Need Help!

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  • PopsGils
    PopsGils Posts: 68 Member
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    I am OVER on my protein pretty much every single day! Why do you think I am under?
  • robin52077
    robin52077 Posts: 4,383 Member
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    Your hormonal systems are seriously messed up if you're maintaining on 900-1100 calories a day. There are two possibilities that jump out at me;

    1. As above, your hormonal balance is completely screwed. Thyroid, leptin, ghrelin, cortisol. The whole schabang.
    2. You're not tracking correctly.

    With how restrictive you are, I would tend toward the first option.

    As per the stats provided, your BMR should be around 1330.

    Your TDEE (total daily energy expenditure) should be in the ballpark of 1600 if you do no exercise at all, 1830 if you do a bit and 2060 if you do a substantial amount.

    As you're stuck not losing though, this clearly isn't the case.

    I'm no expert, but I can tell you eating under 1000 calories a day at your age is going to have long term consequences. Bone weakness and potentially hair loss, teeth falling out and, more extremely organ failure are all common side effects of long periods of malnourishment.

    What I would recommend, being that you are at a healthy weight and really need to look at your HEALTH now, as it pertains to this restrictive dieting, is that you take a couple of weeks eating around what your maintenance SHOULD be to give your body a break.


    this

    yup
  • PopsGils
    PopsGils Posts: 68 Member
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    I am not eating 1360 because I am trying to create a 3500 calorie deficit to lose around a pound a week! I dont want to maintain, I want to lose!
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
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    I dont eat only 900! some days maybe 900 but then the next will be 1600 - when i divide my weekly cals by 7 its always 1100 - 1300 per day!

    But if your RMR is 1360 why aren't you AT LEAST eating this every day? And that's if you do nothing all day, so you want to eat more than that.

    agreed.

    i am 5ft5 and i NET 1800 cals (so eat about 2200 on exercise days) and am losing bodyfat....
  • robin52077
    robin52077 Posts: 4,383 Member
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    I am OVER on my protein pretty much every single day! Why do you think I am under?

    because your protein is set really low. Aim for closer to 100g a day.
  • PopsGils
    PopsGils Posts: 68 Member
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    HOW are you losing weight if you are not creating a deficit one way or another?! So frustrating!
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
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    I am not eating 1360 because I am trying to create a 3500 calorie deficit to lose around a pound a week! I dont want to maintain, I want to lose!

    you have confused TDEE with BMR.... you need to eat OVER your BMR (so over 1360) but UNDER your TDEE to lose weight.....
  • robin52077
    robin52077 Posts: 4,383 Member
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    I am not eating 1360 because I am trying to create a 3500 calorie deficit to lose around a pound a week! I dont want to maintain, I want to lose!

    I think you're misunderstanding.

    1360 is NOT the amount you need to take the deficit OFF OF. 1360 is the MINIMUM healthy amount you should EAT. That IS a deficit.

    Your TDEE, which you take the deficit off of, is more like 1800-2000 depending what you did that day.
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
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    HOW are you losing weight if you are not creating a deficit one way or another?! So frustrating!

    if that comment was aimed at me, i NET 1800 calories which is 200 cals less than my maintenance figure of NET 2000 cals....

    plus i am not losing weight, just fat!
  • PopsGils
    PopsGils Posts: 68 Member
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    my BMR is 1360 and my TDEE around 1600, so if i take 500 cals a day off my TDEE i am left with 1100 which is roughly what Ive been doing to no avail!
  • robin52077
    robin52077 Posts: 4,383 Member
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    Eat 1800 a day for 3 weeks, do not step on a scale at ALL, as it may go up a little from water and freak you out. Then after the 3 weeks. assess how you LOOK and FEEL, and your energy level, and NOT the scale...

    Then if you want, you can go as low as 1400 but not less, but you don't need to do that as you can lose at 1600 easily once you fix your broken metabolism.
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
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    my BMR is 1360 and my TDEE around 1600, so if i take 500 cals a day off my TDEE i am left with 1100 which is roughly what Ive been doing to no avail!

    you dont exercise at all?
  • robin52077
    robin52077 Posts: 4,383 Member
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    You do not seem like you want to LISTEN, and LEARN...you just seem like you want to shoot down everything with a "but"....

    You have gotten some excellent advice in this thread. I'm sorry the correct answers are not what you WANTED to hear, but they're true. Eat more. Stop arguing.

