Working Out + Eating Cleaner... Not Helping Measurements!

[christinasooi]

A few weeks ago I really started working out consistently 3-5 times a week and eating cleaner than I usually do. I generally eat lots of veggies and meat/fish/poultry but had found myself snacking at work and wanted to cut back. I've been looking to get back down to my measurements from January but it seems like the more I track what I eat, and the more I work out the LARGER my measurements and heavier I get. My weight doesn't really concern me... it's more that in the past two weeks I've increased my measurements by half an inch around!! I definitely don't feel more muscular and don't seem to be cutting fat. I really just want to tone up!

Have others experienced this? How did you get over the hump?

Just for some more info I typically eat the following 5 days of the week:
* Breakfast: 5 egg whites + salsa + handful of almonds + coffee
* Lunch: kale/spring mix + 100g chicken (meat only)/fish + veggies + balsamic vinegar
* Dinner: about the same as lunch but maybe cooked instead of raw veggies
* Snacks: nuts, fresh fruit... I also might add small amounts of cheese to my meals or milk to my coffee... I keep processed carbs to a minimum because they don't really fulfil me and sugary carb treats are a dark dangerous path for me haha

Workouts are generally lots of cycling at various resistance to keep the HR up and also keep work out those leg muscles. I run maybe once a week... kettle bells, some weights, etc.


Anyway... I feel stuck. I'm not sure what else to do.

[oregonchick76]

Clean eating, while perhaps 'better for you', in and of itself will not yield weight loss. It's still relatively easy to overeat on 'clean' foods. You have to track your intake, weigh the food, count the calories and macros, and make sure you are eating in a deficit.

So, do you have any idea how many calories you are eating? Grams of protein/carbs/fat?

Also, it looks like you have no particular goal with your training and it's kind of all over the place. If your goal is to gain muscle, you need to get on a proven lifting routine.

It is not uncommon to retain water after starting a new routine or increasing activity. The muscles will start to store more glycogen/water in anticipation of you actually using them, and that's a good thing. This will level off and if you're in a deficit the scale will start to go down.

Just remember - you can't gain muscle in a calorie deficit, and you can't lose fat unless you're in one, so you have to pick one goal.

[nacersusaf]

Oregonchik absolutely nailed the key points!

[capergirl]

Just remember - you can't gain muscle in a calorie deficit, and you can't lose fat unless you're in one, so you have to pick one goal.

I think it's more about feeding your body to achieve your goals. I do belive you can gain lean muscle and lose fat at the same time. Your body needs to feel nourished enough that it is comfortable giving up excess fat which results in eating more of the good stuff.

Personally, I think you should be eating less, more often. Strive for at least 4 meals a day. Never let yourself get hungry.

I do agree with oregonchick though when she says you need a proven weight routine. You could possibly just need to step your game up in the gym, work a little harder and set some goals for yourself. If you're looking to tone up, a load of cardio isn't the way - pick up some weights and get to work!

If you focus solely on cardio you won't tone up like you want to.

Keep up the good work and don't get discouraged!!

[oregonchick76]

I think it's more about feeding your body to achieve your goals. I do belive you can gain lean muscle and lose fat at the same time. Your body needs to feel nourished enough that it is comfortable giving up excess fat which results in eating more of the good stuff.

Uh, you got any data or science to go along with that statement? "Feeding your body to achieve your goals" means giving it enough calories AND the right macros. Muscle cannot be built in a deficit and fat cannot be lost in a surplus or even at maintenance.

A recomp is possible, but a recomp has periods of eating that are below maintenance and above maintenance, and the results are very very slow compared to a straight bulk or cut.

[ChrisRamos007]

What kind of resistance training are you doing?

[openyour__eyes]

Clean eating, while perhaps 'better for you', in and of itself will not yield weight loss. It's still relatively easy to overeat on 'clean' foods. You have to track your intake, weigh the food, count the calories and macros, and make sure you are eating in a deficit.

So, do you have any idea how many calories you are eating? Grams of protein/carbs/fat?

Also, it looks like you have no particular goal with your training and it's kind of all over the place. If your goal is to gain muscle, you need to get on a proven lifting routine.

It is not uncommon to retain water after starting a new routine or increasing activity. The muscles will start to store more glycogen/water in anticipation of you actually using them, and that's a good thing. This will level off and if you're in a deficit the scale will start to go down.

Just remember - you can't gain muscle in a calorie deficit, and you can't lose fat unless you're in one, so you have to pick one goal.

Uh, you got any data or science to go along with that statement? "Feeding your body to achieve your goals" means giving it enough calories AND the right macros. Muscle cannot be built in a deficit and fat cannot be lost in a surplus or even at maintenance.

