I need help

nicolletteleroux · September 17

Hi ya’ll. I am a 38 year old woman, 112 lbs, 5’3. I want to lose 3 lbs and gain muscle. I have been walking 9000-12000 steps a day and weight exercising for a month. Loving the exercise. But I am struggling to stick to 1200 calories a day. It feels impossible. I never even ate breakfast. Now I have to aim to get to protein goal, but I still need my fruit. How am I supposed to maintain a healthy diet on 1200 calories and get all the nutrients I need?

tomcustombuilder · September 17

Dieting down with your stats is probably not a good idea. Bump up the calories if your goal is muscle gain.

sollyn23l2 · September 18

You're already at the low end of normal BMI, so yes, it will feel extremely difficult. I agree with Tom that if you want to build muscle you're going to have to up your calories and focus on weight training first. But, your body, your choice, do as you see fit.

HoneyBadger302 · September 18

At your size, gaining muscle is going to require eating more, or a very very slow recomp, which will take a lot of time (think months or years, not weeks).
That is a fair bit of activity to try and only eat 1200 kcal - perhaps your goal is a bit aggressive? Shooting for more like 1 pound/month may make the entire process a lot more tolerable! You don't get the insta-results, but with only a few pounds to lose, you should be eating pretty close to what will be maintenance for you, but losses will be very slow at that point and barely noticeable with day to day (scale) weight fluctuations.

AnnPT77 · September 18

Have you lost any weight eating that many calories, walking that many steps, and doing exercise for the month? If so, how much?

There are some scenarios where you might not see a scale change for a whole month while in an actual calorie deficit, but not many unfortunately.

I have known a very few people here on MFP - petite ones - who did find ways to get adequate nutrition on calories that low, but it took a lot of care and discipline. 1200 is very low for many women, especially active women. If appetite is part of the struggle, that's a whole other dimension.

I'd like to help if I could, but I feel like I'd need to know more about what you've been eating, how well you're hitting nutritional goals, and whether your weight has changed at all over the month.

Without more info, I kind of agree with others that you might eat a bit more and focus on a good progressive strength training program. I suspect you're going for an appearance goal, and a number on the scale generally isn't as important as body composition (muscle/fat ratio) when a person is as low in the normal weight BMI range as you are. (You're BMI 19.8 at 112 pounds, where the normal range would be 18.5-24.9. BMI isn't perfect, but given where you are in it and that you only want to lose 3 pounds, I'm assuming you're already fairly slim.)

Best wishes!

AnnPT77 · September 18

(Oops, duplicate post.)

nicolletteleroux · September 20

Thank you all for for the comments!! It means a lot. I have not lost any weight on the scale, I am staying constant. But I have definitely seen changes in appearance. More toned, definitely. So it is helping. It’s just the 1200 that’s impossible. I mean, I can do it, but I really don’t want to. I feel like I would become depressive if I ate 1200. I love food!

nicolletteleroux · September 20

Oh yes, my average calories I consume in a day is around 1400-1700. Then I feel good.

sollyn23l2 · September 20

nicolletteleroux wrote: »

Oh yes, my average calories I consume in a day is around 1400-1700. Then I feel good.

Perfect!

csplatt · September 21

I’m curious what difference you think three pounds will make when you are already so small. Are you trying to get more visible abs?

fmh1512 · September 22

Hi I sometimes stay on 1200 c. For few weeks. My tips are: Increase protein reduces hunger. Theres so much hidden sugar too - so look for low GI alternative swap outs. I always have good breakfasts. Eg 1 whole egg and one/two egg whites with tomato, peppers and 50g ham is 200cals and around 30g protein (I use frylight spray) - you can make and take to work. Michael Mosley 800 recipe book has loads meals for 400 kcal. And my latest fav meal is pork schnitzel made with Tesco pork medallions (5% fat) as I’m fed up of chicken. I ate it with carrot swede mash and green veg. (No potatoes). Filling and low cal. http://natashaskitchen.com/
Three weetabix- no sugar - can be filling.

nicolletteleroux · September 24

csplatt wrote: »

I’m curious what difference you think three pounds will make when you are already so small. Are you trying to get more visible abs?

