STS this week and peeved!!

[syren]

that's the great thing about this forum .. you can try different things and seek advice from other people.. then it's just figuring out what is best for you

 

[minirog]

Thanks for all your responses. Sorry, I'm so late checking back in - bad forum etiquette!

I am currently eating 1500 cals a day and attempting to reach a burn of 3000 calories a day (I'm exercising a fair bit, even though I have asedentary life in general if you see what I mean) - so a calorie deficit of 1500 a day.

This week (when I've sts) I had two days where I equalled my burn and so didn't have a deficit at all, but then 5 days where I exercised my bum off and managed between a 1400 and 1700 deficit a day.

This sts week really doesn't make sense to me

I was doing weight watchers before, but as I am trying to work out a burn deficit I need to know calories and not just points.

Last week I lost 3 lbs and this week nothing???

 

[CatCrazy]

What exercise are you doing? Have you taken measurements? With that sort of calorie burn could you be building muscle?

In theory you should be losing weight on 1500 calories without even exercising but I know that not everyones body reads the text books!

When did you start the exercising or when did you up it a level - if its recent, the last couple of weeks, then it could be that your muscles are retaining fluids and whatever for repair and to fuel the next work out. If its not a recent change are you doing lots of repetitions as this is likely to be building muscle. Sorry for all the questions fired at you

Cat

 

[WelshCake]

Wow 3,000 calories a day? It takes me an hour to burn 500 and I thought I was doing well, what exercises are you doing?

 

[Tink1987]

Cats right hun, you really need to look at the kind of excerise you are do. I understand muscle burns calories and fat quicker but do you have quite a bit of weight to lose before target? (sorry I am on the iPhone app so can't see your stats). If you do, I would lay off the muscle build/weight machines for a bit. At the moment I am just doing cardio and a few leg and arm weight machines in my work out. Personally, at the end of the day I don't want to be muscular and fat! I want to get my fitness levels up first

Hope this helps, I'm really sorry if it sounds a bit preachy x x

 

[Neonshock]

If you are doing all that excersize also, are you having some protein? Or what does your diet at the moment look like? That might be an idea?

 

[minirog]

Sorry guys, just to be clear - the 3,000 burn includes my static burn as well - so only an additional 1,400 calories from exercise and generally walking more!

I have recently upped my exercise (in the past month or so) I do 2 hours in the gym most days and 3 classes a week. In the gym I just do cardio, but the classes include toning. I was told in the gym this week that I need to do less cardio (as after an hour it stops being effective) and more weight training. Before this regieme I was jogging most days for about 5k (so about 40 mins), but now I've taken it all indoors!

In terms of food, I know i eat way too many carbs. I tend to eat about 50% of my calories in carbs, 25% in fats and 25% in protein. Could you guys give me some tips on how this should look please?

I'm so frustrated as I feel like I'm working my butt off and yet this week saw no results.

 

[Inge Jones]

IMHO it's best to forget the calculators. Weigh and count calories for everything you eat for 4 weeks (will cover any unevenness caused by monthly cycle). Keep doing your normal amount of exercise. After 4 weeks see what weight you lost or gained, and count up how many calories you ate. If you put on weight or stayed the same reduce the calories by 3500 times the number of pounds more you would have liked to lose - within reason. Most people agree that 2lb a week is a good rate of loss. Then divide by 28 and that is how many calories *you personally* need to cut out per day.

 

[CatCrazy]

only an additional 1,400 calories from exercise and generally walking more!

Only?...lol!

Ok, my take after much reading the last few months is based on the way body builders do it

With the amount of exercise you are doing I think you should up your protein levels... try 40 carbs 20 fat 40 protein (within your calorie range) but totally avoid any fats in your post workout snack/meal. You should also have your post workout food asap after working out to get the max benefit.

Carbs after working out will replace the glycogen in your muscles, this generally then leads to a better weightloss...its the system body builders use to get rid of as much body fat as possible. It might also benefit you to have a couple of days at higher calories (only 200-300) mainly coming from good carbs (brown rice, sweet potatoes etc) to replenish your muscles. I did this recently after a static and lost 5lbs the following week and I'm not burning anywhere close to what you are.

Ultimately you are still calorie counting but switching the percentages round may help you as you are working out a lot.
Switch your %'s round and do what Inge suggested, i'm pretty sure you'll see a loss just sticking with it but if not come back and post a food and exercise diary

 

[Little Noo]

Just wanted to echo wat CatCrazy said - 40% carbs, 40% protein and 20% good fats (olive oil, avocado, nuts etc) is what I've heard is best too.

I have a personal trainer and he is very big on getting the right nutrition after a workout - so carbs and protein immediately following a workout followed by regular small servings of protein over the next 24hrs (nuts, seeds, lean meat, dairy etc).

I'm not really following it as much right now because I don't want to put on any more muscle but at one point I was making sure I ate over 70g of protein a day - which I actually found quite hard.

It definitely worked though - I have gone from being able to lift only around 10kg to 30kg in around 2 months. Now i'm more interested in stripping fat, but obviously having more muscle it will be easier to do.

What type of cardio do you do? My trainer recommends high intensity interval training early in the morning, as it boosts your metabolism for the rest of the day. I've been using the rower to do sprints - so I'll do 100 metres as fast as possible then rest (i.e. row very very slowly) for 50 metres x10.

I'm seeing him again tomorrow so I'll see if I can pick up anymore tips as I'm gonna try and go it alone until after xmas.

Keep it up hun and I'm sure you'll start seeing some good results xxx

 

[syren]

if you are doing that much exercise at the gym you are most likely losing inches and gaining muscle which is probably the reason for the static.. it frustrating cuz we NEED to see the scale drop to feel like we're losing weight.

Start measuring yourself so even if you have a static week you can gauge your progress with inches lost and it'll make you feel tons better !