Cannot lose weight and very frustrated.

erickirb

I guess I just need to wrap my brain around 'net' calories. At this point mine are consistently between 100-500, and MFP and other resources tell me to keep this above 800 at the least.

Blah. This is so much more complicated than it needs to be, I just cannot for the life of me get the scale to move whatsoever. Hopefully getting my diet more balanced and starting lifting will help. Otherwise I'm honestly just going to give up.

1200 Net is the minimum you should be getting. As it is difficult to get enough fat, protein, vitamins and minerals on less. And I would suggest even higher. Since you are not obese you should be netting your BMR so if your BMR is 1450 your net should be 1450 so if you burn 300 cals you should eat 1750 1450+300)

Seveen

have a couple of glasses of red wine :-)

sometimes a "shock" to my system gets me off that plateau

Ely82010

To the OP:

Check your dairy again. In my opinion, your protein intake is waaay too low. You are eating less protein that what MFP recommends and this database numbers are very low to start with.

If you had been in a very low carb diet (less than 50 grs/day) for few months, your body may be adjusting to the increase in daily carb consumption.

Sometimes, we need to try and try different things again, over and over again. I also suggest that you check with your doctor to make sure that everything is OK with your thyroid and hormones in general and that you are not taking any medication (or birth control pills), that may affect your weight,.

Don't' give up, keep eating healthy and exercising. Even if you don't lose much weight or inches, it is a healthy life style.

gleechick609

1450 x 1.2 = 1740 (TDEE)

Start eating 1740 calories and use your exercise burn as your deficit. Start lifting heavy 3 times a week , cardio 1-2 times a week and calculate your macros to fit your body. 1 lb of protein per lean body mass and .45 grams of fat per lean body mass. Carbs will fill automatically. Usually 40/30/30 is a good ratio but it depends on everyones lean body mass. My ratio is 45/25/25. Good luck

yoovie

the only thing I would suggest is to lift heavy weights instead of just doing toning and if you are doing P90x twice a day... take your BMR off of sedentary O_O

Best of luck!!!!!!!!

picimadar

You guys are the greatest, thanks for putting up with my ranting. As of right now I'm not exercising, I've been sleeping terribly due to (new) allergies to my cat (sad story in itself), and I've just been too wiped out to.

I'll work my way up to NETTING 1600-1700 in the next week or so, but sweet jesus that seems like so much food. I also agree about the protein, I'll be supplementing that for sure.

I've got the requisition for bloodwork to have my thyroid checked too, am going in to the lab to have it sent out tomorrow. Time to start hitting the actual gym again, I guess.

abdmps

You gonna LOVE the Fitbit. Got it about 2 weeks ago!

debradloff

Hi there-

It can be really difficult when you are trying so many different things and not seeing the results you want. I understand your frustration. If you don't mind my asking, what kinds of foods are you eating? Do you think you may have any food allergies that you are unaware of? Perhaps a thyroid deficiency that has gone undiagnosed?

If you TRULY don't believe that you are eating too little for what you are doing ( I don't know that only you know what you are doing, we only go based on what you tell us), I would definitely see if there may be another underlying issue that you don't know about.

I also agree that you should start lifting heavier weights, and eating more protein to help build the muscle. When you put more muscle on your body, you burn more fat.

Here would be my big tip for you, and you can take this or leave it as you choose: I think that if you give your body enough nutrient dense food to feel satisfied, you will lose the weight. For example: eating a plate full of vegetables and fresh greens( romaine, kale, spinach, cabbage, beets, etc) and some lean protein( egg/egg white, chicken, fish, turkey, lentils, yogurt, peanut butter, small amounts of raw almonds, and walnuts) will give your body the nutrition it needs. PERHAPS you are already doing this, if so, GREAT, then forget what I said.

I will say this, I myself am almost 32. I'm 5'5( not as short as you, so I'm not trying to say that I "Know" what your going through, as I do not), and I hit a terrible wall when I turned 30, and had to change up how I was eating as well as the way I was exercising in order to get results. I have always been active( I'm a yoga teacher), but what I was doing wasn't enough, but when I began filling my plate will mostly green, and adding in everything else as "side" dishes, I lost 20lbs in 3 months naturally. Again, I'm not trying to say that what worked for me will automatically work for you, but anything is worth a try.

