Am I in starvation mode?

geekyjock76

Normally I tell people to greatly limit the amount of cardio they do if their focus is fat loss/lean body mass preservation. However, in your case it's mandatory as a means to get to class. I would just recommend that you try to get as accurate measurements of energy expenditure for riding a bike and walking between classes so you know how many calories these activities are contributing to your total deficit. With that said, you would not need any additional cardio.

With 25 lbs to lose, you should set a goal of 1 lb per week. Once you only have 15 lbs to lose, drop the deficit and goal to match 0.5 lbs per week.

projektai

Normally I tell people to greatly limit the amount of cardio they do if their focus is fat loss/lean body mass preservation. However, in your case it's mandatory as a means to get to class. I would just recommend that you try to get as accurate measurements of energy expenditure for riding a bike and walking between classes so you know how many calories these activities are contributing to your total deficit. With that said, you would not need any additional cardio.

With 25 lbs to lose, you should set a goal of 1 lb per week. Once you only have 15 lbs to lose, drop the deficit and goal to match 0.5 lbs per week.

Additional cardio won't help with fat loss?

psuLemon

can you run my numbers lol. Im 5'3 161 and eat 1300 calories a day with a desk job. and I walk or jog 5 days a week. do some light 5 pound wieghts and crunches. want to loose 20lbs..

You are very similar to the op.. maybe a little less like 1750 since you are doing less intesive exercise. Where you will benefit the most is if you start heavy weight training.

psuLemon

My routine is primarily made up of crunches with a weighted ball, oblique crunches with a weighted ball, and machines to work out my arms and legs.

If you are watching the mirror, the crunches are working against you. Yes you are building muscle which is great, but it is building under fat which makes you seem bigger. I'd recommend doing more core exercises like squats, dead lifts and things like that to trim the waist line if you are watching the mirror.

I am sorry but this isnt correct. Being on a calorie deficit prevents you from creating new lean body mass (muscle). Currently she is just making her muscles more effecient and stronger.

I'm sorry but that is not true. If you are taking in calories you can turn those into lean body mass (muscle) regardless of surplus or defecit. Will you put ON muscle weight? no, you cannot in a defecit. But you can cut fat while adding muscle which will negate any WEIGHT loss but still show up as FAT loss.

She isen't in a low enough defecit that her body is attacking muscle stores...if she was I would agree with you.

Unfortunately, there are only 3 scenarios where a person can create new lean body mass ona caloris deficit; when a person is morbidly obese, a noob to weight lifting (like they never have done it) or an elite athlete with a very small deficit. The average person on mfp will not fit into any of these categories. Generally, a person requires their body to create an anabolic state for new lean muscle mass growth. Unfortunately, a calorie deficit puts your in a catabolic state. Its like if you put a hole in a balloon ... at some point you need to overcome that hole to fill the balloon with water which requires a big enough surplus to overcome the hole in the balloon. Another factor ahe has against her is simple ... shes a girl. Its even harder for women to gain muscle... in fact they normally can only see around 10-15 lbs the first year and then it will taper.

Another thing working against her is the weight she is using is not significant and she is doing a lot of reps which is a lot better for muscle endurance.

Btw here is a good link for all.

http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/adding-muscle-while-losing-fat-qa.html

psuLemon

Normally I tell people to greatly limit the amount of cardio they do if their focus is fat loss/lean body mass preservation. However, in your case it's mandatory as a means to get to class. I would just recommend that you try to get as accurate measurements of energy expenditure for riding a bike and walking between classes so you know how many calories these activities are contributing to your total deficit. With that said, you would not need any additional cardio.

With 25 lbs to lose, you should set a goal of 1 lb per week. Once you only have 15 lbs to lose, drop the deficit and goal to match 0.5 lbs per week.

Additional cardio won't help with fat loss?

It actually makes it worst.. too much cardio tends to burn muscle and while you will see greater weight loss you wil end up slowing your metabolism and make it harder to see definition. You get greater fat loss with resistance training.

http://www.metaboliceffect.com/topic/38-nutrition-lifestyle.aspx

I know its most girls nightmare but its the truth.

projektai

While it's not my nightmare, its a bit of a bummer. I suppose I should just try to make my strength training more intense.
And try to find a way to curb my carbs.

Thanks for the advice everyone, it really helps.

psuLemon

I can incorporate squats into my exercise if they'll help, and I should probably switch to a low rep high weight.
But what would a good ratio be for that?