I want to look and feel better. I have never weighed more than 105-109, except when I was pregnant and when I quit smoking. Now I am 112 and flabby. If I look good, I won’t mind weighing 112. If that makes sense.

csplatt · September 24

Got it. What does your maintenance seem to be based on your tracking?

tomcustombuilder · September 24

nicolletteleroux wrote: »

csplatt wrote: »

I’m curious what difference you think three pounds will make when you are already so small. Are you trying to get more visible abs?

I want to look and feel better. I have never weighed more than 105-109, except when I was pregnant and when I quit smoking. Now I am 112 and flabby. If I look good, I won’t mind weighing 112. If that makes sense.

it sounds like you have no muscle mass.sometimes losing weight isn’t the answer.

AnnPT77 · September 24

nicolletteleroux wrote: »

csplatt wrote: »

I’m curious what difference you think three pounds will make when you are already so small. Are you trying to get more visible abs?

I want to look and feel better. I have never weighed more than 105-109, except when I was pregnant and when I quit smoking. Now I am 112 and flabby. If I look good, I won’t mind weighing 112. If that makes sense.

It does make sense.

Getting the lifting right and adding muscle mass is IMO more likely to be beneficial to appearance improvement (including reduced flabbiness) than losing fat via deficit. It's also more functional (because useful in life and for health to be stronger). Slower process, though.

I think some of us are encouraging you to put the priority on "add muscle".

tomcustombuilder · September 24

To reiterate, flabby at 112 means body composition is off. Get on a good lifting program, get your diet in order and forge ahead.

If your goal is just to see the scale go down that is your right to do so. To each her own.

yirara · September 24

Yeah, what the others said: losing 3lbs won't really change your looks. Rebuild your muscles

csplatt · September 24

yirara wrote: »

Yeah, what the others said: losing 3lbs won't really change your looks. Rebuild your muscles

agree with all these people. eat at maintenance and lift.

nicolletteleroux · September 25

Great advice!!! Thank you!! I have added weight training and I am going to stick with it. Will 1500 calories be good then? And I am eating more protein!

AnnPT77 · September 26

nicolletteleroux wrote: »

Great advice!!! Thank you!! I have added weight training and I am going to stick with it. Will 1500 calories be good then? And I am eating more protein!

Good plan, both the weight training and protein.

On the calorie front, what matters isn't theory, it's experience. Use your weight change averaged over whole menstrual cycles, or 4-6 weeks if you don't have cycles, to find the right calorie level. Working assumption, even though it's approximate: 500 calories per day is a pound a week, then use arithmetic for partial pounds. Keep monitoring: You might find that your calorie needs change over time.

I think most of us are recommending that you eat at least maintenance calories, i.e., the calorie level that keeps your weight more or less steady over those multi-week periods.

A small bit above maintenance calories would increase probability of muscle mass gain. That would mean weight gain, maybe even a very small bit of (temporary) fat gain, but not much.

(You could think of any small fat gain - which you know how to lose later if necessary, right? - as an investment in gaining muscle.)

Gaining a tiny bit of weight over the multi-week period - probably doesn't need to be more than about half a pound a week on average, could be less - that's probably good.

You can trust your own observations, as long as you're looking at that multi-week average: If you're getting stronger, looking more "toned" (muscular), and your clothes are getting very gradually looser or even fitting the same for a while as your weight creeps very gradually up . . . that should be pretty good.

Maybe start doing tape measurements at various points (making sure you have benchmarks to measure at the exact place), and front/side/back full-body photos in form-fitting clothing, as other checks on progress. (Tip: Don't do photos in undies. When great things happen long term, I'll bet you're going to want to share your progress photos.

Maybe bikini, or sports bra and form-fitting shorts. You don't have to share them ever if you don't want to, but don't cut off the option by using clothes that would be unshareable!)

Body composition - muscle/fat ratio - is more important than the raw number on the scale, when it comes to appearance.

Just my opinions, though.

P.S. You might get some good reassurance or insights from people who participated in this thread: https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10177803/recomposition-maintaining-weight-while-losing-fat/p1

nicolletteleroux · 11:52AM

Hi Ann. Thank you for your comment. I am averaging between 1400-1600 calories a day now. Exercising with weights 5-6 days a week and walking 10 000 plus steps a day. I have gained 4lbs in the last week. But I did have salty food on the weekend, which I’m sure factors in. I am still seeing improvement in the way I look, even with the scale going up. I just don’t know whether I should be pushing for a calorie deficit now or not? I never used to even eat breakfast, now it feels like I’m eating more than ever to get all the protein in.

I need help

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