New here, need some help!

[vanessahan]

Hello everyone! I am new here. I have been lifting weights 2 or 3 days per week for like 5 months and the recent month I started doing Turbo Jam 4 or 5 days per week. Before I started working out, my weight was about 118lb and now I am 124lb. I am kind of upset about gaining weight. I think I can see the changes of my body (tighter and more defined) but I still want to cut more fat and get lean. What bothers me more is that I have been doing Turbo Jam for over a month but my body hasn't changed.

I never really changed my diet habit but I normally don't eat too much. I don't drink pop, don't eat ice cream or something like that. Fried food once a week or two weeks.

I want to loose about 10 to 15lbs, cut fat and get lean. I don't know what I should do now. Lifting? keep doing turbo jam? change my diet? Hope you guys can give me some advice! I am so confused now....

Thank you all!

[MORPHer]

Hello everyone! I am new here. I have been lifting weights 2 or 3 days per week for like 5 months and the recent month I started doing Turbo Jam 4 or 5 days per week. Before I started working out, my weight was about 118lb and now I am 124lb. I am kind of upset about gaining weight. I think I can see the changes of my body (tighter and more defined) but I still want to cut more fat and get lean. What bothers me more is that I have been doing Turbo Jam for over a month but my body hasn't changed.

I never really changed my diet habit but I normally don't eat too much. I don't drink pop, don't eat ice cream or something like that. Fried food once a week or two weeks.

I want to loose about 10 to 15lbs, cut fat and get lean. I don't know what I should do now. Lifting? keep doing turbo jam? change my diet? Hope you guys can give me some advice! I am so confused now....

Thank you all!

Hi Vanessahan!

When I read what you wrote above, the one thing that sticks out to me is where you said "I normally don't eat too much". This could be why you're having trouble losing the weight.

If you do not eat enough calories, it is possible your body is going into "starvation mode". This means that since it doesn't know when it's next meal is coming, or how much food it will be, it goes into safe mode and stores whatever you're eating in order to keep it in reserves.

To get past this, you must eat more often, and stay on a schedule (depending on how much you actually eat, this could actually mean eating more too).

Try to eat every 3 - 4 hours, and make sure there is protein in every meal. For snacks, sometimes a few apple slices and a bit of peanut butter does the trick, so don't mistake "more meals" to mean that much more food.
As always, make sure the food is considering the proper portions of protein fats and carbs.

Don't be afraid of fats! Your body needs healthy fats to function properly! Just stay away from bad fats!

I know it sounds odd, but I did this for a friend who had the same problem. She ended up eating MORE food, and has consistently been losing weight now that she's on the meal plan I set up for her. Especially since you're active and lifting, you could really benefit from the nutrition end of it.

Like they say, you can do all the hard work you want in the gym, but if you're not eating right, you won't see results.

If you feel you might benefit, I'd be happy to help you out with some meal plan examples if you'd like?

[vanessahan]

Hi Vanessahan!

When I read what you wrote above, the one thing that sticks out to me is where you said "I normally don't eat too much". This could be why you're having trouble losing the weight.

If you do not eat enough calories, it is possible your body is going into "starvation mode". This means that since it doesn't know when it's next meal is coming, or how much food it will be, it goes into safe mode and stores whatever you're eating in order to keep it in reserves.

To get past this, you must eat more often, and stay on a schedule (depending on how much you actually eat, this could actually mean eating more too).

Try to eat every 3 - 4 hours, and make sure there is protein in every meal. For snacks, sometimes a few apple slices and a bit of peanut butter does the trick, so don't mistake "more meals" to mean that much more food.
As always, make sure the food is considering the proper portions of protein fats and carbs.

Don't be afraid of fats! Your body needs healthy fats to function properly! Just stay away from bad fats!

I know it sounds odd, but I did this for a friend who had the same problem. She ended up eating MORE food, and has consistently been losing weight now that she's on the meal plan I set up for her. Especially since you're active and lifting, you could really benefit from the nutrition end of it.

Like they say, you can do all the hard work you want in the gym, but if you're not eating right, you won't see results.

If you feel you might benefit, I'd be happy to help you out with some meal plan examples if you'd like?

Hi MORPHer,

Thank you so much for your advice! I know my diet is one of my problems but I was afraid of eating too much. I used to eat really really little. So my body was always in the "starvation mode"... After that, I could never lose weight by eating less and i gain weight quite easily if i eat more.... ugh...

That would be great if you could help me out with some meal plan examples! Thanks a lot~

[dawued]

Hey V,
Don't be afraid to eat, as long as what you eat is clean. Morpher is right. You have to feed your body if you want it to burn the exra calories which would eventually be the extra fat. Your stats are pretty good so you really don't have to lose weight but if makes you happy then go for it. Have you tried shocking your body with a change of a routine?

[vanessahan]

Thanks, Dawued! Yes, I have been trying to change a routine after like several weeks.

[KimPossible98]

You must know your diet macros before you do any of this. Otherwise it's all wasted effort.

Start here:

http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=121703921

Let us know if you're totally confused. :)

[KimPossible98]

Don't be afraid to eat, as long as what you eat is clean.

I also wanted to say that this is wrong.

It doesn't matter what you are eating as long as you hit the macros, which you need to calculate in the link I posted above.

[thepowerwithin]

If you're gaining weight, then you are consuming too many calories.

This may or may not apply, but if you've been doing some crazy or prolonged dieting, then you may benefit by figuring out your maintenance calories (through the sticky KimPossible gave you) and stick to that for several weeks to repair your metabolism.

Afterwards, if your goal is to get lean, then your focus should be on eating at a reasonable deficit consistently for a good 6-8 weeks before you see significant changes while on a good, solid lifting program and throw in some cardio, but no need to go crazy with it if your calories are right.

BTW, forget about starvation mode. This term/idea has been highly embellished and may apply in response to famine conditions and/or severe calorie restriction for a prolonged period of time, not just from regular dieting.

[sonti]

Most people overeat and don't realize (this hit me like a brick wall going down to 1500-ish calories, lol). I suggest measuring & tracking your food for a while, you will be surprised.

[vanessahan]

You must know your diet macros before you do any of this. Otherwise it's all wasted effort.

Start here:


Let us know if you're totally confused. :)

Thanks for pointing this out!

So I did the calculations. However, I don't know my BF%.
I used Mifflin-St Jeor equation and my BMR = 1264
I multiplied it by 1.5 and got the total calories = 1896
to lose weight, i subtracted 20% of the total calories and got 1516 calories
I used 1500 calories to calculate how much P/F/C I need:

P = 1 x 124lb = 124g
124g x 4 = 496 calories (33%)

F = 0.5 x 124lb = 62g
62g x 9 = 558 calories (37%)

C = 1500 - 496 - 558 = 446 calories (30%)
446/4 = 111.5g

hmmmm, I don't know how accurate this is...

[vanessahan]

BTW, does anyone go up size of clothes after starting working out? I was "XS" (tops) before and now I am "S".

[naomitiffany]

BTW, does anyone go up size of clothes after starting working out? I was "XS" (tops) before and now I am "S".

This could be due to muscle gain. I had to go from XS tops to S because the sleeves became too tight around my arms.