A sort of advanced MFPer needs your help! Please?

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Replies

  • tcm118
    tcm118 Posts: 54
    I just wanted to say I know how you feel. I've been working to lose weight for almost two years, and I haven't lost a pound since Christmas (had lost ~ 62 before that). Now my weight just bounces around the same 3 pounds or so. I've upped my calories, reduced them, increased cardio, took a diet break, and just started weights in the past month. I'm giving myself plenty of time to see each change, and I'm really hoping that even though the scale isn't moving that I will start to see inches go with the weights. I have about another 15 to 20 pounds to lose myself. I'm doing great things for my body just continuing to make better food choices and adding exercise. Even if my body doesn't want to budge for a while, at least it's not going back up! I'm sorry I don't have any advice.
  • amsparky
    amsparky Posts: 825 Member
    You say you eat 16-1700 calories and burn 22-2300...that is NOT a 500 calorie deficit....that's more like a 2000 deficit. Your body needs fuel just to survive...

    My take is with a burn like that you should be eating your BMR + at least 1/2 of your exercise calories. I think you are eating way too little...
    No, that's from before. I currently eat an average of almost 1900 a day. And if I ate only my BMR and 1/2 my exercise cals it would be even less. :)

    Thanks for the input!! :)
    If had to work out your calorie goals quickly i would say, 15x145=2175 2175=maintenance 2175-20%=1740.
    Go with that for two weeks, then sensibly adjust according to results.
    However a full diet break is always a good choice, should you decide to to do it :smile:

    Thank you!!
  • amsparky
    amsparky Posts: 825 Member
    @tcm - I feel your pain. I had a bad plateau that was no joke broken because I was unfortunate enough to get the tummy flu. Lol

    Hang in there - we CAN do this!! :)

    Thanks everyone for the kind words!
  • rudegyal_b
    rudegyal_b Posts: 593 Member
    i just dont believe bodymedia, by eating 250 deficit i maintained for 6 months, went back to logging mfp style and started losing again
  • Sidesteal
    Sidesteal Posts: 5,510 Member
    http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/the-full-diet-break.html
  • amsparky
    amsparky Posts: 825 Member
    I stopped losing way before I got my BMF. I've only had it for a month - I wanted to se what my tdee was. We'll see...

    Thanks!! :)
  • Rae6503
    Rae6503 Posts: 6,294 Member
    http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/the-full-diet-break.html

    Yup. Read that.
  • speedracer2007
    speedracer2007 Posts: 53 Member
    Your question has provided much feedback & a lot of good educational information for all of us... Thanks for that.
    Do you think that since your are very dedicated to the exercise program instead of dropping weight your body is adding muscle which normally results in adding to body weight? You might try that 1-2 week break and see what happens.

    Please add me as a friend as I'd like to follow this and learn from it
    Good Luck
    Speedracer2007
  • meshashesha2012
    meshashesha2012 Posts: 8,329 Member
    great job on your weight loss so far. i definitely agree with taking a break for at leas a week and eat your maintenance calories

    are you noticing lost of changes in your measurements?
  • amsparky
    amsparky Posts: 825 Member
    great job on your weight loss so far. i definitely agree with taking a break for at leas a week and eat your maintenance calories

    are you noticing lost of changes in your measurements?

    Very little change in measurements, hence the frustration. :)
  • SilkyHotspur
    SilkyHotspur Posts: 233 Member
    I see all the advice from people...however, I would still disagree...I don't think you need to take a "break". I see a break as not logging food, not paying attention to your plan, and simply eating what you want for a week or two. Everything we eat is part of our diet....whether it is a good diet, or bad diet, it is part of our diet.

    If you have hit a plateau, you have to look at what you eat, if you keep doing the same things you've done before, you'll get the same results you got before. Something in your diet or exercise combination is holding you at the same weight, not losing inches, not gaining muscle. Look at every aspect and try to see where changes can be made....give any change a good two weeks to see some results. The answer may be simple, or it may not be, but really look into everything...is there too much Sodium?....are you light on water intake?.....too much steady state cardio? Its a puzzle that has an answer....just have to find it.
  • sniperzzzz
    sniperzzzz Posts: 282 Member
    I see all the advice from people...however, I would still disagree...I don't think you need to take a "break". I see a break as not logging food, not paying attention to your plan, and simply eating what you want for a week or two. Everything we eat is part of our diet....whether it is a good diet, or bad diet, it is part of our diet.
    Ok i agree with some of your points, but she could very well benefit from full diet break, if she has been dieting for a long period of time. Have you checked out lyle mcdonald full diet break? It is a structured period of 10% below maintenance for two weeks, in order to let hormones come back up that can be out of whack from dieting. Its not an excuse to go crazy for two weeks lol. It holds scientific truths to it. If anyone did go off the rails for two weeks, then its their own fault and doesn't stand a very good chance in being successfully long term anyway. After all there will be a time when the goal is reached, and they will have to maintain eventually. So if they cant do a full diet break for a measly 2 weeks, how can they be expected to do it long term, after their goal has been reached? http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/the-full-diet-break.html
  • ladyraven68
    ladyraven68 Posts: 2,003 Member
    You say you eat 16-1700 calories and burn 22-2300...that is NOT a 500 calorie deficit....that's more like a 2000 deficit. Your body needs fuel just to survive...

