Is it possible I'm putting on muscle?

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  • Warchortle
    Warchortle Posts: 2,197 Member
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    Edit this to be more clear: You may be incorrectly estimating your TDEE through MFP. I go crazy at the gym and I don't eat back those calories, but I'm DARN sure going to eat the full amount in my BMR.

    You'll see people plateau and complain even after they cut more calories nothing is happening. Increase your healthy fats and watch. Are you using a food scale, eyeballing amounts, or using a measuring cup? If you're eyeballing a tablespoon of oil here or there etc. you may not be logging your food correctly.
  • JAT74
    JAT74 Posts: 1,078 Member
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    Hi blobby10, I know the feeling and it's soooo frustrating. I didn't count calories before and I probably ate around 1300-1500 most days but I ate a lot more carbs and once or twice a week I had things like pastries and really unhealthy things like chocolate and crisps at weekends. I've also cut down on alcohol and I even cut out diet soda so I am a lot healthier than I was before so wish I knew what was going on.

    I religiously weigh and measure everything now so this just isn't fair!
  • jmzz1
    jmzz1 Posts: 670 Member
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    facing similar problem....... would like people to help out in more specific manner
  • JAT74
    JAT74 Posts: 1,078 Member
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    NO! I never ever 'eyeball' anything unless I am eating out and I now know how many calories are in foods now so even when eating out I try and make healthy choices. I measure and weigh everything when I'm home and calculate calories to the exact number if possible.

    I do have more than a grasp on food and the types of fats I should be eating. Sorry but I do weigh and measure everything when I'm home which is 80-90% of the time and I've cut out butter, margerine and anything like that so cook with olive oil (which I measure) or none at all. I also try not to eat mayonaisse or other sauces especially sugary sauces like ketchup, bbq sauce etc.

    Admittedly I do eat some 'bad' fats but I'm sorry, a lower carb diet even containing some bad animal fats should not prevent weight loss when eating at a deficit.
  • Alta2000
    Alta2000 Posts: 655 Member
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    JAT74, looking at your diary and past posts, I think some of the issues are a)that you are impatient to loose the weight rapidly like loosing 10% fat in 6-8 weeks, b)continuously changing methods used and not sticking to one, c)you need to eat more fresh fruits and vegetables and less processed food-you are in Spain after all!, d)may be you are overestimating the amount of calories you burn through exercising. You are also within the ideal weight for your height, although at the upper range, and that makes it more difficult to loose weight fast compared to someone who is more distant from ideal weight range. Pick a method, above your BMR (and you are not at maintenance at your BMR, these are the calories so you can breathe and do the basic organ functions, not sedentary living), stick to it, eat more fruits/vegetables and less processed fruits, and stick to an exercise program cardio/strength training and you will see results. Just be patient and consistent.
  • aljeca
    aljeca Posts: 83
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    I'm by no means an expert but I've always understood it as:

    Set your activity level to what it is WITHOUT exercise (ex: sedentary or lightly active etc, whatever yours is). MFP will calculate your TDEE and allot you a # of calories per day at a 500 calorie deficit. EAT BACK ALL YOUR EXERCISE CALS (or eat back what you can without forcing yourself to eat).

    OR

    Set your activity level to what it is WITH exercise (Ex: moderately active or whatever yours is based on how often you exercise). DO NOT eat back your exercise calories.

    I followed the first one 2 years ago and successfully lost 15 lbs (my goal), unfortunately I stopped tracking & working out and now I'm back... LOL

    Edit to add I've heard/read that if you're within 10 pounds of your goal you should aim to lose 0.5 pounds per week instead of 1
  • Warchortle
    Warchortle Posts: 2,197 Member
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    I just looked at your log... Why are you eating that much protein? Peak athletes might synthesize .8 grams of protein per lb of LEAN body mass. Most people are around .6 per lb of lean body mass. A lot of people assume it's 1g of protein per body weight. LBM is everything minus fat... this includes muscle, organs, tissue etc.

    The only thing I can think of is 2 things. You're eating too many calories and you probably are gaining small amounts of muscle and sometimes dairy causes bloating which you consume often...

    but if I'm looking at your ticker correctly you're ~140 lbs? Let's just put it this way your caloric intake should probably not be higher than mine. I'm at ~167. I think I would adjust your daily calories closer to 1550-1750 lower your protein to 100g daily.

    I'm really sorry, I'm posting in a rude manner... I wish I could get some sleep, but :(
    I know you mean well and I feel badly that I'm being an a-hole.
  • JAT74
    JAT74 Posts: 1,078 Member
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    Why is nobody listening?! This is not the case at all. My post about losing body fat quickly was simply to find out if it was possible that's all. I would love to lose even 2% in 8 weeks and keep it off which just hasn't happened!

