Please help before I give up :(

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  • ldalbello
    ldalbello Posts: 207 Member
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    I am 5'7" and weight 148 also. I have my calories set to 1200 plus execise calories. I think I would gain if I had 2000 calories a day !
  • Jessicaruby
    Jessicaruby Posts: 881 Member
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    I am 5'7" and weight 148 also. I have my calories set to 1200 plus execise calories. I think I would gain if I had 2000 calories a day !
    i would starve if i ate that little and worked out 6 days a week! i gain 1lb a week eating 2400 plus exericse cals
  • donna_glasgow
    donna_glasgow Posts: 869 Member
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    I had a look at your food diary, and the one bit of advice I would give it to look at your fat intake, your going over by about 40g of fat each day I looked at,

    Fat don't make you fat....extra calories does

    it depends where the fat is coming from and what kind of fat it is .saturated fat has to be avoided and saturated fat isnt mentioned in the diary ... so I have no idea how much is saturated hence saying "have a look at your fat intake" ...

    I also said about cals in my original post :)
    It's not that cut and dried either, saturated fat can also be healthy, like the lauric acid in coconut oil, which is very heart healthy. Honestly, I feel the terms "saturated" and "unsaturated" fats need to go away, and we should just worry about the specific fatty acids themselves, regardless of saturation.

    nothing is ever simple unfortunately :(

    we can only do our best Ive lost 30lbs so far so my best seems to be working even thou im not too clued up on peanut butter, lol x I cut peanut butter out of my diet altogether as I felt it was too fatty ..... :) I still wont be adding it back in thou as Im greedy with it :O
  • chevy88grl
    chevy88grl Posts: 3,937 Member
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    .5 pounds a week is 2 pounds a month, you've lost 1.2 pounds in the past month, you aren't that far off pace, especially on a slow cut, with a relatively low body fat percentage. Stick to what you're doing, as you are getting results.

    I agree with this. You aren't that far off pace and I'm guessing at your height/weight, your body is quite happy and isn't going to lose anything very quickly. The closer you are to your ideal weight - the harder it is to lose. You haven't been at it THAT long - give it time. Be patient.

    And honestly? As active as you are, I would NOT cut calories anymore. No use starving yourself in order to try and drop the weight. It's counterproductive.


    For those who say 2000 calories is too much. I can easily lose weight while consuming 2100-2200 NET calories a day. I easily maintain in the 2300-2500 NET range. Everyone's body is different. It all comes down to activity level, metabolism, etc. It may be too much for some people, but I know quite a few women on this site who are in the 2000 range and lose or maintain their weight. Too many people think 1200 calories is the way to lose weight - if I dropped myself down that low? I would starve to death!
  • HeidiMightyRawr
    HeidiMightyRawr Posts: 3,343 Member
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    I'd say if you were gaining around a pound a week on 2400 (2400 net or total??) then you need to drop the calories a little.

    You are losing still though so don't get disheartened. Maybe drop your calories by 1-200 maximum. You are still losing now so no need to go lower than that.

    Note: It took me 3 weeks of NOTHING before I finally saw a loss on my 4th week of cutting (2lbs) Patience. You will get there :smile:

    2400 before workout calories on my bulk. i am at 2000 now but am only eating 1800 net. i was thinking of lowering it but since i am netting under my total calories already i am not sure? if i lower it to 1800-1900 and then eat all that back i will be eating about the same as i do now. does that make sense? lol

    Think of it this way:
    You were gaining 1lb a week on 2400 NET. This means that your maintenance is "roughly" 1900 net. You are eating 1800 net. You cannot expect really to lose 0.5lb a week on a 100 cal deficit. As you are losing, you can safely say you are below maintenance but based on what you've said, I would aim for around 1600-1700 net.

    Use that as a baseline, what you would have on a rest day. Then eat exercise calories back (do you have a HRM?)
    If you are just estimating exercise calories I would make it easier for yourself, and eat around 1900 and not eat exercise cals back (based on an average exercise burn of 300 a day)
  • tigersword
    tigersword Posts: 8,059 Member
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    I'd say if you were gaining around a pound a week on 2400 (2400 net or total??) then you need to drop the calories a little.

    You are losing still though so don't get disheartened. Maybe drop your calories by 1-200 maximum. You are still losing now so no need to go lower than that.

