Hey Exercise Gurus---I need help!

You are going to have to get your body fat down. You can do this by adding in heavy-lifting weight training 2-3 times a week and High Intensity Interval Training 2-3 times a week. Eat a decent amount of protein (around 1 gram for each pound of body weight) and eliminate high glycemic carbs (sweets, juices, grains, potatoes, rice, pasta, anything with flour, anything with sugar etc.) . Replace high glycemic carbs with fresh and frozen fruit, beans and legumes, and vegetables.

Wow---that would mean I'd have to eat 200 grams of protein--I think I would gag on that. I have already eliminated all sugars and grains and I limit myself to two pieces of fruit per day. I've been eating around 1300 cals. per day and it does appear to be working.

You are going to have to get your body fat down. You can do this by adding in heavy-lifting weight training 2-3 times a week and High Intensity Interval Training 2-3 times a week. Eat a decent amount of protein (around 1 gram for each pound of body weight) and eliminate high glycemic carbs (sweets, juices, grains, potatoes, rice, pasta, anything with flour, anything with sugar etc.) . Replace high glycemic carbs with fresh and frozen fruit, beans and legumes, and vegetables.

Wow---that would mean I'd have to eat 200 grams of protein--I think I would gag on that. I have already eliminated all sugars and grains and I limit myself to two pieces of fruit per day. I've been eating around 1300 cals. per day and it does appear to be working.

Whey protein supplements help. I had a tough time when I first increased my protein intake, too, but my body got used to it in a matter of days and I was able to eat it just fine. And remember, as you lose weight, your protein intake needs will go down (as well as your calorie needs) so that is just a really short term issue.

i always thought it was 1 gram of protein per kg of body weight

Science really has no idea how much is too much protein for healthy adults. They do know that you can get too little, but for weight loss purposes there is actually a movement amongst obesity scientists to re-classify protein as 3.4 calories per gram instead of 4 calories as it takes the body extra energy to digest protein.

If you doctor has told you to only eat a limited amount of protein due to gout or other medical issue, then don't exceed your protein consumption recommended by your doctor. Otherwise, there is no strong medical evidence of a top limit to protein consumption.

Yeah, I have high uric acid levels (a lot of obese people do--some scientists feel that could be one of the underlying causes of obesity and even renal failure) and I have to avoid eating too much animal protein (or carbohydrates) as they both raise uric acid levels and THAT aggravates my arthritis--I have had several gout attacks in the past, and they are NO FUN!. :ohwell: Going below 75 grams of carbs per day can also raise uric acid levels because going too low on carbs is dehydrating and dehydration also boosts uric acid levels. I have been taking bromelain (an extract from the pineapple stalk) and it appears to be lowering my uric acid levels along with the carb restriction. I'm afraid to go above about 60 grams of protein (that's what the macro on my diet settings permits).

I have these STUBBORN pads of fat from just above my knees to just below. I just bought a new smaller size of jeans (yahoo!) and the hips and tummy fit fine but they are pretty tight in my "trouble" area. (Pet peeve---not everyone has skinny legs--why do jeans manufacturers assume that we are all fatter on our tummys than in the legs?) I have lost three inches off my waist and hips but my "trouble spots" don't appear to have budged AT ALL. Any advice short of liposuction? Thanks in advance. :flowerforyou:

patience patience patience, and shop around until you find jeans that fit. Even now at size 2 I can't wear most of the "skinny" jeans. I'm just not tall and skinny, I'm short, and I have muscles, but my muscles are not that big. My lean body mass is only 104 lbs and I'm only at 11% body fat, still the skinny jeans don't fit. The boot cut style mostly fit me. They make a lot of different style jeans. It will get better once you lose the fat.

Keep lifting, it's good for your bone density. I talk about that here --> http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/740340-i-lost-60-lbs-at-age-51-anyone-can-any-workout

Your body loses weight in chunks, not linear. I have found that you can do everything right and your weight loss seems to plateau but if you are patient and keep exercising and eating at a deficit (however slight) you will lose it, it will suddenly "whoosh". There are so many variables for the scale; water retention, digestion, allergies, sodium, carbs, water intake, DOMS, inflammation, the list goes on. People mistakenly think they lose or gain weight when they eat more or less because of these fluctuations.