    ...and I apologize if I misread frustration as argumentativeness, but it really comes across like you don't want to hear what is being said...
  • PopsGils
    PopsGils Posts: 68 Member
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    I give a 'but' for everything cos I need to let you guys know all the details, you cant give advice until you are fully informed of stuff. If I eat more I will gain weight, simple as
  • ironanimal
    ironanimal Posts: 5,922 Member
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    I give a 'but' for everything cos I need to let you guys know all the details, you cant give advice until you are fully informed of stuff. If I eat more I will gain weight, simple as
    Temporarily yes, but the majority will be in glycogen and the assosciated water weight. Not fat.

    Your weight is an arbritrary number that gives you the absolute vaguest guess at how healthy you are. If you really want to track how fat you are, measure.
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
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    I give a 'but' for everything cos I need to let you guys know all the details, you cant give advice until you are fully informed of stuff. If I eat more I will gain weight, simple as

    but the reason you will gain (in the shourt term) is because there is a good chance you have damaged your metabolism through eating too little, which people have been trying to tell you how to fix!
  • minijag06
    minijag06 Posts: 70
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    Hi. I've lost 33 lbs since January 1st. The first 6 weeks went very slow! I was so frustrated. I read an article that you have to find the right time of the day for your workout. So, I changed my night time workout to an early morning workout and it sped up my metabolism. I have a log book that I wrote down my exercise routines/food and made changes weekly till I found out what works for me. Try it. Also - make some goals for every week. It's fun and you feel great when you complete them!
  • PopsGils
    PopsGils Posts: 68 Member
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    OK so do I eat my TDEE of 1600 or 1800? Tell me and I will do it, but i will be cursing when my jeans dont fit! ;)
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
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    OK so do I eat my TDEE of 1600 or 1800? Tell me and I will do it, but i will be cursing when my jeans dont fit! ;)

    if you do no exercise then a TDEE of around 1600 sounds about right...

    but i would suggest you look at adding in some exercise, as i doubt you need to lose weight so much as lose a little bodyfat or 'tone up'!
  • robin52077
    robin52077 Posts: 4,383 Member
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    Ok, so I put your numbers into a calculator....the copy and paste doesn't show all the fields but I will bold the areas I'd like to highlight...

    these numbers were arrived at by choosing "moderate exercise 3-5 times a week"


    Calculations based on Height and Age:
    Female

    Select your height:
    feet inches
    Input your age:
    How Active are You?

    Individual Weights:
    Hamwi Based Calculations: 112 pounds for a small frame, 125 pounds for a medium frame, and 137 pounds for a large frame.
    Robinson Based Calculation: 126 pounds.
    Miller Based Calculation: 132 pounds.
    BMI Based Calculation: 138 pounds.

    Average Weights:
    AVERAGE OF ALL CALCULATIONS ABOVE: 128 POUNDS.
    NORMAL RANGE BASED ON THE AVERAGE: 115 - 141 POUNDS.
    RANGE BASED STRICTLY ON BMI: 111 - 149 POUNDS.


    (my added note: you are 138 pounds, which is PERFECTLY HEALTHY according to all these calculations, anything you lose now is purely for appearances sake, which we all do and understand, of course, but it's not "necessary")


    Caloric Need:
    Estimated Base BMR: 1399 Calories. THIS IS THE NUMBER YOU SHOULD NEVER GO BELOW

    Estimated TDEE: 2169 Calories. THIS IS THE NUMBER YOU SHOULD EAT DAILY IF YOU WANTED TO STAY EXACTLY THE SAME

    Estimated Daily Caloric Need For Weight Loss: 1669 Calories. THIS IS THE NUMBER TO EAT DAILY TO LOSE WEIGHT IN A STEADY AND HEALTHY MANNER

    keep in mind all calculators are never exactly accurate for anyone, ever, it's numbers in a formula, and you are a human being...but it's the best you can do with math....

    So, set your diary to 1800 for 3 weeks. DO NOT worry over a little bit of water weight or bloat, you are not gaining FAT.
    After 3 weeks, do 1700 for a week, then 1600 for a while...reassess after a month of 1600...

    This is not a quick easy process. You are trying to be the best you that you can be for the rest of your LIFE, you can't fix it in a week. Maybe it takes a year, but what is one year of learning about your body when it will help you to treat it right for 50 more years? :)

    Also, you will want to look into lifting weights.
    Chances are, the "problems" you see when you look at your body can be better fixed with heavy lifting than with calorie restriction...

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