Weight not budging...fat loss is excruciatingly slow
Lyadeia
Posts: 4,603 Member
I have copied the questions from the other thread that you guys said you wanted answered when starting a thread like this. So here's the Q&A:
--Provide your stats (height/weight/age/bodyfat% if you know it/etc)
5'5" tall, 140 pounds, 23ish% body fat (Navy method this week said 23.3%, 3 site caliper test gave same results back in January when my profile picture was taken, so I assume 22-23% is correct)
--What's your current gross intake of calories, on average?
My daily goal is currently set to 1650 calories, and I pre-log. I allow myself +/- 50 calories so as to not cause anuerysms while planning food.
This was my goal from November through January which netted about a 2 pound loss that whole time. I asked "experts" for assistance who said I should try cycling. I switched in January to eat 5 days a week at 1500 calories and 2 days a week at 2000 calories. I have not noticed any difference in weight/fat loss doing that, so I changed back to 1650 calories as a goal this week since having a steady goal makes more sense to me psychologically.
--What's your current average intake of protein, carbs, and fats, in grams? (GRAMS, not percent!)
Currently, I get around 40g of fat on average, some days more, others less. My goal is set for closer to 50 grams, but oftentimes this is difficult for me to achieve without getting too many calories overall. Protein stays around 140ish or more grams.
My food diary is open, and much of it is recipes that I have personally entered. I can post specific recipes if you want to see them. You will notice that I have cheesecake everyday of my life, but it is not anything high calorie like from Cheesecake Factory. I make it with fat free cream cheese, Greek yogurt, and Splenda so it's fairly low calorie and lower sugar while reasonably high in protein for a dessert. I make a cheesecake every week and have a piece around 3-4 am every morning as a meal, and it's logged as "pre workout meal" only because it is the last thing I eat before I workout. I have read the article about meal timing, but I will continue to have my shake after a workout anyway, perhaps for CYA, but mostly because after a workout, my stomach begs for calories and I don't want to chew anything.
--Do you use a food scale and measure everything?
I have a digital food scale and have recently started measuring everything. I discovered that I could have been eating MORE shredded cheese and that other things such as potatoes I was eating too much. The amounts of overages and underages came pretty durn close to cancelling each other out. I was shocked that to get the 28g of shredded cheese, I had to literally pack that shiz down into the 1/4 cup measuring cup, so I was eating only like 1/8 of a cup and not knowing it, lol.
--Do you track all of your intake, daily? (Everything?)
I prelog my food. I plan a week's worth of intake over the weekend, make a grocery list from the plan, and buy only those items I need for the week. If I make changes on some days, I go back and change the log to reflect the changes.
--Do you take cheat days or days off?
No. There are times when I go out to eat at a restaurant, though. That happens like twice a month and I don't see how 2 meals a month can derail the rest of the 28 days of meeting my goals.
--How much weight have you lost so far and over what time period?
I have been losing and regaining and relosing and so on the same 5 damn pounds since last October. I started out around 144, have gotten down to 138, and then the next week will see the scale creep its *kitten* back up to 141. I weigh myself every Monday after waking up. In fact, last week I weighed 139. This week I weigh 141. It's like my body just freakin' adores 140...grumble grumble grumble...
--Describe your activity (exercise and non exercise) and did you change that activity withing the last couple of months?
Non-exercise: I am a police officer that works third shift (9pm to 7am) 4 days a week. While at work, I sit in a car and drive around aimlessly waiting for someone to call 911. When they do, I get out of my car and walk and talk...cop shows on TV are BS. I go to certain areas in my beat such as schools and churches and get out of my car to walk around for at least 30-60 minutes per night. I have a Fitbit, so I want to keep my step count over 10,000 for each 24 hour period, and the only way I can accomplish this is to walk around at work when work is slow. On days off (much to the annoyance of my husband) I will pace around the house for the same amount of time to keep that step count up. Otherwise at home, I watch TV, play video games, and do other sedentary things.
