Now What?

S

Shanny

0
My main goal is to lose 20 pounds.
Female 24, 5'0, 148lbs. BF% unknown. Desk job.
I started about 6 months ago and have only lost 10 pounds, I am working hard in everyway, physically, diet, ect...

I have a really clean diet of 5 meals a day totaling about 1750 calories. 50% carbs, 30% protien, 20% good fats. I've been doing cardio hiit or jogging about 40 minutes 5 days a week. About 4 days a week I weight train to my fullest ability, I push it and it feels good. I'm on the right track finally....

Here is my delema, I've definately gained loads muscle and become more firm but still have loads of extra fat in the belly, hips, you know the spots. I want my weight to go down as well as the size I 'appear' to be.

How do I kick it up a notch? Add more cardio, eat less calories? Maybe I lift too much weight, should stop and do toneing exersizes like pilates or yoga conditioning as well as cardio and drop calories. Or keep up with weights do more cardio and drop calories like a body builder would to cut? I want to have maximum fat loss for the next month, I've heard it is safe to do 2 lbs a week, I feel I have the motivation and drive to do so but how do I do it!!!?????
Please help....
I also posted this in weight training, 'cause it is kind of related, but i got no responses
 
Hi, The reason your not losing is cause your taking in way to many calories. I dont even eat that many and im a man. You should be eating about 1184 calories a day cause your really short (not trying to be mean) and you will lose the weight you want.

Good luck,
Nick
 
I'm 6 foot and over 200pounds my target is 2000cals/day. Times your target goal weight by 10. That's a go guide. Some can add more if they excercise a lot. Try not to shock your body either and slowly reduce calories. Like don't go from 2700 to 1300 for instance in one week.
 
Shanny,
Look I don't know where everyone else is getting their info but your calories are fine. At 1750 you are at approximately a 500 calorie deficit which is optimal for weight loss. So why aren't you losing anymore? To look at your routine everything looks great. I am curious as to what you eat on a daily basis, a lot of times people think they are eating clean and balanced but can really do much better. Also how much water you drink and if you drink anything else. After that I would be happy to try and help you out but DO NOT drop anymore calories. Post what you eat and we will go from there. :)
 
i'm not an expert but i too would cut the calories more. i'd say drop 'em down to around 1,300 a day - tough i know, but it will help you drop the fat. also i'd focus primarily on cardio. nothing like some heavy treadmill or spinning to burn fat. i personally run 3 miles every morning before work, do 50 leglifts (or crunches) and 50 pushups (or reverse pushups), and i stick to a 1,500 cal a day diet or less, and it's worked wonders. so cut those calories a bit, and shift into high gear on the cardio and i believe you'll see the results you're looking for.
great job, BTW. i commend you for sticking to what you're doing. :)
 
Yeah for some reason i thought she said she was eating 2700 cals. The 10 cal per pound guide is the lowest one should go of course but i have seen it in numerous places. It works for me. Of course it allows me to cheat and i also round a lot of meals.

Its a good start without getting to overwhlemed with clean and balanced eating habits.
 
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OK karl here is an example of a typical day, I write everything down.

I woke up and had a bran muffin, I made it myself with applesauce, skim milk, bran, whole wheat ect. and I counted out, the recipe totals 156 calories, 3 grams of fat, 5 grams protien, and 33 grams carbs.

Then i went for a 30hiit session.

When I came home I had
1 omelette made with 6 egg whites and some fat/sodium free ham, mushrooms and low fat chedder cheese 1/4cup shredded. I also had 1/2 cup of vector with 1/4 cup skim milk.

Usually i would limit myself to one bran muffin a day but I had another one for a mid morning snack, I was hungry I think my breakfast was too small.

For lunch I had a sandwitch on 2 small pieces of rye bread, mustard, fat free turkey breast.
I also had a salad w/ 2 cups of wild greens, 2.5 oz of smoked salmon, no dressing and a small cube of low fat feta.

Then I wieght trained for about 35 minutes.

afterwards I had .5 cup of fat free cottage cheese, with a few blueberries.

