Cutting advice

[elaina08]

I'm hoping someone can give me ideas here. I took a diet break back at the end of Dec. Jan. where I probably ate 2000 cals/day at least. When I came home from my vacation I started counting cals again and started at about 1600. Lost no weight, no inches. Went to 1500 and again, nothing. Now for two weeks I've been at 1400 and still no loss. Clothes fit the same.

My stats are 5'1, 123lbs. I don't know my bodyfat %. I've been 'stuck' at this number and size for a couple months now despite counting every freakin' thing I put in my mouth and working out.

I workout 3 days a week alternating body parts. I also do cardio 2-3x per week. I do a mix of HITT and steady state.

I know in the past I've maintained at 1800 cals WITH lots of working out.

Any ideas on how to get things moving again ? Thanks heaps !

[elaina08]

I realized it says 5'2 in my profile but I rounded up as I'm 5'1 1/2' :)

[Rowyn]

I'm hoping someone can give me ideas here. I took a diet break back at the end of Dec. Jan. where I probably ate 2000 cals/day at least. When I came home from my vacation I started counting cals again and started at about 1600. Lost no weight, no inches. Went to 1500 and again, nothing. Now for two weeks I've been at 1400 and still no loss. Clothes fit the same.

My stats are 5'1, 123lbs. I don't know my bodyfat %. I've been 'stuck' at this number and size for a couple months now despite counting every freakin' thing I put in my mouth and working out.

I workout 3 days a week alternating body parts. I also do cardio 2-3x per week. I do a mix of HITT and steady state.

I know in the past I've maintained at 1800 cals WITH lots of working out.

Any ideas on how to get things moving again ? Thanks heaps !

If you truly maintain at 1800 and are at 1400 now, that gives you a daily deficit of 400 cals. In one week, you need to have a deficit of just over 3000 cals to lose one pound. You are in a dietary deficit of 2800. This all assumes you correctly log every single thing you put in your mouth (which even when you try really hard is probably off by some every day due to discrepancy in your estimations or in the logger that you use) and that you are right on the money with your assumptions about your cals.

Sometimes it just takes a little bit of tweaking to find the right deficit, I am working on that myself. Its VERY hard the closer you get to goal, easier when you have more weight to lose.

[elaina08]

Thank-you for replying Roywn!!

I don't count veggies but I always leave about 100 cals extra for them and other little extra bits. The only thing I thought might be putting me over is my 'lean ground beef'. I buy all my meat from a farm and they say it's 'lean' but who knows.

You are so right about it becoming more difficult to get it off. At the beginning I ate a ton of food and the scale went down every week 2-3lbs. To not moving at all. So frustrating!

I'm going to try switching up my routine a bit as I'm off work for a couple weeks. Doing cardio in the morning and weights in the afternoon .. see if that get's it going. I really don't want to lower my calories :)

Would you mind telling me what your calorie level is right now ? How much cardio do you do ?

Thanks again for replying!

[Rowyn]

Thank-you for replying Roywn!!

I don't count veggies but I always leave about 100 cals extra for them and other little extra bits. The only thing I thought might be putting me over is my 'lean ground beef'. I buy all my meat from a farm and they say it's 'lean' but who knows.

You are so right about it becoming more difficult to get it off. At the beginning I ate a ton of food and the scale went down every week 2-3lbs. To not moving at all. So frustrating!

I'm going to try switching up my routine a bit as I'm off work for a couple weeks. Doing cardio in the morning and weights in the afternoon .. see if that get's it going. I really don't want to lower my calories :)

Would you mind telling me what your calorie level is right now ? How much cardio do you do ?

Thanks again for replying!

I am at 1400 right now, I have been losing between 1.5-2 lbs but I just started and expect that to level off to a lb a week now that some of the water weight is gone. I don't do any cardio currently, it makes me too hungry.

What are your goals? If its purely weight loss, then getting your diet dialed in should set that in order. Some people find it helpful to take a short break from the deficit and go back up to maintenance for a few weeks, then restart their deficit. It seems to help with those last pounds. Others do a carb cycling type of thing when things hit a real rut and their deficit is not working as efficiently. For me, I still have a ways to go and a plain ole deficit with proper macros works fine.

[Aurora]

There is more to dieting than just calorie counting. eating 1400 cals of donuts isnt going to be very effective for example. Thats extreme but you know what I mean. specific details are required such as what you are eating, at what times for how long have you been dieting etc, and what exactly your activity level is. If you submit this info in the form of a journal it can help paint a bigger picture.

[5more]

Perhaps you should look into getting a bodybugg. A helpful tool for some. I personally don't have one, but if I was stuck and needed a more accurate way of tracking calories in vs. out I would consider.

[elaina08]

I'm not meticulous with my diet .. not as I should be. I have in the past and it messes with my a head abit .. I do know I make sure I get my protein requirements. It's just say I want an orange .. but it doesn't 'fit' just right for the day. I'm going to make it fit in m calories because regardless if it messes up my fat/carb intake .. I don't want to be ruled by my food. Don't want to live that way again. I don't think eating should be complicated. I've read a lot on here to just 'eat for your goals' .. meaning eat more to gain and eat less to lose. For now I'm sticking to that. Maybe if I don't move for another month I'll get more anal with my macro's.

A journal .. hmm .. good idea ..

I've read about those bodybug's on here before. Some say they aren't accurate. Maybe I can find one really inexpensive on amazon just to see. Thanks for the advice !