Weight loss help for an athlete

Hey! I'm an athlete too..played softball for 12 years and about to try out for my college team.. just want you to know it isn't the extra exercise that's gonna help you lose the weight you want...for us athletes its the diet..

try switching your diet to a lot of protein and minimal carbs( as in breads, tortillas etc.)
start off with an 2 egg white breakfast with onions or tomatoes..stay away from salts!! but u can add pepper
for lunch try to halve fish or chicken with a side of veggies
dinner try turkey with brown rice and another side of veggies..

or

try 6 meals of 100 calories..space it out so that you have 100 calories every hour or hour and a half.. that works to speed metabolism and melt fat off quickly

I do not know what sport you play - maybe track or cross country - but as a collegiate athlete, your total daily energy expenditure is likely 2000 calories or more depending on the sport and volume of activity for practice.

Before you really screw yourself, royally, eat the maximum amount of calories which leads to you maintaining your present body weight and composition for at least two months with insignificant fluctuations in weight. That will be your actual TDEE.

Since you are a collegiate athlete, your body fat percentage is likely already low. There is a limit to how much fat mass that can be oxidized in a 24-hour period and it's based on ones total fat mass. Any deficit beyond this, and the body will not burn extra fat. The formula is: 30 calories x total fat mass. So, if you are 19% body fat, then your fat mass is 25 lbs, at your given weight. If you do the math, the maximum deficit would be 750 calories less than your TDEE. However, there is a problem - the leaner you are, and the greater deficit you use, the more lean body mass will be lost. As an athlete, you want to preserve lean body mass, regardless of your sport.

With that in mind, you really should only employ a max deficit of about 300 calories or so under your TDEE. The reason being that you realistically will only experience a weekly weight loss of 0.5 per week at the most. Thus, any deficit greater will not benefit you and will only lead to excessive muscle loss. So if you need 2200 calories to maintain, you would reduce body fat by eating 1900 calories.

Like I said, I don't know what sport you are in, but if it's track or cross country, do not believe you'll succeed for long by losing weight with such drastic calorie restriction by eating 1200 calories and exercising two hours every day. Sure, in the short term you'll increase speed, but eventually, your body will crash due to malnourishment and your performance will really suffer. So many female athletes develop eating disorders because of that thinking and they have very short athletic careers.

Hello,
I am also a athlete, I LOVE inline skating and I do the inline marathons.. Can I ask how long have you been working out for 2 hours? I have been working out for about 2 hours a day for 1 week, only cardio for me though,I know everyones totally differen't but for me it takes a while to see the weight loss.. I am your height too.. It takes a while for me to lose cause im hypothyroid. Your body fat is low, Geekyjock76 is right you don't wanna lose lean muscle mass, I know I don't. I try to go by how my clothes fit as well as measurments but I do also weigh myself to.. Remeber muscle mass weighs more than fat. I hope you find what works for you, just be safe..

I totally agree with 777Gemma888! Every wednesday night I do plyometrics with some of the pro skaters and its a great workout with wall sits and balancing on one leg then switching, etc.. You could give it a shot, I can't do the low carbs, I need them for energy. Also a calorie deflict to lose weight, like what the others say if you lose your energy and ruins your performance increase calories so you have your energy, best of luck! You can do it!

Thanks everyone! I'm just frustrated right now because I've been doing all the work and seeing no results and I don't understand why. I'm drinking water and working out way more than I'm eating, there is definitely a deficit but nothing's changing. And yes I'm always trying to get quicker but I guess losing weight is the main goal. So just annoyed with myself for not doing this right but thanks for the help.

If you're undereating then your body is going to hold onto what fat it has for dear life.

I'm a marathon runner and honestly the only way I can lose weight is to figure out my TDEE and eat very, very close to it (like within 200 calories or so) and really focus on getting lots of quality calories. Last spring during training I was eating an average of 2500 calories/day and still losing. Don't starve yourself or your athletic performance will suffer.