Conflicting advice, so confused

justinegrey

Hi there,

I was hoping someone could help me with the conflicting advice i'm getting on the forums, from fit friends and even a personal trainer. Sorry for the long winded story!

6 weeks ago I started my journey here and so far have lost 13 pounds and 4% body fat. I've been wanting to lose weight for a long while, but a "biggest loser" type competition at my work helped get my butt into gear. The comp is not for lost pounds, it's about body fat percentage, and we all use the same scale and weigh in on the same day (every 2 weeks). I know scales aren't the greatest for body fat but we are all using it and doing it at the same time so I figure it's still a decent indicator at my progress. I'm also happy to report that I've lost inches... my pants are looser, my arms look smaller and my boobs have sort of deflated LOL (not great!!).

My fitness level for the past 6 weeks has been a lot of cardio, a bit of strength/core stuff but mostly cardio. I was burning about 3500 calories a week in exercise... staying active every day. Intake for food started at 1200 + exercise calories, but after 2 weeks i went to 1350 + exercise cals. I would say I was eating around 1500-2000 cals a day gross.

Anyways, the last 2 weeks, the scale has been 158-162 and I was even up 1% body fat for my third weigh-in (starting - 46%, second weigh-in 42%, third weigh in 43%). I posted a help thread to find out why my fat is going up and why the weight isnt budging and got a lot of different responses... someone said i lost lean muscle from under eating, another said that I should eat 1700 calories a day gross, others said I was eating too much etc.

I'm starting to get really discouraged and definitely over-analyzing EVERYTHING. I don't know whose advice to take and the fact is I need to get back on track tomorrow. I've derailed myself quite a bit over the past few days of worrying and wondering.

Again, my main goals are:

- to lose maximum body fat % I can over the next 2 months (I plan to continue this sentiment for the long haul, but would like a plan that would help with maximum in the shortest time because of the comp)
- to lose inches/reshape my body
- to train for the warrior dash in July. Not sure if it's too soon to worry about that though.

According to 2 calculators, my BMR is something around 1400-1500.

What would be the best program to do to achieve this and how many calories should I eat (gross or net, pls specify) per day?

The trainer recommended HIRT 3x a week, 2x a week of HIIT and then 2x a week of active rest (yoga, stretching, walking etc.). I think it's a decent plan, although I worry about sustaining HIRT workouts on my own without someone yelling at me. Another option is 3x a week of stronglifts (with core/abs in between sets), 2x a week HIIT and 2x active rest (which I think is more sustainable, but not sure it would allow me to reach my goals)?

Anyways, as you can see I'm confused. Thank you in advance for your advice!

justinegrey

Just saw the sticky, wanted to answer the questions:

1) What's your current intake of calories, on average?
- I just changed it but the amount I was doing when things stalled was 1350+ exercise calories back so up 3500 extra a week.

2) What's your current average intake of protein, carbs, and fats, in grams?
- please see diary. i try to hit 100 grams of protein every day, or at least very close. i try to make sure carbs and fat come from great sources as well. sometimes i mess up, but was staying under calories i think.

3) Do you use a food scale and measure everything?
- yes!!

4) Do you track all of your intake, daily? (Everything?)
- yes, everything.

5) Do you take cheat days or days off?
- no, not in 6 weeks!

6) How much weight have you lost so far?
- 171.6 starting, current this morning was 160, lowest i've seen (earlier this week) is 158.2 so about 12 pounds.

7) What is your activity like, both exercise and non-exercise?
- for the last 6 weeks, daily exercise through jogging, brisk walking, etc.

8) How long have you eaten at your previous amount and what happened in that time frame?
- i've been eating like this for 4 weeks. before that it was 1200+ exercise

9) What's your height, current weight and if you know it, bodyfat%?
- 5'4. 160 pounds, 42.6% at last check friday

10) If you're stalled, for how long and is it a complete stall (zero change in weight)?
- i really believe it's stalled.. 2 weeks, there has been changes, but not the way it was initially. and my body fat has gone up so I think losing muscle from low calories?

Sarauk2sf

A stall is at least 4 weeks, so you need to give it a few more weeks.

Your body fat% increasing it is virtually impossible if you have lost weight. The scales are terrible for accuracy - have a read here:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/830595-body-fat-estimation-methods

Also, did you go through this to work out the appropriate calories and macros?:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/819055-setting-your-calorie-and-macro-targets

justinegrey

According to the scale it did. So you're saying i should keep eating 1350+ exercise calories, exercising at the same level (lower strength, more cardio) and wait it out? Or do you think changing my routine to incorporate more strength is a better bet for my goals? And if so, are those calories enough?

thank you!

Sarauk2sf

According to the scale it did. So you're saying i should keep eating 1350+ exercise calories, exercising at the same level (lower strength, more cardio) and wait it out? Or do you think changing my routine to incorporate more strength is a better bet for my goals? And if so, are those calories enough?

thank you!

I edited my post to add a link (sorry, my edit and your post crossed in cyberspace) - could you see if your targets are in line with what is laid out.

The scale is 99% likely to be wrong.

Sarauk2sf

You should definitely add in strength training to your exercise routine.

justinegrey

A stall is at least 4 weeks, so you need to give it a few more weeks.

Your body fat% increasing it is virtually impossible if you have lost weight. The scales are terrible for accuracy - have a read here:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/830595-body-fat-estimation-methods

Also, did you go through this to work out the appropriate calories and macros?:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/819055-setting-your-calorie-and-macro-targets

Thank you. I definitely agree the scale must be wrong, but since everyone in the comp is using it, I figure I should at least see it going down if my weight is going down. But with the weight not going down much and the fat looking the same, I thought it was something I was doing. Perhaps not.

