hello. trying to lose weight/ fat. struggling hard, so any help is appreciated

[johnprin]

STATS
- 30F
- current weight: 150 lbs (goes up and down by 1-2 lbs daily)
- goal weight: 130 or honestly 120 lbs
- height: 5’4
- maintenance calories seem to be 1600 by various TDEE calculators

Current Regimen:
- ate around 1500 cal for 4 weeks with macros of
- carbs 40% (140 g)
- fat 37% (60 g)
- protein 23% (80 g)
- workout was LISS walking & 30-40 min weights (no strict program, following a 6 week shred online), 1-2 days of HIIT per week

Results: no change in weight. fat still stubborn. not sure what to do beside reduce calories to 1200 and do HIIT daily via running/ sprints. any suggestions?

 

[williamis]

@johnprin If your maintenance is 1600 and you're eating 1500 then a 100 calorie deficit is 700 calories per week. That's 1/5 of a pound, as 3500 calories burned is equal to a pound. At 4 weeks that's not yet a full pound, and if your weight fluctuates a couple pounds (which is normal) you probably wouldn't see weightloss on a scale very easily yet. You may very well be losing weight, but it's going to be slow at that small of a deficit and it'll be awhile before you see it.

You also are leaving yourself very little wiggle room. If you only have a 100 calorie deficit a couple mistakes in your counting and you've blown through a chunk of it. You need to be super on point with a food scale and weighing everything, no take out/restaurant food with unknown calories, etc.

 

[johnprin]

@williamis ahhh great point. i think i’m leaning towards reducing calories further. i’ll start with 1200. when i eventually lose 10-15 lbs, to avoid a plateau, do i have to further reduce calories by 200-300?

 

[williamis]

@johnprin It is not safe to eat fewer than 1200 calories, so no, I wouldn't do that. Your weightloss will slow down and that's just kind of one of the bummer of having a low TDEE. Just stay the course and a plateau will break, if you even have one. The longest I stagnated was 3 weeks just one time. I changed nothing and dropped like 4 pounds one week and was back on track. The body is not a Swiss clock and sometimes weightloss just has ups and downs. But the math always works out in the long run.

 

[johnprin]

@williamis thank you for your reply. i think i’ll focus on 1250 calories per day with macro split Moderate Carb (30/35/35), and try for 6 weeks and re-evaluate.

i’ll keep up moderate intensity workouts. i probably will lose some muscle but it’s okay bc im super eager to get rid of the fat first.

 

[mihai_1991]

@johnprin You also could cut to 1400-1300 if you feel like 1200 is too dramatic. A 250 cal deficit is very common for petite people and definitely enough to see results, you don’t have to go all the way to a 4 or 500 deficit

 

[jesuslover07]

@johnprin If you focus on building muscle specifically, you can maintain muscle as you try to lose fat - which will also help boost your daily calorie needs. I'm always interested in a plan that will let me eat more and still make progress - 1200 is miserable.

 

[ffreplica515]

@johnprin Weight loss is always about consuming less calories than you burn, or CICO. There’s a lot in your post to unpack, but I first wanted to say that: you never need to exercise to lose weight and that weight loss will always burn both fat and muscle, although there are things you can do to reduce the amount of muscle lost (macro counting, careful weightlifting programming).

So either you’re consuming more calories than you realize or burning less calories than you think. For the first part:

• How do you know how many calories you’ve consumed? Are you weighing your food? A lot of folks eyeball what they eat and severely underestimate how much they’re eating.
• Are you “eating back” calories you think you’ve expended during exercise? Folks typically overestimate how many calories they’ve burned, ie: try not eating back any exercise calories for a couple of weeks.

For the second part:
* 1600 calories may not be your TDEE. A calculator is just a best estimate. Your TDEE may be lower due to age, body fat percentage, and general daily activity level.

You’ve also only been on a 100 ish calorie deficit for 4 weeks. Some exercise may have burned some extra calories to create a larger deficit, but you would’ve only lost a pound if you stuck to a 100 calorie deficit a day. Your body weight fluctuates 1-2 lbs a day anyway due to water weight and the weight of food/waste in your intestinal tracts. You’re not typically going to see results in just 4 weeks.

