I must be doing something wrong. Advice?

FlaxMilk · February 2013

Eat at maintenance (whatever MFP says) and eat more protein. Eat enough healthy fat. Keep working out, doing some form of strength training. You'll feel so much better with more protein, and you'll probably realize you don't need to lose more fat as you'll be happier with your results.

CaddieMay · February 2013

Let me get this straight: You're 5'3" and you weigh between 110-113 pounds, but you want to weigh between 90-100 pounds?

ETA: Perhaps you meant to say that you are 3'5"?

Uh. it's actually not that unrealistic, seeing as how I have quite a bit of fat percentage that I would like to get rid of and get a more reasonable percentage such as between 12% and 17%, to have a leaner and more toned look.

I didn't say it was "unrealistic." I had an old roommate who weighed 65 pounds (she was 5'5").

And you could get a "leaner and more toned look" without sinking down to below 100 pounds.

BeachPirate371 · February 2013

I myself am 5'3" and being under 100 lbs would certainly be completely unrealistic. And 1000 calories/day isn't enough. I know from personal experience. I was eating around 1200 cal/day and lost nothing (with working out 4-6x/week). After researching and talking to people I upped my calorie intake (to around 1600/day, sometimes more) and have started losing weight. I am actually no longer 'counting' calories, and just eat ever 3 hours or so. Its working pretty well. But to be healthier, its better to just focus on dropping 'fat' and upping muscle mass. You CAN increase muscle mass without increasing bulk/looking thicker. Best option is eat some slow burning carbs an hour or so before a workout (like oatmeal, natural, not instant with added sugar) so it can sustain you throughout a workout... and within 30 minutes after a workout eat a protein... my preferred choice is a 100% whey protein (chocolate flavored) made with almond milk and some strawberries. The whey is best becuase it gets to your muscles quicker to replenish them, and the fruit adds some quick carbs to re-energize. But at the weight you are, you shouldn't concern yourself with the weight loss number, but rather being overall healthier which can be done by increasing muscle strength. You can actually GAIN weight, but look like you've lost 10 lbs because 1lb of muscle is much smaller, and takes up less space than 1lb of fat.

averous214 · February 2013

what method did you use to come up with your body fat? calipers? hand hold or scale?

ang3h · February 2013

Eat more.

littlebudgie · February 2013

Even the most conservative calculator I can find says that your BMR is about 1200. Eating under that really isn't healthy. Moreover, eating over your BMR won't cause you to gain weight - eating over your total daily energy expenditure (TDEE) will.

Use this calculator: http://www.fat2fitradio.com/tools/bmr/ to find out your TDEE. To lose weight (which you really should do in combination with weight training, so as to keep from losing lean body mass), you should eat about at your TDEE - 20%. And, again, the most conservative calculation I can find for that (using sedentary lifestyle, which you don't have, since you're on your feet a lot) says that you should be eating about 1286 calories. More realistically, given your lifestyle, you should have about 1474 calories a day. Doing this will also help you keep muscle on, which will allow you to healthily reduce your body fat percentage if you are that concerned about it. Eating too little will cause your body to cannibalize muscle, which will not give you the look you want.

Also, please keep in mind that 12% body fat is very low for a woman - like, low to the point that it's generally only attained for bodybuilding competitions.

Flufferoon · February 2013

Hi I think you have some numbers wrong too. Your BMR should be higher than that based on your age? I would think it would be 1300+.

What you need to do is to keep a SMALL deficit whilst doing everything you can to hang onto your lean muscle mass. You need to eat more protein and use those muscles. Reduce the treadmill/cardio and do more resistance/weight exercises. If you eat below your BMR you will not be doing yourself any favours. Your body will try to hang onto the fat stores.

You will NOT bulk up if you put on more muscle. You can't diet your way to a toned body.

At the gym, when they were taking measurements and such, I was at a lower weight and technically 18 years old, because my birthday was at the end of the month, so I'm not sure if it would have changed much by now. It seems as though even if I believe for the most part I am taking in enough calories, It seems as though I just tend to gain more weight throughout the week. I feel like if I eat more than what I'm eating now, i'll just be setting myself back further because at the end of the day, each day, i feel like... thick, and like, it's a weird feeling but I don't think eating MORE would help me much.

