Post by katietornado on Jan 22, 2014 20:11:50 GMT -5
Guys please be nice...I'm really really sensitive right now. I had an all out bawling, screaming cry this afternoon. Like, I'm pretty sure the neighbors could hear, and I live in a SFH. I blame lots of things, but part of it is that I am fed the hell up with my weight/size. Help. Please.
I was doing really well this past summer. Eating not badly, but not tracking. Working out pretty frequently. Clothes fit, and I could see abs. When school started in August, I cut my workouts by at least half. I quickly gained weight and before I knew it, my pants didn't fit. I started working out again for real in October. They still didn't fit in December.
Since late December, I've been eating like a saint. Even on my goddamned birthday. <1400 perfectly clean calories a day, tons of protein, low fat, lowish carb. Tracking every molecule that hits my lips. Running like a fiend (~30 miles a week). CrossFitting too.
I weighed myself today and have gained 3 pounds since December. I'm now two over my highest weight of all time. MFP says I should've lost 5 pounds by now, the way I'm eating and working out. My pants still don't fit. I actually ripped a pair last week. I feel miserable about how I look. I really thought all this hard work would've amounted to something after 4 weeks.
I'm sorry I can only commiserate, since I am the last person that can give advice in this area. I could have written much of this, down to ripping a pair of pants. No lie, yesterday, my cw-x tights. They are not cheap
i actually hate it when people tell others the are not eating enough, because in reality, most people eat enough. But if you are REALLY eating under 1400 calories, AND running 30 miles a week, AND doing crossfit, then you are really not eating enough.
The body needs 1200 just to survive. If your metabolism is slow, maybe 1100. But with all that extra stuff, 1400 is not enough. I would add 50-100 calories per week until you are around 1800. I know it sounds like a lot but you don't want to ruin your metabolism and stuck eating close to nothing forever.
Nothing goes into my mouth without going onto that page. I am eating around 1400 calories a day, or fewer. Running 5 miles 6 days a week (I don't always track exercise on MFP though...I forget a lot). Riding my bike 20 minutes each weekday. And CrossFitting 5 or so times a week.
This TDEE calculator (http://iifym.com/tdee-calculator/) puts my TDEE at as low as 2040 a day, so I don't think a deficit of 600 is metabolism-ruining.
Post by schitzengiggles on Jan 22, 2014 21:28:37 GMT -5
I am no expert, but I do workout, am a runner, and have successfully lost 90 lbs and kept it off. My first thought after looking at your MFP diary is that you are not eating nearly enough for running 30 miles per week, plus cross fit. I think you should do a little experiment - try eating more (but quality) calories for a few weeks, and just see what happens. Add in some more lean protein especially, and whatever else floats your boat as long as it isn't junk or empty calories. Continue working out as you have been. See what happens?
I was in your position, working out, counting every morsel of food, gaining weight. I talked to a trainer at work and decided to give up grains and starches entirely for 80% of my meals (leaving me with 4/week, or 1 cheat day to go crazy-go-nuts). I'm also not allowed to get on a scale. Or count calories.
My pants are getting loser, my stomach is flatter. I have a TON of energy. I've had multiple people ask me if I've lost weight (and these are people that saw me lose the 50+ a few years back now so it's new-weight-loss). Hell one of the hottie meatheads (technical term?) at the gym stopped me and told me I looked like I'd lost 20lbs in the last month. Nice guy, lol.
It's not something I'll do long term, but it may be worth a shot? This is not a professional opinion, just some anecdontal evidence.
I went through the same thing - eating ~1200 calories, running and crossfitting. And the scale wasn't budging. I went to see a sports nutritionist and it made all the difference. By following her rules I started losing a pound a week. Rules: Eat 1400 calories a day, eat within an hour of waking up; eat an hour before I work out; eat 30 minutes and then no later then 90 minutes after a workout; eat ~45% carbs, ~30% protein and ~25% healthy fat averages for the day, and workout for an hour 5x a week. I do not count my exercise into my calories, every day is 1400 no matter if or how I exercise (as long as it is the prescribed amount). I found have to eat more carbs before a workout and I just make it up with less the rest of the day.
It seems like a lot of rules, but the point is to feed your body so when you are workout out, and sleeping, your body is taking energy from the right places. And it is so easy to track all of that on MFP.
I won't say you aren't eating enough, because I don't think metabolic adaptation happens that fast so that you are in "starvation mode.'
Definitely get some blood work done.
Some ideas...try only eating at your deficit level 5 days a week. Try eating your TDEE two days a week, so that your deficit isn't every day. Calorie cycling might help break out of whatever funk you are in.
Next, I agree with eating around your workouts. A few years ago, I didn't eat breakfast (Blasphemy I know!) but ate a small lunch, a snack before my workout, then a larger dinner. It worked for me for over a year and I lost weight.
