5’3”F could use some advice

[firemist]

@kie I appreciate the book rec! I have the daily dozen app - need to resurrect it.

 

[dawn16]

@firemist The only think that helped me was extended fasting.
Like 48hours no food. And then once I made it 48, I would eat a salad and then a soup with every vegetable and herb I could find that would help me nutritionally.
Then back to fasting for 24. Then 1 meal. Then 48 hour.

It wasn’t perfect but that prolonged fasting period really helps.
You just have to get over those hunger periods and then you do light cardio for as long as you can. Just maintaining energy expenditure.
Try not to push “too hard” at the gym.
I would still weight lift but I wasn’t doing anything crazy.
When I was really down bad I would settle for a cup of coffee with creamer.

But the commitment to your diet is what is going to really help you.
Unfortunately the lower bodyfat requires very heavy calorie deficit to get rid of.

I’ve heard once it’s gone it is easier to keep off though.
Just weigh yourself regularly. Eat low fat.

 

[dawn16]

@firemist I'm not a dieter, but one time I tried eating only potatoes (with black pepper and mustard) for a couple of years, and I was able to maintain my ideal weight without any cravings and without binging. I also exercised an hour a day. I don't normally care about my appearance, but I have to say, I had a great figure and muscle tone. I would have kept doing that diet, but I got married and my spouse loves oily and fried food, so I promptly gained 20 lbs after eating what they ate.

From my experience above, my #1 recommendation is to avoid oily and fried foods at all costs. Also avoid processed and packaged foods. You can eat as many whole plant foods as you want, and you should eat them until satiety. Beans, nuts, grains, and tubers (potatoes) are foods that will give you enough calories so that you don't feel hungry all the time. If you can adapt your palette, try to use spices to flavor your food instead of things like salt, sugar, and oil.

 

[awretchlikeme]

@firemist These might be some odd suggestions, but most of the obvious stuff has already been said.

First, you might be doing too much high-intensity work. It gets a lot of hype, and "science says" and whatnot, but you should probably work on more zone 2 cardio in sessions from 45 minutes to 2 hours, combining it with stuff like thinking, chatting, or watching movies to make it feel like you're doing something, and drop some of the intense stuff. It could be that you're wearing yourself out on a metabolic level... or something. High intensity should always be balanced out by low intensity.

Add more vegetables to your diet. Get a variety of whatever tastes good, and just cram lots of them in to stop yourself from feeling hungry. You won't need as much discipline, though maybe it won't matter much if you try the "reverse dieting" approach. That sounds fine to me too.

Protein probably doesn't matter. You say that you already have a lot of muscle, so more protein would just be more calories and more satiety. It'll be no different from getting those any other way, since your body already has access to that protein.

Make sure to drink plenty of water. If some of that fat is actually water weight, then drinking lots of water will reduce your tendency to retain the water.

Get your iodine and all that stuff...

That's all I have right now.