I need help....what am I doing wrong?
Joj43
Posts: 54
Hi everyone. I really need some help. My weight loss is SO slow it is really getting me down. I am mostly just under my calorie intake of 1340 each day and I exercise at least 5 days a week (3 Zumba classes; 1 cardio sess & 1 weight sess at the gym). To be honest, I've done 4 out of 5 of my exercise sessions this week and I feel completely exhausted. I don't think I should fee like this. Please feel free to view my food diary and any help would be much appreciated. Please help.....
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Replies
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Back up a bit? Seriously I would feel exhausted too if my body was not ready for these intense workout.0
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Try changing the types of exercises you are doing and the types of foods you eat. Variety is really key at times.0
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You may be doing too much and not eating enough. You may be in starvation mode regardless of what the calorie count says. If you overdo physically, you're going to wear yourself out and no, you should not feel that way. Perhaps you need some --- excuse the four letter word --- REST.0
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You may be gaining muscle..Muscle weighs more than fat...0
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You may be gaining muscle..Muscle weighs more than fat...
You didn't really go there, did you?
You don't gain muscle from Zumba on a calorie deficit.0 -
i would say eat more, tbh. most days you net less than 12000
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You may be gaining muscle..Muscle weighs more than fat...
A pound is a pound. The difference is is that muscles is denser than fat
so it takes up less space 0 -
I would suggest…
•Get away from the dairy; milk, cheese, etc.
•Remove white bread, instead get a really good whole grain bread, Ezekiel for example (can be found in freezer section).
•Try ground turkey instead of beef.
•More protein; Egg whites, fish, etc.
You could eat a lot more and have more energy if you changed what you are eating. Most importantly, keep working at it; eventually you will find what works.0 -
Scale weight loss and fat loss aren't the same thing. Start tracking your body fat percentage and use this formula to see the difference.
Your scale weight is broken down into two categories. Pounds of fat and Pounds of lean body mass.
Formula:
Weight x BF% = Pounds of fat
Weight - Pounds of fat = Pounds of lean body mass
Just because you aren't losing scale weight it doesn't mean you aren't losing pounds of fat or gaining lean body mass. Please keep in mind, your pounds of lean body mass is the requirement for your body. You don't want your number to drop below that number. Sometimes, it might drop, but make sure you work the maintain that number or raise it.
The pounds of fat isn't the amount of fat you have to lose. Out of your pounds of fat total, you might just need to lose 5 pounds of fat to get to a healthy body fat percentage. I can show you how to figure out what body fat percentage number you need to aim for. You will need your current body fat percentage number.0 -
You may be doing too much and not eating enough. You may be in starvation mode regardless of what the calorie count says. If you overdo physically, you're going to wear yourself out and no, you should not feel that way. Perhaps you need some --- excuse the four letter word --- REST.
I'm extremely fond of that four letter word at the moment I am having today off exercise to recharge my batteries for sure. I will see how I feel tomorrow. Thanks for your help...it made me smile :happy: 0 -
I would suggest…
•Get away from the dairy; milk, cheese, etc.
•Remove white bread, instead get a really good whole grain bread, Ezekiel for example (can be found in freezer section).
•Try ground turkey instead of beef.
•More protein; Egg whites, fish, etc.
You could eat a lot more and have more energy if you changed what you are eating. Most importantly, keep working at it; eventually you will find what works.
Thanks for your suggestions....they were awesome. Cheese is my weakness, I'll admit. I only eat low fat varieties though. And yep, I should be eating more protein. Not a huge meat eater but the egg thing I could definately do more of. I will take this on board and keep working at it the best I can. Thanks again 0 -
Scale weight loss and fat loss aren't the same thing. Start tracking your body fat percentage and use this formula to see the difference.
Your scale weight is broken down into two categories. Pounds of fat and Pounds of lean body mass.
Formula:
Weight x BF% = Pounds of fat
Weight - Pounds of fat = Pounds of lean body mass
Just because you aren't losing scale weight it doesn't mean you aren't losing pounds of fat or gaining lean body mass. Please keep in mind, your pounds of lean body mass is the requirement for your body. You don't want your number to drop below that number. Sometimes, it might drop, but make sure you work the maintain that number or raise it.
The pounds of fat isn't the amount of fat you have to lose. Out of your pounds of fat total, you might just need to lose 5 pounds of fat to get to a healthy body fat percentage. I can show you how to figure out what body fat percentage number you need to aim for. You will need your current body fat percentage number.