It sounds like you are meticulous, but do you weight your food? having a food scale really helped me see the actual portions. One cup of PB is not as much as you think if you weigh it.
I posted this article on a different board yesterday. Not exactly what you are looking for because I think you know most of this, but it has research cited which is nice if you want to do further reading:
You're running 5 miles AND CFing? I find it very difficult to believe your TDEE is only 2000.
I think part of the problem could be that calculator. The exercise generalizations are laughable. I chose 5 days a week intense (for marathon training), and it gave me a TDEE of 1863...but what in the hell qualifies as intense? If I drop the "intense" part, it puts me at 1758. One of a bunch of reasons that I hate these online calculators.
ETA: Never mind. I see that there is an option for entering manual activity levels. Off to play with that! ETAA: When I enter 60 min of running, it drops my TDEE down below 1400. 120 min of running get's me just above 1400. ^o)
You're running 5 miles AND CFing? I find it very difficult to believe your TDEE is only 2000.
I think part of the problem could be that calculator. The exercise generalizations are laughable. I chose 5 days a week intense (for marathon training), and it gave me a TDEE of 1863...but what in the hell qualifies as intense? If I drop the "intense" part, it puts me at 1758. One of a bunch of reasons that I hate these online calculators.
ETA: Never mind. I see that there is an option for entering manual activity levels. Off to play with that! ETAA: When I enter 60 min of running, it drops my TDEE down below 1400. 120 min of running get's me just above 1400.
If I use the Mifflin-St Joer method and put that I do intense exercise 5x/week, I get a BMR of 1431 and a TDEE of 2218. The manual method gave me 2065 for both but only after I realized I had to input sitting, cooking, walking, etc. as well as just exercise. The first time around I got 1500-something because the calculator thought that I was spending 1 hour working out and 23 hours sleeping.
Nothing goes into my mouth without going onto that page. I am eating around 1400 calories a day, or fewer. Running 5 miles 6 days a week (I don't always track exercise on MFP though...I forget a lot). Riding my bike 20 minutes each weekday. And CrossFitting 5 or so times a week.
Are you regularly EATING 1400 calories/day or NETTING 1400 calories/day?
I think EATING 1400 with all that working out is too low, but NETTING 1400 would be reasonable. I'm currently doing the MFP thing to lose the "winter weight," and I aim to net 1200, which is what I calculated I needed to do to lose 1 lb/week. I actually EAT quite a bit more - more like 1500-1700.
In the meantime, I would buy yourself a new pair or two of pants. You don't need many at this size, and they don't need to be $$, because I swear, this is not forever. But don't make getting dressed a miserable daily struggle for yourself. It's bad for your self esteem which is bad for you. Hang in there.
I think part of the problem could be that calculator. The exercise generalizations are laughable. I chose 5 days a week intense (for marathon training), and it gave me a TDEE of 1863...but what in the hell qualifies as intense? If I drop the "intense" part, it puts me at 1758. One of a bunch of reasons that I hate these online calculators.
ETA: Never mind. I see that there is an option for entering manual activity levels. Off to play with that! ETAA: When I enter 60 min of running, it drops my TDEE down below 1400. 120 min of running get's me just above 1400.
If I use the Mifflin-St Joer method and put that I do intense exercise 5x/week, I get a BMR of 1431 and a TDEE of 2218. The manual method gave me 2065 for both but only after I realized I had to input sitting, cooking, walking, etc. as well as just exercise. The first time around I got 1500-something because the calculator thought that I was spending 1 hour working out and 23 hours sleeping.
See, now this shows that human error is another reason I don't like these calculators! lol If I'm an idiot when using it (I'm totally owning that), there stands a good chance that others are too!!
Thanks, though. When I input everything manually, and enter 120 min of running, it gives me a TDEE of 1908. The Mifflin-St Joer gave me 1863 for 5 x pw/intense.
ETA: OP, I'm sorry. I wish I had an answer for you. I'm sure it's frustrating. Have you tried any type of calorie cycling? That has worked really well for me. I haven't ever purposely tried it, bit I've noticed after a day or two of higher calories (or sometimes even vacations when the calories fluctuate), I'll be sure that I've gained weight, but I actually lose weight. Sometimes just varying & mixing the types of foods and calories up has made a difference.
Have you gained the three pounds gradually through the month of January, or just all of a sudden (consistent with the start of your period)?
I find it hard to conclude on a weight gain or loss of less than 5 pounds, because, I tend to fluctuate five pounds over the course of the say, anyway.
I agree with the others that it is possible that you are not eating enough. If you eat 1,400 and then run 5 miles and do crossfit, you are netting somewhere around 700-800 calories that day, which is way too low.