    My take is with a burn like that you should be eating your BMR + at least 1/2 of your exercise calories. I think you are eating way too little...

    I think you misunderstood.

    2200 = TDEE - total daily energy burn ,not just exercise burn.

    So to eat at 1700 would be a 500 defict, not a 2000 defict.
  • SilkyHotspur
    SilkyHotspur Posts: 233 Member
    I see all the advice from people...however, I would still disagree...I don't think you need to take a "break". I see a break as not logging food, not paying attention to your plan, and simply eating what you want for a week or two. Everything we eat is part of our diet....whether it is a good diet, or bad diet, it is part of our diet.
    Ok i agree with some of your points, but she could very well benefit from full diet break, if she has been dieting for a long period of time. Have you checked out lyle mcdonald full diet break? It is a structured period of 10% below maintenance for two weeks, in order to let hormones come back up that can be out of whack from dieting. Its not an excuse to go crazy for two weeks lol. It holds scientific truths to it. If anyone did go off the rails for two weeks, then its their own fault and doesn't stand a very good chance in being successfully long term anyway. After all there will be a time when the goal is reached, and they will have to maintain eventually. So if they cant do a full diet break for a measly 2 weeks, how can they be expected to do it long term, after their goal has been reached? http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/the-full-diet-break.html

    Ok....agreed...I see your point. In reading some other the other posts, I think a two week break at minimum is required at this point. Eventually the goal is to be able to maintain a healthy weight/diet, without having to log everything, everyday.
  • mermx
    mermx Posts: 976
    I find that if I hit a plateau then I take a couple of days of high carb and minimum protein. I will put a little weight on not sure if its water weight. But the long and short of it is that things start to get going again once I get back to high protein/fat and minimum carbs.

    Body builders carb up then do the protein thing...just a thought
  • wackyfunster
    wackyfunster Posts: 944 Member
    Your estimated TDEE sounds too high. I burn around 2200-2300 cals/day with similar routine and have substantially more lean body mass. Definitely not water weight after ~6 months, so 99% odds that you are either intaking more calories than you think you are, or your TDEE is actually lower than you think it is.

    Try eating at ~1700/day with 150+g protein/day (just make sure you get around 30-40g of fat at least) and see if it starts coming off again.

    Hope that is helpful.
  • bikinibeliever
    bikinibeliever Posts: 832 Member
    By no means an expert here. I do have a question, you mention food allergies, are you eating any of those foods you are allergic to? Specifically wheat? Asking because I have a wheat intolerance and it makes the scale go up even when my calories are right in check. On the weeks when I do NOT consume wheat I always lose.

    Congrats on your weight loss!
  • amsparky
    amsparky Posts: 825 Member
    Thanks for the continued input!

    I'll address a few points:

    TDEE - I'm pretty sure it's pretty accurate. I wear a Body Media Fit, plus all the calculators put me that high. I'm a middle school teacher and lift heavy 3x a week, jog 2-3 and walk to make sure I get my minimum daily steps.

    Food allergies - the only stuff I have had recently was a kid size ice cream After my race and some angel food cake. As a norm, I do not eat stuff I am allergic to - its just not worth it. :)

    Diet break - I can see the reasoning of a diet break with continued logging. I'm not the type to go eat crap food anymore - I've worked way too darn hard to mess this up.

    My goal for the moment is building lean body mass. Since I know this won't be possible at a big deficit, I've been trying to reduce the deficit. I realize that this means the scale shouldn't move. However since I have been at a decent deficit I feel like I should see either the scale move or the tape measure move. I'd like to do light running w my weights, so we'll see. My main issue is that I'm seeing no real changes.

    I work too hard to not see anything - I try to be the hardest working chick in the gym and when I see someone working harder, I push too.

    Off my whiny soap box now! :)
  • wackyfunster
    wackyfunster Posts: 944 Member
    You can't build a substantial amount of LBM while on a deficit (barring some "noob gains" or people who are extremely overweight... doesn't sound like either of those apply to you). If you want an approach that will allow you to do so, I'd recommend you check out LeanGains, which works by carb/calorie cycling and nutrient timing (you eat at a surplus after your weight workouts 3 days/week, and at a deficit on the other days). Barring that, you will see better results further reducing caloric intake and just doing a cut... keep your protein high (1.5g/pound LBM) and it will preserve your muscle mass well. After that, you can start eating at a small surplus and begin adding muscle mass (you probably want to shoot for ~100 calories/day surplus, as it takes ~3.5-4k calories to build a pound of muscle, which should be a reasonable amount for you to put on in a month).

    The problem is that fat-loss and muscle-gain are diametrically opposed from a biological standpoint, so it is basically impossible to do both at the same time, without engaging in dietary trickery.

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