Okay I'm interested but I am really ashamed to post my body fat percentage.....oh damn it-that's why we're all here yeah?!WTH.....it's 43.5%. Sad but true Love to know where we go from here....0 -
You may be doing too much and not eating enough. You may be in starvation mode regardless of what the calorie count says. If you overdo physically, you're going to wear yourself out and no, you should not feel that way. Perhaps you need some --- excuse the four letter word --- REST.
I'm extremely fond of that four letter word at the moment I am having today off exercise to recharge my batteries for sure. I will see how I feel tomorrow. Thanks for your help...it made me smile :happy:
Yup I would agree, that you're not eating enough as well. I only looked at a few days but many of your breakfasts less than 250 calories and that is WAY low. If you're working out 5xs a week and not eating enough you will eventually crash there's no way around that and it sounds like you're there. I would say to aim for a day like Tuesday, you had a strong start and great snack choices. It looks like you're eating larger meals in the middle of the day some around 700-800 calories is this intentional? consume some of those calories earlier in the day or before your work out, make sure to have something within 20 minutes AFTER your workout as well. At that point your body needs some recovery fuel something protein rich would be good.
Listen to your body and rest and feed it so it can perform at the level you are pushing it to. Good luck!0 -
"When you are 40 years, your metobolism is slower than it was 20 or even 10 years ago--a circumstance that can make weightloss more difficult than it was previously. The key is determining how many calories you burn doing a given activity and adjust the time to accomodate your weightloss needs." I got this from an article titled, 'How Much Does A 40-year Old Need to Exercise To Lose Weight?', From the LiveStrong website.
I would copy and paste the link if the U.S. gov't would let me.
I'd read somewhere years ago that doing in your 40's may only keep you at the point of maintenance whereas in your 30's and 20's it could have made you lose weight, or lose weight more quickly.
I didn't really look at your diary (if it's up), but long story short, you may just be at a maintenance level right now. Zumba is a good aerobic activity, but perhaps you could add in more strength training?0 -
First off, you need to address your exhaustion. Exercises are suppose to invigorate you and not left you feeling burnout. I would suggest take a few days off dieting, count your calories but go over your limit by maybe 100 or 200 calories. At the same time reduce your cardio to 3 times a week and reserve the rest for strength training. Our body works differently, but one thing for sure, you won't be able to build lean muscle if you overtax your body and not giving it enough nutrient. The weight loss may look slow on the scale, but if your fat percentage keeps falling steadily, who cares. You will look better while maintaining a high bmr.0
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You may be doing too much and not eating enough. You may be in starvation mode regardless of what the calorie count says. If you overdo physically, you're going to wear yourself out and no, you should not feel that way. Perhaps you need some --- excuse the four letter word --- REST.
I'm extremely fond of that four letter word at the moment I am having today off exercise to recharge my batteries for sure. I will see how I feel tomorrow. Thanks for your help...it made me smile :happy:
Yup I would agree, that you're not eating enough as well. I only looked at a few days but many of your breakfasts less than 250 calories and that is WAY low. If you're working out 5xs a week and not eating enough you will eventually crash there's no way around that and it sounds like you're there. I would say to aim for a day like Tuesday, you had a strong start and great snack choices. It looks like you're eating larger meals in the middle of the day some around 700-800 calories is this intentional? consume some of those calories earlier in the day or before your work out, make sure to have something within 20 minutes AFTER your workout as well. At that point your body needs some recovery fuel something protein rich would be good.
Listen to your body and rest and feed it so it can perform at the level you are pushing it to. Good luck!
Hi and thanks for your reply. I do Zumba at 7pm in the evenings that's why I have a larger meal during the day because I don't feel like eating too much after I work-out. You have made some great points, thank you so much 0 -
First off, you need to address your exhaustion. Exercises are suppose to invigorate you and not left you feeling burnout. I would suggest take a few days off dieting, count your calories but go over your limit by maybe 100 or 200 calories. At the same time reduce your cardio to 3 times a week and reserve the rest for strength training. Our body works differently, but one thing for sure, you won't be able to build lean muscle if you overtax your body and not giving it enough nutrient. The weight loss may look slow on the scale, but if your fat percentage keeps falling steadily, who cares. You will look better while maintaining a high bmr.
