Help with doctors

[Wagz86]

So I've been dieting for years now. I'm 26 and I've been in the gym since I was 19. But for some reason no matter what I do I can't seem to get below 20% bf. I'm 5'5" and I currently weigh 190lbs. I'm currently doing keto and I'm dead center on my macros there. I'm currently using HIIT type workout routines. At this point my peers in the gym who watch me workout and how I eat have all said that I should be losing weight. But I'm not. Many have suggested that I go see a doctor. I've had blood work done and had a sleep study done. My thyroid is normal at 1.9 and have no discernable sleep disorders. When I go to my general practitioner her response is "maybe I'm meant to look this way" and "I need to learn to live with it" which is bs. I'm told I should see a sports medicine doctor however all of them seem to be for specifically for joint injuries. I'm really at a loss at this point but I'm pretty sure that something Is wrong that's holding me back. Any help would be much appreciated

[whitefire98]

How many calories are you eating a day and what is your deficit? You won't lose weight if you are still eating more than you are burning.

[metroins]

When I stalled before, I have dropped to 800-1200 calories for a week to break the plateau while still maintaining high levels of cardio. Not saying you should, but it's what I did; Protein Sufficient Modified Fast PSMF.

[Wagz86]

When I stalled before, I have dropped to 800-1200 calories for a week to break the plateau while still maintaining high levels of cardio. Not saying you should, but it's what I did; Protein Sufficient Modified Fast PSMF.

HIIT accounts for that. It's called a fat flush. All protein very low cals and nearly no fat. I use turkey burgers foe that. It doesn't do anything for me lol. The cals I'm eating are capped at 3k. I'm burning during my gym sessions 3-500 and that's modest. My recommended cal total was 3200 I believe

[dmacdonal9]

HIIT accounts for that. It's called a fat flush. All protein very low cals and nearly no fat. I use turkey burgers foe that. It doesn't do anything for me lol.

Fat flush? What on earth are you talking about?

[whitefire98]

HIIT accounts for that. It's called a fat flush. All protein very low cals and nearly no fat. I use turkey burgers foe that. It doesn't do anything for me lol. The cals I'm eating are capped at 3k. I'm burning during my gym sessions 3-500 and that's modest. My recommended cal total was 3200 I believe

That seems awfully high in comparison to what a lot of bigger guys are taking in. Obviously if you are not dropping weight, you are eating more, or at least as much as you are burning. Maybe some others will chime in, but that is my input.

Edit - If you are really maintaining at 3200/day, I would cut back to 2500-2700/day for a few weeks and and see how that works out. It still seems high at 5'5" and 190lbs, but if you are very active for most of the day, it may be realistic.

[Wagz86]

I'm going off of McDonald's keto book. That's the cals it listed for me. I could decrease it a tad if I thought it would work. Discipline is not an issue. If I know it will work I can follow just about any routine diligently. Personally I don't think it will work. I only say that because like was mentioned I've tried really really lean while still maintaining high protein. And nothing happened during that either. I always lose 5 or so pounds in the first week or so but than it bounces right back.
I'm also on a 6 day a week split at the gym I'd that helps. And I run 2.5 miles a day. I realize running isn't productive to muscle growth but I need to keep up on endurance for my job

[GibRed]

HIIT accounts for that. It's called a fat flush. All protein very low cals and nearly no fat. I use turkey burgers foe that. It doesn't do anything for me lol. The cals I'm eating are capped at 3k. I'm burning during my gym sessions 3-500 and that's modest. My recommended cal total was 3200 I believe

It looks like your cals are way to high.

If you put your details into a tdee calculator (assuming sedentary lifestyle which is recommended for calculating if your cutting) it comes out a 2277 calories for maintenace. You then deduct 4-500 to get a reasonable loss routine. So really you should be limiting to around 1875 a day, as a starting point and going from there if its too fast (more thean 2lbs a week) though keep steady for first 3-4 week to allow for natural fluctuations.

you should then be adjusting from there.

