help!!!!!

rueyaroo
rueyaroo Posts: 35
in Food and Nutrition
Hi,

I've been having issues with my weight these past few months. I started at 192 in May and did a 1200 calorie diet, went down to 180 in about 10 weeks, hit a plateau, and raised my calorie intake to 1400 to break the plateau. I ended at 177, and gained 5 pounds when I moved to Chicago.

So at 182, I decided to hire a personal trainer. I started a kettlebell full body workout (3x a week), HIIT 1x a week, and low intensity cardio 1x a week, with 2 off days. He told me to raise my intake to 2000 calories a day, and now I gained about 10-15 pounds. I'm assuming most of it's water, since I feel I haven't changed much in terms of inches..

I ate about TDEE for 4-5 weeks (2550), and I then went down to 2000-2100 calories to see if I could get any results.. Am I supposed to stick it out? It's terrifying to see my weight go so high. My body fat is 30% and my goal weight is 160 (my trainer thinks I should become a power lifter cause I'm super athletic) which would put me at 20% body fat. My pant size is an 8, incase you guys were curious.

WHAT DO I DO!??!?! I'm frustrated to tears..

Replies

  • Polly758
    Polly758 Posts: 623 Member
    He told me to raise my intake to 2000 calories a day, and now I gained about 10-15 pounds. I'm assuming most of it's water, since I feel I haven't changed much in terms of inches..

    Where would all that water be going?? It's muscle you've gained. Awesome!

    Eating at TDEE and doing the kettlebells with your trainer should accomplish a recomposition-- losing fat, gaining muscle. If your inches were going up or your pants size was going up, now that's a different story.

    The "issue with your weight" is that you are focused on it exclusively. Put the scale away. Take measurements every week or so to make sure you stay on track. Eat TDEE and keep increasing your kettlebell resistance. I'd say you're having good results so far. If you totally stall, going down to 2100 calories would be a 15 percent cut and you might see quicker results on that. BUT you might stall your muscle gains if you do that for too long.

    You're totally doing it right. Congrats. Just put... the scale... away! :laugh: I mean come on... size 8 is a problem for you?
  • lilRicki
    lilRicki Posts: 4,555 Member
    ...and that is why Polly's my friend. Good answer!
  • rueyaroo
    rueyaroo Posts: 35
    Thanks for the advice!! I went up 5 pounds on each of my kettlebells, and I've been getting sore/bruises on my arms. I also try to do an extra round of them, until my form starts to get worse cause of muscle fatigue.

    I also do deadlifts (working my way up to my body weight), bench press, lat pulldown, I try to squat too.. but I get pretty exhausted after my kettlebell workout days.

    I don't know exactly if I've gained or not, I usually just take a lot of pictures of myself and use them as reference. Judging from them, I don't feel I have..

    The weird part is, after doing 4 weeks of TDEE I was settling in on 190, and then I think my monthly friend is coming along to help me gain water weight? Should I be expecting a decline in weight soon? I'm trying to get down to 20% body fat..

    So going down to 1200 or 1400 calories isn't a wise option...?
  • Polly758
    Polly758 Posts: 623 Member
    So going down to 1200 or 1400 calories isn't a wise option...?

    Dear god! No!

    Look, at your weight, with your goals, you're not going to change more than 1 lb at a time NO MATTER WHAT YOU DO. It's just not biologically possible. Even if you do lose a pound of fat, you might not even see that in the scale because you've gained a pound of muscle. The only reason to weigh yourself at this point is just to track it. You know, for posterity. So you can say "I am 190 lbs and a size 6!"

    ...because I'm guessing your kindof tall, so that's totally possible. One of my friends is 5'9", 160#, with about a 27" waist. (She's a rock climber.)

    I gain a few pounds during my TOM. It really doens't matter. Unless it's still there 3 weeks later. But even then... your measurements or the pictures will tell a more complete story.

    EDIT oh, and, you may like this story.
    http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2011/07/21/meet-staci-your-new-powerlifting-super-hero/
  • rueyaroo
    rueyaroo Posts: 35
    Thank you for all the advice, it's really helpful!!

    I'm 5'4 if you're curious. Here are some pictures from my journey. I used to weigh around 220-230 during my high school years. I went down to around 210 during my first years of college, and the last year or so I began lifting pretty heavily. I steadily getting leaner, I think.

    recent:
    http://img687.imageshack.us/img687/6032/55047736003934588561351.jpg
    http://img266.imageshack.us/img266/4201/59983135577851936761763.jpg

    First years of college:
    http://img37.imageshack.us/img37/4346/23430135405330175646823.jpg
    http://img854.imageshack.us/img854/7678/66331156010649295752867.jpg

    Incredible story, btw! Thank you for sharing!!

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