Really getting more frustrated every week
WeCallThemDayWalkers
Posts: 259 Member
OK. I've been lifting for about 3 months averaging about 2 sessions per week with walking on other days and hard cardio on one day per week.
My newbie strength gains are going great. I can do multiple sets of whole-body standard push-ups now. I am approaching 100lbs on my squat. My OHP is getting ever so slightly bigger. Deadlifts give me trouble, but are still progressing, actually.
My real beef is that I am not looking any different. I took pics and measurements. I'm about 1/2 inch bigger in the hips and waist. My "current' pics look all swollen and chubby. I am gaining every week. Today I weighed in at my highest in over a year (176.2). Around Christmas time I was at 169 and just starting to dabble with Eat More and Strength Training.
Here is an example: This past week I consumed appx 14,474 calories and burned appx 2,657 calories via logged activities ranging from light (walking) to heavy (sprinting hill runs).
That puts my averages at 2,067 eaten/day and a (theoretical) net of 1,688 cals/day.
I gained 2.4lbs this week.
I cannot see any patterns in my weight change that can be attributed to water/sodium/cycling/etc.
Does this mean that I have a slower metabolism and should be eating even less? My HeyBales spreadsheet estimator suggests I consume about 1950/day on average for a little over 20% cut from TDEE, so I'm a smidge over actually. But my weight gain suggests that I ate about 8400 calories too much this past week. That would be an excess of 1200 calories per day. So, basically, to maintain my weight I would have had to have been eating about 900 calories per day... WHAT IS GOING ON?
Someone please help set me straight. I'm so frustrated.
Something is not right here.
I need to hear that at 4 months the sky will open up, the angels, will sing, and the tape measure (At the very least!) will creep smaller.
A year ago, a personal trainer told me I needed to be working out 3-4 times per week and eating a flat 1550 per day (regardless of workouts) to lose weight. I am beginning to think that I've been a total fool for ignoring her advice. I might have already reached my goals by now if I had listened to her.
My newbie strength gains are going great. I can do multiple sets of whole-body standard push-ups now. I am approaching 100lbs on my squat. My OHP is getting ever so slightly bigger. Deadlifts give me trouble, but are still progressing, actually.
My real beef is that I am not looking any different. I took pics and measurements. I'm about 1/2 inch bigger in the hips and waist. My "current' pics look all swollen and chubby. I am gaining every week. Today I weighed in at my highest in over a year (176.2). Around Christmas time I was at 169 and just starting to dabble with Eat More and Strength Training.
Here is an example: This past week I consumed appx 14,474 calories and burned appx 2,657 calories via logged activities ranging from light (walking) to heavy (sprinting hill runs).
That puts my averages at 2,067 eaten/day and a (theoretical) net of 1,688 cals/day.
I gained 2.4lbs this week.
I cannot see any patterns in my weight change that can be attributed to water/sodium/cycling/etc.
Does this mean that I have a slower metabolism and should be eating even less? My HeyBales spreadsheet estimator suggests I consume about 1950/day on average for a little over 20% cut from TDEE, so I'm a smidge over actually. But my weight gain suggests that I ate about 8400 calories too much this past week. That would be an excess of 1200 calories per day. So, basically, to maintain my weight I would have had to have been eating about 900 calories per day... WHAT IS GOING ON?
Someone please help set me straight. I'm so frustrated.
Something is not right here.
I need to hear that at 4 months the sky will open up, the angels, will sing, and the tape measure (At the very least!) will creep smaller.
A year ago, a personal trainer told me I needed to be working out 3-4 times per week and eating a flat 1550 per day (regardless of workouts) to lose weight. I am beginning to think that I've been a total fool for ignoring her advice. I might have already reached my goals by now if I had listened to her.
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Bump0
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I so hear you. I am in the same boat as you. Not seeing any progress and feel like I am flat out wasting my time.0
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I would suggest a cut of 15% if you bmr is around 16000
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Bump... I am in the same boat....0
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I've tried eating up to about 2300 per day but my weight was stable. At that time I was doing a lot more cardio (e.g., spinning, running) and my burns were higher. I was gaining slowly at that consumption level as well.
