Trouble with a client

[jumbo122]

She is working out 5 days a week pretty instense. I have her doing 3 days weight and 2 days cardio.
She is pretty fit, but she wants to lose about 5 - 10 lbs.

Her eating is under her daily caloric intake, i would say she is at about 1100 cals a day.

For the last 4 weeks she has not lost a lb.

Any reason why?

[Keltron]

I bet she's already pretty small and relatively lean.... what's her height and weight?

[WoofieNugget]

1100 calories a day is really low. Is she actually writing down everything or is she just "telling you"?

Also, if she is pretty fit - does she need to lose ten pounds? She may have an unrealistic expectation for weight loss if she is already a reasonable weight.

[Rit]

Is this 5-10 pounds on the scale? or or 5-10 pounds based on % body fat? 1100 calories for someone that is 'pretty fit' might be too low on top of doing exercises. Might want to redo your numbers and see where she is at.

[jumbo122]

I bet she's already pretty small and relatively lean.... what's her height and weight?

She's about 5'11 and 140 lbs?

1100 calories a day is really low. Is she actually writing down everything or is she just "telling you"?

Also, if she is pretty fit - does she need to lose ten pounds? She may have an unrealistic expectation for weight loss if she is already a reasonable weight.

She told me what she eats on the regular and I calculated.

She is fit, but she wants to lose weight. What can I tell a client you know...no, don't lose anymore?

Is this 5-10 pounds on the scale? or or 5-10 pounds based on % body fat? 1100 calories for someone that is 'pretty fit' might be too low on top of doing exercises. Might want to redo your numbers and see where she is at.

5-10 based on scale. Not bf%.

I agree it is low, I sent her a plan that would have her at 1,800.

[jumbo122]

Do you guys think if someone under eats, and then body goes into fat storage mode, you're actually doing the reverse of what you think - losing weight. So instead you gain weight.

I often find the best results come from eating the right amount of cals, too little/too much then the results aren't there.

however, if you're under cals, you should still lose weight, but gain it back after you eat normally.

So I am confusing myself in what is going on.

[CoQ10]

Do you guys think if someone under eats, and then body goes into fat storage mode, you're actually doing the reverse of what you think - losing weight. So instead you gain weight.

I often find the best results come from eating the right amount of cals, too little/too much then the results aren't there.

however, if you're under cals, you should still lose weight, but gain it back after you eat normally.

So I am confusing myself in what is going on.

It probably has more to do with hormones and water retention. Is she drastically cutting carbohydrates? You may want to refer her to a dietitian or reputable nutritionist.

Further, I strongly recommend you have a serious talk with her about her goal of losing 10 lbs. 130 lbs. at her height would be dangerously underweight. If she continues to pursue further weight loss despite your objections, you may need to consider a potential eating disorder and refer her to the appropriate specialist.

Good luck.

-C10

[WoofieNugget]

Agreed - 140 lbs at 5'11" is underweight already. She may have issues beyond just wanting to lose weight.

1100 calories a day and underweight can = eating disorder or body dysmorphia. If she continues to focus on scale weight loss I'd refer her to another trainer, she probably won't listen to anyone if she is that focused on being thin and you will continue to bang your head against the wall trying to please her.

[BabyFaceAssasin]

jumbo122,

I agree with the posters above that she shouldn't worry too much about losing 10lbs. At that height, 140 is really lean.

Scale weight isn't that important. What I would do is take measurements (if you have the equip, you can try taking her bf%). A lot of times, she will be gaining muscle and losing fat so the scale weight won't move. You'll only see it on the inches and on the bf%.

Having said that, I don't know how many more inches she can lose if she's 5'11 and 140.

With workouts like that, I would be very careful to limit her calories. I probably just wouldn't do it. She needs a lot of energy for working out like that and should def. be eating enough.

[Keltron]

How is her performance during the workouts?
Is she pretty pooped and drudges along?
Is her strength not going up?

