NEED help... lifting + cardio, no results

fairiesdust
fairiesdust Posts: 5
in Health and Weight Loss
Hello all!

I've never really posted to the forums as I've only used mfp to track my calories and exercise for myself, but this time I feel like I really need someone else's input.

A little about my current stats: I'm about 5'2, and fluctuate usually between 108-112lb, 23 years young. I don't have a scale in my house, so I don't get to weigh myself often. I take measurements to track my progress. I've never been overweight, I just wanted to feel better in my skin and better the areas I feel insecure about, namely, my hips/thighs (like millions of other women, I know!)
I also have an hourglass shape, my bust and hip size are usually about the same, give or take an inch.

Now, first I want to note, I am not new to fitness. I started a couple of years ago and went from never doing any sort of real exercise to doing turbofire 4x a week for fun. I slowly transitioned into eating healthier at the time, too. I didn't lose a lot of weight but I did LOOK better. My legs were definitely a bit thinner during that time, too.
I really started liking fitness and started doing more, like jillian michaels, tried tae bo, some chalean extreme. Then out of the blue I started having tons of digestive difficulties and it became harder for me what I should eat or to eat at all. I also have a history of chronic constipation so when that started again along with the health troubles, I basically started to 'fear' feeling full. I also wasn't hungry, and although I have it under better control now with medication I am really struggling to ever hit 1200 calories a day even, while I always ate between 12-1400 calories a day.

In the midst of that I still completed a round of Insanity, and after that started lifting, and now I'm stuck.
I've been lifting for 4 months now and I've barely seen any changes. I know I'm small and since I don't have any weight to lose it's probably going to take longer. But my thighs, which I want to slim down most, have actually INCREASED in size! The first cm happened in month two but I told myself to trust the process and reminded myself of all the photos I've seen from the amazing ladies who lift and had great results and didn't turn into the incredible she-hulk. But another cm, really??
I've gone from 51/52cm thighs to almost 54cm! This is really discouraging.
I am really trying to eat more, but it's a slow process. Is not eating enough the cause of the gain? Is it really stopping me from seeing any good results? My arms look better but they were like string noodles, so it's easy to see positive progress on those. I know it's not muscle gain in legs because I'm nowhere near eating a surplus and there's a layer of flab just sitting on the front of my legs. It's weird, because from the side I like my body shape, but then from the front I look terrible! It's like all the fat just shifted to my sides! I like how I look from the ribcage up, but from my hips to my knees I'm just plain sad about it.

I've been doing leg routines 2 days a week to work them extra hard, and to not lose fat and only gain inches is not exactly great motivation. I've slowly increased weight from when I started, and try to eat clean whenever I can, and even when I can only manage to eat a 1000 calories sometimes, 50-70grams is still protein. I usually burn anywhere between 3-500 calories.
I've been using a lot of workouts from livefit, (I don't feel experienced enough to do the whole program and the diet is not something I could do or even afford long term!) And sometimes the amount of reps seem a little high. After a little research I read I'm actually supposed to not go above 8 reps max for better fat loss??

When I lift, I usually do a 10 minute moderate run to warm up, then hit the weights, (averaging around 10-15 reps for exercises) and then run for about 10-20 minutes again when I'm done, which I recently changed into sprints. Apart from weightlifting 3-4 times a week, I do 2 days of cardio, usually insanity.
If it's really my eating that's working against me, what high calorie things are healthy and easy on the stomach? What goal would be suitable for me to lose fat and maintain the muscle I have now? I've tried more peanut butter and nuts, but large amounts of those cause me really bad indigestion and just generally make me feel horrible. I'm not too strong on dairy, either :(

Any help would be appreciated!

Replies

  • pinksparklefairy
    pinksparklefairy Posts: 97 Member
    Some foods that might work for you: eggs, low-fat meat, non-citrus fruits, oats, white bread and bagels, potatoes without skin or too much added fat

    I would be interested in what others have said about weights increasing the size of your thighs, as I have the same problem!
  • milkyskinn
    milkyskinn Posts: 126 Member
    Curious to see what anyone else has to say, too! I'm 3 months consistently lifting now and like you I haven't lost a single inch from y thighs. My waist is very small, which only makes them seem bigger!