About 3 weeks ago, it was suggested that I cut my calories down by about 200/day to see if that would help. It hasn't though. So I'm averaging 2000/day and the weight just isn't following predictable patterns.
I am sure that I am building muscle on account of getting stronger, but the fat is definitely not going anywhere. It's just getting pushed outward by new muscles and I look worse, not better. I look "thick" for lack of a better word. Makes me wonder if I should be doing more HIIT and tough cardio. Right now I'm only doing "intense" cardio about 1x week. Usually is running sprints.0 -
It could be that your tdee is lower or higher than assumed. An rmr test would confirm. I got one done and it has helped me0
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It could be that your tdee is lower or higher than assumed. An rmr test would confirm. I got one done and it has helped me
Good idea. I think I had better figure that out.0 -
i hear you... been there....over a year ago. threw my hands up and went back to what has always worked for me...with the added vinyasa yoga 4x a week. eating less and moving more.
eating 'more' to make it to the hypothetical TDEE based on calculators and BMF did not work for me. i gained the entire time. i did, like you, see strength gains which was great. BUT i have kept those gains (!) even by eating less.
i practice IF with a 18/6 window every day. love it. complete freedom for me.0 -
I accidentally fasted last week. I had to do fasting blood work...at 4pm haha. Oops! So I went like 8pm til 4pm the next day. Was STARVING by 5pm. But I actually felt pretty good later and even proceeded to do a kickbutt run that evening.0
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Is there a reason you are only lifting twice a week? I lift three times and that still gives me plenty of rest days.
What was your diet before EM2WL? Had you been very low calorie for a very long time? Did you do any sort of reset or did you go straight to a 20% cut?0 -
bump, I could have written this post......:sad:0
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Is there a reason you are only lifting twice a week? I lift three times and that still gives me plenty of rest days.
What was your diet before EM2WL? Had you been very low calorie for a very long time? Did you do any sort of reset or did you go straight to a 20% cut?
I say I average 2x week because sometimes it's 3, but more often it's 2. Generally, I like to do other stuff like bowling, frisbee, running, hiking, yoga etc., so not all of my activity comes from lifting. In a given week I get 4 "real" workouts and fill the rest of my time with light walking and so forth.
I haven't been on a very low calorie diet for a long time now. Initially (around 2008-ish) I worked down from 200 to 155lbs. I did that by swimming and running about 4 days a week and by eating about 1400-1600 calories per day. It came off relatively easily until I got to 155 about.
After that, I ate more daily (maybe about 1800-2000) because I liked how I looked and that was pretty comfy level of consumption.
My daily activity level declined a LOT when I got a desk job (no more walking to school, biking, etc) but I guess I continued to eat like a more active person. So, when I realized that my weight wasn't magically maintaining itself anymore, I started to count calories again. I dove back in at the 1400 but quickly decided that it was not comfortable and I would rather just work out more but also eat more. I found this group and thought I'd give it a try. I can't say I don't enjoy eating more, but I started back in September or so and I've only gained weight since, despite making activity a priority and pretty much never eating below 1700.
By most accounts (Scooby, F2F, etc) I AM a very active person (get about 6-8 hrs activity per week), but my "background" activity is lower than it once was. Course, I'm older now than when I lost weight previously, and I'm now a good 20lbs heavier than I was back then. About 10 of those lbs have occurred in the past year. The other was the "slow creep" of someone who thinks they're maintaining...but aren't hehe. The compounding factors of stressful job hunting, cross-country move, stressful working conditions, and a now 3-year chronic insomnia problem have also conspired to keep me from finding inner peace and I find that I'm spending SO much of my time obsessing over numbers and calories and so on that...well, it's just really frustrating to make absolutely no progress in losing weight when I'm trying so hard and spending so much of my down time and brain power thinking about it.
