Pounds/Inches Not Coming Off!! My Body Hates Me. page 2

[Hawaiianlion]

Thanks for the insight everyone. To answer a few questions:

1)I am not stressed out, I am just really close to my goal, and it is frustrating to not know how to make it happen. Kind of like an unfinished painting, if you will.

2) I am a 36 B, so nothing ground breaking. I WISH that is where all the weight was forming-ha!

3) I am wearing a size 6

4) I will be honest, I just want the fat on my hips and tummy to soften out. I feel like I have a healthy view of what my body can and will look like. I'm not going for unrealistic, I just want that tire to go away. I'm curvy and I kinda want to keep a little padding. I do! But if that muffin top/fatty fat gut does not go away I may just cry. My body holds to that fat like...like...like a fat stomach holding on to fat!!

5) Meal-wise, right now, I include dairy. Heavy cream in my once-a-day coffee. Then...seriously, just Meat, veggies and a fat for lunch and dinner. I try not to obsess about how much I eat, but be aware of it too. I am trying to pay more attention to my overall carbs and fats throughout the day. I broke through a plateau by moving my carbs down to 35-50g a day, but my body seems to know that trick now. It wants me to be muffiny-toppy forever.

[Owly]

I found that as I got closer to lean, I had to add more carbs back into my diet, into the 100-150g range, and while I've kept fats in, I also don't go as heavy on them as I did. Like you, I do Crossfit (although my gym tends to do a lot of lifting, so that may make the difference in workouts), and I find I can easily handle a bit more starchy veg and fruit, and even some white rice. I think going really low carb is not as helpful if you're active and just trying to shed that last little bit--as women, our bodies hold onto that fat for a reason, and I think if you're burning up a lot of glycogen regularly and not replenishing it enough with some quality carbohydrates, it's harder to get leaner.

I did a six-week paleo challenge in January-February that helped a lot too. I cut out dairy for those weeks and was really conscious on any added sugars, etc., although I did not cut back on carb intake generally. That seemed to help a bit too. I've added a little dairy back in now and seem to be doing fine with it, but the six weeks of very careful eating made a difference.

[BestBetter]

I'm not surprised that IFing hasn't helped. If you haven't already read this article, I highly recommend it:

Paleo For Women | Shattering the Myth of Fasting for Women: A Review of Female-Specific Responses to Fasting in the Literature

I love IFing, but it's never done anything for me in terms of fat loss.

Have you looked into cold thermogenesis (ice baths, spot icing, cold showers)? If not, I'd recommend checking out the Cold Water thread - I've been doing this for the past 3 weeks, and I've had some noticeable results even in that short amount of time (though supposedly I'll see the full benefits of spot icing in 2-4 months).

[Hawaiianlion]

Well Pootastic! Owly, I definitely do heavy lifting. Before my Crossfit workouts, I try and incorporate some sort of heavy lifting such as deadlifts, different squats, snatches, etc, etc. That makes a difference, for sure. I surely like the idea of upping my carbs to 100-150g range but, by gosh, it scares me. Haha....my brain is fully in tune with the "low carb" mindset. It worked back in my chub days, but it sure doesn't seem to be helping now.

BestBetter--thank you! I will check out both those things. I have never, ever heard of ice baths or cold showers to induce fat loss...but, hey, why not?

[Hawaiianlion]

When you did the 6 week Paleo Challenge, were you still eating the 100-150g of carbs a day?

[emmie]

I have lost close to 200lbs over the past few years, and I had a big stall after I lost the first 80lbs. It took me a while to realize that it wasn't carbs (I am very carb sensitive and remain at about 20g) but the calories. My 'smaller' body just needed less food, and I was eating my 'usual' portions.

Once I cut calories, I began losing again right to goal weight. Today in maintenance, I eat much less than I ever thought I would, but I'm not hungry. My body just needs a lot less food than my 'head' wants to feed it.

There's never any loss without a caloric deficit, and sometimes it just takes a reduction of a few hundred calories to establish that deficit.

[yogashmoga]

i feel like i've been in your spot a few times. the problem for me is that i struggle with wanting two things that rarely happen simultaneously: i like to improve my times/weights at crossfit (faster sprints, heavier weights) AND i like a leaner look. they don't come together in my body. not in a sustainalbe way, anyhow.

when i am lifting heavy, sprinting faster, and pushing my body harder in general, i keep some insulation on my bod. to lean out for a vacation or something, i'll cut back in intensity and stay under 50g carbs for 2-3 weeks. works great for that super strong, bikini-ready look.

when i want to have more definition to my muscles and appear more lean overall, i use moderate weights at crossfit and walk for 45 mins both morning and night. my fitness goes down a bit, i relax on the carbs (150g), and i have more of a 'yoga' body. i think of it as more of a stree-free approach that (maybe) limits inflammation??

my results are pretty consistant with these changes. anyone else notice this?

btw, i'm 5'8 and toggle between 140 and 150 depending on my musculature.

[yogashmoga]

*stress-free (really hard to type that, for some reason...)

[Gotsouthern]

I agree with the folks talking about upping your carbs, as counter intuitive as that may sound. Any time I hit a plateau, jockying my carb amounts around (up if I've been low for a while, down if I've been high for a while) always seems to do the trick. I know the carb cycling thing is highly debated, and I have no opinion except what I've seen work for myself and a few close friends. I don't do it on any set rotation like I once did, just whenever things aren't quite going like I think they should and everything else is in order, that's the first place I look.

[Owly]

When you did the 6 week Paleo Challenge, were you still eating the 100-150g of carbs a day?

Sure was! Lots of fruit, sweet and white potatoes, starchy veg, squashes, and so on. Looking back through my journal from the challenge, I was on a major tangerine kick at the time and had days when I ate 2-3 of them and still ate lots of other stuff like sweet potato, pumpkin, and other carby foods.