Exercise: 3 days of weight training and 3 days of cardio each week, alternating days. M/W/F I am at the gym doing heavy lifting. This is normally done at 7:30 in the morning when I get off work. I do a 3 day body part split, so Mondays I do chest & back, Wednesdays is legs and calves, and Fridays is shoulders and abs. Cardio is usually via exercise DVDs at home, typically Turbo Jam (or Turbo Kick since I am an instructor) or some sort of dance video like from Rockin' Body or Hip Hop Abs. I also like to use interval training DVDs such as the ones from Chalean Extreme where you do a cardio move for 2 minutes and then light weights for endurance for about 2 minutes, alternating back and forth. Sometimes I do cardio in the gym, and that's usually 45 minutes on the step mill. Sometimes I do PiYo which is a cardio class combining pilates and yoga...I like this class because you get a good cardio workout, but it also helps me with flexibility. Sundays I tend to do no exercise at all.
Between Valentine's Day and a week after Easter, I am in a fat loss challenge where you gets points for doing things such as exercise sessions. You can get a maximum of 7 points per week for cardio, so I have actually been doing cardio everyday during the challenge. Of course, I haven't been doing workout videos everyday. I have simply been counting my walks at work as exercise for the challenge on work days even though I typically don't count that as a workout session.
I guess one of my questions overall would be exactly how much cardio should I be doing to reach my goals? I want to get down to about 16% body fat, the high end of female athletes and competitors. Some sources tell me to do more cardio, some say cut it out completely, some say just do the walking...and these are all reputable sources which is causing me confusion!
--How long have you been stalled and if it is not a complete stall please be very specific as to how much you have lost over the stalled period.
I don't know if it truly is a "complete" stall since I have lost some, just not nearly as much as expected. I had surgery in early September and wasn't allowed to exercise at all for 6 weeks, and then I started to ease my way back into weight training and more intense cardio after that. When I got back into the swing of things, I weighed about 145. That was mid-October. I've crept down to 142 which seems to be my high point that I fluctuate back to. I've been going back and forth from 138-142 since mid-October until now. I was 141 Monday when I woke up.
The frustratingly annoying thing is I feel like I am making some kind of progress anyway. My clothes are looser and I recently bought some new clothes which are smaller than the ones that I had. But, it isn't as much progress as I would hope for or even expect with as much exercise as I do. I don't expect to lose more than half a pound a week, but considering I was 142 around Christmas, that would mean that I should be around 135 or so today, but I am only at 141. I refuse to believe that I am still getting those newbie gains from weight lifting since I have been lifting for years. I started heavy lifting with P90X back in 2008, and back then I was able to get down to 128 pounds. (I rebounded because of life stresses that caused me to slack in the exercise department and stop giving a damn about calorie counting...so I made my way back to 150 in 2009, down to 140 in 2010, and then back and forth with those 5 stupid pounds for a long time now). I joined the gym back in 2011 and have been lifting a minimum of 3 days per week since then starting with full body routines and then going into upper/lower splits, and finally into the 3 day split that I am doing now. Newbie gains should have been over with a long time ago.
I have been trying to lose inches so that my waist is 26" or so and my hips are around 36" or so. Still not there, lol. I don't want to be eating a deficit for the rest of my life and never see those numbers. I've tried cutting calories down to the 1400 level which left me cranky and tired, so I don't think that I should be doing any calorie cutting like that. I've been doing that 1500/2000 cycle the past 6 weeks which didn't seem to be doing much more for me than the straight 1650 which is why I've gone back to that since it is easier to plan out anyway.
Sorry I wrote a disseration. What do you suggest, nutrition-wise and cardio-wise? I'd really like to keep my lifting schedule as-is since I am making decent strength progress, but I suppose I could be persuaded to change it if I need to. I just don't like full body workouts like I used to, and I'm not interested in stronglifts or the new rules of lifting book right now.