Also start a weight routine, and work out your macros, to minimise LBM loss.

[Retoaded]

Problem solved: your cals are way too high. period. stop worrying about other crap and overcomplicating it. cut your calories. try a few weeks at 2,000 calories.

[whitefire98]

I'm going off of McDonald's keto book. That's the cals it listed for me. I could decrease it a tad if I thought it would work. Discipline is not an issue. If I know it will work I can follow just about any routine diligently. Personally I don't think it will work. I only say that because like was mentioned I've tried really really lean while still maintaining high protein. And nothing happened during that either. I always lose 5 or so pounds in the first week or so but than it bounces right back.
I'm also on a 6 day a week split at the gym I'd that helps. And I run 2.5 miles a day. I realize running isn't productive to muscle growth but I need to keep up on endurance for my job

Keto or no keto, you are not going to drop weight if you are eating more than you are burning.

[xtcking]

The cals I'm eating are capped at 3k.

im 5'7 180 and my maintenance is 2100, im staying under 2k. Im doing 20 mins of hiit daily and weights every other day. Im just barley losing 2lbs a week..
** also bouncing between 20-23% bf (aiming to get to 15% or less hence the dieting)

I think you should defiantly try increasing your deficient!

[Wagz86]

Problem solved: your cals are way too high. period. stop worrying about other crap and overcomplicating it. cut your calories. try a few weeks at 2,000 calories.

I'll recalculate when I get home. It may be possible that I'm actually repeating the wrong number to you all. And that I wrote it down correctly at home but than forgot. Or it could be possible that my calculations are wrong entirely. But I'll double check. And get back with everyone here. Thanks for the help so far


Never mind I found a text I sent to my friend immediately after I started my keto so I'm going to copy a paste the macros I sent to him
Got the new macros up. Let me know what you think. I used the quick way that was listed to estimate maintenance calories and than factored from their to figure fat loss daily cals

2800cals
25 g carbs
165g protein
238g fat. I burn at least 250-500 cals during my workouts so that's factored because according to this I shouldn't reduce cals by more than 1k of daily maintenance so I reduced it by about 300 and than that added to my workout should come out to 600-800 cal deficit

Just fyi since then I've fine tuned it by changing protein brands my carbs is a little lower (under 20g) and my protein is a little higher at (200g)

I use shakes as my keto meals btw. Sometimes I'll eat a keto friendly breakfast or dinner. But at work I just don't have time to make food so I bring shakes

[xtcking]

always 1g of protein per pound of body weight so if your at 200g thats fine. your fat still looks very high though.... it should be like.. 150 or less if I remember the formula off the top of my head

I also think you should consider a seditary lifestyle to calc this. that way the exercise you do get is just icing on the cake (bad dieting metaphor)

[Retoaded]

you are factoring in your workout twice. the multipliers used to come up with your TDEE are already taking your workout activity into account. then you are trying to add in those calories again.

your macros are crazy high with fat.



again: you are overthinking this. you have been unsuccessful for years. you are obviously wrong. you can't calculate your way to weight loss. you have to actually eat in a deficit. screw your calculations. WTF. eat at 2,000 calories a day if you want to lose weight. get around 160g of protein and 80g of fat a day, and do whatever with the rest.

[GibRed]

I'll recalculate when I get home. It may be possible that I'm actually repeating the wrong number to you all. And that I wrote it down correctly at home but than forgot. Or it could be possible that my calculations are wrong entirely. But I'll double check. And get back with everyone here. Thanks for the help so far


Never mind I found a text I sent to my friend immediately after I started my keto so I'm going to copy a paste the macros I sent to him
Got the new macros up. Let me know what you think. I used the quick way that was listed to estimate maintenance calories and than factored from their to figure fat loss daily cals