    I'm also working on getting more calories (have digestive issues) and what sometimes helps me is taking liquid calories. Try investing in a good protein powder; it will make you feel REALLY full, but that uncomfortable full feeling passes quickly unlike eating the heavier foods in my case :)
  • DancingMoosie
    DancingMoosie Posts: 8,619 Member
    Your diary is closed, so it is really hard to give specific advice on that. We do have very similar stats, though. I do circuit training almost every day of the week. As I increase weight and/or intensiity, I have to increase calories and protein, or will get the shakes. I've already been diagnosed with Bradycardia from eating too few calories, my daily caloric intake has to remain above 1800. I would definitely recommend more protein if you want to build some muscle, and you have to be eat above maintenance to do that as well. Eggs and yogurt are easy on the stomach and are great protein sources. Also look for cottage cheese with active cultures. This is harder to find, but even easier on the stomach than regular cottage cheese. Chicken, turkey, and fish are also good. Cook with olive oil and a little butter to get in some fat. Eat your vegetables steamed or sauteed, as that is easier to digest than raw. Good luck. Feel free to send me a friend request or PM:)
  • Escape_Artist
    Escape_Artist Posts: 1,155 Member
    Open your diary
  • callie006
    callie006 Posts: 151 Member
    There is some more information that would be really helpful to you and others in making a plan to get you the results you want:
    - Do you weigh all of you food now on a food scale or are you measuring with cups and spoons?
    - Do you know your body fat percentage? If so, how did you test it?
    - How long have you maintained your current weight?
    - What happens to your weight/ measurements if/when you take a few days or a week off from working out?
  • Montarosa456
    Montarosa456 Posts: 133
    Okay..
    Now I'm not a expert..just giving my 2pence...
    Around 6 months ago I started lifting along with my cardio - I am a runner and don't mind that my legs are not stick thin..I'm more bothered about them being toned/nicely shaped ..& that's all I can say on that..
    In relation to your food intake I would need to see your diary. But I do agree protein powder is filing but you can take protein from many natural sources such as vegetables, meats, nut butters etc.... Are you weighing your food? Have you considered varying your diet and upping your calories? If you are burning 500 calories and only eating around 1,000-1,200 then your NET is only 500-700 which really can't be good for your general well being...
    I've got my body fat down to 19.6% (from 24.8%) and I eat over 2,000 calories most days...I enjoy vegetables, oats, nut butters, good chocolate, malt loaf, pasta here and there, bread..a whole variety of foods but the biggest loss came from adding weights and keeping my workouts and my eating varied..for example If your not a dairy fan then try almond/soya alternatives and change up your reps..if you only do 8 reps..try 10 and then say add in a couple at a different weight?
    Just keep in mind..you are young and you are a pretty darn excellent weight for your height..So please don't spend too much precious time beating yourself up over your thighs :)
  • MityMax96
    MityMax96 Posts: 5,778 Member
    Could it just be muscular development in your legs?

    If so that is not bad.
  • MityMax96
    MityMax96 Posts: 5,778 Member
    When I lift, I usually do a 10 minute moderate run to warm up, then hit the weights, (averaging around 10-15 reps for exercises) and then run for about 10-20 minutes again when I'm done, which I recently changed into sprints. Apart from weightlifting 3-4 times a week, I do 2 days of cardio, usually insanity.
    If it's really my eating that's working against me, what high calorie things are healthy and easy on the stomach? What goal would be suitable for me to lose fat and maintain the muscle I have now? I've tried more peanut butter and nuts, but large amounts of those cause me really bad indigestion and just generally make me feel horrible. I'm not too strong on dairy, either :(

    For reps, I would lower reps, and up weights.
    6 -8 rep range (10 max), if you can do more, then it means you need to up weight.

