Ask me anything about fat/weight loss....

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  • missxjuicy
    missxjuicy Posts: 205 Member
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    My question is why am I still fat? lol I'm around 5'7 170 and feels like I've been stuck here forever. I did lose about 36lbs which took a year and feeling kinda down about it. I was on a 1200 cal diet. maybe since feb. of this year.. and I was told I needed to increase it to 1300 to keep losing. So, I did it to see if that would change but, still no changes. My bmr is 1544 according to this site. I still have 20lbs to go for my first goal and the most I want it to take is 2 months. I normally try to get a work out in through dancing, and exercises like jumping jacks, squats, wall pushups, leg lifts, free weights. Sometimes I find myself dancing up to 90mins, for 2 or 3xs a week. Other than, this im pretty sedentary But, working on it.

    Do you suggest I drop my calories back to 1200 or less to keep losing? work out more up to 2hrs daily and atleast 5xs a week? Eat cleaner, drink more water? These are just some of the things that may come to mind as to maybe why Im not losing but, I rather here it from someone like you. HELPPPPPPPPP :) Im going nuts, I feel like I should be at 165 by now. Ive looked at my charts on here and only lost 7lbs since FEB. This can't be life. :)
  • KellyBgetsfit
    KellyBgetsfit Posts: 1,713 Member
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    bump
  • Alysgrma
    Alysgrma Posts: 365 Member
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    Bump for later!
  • celticmuse
    celticmuse Posts: 492 Member
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    I have a question about lifting. Please see my previous post, just a few posts back, for background. I went to see my personal trainer last night to discuss a strength training/lifting program. She tested me and recommended that I buy some free weights weighing 10, 15 and 20 lbs. She gave me some lifting exercises to do 3 x/week. Then she told me to do 20 minutes of intensive
    cardio for no more than 20 min. the other 3 days.

    The problem is this: She told me that I could not longer do my JM DVDs or my interval training program. I enjoy variety in my workouts, and what I really wanted to do was incorporate weights into my interval training program. I am concerned about abandoning the workout routine that she worked for me for the past 18 months and replace it with something that has less variety, and that I may not enjoy as much, and therefore, be less inclined to follow through.

    So my question is: when you lift, do you really have to just lift weights, or can you build weights into an interval training program, alternating with cardio in the same workout?

    Thanks again!
  • TheOfficialEpic
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    I TOTALLY hit a plateau and am loosing motivation. Now that I have reached the 130 I thought I was going to be happy at I want to aim for 125 now. Height is 5ft 3 inches. I think 125 is best for me as I have a regular size bottom and chest of 36D. What can I do to get my metabolism to start up again and burn off those last 4 pounds. Seems so little to loose but I have only lost 1 pound in almost 3 weeks.

    I still see the significant change in the way my clothes fit and my pants and shorts are falling off of me. Please help and thanks in advance,

    Cat ;0)

    Good question. Ok, so here's how it works: The leaner you get, the harder it is to get leaner still. As you diet down, your metabolism goes down because you are losing weight. This is not a bad thing, it's an inevitable thing. The body is going to fight you harder and harder as you get closer and closer to what it thinks is too low. This is where it comes down to the true dedication, and this is where most people give up because it takes so long to get the same result as before. Keep doing what you're doing. Don't get impatient or feel rushed. You only lost one pound in the last three weeks, then readjust your calories a bit, or add in a little more activity. For me, maintaining 8% is nothing, getting down to 6% I have to work, and hitting 4% I have to basically be doing EVERYthing right.
  • TheOfficialEpic
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    ITS DIFFICULT FOR ME TO MAINTAIN A 1200 CALORIE DIET I SAID ONCE NOW I FEEL LIKE I AM FORCING MYSELF TO MEET THE REQUIREMENT. JUST STARTED TRAINING AND WHY IS IT I CANT HAVE PEANUT BUTTER ON TOAST.? I WAS TOLD NO PEANUT BUTTER AND LESS CARB MORE PROTEIN. i FEEL LIKE I AM EATING A LOT OF GRASS LATELY. ANY NEW MENU COMBINATIONS NOT TO FEEL THIS WAY:sad: :sad:

    Unless you have a peanut allergy, eat the damn peanut butter. Eat whatever you want, just make sure you're progressing to your goals.
  • sunnyrunner23
    sunnyrunner23 Posts: 182 Member
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    bump!
  • TheOfficialEpic
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    Okay, and this is something I've heard mixed opinions on: When doing full body training doing calisthenics, do you still have to wait the 48 hours to do it again or can it be done daily? I enjoy doing it too much to want to have to WAIT a day before I can do it again, if that makes sense =P

