider. If you're stuck, you need to change something up.

Allan

SkyKC253

Thanks for the details! I calculated my TDEE on a bunch of websites including the one you gave me. I'm looking at about 2490 because I definitely do an intense 30 min cardio and 20-30 min strength training/squats/lunges about 6-7 days a week so my BMR seems to be at about 1520 which is what MyFitnessPal tells me as well.

So now I'm realizing I truly should be eating far more than I have been. Could this be why I'm not losing any pounds so far? I'm think about now eating about 1700-1800 because I truly don't think I could eat more than that without feeling guilty. And then with exercise, my NET CALORIES would probably be around my BMR of 1520.. Does that sound like a good way to go? Should I truly be eating at least 1500 in Net calories? I'd be eating back my exercise calories that way but still far below the -20% of my TDEE.

JoanneLynn

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/833026-important-posts-to-read

_KitKat_

Thanks for the details! I calculated my TDEE on a bunch of websites including the one you gave me. I'm looking at about 2490 because I definitely do an intense 30 min cardio and 20-30 min strength training/squats/lunges about 6-7 days a week so my BMR seems to be at about 1520 which is what MyFitnessPal tells me as well.

So now I'm realizing I truly should be eating far more than I have been. Could this be why I'm not losing any pounds so far? I'm think about now eating about 1700-1800 because I truly don't think I could eat more than that without feeling guilty. And then with exercise, my NET CALORIES would probably be around my BMR of 1520.. Does that sound like a good way to go? Should I truly be eating at least 1500 in Net calories? I'd be eating back my exercise calories that way but still far below the -20% of my TDEE.

With TDEE you do NOT eat exercise calories back. So try 1750 goal and that is just what you eat, you can log exercise and change the calorie count to "1" so that it doesn't mess with you net. Using TDEE if your schedule changes, you will have to adjust your numbers, also probably should adjust them after you lose 15-20lbs. too. Keep your BMR in mind and if you have a week where you are busy, can't hit the gym, sick try to eat at around BMR or 100 over for that week. 1750 per day should be about a 1.5 lbs per week loss.

ETA Eating too little is not why you didn't lose, just starting water weight masks fat loss, other wise you were eating more than you thought (very easy to do), this is the reason weighing your food is so important and/or exercise calories burned were over estimated and you ate too many back. Calorie in - calories out = negative (lose weight), positive(gain), zero (mmaintain).

SkyKC253

So the 1750 calories sounds good but that's less than my TDEE - 20%. I've calculated my cut intake intake to be about 1830. Can I still see that 1.5 lbs/week results if I eat that much? I'm working out 6 days a week so my Net is above my BMR and I'd be eating exactly 20% less than my TDEE

_KitKat_

So the 1750 calories sounds good but that's less than my TDEE - 20%. I've calculated my cut intake intake to be about 1830. Can I still see that 1.5 lbs/week results if I eat that much? I'm working out 6 days a week so my Net is above my BMR and I'd be eating exactly 20% less than my TDEE

TDEE -20% would be best and the loss would be about 1.5 lbs per week. A cut more aggressive than 20% can cause issues, so best to just stick to that.

healthygreek

It's important to reiterate-you did not maintain/gain because you ate too little!
You very likely have not been weighing (solids) and measuring (liquids)!
You have been eating more than you thought.