I am 158
I have been eating lower than 1600 calories a day since the beginning of this month
I exercise almost everyday and burn about 450-830 calories
I drink about 2 liters of water
I have been bouncing around the higher 150s all of last month and the beginning of this month. I was exercising and eating more before when I was in the 160s back in April and was loosing 1 lbs per week without fail. Then I went on a month and a half vaca and gained 4 lbs back. I am back down to where I was before I left but I am not dropping like I was before. And I am getting so fustrated and feel like going off plan.
Help me!
Well actually was looking at it since May. I have only lowered it to around 1500 calories this month but I was creating a 500 calorie ceficit since then. Granted there were a few cheats,but not enough to just be bouncing around.
I do p90x cardio and treadmill running. I burn atleastn600 doing the cardio cds in around and hour and about 450 on the treadmill for half an hour
Don't trust heart rate monitors etc to give you an estimate on calories burned! They are wildly wrong and overestimate by as much as 50%! If you want to read up on it, there are some interesting links in this blog post: http://thegreatfitnessexperiment.blo...e-calorie.html
Honestly, you probably don't want to hear this, but weight loss is just maths, if you haven't lost any weight since May, you are eating the same amount of calories you burn. Either you eat more than you think, eg by not weighing everything, or you burn less.
If you are sure this isn't true the only solution is to see a doctor and get your thyroid/ hormones/... tested, but in my (admittedly limited) experience, the people who have these complications don't have the energy for workouts.
Weight loss does get harder the more you have lost, nowadays if I eat the same as on plan in the beginning, I would gain weight where I used to lose it. I linger at the same weight for weeks, because my deficit is so small it takes weeks to make a difference. (and every little cheat sets me back, but before it didn't harm my weight loss at all)
Did a little math, now my math skills are not infallible by any means, but I think I got this right. Your BMR is around 1,488 calories according to an online BMR calculator. You're burning 830 at the top end from exercise. That means your burn total is 2,318 or so. If you subtract what you're eating (I used 1600 calories for this number) that means you have a deficit of 718 calories a day. That's a decent deficit and would lead a little more than a lb or so of loss a week. But when you only burn the 450 your calorie deficit is only 338 calories a day. That would not be enough for even just a lb of loss a week. Add in to that the occasional cheat day (not sure how severely you go off plan, but any cheat counts against your calorie deficit) and the possibility that you're not burning as many calories as you think, and there you've got your reason for bouncing up and down the same few pounds.
I might suggest lowering your calories to 1400 and see if that helps you lose. Then even when you're only burning the 450 a day your deficit would be a little over 500 calories a day, or enough to lose a pound a week. Or, exercise more and bring your "burn" number up a little bit. Also, are you doing any weight training? Building muscle can really help you burn the fat more easily and tone your body so it looks trimmer at higher weights.
Last edited by Latchkey Princess; 08-09-2010 at 11:09 AM.
sounds like you should eat, a person should eat at least 10 X your body weight. If you weigh 160 lbs eat 160 X 10 = 1600 calories at the minimum
I know this is a common theory, but I disagree. I would gain if I ate 1600 calories a day. I have to keep it at 1300. And yes I work out regularly. I run 3-4 times a week and do pilates/weight lifting on my off days. On the weekends, I sometimes have 1 cheat day where I eat 1600-1700 calories, but this isn't often. By doing this I usually lose around 1-2 lbs a week. This is what works for me. You just have to change it up a bit, and find what works for you.
Good Luck
I have no advice to offer that I know will work, but I do relate COMPLETELY. I've been having the same thing happen to me (different breakdown of calories and activity, but same idea). It's really frustrating, but I am just sticking with the plan for a couple of weeks. Like others have said, if the math makes sense to you, it could just be a regular plateau. A few things I am considering is adding/subtracting 100-200 calories week by week to see if I see differences, as well as just changing what kind of workout I am doing at the gym/home. I've read that your body can also get used to your workout routine. As your body adapts to the movements you make, it becomes more efficient at those movements and burns fewer calories in the same activity overall. I really don't like that idea, because I love routines...but it's something I might force myself to try.