But back to positive note!! - Today I was trying on this bridesmaid dress and sort of moving my arms about and I saw a line has formed where my tricep and bicep meet on the top/back of my arm...SCORE! Also, my calves look good. So, I guess my extremities are getting muscular.
Thanks for reading my vent. If you sat through the whole thing, well, I appreciate it.
I think I'll feel better tomorrow. Will need to take the advice of an earlier post and possibly get my RMR tested. Maybe got to a BodPod and get the fat% nailed down too. Maybe that would be a better way to gauge progress.0 -
I've tried eating up to about 2300 per day but my weight was stable. At that time I was doing a lot more cardio (e.g., spinning, running) and my burns were higher. I was gaining slowly at that consumption level as well.
About 3 weeks ago, it was suggested that I cut my calories down by about 200/day to see if that would help. It hasn't though. So I'm averaging 2000/day and the weight just isn't following predictable patterns.
So this happend to me. I strapped on a Body Media and thought my TDEE was 2800. I slowly gained each week. The Body Media over estimated my burn. I also wore it during weight lifting and I found out later that you cannot do that. I finally woke up after gaining 4lbs. I had this whole eat more calories in my head and was not listenting to my body.
If you are slowly gaining each week, logging all your food and exercising then you are probably over estimating your TDEE. I weight lift 3 days a week and walk the 2 other days. 5 days a week and my activity level is lightly active. Weight lifting does not give you the same burns as cardio. I always thought I was moderatly active from the online calculators.
I got my body fat tested and they gave me my RMR. I plugged that into heybales spreadsheet and sure enough I am lightly active. It confirmed that I overestimated my TDEE. Take a look again at your numbers.0 -
I too wonder if your TDEE is correct. I'm still figuring this process out too and haven't quite figured out the magic # at which the scale starts to go down. I invested in a BMF and realized from the beginning that I was much less active on a daily basis than I'd initially given myself credit for. Wearing the BMF each day I try hard to meet my daily activity goals and have been trying to make my days as inefficient as possible (raising my NEAT) - as in, moving around a lot, multiple trips up and down the hall at work, etc. Now that i've gotten used to eating more, it's hard to not go over my daily calorie goal but I *think* I'm starting to see some changes in the mirror and my pants may be a teeny tiny itsy bitsy bit looser.
I should be getting my intake thing figured out any day now (wink) and then maybe the scale will go down. Or not. I'd just like my pants to fit better.
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thank you! i will do that!0
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I took a look at your last month's food and exercise diary and it's hard to make heads or tails of it. One day you're eating 900 calories another 2900. Your exercise indicates a lot more cardio than you've mentioned. Maybe you changed things up this past week but a week is not enough time to tell what's going on.
Try eating more consistently for a month with consistent burns; Hard to see a pattern when ya are all over the place. I too recently got a BodyMedia Fit and also was given a much higher TDEE than I thought but used it anyway. I gained 3 lbs at first then a month later lost it and another pound so upped my cals again. I had been eating 1500 before now I'm eating 2k. Strength 3x a week, HIIT 2x a week, hills/sprints 1 day a week.
I'd be careful about cutting too much even if it works. I see a number of people on my friend's list gaining weight back fast from undereating, slashing even more.0 -
Good point Gigi. I checked out your food diary and your daily calories are all over the place. And it looks like you're almost never hitting your protein macros. Are you logging *everything*? Are you weighing all your food? From all the posts I've lurked on (and learned from) and personal experience, the first place to look at is your food diary. I didn't use to log all the random snacks - a few gummy bears here, a few Cheezits there. But that kind of stuff adds up and makes a difference. In trying to figure all this out, I'm making myself log EVERYTHING even if I've gone way over or lost my mind in a bag of Oreos. I figure that being honest with myself will help in figuring out patterns.0
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It is pretty all over the place for sure. I do weigh all the food and count out my snack nuts, measure my wine, etc etc. I've been at this forever it seems. No "unlogged snacking". But it seems like anytime we go out to eat, I end up going over my limit, so I try to compensate by having less on another day. Mathematically, I (want to) think that my average for the week is more important than my day to day. But obviously, that may be flawed thinking considering my lack of results.
