Start 190.4 33%
Week 1 2300 188.8 32%
Week 2 2200 189.2 32%
Week 3 1900 184.4 31%
Week 4 1800 184.6 31%
Week 5 1900 183.4 30%
Week 6 1800 182.6 30%
Week 7 2200 184.4 31%
Week 8 1900 183.0 30%
Week 9 2400 182.6 30%
Week 10 1800 181.6 30%
Week 11 1700 179.6 29%
Week 12 1700 179.6 29%
Week 13 1800 179 28%
Average Calories 1,950
Lost Weight 11.4 lbs (5% bf)
Waist/Hips: Went from 38.5 & 43, now 37 & 42
TDEE Estimate 2,400
Activity: Lots of walking daily, and 3-4 times a week in the gym (no cardio).
If you look at the last 4 weeks of the diet, you can see I have consistently been eating at a strong deficit, only to lose, well..no significant amount of bf, I still have giant hips and a soggy physique with no muscle and no sign of this fat tightening up whatsoever.
Lifting stats (I have finished 4 weeks of 5x5 training):
Squat 105
Bench 75
Overhead Press 75
Deadlift 145
Row 95
My diet is very balanced and I rarely have cheats. I consume large amounts of artificial sugar and drink 3-4L water per day. The main problem is that I see a pitiful amount of change in my body, numerically and visually, after all this effort of measuring foods daily and large scale cooking efforts. I feel like I am swimming through sewage in search of diamonds, absolutely no signs of progress.
Here are some pictures from 5 weeks ago (I have always looked like that +/- 25 lbs). I have been training on and off for 3 years, but these 3 months I have been very serious literally measuring every bite.
http://imgur.com/a/yaIeu
My biggest fear is continuing on this (already taxing, financially, mentally, and physically) path, and still being in a state of obscurity with 0 or negative results. Do I really want to keep doing this for months and still be sub-par at best? Or is there a solution?
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01-31-2015, 07:54 AM #1
3 Months of Careful Dieting - Pathetic Results (33% to 28% bf)
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01-31-2015, 08:10 AM #2
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01-31-2015, 08:22 AM #3
That 11 lb over 13 weeks is misleading in 2 ways:
- It is only 0.9/week (With my astronomical bf%, I expect 1.3-1.7/week, 1.0 range is for lean guys looking to gradually cut, I don't have all my life to sit here and lose tiny amounts of fat from a baseline of 50 lbs of fat)
- Most of that was water, look at Week 3 (184.4). From week 3 to 13, I have lost 5.4 lbs in 10 weeks (the average intake for those 10 weeks was 1,900, which implies a very low 2,200 TDEE).
In reality, I am doing all of this and spending money to lose 0.5 lbs of fat per week. At this rate it will take a year and thousands of dollars to get to a pathetic base of 140-145 lbs (skinny). Forget about looking good, I need to climb a mountain just to be a skinny guy.
Now, If all of this had left me at 165-170 right now, I would say that the progress justifies the effort, but the last 3 months have been a grand failure. I have 35 lbs to lose, and I have 5-6 months to do it. I can't do cardio as it interferes with squatting, maybe I can order a truck of diet cola or take some kind of pills.
I have given up many times in the last 3 years, so I know what that's like (adding 20-30 lbs of more fat). I know I have no choice but to keep losing, but I am highly distressed by how directionless and uncertain all of this is. I could very well wake up in 6 months, and still be 168 lbs 25% bf. All due to trash genes and 1-2 cheat days over months that ruined everything.
I need some security for my investment, almost nothing I have done has created reproducible and worthwhile results.
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01-31-2015, 09:43 AM #4
Hello. I can understand your frustration. I really do not know what to say. But I just want you to remember that losing weight or getting in shape is about life changes. Like you I have struggled with weight loss for all my life. Finally, I am now mature enough to understand that no diet is needed but I needed to change my LIFE.
With that mentality, I am more mentally stronger and taking it day by day.
Hope this helped... I just want to say most people forget how far they have come
Wish you the best sir.
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01-31-2015, 10:13 AM #5
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01-31-2015, 10:22 AM #6
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01-31-2015, 10:53 AM #7
- Join Date: Oct 2014
- Location: Montreal, Quebec, Canada
- Age: 38
- Posts: 419
- Rep Power: 255
You have a very small lean mass, and are probably close to.sedentary, so off course your TDEE is.going to be small.
