Still not losing weight doing IIFYM

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amandabaskins
amandabaskins Posts: 12 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I haven't lost any weight in months. I was told before that I wasn't eating enough to lose weight. So, I started doing IIFYM. I work out 6 days a week. Cardio 2 days and lifting 4. I use a Polar heart rate monitor for calories burned as they are very accurate. I'm weighing and tracking EVERYTHING I eat. (even vitamins)
I also take progress pictures and measurements, so not just depending on the scale. I've literately had no change in over 4 months. And its not muscle, because after 4 months of building muscle I would be able to tell it somewhere.
Any ideas??

oh fyi my Macros per IIFYM.com
calories:1764
carbs :246
Protein: 103
Fat: 41
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Replies

  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,139 Member
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    are you using the HRM to track calories burned from weight lifting? If yes, then you are overestimating your burns as an HRM is not accurate for tracking calories from lifting…you own a food scale as well?
  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,150 Member
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    Are you using a scale to weigh your food? Additionally, what are your stats?
  • amandabaskins
    amandabaskins Posts: 12 Member
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    Liftng4Lis wrote: »
    Are you using a scale to weigh your food? Additionally, what are your stats?

    Yes, I'm weighing all my food.
    Stats? Height and weight?
    5'6 171lbs

  • terbusha
    terbusha Posts: 1,483 Member
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    1746 cal/day may be just a bit too much for you to lose weight with. You could try to bump that down a bit. For macros, I've had really good success (with me and the people I coach) with 40/40/20 (p/c/f). How are you lifting? Are you doing high rep/low weight or low rep/high weight?
    Allan
  • StaciMarie1974
    StaciMarie1974 Posts: 4,138 Member
    edited October 2014
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    What is your goal deficit? 250/day, 500/day, etc.? At 5'6" and 171 I'd imagine you could safely/reasonably aim for 500-750 and if you're lightly active + exercise then 1750 or so calories should be fine.

    You mention 2 days cardio, 4 days lifting. Other than intentional exercise what is your activity like? Constantly on your feet/moving or always sitting? Those are 2 extremes of course. If your job, life is not active it could help to increase activity daily: burn a little more.

    Are you using a food scale for all solid items? Slices of bread, fruit, etc. Watch out for packages that say serving size X, approximate servings per package 2. Check the math: its often 2.2 or something.
    Are you using the HRM for cardio only? That's the only situation where it can give accurate burn info.
    Have you ruled out medical potential reasons for weight loss issues?
    How long has it been since you changed your calorie intake and have you gained weight since?

    Looking at your exercise log seems you log a lot of days where you burn exactly 10 cals/min in the gym. Suspect - you'd need to be working at an intense level to get that burn. And for 60+ minutes? This is probably high. Unless you're running without stopping. Even so, the exact/even numbers sound of approximation.
  • mitch16
    mitch16 Posts: 2,113 Member
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    I noticed that your sodium levels are pretty high on most days--you could be retaining enormous amounts of water. Try eating less prepared foods...
  • amandabaskins
    amandabaskins Posts: 12 Member
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    terbusha wrote: »
    1746 cal/day may be just a bit too much for you to lose weight with. You could try to bump that down a bit. For macros, I've had really good success (with me and the people I coach) with 40/40/20 (p/c/f). How are you lifting? Are you doing high rep/low weight or low rep/high weight?
    Allan
    I'm doing low rep/high weight
  • amandabaskins
    amandabaskins Posts: 12 Member
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    StaciMarie1974 wrote: »
    What is your goal deficit? 250/day, 500/day, etc.? At 5'6" and 171 I'd imagine you could safely/reasonably aim for 500-750 and if you're lightly active + exercise then 1750 or so calories should be fine.

    You mention 2 days cardio, 4 days lifting. Other than intentional exercise what is your activity like? Constantly on your feet/moving or always sitting? Those are 2 extremes of course. If your job, life is not active it could help to increase activity daily: burn a little more.

    Are you using a food scale for all solid items? Slices of bread, fruit, etc. Watch out for packages that say serving size X, approximate servings per package 2. Check the math: its often 2.2 or something.
    Are you using the HRM for cardio only? That's the only situation where it can give accurate burn info.
    Have you ruled out medical potential reasons for weight loss issues?
    How long has it been since you changed your calorie intake and have you gained weight since?

