Too few calories + too much exercise = no weight loss?
Options
Replies
-
DawnieB1977 wrote: »You weigh 122lbs. Unless you're incredibly short, I imagine you're pretty thin. If you've been lifting for over a year I expect you are in good shape. So weight loss will be slow, although I think 2.5lbs in 6 weeks is good when you don't have much to lose (if any).
I weigh a lot more than you do and I exercise a lot/eat at a deficit and I lose quite slowly on the scale, but my clothes fit so much better. Take measurements and don't get disheartened.
Hm...where did you get that information? I weigh 119-120 lbs and I'm 5'5", so not really incredibly short.0 -
if your were losing half pound per week on 1850 and wanted to lose a pound per week, why were you not eating at 1600 instead of the 1700 that you went to???
1850 - 250 = 1600 ....
Because I increased my cardio as well...
Regardless, I'm not even losing .5 lbs a week, so something's still not right.0 -
My thoughts, you increased your exercise and dropped your calories at the same time, both large changes to your routine that might have large impacts on the weight you see on the scale. 6 weeks is usually a good indicator, but I am wondering if you still have a mish mash of maskings going on here. As mentioned before, a deload or light exercise week might show you some losses you have not seen yet.0
-
Have you had your body fat measured? I am wondering why you are trying to get to a specific weight instead a specific body fat %.0
-
Also Lyndsey remember that as you lose, your TDEE drops. You said you were eating 1700. I don't know how active your lifestyle still is, but it might be time to reevaluate how much you burn also.
The best way I got over a "stall" or a "hump" i guess. Not really what word is appropriate to use lol. I either took a deload week, I ate at maintenance or I dropped carbs down to almost nothing for a week, then did a refeed day where I ate like 1000g of carbs. Then went back to dieting and it worked.
Just different things. You'll have to play around with it when your bf% gets lower.0 -
Maybe you are burning fewer calories with the additional cardio you are doing than you thought. Additionally, how long does it usually take for you to see changes on the scale? Sometimes I have a week or two lag. In your case if you had increased glycogen and water retention initially with the changes to your exercise routine, you might see some larger loses soon.0
-
LyndseyLovesToLift wrote: »I'm not new to cutting and I've been lifting heavy for a little over a year. A few months ago, I was eating 1850 cal a day and losing about a half a pound a week. At that time, I was lifting four days a week for about an hour and doing one 60-minute cardio session per week. I measure/weigh everything I eat and log everything as accurately/consistently as I can.
I switched to maintenance in November and stayed at about 122 pounds until I started a quick eight week summer cut program that I designed in March. The goal was to lose about a pound a week, or drop down to 115 pounds by the end. I'm now eating about 1700 cal per day and, in addition to the aforementioned mentioned exercise, I added 30 minutes of cardio to my lifting days.
This is the end of the week six and I have only lost about 2.5 pounds. I now realize that I'm pushing my body too much and I need to cool it on the extra exercise. My body constantly hurts, my energy level is on the ground, and I'm even starting to feel low/depressed.
I've never had a problem losing weight before, and this time it seems that math is not on my side. I was maintaining at 2150 cal a day, yet not losing much on 1700 cal a day even with extra exercise. I realized today that I'm doing at least eight hours of exercise per week, lifting heavy for half and moderate/intense cardio for half. And eating at a 20% deficit of my old TDEE. My body is telling me to slow down, so I will.
However, it's extremely frustrating that I might go the entire eight weeks and only drop a fraction of my goal. Is it possible that I was over training and it was sabotaging my weight-loss? If so, what does this mean as far as transitioning back to maintenance? Am I going to probably gain weight at my old maintenance because I mistakingly pushed my body too much during this cut? It's not as if I'm starving myself, so I just don't get what's going on with my body and why it won't cooperate or let go of these last few pounds.
Words of wisdom are appreciated.
That's almost a half pound a week.0 -
LyndseyLovesToLift wrote: »DawnieB1977 wrote: »You weigh 122lbs. Unless you're incredibly short, I imagine you're pretty thin. If you've been lifting for over a year I expect you are in good shape. So weight loss will be slow, although I think 2.5lbs in 6 weeks is good when you don't have much to lose (if any).
