No progress.... EVER! Frustration!

RKAY89

Thanks for comments everyone.. I think my BMR is around 1400? I don't understand really how much calories I should be intaking in a day if I'm honest.. I generally eat about 130g protein, 140g carbs, 50g fat (this is just an estimate - check my food diary)..

I was finding out how many cals I burned just by adding them onthe exercise diary on here but maybe that's not exact? When I did my exercise bike, it told me that I only burned 170 cals in 40 mins?!?!?! I thought that was quite low??

I just dunno what to do guys... if I seen more visable progress I would be alright but I'm just losing motivation majorly cuz I don't see hardly anything

RKAY89

daily goals = 1,700 cals, 128 protein, 191 carbs (but I norm only manage 140) 47 fat, 34 sugar

But yeah, I'm no expert and I dunno how much of whatever I should be eating so maybe that is all wrong? Anyone?

As I said, I'll maybe burn about 200 cals per day from exercise and generic movement.. I work in security so I sit in a hut for 12 hours and scratch my *kitten*! Apparently my BMR is 1400.. apparently my body fat is 26% but who knows how accurate that is.. I am 5ft 6, 128 lbs and desperately want to lose the barrell belly!

I eat all-clean foods 90% of the time..

I don't understand what I'm apparently doing wrong?? And surely 1600-1700 cals is the lowest that anybody should go if they want to actually be healthy!!?? Anything less would be starvation!

LorinaLynn

Since you're otherwise quite small, light and slender, maybe you should check with a doctor to see if you're having any food intolerance that's causing bloating.

reedkaus

have you tried increasing the duration/intensity of your workouts?

californiagirl2012

I train 6 days per week, I eat perfectly, and still there are no inches coming off my damned naval. I know it takes time but SURELY I should see SOME kind of progress.. even half a damned inch?! I've been at this for like 2 months or something and I've been running 3 times a week since March ffs!

Been there. Done that. The story of how I finally got over it ---> http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/740340-i-lost-60-lbs-at-age-51-anyone-can-any-workout

It kind of depends on where you are at, are you short or tall, do you have a lot of weight to lose or are you near the end of your transformation.

The 1200 calorie minimum is relative to your BMR. If you are a bigger person this is a low number, if you are small like me this is a large number, barely below my RMR. This 1200 may work okay for most people but for short females like me it's way too much. If you are like me, petite and short and you think you might fall into the same category then you need to seek approval of your doctor. I went lower and when I showed my doctor the research links for eating less in Brad Pilon’s Eat Stop Eat and the calorie guide for me in “The Venus Index Workout Manual” he said “Great. Do it!” So I did and it worked, but I think that is because I am short.

Taller people have more room in their calorie budget to go up or down. Shorter people like me have less room and get frustrated with "eat more" because that typically does not work for us. If you are confused about it don't just listen to the "eat more" bullies, do some research and get approval from your doctor, then tell the bullies who "call you on the pad for eating too low" that you are under a doctor’s care and to please leave you alone.

Once I got leaner I had to taper UP my calories. The leaner you get the less of a calorie deficit your body can handle. It needs to be a long slow shallow deficit. For me still under a doctor’s care, this is around 1000-1200 calories because I am so short, petite, and am under 12% body fat where I truly can go into starvation mode if I ate under 1000 calories. I have supporting documentation below. Again, you must seek your doctor’s advice. No one here can tell you how many calories to eat, either up or down.

Seek advice from your doctor. Myself or anyone else on here can’t tell you how much to eat, or to go up or down. If you have a lot of body fat reserves you would be surprised at how little you can eat (unless you have emotional eating issues or disorders). The leaner you get the less your body has to draw from and then you have to taper up your calories. There is no such thing as starvation mode for woman over 12% body fat or men over 6% body fat. I pretty much proved that for myself by staying strong and building muscle and doing what I did. I'm the leanest, most muscular, and most fit that I have ever been in my life at almost 52 years old. My doctor looked at my blood work throughout my journey and it remained fine even with “taking breaks from eating” for periods of time and eating less. Even now at less than 12% body fat everything is A-OKAY. I am healthy, active, and vibrant, muscular not skinny. I have never had eating disorders nor do I now. If you have eating disorders you should not be on a diet unless you are under a doctor’s care and/or get those issues resolved first. I do not advocate unhealthy eating or promote eating disorders.

