Stuck, is diet to blame?
morganpalmer9
Posts: 73 Member
I’ve been stuck around 124 lbs (I’m 5’4) for the last few months. I’m starting to get frustrated because I try really hard to eat healthy and work out and it just doesn’t seem to be having an effect anymore. I’m not sure if I necessarily need to lose weight or tone up, but my main goal now (I’ve dropped 18ish lbs 4 months ago) is to fix my stomach. I still have love handles and some pudge that I really want gone. I’m guessing I may need to lose more fat since you unfortunately can’t spot pick where you want to lose weight.
I'm wondering if my diet is to blame since I burn around 350-475 calories when I work out, which I try to do at least 5-6 days a week, doing cardio for around 20-25 mins and then a pretty high-intense strength workout. I use a heart rate monitor to track this.
I pretty much eat the same thing every day. 1/2 cup of quick oats w/ 1 tablespoon dried cranberries and a cup of coffee for breakfast around 7 am. Then around 10 am I eat 3 oz of some sort of berry or sometimes I switch it up and eat an apple. Then I eat lunch at 12ish which is 4oz of cooked quinoa, 4 oz of chicken breast, and 3 oz of brussels sprouts/green beans or broccoli. I usually have a small snack in the afternoon, i.e. 30g of almonds or 75g of edamame, maybe some carrots and hommus. For dinner I eat 4 oz of chicken, 3 oz of broccoli and then around 7ish oz of sweet potato. Ends up being right around 1200 calories, and I measure everything out with a scale.
I should note that I typically cheat a little on the weekends and let myself have some pizza, beer, etc. Obviously I should be eating well all the time, but I find giving myself a treat here and there motivates me to work harder.
The only thing I could think is maybe I should change my diet. Am I eating too much meat? Too many carbs?
I'm wondering if my diet is to blame since I burn around 350-475 calories when I work out, which I try to do at least 5-6 days a week, doing cardio for around 20-25 mins and then a pretty high-intense strength workout. I use a heart rate monitor to track this.
I pretty much eat the same thing every day. 1/2 cup of quick oats w/ 1 tablespoon dried cranberries and a cup of coffee for breakfast around 7 am. Then around 10 am I eat 3 oz of some sort of berry or sometimes I switch it up and eat an apple. Then I eat lunch at 12ish which is 4oz of cooked quinoa, 4 oz of chicken breast, and 3 oz of brussels sprouts/green beans or broccoli. I usually have a small snack in the afternoon, i.e. 30g of almonds or 75g of edamame, maybe some carrots and hommus. For dinner I eat 4 oz of chicken, 3 oz of broccoli and then around 7ish oz of sweet potato. Ends up being right around 1200 calories, and I measure everything out with a scale.
I should note that I typically cheat a little on the weekends and let myself have some pizza, beer, etc. Obviously I should be eating well all the time, but I find giving myself a treat here and there motivates me to work harder.
The only thing I could think is maybe I should change my diet. Am I eating too much meat? Too many carbs?
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Replies
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With not a lot to lose, the cheats on the weekends could be your problem. You might want to adjust what you eat on weekends so that you stay within your calorie range while still having beer and pizza.0
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With your stats and activity level, you would be losing weight at 1200 calories. That being said, you have a healthy BMI and not much to lose (if any). Your deficit is going to be smaller the closer you are to your goal (even at healthy). So my guess is that your weekends are cancelling out whatever small deficit you have. The solution to this would be to either exercise more to give you more of a deficit (which you could bank for the weekend - some people like to do weekly averages instead of daily) or start tracking your weekends and fitting the items you eat into your calorie goal without going over. You don't need to cut out the pizza and beer entirely. I'm a firm believer of moderation. However your quantities of said items may need to be the part that gets adjusting.0
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You're eating too little for muscle building, which is what would help with more with your "pudge" than would focusing on losing weight.0
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I suggest you eat at maintenance. Put your info into the MFP calculator and eat that plus your exercise calories or use a TDEE calculator to determine the amount.0
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Are you logging the weekend splurges? If not, starting to do that would give you a better idea whether you're wiping out your weekday deficit on the weekend.
But if losing pudge is more important to you than losing weight, it probably would be a good strategy to go to maintenance calories and log the weekend to make sure you're there (not far beyond) plus strive to build strength. You can always switch back to a calorie deficit later, if you decide that's a better idea.0 -
You have a BMI of 21. You are in a healthy weight range. You want to lose weight because.....0
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I suggest you eat at maintenance. Put your info into the MFP calculator and eat that plus your exercise calories or use a TDEE calculator to determine the amount.
If she's been at the same weight for a few months, sounds like she's already eating at maintenance.
OP, it sounds like you're undoing the deficit from the week during the weekend. I do the same thing...on purpose, to maintain. If you want to lose, you may want to cut back on your weekend splurges a bit.0 -
You have a BMI of 21. You are in a healthy weight range. You want to lose weight because.....
People can have higher goals than being a healthy BMI. I've been in a healthy weight range for the last 10 pounds but and still losing to hit BF%. This involves losing a bit more fat to remove love handles and abdominal fat.
OP you need to track weekends for sure as they can Wipeout a week. Also look into a starter strength training routine. They help preserve muscle while losing along with eating sufficient protein.0 -
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I_Will_End_You wrote: »I suggest you eat at maintenance. Put your info into the MFP calculator and eat that plus your exercise calories or use a TDEE calculator to determine the amount.
If she's been at the same weight for a few months, sounds like she's already eating at maintenance.
OP, it sounds like you're undoing the deficit from the week during the weekend. I do the same thing...on purpose, to maintain. If you want to lose, you may want to cut back on your weekend splurges a bit.
Yeah, that's what I've been trying to do and it hasn't made a difference. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong at this point!0 -
You have a BMI of 21. You are in a healthy weight range. You want to lose weight because.....
People can have higher goals than being a healthy BMI. I've been in a healthy weight range for the last 10 pounds but and still losing to hit BF%. This involves losing a bit more fat to remove love handles and abdominal fat.
OP you need to track weekends for sure as they can Wipeout a week. Also look into a starter strength training routine. They help preserve muscle while losing along with eating sufficient protein.
I've switched from 40 mins of cardio to 25 mins of cardio and 20-25 minutes of intense strength training in the hopes this will help!0
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