It's easy for me to say, "tell her she needs to gain weight" or "Put her at a maintenance" but people who think they're fat don't wanna hear that.

hmmmm.. thnking..

[kneedragger85]

some people believe in "starvation mode" and others don't.

Personally...I'm a believer because I've seen it happen dozens of times. Most of my clients come to me under-eating. It's the addition of calories consistently that usually gets them back on the right track.

And if they won't eat more...see if you can get them to work less.

[popupwindow]

some people believe in "starvation mode" and others don't.

Personally...I'm a believer because I've seen it happen dozens of times. Most of my clients come to me under-eating. It's the addition of calories consistently that usually gets them back on the right track.

And if they won't eat more...see if you can get them to work less.

It depends how you define 'starvation mode.' If you define it as eating low calories and training hard but not losing weight, then I fully believe it can happen, but not for the 'metabolic slowdown offsetting the deficit' as is commonly believed. I think it's more to do with the stress of over-training and under-eating causing water retention though, so they may lose 2-3lbs of fat but also retain 2-3lbs of water, making it look like nothing is happening, then when they decrease activity or increase calories they stop over-stressing the body and retaining water, suddenly dropping 2-3lbs.

OP, yeah, she sounds underweight, she doesn't need to lose any more weight.

[SerpentHearted]

She is fit, but she wants to lose weight. What can I tell a client you know...no, don't lose anymore?

yes.

[regl8r]

Have her take temperature upon waking for a few days.

If low it could be the "proof" you need to show her undereating is causing her metabolism to slow.

[Billbasch]

Agreed - 140 lbs at 5'11" is underweight already. She may have issues beyond just wanting to lose weight.

1100 calories a day and underweight can = eating disorder or body dysmorphia. If she continues to focus on scale weight loss I'd refer her to another trainer, she probably won't listen to anyone if she is that focused on being thin and you will continue to bang your head against the wall trying to please her.

Is she trying to low body fat , generally 1200 is a caloric intake no body should go under , specially if their that active

[etkillah]

I would say to up her cals a bit, I had a similar thing happen when I was cutting last summer.

I was eating around 1,700 calories and hardly losing any weight, then I bumped it up 2,200 and I started shedding weight much faster while also keeping more muscle/fullness.

The first thing people always say when you put them on a diet to lose weight is, "Why am I eating so much food?" People don't tend to realize its not about just dropping weight, its more about reshaping and reforming your body.

One thing I always believed in is, don't base your macros off your calories, but base your calories from your macros.

aka, don't just be like ok 1,100 calories, now let me see how Im going to fit the macros to make that happen.

Instead look at your protien/carb/fat ratios figure out how much of each would work good for her body, then figure the calories from there.

[russkaya2010]

Do everything opposite way.... Make her eat more, at least 1600 calories or more calories a day (make sure it is healthy stuff) but add a circuit type of training once a week or boot camp stuff if she is already fit. Should work....However, make sure her body fat is not super low, because if it is then it could be her head but not her body...

[Cnstnce]

Bet her body is reacting to her low cals. Plus she is probably low fat and low carb which has a completely adverse reactions. Up her calls by adding in nuts or EVOO and she will end up losing.

[dirtymcbride]

are her 1100 kcals composed of ice cream, cookies and crap? Or is she having plenty of nutrion dense foods?

/not about calorie counting being the answer to lifes questions.
//all about macro ratio brah

[zalesguy]

She is working out 5 days a week pretty instense. I have her doing 3 days weight and 2 days cardio.
She is pretty fit, but she wants to lose about 5 - 10 lbs.

Her eating is under her daily caloric intake, i would say she is at about 1100 cals a day.

For the last 4 weeks she has not lost a lb.

Any reason why?

The consumption of fewer calories than one expends is a mathematical certainty. There are exceptions, in regards to thyroid disorders and other metabolic disorders, but in most cases when the math doesn't add up, it's because you are working with incorrect figures. In other words, Lucy.... you got a lot a xsplaining to do....