    Depends on the person. The bigger question would be: Are you recovering in between workouts? So long as you are, then rock out with it. Think of it this way: Do football players use the same muscles everyday when they train?....Of course they do! Once again though, the bigger question is are you recovering. Depending on your ability level, you might need 48 hours, you might need one day, you might need a week! If I deadlift heavy, then I'm not doing it again for around 7-10 days. Pushups on the other hand, I could go intense on them three days a week and be fine. I have other mates that can heavy back squat three days a week. If I did that, I'd be snapped up by Tuesday!!
  • TheOfficialEpic
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    Can someone help me get out of this weight loss plateau? I've lost 15 lbs already but now I'm stuck, I've upped my calories cause my workouts are much longer an harder but it's not helping.

    How long have you been on a plateau? I'm thinking you upped the calories too much yeh. What are yer stats?....
  • TheOfficialEpic
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    Hi again!!:) Any idea about the bodybugg's functionality??And if not do you know any other good stuff that tracks calories burnt and miles etc accurately???
    And a good Pedometer???

    Personally most of the electronic trackers are usually garbage in my opinion. Put more faith in yourself. Test foods, activities, and activity levels. Do you really want to be carrying around the bodybugg the rest of your life?....
  • Carol_27
    Carol_27 Posts: 40
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    THANK YOU FOR DOING THIS!!! I have learned more reading this thread then I have in the last few years of MFP, personal trainer, DVD's and basic advice from my hubby/athlete combined! THANK YOU IMMENSLY!
  • TheOfficialEpic
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    My question is why am I still fat? lol I'm around 5'7 170 and feels like I've been stuck here forever. I did lose about 36lbs which took a year and feeling kinda down about it. I was on a 1200 cal diet. maybe since feb. of this year.. and I was told I needed to increase it to 1300 to keep losing. So, I did it to see if that would change but, still no changes. My bmr is 1544 according to this site. I still have 20lbs to go for my first goal and the most I want it to take is 2 months. I normally try to get a work out in through dancing, and exercises like jumping jacks, squats, wall pushups, leg lifts, free weights. Sometimes I find myself dancing up to 90mins, for 2 or 3xs a week. Other than, this im pretty sedentary But, working on it.

    Do you suggest I drop my calories back to 1200 or less to keep losing? work out more up to 2hrs daily and atleast 5xs a week? Eat cleaner, drink more water? These are just some of the things that may come to mind as to maybe why Im not losing but, I rather here it from someone like you. HELPPPPPPPPP :) Im going nuts, I feel like I should be at 165 by now. Ive looked at my charts on here and only lost 7lbs since FEB. This can't be life. :)

    How long have you been stalled out? How long was the bump up? Are you looking into hidden calories? 20 pounds in two months COULD be done, but you'd have to be pretty spot on with everything.
  • Carol_27
    Carol_27 Posts: 40
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    That being said, I have my big church wedding in 51 days (already married civily but the church wedding is in less than 2 months) I want to lose about 5kg in that time (i have lost about 1,5kg so far) and this is like within more than one month - before I could drop weight super easy but now its really becoming a struggle, here are my stats;

    5'6
    Current weight: 58,4kg (roughly 128lbs)
    Goal weight: 55kgs (roughly 117-118lbs)
    Currently working 12-14hr days - no time for real workouts
    what can I do as far as diet and at home workouts that can help me reach this goal in time?
  • TheOfficialEpic
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    I have a question about lifting. Please see my previous post, just a few posts back, for background. I went to see my personal trainer last night to discuss a strength training/lifting program. She tested me and recommended that I buy some free weights weighing 10, 15 and 20 lbs. She gave me some lifting exercises to do 3 x/week. Then she told me to do 20 minutes of intensive
    cardio for no more than 20 min. the other 3 days.

    The problem is this: She told me that I could not longer do my JM DVDs or my interval training program. I enjoy variety in my workouts, and what I really wanted to do was incorporate weights into my interval training program. I am concerned about abandoning the workout routine that she worked for me for the past 18 months and replace it with something that has less variety, and that I may not enjoy as much, and therefore, be less inclined to follow through.

    So my question is: when you lift, do you really have to just lift weights, or can you build weights into an interval training program, alternating with cardio in the same workout?

    Thanks again!

    Depends on the person and the goal. For fatloss/weightloss, it's all good so long as you're recovering. I always like to think of it this way: Someone asks me what the best cardio is to lose weight. I tell them 'whichever one you like the best.' They ask me why is that. I reply with 'Well most studies show you burn the most on treadmill, elliptical, and jumprope.....but say you love the rower or your aerobic kickboxing class. Well which one are you more inclined to stick out in the long run?....Exactly, the one that ISN'T the chore.'