--Provide your stats (height/weight/age/bodyfat% if you know it/etc)
5'5" tall, 140 pounds, 23ish% body fat (Navy method this week said 23.3%, 3 site caliper test gave same results back in January when my profile picture was taken, so I assume 22-23% is correct)
--What's your current gross intake of calories, on average?
My daily goal is currently set to 1650 calories, and I pre-log. I allow myself +/- 50 calories so as to not cause anuerysms while planning food.
This was my goal from November through January which netted about a 2 pound loss that whole time. I asked "experts" for assistance who said I should try cycling. I switched in January to eat 5 days a week at 1500 calories and 2 days a week at 2000 calories. I have not noticed any difference in weight/fat loss doing that, so I changed back to 1650 calories as a goal this week since having a steady goal makes more sense to me psychologically.
--What's your current average intake of protein, carbs, and fats, in grams? (GRAMS, not percent!)
Currently, I get around 40g of fat on average, some days more, others less. My goal is set for closer to 50 grams, but oftentimes this is difficult for me to achieve without getting too many calories overall. Protein stays around 140ish or more grams.
My food diary is open, and much of it is recipes that I have personally entered. I can post specific recipes if you want to see them. You will notice that I have cheesecake everyday of my life, but it is not anything high calorie like from Cheesecake Factory. I make it with fat free cream cheese, Greek yogurt, and Splenda so it's fairly low calorie and lower sugar while reasonably high in protein for a dessert. I make a cheesecake every week and have a piece around 3-4 am every morning as a meal, and it's logged as "pre workout meal" only because it is the last thing I eat before I workout. I have read the article about meal timing, but I will continue to have my shake after a workout anyway, perhaps for CYA, but mostly because after a workout, my stomach begs for calories and I don't want to chew anything.
--Do you use a food scale and measure everything?
I have a digital food scale and have recently started measuring everything. I discovered that I could have been eating MORE shredded cheese and that other things such as potatoes I was eating too much. The amounts of overages and underages came pretty durn close to cancelling each other out. I was shocked that to get the 28g of shredded cheese, I had to literally pack that shiz down into the 1/4 cup measuring cup, so I was eating only like 1/8 of a cup and not knowing it, lol.
--Do you track all of your intake, daily? (Everything?)
I prelog my food. I plan a week's worth of intake over the weekend, make a grocery list from the plan, and buy only those items I need for the week. If I make changes on some days, I go back and change the log to reflect the changes.
--Do you take cheat days or days off?
No. There are times when I go out to eat at a restaurant, though. That happens like twice a month and I don't see how 2 meals a month can derail the rest of the 28 days of meeting my goals.
--How much weight have you lost so far and over what time period?
I have been losing and regaining and relosing and so on the same 5 damn pounds since last October. I started out around 144, have gotten down to 138, and then the next week will see the scale creep its *kitten* back up to 141. I weigh myself every Monday after waking up. In fact, last week I weighed 139. This week I weigh 141. It's like my body just freakin' adores 140...grumble grumble grumble...
--Describe your activity (exercise and non exercise) and did you change that activity withing the last couple of months?
Non-exercise: I am a police officer that works third shift (9pm to 7am) 4 days a week. While at work, I sit in a car and drive around aimlessly waiting for someone to call 911. When they do, I get out of my car and walk and talk...cop shows on TV are BS. I go to certain areas in my beat such as schools and churches and get out of my car to walk around for at least 30-60 minutes per night. I have a Fitbit, so I want to keep my step count over 10,000 for each 24 hour period, and the only way I can accomplish this is to walk around at work when work is slow. On days off (much to the annoyance of my husband) I will pace around the house for the same amount of time to keep that step count up. Otherwise at home, I watch TV, play video games, and do other sedentary things.