Idk, there’s a lot to try. If you are truly in a deficit because you’re weighing your food and you know exactly how many calories you’re expending, you could try just keeping what you’re doing and trusting the weight loss process although it’ll be slow because that’s just petite fitness.

Barring all for that, check for medical issues like thyroid stuff if you really are adhering strictly to CICO and can’t lose weight.

 

[johnprin]

@ffreplica515 hi thanks so much for your reply.

• i’ve been tracking calories/ macros via MFP. i pre-plan for the week and weigh out the foods. i was aiming for 1500 calories to start with for a few weeks bc from what i gathered, i need to continuously drop 100-200 cal per every 10-15 lbs lost. so if i cut dramatically from 1600 to 1200, i would have to cut again to 800 cal/ day, which isn’t sustainable for me as much (that was my thinking).
• i workout to speed up the process of weight loss bc i have a lot of stubborn abdominal fat. also endorphins and feeling accomplished in the day. i don’t add in the calories back from the workout. i don’t add exercise at all to the MFP tracking.
• got labs done. thyroid and endocrine all normal.

should i cut dramatically to 1200 and try that for 6 weeks?

 

[ffreplica515]

@johnprin Hey no problem! I know weight loss can be super frustrating, especially as a petite person.

I don’t know that there are any metabolic reasons for slowly cutting back calories like you mentioned: 100-200 cal per every 10-15 lbs lost”. What does this mean exactly? You only want to cut 100-200 cal for every 10-15 lbs you want to lose?

Why do you have to cut to 800 cal/day? This is not sustainable from a nutrient perspective, so I agree with you to not do that.

I’m not sure why you think cutting to 1200 calories is dramatic. Again, I don’t think there’s a metabolic reason barring you from doing that.

 

[johnprin]

@ffreplica515 i see. i think it’s just a ton of reading i’ve done over the past few weeks from nutrition websites to reddit forums to actual programs written by bodybuilding/ contestant prep and not knowing how to contextualize some info.

i’ve done yo yo diets my whole life and i’m scared of messing up metabolism esp as i get older. but i think i agree, 1200 is reasonable and as long as i meet my macros, this should be good for weight loss

edit: the math always wins! trust the math lol

 

[lettuce]

@johnprin

i see. i think it’s just a ton of reading i’ve done over the past few weeks from nutrition websites to reddit forums to actual programs written by bodybuilding/ contestant prep and not knowing how to contextualize some info.

Keep in mind most of those programs and so on are aimed at big men, not short women. 1200 calories a day is way too little for a 6ft 200lb man. It is perfectly reasonable for a short woman with a sedentary lifestyle.

 

[ffreplica515]

@johnprin Best of luck!

I wouldn’t be so worried about damaging your metabolism with such a modest calorie deficit; this study suggests that thermogenesis adaptation occurs during very low energy diets (subjects were eating 500 calories a day!): https://academic.oup.com/ajcn/article/97/5/990/4577235

Typically only crash diets will see that kind of metabolic slow down. You seem to be taking a very patient path so not really a concern.

You can also increase metabolism by having a higher muscle composition, but that’s a whole nother can of worms.

 

[james6771]

@johnprin In addition to the advice from others, be aware that starting a weight lifting program can sort of make your body hoard weight due to a variety of factors (iirc, water retention is a big part of it), basically your body's reaction to the new work of straining and repairing all the muscle. Once your body kinda chills out about it, people often experience a sudden drop of a few pounds. I believe it's commonly after 6-8 weeks of resistance training. (I should just go dig up the link for you.)

Four weeks is, annoying as it is to hear, not long enough to see a big difference in your weight. And that's okay! Slow and steady is going to be way more effective to you in the long run.

Please do not cut your calories further. Your body is a homeostasis magician. If you feed it less, it will rejigger itself to function with less, and nothing good will come of that except cranky hunger and possible health issues. Just stay the course. With the amount of exercise you're doing, 1600 calories of high quality food should be solid (assuming you have no underlying health issues confounding things) and you will see results.