The book I read to help me was: Eat to live

You could also try looking into the body type books, that believe you should eat and exercise for your particular body type.

Again, not trying to tell you that I know WHAT you should do, but give options of things that you might try if you think they will help you get closer to breaking your plateau.

All the best!

erickirb

You guys are the greatest, thanks for putting up with my ranting. As of right now I'm not exercising, I've been sleeping terribly due to (new) allergies to my cat (sad story in itself), and I've just been too wiped out to.

I'll work my way up to NETTING 1600-1700 in the next week or so, but sweet jesus that seems like so much food. I also agree about the protein, I'll be supplementing that for sure.

I've got the requisition for bloodwork to have my thyroid checked too, am going in to the lab to have it sent out tomorrow. Time to start hitting the actual gym again, I guess.

You don't need to net that much, just your BMR.

picimadar

Right. BMR. Gotcha

So, when I start lifting, do I eat more? If I do cardio, should I eat back my burns then, as well, or just partly?

BondBomb

Again, I'm just not going to argue about how much I'm eating. Saying "OMG!!111! YOU HAVE TO EAT 1200 A DAY!" is as stupid as believing that your BMI is the be-all, end-all of what you should weigh when you're not average height and average build (by which I mean incredibly stupid, in case anyone is confused).

Doing HIIT in the morning and lifting or doing strength at night seems to be the general recommendation. Now, if only I knew how to lift XD

I guess I just don't know what I'm doing wrong right now. I've been doing strength and cardio alternating days because of p90's schedule, so maybe I'm just not lifting heavy enough?

Should I be trying to burn more calories with exercise, or could I theoretically 'overdo it' because my calorie intake is already quite low?

I understand that. But you may feel, performance-wise or strength-wise, eating more may be benefial. I eat to support my activity level.

I do suggest heavy lifting tho. You'll see the most dramatic change in your body. Regardless of what the scale says.

I agree with this. You and I are almost the same stats. Im 5'3 140. The scale was stuck for a long time until I started lifting heavy (only a few weeks). Its moving again and its moving fast. Plus I was looking at my arms in the the mirror and they are looking great!

chiera88

It's definitely more about composition and fitness for me than just a number on the scale, but seeing that progress is nice too, and the fact that I don't feel significantly stronger or 'leaner' is troubling.

As far as lifting heavy, I guess I'll have to start. I've been trying to become more adjusted to strength training as I've never really done it before. That's really good advice!

Also, 1000-1100 is not too low for someone who's 5'1". I have an extremely small frame, and I'm carrying a lot of excess fat for my body size. Eating this much was recommended to me before by a dietician, however that was assuming little to no exercise.

EDIT: as far as 'netting' calories, I don't pay attention to that at all. My deficit is 500-1000 depending on how much I exercise during the day, and I keep it that way. My 'net' calories are typically pretty low.

i'm 5'1 also so i must say you're eating too little. maybe just maybe if you didn't exercise at all it might be fine but burning all those calories, you need to eat more to fuel your body. i've lost 13 lbs so far. you have to pay attention to the net calories you're getting each day. that's where you should focus. it may seem confusing but as long as you still have a defecit (approx 500) you'll lose weight (or at least body fat which matters not the number on the scale) good luck. i'm sure pleanty of ppl will respond to help with more detail

flong1975

Now, if only I knew how to lift XD

I am just learning to lift - I do not know anyone that can show me so I am watching videos and reading A LOT about it... google "weight lifting for women" and go from there!

good luck!

jlr_12

I guess I just need to wrap my brain around 'net' calories. At this point mine are consistently between 100-500, and MFP and other resources tell me to keep this above 800 at the least.

Blah. This is so much more complicated than it needs to be, I just cannot for the life of me get the scale to move whatsoever. Hopefully getting my diet more balanced and starting lifting will help. Otherwise I'm honestly just going to give up.