Supper was homemade chicken veg lasagna with whole wheat pasta, fat free mozza, I used little pasta. calories count of this was 319 cal, 11 fat, 28 carb, 28 protien.
and a nectarine.

Jogged 45 min
evening I had 1 cup of grapes and 1/2 half a bowl of kashi go lean.

It totals to to 1686 cal, 21% fat, 46% carb, 33% protien

This wasn't a great food day, usually I don't eat carbs at night but I was compensating for not eating enough during the day, plus i jogged later then usual.
In this I count every thing I ate even the olive oil I cook with.
I drink coffee, black, about 2 cups a day. I also drink at least 3l of water a day, usually more. So what do you think?
 
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karl78 said:
What formula did you use to get that number?
Click to expand...

Right now she is eating 5 calories under her maintenance level, you take 500 calories off of your maintenance level and thats 1255 to lose 1 pound of fat a week, Bring that down to 1184 and you will lose about 2, Thats not that low for a women especially for her size.
 
nick2005 said:
Right now she is eating 5 calories under her maintenance level, you take 500 calories off of your maintenance level and thats 1255 to lose 1 pound of fat a week, Bring that down to 1184 and you will lose about 2, Thats not that low for a women especially for her size.
Click to expand...
That is a fine calculator but you forgot one very important detail. You need to change the setting from sedentary to moderately active. Even though she has a desk job she specifically said..."I've been doing cardio hiit or jogging about 40 minutes 5 days a week."
 
Yeah i did forget that sorry, But she should still have 1360 calories to lose. If she isnt losing with the 1750 calories then she definatly needs to bring it down.
 
Here's an more accurate way to caluate your maintance level.

Posted by marcus on JSF.

Estimating Your Daily Calorie Requirement

Its important to know how many calories you should consume per day to achieve the maximum amount of weight loss while maintaining your lean body mass. If you eat too few calories you lose muscle, if you eat too many you don’t make progress or even go backwards. Previously when I’ve gone on a diet I’ve tried to eat healthy and eat less without actually recording what I’ve eaten. The problem is I eat too little because I am so anxious to achieve my goals and I end up losing muscle mass and not much fat because my body goes into starvation mode.

Below I’ve listed the equations necessary to estimate (its impossible to be spot on) how many calories you should be eating per day. Your Basal Metabolic Rate is the number of calories your body uses when at rest to perform vital bodily functions. We start off by calculating your BMR and then you times it by an activity factor. I’ve used some of my stats to demonstrate.

If you need to convert any of your measurements, check out this site:



My Stats
Height – 178cms
Weight – 77kg
Age – 21yrs

Harris Benedict BMR Formula For Men

BMR = 66 + (13.7 X weight in kgs) + (5 X height in cms) – (6.8 X age in yrs).

Harris Benedict BMR Formula For Women

BMR = 655 + (9.6 X weight in kgs) + (1.8 X height in cms) – (4.7 X age in years)

So to calculate my BMR I do the following: 66 + (13.7 X 77) + (5 X 178) – (6.8 X 21)

BMR = 66 + 1054.9 + 890 – 142.8

BMR = 1868

Now we need to take into account the amount of energy burned through activity.

1. If you are sedentary (little or no exercise) – BMR X 1.2

2. If your are lightly active (light exercise/sports 1-3 days a week) – BMR X 1.375

3. If you are moderately active (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days a week) – BMR X 1.55

4. If you are very active (hard exercise/sports 6-7 days a week) – BMR X 1.725

5. If you are extra active (very hard daily exercise/sports & physical job or training twice daily – BMR X 1.9.

I fell into category number 3 therefore 1868 X 1.55 = 2895.4

Therefore 2895.4 is the number of calories I need per day to maintain my current weight. As you know to burn fat I eat less than I consume. So how many calories do I take off this figure without the risk of burning muscle.

