Constructive criticism please
jess7386
Posts: 477 Member
People of MFP -
I need help, as I am extremely frustrated. I havent lost any weight in two weeks, despite working out 6 days per week and eating healthy. As I am about 50 lbs overweight, it shouldn't be impossible for me to drop some lbs. Ive tried not to convince myself it's more difficult for me to lose weight than most but it's getting very difficult. I'd love any constructive criticism anyone can provide, either in terms of workouts or eating.
I'm doing P90X, which I've done religiously every day for 5 weeks. I wear a HRM, so the calories I burn are pretty accurate. I do not eat back my exercise calories & don't plan to. I give myself a meal or two over the weekend, but I always count it and get back on track the next day. I tend to over-estimate the number of calories I eat, rather than under-estimate.
I'm debating dropping down in my calories, or dropping some carbs. I've also toyed with the idea of adding more cardio to P90X, but I still want to do something sustainable as well. I am willing to do what it takes to drop a pound or two a week. I am female, 26, 5'6 and weigh 202. My current goal is 1500 calories per day.
I sincerely appreciate any help.
I need help, as I am extremely frustrated. I havent lost any weight in two weeks, despite working out 6 days per week and eating healthy. As I am about 50 lbs overweight, it shouldn't be impossible for me to drop some lbs. Ive tried not to convince myself it's more difficult for me to lose weight than most but it's getting very difficult. I'd love any constructive criticism anyone can provide, either in terms of workouts or eating.
I'm doing P90X, which I've done religiously every day for 5 weeks. I wear a HRM, so the calories I burn are pretty accurate. I do not eat back my exercise calories & don't plan to. I give myself a meal or two over the weekend, but I always count it and get back on track the next day. I tend to over-estimate the number of calories I eat, rather than under-estimate.
I'm debating dropping down in my calories, or dropping some carbs. I've also toyed with the idea of adding more cardio to P90X, but I still want to do something sustainable as well. I am willing to do what it takes to drop a pound or two a week. I am female, 26, 5'6 and weigh 202. My current goal is 1500 calories per day.
I sincerely appreciate any help.
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Replies
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Hey hey, ideally we need to see your food diary or we cant help.0
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" I do not eat back my exercise calories & don't plan to."
^^That's your problem.0 -
You will hear this from other people. So, I'll be the first. You probably aren't eating enough. You said you are not going to eat back your exercise calories and I can understand that mindset because I struggle with that as well. But.......it you are netting less than 1200 calories that may be why you are not losing. I know that P90X is pretty intense and you are probably burning a heck of alot.
I would suggest experimenting. Maybe try eating back 1/2 of your exercise calories and see if that makes a differene. What about measurements. You didn't mention those. Are you losing inches? You could be building muscle and losing fat and it's not showing on the scale.
Good luck!!0 -
without seeing your diary it's guesswork - but my guess would be that you are 'starving' your body - as you're not eating enough of the right things - it thinks it's not getting enough nutrients and then holds onto what it can...
i did this and had to actually up what i ate to lose weight....0 -
1500 calories and not eating back any calories after a P90X workout? Also, if you are truly over-estimating your calories (do you have a food scale to ensure you are actually over-estimating?), then you are not even reaching your target calories. You may need to up your calories since you may be driving your body into starvation mode and that's what's holding you back.
This change should not be about starving yourself, rather training yourself with new habits that you can stick with for life.0 -
I used not not eat back my exercise calories and noticed I wasn't losing weight and became frustrated. Once I started eating back at least half of them each day I noticed weight coming off each week.
Also, if you are doing P90X you may be building muscle which is going to affect your scale.
Those are the only things I can suggest. Sorry if it wasn't as helpful as you wanted it to be, but hang in there!! Weight loss is a process, not something that comes easy for everyone.0 -
Seeing that your BMR is 1721 and you're only eating 1500 calories PLUS overestimating calories and not eating exercise calories back... that is your problem. You are definitely not eating enough. If you don't want to eat your exercise calories, that's fine. But you should be eating more than your BMR if you go that route.0
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You will hear this from other people. So, I'll be the first. You probably aren't eating enough. You said you are not going to eat back your exercise calories and I can understand that mindset because I struggle with that as well. But.......it you are netting less than 1200 calories that may be why you are not losing. I know that P90X is pretty intense and you are probably burning a heck of alot.
I would suggest experimenting. Maybe try eating back 1/2 of your exercise calories and see if that makes a differene. What about measurements. You didn't mention those. Are you losing inches? You could be building muscle and losing fat and it's not showing on the scale.
Good luck!!
