Constructive criticism please

Lleldiranne

Don't "cut" your calories more. You already aren't eating what you're given. I only looked at this last week, but you are under by at least 500 most days. It could be very possible that you aren't eating enough (I have no idea what you're set to, if you're only at lose 1/2 pound you're probably okay, if you're at lose 2 pounds, then you need to eat all those calories). If it's because you aren't eating your exercise calories, maybe you should try eating half of them or so. Your body needs fuel to operate.

Also, I notice that there aren't a lot of vegetables (sweet potato fries don't count! Once they're fried you lose half the nutrients). Even with sufficient calories, your body needs vitamins and such to function. Replace simply carbs/starches with vegetables and fruit some of the time, this may help.

lunglady

Well written synopsis. :-)

No critricism, just free advice. Take it for whatever you think it is worth.

First, yeah you for working hard at getting fit.

Don't sweat it if you don't see results on the scale right away. Weight loss is not linear. If you eat right and do the work, the weight will come off in time. In the grand scheme of things 2 weeks is nothing.

A couple of things to remember:

Your scale lies to you. People constantly say “I worked out every day this week and ate right, and I still gained 3 lbs! This fitness stuff doesn’t work, so why bother. I quit” Not true. You just haven’t given it enough time. The scale can lie to you because it doesn’t know what part of your weight is fat, what is muscle, and what is water. If you are working hard and keeping under your calories, the weight loss will come when it is ready (which sadly is probably not the same thing as when you are ready). Weight loss is a funny thing, and everybody's results are different. Women especially seem to have inconsistent results from everything I have seen and read. There can be many reasons for this - just to name a few possibilities:

a. You are new to exercise and your body is still trying to figure out what it needs to do to cope with the new demands you are putting on it. When you start working muscles that aren't used to getting worked, they pull water into themselves as they try to repair themselves from the micro tears created by exercise (that's how they grow), and that can add water weight until the body gets used to working hard day in and day out.

b. Women's monthly cycles (Disclaimer - I am a guy - I admit I only know what is in the published studies!) cause water weight loss and gain throughout the month, which really screws up the scale results. Don’t blame me, it wasn’t my idea.

c. There is also something I have read dieticians and trainers write about sometimes called the "whoosh effect" where weight stays stubbornly on for weeks in spite of lowered calories and regular exercise, and then suddenly, "whoosh" pounds come off 3 and 4 at a time for some reason. It’s crazy, but makes sense when you remember that your body wants to be fat once it has learned how to be fat, so it doesn’t give up those pounds easily. Keep at it and, sooner or later, it will have to surrender the pounds. Unfortunately we all want instant results, which doesn’t always happen. So, keep on keepin on.

d. Muscle gains also reduce the loss of pounds on the scale, but will reduce your body size in inches; muscle weighs more than fat. This takes time, but keep a lookout for this in action. Use your favorite pair of jeans as a measuring stick and ignore the scale for a couple of weeks. Or, measure yourself at the start and track how those inches disappear over time. They will.

e. When and where you weigh yourself matters. Keep it consistent in terms of time and place, and use the same scale. They don’t all read the same. Even moving the scale to another room or a different part of the room can give you a different result.

f. If you are like a lot of people, you can gain or lose as much as 5-6 pounds during the day depending on what you ate, when you last ate, when you last used the bathroom, and so on. If you remember that, it helps keep you sane when the scale number isn't moving.

Keep after it and you will get where you want to go. :drinker:

tabinmaine

OP Jess: I have just looked at your diary for the past week.

I honestly think it looks ok, if you just simply added a protein shake/drink to your breakfast it would give you 42g more of protein and about 200-250 more calories each day... which would compliment and make your diary look great

Not to mention it would help preserve your lean muscle mass that you are working so hard at building and keeping kicking your own butt with P90x

1Clueless1

Jess, if u are like me the carbs and sodium are our enemy. Just looking at your last weeks food log the sodium and carbs are too high. Sodium keeps weig on me like crazy making it very difficult to lose. Get a little closer to your calorie goal while watching the salt and carbs you eat. I bet you find that you start to lose.

IronPlayground

There is a lot of good advice for you here. Except for the drop to 1200 calories. Eating more can seem a bit intimidating. I think the easiest step you can make is what's already been given. Try drinking a protein shake that has 250-300 calories after your workout. I'm not advocating that there is a metabolic window or anything. It would just appear, in your situation, that would be the best fit for you since you say you are having trouble eating more.

appleorch

That doesn't seem right. Calculate your BMR band TDEE. If you eat at your TDEE you will maintain and if you eat below you will lose weight. You shouldn't eat below your BMR.

I'm 5'6" and weigh 123lbs. My BMR is 1334 calories and my TDEE is 1835 calories with my activity level (before exercise) set at lightly active. I have no idea what your age or height but i change my weight t match your, keeping my age and height BMR is 1584 and TDEE is 2178.

Well, a little better- my BMR was 1,465 and my TDEE was 1,965. I'm short(5-1) fat (178) and OLD (61):happy: which might be my problem lol. I really didn't want to call myself moderately active, since all I do is walk 30 minutes per day--but that would bump me up to a TDEE of 2,245 calories per day. Which is certainly better!

DrMAvDPhD

Here is where I get confused....

I have calculated my RMR and tdee... My RMR is 1716, and my TDEE, if I put in moderate exercise, is 2660. If I subtract 20% from this, that puts me at 2128 calories. This seems like WAY too much for me to eat and to lose weight.

I'm not someone who is new to fitness. I was a high school and college athlete... I've run a marathon. I put on weight during law school/my first year as a lawyer and I'm having a very hard time getting it off.

To be honest, 2128 calories seems totally insane to me. I can bump up my calories a bit for sure, but this seems like it would be impossible for me to lose weight...

You might find it insane, but I lost 2 pounds in a month eating 2000-2200 calories a day when my calculated TDEE was 1800 according to this site. I am a former dancer with a lot of muscle mass, and that means a higher metabolism than many people at the same weight. I suspect you are the same!

jess7386

Thanks to everyone who responded, via this thread or PM. I very much appreciate all your words of wisdom!!

- Jess

mariannechristian

I have to agree with the one person who had mentioned the whole "zig-zagging" concept. For me, reasonable zig-zagging always improves my weight loss long term. I try to let my body not become "too" accustomed to any one work out routine or eating patterns to keep up my metabolism, which always works (I also do this when I'm maintaining my weight too). Like for example, the worst I've "ever" ate in one day while dieting was 1,700 calories, but for my size (discluding my exercise, which is quite a lot) 1,700 calories a day would mantain my weight since I'm already thin...