Am I doing something wrong?

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Okay so, ive been doing the Olivia Method for about 3 weeks now, haven't lost any weight. I workout 6 days aweek and can usually burn up to 1300 calories in a day. Now my BMR is around 1500 which i do eat, and i add the extra calories i burned to get a deficit of 1000.
Now just to eat the extra is hard, for example I already had breakfast, lunch, dinner and my snacks and i still have around 600 calories to get to my 1000 green number. Any suggestions on if i should cut back my food intake, or food to help increase my calories or should i change the number im eating?
Thanks in Advance!
-Melissa

Replies

  • jrditt
    jrditt Posts: 239 Member
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    nuts are really calorie dense, I am impressed by your burn! What are you doing?
  • Ssocrrbabe
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    Seems counterintuititive, but you have 2 options: exercise less to get the number 1000 or under as your body is holding onto everything because you aren't fueling it for the amount of exercise you are doing OR eat the extra calories so that your green number is 1000 or under to keep your body fueled for that amount of exercise.
  • DoubleE615312
    DoubleE615312 Posts: 173 Member
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    Are you using a HRM to calculate your calories burned? My only suggestion is to cut back on exercise (from looking at your diary). You may need to give you body a little more rest. From looking at your diary there were a few days that you had over 1000 left. This could be affecting your loss (maybe tapping your body into starvation mode). There are days that I also have over 1000 left for the day and I try not to go more then 2 days over 1000. I have found if I do, I get physically sick and headaches. I know sometimes it's difficult to eat all those calories, so that is why I am suggesting cutting back on exercise.

    You could change your settings to lightly active to give you more calories. I would try this first and see what the difference is.

    But this is just my .02. And I am still trying to figure this all out too... Good job on eating and exercising!
  • melissasarahx
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    I have my settings for lightly active, i have a desk job so i pretty much sit all day. For exercising i do p90x and i do the elliptical and run for 35 mins on most days. I do have a hrm to tell me how many calories i burn, I only recently added the extra cardio because i wasn't loosing weight so i figured i needed something more, i dont feel hungry at the end of the day because i do eat when i do fee slightly hungry and i stop eating when i feel satisfied so i dont get too stuffed. I guess i could stop the gym and just stick with the p90x but i dont know.
  • DoubleE615312
    DoubleE615312 Posts: 173 Member
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    Could you break up your workouts? Gym one day, px90 another? Wish I could offer more, it's just so frustrating to be stuck...
  • tangal88
    tangal88 Posts: 689
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    Just curious - which HMR are you using?

    The reason I ask, is browsing some of your numbers, the cal burn seems a bit high.

    P90X Core Synergistics 795 52 min
    Kenpo X 819 60 min

    Which certainly may be spot on for you, so may be 100% right. I know we all differ.

    But I know for me, I had similar numbers with my Timex HMR, and I am in pretty good shape. I do advanced on all DVDs, and add in hand and ankle weights on Kempo, Plyo etc. I also hit a bag on kempo. All that would give a higher cal burn, then average.

    But my HMR does not allow me to pick gender, so I was concerned with how accurate it really was. (men and women can burn cals differently)

    I switched to a Polar, that allows me to enter gender, and found my Timex was over figuring my cal burn by about 200 cal per hour, on many of my workouts.

    Which of course could throw other numbers off, if you are eating most of those exercise cals back.
  • melinda6569
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    Your food diary looks good. Your exercise diary looks good. Maybe you are just building alot of muscle. I would definitly rest a little more..I wouldn't eat unless i was hungry. Just my opinion. :smile:
  • melissasarahx
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    Im using the S7 HR Monitor, it was only 30 bucks so i bought it. I enter my age and gender, and i check my heart rate contstantly throughout the workout, i may be burning alot less than it says im not sure how accurate it is. I also bring it to the gym when i do the elliptical, and the heart rate on the elliptical is different than on my HRM so im unsure which one to believe at times. I just figured some idea would be better than nothing, but maybe i should spend more money on a better one?
  • heaven_511
    heaven_511 Posts: 315 Member
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    I have my settings for lightly active, i have a desk job so i pretty much sit all day. For exercising i do p90x and i do the elliptical and run for 35 mins on most days. I do have a hrm to tell me how many calories i burn, I only recently added the extra cardio because i wasn't loosing weight so i figured i needed something more, i dont feel hungry at the end of the day because i do eat when i do fee slightly hungry and i stop eating when i feel satisfied so i dont get too stuffed. I guess i could stop the gym and just stick with the p90x but i dont know.