Add to.the fact that you seem.to have no.prior training so your workouts probably use.up.very little energy.
Which makes me wonder, what were you expecting? That because you got a personal trainer you'd be super buffed and cut by the summer? It's not how this work. You wont have any decent muscle mass After This cut since you didnt have any to start with. And you dont have the.starting.strength.to build up decent amount of muscle mass yet. Give it 4-5 more months.
It is however possible that you may have made some.slight lbm gain which would screw.with the numvers, maing it look like you lost less fat (unless you are getting.weekly dexa.scan it's not accurate to track bf)
Sustainable rate of fat loss is based yes on body fat, but also on size and strength and lean mass. When i started droping weight weight, my TDEE was close to 4k. So for me droping 3 pounds a week wasn't as bad. But i've had a lifetime of sports and workout and a physicalish job to spend some calories. Since you don't, you can't lean as fast unless.you dedicated.all your life to this like they did in biggest loser and stuff like that.
Crap genes are a ****ty excuse. Blame yourself for not working hard enough, not life for being unfair geez.
for someone who i'm guessing as a lbm close to 120, 1 lbs a week would be the most i'd recommend. At 0.9, you were close so stop being so melodramatic. Beside what you keep saying, you ARE getting.good solid results. Just though it upMost of my infos comes from my B.Sc. in Microbiology and Immunology with a strong background in cellular biology and biochemistry and affinity towards the fields of physiology and pharmacology
Google scholar is a Godsend
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01-31-2015, 10:59 AM #8
I have no personal trainer. Everything I have done is based on this forum (and partially, resources advocating the "no carb / sugar" myth).
What did I expect? To be a smaller (less bodyfat) skinnyfat version of myself. This fat is coming off at a very slow pace. I feel like I have no control (real or perceived) over my attempt to lose fat, despite spending time, money, physical, and mental energy.
My LBM using estimators is 130+, but I think it will be 125 when I am done this cut.
I have no problem cutting for another 5-6 months, the only problem is, at this pace, it will take 12 months or more, and still might not happen.
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01-31-2015, 11:05 AM #9
Another alarming data point was the last 2 weeks.
Week 1 Intake: 1,744
Loss: 0.0 lbs
Week 2 Intake: 1,787
Loss: 0.6 lbs
Week 1&2:
Intake 1,765
Loss 0.6 lbs
Implication, that my TDEE is like 2,000.
These last 2 weeks were my best in terms of lifting and lowest calories of all weeks, yet there was nothing, just nothing happening on the scale nor my 37" waist, I still can't even feel my pelvic bones unless I press them hard and breathe in deep, that means I have perpetual fat on top of fat.
I look around me and see so many thin people with no clue how to measure calories or what macros are, all with 30" waists and no effort of any kind, they stay skinny eating more than me. I can't even lose fat with a huge effort over many months.
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01-31-2015, 11:06 AM #10
How long did it take you to put on the fat? If your whole lifetime, you're certainly losing it pretty quickly. Look, a small victory is still a victory. In the last 3 months, I've only lost about 5-7 lbs, but I still feel I've made some good progress.
What investment are you talking about? A gym membership?
My bigger concern might be why you're not benching more than you OHP. That seems very strange.
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01-31-2015, 11:09 AM #11
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01-31-2015, 11:13 AM #12
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01-31-2015, 11:19 AM #13
It took me 24 years, and I even had a gut in the ages of 4-5 in my childhood pictures. I was always seen as chubby, without having any acknowledgement of being athletic or strong in any way, just a fat loser.
The benching is irrelevant, I am following sl 5x5 and not skipping ahead. I have done 135 before.
There are many sunk investments made into this:
- $70 a month of memberships
- 25-30 hours a month of travelling to gym, and working out
- 5 hours a week of cooking, measuring, and packaging foods
- $300+ a month of the right foods
- Consuming extensive artificial sugars in the name of fat loss
- Constant feeling of hunger
- Constant feeling of lack of control, all the weight I have lost is water weight, lets be real, my waist has gone from 38 to 37 in all this ****ing time, and that is all I care about, losing bodyfat, not water
- Feelings of failure and regret
I see people with 30" waists who havent ever counted calories or even know what macros are. They eat no different from what I used to eat (even in my skinny-obese days).
