Could these pics be the reason I'm not losing??

justinegrey

Hi there!

I lost 10 pounds easily within 4 weeks of starting MFP.... and I lost 4% body fat as well. I set myself to 1400 calories a day (net) and usually burn an average of 3500 calories a week in exercise. I feel like i'm kicking butt.

But I'm in a competition at my work for body fat% and after my first weigh-in 2 weeks ago (which showed the above results) to now, the scale hasn't really budged and what's worse is my body fat % has gone up 1%... we use the same scale each weigh-in.

I haven't really changed my eating habits in the past 2 weeks, except maybe a bit more carbs than I did at first. But I try to choose carbs from legumes and fruit, not grains or starches. You can see my dairy... you will notice I do eat out several times per week, especially on weekends and during lunch at work, but 99% of the time I try to choose the healthy options. Plus, I always record a bit more calories than I think just to be safe (i.e. choose the highest calorie option for an item, or choose 1.5-2 of an item instead of 1 so I don't lowball).

I know it's only been 2 weeks since things seemed to have stalled, but since I got off to such a good start, I thought surely I'd see something positive these last 2 weeks. Then I had a look at my weekly report for net calories. It looks like I'm netting between 900-1100 calories a day. Could this be why I'm stalling out? Or do you think it's more likely that I am eating more calories at restaurants than I'm counting?? Thanks in advance!! Justine

justinegrey

Sorry I'm not sure why but the images from dropbox won't show. Here's the link to the folder that has my weekly report: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/5kc1psdmy189u7g/fYdQQJ1oSe

now_or_never13

Why are you netting so little? You need so much more than you are eating.

While overestimating calories is better than underestimating them, you are causing yourself to be eating much less than you already are.

I would imagine your sodium is quite high... I would add that to your tracker.

With the increase of body fat it shows you are losing muscle. You need to consume more calories than you are to reduce the amount of muscle you are losing.

justinegrey

Why are you netting so little? You need so much more than you are eating.

While overestimating calories is better than underestimating them, you are causing yourself to be eating much less than you already are.

I would imagine your sodium is quite high... I would add that to your tracker.

With the increase of body fat it shows you are losing muscle. You need to consume more calories than you are to reduce the amount of muscle you are losing.

Thanks for your response. I feel like I'm eating so much because I try to eat most of my exercise calories back. So for example yesterday I did 2 workouts that showed 900+ calories burned with my HRM. So I ate about 2300 calories for the day which is a ton. But I guess if I'm always a bit under each day, it adds up to a major deficit come the end of the week.

I think you're right about sodium, I just put it in my tracker to stay under... good call, thank you. Can you explain a bit more about the muscle loss based on my increase of fat? I don't quite understand...

To give you an idea of my thought process, I did my TDEE (without exercise so I could eat back my exercise calories in MFP) and it was 1900. So I did a 25% loss which was about 1400 and would mean about a 1 pound per week loss. Then I exercise 3500 calories off per week, but since i eat them back, I still figured only 1 pound per week. I thought this was the correct way to do it?

thanks again for your help

sigsby

I would try changing up your workout. I was stuck at 20 pounds lost. I swapped the stationary bike for the rowing machine and added squats between sets during strength training. Dropped two pounds over the weekend.

sheyennelilly

Are you getting your body fat % from a scale that supposedly measures it? If so, that is a bad idea. Body fat scales are notoriously lousy for getting an accurate read. You need to use a caliper, and have someone do it who knows what they're doing.

justinegrey

I would try changing up your workout. I was stuck at 20 pounds lost. I swapped the stationary bike for the rowing machine and added squats between sets during strength training. Dropped two pounds over the weekend.

Awesome and interesting! I have just added HIRT to my routine 3x per week (as of yesterday) so I'm hoping this will help me get to the next step. I didn't realize you could stall so quickly after starting. thanks for your reply!

justinegrey

Are you getting your body fat % from a scale that supposedly measures it? If so, that is a bad idea. Body fat scales are notoriously lousy for getting an accurate read. You need to use a caliper, and have someone do it who knows what they're doing.