    I'd be interested in knowing what you find as the answer to your dilema. I have the exact same problem. I am very sedentary all day at work, but I work out 4-5 days a wk. I have made it my goal to burn at least 1000 cals every time I go to Zumba class
    (4 x wk). I also work out at home. My calorie burn is usually pretty high as well. I just started this method because I don't think that I was taking on enough calories before (I never ate back my calories). My fear is that I won't be able to eat as many calories as I need to in order to get my green # down to at least 1000. I tried my hardest yesterday and I still ended up with over 1000 cals.
    I use a sportline hrm with chest strap and I've found that it is pretty consistent with the hr reading on the treadmills at the gym. So I'm sure that my calorie burn numbers are accurate. I'm going to change my activity rate to slightly active and see if that will help get me closer to 1000. I've been yoyo-ing between 160-163 for the last two weeks...which is why I've decided to try this method.
    Please keep us updated so I'll have some idea of what I should be doing or if this is even the method for me. I'd hate to cut back on my exercise. I'm mililtary so I have to work out in the mornings, but I do Zumba because I absolutely LOVE it!
  • kikkipoo
    kikkipoo Posts: 292 Member
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    If you're doing P90x and eating enough calories, I GUARANTEE you that the lack of scale change is because you are gaining muscle as fast as you are losing fat. Start tracking your measurements every week instead.
  • amys31
    amys31 Posts: 108 Member
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    Just curious - which HMR are you using?

    The reason I ask, is browsing some of your numbers, the cal burn seems a bit high.

    P90X Core Synergistics 795 52 min
    Kenpo X 819 60 min

    Which certainly may be spot on for you, so may be 100% right. I know we all differ.

    But I know for me, I had similar numbers with my Timex HMR, and I am in pretty good shape. I do advanced on all DVDs, and add in hand and ankle weights on Kempo, Plyo etc. I also hit a bag on kempo. All that would give a higher cal burn, then average.

    But my HMR does not allow me to pick gender, so I was concerned with how accurate it really was. (men and women can burn cals differently)

    I switched to a Polar, that allows me to enter gender, and found my Timex was over figuring my cal burn by about 200 cal per hour, on many of my workouts.

    Which of course could throw other numbers off, if you are eating most of those exercise cals back.
    Im using the S7 HR Monitor, it was only 30 bucks so i bought it. I enter my age and gender, and i check my heart rate contstantly throughout the workout, i may be burning alot less than it says im not sure how accurate it is. I also bring it to the gym when i do the elliptical, and the heart rate on the elliptical is different than on my HRM so im unsure which one to believe at times. I just figured some idea would be better than nothing, but maybe i should spend more money on a better one?


    I just got the Body Media fit which accurately (99%) tells you how many calories you burn, and Im pretty sure that your calorie burn is way too high. I also do P90x and for the core synergistics I burn around 200. On the Kenpo its around 250- 300.

    Just wanted you to know, bc the calorie counts can throw you way off. Also, for me to burn around 1000 calories, which I try to do....if I run 5 miles at a 9.5 mph pace...I burn around 550. I also do a 45 minute turbo fire which burns around 350. And on top of that I have to walk.....just to give you and idea....that is about 2-3 hours of exercising.
    Good luck!
  • Gee45
    Gee45 Posts: 171
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    I'm 45, 5`4, 148 lbs and burn about 350 to 650 for the p90x work outs. My son who is 23, 5`10 and 175 lbs burns usually 300 more calories than I do each work out. My hourly rate for many different activities is usually 350 to 500 calories an hour. Yoga X was the one workout lower at about 280 for the hour and a half.
  • SOOZIE429
    SOOZIE429 Posts: 638 Member
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    How do your clothes feel? Are they fitting better? Maybe you're losing inches.

    As far as your gaining muscle. Doubt it. It takes several weeks or months, for women especially, to gain muscle so don't count on that one.

    Try cutting back a bit on the cardio. I know that sounds counterproductive, but your body might not be responding well to all of that. So I would suggest cutting out the 35 minute run, for example, for a week or two and see if anything changes.

    Good luck! I know it sucks when you're working so hard and nothing shows on the scale.
  • Gee45
    Gee45 Posts: 171
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    Maybe set your activity level to sedentary because of the desk job.
    Peanut butter and using some olive oil or avocado on veggies or salad can help you get more calories. Use 1% milk and 2% cottage cheese instead of fat free.