While there is no one size fits all I listed the things that worked for me here --> http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/740340-i-lost-60-lbs-at-age-51-anyone-can-any-workout

I found the following quotes helpful for sorting through all the myths plastered all over the place.

What is the exact number of calories for you?

We’ve been trying to figure out an exact NUMBER of calories that everyone should be eating, without recognizing that everyone is slightly different. In truth, the calories aren’t the end game. Your body is. So the EXACT amount of Calories that are right for you is the EXACT amount that will allow you to maintain your ideal bodyweight no matter what some calculator or chart says.

In other words, an online calculator might tell you that you need to eat 2,500 calories
per day to maintain your ideal bodyweight. But the only way to know for sure if this is
the right amount for you is to test it out. If you gain weight or can’t lose weight eating
that much, then you know you need to eat less to lose weight no matter how many
calculators and text books say otherwise.

This doesn’t mean your metabolism is broken, it just means the estimate of your needs
was just a bit off.

-John Barban (The Body Centric Calorie Guide from the Venus Index and Adonis Index Manuals)

The Theory of Fat Availability:
•There is a set amount of fat that can be released from a fat cell.
•The more fat you have, the more fat can be used as a fuel when dieting.
•The less fat you have, the less fat can be used as a fuel when dieting.
•Towards the end of a transformation, when body fat is extremely low you
may not have enough fat to handle a large caloric deficit anymore.

At the extreme low end, when your body fat cannot ‘keep up’ with the energy deficit
you've imposed on your body, the energy MUST come from SOMEWHERE. This is
when you are at risk of losing lean body mass during dieting (commonly referred to
as ‘starvation mode’). This happens at extremely low levels of body fat, under 6% in
men and 12% in women [Friedl K.E. J Appl Phsiol, 1994].

-Brad Pilon and John Barban (from The Reverse Taper Diet in The Adonis Index and Venus Index manuals)

leanne2376

You need to change your fitness routine - shock your body - it is use to what you have been doing therefore you have plateaued.

Push yourself even harder than b4 and you will see results

CarmenLynn75

Switch it up. Take a break from the cardio 2 days/wk like mentioned, eat a few more calories. Shock ur body Get it out of it's routine think way

Kate_D_68

There's some good advice in this thread. One response mentioned food intolerance... I just spoke with a friend who has recently lost about 30 pounds. She had been doing pretty intense and consistent cardio for months with no change, then met with a nutritionist who determined that she had some food sensitivities. Once my friend eliminated the foods to which she was intolerant, the pounds started coming off.

Good luck (and hang in there!)

whatascene

You're already at a pretty low weight. Probably in your BMI unless you're extremely short. When you get in the lower numbers of your BMI, your body gets comfortable and doesn't want to lose, so it's harder. I learned in a bio class about it I forget the term, but it's our body's biological set weight. Some people's set weight is higher or lower depending on their genetics. Take it easy. The lower you get into the numbers of your BMI, the harder to lose. Just like it's easier to lose for heavier people. It's frustrating, but it might take you longer, be patient.

tracybarnes1

I have to disagree...If I ate more than 1000 cal/day I would not lose/or gain. It really depends on what you intake. I eat tons of Veggies that just don't count as more than 15 cal. (per cup) none the less are super filling, I can't believe all the starvation mode crud. I think that any vegetarian (which I am not) would tell you, it is very hard to even come close to eating more than 1000 cal. I do however have congestive heart failure and try to eat very clean. I would personally lower your calories and replace then with chopped Kale or Arugula....or a healthy filling green. There is no way you will feel hungry doing this. I too run 4-5 x's a week at least 1-4 miles.

TexasTroy

I was listening to a Jillian Michaels podcast where she talks about people trying to lose "vanity pounds", ie your body isn't overweight and therefor wanting to lose weight. She talked about how it's a totally different ballgame to someone who is trying to lose 50 or 100 pounds, because your body is healthy at the weight that it is and will do anything to keep it that way. She had callers who had the exact same problem as you, that they were incredibly fit, ate very clean and restricted calories and couldn't lose any weight.