Don't get me wrong..I am totally wired after working out, I just LOVE it! But I am starting to realise that I am not refueling my body adequately. I totally agree that I should maybe add in an extra strength training and drop a cardio. Done! It's really difficult to get past that number on the scale...but I do my best. Thanks for your help 0 -
hi fellow aussie gal!
i've had a look at your diary and here's my two cent's worth.
you need to eat more wholegrains and less cheese and sugary / chocolatey things. for b'fast, think natural yoghurt with UNTOASTED muesli (not too much dried fruit in it!), porridge, an egg with wholegrain toast, avocado and tomato on wholegrain toast. for snacks, instead of cheese slices and cruskits, go for ryvita and mini tins of low fat tuna (safcol, for example, have 98% fat free), or ryvita with low fat weight watchers cottage cheese. and dinner in oz in summer - you can't go past fish and salad, or bbq chicken and salad. and a baked potato. we do corn, big mushrooms, capsicum etc on our bbq. it's GREAT. i'd get rid of the cottee's chocolate flavouring. if you have a sweet tooth, go for natural yoghurt with a bit of honey or a little bit of fruit in it.
as for the exercise - MFP is reputed to be overly generous with how many calories some exercises burn. i've never done zumba, but for me, having a variety of running, cycling, spinning, tennis, walking and yoga works for me. i also do 30 Day Shred (google it - it's tough but great). definitely you need some upper body strength in there somewhere and 30 DS does a bit of that in every circuit. i think burning 700+ calories in an hour in zumba is probably not quite right. that would make it waaay more than working as hard as possible at a spin class. doesn't make sense. same for the eliptical machine. unless you're dripping sweat and practically dying for the full hour, i think MFP is overcalculating the calories. i'd go for more like 400 for zumba and i guess around the same for eliptical. maybe even fewer than that. i reckon this is probably the root of your problems. you're eating back too many exercise calories but not getting the full wack of nutrients from them as you're not getting enough protein or wholegrains.0 -
hi fellow aussie gal!
i've had a look at your diary and here's my two cent's worth.
you need to eat more wholegrains and less cheese and sugary / chocolatey things. for b'fast, think natural yoghurt with UNTOASTED muesli (not too much dried fruit in it!), porridge, an egg with wholegrain toast, avocado and tomato on wholegrain toast. for snacks, instead of cheese slices and cruskits, go for ryvita and mini tins of low fat tuna (safcol, for example, have 98% fat free), or ryvita with low fat weight watchers cottage cheese. and dinner in oz in summer - you can't go past fish and salad, or bbq chicken and salad. and a baked potato. we do corn, big mushrooms, capsicum etc on our bbq. it's GREAT. i'd get rid of the cottee's chocolate flavouring. if you have a sweet tooth, go for natural yoghurt with a bit of honey or a little bit of fruit in it.
as for the exercise - MFP is reputed to be overly generous with how many calories some exercises burn. i've never done zumba, but for me, having a variety of running, cycling, spinning, tennis, walking and yoga works for me. i also do 30 Day Shred (google it - it's tough but great). definitely you need some upper body strength in there somewhere and 30 DS does a bit of that in every circuit. i think burning 700+ calories in an hour in zumba is probably not quite right. that would make it waaay more than working as hard as possible at a spin class. doesn't make sense. same for the eliptical machine. unless you're dripping sweat and practically dying for the full hour, i think MFP is overcalculating the calories. i'd go for more like 400 for zumba and i guess around the same for eliptical. maybe even fewer than that. i reckon this is probably the root of your problems. you're eating back too many exercise calories but not getting the full wack of nutrients from them as you're not getting enough protein or wholegrains.
Thanks for your reply fellow aussie gal too!
Your food suggestions are great...can certainly do the eggs, wholegrains, Ryvitas and cottage cheese. We love our Summer BBQ's too and always cook-up heaps of mushies, capsicum etc too. The chocolate flavouring only started after someone on here said to have a glass of milk and chocolate topping after a work-out....yeah, I'm with you....I think I could choose heaps better there!
In regards to the exercise I wear a HRM with a chest strap so that's where I get my calories burned from. It is a Polar FT40 and was quite pricey so I think it should be doing what it's suppose to. And yes, I do drip sweat !!!! So I'm hoping that this is not the reason for my slow weight loss.
It's great talking to another aussie (we are awake at the same time of the day at least!)....feel free to add me!
ps....that goes for everyone else too :happy:0 -
Also with 5 workouts per week I doubt you are getting anywhere close to the required rest between workouts.
For strenuous or high intensity workouts you should really be getting a 48 hour break in between, and a minimum 24 hours for low intensity ones.
Try and aim for 3 workouts per week: Monday, Wednesday, Friday and get out walking, bike riding or to the beach on the weekend.0 -
Right, you're not eating enough to gain muscle, if anything your burning muscle by eating so little and working out so much. You need to add those calories to what you eat or not work out so much. Your calories are way too low.0
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Right, you're not eating enough to gain muscle, if anything your burning muscle by eating so little and working out so much. You need to add those calories to what you eat or not work out so much. Your calories are way too low.