I weigh a lot more than you do and I exercise a lot/eat at a deficit and I lose quite slowly on the scale, but my clothes fit so much better. Take measurements and don't get disheartened.
Hm...where did you get that information? I weigh 119-120 lbs and I'm 5'5", so not really incredibly short.
You put you weigh 122 and want to get to 115 in your first post. I said 'UNLESS' you're incredibly short as i didn't know your height, which I do now, so 119-120lbs at 5'5 is pretty small, I think most people would agree, therefore you don't have much to lose.
0 -
Liftng4Lis wrote: »LyndseyLovesToLift wrote: »I'm not new to cutting and I've been lifting heavy for a little over a year. A few months ago, I was eating 1850 cal a day and losing about a half a pound a week. At that time, I was lifting four days a week for about an hour and doing one 60-minute cardio session per week. I measure/weigh everything I eat and log everything as accurately/consistently as I can.
I switched to maintenance in November and stayed at about 122 pounds until I started a quick eight week summer cut program that I designed in March. The goal was to lose about a pound a week, or drop down to 115 pounds by the end. I'm now eating about 1700 cal per day and, in addition to the aforementioned mentioned exercise, I added 30 minutes of cardio to my lifting days.
This is the end of the week six and I have only lost about 2.5 pounds. I now realize that I'm pushing my body too much and I need to cool it on the extra exercise. My body constantly hurts, my energy level is on the ground, and I'm even starting to feel low/depressed.
I've never had a problem losing weight before, and this time it seems that math is not on my side. I was maintaining at 2150 cal a day, yet not losing much on 1700 cal a day even with extra exercise. I realized today that I'm doing at least eight hours of exercise per week, lifting heavy for half and moderate/intense cardio for half. And eating at a 20% deficit of my old TDEE. My body is telling me to slow down, so I will.
However, it's extremely frustrating that I might go the entire eight weeks and only drop a fraction of my goal. Is it possible that I was over training and it was sabotaging my weight-loss? If so, what does this mean as far as transitioning back to maintenance? Am I going to probably gain weight at my old maintenance because I mistakingly pushed my body too much during this cut? It's not as if I'm starving myself, so I just don't get what's going on with my body and why it won't cooperate or let go of these last few pounds.
Words of wisdom are appreciated.
That's almost a half pound a week.
but she wanted to lose a pound a week for her "eight week summer cut"...
0 -
LyndseyLovesToLift wrote: »if your were losing half pound per week on 1850 and wanted to lose a pound per week, why were you not eating at 1600 instead of the 1700 that you went to???
1850 - 250 = 1600 ....
Because I increased my cardio as well...
Regardless, I'm not even losing .5 lbs a week, so something's still not right.
if you increased cardio and continued weight training you probably have some water retention going on..
also, as others mentioned as you lose weight your TDEE is going to be lower than it was at maintenance. So if you are basing your TDEE on maintenance level then you are probably over consuming for one pound per week loss.
And, as body fat % decreases it becomes harder and harder to drop additional body fat and weight...0 -
VERY difficult to do with so little to lose.Liftng4Lis wrote: »LyndseyLovesToLift wrote: »I'm not new to cutting and I've been lifting heavy for a little over a year. A few months ago, I was eating 1850 cal a day and losing about a half a pound a week. At that time, I was lifting four days a week for about an hour and doing one 60-minute cardio session per week. I measure/weigh everything I eat and log everything as accurately/consistently as I can.
I switched to maintenance in November and stayed at about 122 pounds until I started a quick eight week summer cut program that I designed in March. The goal was to lose about a pound a week, or drop down to 115 pounds by the end. I'm now eating about 1700 cal per day and, in addition to the aforementioned mentioned exercise, I added 30 minutes of cardio to my lifting days.
This is the end of the week six and I have only lost about 2.5 pounds. I now realize that I'm pushing my body too much and I need to cool it on the extra exercise. My body constantly hurts, my energy level is on the ground, and I'm even starting to feel low/depressed.