So I did go through the calorie and macro targets, and what I ended up doing was TDEE without exercise factored in so I could eat them back... it was a motivator for me to exercise more each day haha. The TDEE without exercise - I believe 25% was around 1400, so thats why I set my goal to 1350 + eat exercise calories (since I didn't factor it in and it varied each day/week since I've got kids and a FT job). I did try to match the macro goal based on that, although at first my protein was higher and carb lower than it was suppose to be, so I fixed.

Sarauk2sf

A stall is at least 4 weeks, so you need to give it a few more weeks.

Your body fat% increasing it is virtually impossible if you have lost weight. The scales are terrible for accuracy - have a read here:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/830595-body-fat-estimation-methods

Also, did you go through this to work out the appropriate calories and macros?:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/819055-setting-your-calorie-and-macro-targets

Thank you. I definitely agree the scale must be wrong, but since everyone in the comp is using it, I figure I should at least see it going down if my weight is going down. But with the weight not going down much and the fat looking the same, I thought it was something I was doing. Perhaps not.

So I did go through the calorie and macro targets, and what I ended up doing was TDEE without exercise factored in so I could eat them back... it was a motivator for me to exercise more each day haha. The TDEE without exercise - I believe 25% was around 1400, so thats why I set my goal to 1350 + eat exercise calories (since I didn't factor it in and it varied each day/week since I've got kids and a FT job). I did try to match the macro goal based on that, although at first my protein was higher and carb lower than it was suppose to be, so I fixed.

Thanks. I would set it to -20% however as from your ticker you have less than 40lb to lose. Get some strength training in and you should not have to worry about losing muscle (some is usually inevitable, but it should be a lot less than fat - rule of thumb is 1lb LBM for 4lb of fat, which can be improved be a good strength training routine.)

The scales are usually messed up the most by hydration levels.

justinegrey

A stall is at least 4 weeks, so you need to give it a few more weeks.

Your body fat% increasing it is virtually impossible if you have lost weight. The scales are terrible for accuracy - have a read here:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/830595-body-fat-estimation-methods

Also, did you go through this to work out the appropriate calories and macros?:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/819055-setting-your-calorie-and-macro-targets

Thank you. I definitely agree the scale must be wrong, but since everyone in the comp is using it, I figure I should at least see it going down if my weight is going down. But with the weight not going down much and the fat looking the same, I thought it was something I was doing. Perhaps not.

So I did go through the calorie and macro targets, and what I ended up doing was TDEE without exercise factored in so I could eat them back... it was a motivator for me to exercise more each day haha. The TDEE without exercise - I believe 25% was around 1400, so thats why I set my goal to 1350 + eat exercise calories (since I didn't factor it in and it varied each day/week since I've got kids and a FT job). I did try to match the macro goal based on that, although at first my protein was higher and carb lower than it was suppose to be, so I fixed.

Thanks. I would set it to -20% however as from your ticker you have less than 40lb to lose. Get some strength training in and you should not have to worry about losing muscle (some is usually inevitable, but it should be a lot less than fat - rule of thumb is 1lb LBM for 4lb of fat, which can be improved be a good strength training routine.)

The scales are usually messed up the most by hydration levels.

Thank you so much for your time and advice. I will definitely increase strength training. So do you think it's okay to set my TDEE - 20% (without the exercise factored into the TDEE number) so I can eat back my ex calories or better to do it the proper TDEE way and not eat them back?

By the way, was looking at your photos.. you're an inspiration. I hope to look as amazing as you one day

Sarauk2sf

A stall is at least 4 weeks, so you need to give it a few more weeks.

Your body fat% increasing it is virtually impossible if you have lost weight. The scales are terrible for accuracy - have a read here:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/830595-body-fat-estimation-methods

Also, did you go through this to work out the appropriate calories and macros?:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/819055-setting-your-calorie-and-macro-targets

Thank you. I definitely agree the scale must be wrong, but since everyone in the comp is using it, I figure I should at least see it going down if my weight is going down. But with the weight not going down much and the fat looking the same, I thought it was something I was doing. Perhaps not.

So I did go through the calorie and macro targets, and what I ended up doing was TDEE without exercise factored in so I could eat them back... it was a motivator for me to exercise more each day haha. The TDEE without exercise - I believe 25% was around 1400, so thats why I set my goal to 1350 + eat exercise calories (since I didn't factor it in and it varied each day/week since I've got kids and a FT job). I did try to match the macro goal based on that, although at first my protein was higher and carb lower than it was suppose to be, so I fixed.

Thanks. I would set it to -20% however as from your ticker you have less than 40lb to lose. Get some strength training in and you should not have to worry about losing muscle (some is usually inevitable, but it should be a lot less than fat - rule of thumb is 1lb LBM for 4lb of fat, which can be improved be a good strength training routine.)

The scales are usually messed up the most by hydration levels.

Thank you so much for your time and advice. I will definitely increase strength training. So do you think it's okay to set my TDEE - 20% (without the exercise factored into the TDEE number) so I can eat back my ex calories or better to do it the proper TDEE way and not eat them back?

By the way, was looking at your photos.. you're an inspiration. I hope to look as amazing as you one day

Thank you very much :flowerforyou:

Either way is fine. If you go the 'eat your calories back' route I would be conservative with the amount you are eating back due to possibly inaccuracies - so 50 - 75% would be good, depending on results and hunger/energy levels.