not eating enough?

K

kellyj

Member
Hi everybody,
I need some help. I would like to lose about 5 lbs (5'6"; 126 lbs; 17% body fat I think). I am generally pretty cut (especially my upper body which is fairly lean) but have a little bit of fat that just won't budge - primarily on my thighs (mostly right under my butt - I refer to it as the shelf my butt sits on!).
The following is my workout routine -

I do a lot of cardio - Spinning 60 mins 2X; treadmill interval runs 3 X week for 40-50 minutes; Adv. Tae Bo 60 mins 2X.

I also do Pilates 45 mins 1X; LL 2 x a week; Body Max Upper/Abs 1X a week; and PS Upper Body/Abs tapes 1X a week.

My diet, for the most part is pretty clean and I eat 5 small meals a day. Even when I 'cheat' it is usually with something low or no fat and sugar free. I generally eat about 1300 calories a day. I cannot lose a single pound!
I have recently seen some weight loss articles in Oxygen or MF Hers that suggest that perhaps I should be eating more based on my activity level - like 1800 calories (sounds like so much).
Would really appreciate some advice.
Thanks everybody,
Kellyj
 
I am definately not an expert,but after reading your height and weight and your workout - maybe you are at your correct weight all ready? Maybe you should just concentrate on lower body weight training since that seems to be your trouble area. Are you doing P/S legs? It does seem like you are eating kind of low. Have you tried the Janise Saffel Brand New Butts and More tape? It is awsome - a complete hour of leg and butt work. It claims to be total body but the upper work is minimal. It is broken up into a standing workout and a lower workout but the exercises are a little different than the standard upper work and lower work - I bet if you added this tape a couple of times a week with weights you would see a difference.

Just my gut feeling after reading your post. I am sure you will receive other informative answers.
 
I am definately not an expert,but after reading your height and weight and your workout - maybe you are at your correct weight all ready? Maybe you should just concentrate on lower body weight training since that seems to be your trouble area. Are you doing P/S legs? It does seem like you are eating kind of low. Have you tried the Janise Saffel Brand New Butts and More tape? It is awsome - a complete hour of leg and butt work. It claims to be total body but the upper work is minimal. It is broken up into a standing workout and a lower workout but the exercises are a little different than the standard upper work and lower work - I bet if you added this tape a couple of times a week with weights you would see a difference.

Just my gut feeling after reading your post. I am sure you will receive other informative answers.
 
It seems to me that you are not eating enough and your body is hanging on to that last bit of fat for dear life. (Our body's self preservation mechanisms can be stinkers, eh?? A little TOO efficient, if you ask me! :D)

I once read an article by a guy who trains women for bodybuilding competitions and he doesn't recommend that they drop any lower than 1800 calories per day, below their basal metabolic rate.

Do you feel tired at all from all that exercise? Are you able to increase your poundage at all? Do you take any rest days?


"Pain is weakness leaving the body."
 
I must agree with everyone else that you are not eating enough based on your activity level. Going by your exercise schedule, it looks like you're not taking any days off, either. Allowing one rest day per week is critical for recovery.

What kind of build do you have.....are you small, medium or large boned? You're body fat percentage is low already, and going by your weight, you may be thin enough already.

Many women have a distorted view of how they really look, and most of the time we think we are fatter than we really are. You may have to do a reality check and determine if you need to lose any weight at all.
 
Bebop -
Thanks for your input. I have done PS Legs but unless I am sore the next day (as I am with LL!) I kind of feel that it isn't doing anything. Maybe that's silly and perhaps I should try to increase the weight I use with PS. I have
been meaning to order Janis Saffel's tape for a while but haven't yet. I will get it and give it a try. That's exactly what I need - a brand new butt!
Thanks again.
Kellyj
 
Jen, is that you? Kidding - you sound like a friend of mine!
Once in a blue moon I take a complete rest day, but honestly unless I do some kind of exercise I feel that I am going to backslide. Silly, maybe, but it's taken me a long time to get to this place. I have struggled with my weight since my teens up until about 3 1/2 years ago (145lbs; and previously 20 lbs heavier than that in college). I feel that I have to work at this level to just maintain. In my head, I think that I am still that out of shape person that I once was, I guess. I am not usually tired from this level of cardio but every once in a while my body just doesn't want to get up at 5 am to go to the gym so I listen to it and don't. I definitely space out my weight workouts with 48 hours in between body parts.
Maybe I'll try to up my calories a bit and see what happens.
Thanks very much for responding.
 