    Have you figured out what your TDEE is?
    What are your macros?
    What is your current caloric intake?
    What is current caloric intake compared to what TDEE is?
    How long have you been doing current caloric intake?
  • fairiesdust
    fairiesdust Posts: 5
    There is some more information that would be really helpful to you and others in making a plan to get you the results you want:
    - Do you weigh all of you food now on a food scale or are you measuring with cups and spoons?
    - Do you know your body fat percentage? If so, how did you test it?
    - How long have you maintained your current weight?
    - What happens to your weight/ measurements if/when you take a few days or a week off from working out?

    Yes, I use a scale! Of course calorie counting can only be so accurate, but it's not possible that I'm 100s off from weighing everything. Even for my own recipes, I put everything in as accurate as possible including spices.
    Unfortunately I've never had the opportunity to get my body fat measured- my guess is around 20%, although online calculators have given me 11-15%, that's not possible with the way my thighs look and I only have my ab lines slightly starting to show up- but nowhere near as shredded at 15% bf woman looks! I definitely want to get it measured, though.

    I have lost a couple of pounds 2 years ago (going from 120 to 108) and I've maintained a steady 108-112 the past two years.
    I usually only take one rest day a week, but I'm taking one today- I don't want to get obsessed with measuring but I can take a look at what it's going to be tomorrow morning before working out!
    Are you weighing your food? Have you considered varying your diet and upping your calories? If you are burning 500 calories and only eating around 1,000-1,200 then your NET is only 500-700 which really can't be good for your general well being...

    Yes, I'm weighing it as much as possible. :)
    Like I said, I'm slowly gaining back control over my digestive health so increasing calories has been a slow process. I'm definitely not trying to starve myself and not netting this low because I feel I have to. My goal is to slowly make it to 1500 a day and then start thinking about my net calories, one step at a time!
    For reps, I would lower reps, and up weights.
    6 -8 rep range (10 max), if you can do more, then it means you need to up weight.

    Have you figured out what your TDEE is?
    What are your macros?
    What is your current caloric intake?
    What is current caloric intake compared to what TDEE is?
    How long have you been doing current caloric intake?

    I'm hearing very mixed things about the amount of reps. Yesterday I read more reps create a softer overall look and don't burn as much fat and low reps and heavy weights is better for fat loss, then the next person tells me I need to aim for 15-30 reps on legs to really burn the fat off.
    I think I'm going for the lower rep and higher weight approach for the next month to see if there's any changes. Would it be good to add around 5-8lb when starting with lower reps?

    My TDEE should be around 1800, I had set my goal to 1500calories at the time because that was my recommended calorie range for fat loss, I think I got this from a calculator on a bodybuilding.com female fat loss article. It was 1300calories for low days, 1500 for higher days.
    My current macros are set to 35% carbs, 40% protein, 25% fat.
    I have been slowly increasing calories; I was only able to stomach 8-900 a day before summer, now I've come to be able to average at around 1000-1100 a day. Slowly working my way up! The low calorie intake has lasted for several months on and off, but please let me add that is not on purpose and I'm in no way trying to eat 'as little as possible'!
  • fairiesdust
    fairiesdust Posts: 5
    Also, my dairy should now be public
  • MityMax96
    MityMax96 Posts: 5,778 Member

    I'm hearing very mixed things about the amount of reps. Yesterday I read more reps create a softer overall look and don't burn as much fat and low reps and heavy weights is better for fat loss, then the next person tells me I need to aim for 15-30 reps on legs to really burn the fat off.
    I think I'm going for the lower rep and higher weight approach for the next month to see if there's any changes. Would it be good to add around 5-8lb when starting with lower reps?

    Doing High Reps is cardio in my opinion....you will burn calories while doing the exercise, but it ends there.
    Building muscle, burns calories around the clock, thus the higher weight, lower rep.
    My opinion.