Why should I have to do this much to get negligible results? Not only are my results negligible, they don't even follow a defined pattern. I lost a bunch of water. Lets get real, in 10 weeks I've lost 0.5 average on 1,900. I see morons talking about cutting on 2,500.. Going to the gym 3-4x a week on top of walking around all day at my job. Did I mention that I furiously measure everything?
I hate being that guy who always measures food and analyses the numbers yet looks ugly as sin. How can it be that I put so much thought into this yet I am insulted this deeply by the result?
I must have a very slow metabolism, for me to be losing at this slow rate even with this much stored fat.
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01-31-2015, 11:22 AM #14
I am not here to enjoy anything, I have one goal: lose body FAT at a rate of 1-1.5 lbs per month, in a consistent manner that is as calculated as my overall process. If I do things in a systemic manner, why is my body not responding in such a way? It is like a signal that generates a complete non-response or a very murky one.
I am starting to think that if I am going to be fat and unfit, I might as well spend all of this time pursuing something that would be more profitable to me as an individual instead of trying to live up to standards of "aesthetics" that are like a chain around my neck. I have a 37" waist and 42" ass, that is cause for alarm and I am dying to reduce it to 30/35 but nothing is happening physically to meet my demands.
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01-31-2015, 11:26 AM #15
- Join Date: Sep 2011
- Location: Willoughby, Ohio, United States
- Age: 41
- Posts: 266
- Rep Power: 233
Alright so in 3 months you lost 5% bodyfat...
Sure that seems awful and slow; but imagine that you could ACTUALLY maintain that level of fat loss.... in one year you'd be at 8% bodyfat.
Myself, personally, I lost over 100 pounds in one year. And now for the past 3 have spent more time than I can imagine spinning my wheels trying to go from ~20% bodyfat to the low teens.
If you came to me and guaranteed that I could bust my ass every week in the gym and with nutrition and end up with a measley 0.5 pounds of progress per week I would SNAP THAT UP.
I'll take consistent, if slow, results ANY DAY.
If the pace isnt' fast enough; that eat less and add cardio; simple and easy. It may make you even more miserable or potentially low on macros; but you'll get "what you want"...
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01-31-2015, 11:33 AM #16
I would also take consistent and slow results (over results that are equivalent to noise). The problem is there is no consistency OR desirability in the results (read: 38 to 37 inch waist in: 3 months). At this rate it will take me 2 years to get a 30-32" waist (which would make me mediocre since I would still be a twig).
I think of it as running a farm, all of my crops and livestock is consistently turning out rotten or defective yet I still have to waste my time managing things. This is life and death and I sure seem to be dying.
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01-31-2015, 11:49 AM #17
I asked myself before why you're red, to find out all I had to do was read one of your posts in this thread.
Having such a negative demeanour will only lead to failure. Ask yourself this: when has negativity ever led to success?
To anybody already feeling unmotivated or questioning their goals I highly advise you leave this thread. Don't let yourself be weighed down.Losing fat forum resident
Former user/addict crew
Sink? You mean urinal crew
Wearing only sweatpants until lean crew
Dickskin shredded for summer 2015 crew
Moving forward unencumbered
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01-31-2015, 11:52 AM #18
I am responding negatively to poor results from sustained positive action. Do you really think I didn't try and put thought behind all of this? I am not even mad that the sunk costs have been incurred, what really irks me is that I don't feel any sense of control that I will lose another 35 lbs (or close) in 5-6 months.
Imagine if you had to pay a loan shark back, would you tell him that you don't have the money because you were thinking negatively? or would you figure out how to pay? I can't figure it out since I am already stretching all of the options available (other than cardio) and after many iterations I am still cornered and empty handed.
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01-31-2015, 12:17 PM #19
You are responding negatively to those results - which you perceive to be poor - because you had expected much more substantial results. Expecting big results is not bad in and of itself. However, unless you put in the effort that is required, you will not reap such rewards. This is very much the case with you. You did not get the outcome you were hoping for and expecting, as a result your morale is seriously lowered.
As with anything, you reap what you sow. You didn't put enough effort into your deficit - the ONE thing that is relevant to losing weight - the result is your minimal fat loss.
You DO have control. Open your eyes. You have lost 10 pounds - your action have made this happen. You will very much lose another 35 pounds if you perform the actions necessary to do so.
You do not feel the control, but you KNOW you have it. Bask in the fact that you do have control, and you will come to feel it.
Without going into the immaterial nature of your analogy..
You can figure it out. You already have the answer you seek. One word: deficit. Increase yours.