Agree. I'm doing p90x too and definitely go by inches. Tracking inches is a better sign of weight loss than the scale because you could gain a bit of muscle , lose some fat and the scale won't change. Are you following the program exactly? Which plan are you doing: classic, doubles, or lean? How much water are you drinking? Are you eating lots of (or more sodium)? It could be water retention. When you lift your muscles need water to repair so that could be a factor as well.0 -
No critricism, just free advice. Take it for whatever you think it is worth.
First, yeah you for working hard at getting fit.
Don't sweat it if you don't see results on the scale right away. Weight loss is not linear. If you eat right and do the work, the weight will come off in time. In the grand scheme of things 2 weeks is nothing.
A couple of things to remember:
Your scale lies to you. People constantly say “I worked out every day this week and ate right, and I still gained 3 lbs! This fitness stuff doesn’t work, so why bother. I quit” Not true. You just haven’t given it enough time. The scale can lie to you because it doesn’t know what part of your weight is fat, what is muscle, and what is water. If you are working hard and keeping under your calories, the weight loss will come when it is ready (which sadly is probably not the same thing as when you are ready). Weight loss is a funny thing, and everybody's results are different. Women especially seem to have inconsistent results from everything I have seen and read. There can be many reasons for this - just to name a few possibilities:
a. You are new to exercise and your body is still trying to figure out what it needs to do to cope with the new demands you are putting on it. When you start working muscles that aren't used to getting worked, they pull water into themselves as they try to repair themselves from the micro tears created by exercise (that's how they grow), and that can add water weight until the body gets used to working hard day in and day out.
b. Women's monthly cycles (Disclaimer - I am a guy - I admit I only know what is in the published studies!) cause water weight loss and gain throughout the month, which really screws up the scale results. Don’t blame me, it wasn’t my idea.
c. There is also something I have read dieticians and trainers write about sometimes called the "whoosh effect" where weight stays stubbornly on for weeks in spite of lowered calories and regular exercise, and then suddenly, "whoosh" pounds come off 3 and 4 at a time for some reason. It’s crazy, but makes sense when you remember that your body wants to be fat once it has learned how to be fat, so it doesn’t give up those pounds easily. Keep at it and, sooner or later, it will have to surrender the pounds. Unfortunately we all want instant results, which doesn’t always happen. So, keep on keepin on.
d. Muscle gains also reduce the loss of pounds on the scale, but will reduce your body size in inches; muscle weighs more than fat. This takes time, but keep a lookout for this in action. Use your favorite pair of jeans as a measuring stick and ignore the scale for a couple of weeks. Or, measure yourself at the start and track how those inches disappear over time. They will.
e. When and where you weigh yourself matters. Keep it consistent in terms of time and place, and use the same scale. They don’t all read the same. Even moving the scale to another room or a different part of the room can give you a different result.
f. If you are like a lot of people, you can gain or lose as much as 5-6 pounds during the day depending on what you ate, when you last ate, when you last used the bathroom, and so on. If you remember that, it helps keep you sane when the scale number isn't moving.
Keep after it and you will get where you want to go. :drinker:0 -
I have not lost any weight for 240 days now.... (smaller size though) try that one on for size and I have approx 50lbs to lose too !!
You need to eat more, when you are out of shape and over weight like we are and you work your tail off at something like p90x 5 days a week, if you feed it minimal calories it will be VERY stressed out
When a body is stressed out it releases cortisol... it's a defense mechanism. Cortisol stops you from losing fat. Our bodies are not used to working out hard and then topping it off with lowering our calories way below TDEE.
Simple answer is eat more.
You can either eat at TDEE or slightly below and work out hard.....losing fat and gaining lean body mass.
OR
Eat really low calories and do not do any exercise other than walking....you will not put on muscle but loose overall mass incl muscle.. ( not the prefered way to become smaller by the way)
but you can't do both low cal and exercise like a mad man.... you will just scare and piss your body off, make it go on the defensive and rebel against your goals of losing weight. It thinks you are starving it... it's going to hold onto any fat it can to save it'self... it has no clue it has 50lbs of fat to use up..... it's a HOARDER LOL0 -
If you're working out 5+ days/week and not eating back your calories then you're probably gaining muscle on top of the small losses you would have seen otherwise and need to eat more to boost your metabolism. Eating back your exercise calories is not a bad thing, just something you need to do with caution in order to find the right balance for your body.0
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I really have to question the whole "1,500 calories" thing. For my weight (178 pounds), Mayo's calculator says I will MAINTAIN my current weight on between 1,400-1700 calories per day. I would lose nothing on 1,500 calories per day and little if anything on even 1,200 calories per day on a day where I'm not that active. I'm certainly not doing P 90X -my son did it, it's intense!- but I do exercise daily and question the wisdom of eating more just because you're exercising. Anyone have any studies to back these sort of claims up? Thanks!0
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Sorry everyone - My diary is now public so you should be able to see what I'm eating.
