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Diet help

3,096 Views | 14 Replies | Last: 6 yr ago by Lily09
Lily09
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AG
Hey H&F board,

I'm sorry to post another diet help thread but I wanted to see what suggestions I could get for my situation. I'm a 150lb 29 year old female. I consider myself to be healthy but I always have a layer of fluff.

Long story short, I just finished a diet challenge requiring me to count macros and calories. Well, I lost 3 lbs in a month but most of that was muscle. I always lose muscle. I did InBody testing so that's how I know it was more muscle than fat. This is my third time doing this diet and I've never gained muscle. Never. My macros were set to 30 protein, 30 fat and 40 carb. I was always within 5% of those. I was also within 100 calories of my BMR calories which would increase on work/workout days. I cooked every meal. Weighed and measured. I work out 3-4 times a week with some of those being with weights. (I do Camp Gladiator for my workouts. Using 20lb Dumbbells.) I have a very active job where I'm on my feet all day. I drink water. I've tried cutting out dairy. I drink a protein shake right after workouts.

I'm trying to adjust my diet now to have around 35% protein. I just am not seeing any results. I want to lose body fat. I'm at 28% right now. I've had medical tests done to make sure it's not something else going on (thyroid, I'm not pregnant , etc). I'm starting to think my metabolism has just gone to crap.

Any ideas or suggestions?
thaed137
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I am sure more will have better info on the nutritional side of things but sorry it is so tough. I have struggled to find a way to lose weight and have only recently seen any success. One of the things I found out was that my body almost simply refuses to lose weight when I mainly weight lift. Whether body goes into survival and retains more water weight or what, I just couldn't lift enough, even HIIT type workouts, to really help. I forced myself to get into running more and doing more low/medium intensity workouts longer than the HIIT style stuff because my body simply does not respond to that effectively.

Simply put, everyone's body is different and will respond to different diets and workouts differently. Tracking your macros is good and having an active lifestyle is great, keep that up. Only advice I can give is that one month means nothing in the long term of things and to not worry too much of 3 lbs is muscle vs fat, I don't believe the machines are truly that accurate. Keep working hard, maybe try different heart rate levels so its more fat burn vs. aerobic levels during your workouts and see if that helps.
Twelfthman
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How many calories were you consuming during your recent diet challenge? How many grams of protein? You'll want to eat at least a gram of protein per lb of weight. 28% body fat is just outside "ideal" for women, as they naturally carry about 10% more essential body fat than men. Typically you will lose some muscle during a cut if you're not brand new to lifting but you should be losing body fat as well.

I use this calculator for macros/calories and I was losing about 1.5 lbs per week when I was cutting.
Aggietaco
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FYI, studies have shown .75g/lb of body weight is more than sufficient protein intake at any time (bulk, cut, maintenance).
BAT2007
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Dang Lily, I'm sorry you didn't have the results you hoped for on CGFit this time around. I've definitely been there before. The very first challenge I did years ago (when we did the hydrostatic testing) I followed everything to a T and measured everything I ate and didn't "cheat" once (they had pretty strict rules on those challenges at the time).
I was so excited to test for my results and the scale showed 5lbs lost....and then I dunked and found it was 5lbs of muscle. I cried

That being said, last year when we did Total Transformation, I used my new numbers from that test and upped my workouts and my weights. I dropped 13lbs of fat and gained 3lbs of muscle.
I struggle to get my protein in every day...I'm a carb lover! Therefore, I make it my goal to hit my protein amount every day (some days are better than others) to help minimize muscle loss while trying to lose fat.

Long story long, it may take some adjusting to figure out what numbers work best for you. Not everyone responds well to a set 40/40/30 or 50/25/25 breakdown of macros, so using the calculator mentioned above may help to give you some new goals.

Since you said that you are active all day long at work and lost muscle during this challenge, then in my opinion (no I am not a certified nutritionist) your calories are too low for your activity level (3-4 workouts/week + active job) It may sound counter-intuitive, but every time I lost muscle the nutritionist and my trainer would recommend increasing my calories.
P.U.T.U
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Are you hungry when you eat and what kinds of food are you eating? How much water do you drink?
Lily09
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thaed137- Thank you for your reply. I've thought about going back to more running. I feel like I'm so out of shape even though I do these crazy workouts many times a week. Weight has been an issue all of my life and I've never figured out what works. I'm a constant yoyo dieter.

