girlfriend's weight won't budge on a cut, need advice for her!

[2af53lbg]

My girlfriend has been eating at a caloric deficit for over 2 months now. She initially lost 5 lbs the first month, but her scale weight hasn't moved now for over a month.

She is 5'6" 151 lbs now, 30% bf, and has been those figures every morning she steps on the scale for a month. She is eating around 1300 calories a day (I track her in myfitness pal), does crossfit a couple times a week and other forms of cardio when she has time (like insanity or running).

She has asked me about carbs and macros, but I've been trying to keep it simple for her -- If you eat in a deficit, carbs won't get stored and you WILL lose weight blahblah


I am running out of things to tell her to keep her motivated. Any tips that I can give her? She needs to see some progress or will lose motivation.

[sonti]

At 1300 calories and that activity level, she would be absolutely starving hungry and the wiehgt would be fflying off. How is she counting her food? Is she weighing it? Is she dying from hunger??

She is almost certainly eating more than you think - incorrect counting, incorrect portion sizes, etc.

All I can give you for motivation is that when I started weighing things, the weight came off. I've lost 20lbs in the last few months by doing it, when I was stalling bfore.

[Botika]

OP I posted in your other thread.... quoted here.

How about you tell her the truth? What is this "carbs won't get stored" rubbish? Educate her properly about her calories and macro needs >>> http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showth...hp?t=121703981.

1300 calories is really low. Her BMR is probably around 1250 which is the calories needed if she just stayed in bed all day doing nothing. I would increase it to 1500-1600 so she has the energy to train hard. Maintenance for a female on a solid training schedule is generally around 2000 calories per day.

You should also get her on to a decent lifting program. A 3 X per week full body program would benefit her. Check out the workout program's section of the site. She won't get "too muscly", especially in a deficit. Instead she will retain muscle and lose body fat, which will give her a lean body.

[2af53lbg]

At 1300 calories and that activity level, she would be absolutely starving hungry and the wiehgt would be fflying off. How is she counting her food? Is she weighing it? Is she dying from hunger??

She is almost certainly eating more than you think - incorrect counting, incorrect portion sizes, etc.

All I can give you for motivation is that when I started weighing things, the weight came off. I've lost 20lbs in the last few months by doing it, when I was stalling bfore.

Thanks for the reply. She is STARVING constantly. She doesn't weigh anything, but usually the stuff she eats is pre-portioned like bean burgers, protein bars and powder, and so on.

[sonti]

She should purchase a digital scale and bring pen/paper/calculator then.

I recently weighed some bagels - they had 4x the weight that the label listed, hence, were almost 400 calories instead of 180 has indicated. This is likely happening to her too, especially with packaged goods.

[sonti]

Eating in a deficit is hard, I'd also recommend whole protein sources (chicken, etc) instead of bars and powders. That stuff was really meant for people eating in a surplus.

[2af53lbg]

OP I posted in your other thread.... quoted here.

Thanks for the reply. She was interested in possibly taking the low-carb route, or maybe the paleo route, but she is a busy grad school student and I told her myfitness pal and calories in< calories out would be the easiest way to do it.

I think she would welcome the muscly look and she is pretty strong in crossfit, she can squat more than she weighs. She is just having trouble dropping the lbs while mine is melting off with the same methods, and she is getting very discouraged and is constantly starving and working hard with no results. I know there is an answer, just gotta figure it out.

[Iceman1800]

Is this a reason she can't create an account and ask these questions herself?

[2af53lbg]

She should purchase a digital scale and bring pen/paper/calculator then.

I recently weighed some bagels - they had 4x the weight that the label listed, hence, were almost 400 calories instead of 180 has indicated. This is likely happening to her too, especially with packaged goods.

INTERESTING! I always just trusted the labels and weights on the package. I never considered this. Thanks!

[sonti]

INTERESTING! I always just trusted the labels and weights on the package. I never considered this. Thanks!

I don't have the link, but someone else should. There is a video here that shows you measuring and weighing the same thing (oats). 30g of oats ("1/3 cup") eyeballed is actually more like 50g, nearly twice the calories. At 151lbs, around 1700 is a reasonable deficit for her - but even 1700 is not easy and a few slip ups here & there can blow the deficit. I suspect this is her problem.

MFP (for my bagels) was also indicating the incorrect #. So it's on both fronts that there is an error.

[ten2go]

I don't have the link, but someone else should. There is a video here that shows you measuring and weighing the same thing (oats). 30g of oats ("1/3 cup") eyeballed is actually more like 50g, nearly twice the calories. At 151lbs, around 1700 is a reasonable deficit for her - but even 1700 is not easy and a few slip ups here & there can blow the deficit. I suspect this is her problem.

MFP (for my bagels) was also indicating the incorrect #. So it's on both fronts that there is an error.

Here is that link! I have a scale but only weighed stuff that wasn't prepackaged and OMG it is amazing the difference between weighing and what the actual label says! I weigh everything now and have started changing everything to grams in SparkPeople (what I use to track calories).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVjWPclrWVY

[2af53lbg]

Here is that link! I have a scale but only weighed stuff that wasn't prepackaged and OMG it is amazing the difference between weighing and what the actual label says! I weigh everything now and have started changing everything to grams in SparkPeople (what I use to track calories).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVjWPclrWVY

thanks a lot! GRAMS!!

[megdaig]

She should purchase a digital scale and bring pen/paper/calculator then.

I recently weighed some bagels - they had 4x the weight that the label listed, hence, were almost 400 calories instead of 180 has indicated. This is likely happening to her too, especially with packaged goods.

Same for pre sliced bread...37 grams actual does not equal the 34 gram sloshed serving size....

[birdiefu]

And then there are those odd anomalies that are actually the same as the label says. For example, I just managed to get through (since Easter, lol) a bag of Reeses PB Mini Eggs. And every darn little egg I put on my scale was exactly 17g as the label said, not even a half a gram more or less!

But in general, yes package "serving size" vs. weight is usually not accurate enough, especially if you are eating quite a few pre-packaged foods it can really add up.

[Botika]

Thanks for the reply. She was interested in possibly taking the low-carb route, or maybe the paleo route, but she is a busy grad school student and I told her myfitness pal and calories in< calories out would be the easiest way to do it.

I think she would welcome the muscly look and she is pretty strong in crossfit, she can squat more than she weighs. She is just having trouble dropping the lbs while mine is melting off with the same methods, and she is getting very discouraged and is constantly starving and working hard with no results. I know there is an answer, just gotta figure it out.

Ok. I agree with the other ladies about weighing food, rather than using package values or cup measurements. You should only use cups for liquids, weigh everything else. If she isn't losing she isn't in deficit. She is likely overeating without realising it.