I agree with Honey bunch - I am 5'5, 128 lbs and I work out only 5 days per week. 3 cardio and 2 weight training sessions (focusing on endurance for a while) per week. I eat between 2000 and 2800 calories per day and can maintain, no problem. If I went below 2000 calories per day I would lose weight but I am content where I am. I'm not perfect but I am also my worst enemy. I see flaws no one else sees.

From what I've read you should be eating at least 1800 calories per day. Don't add them in all at once, add 100 calories a week until you get to 1800. Add healthy foods - fruits, veggies and whole grains.

You will probably loose that 5 lbs that are bugging you but to be totally honest, 126 lbs at 5'6 sounds very good to me, especially if you are weight training. Muscle weighs more than fat.
 
Hi Kelly,
I just read the same article that you are talking about.and I decided to up my weight work and try to cut out a little bit of cardio_Of course it is a bit harder then I thought.Not the weight work out, but giving up my cardio.
I have followed the guide lines in this issue and seen results as of last week.I had lost two pounds.Now I was like you probably not eating enough and that is why my weight wasn't budging either.
I am 5'4"and weigh 124.I would like to see 120 and LOVE to see 115.I know where you are comming from.It seems so hard sometimes.And it is hard.My body as been at this weight for 2 yeras now so I wonder sometimes if this is where I am suppose to be or maybe that way of thinking is just an excuse to stay this weight.It also as a lot to do with what you inherit.My mom and sister tend to have all of their weight in their lower bodies.I don't have much for hips but I do have those thighs.
But there is no harm in trying this article.I tried it and as of last week the weight was moving but of course I got a little off track.For me I was supppose to be gettig close to 2200 calories aday.At times I was only eating 1200.So according to this calculation if I cut down to 1800 I would lose 5 pounds in 5 weeks.But i have only been eating 1500, a lot of chicken.
Anyway, I hope I may have helped some,
Lori
 
Kelly..

I read your post and I can really relate, but in a sad way. You work out enough, girl!! You are a machine!! Remember, you cannot change everything. There will probably always be that shelf your butt sits on to some extent!! I am just like you...more is always better, but it is not!! Your calories are WAY too low and the truth is I doubt you need to lose any weight at all. I am sure you look very good.

One thing to think about is: If you are driving yourself crazy with all this working out and deprivational eating and you just keep staring at the same "shelf butt", why not change something?? It is possible to be doing too much..Your body is programmed to hang on to what it has..don't give it a reason to. Confuse it a little. Eat 1500 cals one day and 2300 the next. Or eat 1500 all week with one cheat day of 2000 cals. I know your eyes are bulging out of your head, but really, what do you have to lose...other than your "shelf butt".

But again...I think your butt is only a shelf to you!! Good Luck, and please try to concentrate on how healthy and beautiful you are rather than that last 5 lbs that, sadly, is probably only in your mind..:):) Janice
 
Boy, we are so driven by that darn scale, aren't we??

Well, I think I am strong and know I am healthy, but at 5'0 134 lbs, probably considered "fat" on this forum (I say that in a positive way!!).

Recently, my sister started exercising after a 5 year layoff or so. She is 5'4 and started out at 150 lbs. Well, she ate close to nothing..just enough protein to build muscle...she thought.3 months later, she weighed in at 120 lbs. Now(5 mo later) I would say she is about 115 lbs.

Many of you would probably see her and LOVE to have her "skinny" body. You can see her muscles..sometimes even the lines in her muscles, the striations. She looks "ripped". Everybody raves about how she has lost so much weight and "how did she do it??"....." I wanna do what she did"...you know the rest.

But if you were to really analyze my sisters results, you would see that her weight loss was too quick and that she obviously was not eating enoug...and still isn't. Everyone thinks she is muscle lady now, but if you figured it out, scientifically I mean, she has no extra muscle than when she started, and she actually probably has less. She only LOOKS more fit and "ripped" because she has lost so much WEIGHT, not because she has developed big muscles.

I tell you this, because sometimes I think it is so easy to get this all distorted. Remember, as athletes, we should care what kind of weight we are losing. It shouldn't all be about striving for that smaller number. If you are in a healthy body fat range..most of us are even "athletic", your main concern should not be lowering the number on the scale. It should be either keeping that number, or getting it higher while keeping your body fat the same.

I don't mean to lecture, or force my opinions on anyone, I just wish more women would pay attention to their health and strength rather than that stupid number.