I've tried variations of "logging all the exercise calories and eating them back" or "logging only 1 cal burned and eating at my -20% number".
As far as protein....yeah. This is something that I have managed to increase from about 40 g/day avg to 80-100/day relatively regularly. But I have not found a comfortable way to get the 1g/lb LBM number or the 30% of calories. It's a huge amount of protein for me. I don't want to eat meat for 3 meals a day and milk/yogurt are sadly no longer options. I've tried powders, but they're expensive and although I enjoy them, I save them for weightlifting days to save $$ (the cheaper versions have lactose in them, so gotta spring for the isolates). Usually, I am ending up just going way over on fat and not getting anywhere near my protein goals. Maybe it will be easier when my total calories to eat are lower.
Anyways, thanks for all the comments everyone. I know that consistency is the key. I do actually eat the same stuff for lunch and breakfast consistently. Dinner is a wild card though. I also get some form of exercise almost every day of the week.
I feel like I am coming away from this with a resolution to decrease calories further because probably my TDEE is lower than what I've calculated.
Maybe my version of exercising hard just doesn't burn that many calories. I probably should get more cardio in my life again too. I'm a stocky little person. My peasant genes probably just don't want to give up their precious lard layer, even in times of plenty.0 -
Since that 200 calorie drop didn't prove positive to level that was basically maintenance, it concerns me to still go that direction.
But might as well prove it out by dropping another 200.
Keep the workouts as they are, you don't need more stressful intense cardio to help, it won't. The lifting is there for that part, and combined with enough protein (gotta get that in daily) you can take a good deficit and still maintain muscle mass.
At least if you were eating in surplus of TDEE, the lifting made it go to good place.
I'd get Bodpod first, and base goals off that LBM. With eating so well and lifting, I doubt metabolism is an issue now. Except it possibly being lower than you think.0 -
Thanks heybales. I will drop some more and see what happens! I think my body is pretty efficient at holding onto its reserves. Even when I've been very active (hiking all day for field work, etc) my weight doesn't drop easily. So maybe I'm one of those people for which calories in is absolutely the most important thing to control and exercise hardly makes a dent.
boo :grumble:0 -
In trying to figure all this out, I'm making myself log EVERYTHING even if I've gone way over or lost my mind in a bag of Oreos. I figure that being honest with myself will help in figuring out patterns.
laughing at the bar of oreos...!0 -
I do loves me some Oreos when I'm stressed out! Must be the peasant in me... 0
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Thanks heybales. I will drop some more and see what happens! I think my body is pretty efficient at holding onto its reserves. Even when I've been very active (hiking all day for field work, etc) my weight doesn't drop easily. So maybe I'm one of those people for which calories in is absolutely the most important thing to control and exercise hardly makes a dent.
boo :grumble:
Well, walking is a pretty efficient activity and doesn't burn much and mostly is fat, unless you have like extra 100-150 you are carrying, either on you or backpack.
Usually what it means if body is good at holding on to reserves, is the body gets stressed easily and in response metabolism drops and you don't burn what you could be burning.
You listed a lot of stresses there. Stress and the hormone changes fight fat and weight loss.
You control and lessen the stresses you can, for those you can't, you make others less stressful to balance them.
When I worked nights oh so long ago, it was given as a tip that food can always make up for sleep. And it can to a pretty good extent, because you are trading stresses. Though the lack of sleep will eventually get to ya.
But that has been true through the years. Intense exercise, food deficit better not be a stress. Intense enough, better have none.
Lack of sleep or other stress, back off intense exercise and make it light.
Now, I could probably investigate some potential food allergies or dislikes too, and probably discover something I'm eating is a stress to some level, no matter how minor.
But get rid of that, I could take on more stress elsewhere.
That's why the eating clean works for so many. Their deficit was too great causing stress, but at least they got rid of the food stress on the body. Balance.