For example, I can't lift very much with my arms, so I settle for 3 sets of 15 at 15 pounds. (I know its not a high weight, but my arms can't handle much).

And, are there any ways to ease into dead lifts or substitute them?
I attempted dead lifts yesterday, and I think I wound up hurting myself instead of getting a good workout.

One more thing. I would suggest lowering the reps to no more than 8-10 and upping weight. Remember, weight is relative to the person. So when I say heavy, it means heavy enough that the last 3 reps are difficult and even if you wanted to, you couldn't do more than 8 -10 reps (lower the better). If you want, add another set (even if it's just 6 reps). This will help bring your muscles to failure. In generally, I would aim to do 4-6 sets. And each set doesn't need to be the same. For example, if you are doing bicep curls. You can do; standard bicep curls, in and out's, concentration curls, squat curls, twisting or tornado curls), etc... Make it interesting, it makes it easier. Also, write down your reps/weight and the next week, try to increase the weight. It will also make things easier and more interesting if you make it into a game.

urloved33

I know mine says the same thing and I do not know what to do. I have difficulty staying with the program as it is...but when it says I am eating too little ...I get stuck. If you get any answers keep posting cuz I would like to know who has eaten more calories and still lost.

SenshiV

I've noticed that I haven't been losing any more after some initial weight loss.

Just one thing, you usually and initially loose quite a bunch (if you do what you should including exercise of course) and then it slows down..it's something normal, it's not going to be that easy to loose all you want, after a while, it will get harder, however, if you continuing doing good as you did to loose your initial, you will continue to loose regardless of how slow it seems.

I also don't believe in 'starvation modes' i think that's silly.

Good luck!

TheFinalThird

If a child in Honduras sends you just 41 cents per day, about the cost of one cup of coffee, you are probably in starvation mode.

If Leann Rimes looks fat compared to you, you're probably in starvation mode.

If you eat a saltine cracker and get a bulge in your belly from it, you're probably in starvation mode.

If someone tells you to have a nice day, and you rip off his or her head and use it as an ashtray, you're probably in starvation mode.

If Dr. Oz tells you to gain weight, you're probably in starvation mode.

ascotton80

Normally I tell people to greatly limit the amount of cardio they do if their focus is fat loss/lean body mass preservation.

That...makes no sense whatsoever. Certainly you don't need to do hours of cardio to lose weight, but at the end of the day, cardio burns calories. And calorie deficits result in weight loss.

ascotton80

How long have you not been losing any weight? A week? A year?

ascotton80

Normally I tell people to greatly limit the amount of cardio they do if their focus is fat loss/lean body mass preservation.

That...makes no sense whatsoever. Certainly you don't need to do hours of cardio to lose weight, but at the end of the day, cardio burns calories. And calorie deficits result in weight loss.

Not to mention cardio conditioning is essential for good health.

projektai

One more thing. I would suggest lowering the reps to no more than 8-10 and upping weight. Remember, weight is relative to the person. So when I say heavy, it means heavy enough that the last 3 reps are difficult and even if you wanted to, you couldn't do more than 8 -10 reps (lower the better). If you want, add another set (even if it's just 6 reps). This will help bring your muscles to failure. In generally, I would aim to do 4-6 sets. And each set doesn't need to be the same. For example, if you are doing bicep curls. You can do; standard bicep curls, in and out's, concentration curls, squat curls, twisting or tornado curls), etc... Make it interesting, it makes it easier. Also, write down your reps/weight and the next week, try to increase the weight. It will also make things easier and more interesting if you make it into a game.

Alright, I can do that. I'll keep a small journal with me to track my progress too. Thank you for all of your advice, it's been very helpful.

projektai

How long have you not been losing any weight? A week? A year?

It's been about a month.

needamulligan

Maybe I'm looking at this all wrong. If you are tracking your calories and creating a deficit you are intending that to be measured by a weight loss and not a loss in inches. Correct me if I'm wrong but there is no true measurable correlation between restricting calories and losing inches. As opposed to a 3500 calorie deficit should equal 1 lb of weight loss.

Because you have no baseline of starting weight or what you have really lost you really don't know if you are at a plateau. You could be retaining water or building muscle Just as we often need to have a non-scale measurement of our progress when the scale stalls, you need a scale measurement at least as a baseline.

psuLemon

Normally I tell people to greatly limit the amount of cardio they do if their focus is fat loss/lean body mass preservation.

