Gym plan advice

How long have you been doing this?

I noticed you have your diary open, which is helpful, but it only has the last 5 or 6 days filled out. Of that, it looks like you're taking in about 800 calories per day, of which about 200 (50g) is protein. I don't know how this relates to your weight history, but that does seem like a very low amount of calories especially considering your extra workouts. And 50g protein at 143 pounds bw is a very low amount if you hope to build muscle.

medhakhanna471 wrote: »

Retroguy2000 wrote: »

How long have you been doing this?

I noticed you have your diary open, which is helpful, but it only has the last 5 or 6 days filled out. Of that, it looks like you're taking in about 800 calories per day, of which about 200 (50g) is protein. I don't know how this relates to your weight history, but that does seem like a very low amount of calories especially considering your extra workouts. And 50g protein at 143 pounds bw is a very low amount if you hope to build muscle.

Thank you so much for your response. I have been gymming and managing weight for a few years. My lowest weight ever was 58kg a few years ago but it was not sustainable. I put on weight last year due to work, kids, fitting it all in.
This time I started in Sept 2023 and starting weight was 73kg. I have tried to restrict calories more since the last week but have been going to the gym regularly since Sept 2023 and on and off prior to that. Hope that helps.

It could be that the problem lies with your expectations. You've lost 8 kg, 17.6 pounds, since September, during a time of year when it is common to gain weight. Use a weight trending app such as Happy Scale (iphone) or Libra (Android) and focus on the trend, not the individual weigh-ins. I have Happy Scale and use the “Moving Average” as my official weight.

Additionally, while I see that you've been going to the gym since Sept - to clarify, is any of the exercise new, especially the weights? If so, you are likely retaining water, which is masking weight loss on the scale.

If this is not the case, my final thought is that you could be overdoing things, and stress has increased cortisol, which is causing you to retain water.

http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/research-review/dietary-restraint-and-cortisol-levels-research-review.html/

...a group of women who scored higher on dietary restraint scores showed elevated baseline cortisol levels. By itself this might not be problematic, but as often as not, these types of dieters are drawn to extreme approaches to dieting.

They throw in a lot of intense exercise, try to cut calories very hard (and this often backfires if disinhibition is high; when these folks break they break) and cortisol levels go through the roof. That often causes cortisol mediated water retention (there are other mechanisms for this, mind you, leptin actually inhibits cortisol release and as it drops on a diet, cortisol levels go up further). Weight and fat loss appear to have stopped or at least slowed significantly. This is compounded even further in female dieters due to the vagaries of their menstrual cycle where water balance is changing enormously week to week anyhow.

And invariably, this type of psychology responds to the stall by going even harder. They attempt to cut calories harder, they start doing more activity. The cycle continues and gets worse. Harder dieting means more cortisol means more water retention means more dieting. Which backfires (other problems come in the long-term with this approach but you’ll have to wait for the book to read about that).

When what they should do is take a day or two off (even one day off from training, at least in men, lets cortisol drop significantly). Raise calories, especially from carbohydrates. This helps cortisol to drop. More than that they need to find a way to freaking chill out. Meditation, yoga, get a massage... Get in the bath, candles, a little Enya, a glass of wine, have some you-time but please just chill.

Cardio vs strength training, the eternal question. Ask a hundred gym goers, you'll get 101 different answers.

Short answer is you'll get the most benefit from doing both, just not at the same time. If you're limited to one hour in the gym at a time, may best if you split days into either "cardio" days or "lifting" days. Though some people prefer doing 15-20 minutes of cardio every gym day followed by the rest of their time spent lifting.

medhakhanna471 wrote: »

Retroguy2000 wrote: »

How long have you been doing this?

I noticed you have your diary open, which is helpful, but it only has the last 5 or 6 days filled out. Of that, it looks like you're taking in about 800 calories per day, of which about 200 (50g) is protein. I don't know how this relates to your weight history, but that does seem like a very low amount of calories especially considering your extra workouts. And 50g protein at 143 pounds bw is a very low amount if you hope to build muscle.

Thank you so much for your response. I have been gymming and managing weight for a few years. My lowest weight ever was 58kg a few years ago but it was not sustainable. I put on weight last year due to work, kids, fitting it all in.
This time I started in Sept 2023 and starting weight was 73kg. I have tried to restrict calories more since the last week but have been going to the gym regularly since Sept 2023 and on and off prior to that. Hope that helps.

You seem very focused on the workout side of the equation. Not intending to be mean, but if you're not logging consistently, then your calorie intake is effectively an unknown. It's calorie balance, intake vs. expenditure, that determines fat/gain loss. Switching up workout regimen may burn a few more/fewer calories, but it's unlikely to be a high payoff for weight loss, especially in the short run. Getting the eating side managed is higher odds, IMO.

There are other ways to reduce calories (other than counting), but reducing calorie intake (somehow) is the basic requirement for weight loss.

For most people, exercise alone is not going to be the solution . . . even large amounts of exercise. Exercise burns fewer calories than a lot of people think. On top of that, some types of exercise spark some people's appetite. It's easy to eat extra calories without even realizing it, when not counting. Just an extra blop of creamy salad dressing can wipe out a surprising chunk of the calories burned from an exercise session.

Personally, I worked out routinely for a dozen years, training pretty hard six days most weeks, even competed as an athlete (sometimes successfully in age group competitions), mostly "ate healthy" (I thought) . . . but stayed overweight/obese.

I thought I must have a "slow metabolism", being older, hypothyroid, menopausal, blah blah blah. Once I started counting, I learned that was not true. I was just eating as many calories as I was burning (sometimes more). When I got the calories under control - calorie counting worked for me - I lost weight pretty handily, and have stayed at a healthy weight for 7+ years since, currently right around 59-60kg at 5'5".

On the protein front, if you're truly eating something around 50g protein daily, I'd encourage you to bump that up. Your strength training will have a better payoff if you get ample protein (and other good nutrition). Think in terms of at least 0.6-0.8g daily per pound of healthy goal weight, which would be around 1.2-1.6g per kg. For myself, now in maintenance, I aim at 100g minimum daily, and routinely exceed it. It was a little less during loss because of lower calories, but 80s-90s grams daily at least, once I got a reasonable weight loss eating routine dialed in.

This site has an evidence-based protein needs calculator:

https://examine.com/protein-intake-calculator/
https://examine.com/guides/protein-intake/

Note that the guide says it can be useful to use goal weight in the calculator, if materially overweight currently.

Best wishes!

medhakhanna471 wrote: »

You are right. My gym exercises have incorporated more weights. Mostly machines but heavier weights. I do get DOMS. Guess I just need to be patient.

I have 1 other question:
What should I focus on more? Cardio or strength training?

To lose weight, focus on food logging.

Do both cardio and strength training for health.