Yes, it's an Omron bathroom scale. The thing is because it's a work comp, we all have to use the same scale and must submit the results every 2 weeks. But I'm definitely going to try the caliper so I can start tracking this stat just for myself and properly. thank you!

now_or_never13

Thanks for your response. I feel like I'm eating so much because I try to eat most of my exercise calories back. So for example yesterday I did 2 workouts that showed 900+ calories burned with my HRM. So I ate about 2300 calories for the day which is a ton. But I guess if I'm always a bit under each day, it adds up to a major deficit come the end of the week.

If you feel like you are eating a lot try to eat foods that have a lot of calories for a small amount of food. Things like nuts, nut butters, etc. Add oils when you cook as an option as well.

I think you're right about sodium, I just put it in my tracker to stay under... good call, thank you. Can you explain a bit more about the muscle loss based on my increase of fat? I don't quite understand...

You normally measure two percentages when losing weight, gaining muscle mass, etc. Body fat % and lean body mass (includes everything from your organs to your muscles). An increase in lean body mass will usually cause the scale to go up and measurements to decrease as with gaining muscle you will weight more but be smaller. If your body fat % is increasing but your weight is not, you will be losing muscle. Eating at a deficit (on a diet, trying to lose weight, whichever way you wanna look at it) will cause you to lose some muscle. You can lower the amount of muscle you lose by increasing protein, lifting HEAVY weights and having a smaller deficit. A deficit as large as yours seems to be will cause muscle loss.

To give you an idea of my thought process, I did my TDEE (without exercise so I could eat back my exercise calories in MFP) and it was 1900. So I did a 25% loss which was about 1400 and would mean about a 1 pound per week loss. Then I exercise 3500 calories off per week, but since i eat them back, I still figured only 1 pound per week. I thought this was the correct way to do it?

thanks again for your help

Normally with TDEE you don't eat your exercise calories back as you factor in exercise when you calculate that TDEE. I haven't actually seen someone do TDEE without adding exercise in.

You should try to find out what your BMR is and ensure you NET that each day.

I am 5' 5", 199lbs, female and have a BMR of around 1500. I NET 1500 calories a day and still lose 1-2lbs per week.

ndj1979

did you calculate your TDEE or are you on MFP custom settings?

what is your height, weight, and age?

Think someone mentioned this but you should build a work out program around bench press, squats, deadlifts, over head press, pull-ups/chinups, etc. Three day a week total body workout is good for beginners with about two days cardio and two rest days. Once you hit some goals you can back off the cardio and maybe go to an upper/lower split or something like that...

shovav91

You are most definitely not eating enough, especially for the amount you exert yourself. On days I try to net about 1800 just to maintain, and I have a small frame which means you probably need about that to lose (Remember: every body is different. There is no magic formula).
That being said, a net of 1000 calories a day is less than a small child needs. Here is an interesting article about the effects of undereating:
http://www.livestrong.com/article/421552-undereating-stomach-fat/

I hope this helps!

CoraGregoryCPA

I'm always the one who says "Try eating only half of your exercise calories back". Just see what happens. Maybe you are eating a little too much since you lost the weight. If you lost 10 pounds, then you would need less calories per day.

But I see a lot of other people saying you are eating too little. That never works for me.

justinegrey

did you calculate your TDEE or are you on MFP custom settings?

what is your height, weight, and age?

Think someone mentioned this but you should build a work out program around bench press, squats, deadlifts, over head press, pull-ups/chinups, etc. Three day a week total body workout is good for beginners with about two days cardio and two rest days. Once you hit some goals you can back off the cardio and maybe go to an upper/lower split or something like that...

I used a TDEE calculator (IIFYM) but did not include exercise in it because a) it varies each day (i.e. some days I will exercise off 800 calories and other days just a couple hundred) and b) I like being able to eat back calories from exercise and track through MFP. It makes me want to work out haha.

I am 5'4, 160ish pounds, 27 years old.

Yes, I absolutely agree you with, I just saw a personal trainer on the weekend who is giving me a HIRT 3x a week program, including deadlifts, bench press, etc. When you say rest days, do you think active rest is okay (i.e. yoga, jogging, walking etc.) or literally do nothing those 2 days? Thanks again for your help

3dogsrunning

Couple of thoughts -

you say you are eating more carbs - how much more? Could be a water retention issue.