    Note: It took me 3 weeks of NOTHING before I finally saw a loss on my 4th week of cutting (2lbs) Patience. You will get there :smile:

    2400 before workout calories on my bulk. i am at 2000 now but am only eating 1800 net. i was thinking of lowering it but since i am netting under my total calories already i am not sure? if i lower it to 1800-1900 and then eat all that back i will be eating about the same as i do now. does that make sense? lol

    Think of it this way:
    You were gaining 1lb a week on 2400 NET. This means that your maintenance is "roughly" 1900 net. You are eating 1800 net. You cannot expect really to lose 0.5lb a week on a 100 cal deficit. As you are losing, you can safely say you are below maintenance but based on what you've said, I would aim for around 1600-1700 net.

    Use that as a baseline, what you would have on a rest day. Then eat exercise calories back (do you have a HRM?)
    If you are just estimating exercise calories I would make it easier for yourself, and eat around 1900 and not eat exercise cals back (based on an average exercise burn of 300 a day)
    You're thinking fat for a 500 calorie surplus. For mass building the surplus is more like 250 calories, which would put her maintenance around 2150, so 1800 net would be a plenty big enough defecit.
  • HeidiMightyRawr
    HeidiMightyRawr Posts: 3,343 Member
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    I'd say if you were gaining around a pound a week on 2400 (2400 net or total??) then you need to drop the calories a little.

    You are losing still though so don't get disheartened. Maybe drop your calories by 1-200 maximum. You are still losing now so no need to go lower than that.

    Note: It took me 3 weeks of NOTHING before I finally saw a loss on my 4th week of cutting (2lbs) Patience. You will get there :smile:

    2400 before workout calories on my bulk. i am at 2000 now but am only eating 1800 net. i was thinking of lowering it but since i am netting under my total calories already i am not sure? if i lower it to 1800-1900 and then eat all that back i will be eating about the same as i do now. does that make sense? lol

    Think of it this way:
    You were gaining 1lb a week on 2400 NET. This means that your maintenance is "roughly" 1900 net. You are eating 1800 net. You cannot expect really to lose 0.5lb a week on a 100 cal deficit. As you are losing, you can safely say you are below maintenance but based on what you've said, I would aim for around 1600-1700 net.

    Use that as a baseline, what you would have on a rest day. Then eat exercise calories back (do you have a HRM?)
    If you are just estimating exercise calories I would make it easier for yourself, and eat around 1900 and not eat exercise cals back (based on an average exercise burn of 300 a day)
    You're thinking fat for a 500 calorie surplus. For mass building the surplus is more like 250 calories, which would put her maintenance around 2150, so 1800 net would be a plenty big enough defecit.

    Ah yes I see what you mean now. I've heard you needed a surplus of around 1500 a week for 1lb gain of muscle? and then there's the 3500 for fat. It does depend on how much fat to muscle she gained. It's not all going to be muscle of course.

    Either way in regards to the OP, if you're not losing what you would like to lose, apart from in cases of undereating (which I doubt she is) it wouldn't do any harm to drop 1-200 calories and see where that takes you. If you then lose too fast you can adjust again :)

    From my own personal experience; I'm currently on 2000 net, losing consistently 0.5-1lb a week (apart from the first 3 weeks) I was gaining just under 1lb a week when I was bulking on 2800 net. I never gained when I was on 2400 net previously though.
  • Jessicaruby
    Jessicaruby Posts: 881 Member
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    thank you all for your useful replies and insight. i am going to stay where i am for about another 1-2 weeks and see if i get anywhere. if not i will lower cals by 100 and see where that gets me and so on..... people have told me i look smaller but the scale and my measurments are not really reflecting that :grumble:
  • hmanderson
    hmanderson Posts: 24 Member
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    I feel your pain! I have been really good since starting 1/2/12. I really wanted to lose 20-30 lbs before my cruise on 3/24. Well, here I am, over two months later, and I have only dropped 10 lbs! I initially had my diet set at 1200 cals and was working out 4x a week, including intense cardio(Zumba) and strength training. I wasn't seeing a lot of success, so about 3 weeks ago, I upped my cals to 1350 and dropped my workouts to 3x a week. Really, still nothing. I called my doctor, but she says that I'm doing good. All my test results are normal. But I'm so frustrated. I feel my motivation slipping, because why try so hard when nothing matters? When I did MFP a year ago, I was able to drop 15 lbs eating more and exercising less, but then I fell off the wagon. I was really motivated this time, but I'm so sad. My cruise is in about 2 weeks and obviously I will not meet my goal, nor come anywhere near it! Sure would appreciate some advice if anyone has any. :( At this point, I'm going to just keep on this way and then enjoy my cruise. I'm hoping to kick start some results when I get back!