What kind of resistance and weight training exercises would you recommend? I am most concerned with my stomach and thighs and butt.

vanguardfitness · February 2013

eat more protein and lift weights if you don't like what your body looks like

tomg33 · February 2013

Uh. it's actually not that unrealistic, seeing as how I have quite a bit of fat percentage that I would like to get rid of and get a more reasonable percentage such as between 12% and 17%, to have a leaner and more toned look.

I had to recheck the original post to make sure you were female. A true 12-17% for a female is very low. I don't think any doctors would recommend this low. Although I understand that there are some vegetarian communities who want to be extremely underweight, I can't agree with this at all.

I would suggest you research the term "skinny fat" -- a problem that most people have is they have roughly normal body fat but almost no muscle mass. This means that they can continue to lose body fat, get into an unhealthy range, yet still look "fat" because there is no muscle to give their body shape. When you have more muscle, your skin and normal fat will sit better and make you look better and feel better.

Don't worry about getting "big" or "thick." if gaining muscle was so easy for a woman, imagine how every guy would hit the gym for 1 week and get huge! This doesn't happen. In fact most people get almost no results due to a lack of proper information and consistent effort.

Increase your protein intake, slowly increase your food intake (that's what this site is so great for), and do more weights. Maybe take some group classes or ask a good personal trainer at your gym.

Itza85 · February 2013

I'm 5'2" and currently weight 122, lost 3 pounds in three weeks. Even though I'm not a vegetarian, I think that you should be eating no more than 1320 calories a day, unless on the days that you exercise MFP will increase your calorie intake, you definitely don't want to eat less than 1200 calories a day or your body will use whatever food you eat and store fat from it, and make weight loss a lot harder. You do need to eat more protein if you want to see defenition, you could have cottage cheese, string cheese, greek yogurt, I also have these protein bars that keep you full they are called "Met-Rx Protein Plus Creamy Cookie Crisp" I usually have them as a snack on the days that I exercise, which is 4-5 times a day, just mix up your snacks. I will also suggest to start running instead of power walking or just walk. I'm sure about the treadmill you use, but the one I use has a workout called "interval", that gives you an incline variation, speed remains the same. Of course lots of water!!

This is an example that has been working for me:

Gym: setting treadmill for interval for 60min, at 5.5mph and gives an incline variation of 1.0, 3.5 , 5.5 and 6.0, then it'll give you an extra 5min of cool down. Overall, you loose between 490 and 520 calories.

Breakfast: Three egg whites (very good source of protein, which is good for muscles), with cooked onions, tomatoes and basil and a bit of salt. With a strawberry shake, 1 cup of 1% milk and 5 strawberries.

Snack: A fuji apple and orange.

Lunch: Grilled meat or chicken, or boiled chicken with butternut squash and veggies or brown rice.

Snack: String cheese or protein bar or whatever else you want that has protein.

Dinner: or usually when I get home, which around 9pm, I have a fruit salad for a week and the next I would mix it up with a home made chicken soup and veggies.

And that is pretty much what I have. You are more than welcome to check out my food log

I'm not an expert, but I'm glad to say that this has been working for me.

ChrissieP80 · February 2013

What kind of resistance and weight training exercises would you recommend? I am most concerned with my stomach and thighs and butt.

I think I might be at the end of any advice I can give you. I am your height, but I'm 13 years older than you and some days I eat close to twice as much as you. My 3 year old eats 1000 cals some days. I'm at my goal weight now (~120lbs) and focusing on body composition rather than numbers on the scale. As far as I know, you cannot just shape your stomach/thighs/butt. And I think I would look ridiculous if I weighed < 100lbs, but that's my own body and my own opinion.

Good luck with achieving good health.

littlebudgie · February 2013

What kind of resistance and weight training exercises would you recommend? I am most concerned with my stomach and thighs and butt.