A recomp is possible, but a recomp has periods of eating that are below maintenance and above maintenance, and the results are very very slow compared to a straight bulk or cut.

crushed it, repped


Check out the stickies OP, there is a very detailed one about finding your proper intake and how to track your food. Like it was previously posted.. don't get wrapped into magical "clean" foods and such. If you spend all your time worrying about what is "clean" and what's not, you're really just playing a guessing game on your overall intake and I'd put money on it that that's why you've ceased to make progress. Figure out the proper amount you should be eating, eat fruits and vegetables and get the proper amount of fiber, crush weights, do some HIIT. Slowly decrease your calories. Don't just jump into a fad diet eating "clean" foods that only add up to some retarded 1200 calorie/day diet. The slower you decrease your intake, the longer it will take before you stall out. Once you get to a stall point, you can decrease a little more, or add a little extra cardio to keep yourself shredding.

[christinasooi]

Thank you all!

I've started to follow a 90/120/48 carb/protein/fat macronutrient split. Adding some weights and HIIT back this week but I've been nervous after a past fracture in my back (non workout related!). I think I need to find myself a gym buddy...

[kimm4]

A few weeks ago I really started working out consistently 3-5 times a week and eating cleaner than I usually do. I generally eat lots of veggies and meat/fish/poultry but had found myself snacking at work and wanted to cut back. I've been looking to get back down to my measurements from January but it seems like the more I track what I eat, and the more I work out the LARGER my measurements and heavier I get. My weight doesn't really concern me... it's more that in the past two weeks I've increased my measurements by half an inch around!! I definitely don't feel more muscular and don't seem to be cutting fat. I really just want to tone up!

Have others experienced this? How did you get over the hump?

Just for some more info I typically eat the following 5 days of the week:
* Breakfast: 5 egg whites + salsa + handful of almonds + coffee
* Lunch: kale/spring mix + 100g chicken (meat only)/fish + veggies + balsamic vinegar
* Dinner: about the same as lunch but maybe cooked instead of raw veggies
* Snacks: nuts, fresh fruit... I also might add small amounts of cheese to my meals or milk to my coffee... I keep processed carbs to a minimum because they don't really fulfil me and sugary carb treats are a dark dangerous path for me haha

Workouts are generally lots of cycling at various resistance to keep the HR up and also keep work out those leg muscles. I run maybe once a week... kettle bells, some weights, etc.


Anyway... I feel stuck. I'm not sure what else to do.

If your stats are updated there can't be much to cut. If you're doing lots of cycling and running in your program, you need to increase your carb intake to fuel your body properly. There's nothing wrong with fruit but things like potatoes, rice, oatmeal, whole grain cereals, whole grain breads, etc...will keep you fuller compared to fruit.

In order to build muscle, you need to be eating enough to support growth.

[Compy386]

Personally, I think you should be eating less, more often. Strive for at least 4 meals a day. Never let yourself get hungry.

This is bad advice. Your body is not your friend. It is an immature child that doesn't know what's best for itself. If your posting on a forum chances are you don't know why true hunger is. I don't either, but something like "never let yourself get hungry" invites all kinds of bad habits

[walruses]

This is bad advice. Your body is not your friend. It is an immature child that doesn't know what's best for itself. If your posting on a forum chances are you don't know why true hunger is. I don't either, but something like "never let yourself get hungry" invites all kinds of bad habits

It's not bad advice. You shouldn't let yourself go hungry, period. Your body DOES know what's best for itself, in fact, humans are the only species who sits around worrying about calories and perfect macro ratios. Look at other animals in their natural habitats; seals, birds, deer, etc....they don't count calories and have no problems with obesity, heart disease, proper body composition among many other diet related issues.

Yes, obviously a certain rough macro ratio is vital to proper muscle growth, performance and fat loss goals but truth is, if everybody were to follow their natural instinct for "what to eat", there would never be any issues with calorie counting. The problem is that we live in a world so developed and have access to unnatural food products (Splenda, transfat-laden chips, HF corn syrup and packaged meats for example) so our neuroendocrine system might not know what the &%$# it wants anymore!

However, after "detoxing" from artificial sweeteners, concentrated factory-made fats, and even sweet protein powders then it would be clear as a bell what our bodies want! Us humans are naturally inclined to have a sweet tooth and are drawn to fruits such as dates and bananas, yet are omnivorous at the same time. ...Anyway, I think you are wrong in saying that "never let yourself get hungry" is bad advice; our bodies have sophisticated bio-mechanisms that let us know that it's time to eat!

Oh, and suggesting that someone lets him or herself go hungry could be triggering and encourage an eating disorder.