    Do your Jillian vids if you like them. Do it all!! Just make sure you're recovering and staying safe. If you start waking up not wanting to do workouts, joints are feeling cold and stiff, you start getting sniffles...these are signs you're overtraining. If you're happy and healthy though, rock out with it. Activity is key.
  • TheOfficialEpic
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    That being said, I have my big church wedding in 51 days (already married civily but the church wedding is in less than 2 months) I want to lose about 5kg in that time (i have lost about 1,5kg so far) and this is like within more than one month - before I could drop weight super easy but now its really becoming a struggle, here are my stats;

    5'6
    Current weight: 58,4kg (roughly 128lbs)
    Goal weight: 55kgs (roughly 117-118lbs)
    Currently working 12-14hr days - no time for real workouts
    what can I do as far as diet and at home workouts that can help me reach this goal in time?

    Definitely attainable. At your current weight your body is going to start fighting you even harder. 5'6 118 is pretty lean especially if you have it and packing muscle. If you're still losing, then keep it up. If you're not, then drop the calories some more. When I'm getting one of my girls ready for something, the closer we get to deadline, the more extreme we get. I'd shoot for two pounds a week. This will give you some leeway going into the last two weeks to amp thing up if necessary or just coast to the finish line.
  • saxmaniac
    saxmaniac Posts: 1,133 Member
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    40 year old male, 170 lbs, 5'10"
    34" waist (via tape measure, 31-32 pants)
    42" chest
    12.5" bicep
    Measured 20.3% bodyfat on the fancy gym scale - no idea how accurate that is.

    Recovering from a mild spinal injury, and can feel my muscles have weakened a bit. Still, I can hold a plank for a few minutes and manage couple dead-hang pull-ups. Mildly experienced with body-weight exercises, but not with lifting. Just joined a huge gym, and have a small one at work. Don't care about my weight number, but I'd really like to lose that last inch of padding around the stomach and moob area.

    Where the heck do I start? Lose more weight via diet? Lift? Cardio?
  • ashivnc
    ashivnc Posts: 22 Member
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    Hi. I am a 35 year old female. 5'8" and 145 lbs. Up until about a year ago, I had weighed 135 my entire adult life. Nothing has changed except age. In fact I am probably more active than I used to be, and eat more nutritiously.

    Anyway I have been using MFP to log calories and exercise, and I've focused on eating non-packaged/unprocessed whole foods and watching portions, and being mindful when I eat.

    In order to lose 10 lbs, MFP says I need to eat 1200 calories a day unless of course I workout. I find I can stick with that unless I drink any wine at night, which I enjoy :-) However, I'm losing weight at a snail's pace. The scale is pretty much stuck. My BMI is in the normal range, but my waist to hip ratio is just around .8 if I'm measuring correctly (35 bust/30 waist/38 hips) and I'd like to improve that for my health. And, I need to lose body fat. My clothes barely fit and my pants are all tight, and I definitely have excess body fat. So while I might not technically be overweight, my body is definitely supposed to be ten lbs less.

    My question is, how can I be more successful? I think part of the challenge is that I'm not "overweight" per se and I'm only trying to lose 10 pounds. I'm frustrated! And - any supplements you can recommend btw?

    For exercise, I do a fair amount of pilates and bar method dvd. I walk a fair amount. Tried the Insanity workout but I have some back issues and it made it worse.

    Thanks for any and all advice!
  • TheOfficialEpic
    Options
    40 year old male, 170 lbs, 5'10"
    34" waist (via tape measure, 31-32 pants)
    42" chest
    12.5" bicep
    Measured 20.3% bodyfat on the fancy gym scale - no idea how accurate that is.

    Recovering from a mild spinal injury, and can feel my muscles have weakened a bit. Still, I can hold a plank for a few minutes and manage couple dead-hang pull-ups. Mildly experienced with body-weight exercises, but not with lifting. Just joined a huge gym, and have a small one at work. Don't care about my weight number, but I'd really like to lose that last inch of padding around the stomach and moob area.

    Where the heck do I start? Lose more weight via diet? Lift? Cardio?

