Should I change my goals?

wideturn

Hey there! I've been using MFP on and off since january and I love the motivation and support I receive on here! I can't afford a personal trainer, nutrition specialist, AND therapist so this has been a best of all worlds for me in terms of motivation. So I'd like to take this moment to thank everyone in this community!

ANYWAYS onto my questions. So I was on a net 1200cal goal from the beginning of the year until June. I took a break from MFP and calorie counting because I became obsessive and started hating my body and myself. I wasn't seeing ANY change whatsoever in weight or inches, I was trying SO hard, and I couldn't ever indulge in anything I wanted to eat. The break seemed to help and I came back and am now on a 1400 calorie a day goal.

I work 4 days a week at a job where I am on my feet for 6-8 hours, so I put myself at lightly active. I'm not sure if I should eat less on the 3 days I have school because I am pretty much sedentary on those days. I workout 6 days a week, 5 of which are HIIT cardio days. I'm doing the Insanity program and it calls for 40% protein which I could only achieve with protein shakes as I'm vegetarian, but I stopped that because it made me bloat too much. I am now on the MFP recommended 50% carb, 30% fat, and 20% protein.

I am 20 years old, 5'3" and currently between 136-134lbs (not sure, I fluctuate) and I weight myself on sundays at the same time. My goal is 125lbs so I'm down to my last 10.

What should my calorie intake be? What should I put my lifestyle as? Or should I eat less on the days that I have school? I need help!! Thanks!

wideturn

Bump! Anyone?

I started at 150 and dropped almost immediately to 138 then stuck there forever. After my break I weighed in at 133 but after a vacation I'm back up again.

findingmyw1ngs

I'm not the best with what goals to have, but I'll say that I am roughly the same height as you (5'4") an I'm small framed with a weight that consistently is under 110. I always put myself as sedentary even though I do exercise most days for at least an hour (usually 2 though) because I figure the net is still roughly the same. This has worked well for me in the past, although I'm now starting to try to re-evaluate and find out how much I need to keep my weight roughly the same (I guess I have to admit it's time to do that even though I love seeing the scale go down).

Start with this and then start playing with going up/down by 50 or so a day for a week to see what you're exact needs are to meet your goals.

Hope this was helpful

terbusha

It is certainly frustrating when progress is not being made as you wish (been there). What's worked best for me and what I recommend to people is that you eat as much as you can while making progress towards your goal. Do you know what your body fat % is? I like that as a goal better than a specific weight because it allows you more freedom from the scale. You can be just as lean, or leaner, at a heavier weight. The difference is muscle, which gives tone and shape. What I do and what I recommend to people is to eat at a calorie level that allows you to drop 1 lb/week. This assumes an average calorie burn from you getting in all of your workouts. This will be different for everyone, so you'll have to do some trial and error to figure it out. I'd start ~1500 cal/day. Hit this goal, along with your macros and getting in your workouts, for a week. If you lose 1 lb, you're good to go. If you lose too much, increase your intake and repeat. If you don't lose enough, reduce your intake a bit and repeat. After a few weeks, you'll figure out what works for you in your situation.

Since you're somewhat stuck on the scale, how are other measures of progress going? Are you seeing reduction in body measurements? Are you getting better at the Insanity workouts? Is your strength and endurance increasing? These measurements of progress are just as important as weight.

Allan