Recomp instead of losing weight?

[iamjamieq]

Hi, I am trying to lose fat as my GP told me during my last check up that I am borderline obese. I set my goal to lose some weight but specifically fat.

Here were my stats two months ago:
Age 27
Height 147 cm / 4’9”
Weight 64 kg / 141 lbs
Waistline 80 cm / 31 inches
Hips 105 cm / 41 inches
Body fat 44 %
BMR 1180

I set my nutrients at 1300-1400 kcal a day with distribution around:
90 g of proteins
150 g of carbs
40 g of fat
I cook 90 % of my meals and weight them to the last g. Occasional lunch at work or dinner with friends is a guesstimate but that occurs twice a week max. Most of the week it would be only once.

My activity is:
Gym 4-5 times a week with 30-45 min. jogging on threadmill and around 30 min. of weightlifting.
Swimming (1000 meters during 45 min.) or a yoga class once or twice a week
Rest day once or twice a week.
I don’t move that much outside these activities as I am maily on home office.
I sleep around 7-8 h during night and sometimes I do afternoon naps for ~2 h.

After two months I have these results:
Weight 63,5 kg / 140 lbs
Waistline 79 cm / 31 inches
Hips 106 cm / 41 inches
Body fat 43,3 %
As you can see, they kinda look like a within measurement error. I think overal my clother fit a liiiiiitle bit better and there is a slightly better butt/thigh division that I can see. But the pace and some super minor butt gains make me think if I am going through recomp rather than ‘cutting’ phrase.

What I am asking is if this is a normal pace for a petite and if there is anything I could change to make it a little faster? I am okay sticking with it in the long run, it’s just being classified medically as obese scares me a little bit.

Thank you for your input.

 

[fidesetratio]

@iamjamieq Do not get discouraged! I also lose weight really slowly. At this point, I think you should check in with a trainer. I’m actually worried you are working out too much, your hormones are out of wack, and your body is holding onto the weight/fat due to stress.
Good luck!!

 

[iamjamieq]

@fidesetratio Thank you for your reply. I don’t actually have a PT and maybe that’s something I should also invest in. I think overal my body recovers well, so I didn’t think I could over do it. But maybe that’s thanks to strething before and after and also sauna. My sport activities and nutritionist consultations are covered by my employer but sadly not a PT. Do you think this issue is something a few consults would or it’s necessary to actually train with someone for them to analyse this?

 

[fidesetratio]

@iamjamieq I can only speak to my experience but, after one session with a trainer, I learned I wasn't lifting heavy enough and wasn't using progressive overload correctly. I also learned a lot about proper form. Now I track all my exercise on my phone and I can see how much stronger I am. I'm finding non-scale wins to be a lot more motivating!

 

[rodneys]

@iamjamieq Have you talk to your doctor or a dietitian about your calorie intake? It seems extremely low for such a high activity level. Sometimes when you are eating into large of a deficit or to close or under your basal metabolic rate, it can really mess with your hormones and stress your body out which can impact your body’s ability to lose fat. You aren’t going to see significant recomposition or muscle game results eating at such a low calorie intake. Your body needs calories to be able to gain muscle.

 

[iamjamieq]

@rodneys The nutrition distribution was consulted with a professional. She has a master in nutrition and bachelor in pharmacy. Nutrition is not something a doctor would oversee where I am from. My BMR is 1180 according to inbody measurement, so I should be around 200 kcal over my BMR. Is that considered low? My goal now is not recomp but mainly to lose fat while keeping as much muscle I do have now. I understand that more muscle means higher BMR in the long run but that’s not by much. I want to move from obese to overweight at least and then start a recomp.

 

[rodneys]

@iamjamieq In body measurements are notoriously extremely in accurate so I would not take any stock in that. It’s not necessarily unhealthy, but just because you’re above your BMR doesn’t mean you’re at an appropriate calorie intake. For reference, I lost fat it’s 1700 cal and I’m smaller than you and less active. I just think this could be a contributing factor to why you are not losing weight. Calories in calories out is the basics of how it works, but there is a lot of nuance and if you are messing with your hormones by eating too far below your TDEE that can really mess things up. Even if you’re not focus on recomposition or muscle gay now, your calorie intake is still very low and I would question anybody who thinks that this is appropriate with your given activity level. I’m not an expert, but it’s something to consider.

 

[iamjamieq]

@rodneys I was asked to track my intake before to know what I was eating. It came to around 1800 kcal and I subjectively had a feeling of gaining weight. I was advised to eat around 1500-1600 kcal/day which I tried for a month and I didn’t see any results in body fat. After a consult I asked if we could try to cut calories because at the time I didn’t see any room to increase activities due to my school schedule. So that’s what we are doing now and I think it’s moving to the right direction but the pace makes me think. I’ll have another appointment scheduled and ask about opinions presented here.

 

[rodneys]

@iamjamieq They had do you adjust your intake after you didn’t see any change in body fat percentage for a month? That seems very, very odd to me. It’s an extremely short amount of time to be judging a change in body fat percentage, especially again when you take into consideration the inaccuracy of those scans. I just worry that because you were eating at the intake of a sedentary person while you have an extremely high activity level that you’re going to see some negative impacts on your health. It may also be worth having your hormones and thyroid checked now just to make sure those things aren’t impacting your fat loss now

 

[excpomelo]

@iamjamieq I’m not a professional so I can only speak from experience. I’m also 4’9. I’ve lost 40 pounds in total. Your activity level and your calories intake of 1300cal and only losing 1 pound in 2 months sound a little low. The main thing I can think of, Are you tracking your food intake? And are you consistent? As petite at 4’9 our margin error is super low. I was borderline obese too lol and especially in the beginning I was losing at least 1 pound per week. I definitely would NOT suggest going 1200cal. Your calories right now and workout level should have you lose faster. If you are tracking your calories and are consistent the. Maybe you could have a one session with a trainer or get your hormones check, it does seem like something else is going on. Also at 4’9 our weight loss in general is slow AF lol but you sound very active

 

[iamjamieq]

@excpomelo Thank you for your input. I am tracking almost everything to the last gram. Even if I put 4 g of Sriracha on my food, it gets tracked because of a minimal margin I can operate within. I am almost not actuve at all now except for the activities I listed. I used to walk around the city way more but now my job is mainly at home + I am writing my thesis so last two months it’s almost all activity I have. I’ll look up into the hormone check but most of my doctors didn’t find anything during rutine checks. I am not sure where and how to get that (I am from an European country). I do use a tiny bit of corticoids for my autoimmune skin condition but it’s mainly in remission now, so I think I used the cream 3 times during those 2 months. I’ll ask my doctors about possible impact of this on my hormones and weight loss. This seems to be a orevalent opinion in the comments.

 

[dawn16]

@iamjamieq Maybe it's gaining muscle and that's why you aren't seeing much change on the scale. Also if you aren't moving much during the day except for when doing exercise it may be keeping your total calories burnt quite low. I am 5'2 and some days only burn 1600/1700 according to my Apple Watch if I'm not moving much so makes it harder to have a good deficit to lose weight fast.

 

[sneebuck]

@iamjamieq You’re doing great! Our body comps are pretty similar to when I first started. What really helped me was to purposely eat more vegetables and do endurance based exercises (running, long bike rides, swimming) I wouldn’t worry too much on the calorie side of things as long as you eat lots of protein, vegetables and go easy on the sugar

 

[iamjamieq]

@sneebuck Thanks for encouragement! I knew from the start that it would take me at least a year to have real results, I just hoped for some milestones on the way.