Although you may feel it, you are not cornered. You are not empty handed, look at the progress you have made thus far.
Stop being so negative and dramatic. It will not do you any good.Last edited by dre321; 01-31-2015 at 12:22 PM.
Losing fat forum resident
Former user/addict crew
Sink? You mean urinal crew
Wearing only sweatpants until lean crew
Dickskin shredded for summer 2015 crew
Moving forward unencumbered
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01-31-2015, 12:21 PM #20
1. Find a cheaper gym. I found a gym for $75 for the whole year, and even if that deal didn't exist, there are 24 hour gyms for $30 or $40/month
2. zzz excuses
3. You need to cook even if you don't care how much you weigh. Or spend the time driving to eat out (or spending tons on delivery)
4. You have to spend money on food, whether or not you're losing weight
5. ?
6. How is this an investment?
7. How is this an investment?
8. If you don't even try, you're guaranteed to fail. Nobody wants to help someone so negative. Either lose weight or don't. Either way, the future is coming.
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01-31-2015, 12:28 PM #21
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01-31-2015, 12:33 PM #22
As I said, I have no problem losing slow, my problem is that things aren't adding up.
In the last 10 weeks, I have averaged -0.5 with an implied TDEE of 2,200
In the last 4 weeks, I have averaged -0.9 with an implied TDEE of 2,200
In the last 2 weeks, I have averaged -0.3 with an impiled TDEE of 1,900, surprisingly enough, the last 2 weeks I have been lifting the hardest (personal maximums) and eating the lowest calories of the overall cut
A 2,200 TDEE with my activity level is shocking, but a 1,900 TDEE is inconceivable.
Lets be real, most of the weight I lost was water weight, evidenced by my waist/hips going from 38/43 to 37/42. Think about it, I have a feminine body shape that is bulky on the ass and waist.
I would be thrilled if I knew I could lose fat (in the important areas), over the next 5 months of this madness, but I see no evidence supporting it, it would be completely baseless to assume that by June I will have a trim lower body, I most likely will not, unless something drastic changes with my already re (and re- re- ) reconciled approach.
I have completely lost focus over everything on my life to fix this problem yet haven't really done anything. After enduring years of apathy, my experiences with this cut have unfortunately, only added fuel to the fire.
There is just no way I can't be losing big amounts of fat on 1,750, how can my metabolism be this slow? I eat literally the same thing daily (eggs, chicken thighs, brown rice) and have so much anticipation to weigh-ins yet am appalled almost every weigh-in.
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01-31-2015, 12:37 PM #23
I was expecting 3"+, based on realistic estimates of "/lb and deficit estimates. There is 0 evidence to convince me that I will steadly get trimmed (<32" waist) if I keep doing what I am doing. The results will be pitiful as this process keeps me mired in obscurity.
The only change I can attempt is removing my occasional cheat (which is a 400 calorie sandwich per week..) and even limiting my intake of fibre supplements.
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01-31-2015, 12:43 PM #24
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01-31-2015, 12:46 PM #25
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01-31-2015, 12:52 PM #26
The fact is that I put so much goodwill and dedication into this only to still have the lower body of a walrus. I came up short at the thing I focused 90% of my life in the last 90 days on, which makes me feel directionless and a true loser. I can't even cheat and cook the books to pretend I was a winner, the tape measure around my waist can not be rigged like an accountant's spreadsheet. I am sitting here with a debt to pay, all 35 lbs of it and it ain't moving.
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01-31-2015, 12:57 PM #27
I am always willing to help somebody in need, however you are the exception.
You cannot be helped because you won't help yourself. You know what you need to do, it is right in front of you.
You seem committed to being negative and despairing, at least you have succeeded in that respect.Losing fat forum resident
Former user/addict crew
Sink? You mean urinal crew
Wearing only sweatpants until lean crew
Dickskin shredded for summer 2015 crew
Moving forward unencumbered
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01-31-2015, 01:37 PM #28
I've been cutting the past 3 months exactly as well. I went from 220lbs to 191.6lbs this morning. I've lost a good amount of body fat as well as well as increasing most of my lifts. This entire time I would eat 2100 calories a day and I had about 8 cheat meals as well. I do 15 to 30 minutes of cardio every time I lift weights and haven't had a problem yet.
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01-31-2015, 02:11 PM #29
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01-31-2015, 02:40 PM #30
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