    Looking at your exercise log seems you log a lot of days where you burn exactly 10 cals/min in the gym. Suspect - you'd need to be working at an intense level to get that burn. And for 60+ minutes? This is probably high. Unless you're running without stopping. Even so, the exact/even numbers sound of approximation.
    I don't have a goal deficit. IIFYM.com had an option for 15% 20% or 25% I chose 15%.
    Other than my gym workouts I'm not very active at all. I'm a stay at home mom.
    I do leave the HRM on during weight lifting also.
    No medical issues.
    I started eating more about 3 weeks ago. Went from eating around 1000-1200 to trying to hit my current macros. Didn't gain or lose.
    I'm normally in the gym for and hour an a half to two hours. the even numbers are because I will round down (ex HRM says 846 I put 840 in MFP) And the mins. are way off, because I just put whatever.

  • StaciMarie1974
    StaciMarie1974 Posts: 4,138 Member
    edited October 2014
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    My understanding is a person does not burn a significant amount of calories during strength training. Just above normal daily activity for being on your feet, moving at a regular (non-cardio) pace. HRM is meant for steady state cardio. Constant starting, stopping is going to give it a falsely high #. No reason to log it other than to make note of what you've done, not for calorie burn. But you're not really 'eating back' exercise calories so that really isn't a big factor to your weight loss equation.

    I'd estimate you BMR to be 1500-1600. (I don't know your age.) So even if you're between sedentary and lightly active (SAHM con't REALLY be sedentary) you should be seeing a deficit at ~1750. Daily burn I imagine would be 2000 worst case scenario on your non-cardio days.

    If its been 3 weeks, I'd say give it 3-4 more. You have not gained weight: so that is a good sign. But in that time make an effort to increase activity at home. TOM/hormones, sodium, etc. can mask weigh loss in the short run so giving it more time is reasonable I think. If you want to change anything, decrease by 100/day and drink more water. Water helps w/ water retention.

    Also make an effort to increase daily activity. Does not have to mean run a 5k during the kids' naptime. Jog in place for 5-10 minutes. (Stretch calf muscles after - just my own advice.) Play tag. Walk in the neighborhood. The BMR/daily burn calculators are not right for everyone so increasing activity could help offset the balance if that is the underlying problem.
  • Iron_Feline
    Iron_Feline Posts: 10,750 Member
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    Wait - has it been months or 3 weeks since you changed to IIFYM, if only 3 weeks you need to give it more time.
    -
    After a major change you should give your body up to 6 weeks to adjust.
  • amandabaskins
    amandabaskins Posts: 12 Member
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    Iron_Feline wrote: »
    Wait - has it been months or 3 weeks since you changed to IIFYM, if only 3 weeks you need to give it more time.
    -
    After a major change you should give your body up to 6 weeks to adjust.
    I haven't lost weight in months. Its only been 3 weeks since I started IIFYM. I've been on a "diet" for a year and a half tho. Lost around 70lbs now can't lose anymore.
  • CdnRower
    CdnRower Posts: 28 Member
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    What are your food sources for that amount of carbs and how do you spread them out during the day?
  • likitisplit
    likitisplit Posts: 9,420 Member
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    You might want to check out this group: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/10118-eat-train-progress
  • ana3067
    ana3067 Posts: 5,624 Member
    edited October 2014
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    It's entirely about eating less than you need to maintain. I am 169lbs, I net 1880. Closer to 2100 with exercise. So if you are eating 1750 with exercise included, you can probably eat more. I personally log and eat 100% of exercise calories, and I almost only do strength training. You do have to remember that if you were at the gym for 60 minutes but only 43 of those minutes were spent exercising (including rest between sets, but not rests between exercises) then you only log 43 minutes. I do not use a HRM.

    I calculated my estimated net and TDEE maintenance needs from health-calc.com (or exrx.net to get a lower estimate) and I've been losing well with this method. I eat at a 20% deficit, may change it to 15% once I reach 160 though.

    It's all an estimate. So if you are eating as much as you can to lose weight and not losing, drop 50-100 cals for a few weeks (so e.g. started at 2000, you'd move to 1900 for a few weeks) and monitor progress. Or if you log and eat back all exercise cals then you can eat back 75% and monitor, either way a drop in calories is needed if no results are seen.