Nothing goes into my mouth without going onto that page. I am eating around 1400 calories a day, or fewer. Running 5 miles 6 days a week (I don't always track exercise on MFP though...I forget a lot). Riding my bike 20 minutes each weekday. And CrossFitting 5 or so times a week.
This TDEE calculator (http://iifym.com/tdee-calculator/) puts my TDEE at as low as 2040 a day, so I don't think a deficit of 600 is metabolism-ruining.
It's not the deficit, it's the amount of calories you have leftover after exercise. If it's not enough for the body to live with (1200), then you won't lose weight. Or if you do, it's at the expense of your organs.
I personally think the best way to lose weight is find the HIGHEST number that results in weight loss, not the lowest. Because you metabolism will always adjust. ALWAYS. So if it becomes used to living off 1400 cals a day, then that is going to suck. If you were originally eating 22000, the best thing is to cut to 2000. And then 1900. And then 1800. Probably around 1800 you would experience loss. Maybe after awhile, you will stall and need to drop to 1700 or change activities.
By starting at 1400, you have no room to drop.
That is why I would add back in, but very gradually so that your body adjusts. Clearly eating such a restrictive diet is not giving you the results you want, and since you cannot go lower, I am not sure of your other options. Maybe stop running or crossfitting...stick with only one high intensity activity.
I'm going to be honest here. I think running that much while CFing at the same time is a big problem here (especially CFing 5 days per week). I don't think it's supporting our goals of weight loss. It's doing more harm than good. I think you should pick one for now and run with it (no pun intended). Then when you start feeling better and losing some weight, you can ramp the other activity back up again slowly.
I'm in the not eating enough camp. Do you give yourself cheat days? Days to mix up your metabolism? Do you rest at all? Maybe you aren't eating enough fat (healthy fats?) ? I know I need 60-80 g of fat a day to lose.
I'll throw in my 2 cents. I generally don't buy into metabolic adaptation unless you truly have been undereating for a number of months and not seeing results. You are talking a few weeks here. That said, if you are doing all that activity and truly eating 1400 cal/day and not absolutely stark raving mad with hunger then something is off. But I'm thinking just re-weigh yourself in a couple of days because you are probably retaining water.
I won't say you aren't eating enough, because I don't think metabolic adaptation happens that fast so that you are in "starvation mode.'
Definitely get some blood work done.
Some ideas...try only eating at your deficit level 5 days a week. Try eating your TDEE two days a week, so that your deficit isn't every day. Calorie cycling might help break out of whatever funk you are in.
Next, I agree with eating around your workouts. A few years ago, I didn't eat breakfast (Blasphemy I know!) but ate a small lunch, a snack before my workout, then a larger dinner. It worked for me for over a year and I lost weight.
It sounds like you are meticulous, but do you weight your food? having a food scale really helped me see the actual portions. One cup of PB is not as much as you think if you weigh it.
Can you explain this a little bit? Dumb it down a little for me? I entered my info and although i run most days & crosstrain 2x week, i work a desk job. Now i have a standing desk (with option to sit) - but my 9-5 is pretty sedentary. I've been tracking through MFP as i'm trying to drop 3-5 lbs and now wonder am i eating enough?? From the BMR calculator it states for my height/weight/activity level (i used light since i'm sedentary during the workday) is 1728. MFP gives me an allotment of 1260 per day + whatever the exercise of the day allotment is.
Post by emilyinchile on Jan 23, 2014 12:42:22 GMT -5
I am no nutrition expert, but you say that until August something was working for you. Can you try that again? Eating less than 1400 calories even on your birthday and ripping your pants sounds pretty miserable, so why not go back to something you know works for you for now while you look at whether in the future you need to eat more, workout less, etc?
Post by mainewifey on Jan 23, 2014 12:54:33 GMT -5
I've found that I can not lose weight or inches when I'm doing high intensity work outs like crossfit or insanity that many days a week. I've tried all of the things that have been suggested, eating more, eating less, adjusting what I'm eating, no carbs, no dairy, more protein, clean eating, paleo, etc. My body type just doesn't seem to like it for whatever reason. I get stronger, but just can't seem to burn the fat.
I find that I get the best results, strength and endurance wise as well as fat loss by sticking to 2-3 days of high intensity (1 day Insanity, 1 personal training day, and one open day for whatever I feel like) and then doing the rest of the week with mostly mixed cardio stuff- body weight exercises, plyo, spinning, running etc. I'm not saying work out less, just maybe work out differently.
So, I totally feel for you, and I've been there. It sucks when you're working so hard and you really aren't seeing results. I think that diet and exercise isn't a one size fits all thing, and you just have to find what works for you to get the results that you want.