They recommend that a person lose 1-2 lbs per week maximum. The example I’m going to use is for my aim to be to lose 1 lb per week. I believe this is fast enough and I won’t be losing any muscle. 1 lb of fat is 3500 calories. Therefore to lose 1 lb a week you do the following: 3500 divided by 7 = 500 cals. I then minus 500 from 2895.4 = 2395.4. So to burn 1 lb of fat per week I must consume no more and no less than 2395.4 calories per day.
 
My new plan

I am going to do cardio in the morning for 40 minutes and cardio in the evening for 40 minutes.

Lower my calorie intake to 1500, 40% carb, 40% protien, 20% fats.

And continue lifting as I normally do.......

This puts me at 800-1000 calorie deficiancy. I was originally aiming for 500 calorie def. because I thought more then that would put a person in starvation mode, plus I do lift weights preety hard. But if 1000 is ok I can do it and I will!!!

By the way, I use the fit day counter to see how many calories I burn and I average 2450-2550 a day
 
Shanny said:
OK karl here is an example of a typical day, I write everything down.

I woke up and had a bran muffin, I made it myself with applesauce, skim milk, bran, whole wheat ect. and I counted out, the recipe totals 156 calories, 3 grams of fat, 5 grams protien, and 33 grams carbs.

Then i went for a 30hiit session.

When I came home I had
1 omelette made with 6 egg whites and some fat/sodium free ham, mushrooms and low fat chedder cheese 1/4cup shredded. I also had 1/2 cup of vector with 1/4 cup skim milk.

Usually i would limit myself to one bran muffin a day but I had another one for a mid morning snack, I was hungry I think my breakfast was too small.

For lunch I had a sandwitch on 2 small pieces of rye bread, mustard, fat free turkey breast.
I also had a salad w/ 2 cups of wild greens, 2.5 oz of smoked salmon, no dressing and a small cube of low fat feta.

Then I wieght trained for about 35 minutes.

afterwards I had .5 cup of fat free cottage cheese, with a few blueberries.

Supper was homemade chicken veg lasagna with whole wheat pasta, fat free mozza, I used little pasta. calories count of this was 319 cal, 11 fat, 28 carb, 28 protien.
and a nectarine.

Jogged 45 min
evening I had 1 cup of grapes and 1/2 half a bowl of kashi go lean.

It totals to to 1686 cal, 21% fat, 46% carb, 33% protien

This wasn't a great food day, usually I don't eat carbs at night but I was compensating for not eating enough during the day, plus i jogged later then usual.
In this I count every thing I ate even the olive oil I cook with.
I drink coffee, black, about 2 cups a day. I also drink at least 3l of water a day, usually more. So what do you think?
Click to expand...

Sorry I didn't get a chance to respond earlier than this, I was hoping some other vets would jump in on this. I have to get to bed but here are some tips to start you out with...

- Your food choices are actually very sound, but, you could do better with the timing and frequency. Spread them out to 5 equal size meals, with the exception of meal number 1 being larger than number 5.

- EVERY meal should include a serving of protein, at least 25 grams.

- No need to workout 3 times in one day, HIIT needs to only be about 3 days a week to be effective, weight train 3 days a week with full body workouts. If you must do weights and cardio on the same day, lift in the morning and do the cardio later in the day or night. Also what routine are you currently doing?

- Up your water intake a bit. One gallon minimum.

- Eat protein and carbs post workout - no fats

- Have your cottage cheese last in the day as it is slow to breakdown and will last you through the night

I do not, repeat do NOT believe your problem is calorie intake. If you are not eating 5 - 6 times a day with a serving of lean protein at every meal there is no need to look beyond that for a problem, that is a HUGE problem.

Another thing you can do would be the zig-zag method, wherein you have a calorie deficit for 3 days and eat at your maintenence level on the 4th day, then repeat. This works like a charm.
 
The short version is your body adapts after 3 days to a calorie deficit and begins storing more instead of burning. The maintenence day prevents that.

****EDIT - here, read #2 especially ....
 
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Good article THANKS karl :) So then i should stick with my 1200 calories per day and then every 4th day jump it up to what like 1400? Should this be a added protein bar or anything specific b/c i'm gonna try and justify carb smart ice cream as the way to add a few calories :)
 
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