Long time luker needs help

formongo
formongo Posts: 27 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I've been lurking here since early February, learning all I can about how to successfully reduce my weight. However, I really could use some advice since nothing I am trying seems to be working. I am 44 year old F, weigh 170 with a goal weight of 140. I generally eat a decent diet, vegetarian and fairly clean. I am honest about what I record in my food diary although I don't manage to record every day.

When I first joined in February, I set up my goals through this site to lose 1 pound per week, which had me at ~ 1450 calories/day. I did that for four weeks and lost nothing with no change in physique. I then dropped my calories to 1200 for one week. I was miserable and gained half a pound. Then I read up on the "eat more to lose weight" theory here and upped my calories to 1750, eating back about half of my exercise calories. I did that for about 4 weeks, with some tweaks to improve my diet (cut back on carbs some, cut back on salt). This calorie level seems much better for me in terms of energy level and feeling like I'm eating enough.

I had been exercising 3-5 times per week for 30 - 60 minutes through this time, eating back about 75% of my exercise calories. I started lifting heavy in early April and finally saw some improvement in physique (pants fitting as if they were about 1/2 size bigger) but still no weight loss.

In mid-April I got a Bodymedia gadget so I could determine just what my calorie burn per day was. The summary from the last four weeks with my Bodymedia gadget is:

Daily average calories burned: 2306

Daily average calories consumed: 2020 (but this isn't correct, it only reflects the first five days I had the gadget where I was entering meals on the bodymedia site before I gave up on their system and came back to record on this site and included a splurge weekend; see my food diary on this site for more accurate assessment which looks to be about 1700 - 1800 )

Daily average calorie deficit: 286

Daily average Physical activity: 1:15

Daily average # of steps: 9301

Daily average sleep: 6:48 hours

I am *still* at 170 pounds and don't know what to try next. I've dropped back to 2x per week lifting heavy because I didn't feel like I was quite recovered enough lifting every other day, so I don't think I'm packing on muscle mass. I'm trying to sleep better but haven't had much luck with that. Exercise more? Cut back on carbs, salt, alcohol, sugar? Increase protein?

Replies

  • cherbapp
    cherbapp Posts: 322
    If your calories are set at 1750... Don't eat back exercise calories. Otherwise set your calories lower and eat them back. The deficit of under 300 per day would work out to about 3 pounds a month. Which honestly could take a month to show on the scale depending on water, etc.

    Hope this helps! Don't give up...you got it...moving forward isn't always a number on the scale! :)
  • Tree72
    Tree72 Posts: 942 Member
    Bumping to follow and see what advice is offered. I'm at a similar place. I'm not vegetarian, but eat relatively clean. I've recently tried switching from a goal of 1lb per week loss to 1/2lb per week loss. So far no significant differences.
  • IveLanded
    IveLanded Posts: 797 Member
    I would bump up work outs, focus more on cardio than weights, and commit to at least an hour a day, every day. I'd probably stick to between 1400 and 1600 calories. I don't eat back a percentage, I just try to make sure I have AT LEAST a 500 calorie a day deficit, while eating at least about 1500 a day, if that makes sense. You seem to be super focused on diet, and you aren't seeing results, so I'd switch my focus to work outs and see if bumping up cardio and doing it more often helped.
  • melsinct
    melsinct Posts: 3,512 Member
    If your calories are set at 1750... Don't eat back exercise calories. Otherwise set your calories lower and eat them back. The deficit of under 300 per day would work out to about 3 pounds a month. Which honestly could take a month to show on the scale depending on water, etc.

    Hope this helps! Don't give up...you got it...moving forward isn't always a number on the scale! :)

    I agree with this. We have similar starting stats- I was 175 and am now maintaining at 145 (I am 5'7" female). I am maintaining at 1700 calories (plus I eat exercise calories). That may be a little high for weight loss. 1400 calories a day plus some exercise calories, depending on the burn, is where I tended to have my best losses.
  • formongo
    formongo Posts: 27 Member
    Thanks for the advice and encouragement!

    cjbapp: Since I got the Bodymedia gadget I don't calculate exercise calories and eat a percent back, I just try to keep a 250 - 500 calorie deficit per day from what my gadget reads compared to what I eat. Which I think I'm doing pretty well at, even though I'm not (yet?) seeing results.
  • FrostyFour
    FrostyFour Posts: 262
    luker, i am ur fater
  • formongo
    formongo Posts: 27 Member
    luker, i am ur fater

    :laugh:

    Arg! I'm one of those people who get irrationally irritated by typos and here I am committing one!
  • formongo
    formongo Posts: 27 Member
    If your calories are set at 1750... Don't eat back exercise calories. Otherwise set your calories lower and eat them back. The deficit of under 300 per day would work out to about 3 pounds a month. Which honestly could take a month to show on the scale depending on water, etc.

    Hope this helps! Don't give up...you got it...moving forward isn't always a number on the scale! :)

    I agree with this. We have similar starting stats- I was 175 and am now maintaining at 145 (I am 5'7" female). I am maintaining at 1700 calories (plus I eat exercise calories). That may be a little high for weight loss. 1400 calories a day plus some exercise calories, depending on the burn, is where I tended to have my best losses.

    Thanks for the advice. So you vote for ditching what the Bodymedia gadget is telling me for calories burned and go back to 1400 per day + exercise cals? I am hesitant to try that since it didn't seem to be working when I tried it in Feb/March but I see that it worked well for you.
  • MeMyCatsandI
    MeMyCatsandI Posts: 704 Member
    Cut back on carbs, salt, alcohol, sugar? Increase protein?
    I'm sorry I don't have more advice for you. It sounds like you're doing a lot of things right. But as far as alcohol, if you're still including it in your day, I would definitely try cutting that out. It does have health benefits and eventually you could add it back in for that reason. But at this point, I'd cut it out to see what happens. It is essentially empty calories (aside from some health benefits as mentioned above). AND it can lower you inhibitions, give you the munchies (at least it does me) and supposedly slow your metabolism. So while I don't think you need to cut it out forever (and I'm certianly not going to), I would suggest either drinking very rarely or cutting it out completely until you break your plateau.
  • formongo
    formongo Posts: 27 Member
    I'm sorry I don't have more advice for you. It sounds like you're doing a lot of things right. But as far as alcohol, if you're still including it in your day, I would definitely try cutting that out. It does have health benefits and eventually you could add it back in for that reason. But at this point, I'd cut it out to see what happens. It is essentially empty calories (aside from some health benefits as mentioned above). AND it can lower you inhibitions, give you the munchies (at least it does me) and supposedly slow your metabolism. So while I don't think you need to cut it out forever (and I'm certianly not going to), I would suggest either drinking very rarely or cutting it out completely until you break your plateau.

    Yeah, it feels like I'm doing a lot of things right and made some significant changes when I started this back in February (cut way back on butter, eggs and salt, reduced alcohol, upped exercise, etc.), which is why I'm getting a little frustrated and asking for advice. I do still drink a lot of alcohol, but count it in my food diary along with any snacks if I get the munchies. Maybe you're right though about it slowing my metabolism so I'll cut back more. Thanks!!

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