That...makes no sense whatsoever. Certainly you don't need to do hours of cardio to lose weight, but at the end of the day, cardio burns calories. And calorie deficits result in weight loss.

I would suggest looking at some of the links i post. It's not all about burning as many calories as you want. Also, when you burn tons and tons of calories, you have to acquire energy from some where, so you either eat 2x more food of your body will start to catabolize lean body mass. This is why you hear from long distance runners that many smell ammonia after a long run. The smell is from the body converting the amino acids in their muscles into energy. There are greater fat loss properties when you concentrate on weight lifting and if you want a cardiovascular effect, then you just have to make it anaerobic where you would combine lower and upper body moves together (compound moves). My heart rate gets up the 160's when doing some anaerobic exercises as your lower body requires a lot of blood and oxygen which increases your heart rate.


Also, he isn't suggest eliminating cardio, but if you want more fat loss and less muscle loss, then it's highly beneficial to limit cardio and increase weight training.

auntiebabs

Some people swear by frequent small meals so that your body always knows there is more food coming
Some people zig zag their calories to keep there metabolisms on their toes.

Zig Zagging is what worked for me.

I was sooooo much happier once I gave myself a range:
This saved my life when I was losing.

ROCK BOTTOM: 1200 cal
TARGET: MFP Calories for lose 1 lb a week (when that hit 1200 I changed to lose 1/2 lb per week)
TOP OF RANGE: Maintain Calories for my GOAL Weight.

---

(SAFETY VALVE: Maintain Calories for CURRENT Weight - remember to keep updating this number as you lose)

---

I naturally tended to do 2-4 days between 1200-1300 cal then a day at about 1500-1600 cal then back to the 1200-1300 cal. (No hard science here, but I credit the zig-zagging calories with preventing plateaus.)

--As long as I stayed under the top of my range I should continue to lose, even if it is at a slower rate.
--As long as I don't go past my safety valve I shouldn't gain.

When I was losing as long as I kept in my range I lost slowly and fairly consistently.
The problem being that your range gets smaller as you get closer to your goal.

Now that I'm trying to maintain. It's a challenge to come up with a livable plan that works....
At 50 years old I get 1600 calories a day to maintain 140lbs.
So I shoot for 1550 so that I've got an extra couple of hundred calories to play with on the weekend.
Any other approached out there from folks who have been maintaining longer than I have?

CharityEaton

wow, just wow!
I am a cardio junkie! LOVE it! If I"m not moving fast, and dripping with sweat I don't feel like a got a good workout! I also know the importance of strength training and I do that 3 days a week along with a cardio workout. So yeah, I workout for about 2 hours a day. I average around 1300-1400 cals consumed per day and an average of about 500-600 calories burned during workouts. It sucks because I have to work like a mad woman to get a 500 calorie burn. What used to be a 200 calorie workout has now turned into about 100 calories. The more in shape you gte the harder it is to get a high calorie burn without lifting heavy, or working really hard.


That being said, I still have very few days that I eat back workout calories...sometimes I do but not often. I still have decent biceps that have a visible "muscle bump" my legs are firm and toned and I am not losing inches at all nor is the sclae moving at an incredible speed BUT at the end of every month I am sill dropping a pound and my strength is building I can lift more and do more push ups etc. So, I agree keeping track of your workouts is important...is cardio better or worse for you...NO it's a balance of both. cardio with weights feeding your muscles and providing your body with the fuel it needs to do its job properly. If you are hungry EAT if not then don't eat..it's really that simple...just make sure that what you eat is going ot be good for you and an occasional splurge on not so healthy stuff is fine too.....Just relax and keep on keepin on!

P.S. it's not all just about the amount of calories in versus calories out either its mostly in the QUALITY of said calories!

geekyjock76

Normally I tell people to greatly limit the amount of cardio they do if their focus is fat loss/lean body mass preservation.

That...makes no sense whatsoever. Certainly you don't need to do hours of cardio to lose weight, but at the end of the day, cardio burns calories. And calorie deficits result in weight loss.

Your last statement is what matters - being in a calorie deficit which can simply be established by eating under TDEE and engaging in moderate to heavy weight training. Psulemon explained why cardio should not make up the majority of the deficit because too great intensity or duration will tap into lean body mass. Additionally, when the person is one who has chronically restricted calories to the point they have likely lost lean body mass, the last thing they need is to engage in activity that results in further decreases of lean body mass.