Twelfthman- I would eat about 2000 calories a day. This was based on a formula provided by the nutritionist. I'm pretty active and I've had issues in the past of being told I've basically starved myself because I lost too much muscle. Protein was about 140-150g. I'll take a look at the calculator. Thanks for your input.

BAT2007- Yeah. CG Fit let me down this time. I've done Total Transformation twice. Lost 8 lbs my first time with 6 lbs being muscle loss. I was told to up my protein. I followed everything they told me. Second time I had great results. I lost 6 lbs with all of that being fat. Muscle didn't change. I was also under a ton of wedding stress so I'm sure that helped. I immediately put that weight back on though. I went with what they recommeded this time around and really focused on protein. I still lost muscle. I'm concerned that I do need to increase my calories. I just can't find the balance.

PUTU- I'm starving by the time it's meal time. I try to break up my meals into smaller, more frequent, but my job messes that up most days. I try my best to get at least 1/2 my body weight in oz for water.

Breakfast: oats, banana, blueberries, coffee, sometimes eggs

Snacks for the day: protein shake, fruit, Ezekiel bread with PB, Greek yogurt.

Lunch/Dinner: protein and veggie. Chicken, lean ground turkey, lean ground beef. I'll add in brown rice or Quinoa if my macros are off. A lot of salads. I just try to balance my macros.
jopatura
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I have seen research that if you have an active job, you need to throw out those calories if you're trying to actively lose weight. The body gets used to that activity level so to speak so you really have to push farther past that activity level. That's why you see fat retail workers, fat construction crews, etc.

I would guess that if you took out the work-burned calories, you're not burning enough working out to balance calories in.
JoCoAg09
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I would reduce your calories by a couple hundred/day. Do that for a few weeks and see if anything changes.
74Ag17
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My 2 cents ... more protein, less carbs, less calories.
Ragoo
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jopatura said:

I have seen research that if you have an active job, you need to throw out those calories if you're trying to actively lose weight. The body gets used to that activity level so to speak so you really have to push farther past that activity level. That's why you see fat retail workers, fat construction crews, etc.

I would guess that if you took out the work-burned calories, you're not burning enough working out to balance calories in.
I don't necessarily agree. The best shape I was ever in was during college working building materials retail at Lowe's. I was walking all the time, lifting lumber and concrete bags. After 2 years I was down to 155 or less and solid muscle.
Rudyjax
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Eat 1.2 BMR everyday. If you work out for more than 2 hours, eat until full. Continue to work out, use the heavy weights. Don't pay attention to the scale nor the inbody test.

That will do it, in my opinion. But I'm not a RD or nutritionist.
Tailgate88
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Quote:

Breakfast: oats, banana, blueberries, coffee, sometimes eggs


Try skipping your breakfast meal and do Intermittant Fasting 8/16 on the rest of your day. After 30 years of your dieting on every fad diet there is I started 8/16 four days a week and reducing total calories to 600 two days a week (5/2 fast) and I have dropped 35 pounds and feel amazing. I will have a long post about this one day soon here but long story short I think most adults should eat like this. Tons of healt benefits with the happy side effect of your body returning to it's natural healthy weight.
P.U.T.U
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The more research being done on intermediate fasting the better it is looking. Not only does it help with weight loss but "resets" your cells and studies are showing it decreases the cancerous cells in your body.

Plus it keeps you on track with what you are eating, you should have no problem not eating for 16 hours as long as you are getting enough fat. Eat a carb heavy diet and you may start feeling a bit hangry when you start fasting.
option short side
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Tailgate88 said:

Quote:

Breakfast: oats, banana, blueberries, coffee, sometimes eggs


Try skipping your breakfast meal and do Intermittant Fasting 8/16 on the rest of your day. After 30 years of your dieting on every fad diet there is I started 8/16 four days a week and reducing total calories to 600 two days a week (5/2 fast) and I have dropped 35 pounds and feel amazing. I will have a long post about this one day soon here but long story short I think most adults should eat like this. Tons of healt benefits with the happy side effect of your body returning to it's natural healthy weight.
I can't wait to read it. I have been considering IF for awhile.
Lily09
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Thank you for your suggestion. I might give this a try. I can't wait to read about your experience!
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