I've never had a problem losing weight before, and this time it seems that math is not on my side. I was maintaining at 2150 cal a day, yet not losing much on 1700 cal a day even with extra exercise. I realized today that I'm doing at least eight hours of exercise per week, lifting heavy for half and moderate/intense cardio for half. And eating at a 20% deficit of my old TDEE. My body is telling me to slow down, so I will.
However, it's extremely frustrating that I might go the entire eight weeks and only drop a fraction of my goal. Is it possible that I was over training and it was sabotaging my weight-loss? If so, what does this mean as far as transitioning back to maintenance? Am I going to probably gain weight at my old maintenance because I mistakingly pushed my body too much during this cut? It's not as if I'm starving myself, so I just don't get what's going on with my body and why it won't cooperate or let go of these last few pounds.
Words of wisdom are appreciated.
That's almost a half pound a week.
but she wanted to lose a pound a week for her "eight week summer cut"...
0 -
Have you had your body fat measured? I am wondering why you are trying to get to a specific weight instead a specific body fat %.
I really have no way to accurately measure my bf%. I work out in my garage gym, so I don't have access to bf% monitors at a gym and I'm simply not going to pay $75 for a dunk test or bod pod every so often. I have a pair of those cheap calipers, but I'm not sure how accurate they are or even if I'm using it correctly. My readings on that seem pretty low.0 -
Lyndsey - I assume that's you in your profile pic?? If so, you look phenomenal- don't lose more weight! Sounds like your body is tired and begging you for a little rest. After that, keep doing what you're doing, but make sure you're refueling and giving yourself a rest day here and there. And, seriously, think about why you feel that you need to lose more...0
-
Lyndsey if you call a gym ahead of time and ask them if they have bodyfat calipers that they can just test you on, some gyms do it. World Gym, Gold's Gym will do it. The big gyms do it. Don't go to Planet Fitness, they may look at you strange.
0 -
You are already on the lower end of a healthy BMI trying to get to the lowest end of healthy. I think you simply do not have the fat stores to constitute higher losses. 1 lb a week would definitely be too aggressive at this point for you. .5 lbs would be closer to reasonable, but it's still going to really hard. I think you aren't really looking at it realistically and expecting more than what should be happening.0
-
TiffanyR71 wrote: »Lyndsey - I assume that's you in your profile pic?? If so, you look phenomenal- don't lose more weight! Sounds like your body is tired and begging you for a little rest. After that, keep doing what you're doing, but make sure you're refueling and giving yourself a rest day here and there. And, seriously, think about why you feel that you need to lose more...
Keep in mind that my profile picture shows me first thing in the morning, flexed, in flattering lighting/angles. It's not exactly a true-to-life representation of what I look like. It's not photoshopped, but if I took a picture of myself at any other time in any other position, you wouldn't think I was as lean as you think now.0 -
LyndseyLovesToLift wrote: »LyndseyLovesToLift wrote: »Only read the subject line. The subject line is wrong. Too few calories and too much exercise leads to rapid weight loss, and a LOT of the lost weight will be lean body mass. This isn't conjecture, there is tons of evidence demonstrating this.
Eat too little, exercise too much -> rapid body weight loss, guaranteed.
If you read past that, your answer might have actually been useful to me.
If you had been concise, I might have.
If you want other people's help, it's your responsibility to engage them, not theirs to wade through TL;DR.
:drinker:
Bottom line: you aren't doing what you think you're doing. Good luck!
Notice the question mark at the end. I'm eating at what SHOULD be a deficit based on my TDEE (as I explained in what you didn't bother to read), I'm doing a lot more exercise than before (as I explained in what you didn't bother to read), and yet I'm not losing as much as I SHOULD be (as I explained in what you didn't bother to read). I'm not claiming that my subject line is a fact. If I was, it would end with a period. Grammar.
I'm not a newbie, so you can keep your condescension to yourself. Thanks.