    If you go that route, track your progress. :wink:
    My TDEE should be around 1800, I had set my goal to 1500calories at the time because that was my recommended calorie range for fat loss, I think I got this from a calculator on a bodybuilding.com female fat loss article. It was 1300calories for low days, 1500 for higher days.
    My current macros are set to 35% carbs, 40% protein, 25% fat.
    I have been slowly increasing calories; I was only able to stomach 8-900 a day before summer, now I've come to be able to average at around 1000-1100 a day. Slowly working my way up! The low calorie intake has lasted for several months on and off, but please let me add that is not on purpose and I'm in no way trying to eat 'as little as possible'!

    I came up with around 1800 for TDEE also.
    If you have been strict for a while below this, then maybe give yourself a couple refeed days....hitting ~2000 calories.

    Then go back to ~1500 calories/day.
    Fat should be 0.4/lb of bodyweight....minimum == 35 gr/day
    Protein should be 0.8 - 1.0gr/lb of bodyweight. == 112 gr/day (if doing 1 gr/lb of bw)
    Carbs can be anything you like to make up the rest of your calories. == ~195 gr /day
    That should put you around 1500 calories / day.

    Going below 1200 for prolonged periods of time, you are asking for trouble.
    Your low calories you mentioned will cause your metabolism to slow down, and thus be harder to lose weight.
    You are not giving your body anything to work with.......
  • BenjaminMFP88
    BenjaminMFP88 Posts: 660 Member
    Higher reps will burn some immediate calories but won't do much of anything long term. Lower reps higher weight is where you will burn less calories while actually working out, even though it is typically more difficult, but you you will increase your BMR as your muscular density increases, so will your stagnant ability to burn calories. Ultimately, you should mix this up and cycle them. Go a few months and do higher reps, then during the next cycle, perform lower reps with higher weight.

    Also, as MityMax96 says, start counting your macros. Since your getting to the point where you are eating so few calories, you need to ensure you are getting exactly what your body needs for optimization. You definitely need to ensure you are correctly calculating your caloric intake needs. You have to NET above BMR and below TDEE to optimaze weight loss/maintenance.

    Finally, you are probably experiencing a lot of muscular growth and water retention. Muscles can retain a significant amount of water that will fluctuate depending on when you workout and how much water you had. If you don't like this, you could lower the leg days to once a week to help slow the muscular growth, and measure your legs on the days before leg days as water retention and swelling will be lowest on these days.
  • BusyRaeNOTBusty
    BusyRaeNOTBusty Posts: 7,166 Member
    You are already really thin, probably low body fat, and it sounds like your body is storing whatever remaining fat you have left on your legs. Getting leaner, especially in the legs, is going to be really difficult. I agree you need to go heavier with the weights. You might want to do a "diet break" for a could of weeks to get your hormone levels back up to where they should be for a while.

    But really, you might put some thought into accepting your body as it is. I have a similar build. My upper body will get "too skinny" (in my opinion) long before I'm happy with my thighs. I usually just find a balance somewhere, where I'm happy enough with my legs and still happy with my upper body. I've also done a bulk cycle to add muscle primarily to my upper body, technically I added it everywhere but adding to my upper body helps me look more balanced.
  • fairiesdust
    fairiesdust Posts: 5
    I came up with around 1800 for TDEE also.
    If you have been strict for a while below this, then maybe give yourself a couple refeed days....hitting ~2000 calories.

    Then go back to ~1500 calories/day.
    Fat should be 0.4/lb of bodyweight....minimum == 35 gr/day
    Protein should be 0.8 - 1.0gr/lb of bodyweight. == 112 gr/day (if doing 1 gr/lb of bw)
    Carbs can be anything you like to make up the rest of your calories. == ~195 gr /day
    That should put you around 1500 calories / day.

    Going below 1200 for prolonged periods of time, you are asking for trouble.
    Your low calories you mentioned will cause your metabolism to slow down, and thus be harder to lose weight.
    You are not giving your body anything to work with.......