Exercise: 3 days of weight training and 3 days of cardio each week, alternating days. M/W/F I am at the gym doing heavy lifting. This is normally done at 7:30 in the morning when I get off work. I do a 3 day body part split, so Mondays I do chest & back, Wednesdays is legs and calves, and Fridays is shoulders and abs. Cardio is usually via exercise DVDs at home, typically Turbo Jam (or Turbo Kick since I am an instructor) or some sort of dance video like from Rockin' Body or Hip Hop Abs. I also like to use interval training DVDs such as the ones from Chalean Extreme where you do a cardio move for 2 minutes and then light weights for endurance for about 2 minutes, alternating back and forth. Sometimes I do cardio in the gym, and that's usually 45 minutes on the step mill. Sometimes I do PiYo which is a cardio class combining pilates and yoga...I like this class because you get a good cardio workout, but it also helps me with flexibility. Sundays I tend to do no exercise at all.
Between Valentine's Day and a week after Easter, I am in a fat loss challenge where you gets points for doing things such as exercise sessions. You can get a maximum of 7 points per week for cardio, so I have actually been doing cardio everyday during the challenge. Of course, I haven't been doing workout videos everyday. I have simply been counting my walks at work as exercise for the challenge on work days even though I typically don't count that as a workout session.
I guess one of my questions overall would be exactly how much cardio should I be doing to reach my goals? I want to get down to about 16% body fat, the high end of female athletes and competitors. Some sources tell me to do more cardio, some say cut it out completely, some say just do the walking...and these are all reputable sources which is causing me confusion!
--How long have you been stalled and if it is not a complete stall please be very specific as to how much you have lost over the stalled period.
I don't know if it truly is a "complete" stall since I have lost some, just not nearly as much as expected. I had surgery in early September and wasn't allowed to exercise at all for 6 weeks, and then I started to ease my way back into weight training and more intense cardio after that. When I got back into the swing of things, I weighed about 145. That was mid-October. I've crept down to 142 which seems to be my high point that I fluctuate back to. I've been going back and forth from 138-142 since mid-October until now. I was 141 Monday when I woke up.
The frustratingly annoying thing is I feel like I am making some kind of progress anyway. My clothes are looser and I recently bought some new clothes which are smaller than the ones that I had. But, it isn't as much progress as I would hope for or even expect with as much exercise as I do. I don't expect to lose more than half a pound a week, but considering I was 142 around Christmas, that would mean that I should be around 135 or so today, but I am only at 141. I refuse to believe that I am still getting those newbie gains from weight lifting since I have been lifting for years. I started heavy lifting with P90X back in 2008, and back then I was able to get down to 128 pounds. (I rebounded because of life stresses that caused me to slack in the exercise department and stop giving a damn about calorie counting...so I made my way back to 150 in 2009, down to 140 in 2010, and then back and forth with those 5 stupid pounds for a long time now). I joined the gym back in 2011 and have been lifting a minimum of 3 days per week since then starting with full body routines and then going into upper/lower splits, and finally into the 3 day split that I am doing now. Newbie gains should have been over with a long time ago.
I have been trying to lose inches so that my waist is 26" or so and my hips are around 36" or so. Still not there, lol. I don't want to be eating a deficit for the rest of my life and never see those numbers. I've tried cutting calories down to the 1400 level which left me cranky and tired, so I don't think that I should be doing any calorie cutting like that. I've been doing that 1500/2000 cycle the past 6 weeks which didn't seem to be doing much more for me than the straight 1650 which is why I've gone back to that since it is easier to plan out anyway.
Sorry I wrote a disseration. What do you suggest, nutrition-wise and cardio-wise? I'd really like to keep my lifting schedule as-is since I am making decent strength progress, but I suppose I could be persuaded to change it if I need to. I just don't like full body workouts like I used to, and I'm not interested in stronglifts or the new rules of lifting book right now.
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Replies
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Quick question - were you dieting before November? If so, how much weight did you lose in total? Do you have a history of gaining and losing weight (outside small variations)? How much weight did you lose between November and January?0
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Quick question - were you dieting before November? If so, how much weight did you lose in total? Do you have a history of gaining and losing weight (outside small variations)? How much weight did you lose between November and January?
I've been dieting for a very long time before November, I only started back up at that point after a 2 month break because of the surgery.