The condescension would be ok if she were a 'newbie' though. Glad that's been made clear.0 -
Chrysalid2014 wrote: »LyndseyLovesToLift wrote: »LyndseyLovesToLift wrote: »Only read the subject line. The subject line is wrong. Too few calories and too much exercise leads to rapid weight loss, and a LOT of the lost weight will be lean body mass. This isn't conjecture, there is tons of evidence demonstrating this.
Eat too little, exercise too much -> rapid body weight loss, guaranteed.
If you read past that, your answer might have actually been useful to me.
If you had been concise, I might have.
If you want other people's help, it's your responsibility to engage them, not theirs to wade through TL;DR.
:drinker:
Bottom line: you aren't doing what you think you're doing. Good luck!
Notice the question mark at the end. I'm eating at what SHOULD be a deficit based on my TDEE (as I explained in what you didn't bother to read), I'm doing a lot more exercise than before (as I explained in what you didn't bother to read), and yet I'm not losing as much as I SHOULD be (as I explained in what you didn't bother to read). I'm not claiming that my subject line is a fact. If I was, it would end with a period. Grammar.
I'm not a newbie, so you can keep your condescension to yourself. Thanks.
The condescension would be ok if she were a 'newbie' though. Glad that's been made clear.
Yep, that's exactly what I meant. Oy...
0 -
Chrysalid2014 wrote: »LyndseyLovesToLift wrote: »LyndseyLovesToLift wrote: »Only read the subject line. The subject line is wrong. Too few calories and too much exercise leads to rapid weight loss, and a LOT of the lost weight will be lean body mass. This isn't conjecture, there is tons of evidence demonstrating this.
Eat too little, exercise too much -> rapid body weight loss, guaranteed.
If you read past that, your answer might have actually been useful to me.
If you had been concise, I might have.
If you want other people's help, it's your responsibility to engage them, not theirs to wade through TL;DR.
:drinker:
Bottom line: you aren't doing what you think you're doing. Good luck!
Notice the question mark at the end. I'm eating at what SHOULD be a deficit based on my TDEE (as I explained in what you didn't bother to read), I'm doing a lot more exercise than before (as I explained in what you didn't bother to read), and yet I'm not losing as much as I SHOULD be (as I explained in what you didn't bother to read). I'm not claiming that my subject line is a fact. If I was, it would end with a period. Grammar.
I'm not a newbie, so you can keep your condescension to yourself. Thanks.
The condescension would be ok if she were a 'newbie' though. Glad that's been made clear.
who said that???
oh, wait you did..pretty kitty, I mean CICO15,or one of the many usernames you employ ..0 -
because you aren't new I can say this without a rebuff....
why would you try for 1lb a week? It's quite aggressive.
If it's for summer I guess I understand a bit but you are pretty lean already....and you know it's harder to lose the smaller you get. As well cortisol...stress....water...glycogen...all could be causing issues.
Took a peek at your diary..you aren't hitting your goal most days...usually off by 100 which isn't a lot but you said you were tired, low etc. Hitting goal even that extra 100 could help you "feel" better.
Wish I could be more help but my summer cut is 1/2lb a week...and that is hard on me...good luck I hope you get the answers you need.
oh on a note...a friend of mine on here indicated she doesn't do accessories on deload weeks as she finds she doesn't recover as fast...maybe try that?
0
Categories
- All Categories
- 1.4M Health, Wellness and Goals
- 392.1K Introduce Yourself
- 43.6K Getting Started
- 259.9K Health and Weight Loss
- 175.7K Food and Nutrition
- 47.4K Recipes
- 232.4K Fitness and Exercise
- 403 Sleep, Mindfulness and Overall Wellness
- 6.4K Goal: Maintaining Weight
- 8.5K Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
- 152.8K Motivation and Support
- 7.9K Challenges
- 1.3K Debate Club
- 96.3K Chit-Chat
- 2.5K Fun and Games
- 3.4K MyFitnessPal Information
- 23 News and Announcements
- 1K Feature Suggestions and Ideas
- 2.4K MyFitnessPal Tech Support Questions