Looking for advise

[DestinDreamn]

I've watched the great results many of you have achieved over the years that I have been a member here, and I'm breaking down and asking for help.

Ok, I've been pretty much stalled out since the first of year. Looking back at my weight tracking on thedailyplate, I've lost a total of 6 pounds since Feb 7th. My measurements haven't changed all that much either, which really bugs me. I'll have to look at my log book at home, but I can post later exactly what my inches lost are for that time frame.

My current stats are, 5'7, 202 pounds. My body fat using the hand held thing was 38 when it was checked a couple of weeks ago, so I've got lots of fat to burn. I'm medium framed, short legs and long torso. Carry my weight pretty evenly, but most of it is in my legs. I don't really have a goal weight per se, I just know in my mind how I want to look and I want to see some muscle.

I've been working out with a trainer since Oct 1st and she can't figure out why I'm not losing more. I recently had my thyroid tested, and it came back within the normal range.

I'm in the gym 6 days a week. Mon - Wed - Fri I do a circuit my trainer puts together for me. It includes supersets of heavy lifting, and lighter lifting with lunges, plyos, core work, etc. Pretty much head to toe resistance training with cardio. She changes it up by increasing weights and reps over a 6 week period, then at the end of the 6 weeks gives me a completely different workout to do. They range between 45 to 60 mins to complete. On Tuesdays I take a 35 min spin class, Thursdays are usually 60 mins SS on the treadmill with hill climbs, Saturdays is HIIT on the treadmill or eliptical. Plus I try to walk to the gym so that adds another 1 1/2 miles daily.

I track my food on the daily plate. She has me doing a 40/40/20. I net between 1500 and 1600 calories daily. Thats after subtracting out my workout calories burned. According to thedailyplate, I should be losing 2 pounds a week with what I'm doing. I try to get everything I need from whole foods, but have a real hard time getting the calories in, so I do use EAS Whey Protein Shakes and Lean Dessert Protein Shakes. I take a Multi Vitamin, and the doc just put me on a prescription strength Vit D because it was very low.

My menu from today will be like this
B- Oatmeal with Protein Powder
S - LF Cottage Cheese with Strawberries and Blackberries, Protein Shake
L - 6 oz Chicken Breast with 1/2 cup Brown Rice and Brocolli
S - Egg whites with tomato and peppers
D - 6 oz Tilapia with Salsa and Salad Greens with Peppers, Feta and Bals Ving.
S - Tuna on Whole Wheat wrap.

So am I doing to much, not doing enough. I think I've covered everything, if you need further info let me know. I have seen gains in the amount of weight I can lift, and how much stronger my core is since I started back in Oct, I'm just not seeing the physical transformation that I want.

TIA!

[Jenn_in_NJ]

What were your thyroid results?

Tough call, seems like something should be working, although I'm not sure about the subtracting calories burned during workout. Maybe you should reconsider doing that. You also may not be a 40/40/20 person.

[DestinDreamn]

Thanks for the reply.

I've been playing phone tag with the Doctor. I'm wanting to know exactly what the thyroid test came back as. They said it was in normal range, but have read that if it is on the high end of normal, there can still be issues.

I have wondered about the 40/40/20 as well. I've been eating the calories back, because I would be below 1000 on most days if I didn't, and that didn't work either.

My trainer told me to cut back on the cardio, not to do any HIIT or spin classes. She is worried I'm not getting enough calories since I'm wore out by 4pm everyday. ( I think I had forgotten to post that in my OP. ) So instead of eating more, she wants me to cut the cardio back and stick with steady state for 45 mins a day 5 times a week to see if that helps any. She wants to go this route because I have a hard time getting the calories in that I do now.

[stargrabber]

You are starving your body so it will hold onto everything it can ....it is a defense mechanism.

I wouldn't go and have not gone lower then 10x BW.

[DestinDreamn]

Originally Posted by stargrabber

You are starving your body so it will hold onto everything it can ....it is a defense mechanism.

I wouldn't go and have not gone lower then 10x BW.

10x body weight, so at 202 pounds I should 2020 calories? Am I understanding that correctly?

TIA!!