Yup, this is another reason you need a post-workout recovery meal. Your body will continue to burn calories after you stop working out a post-recovery protein shake is ideal to feed your body and keep it from burning muscle during this period. Try a protein shake after your work out, you can find one that's low in calories and not too filling. I use a product called Visalus its 90 calories, 12g of protein, and less than 1g of sugar. I also have that for bkfst mixed with yogurt, cocoa powder, and instant coffee.0 -
Overtraining sucks.
Without knowing specifics I would say weights 3 times a week and 20mins cardio on off days.
Eat a lot of protein 1g per lean body mass.
Drink 8-10 glasses water each day.
And
Untill you get your metabolism revved up start eating every 2-3 hours.
Add me for more help and tips.
Hugs!0 -
You may be doing too much and not eating enough. You may be in starvation mode regardless of what the calorie count says. If you overdo physically, you're going to wear yourself out and no, you should not feel that way. Perhaps you need some --- excuse the four letter word --- REST.i would say eat more, tbh. most days you net less than 1200
I agree, with net values like yours- you are not giving your body the fuel it needs to do the work you make it do.0 -
you already heard it but - EAT. Come join us on the women who eat 2000 calories group and learn to eat food. We're not super giants who have high metabolisms but we know that if we burn 500 calories we need to eat those 500 calories.
About half of us (a quarter?) are eating 1700-2100 a day and losing weight and feel great every day.
I have been where you are - I could barely drag myself through a workout because I was so exhausted and my workouts SUCKED, my heart rate never went high, I was dragging myself along my route.
started eating back exercise cals and it made a HUGE difference right away.
now I'm set to .5/week and I always have the energy for a workout and then a second workout (Today was a double workout day, personal training and then C25K).0 -
You may be doing too much and not eating enough. You may be in starvation mode regardless of what the calorie count says. If you overdo physically, you're going to wear yourself out and no, you should not feel that way. Perhaps you need some --- excuse the four letter word --- REST.
^THIS.... Search the thread "Give your body a break" [typed on the first day of a four day "diet"/gym hiatus:happy: ]0 -
you already heard it but - EAT. Come join us on the women who eat 2000 calories group and learn to eat food. We're not super giants who have high metabolisms but we know that if we burn 500 calories we need to eat those 500 calories.
About half of us (a quarter?) are eating 1700-2100 a day and losing weight and feel great every day.
I have been where you are - I could barely drag myself through a workout because I was so exhausted and my workouts SUCKED, my heart rate never went high, I was dragging myself along my route.
started eating back exercise cals and it made a HUGE difference right away.
now I'm set to .5/week and I always have the energy for a workout and then a second workout (Today was a double workout day, personal training and then C25K).
Hi
I have joined the group. Thank you so much for suggesting it! See how I go anyway 0 -
I agree with Goldfinger. When I started I started working out hardcore. Unfortunetly I wasnt eating enough food to fuel my body. So they put me on 1700 calories at first since I worked out so often. Now I am down to 1500 calories. But yeah you cant rush your body into something its not quiet ready for yet.
You could also go visit a nutrionist....that I think is the smartest idea. 0 -
Hi, you arent doing anything wrong, when you have come so far and lost the weight you have lost thats a good thing, I think you need to remember that when you do a lot of excercising (especially strength training) there will be a decrease in weight loss. your body is actually building muscle.(which is heavier ) You may find that the weight will slow down but your clothes will start to get bigger because of the inches you are losing. it may take time but stick with it. You've come this far, it would be torture to go back.
hope this has been helpful?0 -
Okay I'm interested but I am really ashamed to post my body fat percentage.....oh damn it-that's why we're all here yeah?!WTH.....it's 43.5%. Sad but true Love to know where we go from here....
Joj43,
You want to aim to lose fat and not scale weight. I don't have your weight and that's okay. I am only going to share the first part of the formula that you can use to determine what healthy body fat percentage you should be aiming to get to by losing fat.
You take your body fat percentage and write it as a number and divide it by your weight, this will let you know what body fat percentage you should be aiming to get to.
43.5 / weight = future healthy body fat percentage.
For example, say you are 220 pounds.
43.5 / 220 = 20%
Losing fat takes time and it might take you a year or so to get to 20% body fat percentage and that's a good thing.
If I knew your weight, I could show you actually how much 100% pounds of fat you needed to, to get to 20% body fat percentage.
You can message me if you want. I can show you in private.0
This discussion has been closed.
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