    Plus I am not really 'constantly' changing methods at all. As I said in a previous post in this thread when I actually sit down and look at what I've been doing for the majority of the time on here (at least 7 weeks out of the 9 I've been on here) is eating at an active TDEE -300 to 500 calories although there MAY have been one or two days a week when I was using a sedentary TDEE plus exercise calories formula when I ate at maintenance. Even accounting for this I should have lost even a little more weight so I am really confused as to what's been happening.

    Regarding fresh fruit and vegetables the food in Spain I can buy here is COVERED in pesticides and will probably do me more harm than good. 90% of organic food is sold outside of Spain and there is nowhere here to buy organic where I live so I eat some vegetables and a little fruit but generally try not to overload my body with this. Plus I'm always trying to meet my protein goals so try not to eat so much fruit and veg as I don't want to go over on calories.

    Also, I have been eating processed foods like sausages, ham, salami etc. due to the cost of this food compared to fresh meat/fish or canned fish as I'm on a budget but I have decided to cut right down on these foods now as I know they're bad for you but even if I ate them before I always drain off the majority of the fat from these foods using a grill or by blotting it away and I cut fat off bacon so can't see how that's the problem.
  • JAT74
    JAT74 Posts: 1,078 Member
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    Why is it bad to eat so much protein? I could eat less and decrease calories but I thought that with all the training I'm doing I needed more protein to help with fat loss?

    I would be happy to decrease protein to 100g per day if I thought that was enough.

    As for dairy, I'd also be happy to eat less but I can't seem to find protein rich foods which are as cheap. I have 1-2 protein shakes per day plus some meat/fish once or twice a day but other than dairy I don't really know what I could add that's high protein. I have nuts and eggs a lot too but can't think of any alternatives that are fairly low in carbs and are also low in calories.

    By the way if you're looking at my food diary I log my exercise calories but I don't eat them back. I try and stick to around 1600 per day and around 2100 at weekends which works out to 1742 calories per day if I was to eat the same every day. That's due to being active and burning off at least 3000-3500 calories per week through working out 6-7 days.
  • pkw58
    pkw58 Posts: 2,038 Member
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    I keep my calories set to a sedentary lifestyle. I am in maintenance mode where I WANT to plauteau and it works better for me. I actually have found it easier to maintain (for me) with my calorie count set to lose 1/2 a pound a week. I wear a nike fuel band and log my activity most days from it. I eat back exercise calories to maintain my weight now. Not so much when I was needing to lose!

    That being said, I had 1 to 8 week plateus throughout my weight loss journey in 2012 when I lost 46 pounds. I agree with the other posters - if you are within or close to within the charts for a healthy weight range, then fair warning, it just takes time. The good news is the longer it takes, the easier maintenance is.

    The other side of it is I found that seeking out professional help on my weight and nutrition goals helped. If it is an option for you, sometimes working with a nutritionist or PT for an individual plan. Good luck!
  • akaMrsmojo
    akaMrsmojo Posts: 762 Member
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    I agree with the patience thing.

    Secondly, I am gluten intolerant and I could never lose weight when I ate. It may be a food allergy. I dropped 10 pounds when I found out I had celiac disease.

    Good luck and be patient.
  • lillenisse
    lillenisse Posts: 22 Member
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    Hey Jat74,

    Like you I’m within the normal BMI range for my height and what is working for me is TDEE – 20%. I calculated my TDEE as light activity as I walk to and from work every day. I then deducted 20% from this number and aim to net that number (1570) every day. This means that I log all the additional exercise that I do (2 x spinning class + 4 x strength training per week) and I eat back all of those exercise calories so that I net 1570 a day.

    Because I love my weekends, it may be that 1-3 days during the week I end up netting lower than 1570 but save those extra calories for weekend goodies :happy: I use the weekly net calories as my goal and my average daily always comes out at 1570 per day or slightly over. I don’t restrict any foods from my diet. I eat carbs and drink alcohol, I just make sure it fits my calorie allowance and my macros.

    I’ve lost 7lbs so far since Jan 2nd (although my weight fluctuates like crazy and isn’t something I’m too focused on) but more importantly I’ve lost inches.
    0.9 inches from my neck
    2.5 inches from my waist
    8.6 inches from my hips (!)
    0.5 inches from each thigh
    1.1 inches from my upper arms
    1.9 inches from my calf
    And my body fat is down from 25% to 23.4%

    It's hard if you're already in a normal BMI range but don't lose heart. I would suggest using the TDEE-20% method for at least 8 weeks from today then re-evaluate.

    Hope that helps!
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,136 Member
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    IMO you cannot not eat too much protein....

    What is your work out regimen..? Do you strength train?

    You said you work out 6-7 days a week ..you might actually be working out too much. You probably need to work out five days a week with two rest days...

    three days total body weight training and two days cardio perhaps?