My highest weight was back in college around 13 years ago. I weighed 191. I dropped down to around 150 by 2007. End of 2007 was when I started P90X, and I got down to 128 by March 2008. I bounced back up to 150 that summer because life slapped me upside the head with a few horrible issues. I've been "dieting" since then and been bouncing between 138-150 pounds since then, but mainly been staying around the 140 mark. I've been all sorts of different body fat % numbers though. I've been as high as 30% body fat at this current weight, but am closer to 22% now. Just doesn't make sense that the scale isn't budging now.
Between November and January I went from 143 to 141. January to February was 141 to 140 back up to 142. This month has been a low of 139 to a high of 141.
So basically, I went from a size 20 down to a size 6 before March 2008...and then that's when I started bouncing around for a long time.0 -
tagging a very interesting post0
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Not saying this is your situation, but this is worth reading, if only so you can see where the 'cut out cardio' argument is coming from:
http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/why-big-caloric-deficits-and-lots-of-activity-can-hurt-fat-loss.html
Also in his Rapid Fat Loss Handbook, he does discuss that fact that, particularly in women, it's been found that some moderate cardio is darn near required for effective loss.
Sara and SS can definitely answer this better than me though.0 -
I can understand your predicament completely! I started on MFP in January at 147lbs and body fat around 31% (although Navy method put me at 26%). I am not sure really how accurate body fat measurements are as I've got readings from 2 different body fat scales of 37% (one that doesn't separate water and fat) and 31% (one that does) so I'm guessing my real reading is around 31%.
I'm 5 foot 4 so a little shorter than you but I went down to 143 lbs and now I'm up to 147 lbs again though my body fat reading is still the same as when I started.
Not sure what any of this means, especially as I went from not counting any calories or macros and only doing a little cardio 2-3 days a week on and off to religiously logging everything, eating at TDEE -20% (now TDEE -25%) and working out for 6 days a week doing cardio and strength!
I like you feel like I'm bouncing around with my weight and can't see how it's possible given the dramatic change in my activity level. I've also gone from 50 grams of protein per day to 110-130g per day! I wish I knew the answer.
I've also lost a couple of inches, 2 inches from my hips (I'm not 36 inches) and half an inch from my waist bringing it down to 27 inches but I feel like I should have lost way more, even if the body fat/scale isn't changing.
Will be interested to hear what others suggest because I really don't know what is going on!0 -
Sorry - one more question: Do you have thyroid issues/risks or PCOS?0
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Tagging, I'm in a similar boat.0
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Sorry - one more question: Do you have thyroid issues/risks or PCOS?
No thyroid issues...and I don't really even know what PCOS is, so I would say no I don't have it or surely a doctor would have mentioned that before.0 -
I ran some more calculations using different calculators from different places...I used the ones listed in this group, the ones on IPOARM on this website, and also Tom Venuto's Inner Circle. All of the calculators put me at approximately the same BMR and TDEE with a range between 2100 and 2250.
I have been reading all over the place including the 3 places listed above concerning calorie deficits. I have been using about a 25% deficit which worked really well while I was coming down from 30% body fat, but considering that I am now sitting at the 22-23% mark with a goal even lower than that (I *will* see my damn abs before the end of this year) I am wondering if my deficit should actually be around 15-20% instead? That would place my calorie goal anywhere between 1775 and 1900 depending on which calculator I put the most stock in.
Should I try to eat around 1775 while making sure that I am weighing absolutely everything in the process? I am not "scared" of eating more, I just don't know how much more to try. I worry that going straight up to 1900 might cause issues, so small steps?0 -
Not saying this is your situation, but this is worth reading, if only so you can see where the 'cut out cardio' argument is coming from:
http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/why-big-caloric-deficits-and-lots-of-activity-can-hurt-fat-loss.html
Also in his Rapid Fat Loss Handbook, he does discuss that fact that, particularly in women, it's been found that some moderate cardio is darn near required for effective loss.
Sara and SS can definitely answer this better than me though.