[stargrabber]

I never calculated it since my coach sends me my plan but that is his advice he gives as the LOWEST to go! If you want wait for Ileen to pop in and see what she says.

I have never felt deprived or not made progress either working with these numbers. (31 weeks 43#'s lost and over 42 inches lost)

[mmam5]

45 Min of cardio 5x a week is a LOT of cardio ... Can you get your PT to maybe just do the 45 min on opposite days of the weight training? That would give your body time to heal ...

mm - your menu looks yummy btw

I agree with you SG - Erik has done wonders with you and Ileen ... I've gotten the wonderful opportunity to learn 2nd hand from ya'll ... right now I'm doing about 11xBW and losing at a nice slow and steady pace... not feeling deprived is a key component in all of this ... if you are satieted and still have energy at the end of the day, then it is a plan you will stay with.

It sounds like your PT wants you to succeed, so maybe see what they think about doing a P40/c30/f30 plan and maybe upping the cals a tad ...

[inatic]

I second what Marci and Star have said.
I'd actually start at bw x 12. No reason to send your cals down that low so fast.

WHen was the last time you took a break.. diet and training. I'd suggest you eat at maintainance cals for two weeks. That would be body wt x 14-15. You are going to likely gain a bit of wt that will fall back off when you begin dieting. At that time, i suggest you up start at bwx 12. and slowly work them down as necessary.

Your over training.

Also please get ahold of your thyroid test results (paper copy) and post them. Most dr's dont know how to test the thyroid properly and then secondly proclaim anyone in range 'normal' which as many here know isnt optimal.

[DestinDreamn]

Thank you so much guys! I will try again tomorrow to get the test results. I may just call and see if they can fax them to me or stop by there on the way home from work. I'll post it as soon as I get it.

Ok, so to increase calories, how should I go about doing it. Like with the menu I posted from yesterday, do I just eat more of everything? It sounds like something I'll have to work my way up to. I really have a hard time getting everything down now that I do. Are the protein shakes ok? I can easily drink more if that would help.

I try to have one cheat meal a week. Usually on a night that I have worked out with my PT. I haven't taken days off though since Christmas, and that was only for a week. (Christmas to New Years). I had 5 days off from training the first week of April because I got sick.

I had sent my trainer Eriks blog that Inatic had posted awhile back for someone else that talked about the maintenance calories for two weeks. She agreed, but was just concerned that I couldn't eat that much, so she asked me to cut out the HIIT and Spin Classes to preserve calories. I think she will easily agree to cuting out the 3 days of cardio on weight training days, because I'm doing plyos in that work out. I too thought it was too much when she told me that last night.

Thank you guys again for sharing your knowledge with me.

[Jenn_in_NJ]

I wanted to post last night but it got late and I had to get up early.

Is thedailypate like Fitday? How many calories are you eating a day, not subtracting no eating back (I still don't understand this, is this a new thing?) When I look at your menu it looks like at least 2000 cals to me but there's really no measurements so it's hard to tell.


6lbs is almost a lb a week, how many inches have you lost? Scale isn't always the best measurement. When are you measuring? What's the cheat meal like? When I have a cheat it takes a few days for my body to readjust.

Is that 5 days a week for cardio or 3? I think I am reading it wrong.

Any other medical things, like PCOS?

[DestinDreamn]

thedaily plate is like fitday. the theory in eating back what you burn is that your "diet" is already set to lose 2 lbs a week at 1523 calories, without counting excercise calories. If you don't eat them back then you will net below 1200. Some people on there count their exercise in their daily activity level, which I believe I'm going to start doing as well since it is a constant. Right now my daily activity level is set at lightly active, because I work a desk job the I track my workouts on there. I believe thats putting me to low.

Before subtracting out exercise I average around 1800 calories a day.

The 6lb loss has been over 14 weeks. So it works out to less than a pound a week.

I'm measuring around the 3rd week of the month. My DH has been the one to take them and the only drop was in my chest last month (1 inch) when he measured, everything else the same. My trainer is going to do it for me next week to make sure he is doing it right.