100-500??? Was it like this all along, or just since you've switched to 1000-1100 calories a day? Net calories is the most important number you should be looking at. You really should have at least 1200 NET at the end of the day. 500 calories is not enough to fuel your body, and that's all your giving it. Just because you eat 1100 calories doesn't mean your body gets it...if you're burning off 500 through exercise, then you're only left with 600 for fuel (to run your bodily functions..to keep you ALIVE). I'm really not trying to sound mean here, and I hope it's not coming across that way...but if you want to do well at this I think you really need to do some reading up on how the human body actually works. If you were only netting 100-500 even BEFORE when you were eating more, than that is 100% your problem with losing weight.

I would suggest eating more...and doing some heavy lifting. You'll lose weight and inches, and you'll be able to eat without fear. You could also stay at 1100-1200 calories and exercise..but in this case you need to eat all of your exercise calories back.

Again, for importance...the NET number of calories is the number that your body gets to actually use for fuel. The lower this number, the less fuel your body has to actually keep functioning.

picimadar

Yes, I've been netting under 400 all along

erickirb

Right. BMR. Gotcha

So, when I start lifting, do I eat more? If I do cardio, should I eat back my burns then, as well, or just partly?

All of them, assuming you calculate them correctly. If you are using MFP or the machines just eat back 60-75% as they tend to over estimate actual burn.

magetj

there are so many of us that go through the same thing! Remember your sucess NOT your block, it will pass and when it does you will be surprised how much you have drop. Continue what your doing if you stop that what you said about making something happen it will ' YOU WILL GO RIGHT BACK UP TO WHERE YOU WERE! Continue at least 15 minutes daily some one told me that when I hit a wall and I was glad that simple brisk walk for FIFTEEN MINUTES pushed me pass what I ever could have imagine!

picimadar

Well, I'm going to go to the gym and start the system from "The New Rules of Lifting for Women" today. It starts slow, so that should be good, but I have NO idea how to eat back all these calories!

I've set my base at 1550-1650 a day, a little above my BMR, and so eating back my calories from the strength training and elliptical will put me around 1900 calories to net today! I honestly don't know HOW to eat this much and keep it healthy.

I've probably been unintentionally starving myself for months if 1700 calories feels like this much food, and it's really my maintenance level.

psuLemon

Well, I'm going to go to the gym and start the system from "The New Rules of Lifting for Women" today. It starts slow, so that should be good, but I have NO idea how to eat back all these calories!

I've set my base at 1550-1650 a day, a little above my BMR, and so eating back my calories from the strength training and elliptical will put me around 1900 calories to net today! I honestly don't know HOW to eat this much and keep it healthy.

I've probably been unintentionally starving myself for months if 1700 calories feels like this much food, and it's really my maintenance level.

Here is what I do to help me get 2700 calories a day.


Step 1 - Grab Spoon
Step 2 - Grab Peanut Butter Jar
Step 3 - Insert spoon into jar
Step 4 - Eat spoon full of peanut butter
Step 5 - Repeat one more time.

picimadar

Well, I'm going to go to the gym and start the system from "The New Rules of Lifting for Women" today. It starts slow, so that should be good, but I have NO idea how to eat back all these calories!

I've set my base at 1550-1650 a day, a little above my BMR, and so eating back my calories from the strength training and elliptical will put me around 1900 calories to net today! I honestly don't know HOW to eat this much and keep it healthy.

I've probably been unintentionally starving myself for months if 1700 calories feels like this much food, and it's really my maintenance level.

Here is what I do to help me get 2700 calories a day.


Step 1 - Grab Spoon
Step 2 - Grab Peanut Butter Jar
Step 3 - Insert spoon into jar
Step 4 - Eat spoon full of peanut butter
Step 5 - Repeat one more time.

Hahahaa, I guess that works. Just trying to keep my macros up without getting too much fat, but peanut butter IS damn delicious.

On a side note, someone suggested doing 20-30mins if HIIT in the morning and then lifting in the afternoon or night to help cut fat. If I eat back the calories from this, I could at least gain some muscle tone and lose some body fat without working into a bit deficit, right? I'm trying to be less preoccupied about weight, but I'd certainly like to cut off some of this flab and get some muscle instead.