    I'm surprised that you're suggesting a higher carb intake; I initially lowered those because I thought I was eating way too many before!
    Like I said, I haven't been going below 1200 calories on purpose. It's a constant trick for me to see what food goes well for me and what doesn't, and I initially started working out harder in hopes I would become as ravenous as some people say they were when starting lifting. Maybe shaking it up and changing my approach this month is going to do just that :)
    Ultimately, you should mix this up and cycle them. Go a few months and do higher reps, then during the next cycle, perform lower reps with higher weight.

    Finally, you are probably experiencing a lot of muscular growth and water retention. Muscles can retain a significant amount of water that will fluctuate depending on when you workout and how much water you had.

    From tomorrow onwards, I'm going to lower my reps and see how much weight I can take. Time to shake things up! Maybe I've been taking it *too* slow with lifting and I've just hit a brick wall because my body isn't getting challenged as much as I think it is.

    I should really keep in mind water retention. It's hard to see the difference between water and fat sometimes, though! I've also heard that some areas, in periods where your body is getting ready to get rid of the fat, it retains more water/starts looking a little bigger? I have no idea if that's true though, although I have noticed that right before I lost some inches on my waist, I'd always look a little more puffy the week before that happened.
  • fairiesdust
    fairiesdust Posts: 5
    You are already really thin, probably low body fat, and it sounds like your body is storing whatever remaining fat you have left on your legs. Getting leaner, especially in the legs, is going to be really difficult. I agree you need to go heavier with the weights. You might want to do a "diet break" for a could of weeks to get your hormone levels back up to where they should be for a while.

    But really, you might put some thought into accepting your body as it is. I have a similar build. My upper body will get "too skinny" (in my opinion) long before I'm happy with my thighs. I usually just find a balance somewhere, where I'm happy enough with my legs and still happy with my upper body. I've also done a bulk cycle to add muscle primarily to my upper body, technically I added it everywhere but adding to my upper body helps me look more balanced.

    That is actually something I should keep as a back up plan for the future. My first approach will be to lower reps and adding weight, and see where I am in 2 months from now. I have hit my shoulders extra hard a couple of times to make them a little wider and make it seem more balanced, but when there is no visible muscle tone in your upper legs no matter what their size and the upper body has tons, it still looks like something isn't quite right! :"D

    Glad to know I'm not the only one with this build though :) At least our legs are strong!
  • MityMax96
    MityMax96 Posts: 5,778 Member
    you need to make sure you are taking in adequate calories and macros
    I think 1500 is still low for your goals and what you have been doing
  • raxelita
    raxelita Posts: 12 Member
    High-calorie, dairy free, healthier snacks that don't tend to fill me up or create bloat:

    -Guacamole! With homemade kale chips, sweet potato chips, root veg chips, or carrot sticks
    -Bacon, the nitrate free organic kind. The brand I buy is 80 calories per slice and three slices go down like nothing.
    -Almond butter, banana, sea salt on Ezekiel toasts (I don't do well digestively with white flour, but can easily eat Ezekiel bread)
    -coconut flour-based baked goods
    -olive oil marinated roasted red peppers
    -dried figs
    -dates
    -olives
    -seeds: pumpkin, sunflower
    -hummus doused with extra olive oil on top
    -homemade root veg or potato fries (in oven) with dipping sauces

    Maybe a couple of these will be appealing.
  • bellaamante
    bellaamante Posts: 2
    I have HORRIBLE digestive issues that i just developed seemingly overnight (chronic gastritis which is inflammation of the stomach PAINFUL) have you tried taking what they call a 'break' from your regular diet and eating extremely mild foods? When I have issues (I'm normally vegetarian and drink whey protein drinks for fuel) I immediately switch to the BRAT DIET (bananas rice applesauce toast, think infant foods) for a day or so and it calms my stomach and decreases inflammation. It also seems to kickstart weight loss. It may be worth a shot if nothing else helps.

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