Not seeing great results

According to your profile, you only have 18 lbs to lose, and your current weight of 130 is not overweight. So why the 1200 calorie limit? What's the rush? Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but you don't seem to be eating back calories burned from exercise. So that 1500 - 1600 calorie intake from earlier was really like a net of 500 - 1000 based on your estimated burn. And now your 1200 calorie intake (which is actually less since you never go over) is probably still in that 500 -1000 net intake, when considering your workouts. That's not enough. Don't know your height, but if you are 5'0", your BMR is around 1291 and more if you are taller.

Eat more.

Exactly this....you aren't eating enough especially while doing Insanity.

No it is not exactly this.
It is obvious that she is not tracking calories correctly.

If she wasn't eat enough calories, she would be losing weight.

Actually, there are plenty of factors that can prevent her from losing weight while under eating and below explains it more.

http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/why-big-caloric-deficits-and-lots-of-activity-can-hurt-fat-loss.html

Not eating enough could explain suboptimal fat loss, but it can't explain not losing mass (weight).

every argument and anecdotal account in the world is not going to be credible in the face of the law of conservation of energy and matter. Loss of mass will ensue if a system loses energy and matter at a greater rate than energy and/or matter are put into that system.


Why, oh why, are there never any hard numbers accompanying these articles about not losing weight on calorie deficits? Is it because it suddenly becomes ridiculous to claim your client has had a 75% reduction in metabolic rate, yet we can't find the same effects when people are actually starving due to famine?

I don't really understand the calorie deficit thing. Everyone says something different. So if I'm eating 1800 calories a day, working out 6-7 days a week with 2-3 days strength/ weight training and 2 days cardio what would be the calorie deficit? Does that mean I eat 500 less calories, so 1300 calories instead?

I figured out your TDEE and then created a deficit from there. So on a typical day, you burn around 2200 or so calories (if you follow the typical trend line which 70-80% of the people do). From there you take a 20% deficit (thence 1800 calories daily) which gives you a 400ish calorie deficit. So if you wanted to eat, 1700 calories every day. The best thing to do is pick a calorie level (1700 or 1800 is fine daily), do not eat back your exercise calories, and then track progress. So lets say in a month, you average 1 lb per week and you eat 1800 calories a day. This would mean your TDEE is actually 2300 (higher than our original estimate).

^^
This seems reasonable.

Although, I would go ahead and eat back your calorie as long as you are not over-estimating calories burn (Those exercise machine have a tendency to over estimate your calorie burn).


But, I beg you to get yourself a food scale. I guarantee you will surprise how small "1 serving" is. That is why you are not losing weight.
I know your are busting your *kitten* with the workouts and it may get discouraging but, don't give up. You just got to clean up your diet. Remember diet is at least 80% of losing weight. Cardio workout are actually OPTIONAL (It has much less impact on losing weight than you would think).

The reason I suggest you do not eat back exercise is because when I calculate TDEE, I add it into the TDEE. So if you eat back exercise calories, then you are double counting exercise and will over eat.

I don't really understand the calorie deficit thing. Everyone says something different. So if I'm eating 1800 calories a day, working out 6-7 days a week with 2-3 days strength/ weight training and 2 days cardio what would be the calorie deficit? Does that mean I eat 500 less calories, so 1300 calories instead?

I figured out your TDEE and then created a deficit from there. So on a typical day, you burn around 2200 or so calories (if you follow the typical trend line which 70-80% of the people do). From there you take a 20% deficit (thence 1800 calories daily) which gives you a 400ish calorie deficit. So if you wanted to eat, 1700 calories every day. The best thing to do is pick a calorie level (1700 or 1800 is fine daily), do not eat back your exercise calories, and then track progress. So lets say in a month, you average 1 lb per week and you eat 1800 calories a day. This would mean your TDEE is actually 2300 (higher than our original estimate).

^^
This seems reasonable.

Although, I would go ahead and eat back your calorie as long as you are not over-estimating calories burn (Those exercise machine have a tendency to over estimate your calorie burn).


But, I beg you to get yourself a food scale. I guarantee you will surprise how small "1 serving" is. That is why you are not losing weight.
I know your are busting your *kitten* with the workouts and it may get discouraging but, don't give up. You just got to clean up your diet. Remember diet is at least 80% of losing weight. Cardio workout are actually OPTIONAL (It has much less impact on losing weight than you would think).

The reason I suggest you do not eat back exercise is because when I calculate TDEE, I add it into the TDEE. So if you eat back exercise calories, then you are double counting exercise and will over eat.

good point.

The other way you can do it is to put yourself in the "sedentary" category (in the calculation) and count burned calories for all exercises.