    Fat obviously weighs something, so if your goal is to 'lose that last inch of padding' then you're going to have to diet down. The stomach is gonna be the last place you lean out as a man. Don't mind the numbers. Use the mirror. If you look good and tight in the mirror, and you feel good, then who cares what the fancyy gym scale says about your body fat. I used one of those the other day and it said I was 15.9% body fat! Lol, obviously I hide it well. ;)
  • TheOfficialEpic
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    Hi. I am a 35 year old female. 5'8" and 145 lbs. Up until about a year ago, I had weighed 135 my entire adult life. Nothing has changed except age. In fact I am probably more active than I used to be, and eat more nutritiously.

    Anyway I have been using MFP to log calories and exercise, and I've focused on eating non-packaged/unprocessed whole foods and watching portions, and being mindful when I eat.

    In order to lose 10 lbs, MFP says I need to eat 1200 calories a day unless of course I workout. I find I can stick with that unless I drink any wine at night, which I enjoy :-) However, I'm losing weight at a snail's pace. The scale is pretty much stuck. My BMI is in the normal range, but my waist to hip ratio is just around .8 if I'm measuring correctly (35 bust/30 waist/38 hips) and I'd like to improve that for my health. And, I need to lose body fat. My clothes barely fit and my pants are all tight, and I definitely have excess body fat. So while I might not technically be overweight, my body is definitely supposed to be ten lbs less.

    My question is, how can I be more successful? I think part of the challenge is that I'm not "overweight" per se and I'm only trying to lose 10 pounds. I'm frustrated! And - any supplements you can recommend btw?

    For exercise, I do a fair amount of pilates and bar method dvd. I walk a fair amount. Tried the Insanity workout but I have some back issues and it made it worse.

    Thanks for any and all advice!

    At your height and weight, you're approaching what I like to call 'base.' You want to be more successful, then take it more seriously is what I would tell ya. If you were my client, I would put you on the spot and say 'If you can't lose ten in two months, then you're not serious enough or you're doing something completely wrong.' The wine in and of itself won't hold you back, but if you're tossing back to the point that you can't remember how many you've had and you're calculations are off, hard to keep to a true calorie count yeh....might not even be in a deficit whatsoever! As for supps, supps are like 5% of the big picture. My best advice to you is to get serious and just go ahead and knock the pounds off. I had a very close client once who lost around 80 pounds in about a year, and then took 6 months to get the last ten off. I had to sit her down and get her to get hard on herself again. I basically told her what I'm telling you now. Just step up and go ahead and knock it off! You already know how to lose weight, so just give one hard last push and get to the finish line. :)
  • ashivnc
    ashivnc Posts: 22 Member
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    Thank you so much!
    Hi. I am a 35 year old female. 5'8" and 145 lbs. Up until about a year ago, I had weighed 135 my entire adult life. Nothing has changed except age. In fact I am probably more active than I used to be, and eat more nutritiously.

    Anyway I have been using MFP to log calories and exercise, and I've focused on eating non-packaged/unprocessed whole foods and watching portions, and being mindful when I eat.

    In order to lose 10 lbs, MFP says I need to eat 1200 calories a day unless of course I workout. I find I can stick with that unless I drink any wine at night, which I enjoy :-) However, I'm losing weight at a snail's pace. The scale is pretty much stuck. My BMI is in the normal range, but my waist to hip ratio is just around .8 if I'm measuring correctly (35 bust/30 waist/38 hips) and I'd like to improve that for my health. And, I need to lose body fat. My clothes barely fit and my pants are all tight, and I definitely have excess body fat. So while I might not technically be overweight, my body is definitely supposed to be ten lbs less.

    My question is, how can I be more successful? I think part of the challenge is that I'm not "overweight" per se and I'm only trying to lose 10 pounds. I'm frustrated! And - any supplements you can recommend btw?

    For exercise, I do a fair amount of pilates and bar method dvd. I walk a fair amount. Tried the Insanity workout but I have some back issues and it made it worse.

    Thanks for any and all advice!

    At your height and weight, you're approaching what I like to call 'base.' You want to be more successful, then take it more seriously is what I would tell ya. If you were my client, I would put you on the spot and say 'If you can't lose ten in two months, then you're not serious enough or you're doing something completely wrong.' The wine in and of itself won't hold you back, but if you're tossing back to the point that you can't remember how many you've had and you're calculations are off, hard to keep to a true calorie count yeh....might not even be in a deficit whatsoever! As for supps, supps are like 5% of the big picture. My best advice to you is to get serious and just go ahead and knock the pounds off. I had a very close client once who lost around 80 pounds in about a year, and then took 6 months to get the last ten off. I had to sit her down and get her to get hard on herself again. I basically told her what I'm telling you now. Just step up and go ahead and knock it off! You already know how to lose weight, so just give one hard last push and get to the finish line. :)