2800cals
25 g carbs
165g protein
238g fat. I burn at least 250-500 cals during my workouts so that's factored because according to this I shouldn't reduce cals by more than 1k of daily maintenance so I reduced it by about 300 and than that added to my workout should come out to 600-800 cal deficit

Just fyi since then I've fine tuned it by changing protein brands my carbs is a little lower (under 20g) and my protein is a little higher at (200g)

I use shakes as my keto meals btw. Sometimes I'll eat a keto friendly breakfast or dinner. But at work I just don't have time to make food so I bring shakes

Think i can see your error, you shouldn't take account of calories burned during exercise when calculating your deficit. As you maintenance level suggest moderate activity, which already takes this into account. Therefore you should be closer to 2300. I would personally underestimate your activity level when calculating your tdee to start of with as well, you can always adjust upwards.

As for Keto, as long as it suits you, but look into IIFYM as I personally find it works for me. Others also like IF so they can have a large meal and feel really full.

[Wagz86]

you are factoring in your workout twice. the multipliers used to come up with your TDEE are already taking your workout activity into account. then you are trying to add in those calories again.

your macros are crazy high with fat.



again: you are overthinking this. you have been unsuccessful for years. you are obviously wrong. you can't calculate your way to weight loss. you have to actually eat in a deficit. screw your calculations. WTF. eat at 2,000 calories a day if you want to lose weight. get around 160g of protein and 80g of fat a day, and do whatever with the rest.

Unless I'm wrong about this but to my knowledge that's not how keto works

[Wagz86]

Think i can see your error, you shouldn't take account of calories burned during exercise when calculating your deficit. As you maintenance level suggest moderate activity, which already takes this into account. Therefore you should be closer to 2300. I would personally underestimate your activity level when calculating your tdee to start of with as well, you can always adjust upwards.

As for Keto, as long as it suits you, but look into IIFYM as I personally find it works for me. Others also like IF so they can have a large meal and feel really full.

Ad far as this goes. Makes total sense to me. I've considered experimenting with IF. So ill definitely try that. Any source links you might suggest?

[Retoaded]

Unless I'm wrong about this but to my knowledge that's not how keto works

I can tell you how weight loss works. It works by being in a calorie deficit. You have a ton of weight to lose, you don't need a keto diet, you don't need advanced macro cycling. You need a calorie deficit. period.

But by all means keep doing what you are doing and staying the same weight and looking everywhere for explanations and rationalization except where the truth lies.

[GibRed]

Ad far as this goes. Makes total sense to me. I've considered experimenting with IF. So ill definitely try that. Any source links you might suggest?

Personally i just read loads of threads on here, and checked stickies in this section and nutrition. Google Leangains IF to find the website that talks about it. IIFYM (if it fits your macros) basically means whatever you want, however frequently or infrequently you want, just hit your macros for protein and fat, and the rest made up however you like (carbs or more protein/Fat etc, whatever makes you happy). It really is simple as cals out has to be more than cals in. I personally eat a lot of veggies as they have low calorie levels, but lots of volume to help with satiety. It also means you can eat chocolate or have a beer as long as you stay in your calorie limit. In my opinion though i eat 'healtheir' as i want to get all the micronutrients i need as well.

[elgatito71]

OP check your diet again try lowering your calories for a few weeks my big guess its you eating to much...

[Wagz86]

I'll recalculate tonight with your suggestions. And than in a few weeks I'll check back on this thread and let you all know how it's going. Thanks for all the help

[fat2fit4real]

As others have posted, the maintenance you listed suggests you used a high (potentially too high) activity level. You can't do that and then also subtract calories for the workout itself (not to mention you come up with an arbitrary number that your workout burns. I know exactly how much it burns, not nearly enough!). I've only been reading this forum a couple months and I've read hundreds of "I can't lose weight it's impossible" threads. Every single one of them including you is eating too much. I was eating 1600 cal a day when I weighed 190 and I'm taller than you and was probably burning more calories. I doubt there will ever be a day in my life where 3200 is my maintenance calories let alone my cutting calories.