I don't feel now as if I'm "dieting" - that's why I get weary of eating even MORE calories. I don't ever get hungry & I do give into temptation a bit when I feel like I have a craving for something. I appreciate all the responses so far.0 -
I was exercising like crazy, eating about half my exercise calories back, staying completely rigid with the whole system. And not losing anything. Not pounds, not inches... nothing.
So I decided to take a cheat day, then go right into zig-zagging. I cut exercising way back, (I do 30 mins on my stationary bike six days a week, plus three days a week of lifting here at home.), haven't eaten any exercise calories back and lost six pounds in two weeks. (I measure once a month, so not sure what the inches are like yet, but I did drop a pants size.)
I think you have to try different methods until you find one that works. For me, at least right now, zig-zagging is it.0 -
are you losing any inches? when i started exercising some (nowhere close to P90x, the number stalled with even a lil gain. i have not stepped on a scale in about 3-4 weeks but my pants are fitting looser.0
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I would suggest measurements also. You could be losing inches not pounds. Also you need to eat some of those workout calories, your body needs them to build the lean muscle and burn the fat! Good Luck! 0
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2 weeks isn't very long, at all. I don't think I started dropping weight for a couple of months. Depending on where you are in your cycle, it is very possible to put on a few lbs in water weight, I only weigh myself immediately after a period, as I know where I am comparing like with like, then. Hormones play such a huge part in water retention and perceived weight. Also, when you start exercising your muscles hold water to prevent damage, so it is common to see a slight weight gain when you start a rigorous program.
Keep doing what you are doing, and if you still haven't lost anything in 2 months, then have a rethink, but there's no point in stressing after 2 weeks.0 -
People of MFP -
I need help, as I am extremely frustrated. I havent lost any weight in two weeks, despite working out 6 days per week and eating healthy. As I am about 50 lbs overweight, it shouldn't be impossible for me to drop some lbs. Ive tried not to convince myself it's more difficult for me to lose weight than most but it's getting very difficult. I'd love any constructive criticism anyone can provide, either in terms of workouts or eating.
I'm doing P90X, which I've done religiously every day for 5 weeks. I wear a HRM, so the calories I burn are pretty accurate. I do not eat back my exercise calories & don't plan to. I give myself a meal or two over the weekend, but I always count it and get back on track the next day. I tend to over-estimate the number of calories I eat, rather than under-estimate.
I'm debating dropping down in my calories, or dropping some carbs. I've also toyed with the idea of adding more cardio to P90X, but I still want to do something sustainable as well. I am willing to do what it takes to drop a pound or two a week. I am female, 26, 5'6 and weigh 202. My current goal is 1500 calories per day.
I sincerely appreciate any help.
I found one of your problems... " I do not eat back my exercise calories & don't plan to" According to the P90X diet guide the lowest caloric intake you should be on is 1800 cals/day (if you are eating that much you don't need to eat exercise cals back, but if you eat less than that you should be eating them, at least enough to get you to 1800.
You say you overestimate how much you eat... do you measure all your liquids and weigh all the solids you eat? If not you are more than likely underestimating how much you are actually eating.
You are already underfeeding your body and you are looking at adding more exercise. This is not a heathly approach, you should be either adding more food or reducing the amount you workout.0 -
" I do not eat back my exercise calories & don't plan to."
^^That's your problem.
Agreed. Also the overestimating. Just log it is what you really think it is. When you 'net' 1500 you will lose the weight. I've eaten all of my exercise calories from the beginning and still do even on maintenance. I honestly don't think I would have been successful otherwise.0 -
You will hear this from other people. So, I'll be the first. You probably aren't eating enough. You said you are not going to eat back your exercise calories and I can understand that mindset because I struggle with that as well. But.......it you are netting less than 1200 calories that may be why you are not losing. I know that P90X is pretty intense and you are probably burning a heck of alot.
I would suggest experimenting. Maybe try eating back 1/2 of your exercise calories and see if that makes a differene. What about measurements. You didn't mention those. Are you losing inches? You could be building muscle and losing fat and it's not showing on the scale.
Good luck!!