Then, you mess with all that, and you still may slow your system down anyway.0 -
I do loves me some Oreos when I'm stressed out! Must be the peasant in me...
Delicious partially hydrogenated vegetable oils. Suddenly, I want oreos. Or maybe an oreo blizzard would suffice.0 -
I really think different things do work for different people. Eating more didn't work for me, I gained and felt miserable (even though it was a slight gain) and fluctuated within the same couple of kilos for a couple of months. Over the last couple of weeks, I have tried out a 5:2 fasting approach - now, I love my food, so I haven't been able to do the 500 calorie days, but even with just a couple of weeks of eating at maintenance but two days at 1000 calorie, the weights started to shift again and my clothes are feeling looser. I am back in the "60's" (kilos) for the first time in years. That in itself provides motivation I wasn't getting when my weight wouldn't budge. Because 5 days are at maintenance there aren't the usual energy slumps or fatigue associated with dieting, either.
Just my two cents. I wasn't prepared to spend six months at a weight I wasn't happy with to try and 'reset' my body when there's no guarantee the weight would eventually shift. Please bear in mind that EVERYONE's evidence here is anecdotal - what works for one person won't necessarily work for another. I love the idea of eating more to weigh less but, in practice, it just didn't stir my soup. As I get closer to my goal I expect I will drop to one low calorie day per week and then eventually taper off so it's all at maintenance.
Best wishes and success for whichever route you decide to go down.0 -
I love the idea of eating more to weigh less but, in practice, it just didn't stir my soup.
I am going to start using this phrase!! hehe.
Yeah, I have been trying and playing with numbers since autumn. Hell, if it's true that I'm eating above my TDEE (and gaining weight) then I probably have already completed a reset!
The idea of a day a week of fasting really intrigues me. It might be something to help me along a bit since I love eating "more" but my "more" is too much (maybe then Thai food night wouldn't sink my battleship?!)!
I really appreciate everyone's feedback (i.e. sympathy lol) and if any of you are looking for friends on here, please add me. Meanwhile, I'm feeling better today after melting down yesterday and will persevere. Actually a little embarrassed at how much I let my weight get to me. I will continue running and lifting and eating just a little bit less.0 -
The eating more to weigh less is a poor choice of phrase, but the clearer meaning is too long and not as catching.
Eat more than bare recommended minimum for sedentary and eat more and exercise to lose fat weight.
It was the answer for those eating the 1200 intended for sedentary minimum goals to get nutrition requirements in. Not to see body improvements from exercise, nor maintain muscle mass.
And everybody loses weight eating less then their TDEE.
Now, their selection of TDEE level may be very off, and for a time they may have suppressed their metabolism so bad the estimates of TDEE are bad too.
But everybody loses if you eat below TDEE. Too much and almost everyone will suffer bad consequences unless they are doing a bunch of stuff really right, enough protein and resistance exercise to retain muscle mass, and their stress levels from other things aren't impacting their hormones too.
You might also try skipping breakfast on days where pre-lunch will me sitting, that may more calories available later in day.
That's a partial IF, though not much.
If you workout first thing in am or are active, then light snack to get the blood sugar up, light breakfast afterwards, later lunch, no snack, later dinner and bigger.0 -
I'm far too lazy for morning workouts but I aspire to them! I already eat a small breakfast (~300 cals) but it might help me to save them for later in the day!!
Yeah, I see what you're saying about everyone will lose below their TDEE. The hard part is knowing how long to wait to decide whether or not the TDEE estimate is correct or not. When a person has quite a lot to lose (ahem, moi) she may be a little excitable about not making progress.0 -
Which link do you follow for vinayasa yoga?i hear you... been there....over a year ago. threw my hands up and went back to what has always worked for me...with the added vinyasa yoga 4x a week. eating less and moving more.
eating 'more' to make it to the hypothetical TDEE based on calculators and BMF did not work for me. i gained the entire time. i did, like you, see strength gains which was great. BUT i have kept those gains (!) even by eating less.
i practice IF with a 18/6 window every day. love it. complete freedom for me.0