    Do you squat, deadlift, bench press, over head press, chin ups/pull ups, etc?
  • JAT74
    JAT74 Posts: 1,078 Member
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    Hi, thanks for the advice pkw58. Unfortunately seeking professional advice isn't an option for me at the moment. I know a lot about nutrition and healthy eating from a diploma I took a few years back too so I don't think they would be able to help me really.

    What's so frustrating for me now is that although I'm just about technically within my heathy weight range for my height I've lost weight very easily in the past just by eating low calorie diets of whatever I wanted (like weight watchers) or similar and that was while doing a lot of cardio. I dropped several dress sizes and went down to 122lbs at my lowest and feel a lot better although I didn't lose body fat.

    Now I want to lose the fat so I'm taking advice to do that on here and I'm eating a lot more than I every have before and nothing is happening. It's so tempting to go the other way again but I'm trying to resist.

    I don't think I have a gluten intolerance because I've eliminated bread and other foods containing gluten from my diet for weeks before and it didn't make a difference. Maybe I have another food allergy which I suppose is possible but I can't get it checked out so unless I start eliminating foods then I can't find out one way or another.
  • Warchortle
    Warchortle Posts: 2,197 Member
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    Why is it bad to eat so much protein? I could eat less and decrease calories but I thought that with all the training I'm doing I needed more protein to help with fat loss?

    I would be happy to decrease protein to 100g per day if I thought that was enough.

    As for dairy, I'd also be happy to eat less but I can't seem to find protein rich foods which are as cheap. I have 1-2 protein shakes per day plus some meat/fish once or twice a day but other than dairy I don't really know what I could add that's high protein. I have nuts and eggs a lot too but can't think of any alternatives that are fairly low in carbs and are also low in calories.

    By the way if you're looking at my food diary I log my exercise calories but I don't eat them back. I try and stick to around 1600 per day and around 2100 at weekends which works out to 1742 calories per day if I was to eat the same every day. That's due to being active and burning off at least 3000-3500 calories per week through working out 6-7 days.
    You can actually do serious harm to your liver and kidneys with too much protein. Excess protein in a meal will get converted into what the body needs but that's overall that's too much protein for your nutritional needs.

    Bodybuilders usually only have one re-feed day a week and they only give themselves maybe another 100-150 carbs which nets to only one day they add 400-600 calories. I think your energy expenditure is too high. I think your execution is fine, but you've been mislead in calculating your nutritional needs by the online calculators.
  • JAT74
    JAT74 Posts: 1,078 Member
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    Regarding my training I was doing Jillian Michaels Body Revolution for 7 weeks and that consisted of 6 workouts with 4 of them containing weights and body weight exercises and the other 2 were pure cardio. In addition I was adding in 2-3 days of additional cardio on the running machine, elliptical etc.

    I stopped BR last week as I wasn't happy with the speed of my results so I'm now doing Insanity plus I've added weight training for 45 minutes 2 x a week when I do Insanity also on that day. My new weights routine includes all the things you've said ie. legs, biceps/triceps, chest, back, abs etc. and I have a fully equipped home gym so I can lift heavy. I have started doing this twice a week for 45 mins to 1 hour per workout.
  • JAT74
    JAT74 Posts: 1,078 Member
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    I've only ever had one day when I've managed to eat close to 140g protein anyway so most days it's 100-110g at the moment, is this really too high?
  • WendyTerry420
    WendyTerry420 Posts: 13,274 Member
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    If it were me, I would cut down the exercise to 4 days a week and cut calories by 100-200 per day and try that for a month. If you aren't taking rest days, your body isn't going to want to let go of the extra water, and you are missing out on muscle recovery. Maybe try doing the Jillian Michaels DVD every other day, and then just do light cardio on off days.
  • WendyTerry420
    WendyTerry420 Posts: 13,274 Member
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    I've only ever had one day when I've managed to eat close to 140g protein anyway so most days it's 100-110g at the moment, is this really too high?

    No, that's not too high.
  • JAT74
    JAT74 Posts: 1,078 Member
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    Didn't think so!

    I'm doing Insanity now but I might skip an Insanity workout on my weight training days, for example tomorrow I'm doing weights and I was supposed to do Plyometric Cardio circuit too but maybe I'll skip it. I have a heart rate monitor and always use it and I discovered that on Sundays when I clean I actually burn a lot of calories too even though I'm not doing a workout so I think there's no need to double up on workouts some days.

    I might start cutting down on calories a little as suggested by 100-200 per day and see if that makes a difference. I have also changed my macros to 30% protein and carbs not but I'll keep to 100-120g protein maximum so hopefully that will help me reduce calories too. Some days like today though I am already up to 110g protein and I haven't had an evening meal yet but I know it will be small so I'll try and make it carb based.

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