    Also, ensure you are logging accurately. You may be weighing for instance, but if you are not bothering to log cooking oil, or you are logging dry weight in the cooked weight entry then your info will be off and you can easily wind up over-eating. Weigh EVERYTHING.

    Looking at your diary, it appears you do not eat back exercise. This is further increasing your deficit, but this is not ideal when body composition or energy are of importance. You've even eaten as little as 1200ish on exercise days.
  • thepandapost
    thepandapost Posts: 117 Member
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    My idea would be to change the ratios of your macros, leave your calories alone at their current number and see if that shakes up the scale. Bump up the protein/fat and lower the carbs (unless there is a medical reason why you can't).
  • Branstin
    Branstin Posts: 2,320 Member
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    I ran a report on your diary. There have been 21 days between 10/10 and now that your sodium levels were above 2300mg. If I were you, this is the area I would look into a bit more. The USDA recommends 2300mg per day but the American Heart Association recommends 1500mg per day. You have to play around with the numbers to find a level that works for you.
  • ballardf
    ballardf Posts: 53 Member
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    Ok. What are macros? Ive seen thus term repeatedly. Someone please educate me.
  • SingRunTing
    SingRunTing Posts: 2,604 Member
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    Make sure your logging is absolutely spot on accurate. If you've been at all lax, tighten it up. Are you overestimating your calories burned? Try eating back fewer of them. If neither of those work, your calorie goal is too high and you need to lower it. Basically, if you're not losing weight, you're not in a deficit. This is either due to inaccurate logging, overestimating your burn and eating them back, or too high a calorie goal. That's it.
    Ok. What are macros? Ive seen thus term repeatedly. Someone please educate me.

    Macros are your macronutrients: protein, carbs, and fat.
  • MsHarryWinston
    MsHarryWinston Posts: 1,027 Member
    edited October 2014
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    ballardf wrote: »
    Ok. What are macros? Ive seen thus term repeatedly. Someone please educate me.

    Macros = macrobiotics = Protien/ Fat/ Carbs

    Opposed to Micros = microbiotics = sodium/ calcium/ iron/ vitamin A/ etc

    You have 3 macros, and from those macros you get all your micros.

    So ex: Spinach =
    Macro - Carb
    Micro - Vit A/ Vit V/ Iron
  • bkempy
    bkempy Posts: 1 Member
    edited May 2015
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    Okay, first: I am not a registered dietitian but I have been working with NASM certified trainer (on IIFYM and heavy weight lifting) for almost an entire year now. I have done MAJOR damage to my body/metabolism through under eating, yo-yo dieting, bulimia and being a cardio bunny. I can tell you right now YOU AREN'T EATING ENOUGH. You are tall (I am 5'2" and eating more than you). You have your protein waaaaaay too low. You should do at least 1 gram of protein per lb of body weight (for you at least 171grams).

    Also, if you have kept your macros the same for the last four months and you aren't losing or gaining weight, it most likely is that your body has become accustomed to these macros (aka this is your current maintenance level). The idea behind IIFYM and heavy lifting together is to increase the macro intake as much as possible without gaining fat. With that said, it is a process of increasing and decreasing to gain that high level of macro intake. My best suggestion for you where you are at calorie wise, would be to increase. I know you want to lose weight but you would have to reduce your calories by a great amount in order to do that. So the other side of IIFYM and heavy weight lifting combined is that when you are "cutting" you don't have to go to the extremes of 1200 calories and large amounts of cardio. You have to build that up though and it TAKES A LOT OF TIME. You have to be patient, be OK with gaining weight and also open to the idea that you may have to tweak your macros constantly. But, once you find that spot (which it seems you have a good starting ground) you can increase SLOWLY to the highest possible intake while still maintaining weight.

    This isn't a lot of info and like I said I am no EXPERT, but I've done my research, work with my coach and am constantly reading up on things. Best suggestion is to listen and watch BioLayne (Dr. Layne Norton) EVERYTHING. Sohee Lee is also another great person to listen/watch.

    Hope I helped and if you do decide to cut your macros, my first suggestion would be to up the protein, lower the carbs and keep the fats about the same. Everyones ratio break down is different, I can't tell you what percentages to use and neither can anyone else. Give the macro rearranging a try for about a week or two and see what happens. LIFT HEAVY and if you decide to cut still, do it SLOWLY (5-10g a week), sometimes holding for two weeks at the same macro intake. It all depends on your bodies response!

    Best of luck!!

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