What is going on with my body?? Help!

[toyboxx]

Last june I gained 12 lbs, Hopefully some it muscle, I was tryng to ad muscle so some one told me to carb load while your trying to build so i did, now its been over a year and help me god i cannot lose it!, recently ive started doing a lot of cardio, i have been jogging 4 to 5 miles at least 5 days a week so roughly i jog 24 liles a week, and also doing pretty hard core circiut traing 3 days a week. So the last three weeks i have jogged 72 miles, Well i have lost about 1 pound. I have one question, i have been on the keto diet, so only eating 6% carbs, 65% fat @ 1400 cals, a lot of people have told me that wont hurt as long as im eating the high fat, But nothing seems to work, I eat carbs, dont eat carbs, work my butt off or sit on the couch, my fat will not budge. I also measure my self too, still nothing, Do i need to eat more? With jogging alone i have to burn at least 450cals, Please help i feel like crying, and that is a very old pic of me too.

[kfisherx]

Originally Posted by toyboxx

Last june I gained 12 lbs, Hopefully some it muscle, I was tryng to ad muscle so some one told me to carb load while your trying to build so i did, now its been over a year and help me god i cannot lose it!, recently ive started doing a lot of cardio, i have been jogging 4 to 5 miles at least 5 days a week so roughly i jog 24 liles a week, and also doing pretty hard core circiut traing 3 days a week. So the last three weeks i have jogged 72 miles, Well i have lost about 1 pound. I have one question, i have been on the keto diet, so only eating 6% carbs, 65% fat @ 1400 cals, a lot of people have told me that wont hurt as long as im eating the high fat, But nothing seems to work, I eat carbs, dont eat carbs, work my butt off or sit on the couch, my fat will not budge. I also measure my self too, still nothing, Do i need to eat more? With jogging alone i have to burn at least 450cals, Please help i feel like crying, and that is a very old pic of me too.

Wow! Yours is the story of "What not to do" for body recomp. LOL!

Weight loss is about calories in versus calories out first and foremost. If you are not weighing every bite going into your mouth you are most probably eating more than you think you are. There is some slight chance that your body is messed up but most likely you need to stop all the silly cardio that you are doing, go for nice walks instead and figure out how low you need to go food wise to drop weight.

Don't worry too much about anything until you get this number and start to realize some change.

And in MHO I think keto diets suck. Some people do quite well and others just die. If it doesn't seem to make a difference than bring carbs back into your diet. Set your protein at 1g per lb of Target BW, fat at .5g per lb of TBW and fill the rest with carbs. But this macro thing is WAY less important than total calories. Get the calorie thing figured out.

[ms_proteinshake]

Originally Posted by toyboxx

Last june I gained 12 lbs, Hopefully some it muscle, I was tryng to ad muscle so some one told me to carb load while your trying to build so i did, now its been over a year and help me god i cannot lose it!, recently ive started doing a lot of cardio, i have been jogging 4 to 5 miles at least 5 days a week so roughly i jog 24 liles a week, and also doing pretty hard core circiut traing 3 days a week. So the last three weeks i have jogged 72 miles, Well i have lost about 1 pound. I have one question, i have been on the keto diet, so only eating 6% carbs, 65% fat @ 1400 cals, a lot of people have told me that wont hurt as long as im eating the high fat, But nothing seems to work, I eat carbs, dont eat carbs, work my butt off or sit on the couch, my fat will not budge. I also measure my self too, still nothing, Do i need to eat more? With jogging alone i have to burn at least 450cals, Please help i feel like crying, and that is a very old pic of me too.

Wow, how can you run that much on Keto?? I would switch to a more balanced plan. What's your current weight? And is your height correct? I could give you a cutting cals suggestion....based on activity.

[toyboxx]

Oh no, I now exactly everything that goes into my mouth, I enter everything in on fitday.com . I have been using that for about a year, I'm 125lb right now and 5'5 and I'm very small framed. The only thing I can think of is I need to get of the keto diet and go back to 50/30/20 or somthing?

[kfisherx]

Originally Posted by toyboxx

Oh no, I now exactly everything that goes into my mouth, I enter everything in on fitday.com . I have been using that for about a year, I'm 125lb right now and 5'5 and I'm very small framed. The only thing I can think of is I need to get of the keto diet and go back to 50/30/20 or somthing?