What are your workouts?

As someone else pointed out those scales are notoriously inaccurate unfortunately.

justinegrey

You are most definitely not eating enough, especially for the amount you exert yourself. On days I try to net about 1800 just to maintain, and I have a small frame which means you probably need about that to lose (Remember: every body is different. There is no magic formula).
That being said, a net of 1000 calories a day is less than a small child needs. Here is an interesting article about the effects of undereating:
http://www.livestrong.com/article/421552-undereating-stomach-fat/

I hope this helps!

Wow, that article is very interesting, thank you. I knew I didn't want to net less than 1300 a day which is why I set myself up to 1300 but didn't realize until looking at the weekly report how much I was actually netting... which is bad bad bad. thanks for your input.

justinegrey

I'm always the one who says "Try eating only half of your exercise calories back". Just see what happens. Maybe you are eating a little too much since you lost the weight. If you lost 10 pounds, then you would need less calories per day.

But I see a lot of other people saying you are eating too little. That never works for me.

This is what scares me... logging more calories than I'm burning and it's actually eating more than I should that's the problem! I'll have to experiment with both ways to know for sure. thank you

ndj1979

did you calculate your TDEE or are you on MFP custom settings?

what is your height, weight, and age?

Think someone mentioned this but you should build a work out program around bench press, squats, deadlifts, over head press, pull-ups/chinups, etc. Three day a week total body workout is good for beginners with about two days cardio and two rest days. Once you hit some goals you can back off the cardio and maybe go to an upper/lower split or something like that...

I used a TDEE calculator (IIFYM) but did not include exercise in it because a) it varies each day (i.e. some days I will exercise off 800 calories and other days just a couple hundred) and b) I like being able to eat back calories from exercise and track through MFP. It makes me want to work out haha.

I am 5'4, 160ish pounds, 27 years old.

Yes, I absolutely agree you with, I just saw a personal trainer on the weekend who is giving me a HIRT 3x a week program, including deadlifts, bench press, etc. When you say rest days, do you think active rest is okay (i.e. yoga, jogging, walking etc.) or literally do nothing those 2 days? Thanks again for your help

rest is the hardest part of my program. I just changed from a 5 to 6 day a week routine to a upper/lower split four days a week with rest on wens and light HIIT on saturday...I really like lifting weights..crazy I know..

Active rest is OK ..if you are going to Jog I would keep it to less then a mile. My wens rest day is five minutes walking on treadmill maybe 1-2 minutes slow jogging..stretch...and then 15 minutes abs and that is it...

If you are using TDEE and eating exercise calories back this is probably your problem. If you recalculate your TDEE with moderately active = 3-5 days exercise you get 2364 cals a day for maintenance...so if you take off 25% you get a daily intake of 1773 calories per day which is a daily deficit of 591. I think if you combine this method with your new three day a week regimen, two days cardio, and two days rest you will see some nice gains...

Maybe Mon Wens Fri weights...Tues/Thurs cardio...Sat/Sun active rest....Try this and new cal intake for four to six weeks and see how it goes...just my opinion...

and body weight scales are pretty inaccurate for body fat %...you can get calipers at GNC for like 20.00...

justinegrey

Couple of thoughts -

you say you are eating more carbs - how much more? Could be a water retention issue.

What are your workouts?

As someone else pointed out those scales are notoriously inaccurate unfortunately.

In the last 90 days, the highest was 250, the lowest was 80, in the past 2 weeks around the 150 mark. but looking at the carb report, it does seem like I've had 150 almost every day for 9 days. before that it varied every day up or down.

Workouts --> varies but highest intensity ones are long hilly walks (keeping HR above 130 throughout), jogging, 30 day shred and very recently, the HIRT workouts with a personal trainer. The lowest intensity are things like shovelling snow, walking, dancing etc but I usually low-ball those calories and don't count things like cleaning etc.

ndj1979

You are most definitely not eating enough, especially for the amount you exert yourself. On days I try to net about 1800 just to maintain, and I have a small frame which means you probably need about that to lose (Remember: every body is different. There is no magic formula).
That being said, a net of 1000 calories a day is less than a small child needs. Here is an interesting article about the effects of undereating:
http://www.livestrong.com/article/421552-undereating-stomach-fat/

I hope this helps!

