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Samara
New Member
| Joined: | 13 October 2009 |
| Location: | |
| Posts: | 2 |
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Posted: 14 October 2009 02:42 am |
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So, I am 5ft6 female. 31 years old. 177 lbs. Big bones. Solid build.
I have been 'dieting' since early August. To date have lost 10 lbs (in more then 2 months). My last weigh in I was up a pound.
My basal metabolic rate is 2350.
SOOOO if a lb lost = 3000 calories, to lose 2 lbs a week, I need to consume 6000 calories less OR 1000 a day approx.
As a result my diet has been approx 1300 calories a day.
I have been very conscious of balancing my carbs, protein, fiber, veg etc and eat NO processed food. I have been very strict and barely cheated since i started.
So, based on calories in per day vs my BMR i should be losing 2 lbs a day.
But, I go beyond this with exercise - personal training (strength training) 3 times a week, and cardio another 3 times a week (am careful to alternate between jogging, spinning, dance class and elliptical).
I use calorieking to track my food (calories in) and exercise (calories burned) and most days my net calories are between 500-700 as I eat between 1000-1300 and burn between 300-600 a day.
Problem is I have only averaged a pound a week and this past week even went up one. I am finding it very frustrating.............
Any advice???? Please!
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 14 October 2009 12:28 pm |
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Using the RMR calculator on our website (click 'Calories Burned Calculator' link at top of page) using Female, 31, 5'6", 177lb I have your unadjusted RMR as 1535 and calories to maintain your weight on a day you do not exercise = 1842.
(I am not sure what you mean by "My basal metabolic rate is 2350" my buest guess is this is how much you believe you are burning, INCLUDING all your activities - for that to be true you need to be burning 2350-1842 = 508 extra calories per day (which is possible))
1lb lost is actually 3500 calories (not 3000), but yes you require a daily deficit of 1000 calories to lose 2lb/week.
You wrote you expect to lose 2lb/day I assume you mean PER WEEK and yes I agree you might expect that.
You imply that some days you eat 1000 calories and burn 500 with exercise. As someone whose unadjuted RMR is 1535 it is unadvisable to eat so low. I'm not sure what to suggest as your lowest advisable food intake. Certainly no lower than 1200 and arguably no lower than 1450 (certainly I'd be using the higher number if you got down to BMI 25). The suggestion is that creating too great a deficit by eating too little may depress your metabolism (in other words make your body require fewer calories to operate) and the end result is slower loss - solution is to eat (slightly more).
That is just one possibility. There are other possibilities:
You might be gaining some muscle weight as a result of your exercise which might be hiding actual fat loss (how new are you to weight training? the newer you are the easier gains are)
You might be making some mistake with the way that you (or your website tool) work out calories eaten (underestimate) or calories burnt (overestimate)
My advice would be to keep at it, to ensure you don't eat less than 1200 (and maybe no less than 1450), to be extra careful with calorie counting and include everything.
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Samara
New Member
| Joined: | 13 October 2009 |
| Location: | |
| Posts: | 2 |
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Posted: 14 October 2009 09:58 pm |
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Hi Nir,
Yes, sorry, I did mean 2 lbs a week, not day (i wish!).
I had an inkling that I wasn't eating enough - it's just so hard to believe/get your head around when you're dieting.
My normal day consists of:
BREAKFAST
.5 cup low fat cottage cheese with a medium apple
OR
3 egg whites and a slice of wholegrain bread. 1 tbsp fat free salsa as a spread.
LUNCH
Large veggie salad with can of tuna and 2 tblsp of low fat salad dressing
SUPPER
Large serving of vegg - usually broccoli OR zuccini/eggplant/tomato.
4 oz. of protein - usually chicken breast or fish baked in oven
Garlic/ginger for flavour
Use PAM spray instead of olive oil
** sometimes .5 cup of brown rice or quinoa ***
SNACKS - 10 am and 3 pm
10 almonds
OR
1 medium apple
OR
granola bar
OR
4 prunes.
This usually comes to between 1000-1200 calories a day. So, based on this, maybe eating too little? Any suggestions on where i should change what i am eating? And/or could it be that my diet does not vary much that my body is used to it?
I am not hungry with the above diet and struggle to add more food that adds 100-200 calories instead of say eating a hamburger and then voila being over my daily limit. It's challenging to stay within the limit - i feel as though I have to be SUPER strict.
Re: weight training - i have been at it for 2 months - so perhaps my body is burning fat and yet building muscle as well and that's why i haven't seen much of a change. my clothes definitely feel looser, i just feel that the scale should be moving more.
Anyway, the endless battle continues. Seeing the scale go up this week really motivates me for next weeks weigh in to see it go down. Argh.
Tessa
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 15 October 2009 09:34 am |
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If you're eating in a range definitely make that range 1200-1450 rather than 1000-1200.
If we classify foods into groups like: green veggies, non-green, beans and lentils, fruit, starch-vegetables, whole-grains, nuts and seeds
getting 100 calories from some foods is clearly harder than with others. If you don't want to eat one extra large apple you might still have room for a slice of bread or 25 peanuts or 3oz of beans etc.
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cwalker3
New Member
| Joined: | 25 July 2007 |
| Location: | Birmingham |
| Posts: | 9 |
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Posted: 16 October 2009 12:26 am |
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10 pounds is not bad in 2 months. If you want to lose about 2 pounds a month i would suggest more jogging than anything outside not on the treadmill. Also make sure your workout is getting more intense. Don't get too frustrated at least you are losing. Also i would make sure you don't get too low on the calories. You can lose 2 pounds a week with 5 days on and 2 days off with one hour workouts. Also i would make sure you do some cardio even on weight days.
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juanpbeltran
New Member
| Joined: | 23 October 2009 |
| Location: | Barcelona |
| Posts: | 1 |
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Posted: 23 October 2009 08:57 am |
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Hi, the reason you have probably reached a plateau is because your body has adapted to the way you workout. Our bodies are programed to conserve energy. If you keep doing the same workout for a really long time your body is going to adapt and try to save as much energy (calories) as possible. I recommend you switch your exercises and workouts. Talk to your personal trainer about this.
Also try to eat frequently about 5 or times a day. Have 3 big meals (breakfast lunch and dinner) and 2 small ones which can be a protein shake of some kind or some almonds, peanuts etc.
Hope I helped.
JP
Last edited on 23 October 2009 10:56 pm by
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cwalker3
New Member
| Joined: | 25 July 2007 |
| Location: | Birmingham |
| Posts: | 9 |
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Posted: 27 October 2009 09:41 pm |
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Without knowing specifically what you are eating I will comment on your exercise. I would make sure that even on your weightlifting days you do some type of cardio. On cardio days I would make sure most of it is jogging outside. This can make a difference in burning some extra calories.
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