Entering in fitday and weighing everything you eat are two different things. You need to STOP all the cardio and crazy stuff to allow your body to have some rest and wrap your head around one simple concept.... calories in versus calories out. Give this 2 months at least. You'll see results.....

Otherwise keep on keeping on with macro manipulation....

[toyboxx]

What do you mean by that, eating your maintenance cal intake?

[kfisherx]

Originally Posted by toyboxx

What do you mean by that, eating your maintenance cal intake?

You are seeking fat loss right? There is one rule that is the rule above all to achieve fat loss.

YOU HAVE TO EAT LESS THAN YOU BURN

Since you are not seeing fat loss you are not eating less than you burn. There can be a number of things going on and you have to troubleshoot what is happening.

The fastest way to troubleshoot is to drop all the cardio (that sh!t will often cause fat loss troubles), start some body repair/rest (body needs to be stabalized in order for you to do troubleshooting), focus on understanding exact calories you are eating (get down to the scale weighing level so you know for sure) and see what happens. Personally, I would just do this for one month and eat at maintenance to see where you maintenance really is when your body is not being beat to sh!t with hours of cardio a week. Lift like you do but drop all the extra stuff. Allow for relaxation and rest during this time. Focus on increasing NEAT (take nice relaxing walks for example) and figure out what is your maintance. Once you are sure what is your maintanance THEN you can drop calories from there and actually see results.

Hint: You will not have to add back in the cardio to realize results.
Another Hint: Macros don't mean sh!t to fat loss if you don't have calories in correct. You can do 50,30, 20, 20, 30, 50 or anything in between. Macros are more of a personal/fine tune thing. You haven't got calories in thing figured out so are just spinning wheels with macro tuning. (cart before horse)

[toyboxx]

Originally Posted by kfisherx

You are seeking fat loss right? There is one rule that is the rule above all to achieve fat loss.

YOU HAVE TO EAT LESS THAN YOU BURN

Since you are not seeing fat loss you are not eating less than you burn. There can be a number of things going on and you have to troubleshoot what is happening.

The fastest way to troubleshoot is to drop all the cardio (that sh!t will often cause fat loss troubles), start some body repair/rest (body needs to be stabalized in order for you to do troubleshooting), focus on understanding exact calories you are eating (get down to the scale weighing level so you know for sure) and see what happens. Personally, I would just do this for one month and eat at maintenance to see where you maintenance really is when your body is not being beat to sh!t with hours of cardio a week. Lift like you do but drop all the extra stuff. Allow for relaxation and rest during this time. Focus on increasing NEAT (take nice relaxing walks for example) and figure out what is your maintance. Once you are sure what is your maintanance THEN you can drop calories from there and actually see results.

Hint: You will not have to add back in the cardio to realize results.
Another Hint: Macros don't mean sh!t to fat loss if you don't have calories in correct. You can do 50,30, 20, 20, 30, 50 or anything in between. Macros are more of a personal/fine tune thing. You haven't got calories in thing figured out so are just spinning wheels with macro tuning. (cart before horse)

So right now I'm eating around 1400 to 1500 cals a day, so I may need to add or drop cals from their? I'm pretty sure my maint. Level is 2000, but I will do that and see, is it also a possibility that I'm not eating enough?

[kfisherx]

Originally Posted by toyboxx

So right now I'm eating around 1400 to 1500 cals a day, so I may need to add or drop cals from their? I'm pretty sure my maint. Level is 2000, but I will do that and see, is it also a possibility that I'm not eating enough?

There are a TON of possibilities and possible outcomes.

1. Could be eating more than you think you are
2. Could be holding onto fat/water due to stress from too much cardio/work (not enough rest)
3. Could be eating too little for the demands you are placing on your body
4. Etc, etc, etc

BUT until you really find out how your body behaves when it is properly fed and rested you will never know how to troubleshoot. Make sense?

Be prepared for a few lb water flux during this time. So long as you are not raising calories, you are not putting on a few lbs of fat. Try to NOT freak out.