Wow, that article is very interesting, thank you. I knew I didn't want to net less than 1300 a day which is why I set myself up to 1300 but didn't realize until looking at the weekly report how much I was actually netting... which is bad bad bad. thanks for your input.

OK what this article is talking about would take at the minimum 72 hours of not eating a thing to happen and when they refer to starving children with bloated bellies those are people who are only eating once a week if they are lucky.

You will not go into starvation mode eating 1700 calories a day or 2000 calories a day..you would have to not eat for 72 hours for anything close to starvation mode to start happening.

I do I/ Leangains and fast 18 hours a day and I have none of these issues..of course I also eat 2000 calories a day too...

3dogsrunning

I had a look back through your diary - I don't think it was a low carb/high carb issue.

Honestly I don't think the issue is eating too little. Some of your days might net low I don't think you are too low on the whole.

I still wonder what your workouts are and if it may be over estimated (even with a HRM it can happen). Or if its just a matter of the natural progression of dieting. Weight loss is simply not linear. Some weeks we are up some we are down. Sometimes we stay he same for more than a week or two.

I suggest following the person above who has figured your TDEE and created a deficit from that.

justinegrey

Thanks for your response. I feel like I'm eating so much because I try to eat most of my exercise calories back. So for example yesterday I did 2 workouts that showed 900+ calories burned with my HRM. So I ate about 2300 calories for the day which is a ton. But I guess if I'm always a bit under each day, it adds up to a major deficit come the end of the week.

If you feel like you are eating a lot try to eat foods that have a lot of calories for a small amount of food. Things like nuts, nut butters, etc. Add oils when you cook as an option as well.

I think you're right about sodium, I just put it in my tracker to stay under... good call, thank you. Can you explain a bit more about the muscle loss based on my increase of fat? I don't quite understand...

You normally measure two percentages when losing weight, gaining muscle mass, etc. Body fat % and lean body mass (includes everything from your organs to your muscles). An increase in lean body mass will usually cause the scale to go up and measurements to decrease as with gaining muscle you will weight more but be smaller. If your body fat % is increasing but your weight is not, you will be losing muscle. Eating at a deficit (on a diet, trying to lose weight, whichever way you wanna look at it) will cause you to lose some muscle. You can lower the amount of muscle you lose by increasing protein, lifting HEAVY weights and having a smaller deficit. A deficit as large as yours seems to be will cause muscle loss.

To give you an idea of my thought process, I did my TDEE (without exercise so I could eat back my exercise calories in MFP) and it was 1900. So I did a 25% loss which was about 1400 and would mean about a 1 pound per week loss. Then I exercise 3500 calories off per week, but since i eat them back, I still figured only 1 pound per week. I thought this was the correct way to do it?

thanks again for your help

Normally with TDEE you don't eat your exercise calories back as you factor in exercise when you calculate that TDEE. I haven't actually seen someone do TDEE without adding exercise in.

You should try to find out what your BMR is and ensure you NET that each day.

I am 5' 5", 199lbs, female and have a BMR of around 1500. I NET 1500 calories a day and still lose 1-2lbs per week.

Thanks for your response!! I am actually at a BMR of around 1500 according to 2 calculators! WOAH. I thought I did this before and it was 1100 but must have done it wrong. WOW

3dogsrunning

Couple of thoughts -

you say you are eating more carbs - how much more? Could be a water retention issue.

What are your workouts?

As someone else pointed out those scales are notoriously inaccurate unfortunately.

In the last 90 days, the highest was 250, the lowest was 80, in the past 2 weeks around the 150 mark. but looking at the carb report, it does seem like I've had 150 almost every day for 9 days. before that it varied every day up or down.

Workouts --> varies but highest intensity ones are long hilly walks (keeping HR above 130 throughout), jogging, 30 day shred and very recently, the HIRT workouts with a personal trainer. The lowest intensity are things like shovelling snow, walking, dancing etc but I usually low-ball those calories and don't count things like cleaning etc.