Take care..Janice
Bye the way.....people are now telling my sis she may be too skinny. But to her, she still is not skinny enough!!! Sometimes, it is never enough. You think you will be really happy at XXX weight, but you won't be. You'll get there and then there will be something new to strive for. I guess true happiness doesn't lie in weight.
 
If she's that thin and thinks she's not skinny enough, that is a classic sign of an eating disorder. You see those scales go down and want to go down more and more. I did that at age 13 and got down to 98 pounds, and I'm built rather big, so I look awful at 115.

I don't mean to frighten you, but please be aware of what seems to be going on with your sister. People like that will NOT listen to relatives, but they may listen to outsiders, like a nurse or a trusted friend.
 
RE: tmrclvlnd - you sound like me

I am just slightly under 5'7" and weigh at least 136 right now. I don't ever consider trying to go under 130 because people start to get concerned. I loved being at 130 (I am at least 134 in the pictures in my profile) when I got there once but it was hard to maintain and my body seems to like 135 give or take. I eat like you as well. I would be pretty hard pressed to say I ever eat less than 2000 calories in a day. And yes, we see flaws that other do not but no one is perfect.

I agree with you about muscle weighing way more than fat and 126 at 5'6" is about as low as ones needs to get unless they want to look like Ally McBeal. That gal has no muscle whatsoever.

Kim
 
Did you guys see the article in Health Magazine about the 220 pound instructor who's fit and happy with her weight? I weigh in at 125, am 5', 6" tall and have a slab of flab on my belly that is there because this pesky body wants it there! If only I could distribute that fat all over because my limbs are slim, I have no chest and no butt! But alas, I have had to accept that this is my body. I am healthy, strong and energetic! :)

I agree that Kelly's calories are too low and I would like to add that when I indulge, I never chose something low fat or low cal. It's an indulgence so I make it worth it! I eat the best chocolate or something that is irresistably wonderful! Death by Chocolate! I have to take in at least 1800 calories a day or I become cranky and obsessed with food. I eat well! I work out hard and I accept that fat as part of me even if it's my least favorite part! lol! I never stop striving to lose it but I refuse to starve myself or to exercise too much. I have a number of little aches and pains that let me know when I am overdoing it and I refuse to let my mind play those little games. I will not compare myself to models or movie stars. Bodies are so different, aren't they!

Kim, you look awesome in your bio pic!

It is all about balancing it out! I am "perfect" for me even with a little belly fat and I feel great!

Bobbi http://www.plaudersmilies.de/chicken.gif Chick's Rule!
 
RE: Hi Bobbi

Thanks Bobbi. They say it is good to stand slighty sideways (and really suck it in) for a picture :) I fight the same battle you speak of and if I gain an ounce, it goes to the abs. I really respect your philosophies on diet and fitness and especially the part about indulgences. Bring on the dark Belgian chocolate!

Kim
 
I'm not expert, but my nutrtionist set me up with a clean diet of 1400 cal's a day. I am 5'3" and small boned. I'm very active and thought it would'nt be enough, and when I ate more like 1500 - 1600 I didn't loose anymore, but didn't gain anything either. So I'm back to 1400 until I'm at my goal weight for a while. Just my 2cents
Faythe
 
I'm not expert, but my nutrtionist set me up with a clean diet of 1400 cal's a day. I am 5'3" and small boned. I'm very active and thought it would'nt be enough, and when I ate more like 1500 - 1600 I didn't loose anymore, but didn't gain anything either. So I'm back to 1400 until I'm at my goal weight for a while. Just my 2cents
Faythe
 
Your weight for your height is fine. In fact, I would say it is a little lower than you should go. I agree with the comment that you can't lose any more weight because you aren't eating enough and your body's hanging onto what weight you have. Also, you are training too much-you need at least 1 day off in a week.
 
I agree with what everyone else has said. Try to get in a little rest. Your body will be happy you did! I'm not a good one to talk on upper the calories... but I know when I do I usually get pretty good results... but I just don't do it enough!

Good luck!
 
Bobbi, I just wanted to say I loved your reply! That is just the way I try to think these days. I have been through the starvation/exercise-till-you-drop thing, and no matter how low the number on the scale got, I was not happy. I look at pictures of myself now during that time and I look like crap! It was precious time wasted. I did some hard work on figuring out why I was doing this to myself, and now I am so much happier and healthier! I will never do that to myself again. Women should not buy into what media tells and shows us we "should" look like. You are right on the mark, Bobbi!

Denise
 
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