[toyboxx]

Originally Posted by kfisherx

There are a TON of possibilities and possible outcomes.

1. Could be eating more than you think you are
2. Could be holding onto fat/water due to stress from too much cardio/work (not enough rest)
3. Could be eating too little for the demands you are placing on your body
4. Etc, etc, etc

BUT until you really find out how your body behaves when it is properly fed and rested you will never know how to troubleshoot. Make sense?

Be prepared for a few lb water flux during this time. So long as you are not raising calories, you are not putting on a few lbs of fat. Try to NOT freak out.

Thanks for all the good advice!

[kfisherx]

Originally Posted by toyboxx

Thanks for all the good advice!

BTW: Just noticed you are 5'5" and 123lbs. I am almost exactly the same height/weight at about 15% bf. Why are you looking to drop more scale weight? (just curious here what you are going for goal-wise)

[toyboxx]

i guess im not, i have some fat on me, im 21% bf. i would love to be 16%.

[IronCitGrl]

Originally Posted by toyboxx

i guess im not, i have some fat on me, im 21% bf. i would love to be 16%.

I don't think you realize how low 16% is. I think that is an unrealistic goal for you at this point. You need to put on some muscle first. I really think you are just spinning your wheels with all the cardio and keto diet. I would try 40/30/30, 40/35/22 or something in that ball park (everyone is different you might need to experiment) and definitely increase your caloric intake and lift lift lift.
I don't know what your goal is other than 16% bodyfat which is really really low unless you have a lot of muscle and want to begin competing.

[toyboxx]

yes your right. i guess there is a certain way i would like to look like, but it may not be 16% BF, all thats on my mind is to get rid of this pouch of a stomach i have from having a baby 11 years ago, and my cellulite on my outer thighs. i can literally grab almost a handfull of stomach blubber in each hand and my lower back is where i keep it too, even the closest people in my life will tell me "you will get there someday". I have never stoped lifting thats all i do, i cant gain muscle when i tried and ate a lot i gained 12 lbs and here i am, even fatter!Im so frusterated, so any way ive been on the keto, eating 1200 to 1400 cals 65fat, 35prot, and 5carbs, yes way to low, and yes it has not done much for me. l honestly lost about 2.5 lbs in 2.5 weeks. but this last week i havent lost anything, so i need a new plan obvoiusly. But i seriously lift heavy, all the time! i just added the jogging 3 weeks ago, and i have had more progress then i have had the last year, so maybe i just need to eat 1700 cals or so and go with the 45/35/20, i really have know idea anymore. i know a few girls in my town that are my age or older and they jog all the time and look amazing! for some reason i still keep trying and i have never given up, even after 3 years of lifting, i have went up a ton in weights though, i just dont show it???

[maeru]

Originally Posted by toyboxx

i guess im not, i have some fat on me, im 21% bf. i would love to be 16%.

Hmm to put it in perspective, iirc women should have about 5%more bf then men?
So your goal would be equitable to a man trying to get down to 11%bf, which is... hard, not impossible, doomed to failure, or other negativity, but the lower you go the harder it is, but it is worth it.

A couple of questions:

Why so much cardio? It isn't a criticism, just trying to find out why you prefer it.
Do you do a strength routine, or just cardio?

You might be doing too much cardio for your calorie intake, and also might be catabolizing muscle from the amount of cardio you do.

Other than that, kfisherx hit a lot of the valid points.

In any event, best of luck

[toyboxx]

Originally Posted by maeru

Hmm to put it in perspective, iirc women should have about 5%more bf then men?
So your goal would be equitable to a man trying to get down to 11%bf, which is... hard, not impossible, doomed to failure, or other negativity, but the lower you go the harder it is, but it is worth it.

A couple of questions:

Why so much cardio? It isn't a criticism, just trying to find out why you prefer it.
Do you do a strength routine, or just cardio?

You might be doing too much cardio for your calorie intake, and also might be catabolizing muscle from the amount of cardio you do.

Other than that, kfisherx hit a lot of the valid points.