^^^ I agree0 -
If your doing P90X I would suggest taking a look at the nutrition guide that came with it, set your macro's to that and start eating that way as well.. and that definitely means increasing your calories, eating more protein than carbs, and eating a bit healthier. Not eating enough will stall your weight loss and make doing the program seem pretty worthless.0
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TBH when I did p90x I ate 1800 calories and did not lose much. I started just eating 1200 and managed to lose 20 pounds in the last couple months.
I am not going to berate you about exercise calories because honestly it has not worked for me. So try zig zagging your calories. It may shock your system enough to get your metabolism up and running.
Best of luck to you!0 -
No critricism, just free advice. Take it for whatever you think it is worth.
First, yeah you for working hard at getting fit.
Don't sweat it if you don't see results on the scale right away. Weight loss is not linear. If you eat right and do the work, the weight will come off in time. In the grand scheme of things 2 weeks is nothing.
A couple of things to remember:
Your scale lies to you. People constantly say “I worked out every day this week and ate right, and I still gained 3 lbs! This fitness stuff doesn’t work, so why bother. I quit” Not true. You just haven’t given it enough time. The scale can lie to you because it doesn’t know what part of your weight is fat, what is muscle, and what is water. If you are working hard and keeping under your calories, the weight loss will come when it is ready (which sadly is probably not the same thing as when you are ready). Weight loss is a funny thing, and everybody's results are different. Women especially seem to have inconsistent results from everything I have seen and read. There can be many reasons for this - just to name a few possibilities:
a. You are new to exercise and your body is still trying to figure out what it needs to do to cope with the new demands you are putting on it. When you start working muscles that aren't used to getting worked, they pull water into themselves as they try to repair themselves from the micro tears created by exercise (that's how they grow), and that can add water weight until the body gets used to working hard day in and day out.
b. Women's monthly cycles (Disclaimer - I am a guy - I admit I only know what is in the published studies!) cause water weight loss and gain throughout the month, which really screws up the scale results. Don’t blame me, it wasn’t my idea.
c. There is also something I have read dieticians and trainers write about sometimes called the "whoosh effect" where weight stays stubbornly on for weeks in spite of lowered calories and regular exercise, and then suddenly, "whoosh" pounds come off 3 and 4 at a time for some reason. It’s crazy, but makes sense when you remember that your body wants to be fat once it has learned how to be fat, so it doesn’t give up those pounds easily. Keep at it and, sooner or later, it will have to surrender the pounds. Unfortunately we all want instant results, which doesn’t always happen. So, keep on keepin on.
d. Muscle gains also reduce the loss of pounds on the scale, but will reduce your body size in inches; muscle weighs more than fat. This takes time, but keep a lookout for this in action. Use your favorite pair of jeans as a measuring stick and ignore the scale for a couple of weeks. Or, measure yourself at the start and track how those inches disappear over time. They will.
e. When and where you weigh yourself matters. Keep it consistent in terms of time and place, and use the same scale. They don’t all read the same. Even moving the scale to another room or a different part of the room can give you a different result.
f. If you are like a lot of people, you can gain or lose as much as 5-6 pounds during the day depending on what you ate, when you last ate, when you last used the bathroom, and so on. If you remember that, it helps keep you sane when the scale number isn't moving.
Keep after it and you will get where you want to go. :drinker:
You got most of it right. Except weght vs. volume isn't correct
1 pound of muscle weighs the same as 1 pound of fat.
The difference is in the volume
1 pound of muscle occupies less volume then 1 pound of fat.
So you could be weighing the same, or even gaining weight (in muscle) but losing inches.
If you are doing P90X, track your progress with pics, and ditch the scale!0 -
No critricism, just free advice. Take it for whatever you think it is worth.
First, yeah you for working hard at getting fit.
Don't sweat it if you don't see results on the scale right away. Weight loss is not linear. If you eat right and do the work, the weight will come off in time. In the grand scheme of things 2 weeks is nothing.
A couple of things to remember:
Your scale lies to you. People constantly say “I worked out every day this week and ate right, and I still gained 3 lbs! This fitness stuff doesn’t work, so why bother. I quit” Not true. You just haven’t given it enough time. The scale can lie to you because it doesn’t know what part of your weight is fat, what is muscle, and what is water. If you are working hard and keeping under your calories, the weight loss will come when it is ready (which sadly is probably not the same thing as when you are ready). Weight loss is a funny thing, and everybody's results are different. Women especially seem to have inconsistent results from everything I have seen and read. There can be many reasons for this - just to name a few possibilities:
a. You are new to exercise and your body is still trying to figure out what it needs to do to cope with the new demands you are putting on it. When you start working muscles that aren't used to getting worked, they pull water into themselves as they try to repair themselves from the micro tears created by exercise (that's how they grow), and that can add water weight until the body gets used to working hard day in and day out.