I was typing while you posted this.
HRMs aren't exactly accurate for interval training and weight training. You may be getting higher burns.
I would suggest trying the TDEE method posted above.

jstout365

I agree with the sodium bit....that can fluctuate water weight quite a bit.

I agree with mixing up the workout. I would suggest adding some strength training into the mix if you are not getting any with the new HIRT class (I'm assuming that is some form of High intensity interval training). I would suggest core work, compound lifts like a clean and press, and a mix of squats/lunges to start.

Over estimating calories is just as bad as under estimating. If you really want to succeed at the challenge for work, take control of your own diet and cook your own food. That way you know what you are eating and don't have to estimate. It takes more time and effort, but it can be well worth it. It also helps keep the sodium in check.

HRM are good to calculate calorie burn, but I know mine registers a little higher than what I probably do burn. Since you eat back your exercise calories, you may try taking the reading from that and subtracting 25% as well. This will keep you in line with the TDEE -25% if that is your desired amount. If you take your numbers of 1900 TDEE and consumption of 1425 but then had 900 calories of exercise that you ate all back, you are really eating TDEE - 17%. Math = 1900 x .75 = 1425. 1425 + 900 = 2325. 1900 + 900 = 2800 (True TDEE). 2325/2800 = .83. 100%-83% = 17%. So if you eat only 675 of the 900 exercise calories back you will be at True TDEE - 25%. Given the above numbers you would look at TDEE of 2800 and eat 2100 calories a day (obviously depending on exercise totals) for a 700/day deficit. This, in terms of weight loss math, equates to a 1.4 lb/week loss rate.

Bioimpedance scales are not the most accurate and readings can be thrown off by the smallest things. They are good for long term trend watching, but the readings shouldn't be used to say I am this % fat. So just because it says you are up 1% can mean nothing. Something as simple as being more or less hydrated or even having a full bladder can throw the number off.

I would also suggest you start using a tape measure (cloth one like for sewing) to measure your body. Even if the scale isn't budging it doesn't mean your body isn't reshaping. Most common points are hips, around the belly button, natural waist, chest, and thighs.

Hope this helps.

ETA - Since you are looking at various TDEE #'s play around with them, but the same principle applies for the exercise.

justinegrey

did you calculate your TDEE or are you on MFP custom settings?

what is your height, weight, and age?

Think someone mentioned this but you should build a work out program around bench press, squats, deadlifts, over head press, pull-ups/chinups, etc. Three day a week total body workout is good for beginners with about two days cardio and two rest days. Once you hit some goals you can back off the cardio and maybe go to an upper/lower split or something like that...

I used a TDEE calculator (IIFYM) but did not include exercise in it because a) it varies each day (i.e. some days I will exercise off 800 calories and other days just a couple hundred) and b) I like being able to eat back calories from exercise and track through MFP. It makes me want to work out haha.

I am 5'4, 160ish pounds, 27 years old.

Yes, I absolutely agree you with, I just saw a personal trainer on the weekend who is giving me a HIRT 3x a week program, including deadlifts, bench press, etc. When you say rest days, do you think active rest is okay (i.e. yoga, jogging, walking etc.) or literally do nothing those 2 days? Thanks again for your help

rest is the hardest part of my program. I just changed from a 5 to 6 day a week routine to a upper/lower split four days a week with rest on wens and light HIIT on saturday...I really like lifting weights..crazy I know..

Active rest is OK ..if you are going to Jog I would keep it to less then a mile. My wens rest day is five minutes walking on treadmill maybe 1-2 minutes slow jogging..stretch...and then 15 minutes abs and that is it...

If you are using TDEE and eating exercise calories back this is probably your problem. If you recalculate your TDEE with moderately active = 3-5 days exercise you get 2364 cals a day for maintenance...so if you take off 25% you get a daily intake of 1773 calories per day which is a daily deficit of 591. I think if you combine this method with your new three day a week regimen, two days cardio, and two days rest you will see some nice gains...

Maybe Mon Wens Fri weights...Tues/Thurs cardio...Sat/Sun active rest....Try this and new cal intake for four to six weeks and see how it goes...just my opinion...

and body weight scales are pretty inaccurate for body fat %...you can get calipers at GNC for like 20.00...

