Keeping lower calorie intake.... this is hard!!! page 3

[14emom]

Gopintos,

I think you are onto something, and if you are weight training, you may not see quick drastic results on the scale, but lost inches. Do you measure yourself? I am in a similar predicament. For many years I did the low cal thing, and it worked, but boy, when I turned 38 my body totally rebelled against that! Its taken me a long time, but now I eat the food. Healthy, real food. And I weight train. And do HIIT workouts. And even though the scale is not where I want it to be, my body has, slowly, lost fat and built muscle. I went from eating 1200 calories a year ago, to anywhere between 1800 to 2000. But it was a slow progression. If you went up in calorie intake quickly, you might see an upward trend on the scale, but it's not fat. Add to that an increase in workouts, and there's your 7 lbs. You're doing the right thing, it may take some time, but keep up the good work, and keep listening to YOUR body.
BTW, I am 43, started at 142 lbs. a year ago (which may not seem big, but I am 5'3" and it all settles in my butt/hip area). Now I fluctuate btwn 126-129, am a size 4, and my progress is sustainable. Lasting. And that's what we want, right?

[gopintos]

... I think there are many ways to improve it, from investigating hormonal balance to building muscle and even just adding in a little extra activity.

Gopintos,

I think you are onto something, and if you are weight training, you may not see quick drastic results on the scale, but lost inches. Do you measure yourself? I am in a similar predicament. For many years I did the low cal thing, and it worked, but boy, when I turned 38 my body totally rebelled against that! Its taken me a long time, but now I eat the food. Healthy, real food. And I weight train. And do HIIT workouts. And even though the scale is not where I want it to be, my body has, slowly, lost fat and built muscle. I went from eating 1200 calories a year ago, to anywhere between 1800 to 2000. But it was a slow progression. If you went up in calorie intake quickly, you might see an upward trend on the scale, but it's not fat. Add to that an increase in workouts, and there's your 7 lbs. You're doing the right thing, it may take some time, but keep up the good work, and keep listening to YOUR body.
BTW, I am 43, started at 142 lbs. a year ago (which may not seem big, but I am 5'3" and it all settles in my butt/hip area). Now I fluctuate btwn 126-129, am a size 4, and my progress is sustainable. Lasting. And that's what we want, right?

Glad I posted. More glad y'all posted!

My calories dropped when I went HFLC. The higher I went, the lower calories dropped until weight loss stopped. And energy tanked. I was blaming it all on HFLC. Now I am guessing it was low calories.

So I switched macros, a couple months back, which I don't regret that part. I feel better having more carbs. My fog lifted and I was able to exercise more. So adding a few more calories was easy, because activity makes me more hungry.

So then I feel really pretty good on a 3way split on macros. I thought I hit my groove. Then in looking at my charts, I realize that I am the same weight now as 5 months ago.

So then I am bummed about the weight gain but I am eating all good foods. And I feel really good. And I realize it could be exercise too. I do ST, and I do some HITT every 3rd day, and I started walking most daily. But with weight & calories increasing, I am thinking there is no way in hell I can go any lower in calories & sustain that forever.

So I am thinking WTH, what works for me? I lost most of my weight pre-primal on 50c/30f/20p - and my calories were probably just below BMR. But honestly, I was hungry alot of the time, but in all fairness I was also learning about foods and satiety, which I didnt have a clue at that time.

So anyways, I feel much better. The 7lbs had me bummed because I had just hit 70lbs lost, for like a day or two. Even with this gain, the jeans I finally fit into, still fit. One shirt, the sleeve that was tight, fits fine now. I know (or think) things look better and I felt like things were slimming but the scale was just not cooperating.

I do take measurements, maybe half a dozen places and I just remeasured this past week, and nothing much moved but my thighs did a little. Decreased that is.

Anyways, I started a journal yesterday on this very subject, so I wouldnt hijack threads like this with my own babble.
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/forum/thread78870.html


Thanks you guys. Really. The thought of "giving up" never occurred to me but it was still frustrating. I really do feel so much better having our little chat.

[j3nn]

GP, I wouldn't sweat the 7-lb gain! It's probably not pure fat gain, more than likely a mix of water and glycogen and maybe even some muscle? Hmm! Fluctuations are normal. All in all, you're still in a downward trend. You'll find your formula, I'm sure. But you won't unless you experiment. Do what works!

BTW, sometimes cutting back on sodium helps reveal your true weight if your intake is always high and you retain fluid as a side effect. But if that's not you, disregard this.

[14emom]

I'm glad you posted too! Whenever I read your posts in strikes a familiar cord in me, and gets me thinking. And it brings me back to what I know to be true.

[The Rebooted Body]

Whatever happened to eating whole foods when you're hungry? It's all this talk about MacRats and Calories that's getting people lost and confused in what should be a pretty simple world. Do you have to be your own science experiment to find out exactly what works for your individual body? Sure, but purposefully trying to limit caloric intake is going to fail 99% of the time.

Eat for micronutrients and low toxicity, not for MacRats. If your body can't handle safe carbs without weight gain, replace with fat and test.

Working out 4-5 days a week on top of walking dogs a lot is probably taking you into the realm of chronic exercise. Have you considered that cortisol could be the cause of your plateau? How's your sleep been? Exercise isn't that necessary (assuming you have healthy activity levels) -- you might want to cut back on that.