Hello ladies. I started my journey in march. So far i have lost 30lbs which i am very happy about. Since i started calorie counting i have been at 1600cals a day and have had great success with it. When i first started i was working out a lot with weights. Then my workouts slowed down a little. The past 3 weeks i have kicked up the exercise quite a bit. Not outrageous or anything more than a lot of people. I went from workin gout maybe 3days a week. day1-yoga for 60min day2&3-15min warm up 45 min weights
Now i am working out 5-6 days a week. Most days consist of 40-60min cardio and 30-45min weights. This does vary a little, but its pretty accurate. I have lost only 1/2lb in the past almost month. I know plateaus happen and im not freaking out about it. I was just wondering if you all think i should stay at 1600. Try going lower or adding a little bit? Oh yea i am 20, 5'5 and 214lbs if that helps any. Thanks!
I would certainly not ADD any calories. I don't see how that could help. Usually we want to create MORE of a deficit and adding calories would just create LESS of a deficit.
Just wondering though, how are you tracking your calories? Are you fairly certain you've been sticking with the 1600?
Regardless, why not try dropping them a hundred calories for a couple of weeks and see what that produces? As we get lighter, we require less calories. It just may be time to drop them.
Great going on the increased workouts and your already phenomenal weight loss!!! With a little tweak here and there, you'll have that scale going down once again. Hang tight.
First off, have you had your body fat tested when you started? You may not be losing "weight" but losing body fat. I also recommend measuring inches too to see if there really is a plateau. I lost 40lbs 6 years ago with body for life by weight training and cardio and calorie counting. If you start restricting you may start losing more "weight' but it will be muscle weight and not the body fat which is what you are truly wanting to get rid of. Go into the weight training forum area and get their option too.
I keep a notebook and use calorie king to track my calories so i am pretty accurate. I also use a kitchen scale. Some days im over and some days under, but average is 1600.
fluffy~ no i have never had my body fat tested. they had it at my gym once and i missed it because of work. i dont know where i would get it done. As far as inches i can never measure in the same spot. I have measurements at one of the locations, but it is so far that i usually dont go to it, but the next time i go there i will ask for them to measure me
and see I disagree if you are over 200 pounds working out hard I think 1800 calories a day would be fine.
If 1600 calories is not producing a weight loss, then how would increasing the calories to 1800 provide one? It's not like consuming 1600 calories could ever be considered starvation mode. Unless, perhaps one was running marathons every day.
I know as I weighed less and less, I had to increase my exercise and lower my calorie intake in order to keep seeing results. But of course, I can only speak for myself and share my own experiences.
We are all different and different things will "work" for different people. We are all an experiment of one, afterall.
Last edited by rockinrobin; 07-17-2008 at 01:58 PM.
robin~lol no i wish i could run a marathon everyday. i suppose i ask because i 'hear' a lot of ladies say that when they hit a plateau and increase exercise they have to up the calories. Suppose its time to drop to 1500 and see what happens
Calories and plateaus aside, there may be other reasons you didn't see much loss in the past month.
I think a lot of folks are seeing some water retention because of summer heat. Plus, upping your workouts may be causing you to retain more fluid in your muscles. Together, that could be masking a significant amount of progress.
In the past, I have had months when I was OP but my lowest weight actually went up month-over-month. I waited it out (OP) and after a few more weeks, things were moving in the right direction again.
robin~lol no i wish i could run a marathon everyday. i suppose i ask because i 'hear' a lot of ladies say that when they hit a plateau and increase exercise they have to up the calories. Suppose its time to drop to 1500 and see what happens
Running marathons, or heck, even walking them - you and me both, I wish I could. Oh well. But really, the idea is to keep on creating that all important deficit. That is certainly the first place I'd look. Don't worry about skimmiing those calories, you will most likely not miss them. And then or course there's the fact that you will be too thrilled with your progress. Good luck!!!
f 1600 calories is not producing a weight loss, then how would increasing the calories to 1800 provide one?
If she's working out for nearly 2 hours per day, hard, for 6 days a week, it's possible that a bump in calories, a little bit of calorie cycling, would kick start a loss.
2 hours of solid working out could be burning 800+ cals per day ... not to mention the residual burn from the weight lifting. That would put her net cals down under 1000.
If she's working out for nearly 2 hours per day, hard, for 6 days a week, it's possible that a bump in calories, a little bit of calorie cycling, would kick start a loss.
I truly believe that anything is possible. But again, if it were me, the very first place I'd start, is with decreasing my calories. Whenever *I*, and granted, we are all different, increase my calories, I gain weight . And whenever I decrease them, I lose. It hasn't failed once, though I wish it would .
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Courtney, what's your goal in the weight room? If it's just part of the "reach my goal weight" goal, and you don't care how much muscle you might risk along with the fat, then drop the cals a little at a time until the scale speeds up. If your aim is to preserve and build muscle/strength, though, with minimum risk to the muscle you've already built, I wouldn't personally drop any lower, and would either sit at 1600 for another month, or go up to 1800, to make sure I was getting enough cals (eating frequently, and getting the macro percentages right) to support muscle size and strength gains. Certainly, people have done more on less, just look at shows like TBL, but I'm not personally willing to risk my gains in the weight room in order to run that experiment, so I actually upped mine back to 1800 when I nearly doubled my workout load recently (due to coming off a knee injury, and getting back to skating and heavier lifting). Too soon for me to report what the results will be, as far as the scale goes...it went up 2 lbs for 2 days, then started heading down again, but it was also right before TOM, after a heavy FB lifting session, and after I went mental on some brownies at my sister's BBQ (okay, I had one and a half, but it was heavy with guilt!), so it's hard to say if it was the cal increase that did it. Anyway, we're all different, so my results don't really matter, but personally, I opted for the increase, and feel my lifting will be better for it. Just figure out where your priorities lie, then go from there. Good luck!
I'm with LadybugNessa and Photochick on this one. At 20 years old, over 200 lbs., and a high level of activity, I just don't think that anything under 1600 could be adequate fuel.
Besides, if we're doing trial and error, why not trial what would be EASIER to continue doing rather than what would be more difficult?
I think trying out 1700-1800 is a good idea. Make sure to add in lean proteins to feed your growing muscle rather than empty calories. Give it a little time to see how it goes. Keep up all that great exercise, and with a few tweaks in the food plan you'll get that next 30 lbs. moving!
Should I up my calories?
It's not like consuming 1600 calories could ever be considered starvation mode. Unless, perhaps one was running marathons every day. 
It hasn't failed once, though I wish it would 
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