So are you saying I'm eating too much since I'm eating exercise calories back? Looking at the total I'm eating (not net), it's no more than 1800 a day, usually an average of 1500. So even with eating them back, I'm still not eating more than 1700 an average a day.

Is there a way to do it so I get to count my exercise calories as food? I find it to be a real motivator for me in terms of getting exercise in.

I like your plan though, thank you so much for taking the time to look into all that for me. Would "weights" be HIRT? There are weights in that program and I feel like I've been hit by a truck the next day so I'm not sure I could lift the day after that ha.

justinegrey

Couple of thoughts -

you say you are eating more carbs - how much more? Could be a water retention issue.

What are your workouts?

As someone else pointed out those scales are notoriously inaccurate unfortunately.

In the last 90 days, the highest was 250, the lowest was 80, in the past 2 weeks around the 150 mark. but looking at the carb report, it does seem like I've had 150 almost every day for 9 days. before that it varied every day up or down.

Workouts --> varies but highest intensity ones are long hilly walks (keeping HR above 130 throughout), jogging, 30 day shred and very recently, the HIRT workouts with a personal trainer. The lowest intensity are things like shovelling snow, walking, dancing etc but I usually low-ball those calories and don't count things like cleaning etc.

I was typing while you posted this.
HRMs aren't exactly accurate for interval training and weight training. You may be getting higher burns.
I would suggest trying the TDEE method posted above.

Oh man... so hard to know what to do. I dont use the HRM for weight training or interval unless my heart rate stays above 135 the entire time. I thought this was the correct way.

But yes, sadly I will have to stop doing the "everything I exercise is extra food" and do the 1700 not counting exercise calories going forward. that makes sense.

justinegrey

I agree with the sodium bit....that can fluctuate water weight quite a bit.

I agree with mixing up the workout. I would suggest adding some strength training into the mix if you are not getting any with the new HIRT class (I'm assuming that is some form of High intensity interval training). I would suggest core work, compound lifts like a clean and press, and a mix of squats/lunges to start.

Over estimating calories is just as bad as under estimating. If you really want to succeed at the challenge for work, take control of your own diet and cook your own food. That way you know what you are eating and don't have to estimate. It takes more time and effort, but it can be well worth it. It also helps keep the sodium in check.

HRM are good to calculate calorie burn, but I know mine registers a little higher than what I probably do burn. Since you eat back your exercise calories, you may try taking the reading from that and subtracting 25% as well. This will keep you in line with the TDEE -25% if that is your desired amount. If you take your numbers of 1900 TDEE and consumption of 1425 but then had 900 calories of exercise that you ate all back, you are really eating TDEE - 17%. Math = 1900 x .75 = 1425. 1425 + 900 = 2325. 1900 + 900 = 2800 (True TDEE). 2325/2800 = .83. 100%-83% = 17%. So if you eat only 675 of the 900 exercise calories back you will be at True TDEE - 25%. Given the above numbers you would look at TDEE of 2800 and eat 2100 calories a day (obviously depending on exercise totals) for a 700/day deficit. This, in terms of weight loss math, equates to a 1.4 lb/week loss rate.

Bioimpedance scales are not the most accurate and readings can be thrown off by the smallest things. They are good for long term trend watching, but the readings shouldn't be used to say I am this % fat. So just because it says you are up 1% can mean nothing. Something as simple as being more or less hydrated or even having a full bladder can throw the number off.

I would also suggest you start using a tape measure (cloth one like for sewing) to measure your body. Even if the scale isn't budging it doesn't mean your body isn't reshaping. Most common points are hips, around the belly button, natural waist, chest, and thighs.

Hope this helps.

ETA - Since you are looking at various TDEE #'s play around with them, but the same principle applies for the exercise.

woah thank you so much for taking the time. Your advice is really sound. I do love to cook and feel best when I do, I've had a lot of work situations lately and then of course date nights with my husband but agree that it's time to curb these until I get to where I want to be weight/goal wise.

I didn't realize the mistake I was making with the TDEE and exercise calories. Your calculation makes total sense. I just did a TDEE calculator and it seems like my TDEE (with exercise included) is 2530 and my BMR is 1500.