Losing weight requires tremendous patience. You will not lose it when you want it or where you want it. The body does its thing. Some apparent plateaus can last a month or so. You can not make it happen faster. You must focus on two things; calories and exercise. Nothing else matters. Scales and metrics don't matter. The day in and day out grind of exercise and calories are all that matters. It is not very exciting until things fall into place. You get your victories and you ride one victory to the next.

The scale is a trend tool. The scale is good but put it away and only check once a week and only use it as a trend tool. It will fluctuate, it does not matter. Take front side and back progress pictures at least once a month. You will see differences that the metrics won't tell you and it's that little bit of NSV that will keep you going until the next victory.

Thanks for the pep talk! I needed that. I have struggled with fat for most of my life and it is great when someone comes alongside and says, "You CAN do it! :flowerforyou:

Where is the scientific evidence of the risks of consuming to little protein?

Children, because they are growing, need a higher amount of protein per pound of body weight than do adults. It is difficult for children to get sufficient protein when there is no animal protein in the diet. A vegan diet is, in general, an inadequate diet for young children, as their appetite is not large enough to allow for supplying their need for protein, on a strictly plant-based diet. Children who get very little protein develop a disease called, kwashiorkor (you will see it in those horrible pictures of starving children with bloated bellies) It isn't that there is no food available but that the available food is deficient in fat and protein. Because of a deficiency of animal fat, a type of blindness due to inadequate Vitamin A is common as well. From Wikipedia : "Kwashiorkor is a form of malnutrition that is deficient in protein. The low protein intake leads to this specific combination of signs: edema of the hands and feet, irritability, anorexia, a desquamative rash, hair discoloration, and a large fatty liver. The typical swollen abdomen is due to two causes: ascites [fluid that accumulates in the abdomen due to the damaged liver] which causes hypoalbuminemia (low oncotic pressure), and the enlarged fatty liver itself." In addition, stunted growth and spindly arms, legs and neck are observed due to the "cannibalizing" of the protein residing in skeletal muscle.

Muscle wastage is common in those who receive too little protein from their diets (this can often be observed in those with anorexia nervosa). When this occurs, the basal metabolic rate slows down because the body assumes a starvation mode and will lower the metabolic rate in response. This is especially important for dieters to know. It is why medical professionals admonish their obese patients to lose weight slowly Those who put themselves on a starvation diet will often feel helpless to stop the rebound obesity when they are forced to resume a healthier diet---because of poor health. (I have experienced this). Doctors discovered that soldiers released from the starvation conditions of POW camps would gain weight (fat) very easily because of the loss of lean tissue. But they also discovered that the damage that had occurred to their livers did not permit them to tolerate the protein necessary to regain their muscle mass quickly. The doctors learned to gradually increase their patients' exercise tolerance along with increased protein intake from high quality protein (animal protein) in order to counteract the effect of starvation. In some, the liver/kidney damage was so severe that they died anyway. Aid workers in Africa have discovered that there are many who can not be saved even when an adequate diet is supplied.

In general, carbohydrates have a "muscle sparing" effect---that is, a lower amount of protein can be adequate in the presence of sufficient carbohydrates. Those on a very low carbohydrate/low calorie diet (fewer than 60 grams of carbohydrates per day and fewer than 1200 calories) can also experience muscle wastage in spite of what would be a normally adequate protein intake. In general, 1 gram of protein per kilogram of lean body mass is adequate to maintain it. If a lot of exercise is added to the regimen, there will be increased need for protein because of the need to repair muscles that are actually broken down (catabolism) by a high level of exercise. But exercise (especially weight training) is an important adjunct to a diet that is adequate in protein and carbohydrate, for the purpose of reducing adipose tissue (fat) stores. Dietary fat is also important as it helps to curb the blood sugar swings associated with fat-restricted diets. Very low-fat diets are unhealthy diets. The low-fat diet craze just made many people fatter for two reasons. 1. Because the fat that was removed in "low-fat" foods was replaced with simple carbohydrates--especially sugar and starch. 2. Because the low-fat dieters were not able to absorb the fat-soluble vitamins (and the fat-soluble vitamin D is especially important as a dieter's friend) which led to rebound-overeating as their ever-hungry bodies craved nutrition.

When my brother developed Type II diabetes, his doctor put him on a low-fat diet. My brother was told that he could eat anything he wanted as long as it was low-fat. He would often eat an entire package of no-fat cookies along with several glasses of skim milk in one sitting. Needless to say, his diabetes got worse because of poor dietary advice. He is now on insulin along with a basket full of other drugs.