HELP! Diet and exercise but no changes.

2»

Replies

  • Anamargonz
    Anamargonz Posts: 35 Member
    heybales wrote: »
    Anamargonz wrote: »
    I do measure myself and true to be said i lost some cm but stuck since 2,5 weeks ago.
    I am 5'5'' and weigh 149 lbs.
    I actually enjoy my workout as i see how i improve each week.
    I don't add any salt to my meals and try to get my carbs from veggies and legumes.
    How much would it be a maintenance calories intake for me? Around 1800??
    Though I'm not overweight i am one of those that they call skinny fat and it's driving me mad, my goal is to get lean and lose fat for when i take my clothes off to be happy with what i see...
    I always weigh myself in the same scale once a week or every 15 days.

    I feel a bit lost in all this as i never had anyone helping me and don't know what the best way to reach my goal is.

    Well, you can either use MFP as designed, you have the settings correct - merely log Strength Training when it's done, and eat slightly more on that day - not a huge calorie burn.
    Any other purposeful exercise besides active day log and eat back since so little to lose.

    Or, if doing the weekly avg TDEE method where you eat the same amount daily (but you better do planned workouts), I used 30 min lifting 4x weekly as only workouts and get with your stats a TDEE of about 2050.

    So a 15% deficit would be 1750 daily.

    If extra walking or jogging starts getting done, of course you eat more then.

    That's small enough deficit to allow the lifting to have better impact on body shape, even if weight on scale changes slowly. It'll appear like more. And really - who besides you sees your scale?

    OP, this is the most complete response in this thread - which came as a result of more information from you. It is a very modest deficit. Here is where you may need to reassess why you are doing this.

    By that I mean that if 13 pounds is what you're looking for, I assume you are doing this ultimately for health reasons right? You want less body fat so you can 1) look better, and 2) do more. If that's the case, I would recommend not attaching a time goal to it. It could be that even 1 pound per week, or 0.5 kg per week is not as good as 0.5 pounds (or 0.25 kg) per week. When it comes to losing fat, faster is not necessarily better - when it comes to what you see on the scale. Don't chase a scale number!

    If you are controlling your eating properly and lifting with progressive overload, you will see obvious changes in 6 months or less, especially being close to goal weight.

    Sorry for my lack of knowledge... What does OP stand for??
    The weight loss is mainly for my to get my confidence back and be happy with myself. I haven't put a time limit, guess I'm very impatient.
  • Anamargonz
    Anamargonz Posts: 35 Member
    Anamargonz wrote: »
    MFP is telling me that i need 1270 calories a day to lose 0.5 kg a week just above 1lb a week. Therefore, I'm eating those few calories a day. I log every cardio exercise as MFP can't count the calories in streng exercises.
    Should I try to increase a little bit my calories for the next two weeks and then go down again or better to stick to it a bit longer??

    It depends...are you nursing?

    ETA
    If so then you should definitely raise your calories back to maintenance... because nursing takes energy

    If not I would eat at maintenance for a couple of weeks...and be ready to gain some water weight...like 4 or 5 pounds in a few days. It's just water, you can't gain fat that quickly. Since you will be at maintenance,after you gain back some water weight, in a few weeks you should start to lose a little weight from your exercising then you can lower your calories no more than 250 once your weight loss stalls.
    It takes time to lose weight when you have so little to lose so you will have to be patient


    I believe I'm going to do this as soon as my knee gets better and i can exercise again.
    An old knee injury is giving me troubles since a couple of days ago and i don't want to push it.
  • quiksylver296
    quiksylver296 Posts: 28,439 Member
    Anamargonz wrote: »
    heybales wrote: »
    Anamargonz wrote: »
    I do measure myself and true to be said i lost some cm but stuck since 2,5 weeks ago.
    I am 5'5'' and weigh 149 lbs.
    I actually enjoy my workout as i see how i improve each week.
    I don't add any salt to my meals and try to get my carbs from veggies and legumes.
    How much would it be a maintenance calories intake for me? Around 1800??
    Though I'm not overweight i am one of those that they call skinny fat and it's driving me mad, my goal is to get lean and lose fat for when i take my clothes off to be happy with what i see...
    I always weigh myself in the same scale once a week or every 15 days.

    I feel a bit lost in all this as i never had anyone helping me and don't know what the best way to reach my goal is.

    Well, you can either use MFP as designed, you have the settings correct - merely log Strength Training when it's done, and eat slightly more on that day - not a huge calorie burn.
    Any other purposeful exercise besides active day log and eat back since so little to lose.

    Or, if doing the weekly avg TDEE method where you eat the same amount daily (but you better do planned workouts), I used 30 min lifting 4x weekly as only workouts and get with your stats a TDEE of about 2050.