I'd suggest lowering your calories for a week, to 1400 like what Latchkey said, and I would also suggest not exercising so much! Stick to just running OR just p90x for the day. When I overwork myself, I don't lose at all. You may be straining your body way too much. It's nice to burn off 800+ calories a day, but it's also nice to see that scale go down too. All you need is an hour of exercise a day!
Quillie hmm it woul be horrible if the hrm is off and I guess I am just going to focus on lowering my calories by eating less.
Latchkey Princess I will try that for a couple of weeks. I really wanna get the scale going again.
caseygail21 I guess I need to bring my calories down. I always feel like I can't possibly eat less but I know I will adjust.
abcunnin we are at the same weight although different heights. How many calories do you eat on average? I do a different work out every other day! I can't change much more.
Samantha417 I only do one or the other! Thanks for the advice
Thanks everyone/ I am going to try and bring my calories down to 1400 or less and see what happens.
Sun-Listen to your body. If you are feeling ravenous then you need to eat more. I've found that 1300 is a good number for me. Yes I get hungry, but I have a pretty good schedule where I eat Breakfast around 250 cal, a snack around 100 cal., Lunch around 300-350 calories, Snack-around 100 calories, Dinner- around 400-500 calories. By spacing my food out, I never feel like I'm starving.
Did a little math, now my math skills are not infallible by any means, but I think I got this right. Your BMR is around 1,488 calories according to an online BMR calculator. You're burning 830 at the top end from exercise. That means your burn total is 2,318 or so. If you subtract what you're eating (I used 1600 calories for this number) that means you have a deficit of 718 calories a day. That's a decent deficit and would lead a little more than a lb or so of loss a week. But when you only burn the 450 your calorie deficit is only 338 calories a day. That would not be enough for even just a lb of loss a week. Add in to that the occasional cheat day (not sure how severely you go off plan, but any cheat counts against your calorie deficit) and the possibility that you're not burning as many calories as you think, and there you've got your reason for bouncing up and down the same few pounds.
I might suggest lowering your calories to 1400 and see if that helps you lose. Then even when you're only burning the 450 a day your deficit would be a little over 500 calories a day, or enough to lose a pound a week. Or, exercise more and bring your "burn" number up a little bit. Also, are you doing any weight training? Building muscle can really help you burn the fat more easily and tone your body so it looks trimmer at higher weights.
Your math skills are fine, however, you are forgetting one key thing...the 1488 is her BMR, not her daily burn. The 1400 number is the approximate amount of calories she burns just existing! Doesnt factor in walking from her car to her work, cooking dinner, eating, going pee, SMILING, and just all the calories shes burns in a day. So its the 1488 PLUS her exercise PLUS her daily non-exercise burn!
Sun, you ARENT burning 800 plus calories with an hour of ANY type of exercise! no way..... rregardless, try lowering your cals, because as said above, if you arent losing weight, than you are taking in the amount of calories your body burns, period. end of story.
you could try lowering OR you could try being very very accurate and meticulous about tracking! weight everything to THE GRAM, COunt every pieve of SF gum and splanda packet and PAM spray. Chances are, you CAN lose off of 1600 a day, BUT you are really consuming 200 or 300 more than you realize. 99.99999% of the population DOES! Including dieters. Even being as accurate and anal as you can be, counts STILL arent 100% YOud be suprised how "off"we can be on our counts. guesstimatng a 4 oz chicken breast (because you used to weigh them, and you have a *good* idea what it looks like now), using a tablespoon to measure peanut butter, using what the package nutrition lable says forservings (which by law, only have to be within i believe 20 PERCENT accurate!) all add up!! 10 xtra here, 34 extra there, 89 extra here, and all those little tastes while you were cooking or food prepping, the 30 plus calores from the PAM, because you didnt realizze it has calories cuz the package says no calories...it ADDS UP... putting you RIGHT AT maintenance
what is wrong?!