In any event, best of luck

no, i'm lifting 45 min 3 days a week right now full body, but im circiut training so it very intense, i sweat like crazy, why so much cardio, because a lot of peolple i know do alot and look great and when you look at the transformation page., the majority of them did a lot of cardio, thats what they say anyway. i never used to do cardio untill 3 weeks ago, i would do maybe 20 min 3 to 4 days a week, that hasent gotten me anywhere for the past 3 years and i had been eating 1400 to 1700 cals with 40/30/20 ratio at that time and lifting 4 days a week, so thats why im changing things up, maybe it will work,maybe not??

[IronCitGrl]

When you say circuit train do you mean with those machines that mainly just isolate a body part? Do you do any of the big lifts like squats, deadlifts, bench or use any free weights? Have you also tried doing HIIT? You could try doing a full body workout 3x a week but don't do it as a circuit and use free weights, barbells and dumbbells. Then just doing 20 mins of HIIT 3x a week on separate days.
Also when you increase your calories are you increasing them all at once or gradually? You should do it gradually (only 100 or 200 per week) and how long after increasing your calories are you weighing yourself? If you increase them too quickly you are most likely gaining a lot of water weight from bloating so of course the number on the scale will go up. You should give your body at least a month or two to adjust to a new diet and also to decide if it is working for you.

[Krychek]

You can reach your goal of dropping bodyfat purely by caloric manipulation as a few ppls posted above.

Do some searches on BMR, and do a reset as was suggested.

Then take what you learned about your BMR and drop only a few hundred calories off it to start with. For example say you run the #s and your supposed to consume 2000 cal per day to hit your basal metabolic rate requirement. Thats the number of calories your body would need to maintain/stasis each 24hr period with ZERO additional exercise, work, etc ...

So, if you want to lose weight then you take that number and subtract say 300 calories tops to start with. Avoid anything that will spike your insulin unless its right after you work out. Try to eat you fats and proteins in a meal BEFORE you eat you complex carbs to blunt the impact of the sugars.

I know everyone talks about calories in -vs- calories out and this is true to a point. The brute force method will work, however you can make the process less painful if you eat the right stuff at the right time. Namely try to keep you insulin levels in the basement all day , everyday unless your right after a workout when you want to force nutrients back into the muscles. Elevated insulin is the bane of weight loss, when your insulin goes up fat burning is way way down and visa-versa. Operating under the assumption that your eating the right amount of calories, keeping your blood sugars down keeps insulin down which means you keep fat burning at max rate.

Eat a few hundred calories low for a wk or two and take in plenty of water. Once u get urself back to "normal". I would seriously suggest you resistance train if you like no more than 3-4 days a wk, and don't do cardio for now.

Your not all the far from your genetic low end limit prolly, don't expect to lose fat quickly. If you correctly manipulate your calories and diet it will come off. At 300 less calories a day, that will PURELY by the math remove 1 lb of bodyfat approx every 12 days or so. Toss in some reasonable weight lifting, circuit training and quit going crazy on your cardio and you can improve on that, maybe even drop 1 lb a wk or more. Your close to the lower end of your genetic limit, you just can't lose weight much faster and do it healthy and keep it off.

gluck

[kfisherx]

Originally Posted by IronCitGrl

I don't think you realize how low 16% is. I think that is an unrealistic goal for you at this point. You need to put on some muscle first. I really think you are just spinning your wheels with all the cardio and keto diet. I would try 40/30/30, 40/35/22 or something in that ball park (everyone is different you might need to experiment) and definitely increase your caloric intake and lift lift lift.
I don't know what your goal is other than 16% bodyfat which is really really low unless you have a lot of muscle and want to begin competing.

Obviously I don't agree AT ALL with this post. No disrespect intended but WAY off the mark here.

Your goal of 16% is very obtainable BUT you have to be realistic in the timeframe. It took me the better part of 2 years to go from high 20% to 15% bf. You should not be looking to be dropping scale weight at anything more than about .25lbs a week. While you are taking the time to figure out the actual calories you need to maintain, make sure you plan on taking away only about 200-300 from that number when you are ready to cut again.

Oh and stop with the circut training already. That's just the same as cardio. Lift heavy like a man. That is the only way you are going to recomp instead of just drop weight. Remember you don't want to drop muscle right now. You want to drop fat. The right caloric intake is the only way you will be able to do this.