[AAOBob]

HIIT accounts for that. It's called a fat flush. All protein very low cals and nearly no fat. I use turkey burgers foe that. It doesn't do anything for me lol. The cals I'm eating are capped at 3k. I'm burning during my gym sessions 3-500 and that's modest. My recommended cal total was 3200 I believe

3000 a day......and you can't lose weight? You don't say.....

[matman1813]

I'll recalculate tonight with your suggestions. And than in a few weeks I'll check back on this thread and let you all know how it's going. Thanks for all the help

Forget the calculations for TDEE. You can crunch the numbers with generic formulae from now until the end of time and you will likely never get an accurate number for your maintenance (unless you are lucky). Those formulae are estimates and for 90% of people they aren't even good estimates. If you aren't losing weight, eat less calories. It's as simple as that. You have never been below 20% because you are overcomplicating things moving from fad to fad without just addressing the root of the problem, you are eating too many calories.

[Wagz86]

It's not as simple as that. There was a time when I was eating around 1500 cals with almost no fat and no carbs and plenty of protein. I still didn't lose weight. So far nothing has been as simple as that. Maybe for the average person like you. But I'm getting sick of doing what I do. Having someone else admire it and try it and in a matter of months they've lapped me in results. It's ridiculous. I'm more than happy to take suggestions
But repeating over and over that it's as simple as that isn't going to help

[dmacdonal9]

I'm more than happy to take suggestions
But repeating over and over that it's as simple as that isn't going to help

But it is that simple. The energy balance equation is not an idea, it's how it works, for everyone.

Counting calories is tricky, and most people make unbelievable amounts of mistakes. You were almost certainly not eating 1500.

Please read this stuff, carefully:

http://www.fitnessfactreview.com/the...orie-counting/

http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showth...hp?t=148418313

http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat...-equation.html

http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat...e-get-fat.html

[Retoaded]

write down exactly what you eat every day for a month, every drop of creamer in your coffee, every sip of beer, everthing, every squirt of ketchup. eat 1800 calories per day and continue your workout regimen. record your weight T, W, and TH mornings and average them and that is your weight for the week. If in 4 weeks you have not lost any weight, then you are a metabolic snowflake and I'll believe that you are completely different than every other human being I've ever encountered. Post your daily calorie notes and weigh ins, showing no results, and I'll probably send you a hundred dollar bill in the mail to pay for you to go to metabolic medical center for a free consultation.

[matman1813]

It's not as simple as that. There was a time when I was eating around 1500 cals with almost no fat and no carbs and plenty of protein. I still didn't lose weight. So far nothing has been as simple as that. Maybe for the average person like you. But I'm getting sick of doing what I do. Having someone else admire it and try it and in a matter of months they've lapped me in results. It's ridiculous. I'm more than happy to take suggestions
But repeating over and over that it's as simple as that isn't going to help

How long was that for? Were you losing weight? How accurate was your tracking? Why only 1500 calories? Why weren't you eating fat? Your body needs fat. A caloric deficit works.

[whitefire98]

It's not as simple as that. There was a time when I was eating around 1500 cals with almost no fat and no carbs and plenty of protein. I still didn't lose weight. So far nothing has been as simple as that. Maybe for the average person like you. But I'm getting sick of doing what I do. Having someone else admire it and try it and in a matter of months they've lapped me in results. It's ridiculous. I'm more than happy to take suggestions
But repeating over and over that it's as simple as that isn't going to help

It is that simple. When losing weight, calories are all that matters. You still need a mix of fat, carbs, and protien, but in the end, all that matters is calories. Carbs don't make you fat, fat doesn't make you fat, and if you eat too much protien, it can make you fat. If you are burning more than you are taking in, your body has no choice but to lose weight. If you are taking in more than you are burning, it will be stored.

[XtremeBody510]

Bingo