Apparently anything over a 1,000 calorie deficit (750 is ideal) is far too large of a deficit if you're not overweight, and your body will slow it's metabolism down, going into starvation mode to resist losing what your body views as necessary weight. Even if you are eating 1600 cals, if you're burning 3,000 a day then you might not lose any weight, it might cannibalize your muscle to reserve the fat.

If you can afford it, maybe buy a fitbit or a body bug to accurately measure your bmr, and then you can determine what your true deficit is. Otherwise, if you've been going at it since March (well done) then maybe its worth experimenting around with changing your macros (ie proportion of carbs, protein and fat) and make sure that you are changing your workout routine every few weeks.

Hope it helps

^^ likes this.

atxdee

HANG IN THERE!!

magj0y

I suggest switching up your exercise routine, maybe heavier lifting.

If you can do swimming where you are, I -highly- suggest doing that.

RKAY89

I was a vegetarian for 6 years and I would never have eaten as low as 1000 cals! Maybe we just have to agree to disagree.. but about a month ago I had been on a 1200 cal diet for about 3 weeks, I went out for my run as usual in the morning of the last day of this "diet" and I literally nearly FAINTED, actual fainted. I had to stagger back to my house and nearly threw up.. I ate some food and felt better.. it was then that I was sure that eating that low is just plain dangerous. Personally, I could not and would not want to put myself through a 1200 calorie diet even if it wasn't dangerous.. I mean don't get me wrong, I push it to the max and work my *kitten* off in exercise and eating, but I don't want to feel pain because I'm so hungry.. that ain't any kind of life for anyone.. a diet isn't for the weekend, it isn't for a month - it's for life.. that's why people tend to yoyo diet, they go too extreme and eat 1200 cals of rabbit food per day and wonder why they want to kill themselves after a week, then they go back to binge eating.. you need to find a "diet"/lifestyle that makes you happy as well as does what you need it to do... that's my opinion anyway..

Someone else said to me about food intolerances so I might go get that checked out, although I don't feel that I have any.. like I don't feel sick or anything after eating anything...

Gunna push it real hard tomorrow morning on the bike!

RKAY89

P.S. what does calorie deficit mean? In simple terms? Lol

zyxst

A calorie deficit is eating less than you burn.

deniseearheart

well I just lost about 10 pounds in the last week from stress and it is making me sad cause I already see flab :-( time for sit ups and push ups and whatever else I can do!

RKAY89

I was listening to a Jillian Michaels podcast where she talks about people trying to lose "vanity pounds", ie your body isn't overweight and therefor wanting to lose weight. She talked about how it's a totally different ballgame to someone who is trying to lose 50 or 100 pounds, because your body is healthy at the weight that it is and will do anything to keep it that way. She had callers who had the exact same problem as you, that they were incredibly fit, ate very clean and restricted calories and couldn't lose any weight.

Apparently anything over a 1,000 calorie deficit (750 is ideal) is far too large of a deficit if you're not overweight, and your body will slow it's metabolism down, going into starvation mode to resist losing what your body views as necessary weight. Even if you are eating 1600 cals, if you're burning 3,000 a day then you might not lose any weight, it might cannibalize your muscle to reserve the fat.

If you can afford it, maybe buy a fitbit or a body bug to accurately measure your bmr, and then you can determine what your true deficit is. Otherwise, if you've been going at it since March (well done) then maybe its worth experimenting around with changing your macros (ie proportion of carbs, protein and fat) and make sure that you are changing your workout routine every few weeks.

Hope it helps

^^ likes this.

So does that mean I need to eat 750 cals less than I burn in a day? So my BMR is roughly 1400, I burn about 200 on top of that = 1600.. so I'm only supposed to eat 850 cals per day?!?!?!? Whaaa?? Surely I'm getting the wrong end of the stick here?

runlaugheatpie

it's not only about food. again you could be overtraining - I had a plateau for 2.5 years because of that.

If you only focus on food then yeah you may be frustrated.