My trainer wants me to now do steady state cardio 5 times a week. On days I weight train, she said to do it 30 mins. On my off Days to do it 45. She changed me to this after my first post on Wednesday. I was doing Spin on Tuesday, 60 mins of steady state on Thursday and 25 mins of HIIT on Saturdays. She doesn't want me doing spin or HIIT anymore, in hope to conserve some cals. I am going to talk to her about dropping the cardio on my weight days, since I'm doing plyos in my circuit. Sorry for the confusion there.

I had a doctor a few years ago say she thought I had PCOS. She said there was no reason to test for it though. (She was crazy) I have never been tested for it. However, I don't have any of the major symptoms anymore. My periods are like clockwork, I don't have bad acne, (I do get back breakouts, always have), I don't have all the facial hair, etc, etc. At the time my Gyno suggested it, my periods were all over the place and my face was breaking out like crazy. I was quite a bit heavier at the time, and went on Atkins and lost quite a bit of weight. The symptoms went away as well. That why I'm hoping my new doc's will send me on to a endo so I can know once and for all if anything hormonal is going on.

My biggest thing now is I want to make sure everything I can control, that I'm doing my best to do it right. As in eating like I should be and working like I should be. I've invested to much time and I'm not in this to do it half azzed. So starting today I'm working at getting more calories in, and I'm adjusting the cardio.

Thanks again!!!! Your insights are of great help!

I just realized I messed up advice. LOL I put advise. See I am calorie deprived.

[inatic]

your trainer is over training you.

[Jenn_in_NJ]

Originally Posted by DestinDreamn

My biggest thing now is I want to make sure everything I can control, that I'm doing my best to do it right. As in eating like I should be and working like I should be. I've invested to much time and I'm not in this to do it half azzed. So starting today I'm working at getting more calories in, and I'm adjusting the cardio.

Thanks again!!!! Your insights are of great help!

I just realized I messed up advice. LOL I put advise. See I am calorie deprived.

Hopefully adjusting the cardio down?

If you ratchet up the cardio now what happens when you hit another plateau? You'll be doing cardio 7 days a week and still not be at goal.

Don't change too many things at once or you won't know what works. I agree with the others, take a short break from training and eat what you normally eat (maybe skip the cheat meal?) Diet is really the key.

[belleadonna]

Too much cardio and add more fat to your diet!! It won't make you fat. Use whole eggs and not just the whites. You are throwing out the most nutritious part. Add coconut oil to your diet either in smoothies or tea and cook with it.
Read "Eat Fat, Lose Fat if you have the chance.

[DestinDreamn]

Originally Posted by Jenn_in_NJ

Hopefully adjusting the cardio down?

Yep, I should have added the down part.


Thanks for the extra tips guys!

[DestinDreamn]

I finally got my test results on the thyroid.

It was 0.97 . The normal range is 0.45 to 4.50, the lower number being hyper and the higher being hypo. So I'm pretty sure that rules that at.

I've got my calories up to 2500-2600 the past couple of days. Feeling a bit better, but not 100% yet. I've cut back on the amount of cardio to. I'll report back.

[inatic]

um TSH isnt how you test the thyroid

you need FREE t3 and FREE t4. and dont be surprised if your dr wont run it Them in white coats think they know all.

You can read up about thyroid stuff here: Stop The Thyroid Madness Index Page Look at the site map.

I am hypoThyroid myself, i have hashi's. It took me fighting for yrs to get treated.

[DestinDreamn]

Thanks for the link! I'll read over it tonight.

[Jenn_in_NJ]

DestinDreamn, how are things going?

[DestinDreamn]

No downward scale movement yet. I just finished up a couple weeks of higher calories though, and cut back on all the cardio some. Starting tomorrow, I'm going to drop the cals back down some to see if it will start the scale moving downwards again.

I'll keep ya posted!

[inatic]

Good luck! Hang in there.

[DestinDreamn]

Time and consistency is starting to pay off. I'm finally back into onederland. I've lost 4lbs since my first post in this thread, Which has came over the past two weeks. Plus I'm starting to see definition in my arms that I've never had before. I'm continuing to keep my cardio cut back, and I'm constantly trying to keep challenging my muscles with my work outs. It will be time to take measurements again soon, and I'll report on those when I do.

Thanks again guys!

[stargrabber]

good stuff