 

[deebouchie]

@james6771 This. I upped my protein, gained some weight, which made me sad initially, but gained great muscle and body looks waaay better. Try this. I was just swimming in cortisol from starving. My muscles really came through for me and my whole body is looking better. Also I’m 5’4 and now weigh 165.

 

[johnprin]

@james6771 helloooo. thank you so much for your reply.

yes the weight training - although give done it off/on for about 6/7 years now - i was mostly sedentary these past 5 months and slowly getting into it now.

in your experience, how much is a good enough period to re-evaluate diet and such, if 4 weeks is too short?

*also, to clarify when you say not to cut calories anymore, are you saying to stick to 1500 cal + weight training regimen as i described earlier? i was thinking of reducing down to at least 1300 cal, adding more deficient and doing workouts 2-3 times weekly instead.

 

[james6771]

@johnprin I found the liiiink.

https://www.reddit.com/r/loseit/comments/ah4fau/psa_a_recent_increase_in_exercise_often_causes_a

You sound like me. I dabbled, but this year I finally knuckled down and it's been going well. 4 weeks feels short when it's in conjunction with the new exercise.

Look up Natacha Oceane's YouTube videos on metabolism, as well. She's wonderful.

I say don't cut any more based on another comment I saw made that you'd considered trimming further from your current. You need calories (esp. protein, obviously) to build muscle. You want to build muscle to increase your resting metobolic rate (burn more calories even when you sit around on your butt!). It feels a bit counter-intuitive, I know. But the TDEE calculator for your weight, height, and age, for exercising 3-5 times a week, has you at maintenance calories of almost 2,200. A 400 calorie deficit on that is 1,800! The 1-2 times weekly is still 1,900 for maintenance.

Yes, people say 'don't eat back your workout calories' but you need to fuel yourself. Food is fuel!

Sorry. I have strong opinions on food. I love food. Stick to 1,500-1,600, focus on protein (personal opinion; your macro balance looked solid to me, not a dietician), make sure you are weighing your servings, and you will see results. You just have to be patient.

 

[johnprin]

@james6771 thank you. i appreciate your response.

yes, when i did my TDEE, i always put sedentary. bc i’m new to working out again lol on/off and i mostly sit all day

sigh, being petite and patient both are hard. i guess i’ll give it another 3-4 weeks at 1500, and cont to weigh foods, weigh myself daily, workout 5 4-5 times daily, and def lots of LISS at 10k steps daily.

the temptation to crash diet at 1200 calories and do HIIT daily is harder to ignore when the scale doesn’t move after weeks haha.

ohh i’ve heard of her. i’ll watch some more of her videos. i liked her videos i came across earlier.

 

[james6771]

@johnprin Yeah, a lot of people make that mistake. I know I've seen posts on here discussing that. Even though you're sitting at work, it sounds like you are working consistently. And you really do need fuel to be able to do well, and to feel good.

I weigh myself daily (hell, more than that, because the way the number fluctuates is fascinating to me; I only 'count' the first one), but a lot of people recommend weighing yourself weekly, instead. Same day every week, first thing in the morning after you go to the bathroom. The overall trend is more important than the daily fluctuations. If you're stressing, you might want to consider that.

And I try not to look at all this as a diet, something I do to get to the magic number (don't get me wrong, I want it...). I set out to establish healthy, sustainable habits for the long run. Food habits I can maintain, exercise I enjoy and want to get back to when I get thrown off for a week by sickness etc.

 

[dawn16]

@johnprin Is your maintenance TDEE including activity? Or is that assuming a sedentary lifestyle?

I ask bc I’m also 5’4 and I’m at 135 now, but 3 months ago I was at 150 and my TDEE was definitely higher when accounting for physical activity. Even now at my height/weight, maintenance for me is 2200 calories, but I exercise 6 hours a week (mostly running with 2 hours or so of strength training)

So, I plateaued at around 140-142 and what helped me move the needle was increasing my protein intake. Esp with the strength training I was doing. I upped protein to minimum 100g per day, kept overall calories the same, and finally started to see some weight loss again.

I would maybe reevaluate TDEE, up protein intake, only increase exercise if you truly want to/enjoy it. And remember that any big change in physical activity can cause a pause or even gain in the scale as your muscles adjust.