Looking for a breakthrough.

tomii13

I was recommended to come here. I would much appreciate the advice. Thank you.

I took my measurements yesterday and I seemed to gain pretty much everywhere, literally. so, yeah.

Provide your stats (height/weight/age/bodyfat% if you know it/etc) 5’6/157/26/30% (per average of the three sites)

What's your current gross intake of calories, on average? 1675 non exercise days. 1880 on exercise days

What's your current average intake of protein, carbs, and fats, in grams? (GRAMS, not percent!)
Carbs: 168g / Fat: 56g / Protein 126g (40/30/30%)

Do you use a food scale and measure everything? I use my food scale and measure.

Do you track all of your intake, daily? (Everything?) Yes. The good and the bad. Except when I went on vacation April 20th.

Do you take cheat days or days off? No cheat days. I do take 1 or 2 days off from exercising.

How much weight have you lost so far and over what time period? 30 lbs since September 2012.

Describe your activity (exercise and non exercise) and did you change that activity withing the last couple of months?
Non exercise days: I work behind a desk. No kids. After work, go home, prepare dinner, possibly run errands if needed. Or do some very light activities. Like 4 min plank. Something miniscule and light.
Exercise days: I just started c25k. Running days, I do the c25k, and 15-30 minutes of strength training using 8-10lb dumbbells. Non running days, I do workout dvds, JM kickboxing, yoga meltdown, and maybe one day of a full body (45-hour long) combo of strength and cardio using nike training club app.

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.
Two months.

Are you breastfeeding? No.

Do you have thyroid issues/risks or PCOS? Graves Disease (overactive thyroid) seeing a dr. He used reduced my medication but my levels have been “normal” for a good 6 months, maybe more. But my dosage has changed roughly every 3 months bc I need less and less of the med since my levels are in the normal range.

Sarauk2sf

Do you have access to a gym?

tomii13

I do. It's a basic gym with machines and weights (planet fitness) no classes.

I'm looking to tone and lean out and not be skinny fat. I'm not too focused on the scale. More on my physique and would like to lean/tone out. I would love to see some definition.

Sarauk2sf

Bumping so I get to this tomorrow.

SideSteel

tagging

tomii13

Thanks in advanced!

Sarauk2sf

Hi! On looking at your diary it looks as though you did not log your food for your vacation week which could skew the numbers, You average calories look to be a little over 1,800 with your macros p/f/c at about 110/60/200.

Due to your history of thyroid issues, you may well have a slower metabolism than average.

I would suggest that you set your intake at a set 1.600 each day (irrespective of whether you exercise or not) and your macros as:

Protein: 110g
Fats: 60g

with the balance going wherever you like based on energy levels. adherence and lifestyle.

I would like for you to incorporate a better strength training routine, but want to assess how changing to the above intake levels impacts you and adding more strength training will mess with the results (as you may retain some additional water in the glycogen/muscles at first which may mask any weight loss you have) so would like to add that a little later.

If you could get as close as you can to the calorie and macro levels suggested and then let us know how you are doing in 2 weeks (or earlier if you wish), that would be great.

tomii13

Ok thank you, Sara. So, 1600 everyday whether I workout or not. Just two things, the macros suggested are minimums? If my body wants more protein or fats, go for it, or is it a maximum?

Also, is this for weight loss &.to lose bf%? Just wondering what results to look for, scale or inches.

Thanks!

SideSteel

Ok thank you, Sara. So, 1600 everyday whether I workout or not. Just two things, the macros suggested are minimums? If my body wants more protein or fats, go for it, or is it a maximum?

Also, is this for weight loss &.to lose bf%? Just wondering what results to look for, scale or inches.

Thanks!

Protein and fat are minimums, calories are essentially a maximum which means that if you exceed protein or fat, you reduce carbs to stay at your calorie goal.

You should be looking at multiple metrics, always. I would expect you to lose weight and inches but as with anything it is a process and may need further adjusting (hence the follow-up in a few weeks).

tomii13

Perfect. Thanks.

Will update in a couple weeks!

tomii13

One more thing (sorry) but it's been eating at me, if i am to eat daily 1600, when i workout, that could bring me close to netting 1200 approx 1300. Just wondering if that isn't too low? I didn't do well when netting 1200 (felt physically ill)

Compared to 1600, what deficit am I on? Curious to know what my maintenance calorie goal could look like, as well.

This is it, I promise.

Sarauk2sf

One more thing (sorry) but it's been eating at me, if i am to eat daily 1600, when i workout, that could bring me close to netting 1200 approx 1300. Just wondering if that isn't too low? I didn't do well when netting 1200 (felt physically ill)

Compared to 1600, what deficit am I on? Curious to know what my maintenance calorie goal could look like, as well.

This is it, I promise.

It is generally fine to net low as it averages itself out. However, if you prefer to eat more on days you workout, you can go a bit lower on rest days and higher on exercise days, so it averages out to 1,600 a day for the week.

Don't hesitate to ask questions if you are unsure of anything.

tomii13

Thanks.

Just so I can have an idea, what would you suggest my maintaining calorie intake to be?

Sarauk2sf

Thanks.

Just so I can have an idea, what would you suggest my maintaining calorie intake to be?

You need to look to your actual results for that - what intake do you maintain at. That being said, maintenance is fluid and can be increased, to a degree, by upping calories.

Sarauk2sf

Locking so we can keep track of active threads. If you wish for the thread to be unlocked so you can update us or have further questions, please feel free to PM either myself or SideSteel, including a link to this thread and we will unlock it so you can.