I think someone at the gym would be better able to show you good exercises, especially since they can make sure you're doing them with the proper form.

wikitbikit · February 2013

It's sad that you were here six months ago asking "what [you were] doing wrong," and probably got the exact same advice that you're getting now-- eat more, increase your protein, shift to strength training instead of so much cardio. You didn't like the answers then, you don't like them now.

People have given you the answers you need. Obviously not the ones you want, but the ones you need. In six months, they will be the same again.

Give it a try.

wickedwendy6 · February 2013

Topic: I must be doing something wrong. Advice?

Yes, you are doing something wrong. You are trying to attain a body weight that is unhealthy. Change your attitude and you might be on the right track. I don't mean to sound nasty but health is far more important than that number on the scale or how thin you can get.

weightofyourskin · February 2013

It's sad that you were here six months ago asking "what [you were] doing wrong," and probably got the exact same advice that you're getting now-- eat more, increase your protein, shift to strength training instead of so much cardio. You didn't like the answers then, you don't like them now.

People have given you the answers you need. Obviously not the ones you want, but the ones you need. In six months, they will be the same again.

Give it a try.

She doesn't want real advice that would actually be beneficial to her. She wants someone to validate her plan to starve herself because she has an ED. I admire the patience of all the people who have been trying to help her out in this thread, but you'll all just keep going around in circles because she won't listen to reason.

AnvilHead · February 2013

- I've been attending the gym since the beginning week of January (it is now late February) and have not seen sufficient results.

That's because you're undereating, not getting enough protein and not doing strength training.

Ditch the cardio. Up your calories and protein intake. Start a 3x/wk full-body weight training program - Starting Strength and Stronglifts are popular programs, but any good full-body workout done 3 times a week will do.

You're not going to get "thick" or "bulky" from the above, unless you supplement with anabolic steroids. This is a myth that is pushed off on women. Guys who are eating above maintenance calories, taking in 200-300g of protein per day and busting their *kitten* with heavy weights in the gym wish it was that easy to get "bulky". It simply doesn't happen as easily as people think it does.

Until you increase your calories, protein and strength training, you still won't see "sufficient results" no matter what else you do. If you keep doing what you're doing and get down to your (unrealistic) goal weight, you'll just end up as a droopy 90-pound bag of bones with no "tone". The way you're eating and training, you're not losing fat - you're losing fat and a good portion of whatever muscle you have left on your body. The more muscle you lose, the droopier you'll look.

I know I probably wasted the effort in typing this, since you're more fixated on a scale number than getting the results you really want - but maybe somebody else in a similar situation will read it and find it useful.

Sarauk2sf · February 2013

- I've been attending the gym since the beginning week of January (it is now late February) and have not seen sufficient results.

That's because you're undereating, not getting enough protein and not doing strength training.

Ditch the cardio. Up your calories and protein intake. Start a 3x/wk full-body weight training program - Starting Strength and Stronglifts are popular programs, but any good full-body workout done 3 times a week will do.

You're not going to get "thick" or "bulky" from the above, unless you supplement with anabolic steroids. This is a myth that is pushed off on women. Guys who are eating above maintenance calories, taking in 200-300g of protein per day and busting their *kitten* with heavy weights in the gym wish it was that easy to get "bulky". It simply doesn't happen as easily as people think it does.

Until you increase your calories, protein and strength training, you still won't see "sufficient results" no matter what else you do. If you keep doing what you're doing and get down to your (unrealistic) goal weight, you'll just end up as a droopy 90-pound bag of bones with no "tone". The way you're eating and training, you're not losing fat - you're losing fat and a good portion of whatever muscle you have left on your body. The more muscle you lose, the droopier you'll look.

I know I probably wasted the effort in typing this, since you're more fixated on a scale number than getting the results you really want - but maybe somebody else in a similar situation will read it and find it useful.

^^yep.

Eat more, get more protein, strength train

AlongCame_Molly · February 2013

Maybe you'd like to explain your obsession with a goal weight that is totally unrealistic and insanely unhealthy for someone your height?

Or why you think 1000 cals day is ok? Where did you get this number from?

If you want to tone up and get stronger, EAT more, esp lean proteins, and LIFT heavy weights (I promise you won't get bulky).