b. Women's monthly cycles (Disclaimer - I am a guy - I admit I only know what is in the published studies!) cause water weight loss and gain throughout the month, which really screws up the scale results. Don’t blame me, it wasn’t my idea.
c. There is also something I have read dieticians and trainers write about sometimes called the "whoosh effect" where weight stays stubbornly on for weeks in spite of lowered calories and regular exercise, and then suddenly, "whoosh" pounds come off 3 and 4 at a time for some reason. It’s crazy, but makes sense when you remember that your body wants to be fat once it has learned how to be fat, so it doesn’t give up those pounds easily. Keep at it and, sooner or later, it will have to surrender the pounds. Unfortunately we all want instant results, which doesn’t always happen. So, keep on keepin on.
d. Muscle gains also reduce the loss of pounds on the scale, but will reduce your body size in inches; muscle weighs more than fat. This takes time, but keep a lookout for this in action. Use your favorite pair of jeans as a measuring stick and ignore the scale for a couple of weeks. Or, measure yourself at the start and track how those inches disappear over time. They will.
e. When and where you weigh yourself matters. Keep it consistent in terms of time and place, and use the same scale. They don’t all read the same. Even moving the scale to another room or a different part of the room can give you a different result.
f. If you are like a lot of people, you can gain or lose as much as 5-6 pounds during the day depending on what you ate, when you last ate, when you last used the bathroom, and so on. If you remember that, it helps keep you sane when the scale number isn't moving.
Keep after it and
you will get where you want to go. :drinker:
In reply to d: she will not be gaining muscle on eating so far under maintenance, it is more likely that she is losing muscle along with the fat.0 -
Sorry everyone - My diary is now public so you should be able to see what I'm eating.
I don't feel now as if I'm "dieting" - that's why I get weary of eating even MORE calories. I don't ever get hungry & I do give into temptation a bit when I feel like I have a craving for something. I appreciate all the responses so far.
You are not hungry because after a short while of eating low cal your body adapts, just expects low calories and does not ask for more... it simply gives up on asking... and it gives up on burning fat...
Your muscles take up more energy for the body to maintain and are converted to energy easily... it's chooses that to burn first.... not your fat0 -
First, you do have to eat enough to keep your body going. Maybe try eating more frequently. Our body's get in to a routine and everything becomes muscle memory. This brings me to my next point. Although P90x is designed to change up the routines, maybe your body is looking for more cardio. Try just adding a walk during lunch or after dinner.0
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I particularly appreciate Redlion45's response!
Just wanted to add:
You didn;t add the weight overnight, it won't come off overnight!
And yes, take measurements
Best of Luck to You!0 -
I really have to question the whole "1,500 calories" thing. For my weight (178 pounds), Mayo's calculator says I will MAINTAIN my current weight on between 1,400-1700 calories per day. I would lose nothing on 1,500 calories per day and little if anything on even 1,200 calories per day on a day where I'm not that active. I'm certainly not doing P 90X -my son did it, it's intense!- but I do exercise daily and question the wisdom of eating more just because you're exercising. Anyone have any studies to back these sort of claims up? Thanks!
That doesn't seem right. Calculate your BMR band TDEE. If you eat at your TDEE you will maintain and if you eat below you will lose weight. You shouldn't eat below your BMR.
I'm 5'6" and weigh 123lbs. My BMR is 1334 calories and my TDEE is 1835 calories with my activity level (before exercise) set at lightly active. I have no idea what your age or height but i change my weight t match your, keeping my age and height BMR is 1584 and TDEE is 2178.0 -
Thanks again for all of your help so far.
A few things I forgot: I am doing the P90X classic routine. Some days I burn 300 calories and some days I burn 700. It really depends on the day. I do try to keep sodium in check.... Also, I haven't just been doing the program/logging for two weeks. I've only lost four pounds in a matter of 6 weeks, so that is where the frustration creeps in for me.
I'll admit that the idea of eating back exercise cals makes no sense to me. I burned those calories off, so why would I want to eat them back?
I will definitely start weighing my food next week. Thanks again for your suggestions.0 -
TBH when I did p90x I ate 1800 calories and did not lose much. I started just eating 1200 and managed to lose 20 pounds in the last couple months.
I am not going to berate you about exercise calories because honestly it has not worked for me. So try zig zagging your calories. It may shock your system enough to get your metabolism up and running.
Best of luck to you!
I can guarantee you that it was not all fat.... you lost weight but most of it was your lean muscle mass..... that's too bad.0
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