Here's my routine, my food, and here's my goal: I'm doing things by the book but nothing is moving anymore?

[trapizdaipe]

@tina_p If you are losing weight, then the deficit is working. It just depends on how fast you want to lose the weight.

With the calculators, I use them to get a ball park of where I should aim, but with deciding what activity level you are at is quite subjective and the calculator initially put me at cutting with 1400 calories (I am 5'2, SW: 135, CW:112) but I saw very little progress. Only after I moved my cut lower did I start losing about a pound every week.

You could always try cutting at 1400 exclusively for a few weeks and see if you get results that way too! Ultimately, it should be sustainable and if the really low cut is too hard to manage, it'd be better to be slow and steady

 

[tina_p]

@trapizdaipe I think I will try an exclusively 1400 cut. I've been eating back 'exercise calories' and I don't think that was helping. I might be losing weight but it's soooooo slow. Maybe my metabolism just isn't what it used to be now that i'm at the ripe old age of 22... Who knows. I used to be able to shed weight like a coat.

I'll give the harder cut a try! Hopefully I'll see something closer to a pound a week!

 

[zwrrel]

@tina_p You could try a staggered approach. I go for an average of 1450, but I eat 1350 on weekdays and 1600 on weekends. Maybe that would set you up for success on your longer workout days?

 

[tina_p]

@zwrrel I like the idea, but ... I do tend to over-eat on weekends, but I also feel like I need more food on weekdays because that's when Im working out the most

 

[zwrrel]

@tina_p Would it work to line up your heavy workout days on the weekend? That's what I do (mostly due to time constraints on weekdays)

 

[zwrrel]

Btw I'm 5 4 25, lift 4 times a week and average 16000 steps a day. Seems like I maintain around 2100, but I just can't lose until I cut my calories way back. Likely my body is a good adaptor or my NEAT is way lower on a cut

 

[mippop]

@tina_p Your legs def look stronger/better in the Feb photo, be proud of that work! With the stronger legs comes a reduced visual emphases on the "spare tire". You also look less soft overall, so I'd say you're going in the right direction. I'd bet you've put on a decent bit of muscle and that's why you haven't seen the scale move terribly far. Keep at it and keep taking photos so you can see your body composition change even if the number on the scale doesn't. Revel in your strength and enjoy being physically active!

 

[tina_p]

@mippop Thank you! I've absolutely noticed a change in my legs (hello quads, I missed you) and my strength has increased like crazy (couldn't even deadlift the bar 8 weeks ago) which is awesome. But the softness of the tum has just been so shitty.

Is it normal for the scale to bounce between a low number (136) and a high one (back to 140) within a few days? I know that there's a bunch of factors that go into this, but seeing the bounces just ... it hurts man. haha. Or maybe I should just toss the scale...

 

[mippop]

@tina_p Yeah I see my weight fluctuate almost 3-5 lbs depending on if I cheated all weekend eating wise or if I've had dairy or lifted the day before or really anything at all like the wind came from the south that day. Sometimes I feel like I look fabulous in my tight gym-wear sometimes I'm like ew no. I still weigh myself but with a /shrug for what the number is. If it's a higher number I refocus on my diet, if it's a "good" number I strut my way through my lifts. My method of actual progress tracking is comparing my gym selfies and trusting that if I keep lifting heavy and continuing to eat better I'll get there eventually.

 

[tina_p]

@mippop I started weighing myself before and after I lift in the morning and it usually fluctuates by 1.5 pounds in just an hour which is alarming but then I have to remind myself that I just drank 2 bottles of water.

It's the "holy shit im back to where I started" stuff that really ticks me off. I know dairy (lactose here) and salt make me bloat big time so I try not to think too much if I've, say, eaten a bag of movie popcorn. But it's still really hard to get myself out of the "back to square one' mentality, especially when I've been at it for a couple months already.

 

[dawn16]

@tina_p 5 pounds in 8 weeks is excellent progress, especially at your height. You just can't lose weight as quickly as someone who is taller and heavier, or further from their goal weight. As for your belly, sadly for most of us, this is where fat comes off last. I've been inches like crazy off of my hips, but the belly just hangs onto it. It's normal. Keep at it and you will get there. Be patient!

 

[tina_p]

@dawn16 I guess what's demoralizing is that I'll hit down to like 136, but then a few days later I'm back up to 140! I mean I know that time of day and water intake and etc etc all impact it, but It's such a huge swing that I can't help but think "what the hell is happening to me" :. I wish it were more steady, yenno?

 

[dawn16]

@tina_p Then all you can do is try to alter the way you react to these numbers. How long have you been weighing? I know that I freaked out less with a bump like that the longer I'd been weighing. I look back at my chart, and I have regular bumps, but the line goes steadily downward. Can you engage in some self-talk when you get your number for the day? "My number is based on a number of factors and is meaningless by itself. My number does not define me. I am getting stronger, faster, and leaner." or something like that. Or, and I mean this, get rid of the scale.

 

[tina_p]

@dawn16 Oh I've been weighing myself ever since I got home in July. I knew I was going to be heavy but when I saw I was 12 pounds heavier I was devastated. That's what a 3 month beer-vacation will do to you I guess. :\

I'm seriously considering getting rid of the scale - it's like an addiction. I see it and I HAVE to stand on it, even if its at the end of the day and i 'feel' heavy

 

[sheshe11]

@tina_p Just write it down every time. You will see dramatic changes in weight based on food intake, period and other stuff. I weigh about 120 at 5'6 and am 40 years old. My weight will go up as high as 126 right before my period. It's actually the most predictable symptom that it's going to show up. I hate seeing that number but knowing that it happens every single month and always goes back down helps me deal with not only that fluctuation but with the other food/water/salt related changes as well.

If I'm feeling chubby I hop on the scale to confirm. I've turned it into a game and try to guess my weight based on what I look like in the mirror and how I feel in my clothes. I'm good enough to get it right within half a pound almost all the time! I've worked for years to remove feelings from that number and it's still a work in progress.

 

[dawn16]

@tina_p Get rid of it and see what happens!

 

[edprof]

@tina_p Try a program like Trendweight or HappyScale to keep a running average of your weights; it will show you a trendline without all the noise from crazily different scale measurements

 

[tina_p]

@edprof The LoseIt app has one of these built in! I try to only record my lowest weights on it (or only the weights I clock in on the morning of my rest day ...) and nothing else. I mean... I can see it trending down but the bounces back up happen so much more often than I see the low numbers.

 

[llowca17]

@tina_p Part of what's happening is that you're only seeing the lowest numbers each time then if you tracked every time you weighed in either loseit or a trendline app, you'd see more of the fluctuations and hopefully a little swing each way wouldnt be so disheartening

 

[kenorb]

@edprof Yes! Happy Scale is great!