    So a 15% deficit would be 1750 daily.

    If extra walking or jogging starts getting done, of course you eat more then.

    That's small enough deficit to allow the lifting to have better impact on body shape, even if weight on scale changes slowly. It'll appear like more. And really - who besides you sees your scale?

    OP, this is the most complete response in this thread - which came as a result of more information from you. It is a very modest deficit. Here is where you may need to reassess why you are doing this.

    By that I mean that if 13 pounds is what you're looking for, I assume you are doing this ultimately for health reasons right? You want less body fat so you can 1) look better, and 2) do more. If that's the case, I would recommend not attaching a time goal to it. It could be that even 1 pound per week, or 0.5 kg per week is not as good as 0.5 pounds (or 0.25 kg) per week. When it comes to losing fat, faster is not necessarily better - when it comes to what you see on the scale. Don't chase a scale number!

    If you are controlling your eating properly and lifting with progressive overload, you will see obvious changes in 6 months or less, especially being close to goal weight.

    Sorry for my lack of knowledge... What does OP stand for??
    The weight loss is mainly for my to get my confidence back and be happy with myself. I haven't put a time limit, guess I'm very impatient.

    Original Post, or Original Poster
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
    Anamargonz wrote: »
    Any ideas about how to fix my metabolism??

    I don't think it's really broken. If it is "broken" you need to see a medical doctor. Nothing that anyone here can fix.

    With 18 pounds to lose weight loss will be slow. 1/2 to 1 pound a week at most. That can be masked by water retention.....sodium, sore muscles, time of month, waste cycle.

    2 weeks is a very small amount of time. I once sat at the same weight for 6 weeks. Tightened up my logging (for me).
  • emailmehere1122
    emailmehere1122 Posts: 140 Member
    edited October 2017
    Anamargonz wrote: »
    Anamargonz wrote: »
    MFP is telling me that i need 1270 calories a day to lose 0.5 kg a week just above 1lb a week. Therefore, I'm eating those few calories a day. I log every cardio exercise as MFP can't count the calories in streng exercises.
    Should I try to increase a little bit my calories for the next two weeks and then go down again or better to stick to it a bit longer??

    It depends...are you nursing?

    ETA
    If so then you should definitely raise your calories back to maintenance... because nursing takes energy

    If not I would eat at maintenance for a couple of weeks...and be ready to gain some water weight...like 4 or 5 pounds in a few days. It's just water, you can't gain fat that quickly. Since you will be at maintenance,after you gain back some water weight, in a few weeks you should start to lose a little weight from your exercising then you can lower your calories no more than 250 once your weight loss stalls.
    It takes time to lose weight when you have so little to lose so you will have to be patient


    I believe I'm going to do this as soon as my knee gets better and i can exercise again.
    An old knee injury is giving me troubles since a couple of days ago and i don't want to push it.

    Op means original poster

    It's the simplest way imo ( in my opinion) Figuring out calories burned for lifting is a lot of trial and error...and some days you burn more calories than others

    But if you're nursing you're still eating for you and your baby. Look at the pic I'm going to try to attach.


    ETA: the most important thing is if you're nursing eat more!!!

  • Anamargonz
    Anamargonz Posts: 35 Member


    Op means original poster

    It's the simplest way imo ( in my opinion) Figuring out calories burned for lifting is a lot of trial and error...and some days you burn more calories than others

    But if you're nursing you're still eating for you and your baby. Look at the pic I'm going to try to attach.
    [/quote]

    Well... Im not nursing though I've tried very hard but I wasn't unable to.
    Thx for pointing that out either way.
  • emailmehere1122
    emailmehere1122 Posts: 140 Member
    Anamargonz wrote: »

    Op means original poster

    It's the simplest way imo ( in my opinion) Figuring out calories burned for lifting is a lot of trial and error...and some days you burn more calories than others

    But if you're nursing you're still eating for you and your baby. Look at the pic I'm going to try to attach.

    Well... Im not nursing though I've tried very hard but I wasn't unable to.
    Thx for pointing that out either way. [/quote]


    Ok just wanted to make absolutely sure you're aware

    Hope your knee gets to feeling better soon
  • leggup
    leggup Posts: 2,942 Member
    Since you're close to your weight goal, even a small deficit could be wiped out due to inaccuracy. Open your diary and we can see if some of your entries are inaccurate.
  • takinchi
    takinchi Posts: 10 Member
    you should combine strength training and cardio and not rely on strength only. and of course watch out for your diet, strength training is good for burning fat during rest time, cardio is good during exercise
This discussion has been closed.