OP, I would suggest you look at the stickies though to get an estimate on what macros you may need and to also set up a do-able meal plan just to see what "a day in those macros" looks like. You can stick to a plan and have possible food "trades" so you aren't eating the same thing everyday but still getting the same macro breakdown. (ie: a serving of chicken swapped for a serving of fish, greek yogurt or another protein....or a serving of sunflower seeds swapped for a serving of peanut butter.........a sweet potato for a bowl of rice, etc)




cheers ;D

[birdiefu]

It's not bad advice. You shouldn't let yourself go hungry, period. Your body DOES know what's best for itself, in fact, humans are the only species who sits around worrying about calories and perfect macro ratios. Look at other animals in their natural habitats; seals, birds, deer, etc....they don't count calories and have no problems with obesity, heart disease, proper body composition among many other diet related issues.

LOL, your body does *not* think getting a 6-pack or leaning out glutes is "best" for it. What our bodies are primed for is to store nutrients when they are readily available just in case we can't find any for a while - and in our modern society we don't need to hunt very far and wide for a slice of pizza. The animals in natural habitats that are not taken out by disease or predators which do best are the ones that manage to store more fat through hard times than their leaner counterparts. And you can bet that if given the easy circumstances equivalent to a human western society (*cough* obese pets...), they can and do have obesity-related disease since their bodies say its "best" to keep eating from the never-empty food bowl.

If one is eating at a deficit, even a mild one, eventually they will feel hunger. No, you shouldn't be ravenous enough that you feel like you need to chew your arm off, but recognizing and being ok with occasional hunger is something you need to deal with if you have a bunch of weight to drop. Many "diets" are build off of various methods of mitigating the hunger of a caloric deficit as much as possible - whether this is through more fibrous veggies, higher protein/fat, different meal timing, etc - but hunger will still be felt from time to time.

[rockangel]

It's not bad advice. You shouldn't let yourself go hungry, period. Your body DOES know what's best for itself, in fact, humans are the only species who sits around worrying about calories and perfect macro ratios. Look at other animals in their natural habitats; seals, birds, deer, etc....they don't count calories and have no problems with obesity, heart disease, proper body composition among many other diet related issues.

Yes, obviously a certain rough macro ratio is vital to proper muscle growth, performance and fat loss goals but truth is, if everybody were to follow their natural instinct for "what to eat", there would never be any issues with calorie counting. The problem is that we live in a world so developed and have access to unnatural food products (Splenda, transfat-laden chips, HF corn syrup and packaged meats for example) so our neuroendocrine system might not know what the &%$# it wants anymore!

However, after "detoxing" from artificial sweeteners, concentrated factory-made fats, and even sweet protein powders then it would be clear as a bell what our bodies want! Us humans are naturally inclined to have a sweet tooth and are drawn to fruits such as dates and bananas, yet are omnivorous at the same time. ...Anyway, I think you are wrong in saying that "never let yourself get hungry" is bad advice; our bodies have sophisticated bio-mechanisms that let us know that it's time to eat!

Oh, and suggesting that someone lets him or herself go hungry could be triggering and encourage an eating disorder.



OP, I would suggest you look at the stickies though to get an estimate on what macros you may need and to also set up a do-able meal plan just to see what "a day in those macros" looks like. You can stick to a plan and have possible food "trades" so you aren't eating the same thing everyday but still getting the same macro breakdown. (ie: a serving of chicken swapped for a serving of fish, greek yogurt or another protein....or a serving of sunflower seeds swapped for a serving of peanut butter.........a sweet potato for a bowl of rice, etc)




cheers ;D

Actually while animals may lack the mental capacity to think about macros and calories.... macors and calories still count in all species... and an animal that does not get the proper nutrition can not hunt or flee and ends up dead....

Consequently, the hardest college course i have taken to date was Feed stuff and rations... which was all about???? Calories and macros.

Random fact, did you know a fat dairy cow is a bad dairy cow??? When lactating, the cows fat stores go into the milk (which is what makes it so high in fat), if the dairy cow is lacking in certain "points" and is too fat, it means that there is not enough fat going into the milk and to the baby (or us)...... so yeah, nutrition, macros and calories are just as important in any species, its just that :mother nature: tends to kill off the bad ones...

And i agree, telling someone to never get hungry is bad advice. People "get hungry" for more than actual hunger.... dehydration being one, boredom, stress, anxiety, ritualistic eating....
So hunger isnt always the sign that you need to be looking at. And most people will eat at the slightest hint of hunger which is why they are over weight because....ya know... ya should never feel hungry....

Learn to listen to your body and fuel it correctly for your goals....the body doesnt "need" a 6 pack, the body doesnt "need" to be lean...all of that is just pure vanity.