Struggling to lose weight, 22 y/o female, 131 lbs

I

iamactullygabenist

New member
Hello! This is my first post here!

I am a 22 y/o female in college. I have fluctuated between 130-135lbs for the past 5ish years. I am not fat nor overweight but I have not been able to shed the extra fat that I have stored. I have gone through periods of time where I do not exercise and eat anything I want (fast food, high calorie snacks, pastas, cookies, you name it) and do not gain weight. When I have tried to lose weight, I have tracked my calories, figured out my TDEE, BMR, eat clean, and workout 4-5x per week and see not weight change. I understand that the scale does not always matter but I also take measurements/photos and there is also minimal/no change. This January (2020) I decided that I wanted to give myself amble time to lose a few pounds and tone up for my Spring Break trip (March 8th). I am eating between 1,200-1,300 calories a day with a few cheat days here and there, I am doing HIIT exercises, and walking on an incline of 12 and speed of 3 on the treadmill. I feel like I am stuck, no weight have been lost, and there has been no visible change to my body. I cut down on alcohol as I know that is unhealthy and am just lost as what I need to do.

My stats:

Height: 5' 4"

Bust: 34

Waist: 29

Hips: 35

Thigh: 20.5

Arm: 9.5

Calves: 13.5

Current Weight: 132

I know that I am considered skinny, but my stomach is where I hold my weight as it juts out.

Any help and advice will be greatly appreciated.
 
@iamactullygabenist I went from 132 to 112 in about 6 months, for the first two months I ate 1200 calories and did 20 minutes of cardio every day, my weight dropped like crazy.

After that I started lifting and eating regular calories (1800-2000 depending on how much activity I get). I have maintained 112 for about 5 months now!

I recommend only one cheat day a week if you're trying to eat at 1200, because the weekly amounts count too. Take it easy, try to eat homemade, healthy but low cal meals like stir frys & only drink water and tea! :)

Good luck.
 
@iamactullygabenist You need to lift weights. I'm 42, F, 5'4", 135. Focus less on the number and build muscle, it's the look you are trying to achieve by being skinnier. See megsquats for short girl fitness.
 
@iamactullygabenist Two things could be at play here 1) you’re not actually in a calorie deficit, and thus not losing weight or 2) you periodically lose weight, but you don’t have muscle shape and so you don’t like how your look is changing and thus can’t stay motivated.

It may take some experimenting and soul searching to figure out what your problem is. If 1 is the problem, try weighing all your food. Also, make sure you aren’t at too low of a deficit daily because that will increase your likelihood of binging or overeating on cheat meals and throw off your overall calories. Starvation mode isn’t a thing, but binge eating in response to restriction is.

If you think 2 could be the problem, I would recommend you add some weightlifting to your routine. I lost some weight by diet and cardio alone and felt like I had just become a smaller version of what I already looked like. Which was fine, but it didn’t change my shape very much. You could add in squats, deadlifts, hip thrusts, chin-ups, push-ups, lat pull downs. These will give you shape to your upper and lower body to visually balance your middle and make you look more hourglass-like. You will also likely lose fat if you build some muscle and you’ll be able to eat more calories everyday. Win-win.
 
@dawn16 Yes!! go do strengthtraining, gain muscle which burns more calories and creates a better shape to the body! Yes, cardio burns more calories, but it wont shape the body like lifting heavy does. Both cardio and strength training should be part of a workout routine.

Edit: For reference im 158cm tall (think that is 5'1-5'2) and fluctuate between 56-60kg. I do powerliftng 4-5 times a week and cardio 3-4 times (cardio is incline walking or a moderate bikeride, I dont do intense cardio or anything like HIIT). I eat 2000-2500 kcal a day. No, I dont come from an athletic background, and actually I have lost 45kg over a 4 year timeline. I used to weigh 100kg.
 
@dawn16 I'll second this. Trying to lose fat through cardio and calorie restriction alone is a miserable way to live. Lifting will give you more definition, raise your metabolism, and likely help your cardio performance. And lift heavy, low weight/high reps aren't going to do much.
 
@teriinnevada As a short lady, strength training is the one place where i feel strong, confident, and happy with my body no matter what i look like that day. Would absolutely recommend for anyone who feels frustrated with their body.
 
@iamactullygabenist I am also 5’4, when you say some cheat days here and there, how many days a week does that end up being?

Also do you eat your exercise calories back? How many days do you exercise?

How do you count your calories? Do you weigh your food?
 
@deeoh By cheat days I mean like one/two meals a week. I eat healthy all week and then say on Friday I'll go out for dinner and maybe dinner on Saturday. But it is not always twice a week, usually once, and when I do it is usually sushi or I try to chose something healthier.

I do not eat my calories back as I read that you should not in order to lose weight. I am working out about 5 times a week for about an hour. I tend to do 30-45 minutes of HIIT by Chloe Ting on Youtube and then 15-30 minutes of cardio by walking at an incline/running.

I count my calories by inputting everything into MyFitnessPal and weight my food before putting it into MyFitnessPal.
 
@iamactullygabenist Putting your stats in online to get your TDEE on sedentary I get 1612. If you average around 1250 6x a week and eat 200 over on your cheat day your weekly deficit from food is around 1972 or just over a half a lb, and 200 over IMO would be a pretty moderate cheat day even sushi can add up pretty quick. With exercise you should be losing faster but when I was really serious about losing weight I had to get strict with myself about cheat days because I realized they put me into maintenance.

My next question would be how often you’re weighing yourself?
 
@deeoh I used to weight myself everyday but for the past month I’ve been weight myself once a week on Sunday mornings. If I burn around 500 calories a day, would t that also feed into my weekly caloric deficit?
 
@iamactullygabenist Oh my, Sunday’s are the day I avoid weighing. I know it doesn’t work for everyone but I found weighing every day extremely beneficial I got to know how my body reacts to different foods/ increased sugar and it kind of desensitized me to increases. But if daily weigh ins don’t work for you I’d suggest moving them to Friday morning.
 
@iamactullygabenist If your cheat days are usually Friday and Saturday and you weigh on Sunday morning, you may look and feel bloated, or weigh in heavier because you overate a couple days in a row and are retaining water from eating heavily processed, salty foods.

It's hard to eat 'healthy' at a restaurant because restaurants care about making delicious food you want to eat at a cost that still earns them money. I put healthy in quotes there because healthy food is subjective based on your goals, and I think it's detrimental to mental health to moralize food--there are no good or bad foods, or good or bad eating, there are only foods and eating habits that contribute to or deter from our goals. Maybe try a few weeks of zero alcohol and cooking your own meals and see what results you get!

For your height you are already pretty small. You may not see rapid overnight weight loss like some folks on weight loss subs talk about. I don't have a ton of weight to lose either (20-30 lbs), and it's been quite encouraging for me to weigh myself more frequently than once a week, but I hesitate to recommend that because for some people frequent weigh ins can trigger obsessive thoughts and restriction. If you do end up weighing yourself more often, please try to see it as data, not a judgment of your worthiness, hotness, or hard work.

I bet you're already super fucking cute and you're gonna have a great time on spring break. :)
 
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