I love Lyle, I just wish he wasn't so wordy. I will give this a look later on when I am at work tonight.0 -
48 hour BUMP!0
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Tagging, sorry I missed this one.0
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Ok, finally getting caught up on this. Sara and I will discuss this with each other and one of us will get back to you with either more questions or some ideas/recommendations.0
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Also what video games do you play? This is highly important.
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I like fantasy games...anything from the original Dragon Warrior and Final Fantasy all the way up the current ones...and I play Warcraft every single day, lol. I love to go bowling on the Wii, driving on PS2 and PS3 (no particular game, all are equally fun, lol).
I have Nintendo, Super Nintendo, Nintendo 64, GameCube, Wii, Playstation 1-3, and an Atari 2600 all hooked up to various TVs in the house plus the the emulators for each on this computer, lol.
I'm never bored.
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I like fantasy games...anything from the original Dragon Warrior and Final Fantasy all the way up the current ones...and I play Warcraft every single day, lol. I love to go bowling on the Wii, driving on PS2 and PS3 (no particular game, all are equally fun, lol).
I have Nintendo, Super Nintendo, Nintendo 64, GameCube, Wii, Playstation 1-3, and an Atari 2600 all hooked up to various TVs in the house plus the the emulators for each on this computer, lol.
I'm never bored.
I think you may have disappointed SideSteel with your answer.0 -
^ I didn't see diablo 3 or WoW mentioned but I'm still willing to look at the thread 0
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Just to say that I feel your pain! I am also stuck on 140lbs!0
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^ I didn't see diablo 3 or WoW mentioned but I'm still willing to look at the thread
Read it again. I play warcraft everyday. I just spell it out instead of saying WoW. Loktar!0 -
^ I didn't see diablo 3 or WoW mentioned but I'm still willing to look at the thread
Read it again. I play warcraft everyday. I just spell it out instead of saying WoW. Loktar!
Oh snap!0 -
^ I didn't see diablo 3 or WoW mentioned but I'm still willing to look at the thread
Read it again. I play warcraft everyday. I just spell it out instead of saying WoW. Loktar!
Butbutbutbut....Warcraft is a separate game, so I thought you meant Warcraft instead of World of Warcraft.
Now you're even hotter.0 -
^ I didn't see diablo 3 or WoW mentioned but I'm still willing to look at the thread
Read it again. I play warcraft everyday. I just spell it out instead of saying WoW. Loktar!
Butbutbutbut....Warcraft is a separate game, so I thought you meant Warcraft instead of World of Warcraft.
Now you're even hotter.
:flowerforyou:0 -
I just made a week's worth of meal plans at 1775 calories which according to most calculators is right around TDEE-20%. I'm going to see where that takes me for a couple of weeks, unless you guys have a better idea for next week. This week is already done since I go grocery shopping according to my plans, and it's all been done already.0
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I just made a week's worth of meal plans at 1775 calories which according to most calculators is right around TDEE-20%. I'm going to see where that takes me for a couple of weeks, unless you guys have a better idea for next week. This week is already done since I go grocery shopping according to my plans, and it's all been done already.
Sorry for the delay. SideSteel and I synced up this weekend as to what we thought the best course will be and we actually think you should cut calories to about 1,500 for a couple of weeks and re-assess then. We would also like to work with you on your routine (not to full body as you noted that you preferred splits) but think it best not to change too much at one go so you can assess what works and what does not.
Do you think that cutting that low would be do'able for you? Obviously you would not need to implement until next week as you have already planned this coming week.
The other alternative is a diet break, but we want to see if cutting calories will nudge things along before going that route.0 -
I was eating at 1500 for 5 days a week for 5 weeks straight and not going anywhere with weight...and you think doing it all 7 days will be different? I could try that next week, I just don't quite understand it.
Right now I'm in that point of my cycle for the month where I will probably see the scale go up next week anyway. I gain 5-7 pounds this point of every month in water.0 -
I was eating at 1500 for 5 days a week for 5 weeks straight and not going anywhere with weight...and you think doing it all 7 days will be different?
Yes.0