2530 - 25% = 1898 not eating back any exercise calories. Is that correct? I do think it's safer to attempt 1700 calories just in case I have a week where I don't go as hard as I usually do.

thanks again for all your help, I really appreciate your time

And everyone else who took the time today - thank you so much!!!

justinegrey

although, looking at my calorie report, i'm eating around 1700-1800 calories (not net), which is including eating exercise calories back. So isnt that the same as TDEE - 25% = 1700 total?

nz_deevaa

My suggestion would be to do less exercise, you don't need to do 2 x 90mins workouts.

ndj1979

did you calculate your TDEE or are you on MFP custom settings?

what is your height, weight, and age?

Think someone mentioned this but you should build a work out program around bench press, squats, deadlifts, over head press, pull-ups/chinups, etc. Three day a week total body workout is good for beginners with about two days cardio and two rest days. Once you hit some goals you can back off the cardio and maybe go to an upper/lower split or something like that...

I used a TDEE calculator (IIFYM) but did not include exercise in it because a) it varies each day (i.e. some days I will exercise off 800 calories and other days just a couple hundred) and b) I like being able to eat back calories from exercise and track through MFP. It makes me want to work out haha.

I am 5'4, 160ish pounds, 27 years old.

Yes, I absolutely agree you with, I just saw a personal trainer on the weekend who is giving me a HIRT 3x a week program, including deadlifts, bench press, etc. When you say rest days, do you think active rest is okay (i.e. yoga, jogging, walking etc.) or literally do nothing those 2 days? Thanks again for your help

rest is the hardest part of my program. I just changed from a 5 to 6 day a week routine to a upper/lower split four days a week with rest on wens and light HIIT on saturday...I really like lifting weights..crazy I know..

Active rest is OK ..if you are going to Jog I would keep it to less then a mile. My wens rest day is five minutes walking on treadmill maybe 1-2 minutes slow jogging..stretch...and then 15 minutes abs and that is it...

If you are using TDEE and eating exercise calories back this is probably your problem. If you recalculate your TDEE with moderately active = 3-5 days exercise you get 2364 cals a day for maintenance...so if you take off 25% you get a daily intake of 1773 calories per day which is a daily deficit of 591. I think if you combine this method with your new three day a week regimen, two days cardio, and two days rest you will see some nice gains...

Maybe Mon Wens Fri weights...Tues/Thurs cardio...Sat/Sun active rest....Try this and new cal intake for four to six weeks and see how it goes...just my opinion...

and body weight scales are pretty inaccurate for body fat %...you can get calipers at GNC for like 20.00...

So are you saying I'm eating too much since I'm eating exercise calories back? Looking at the total I'm eating (not net), it's no more than 1800 a day, usually an average of 1500. So even with eating them back, I'm still not eating more than 1700 an average a day.

Is there a way to do it so I get to count my exercise calories as food? I find it to be a real motivator for me in terms of getting exercise in.

I like your plan though, thank you so much for taking the time to look into all that for me. Would "weights" be HIRT? There are weights in that program and I feel like I've been hit by a truck the next day so I'm not sure I could lift the day after that ha.

I am not familiar with HIRT ...what kind of work out program is that?

3dogsrunning

I am not familiar with HIRT ...what kind of work out program is that?

Had to do the googles too - high intensity resistance training. Basically from what I understand going for one resistance exercise to the next without rest. I could be wrong though.

justinegrey

HIRT = an hour of circuits where you do a variety of things that keep your heart rate up but include weight lifting... so for example 1 minute of treadmill at 25 incline and fast, then planks, then treadmill, then step ups with lifting, then treadmill, then push-ups, then treadmill, then deadlifts, then treadmill, then... you get the idea. You get a break every so often but it's not like in lifting where you break in between sets, its like a break after the circuit.

I had a question about your advice to eat 1700 calories a day and not eat back exercise cals. It says now I'm grossing 1600-1800 a day (when I eat back exercise calories) so wouldn't that be the same as the TDEE situation you suggested. What is the difference between including the exercise in the total gross calories (1700 for example) versus eating 1350 + whatever you exercise... my only worry is that some days I don't exercise as much as other days.