Can I speed it up?

[candytpw]

Basic info: Female, 5 ft 2.8 inches tall, weigh around 128-129 lbs

Two issues I wanna see if anyone could answer:
1. How can I speed things up (losing 1.5 pounds/week)? Am I eating too much or exercising too much?
2. Does PMS affect weight loss?

I've started losing weight since June 2009, which is exactly 2 years ago.
Started at around 187 and reached 128 on May30. Slow progress. 59lbs in two years. No rebound but a few plateaus.
My plan is to get to 115 ~ 110 lbs first. Then I'll start a new plan emphasizing more on toning and maintaining my body weight.
In other words, 13 ~ 18 pounds to go.

After a prolonged period of plateau that lasted for a little bit more than 3 months (due to exams, academic papers, lots of readings you name it. ), my weight loss kicked off again 2 weeks ago, dropping from 59.5kg to 58.2kg, i.e. -1.3 in two weeks.

While this number should be satisfying, I find it weird when I looked at my exercise log and food diary.

My BMR should be around 1410. (Obtained from online BMR calculators) I'm eating on average 1400/day.

I followed an exercise plan that looks like this (3 days per cycle):
Day 1 (Estimated calories burnt: 700)

• HIIT on Treadmill 30 minutes ( 5minutes warm up & 4minutes cool down at 6kph; run at 12kph for 30 sec and recover at 8kph for 1 minute, repeating 14 times) [The only exercise that can bring my HR up over 170rpm, but only during the runnings.]
• Stationary Bike 80 minutes (really light, even with the strongest resistance it has, HR never hitting >120 bpm)
• moderate weight lifting using free weights (3kg ~ 5kg), for arms and shoulders
• around 200RM of abs toning exercises (crunches, leg lifts, double crunches etc.)

Day 2 (Estimated calories burnt: 550)
Elliptical Trainer - Interval Training 60 minutes (130~140 strides/min)
Average HR 135 ~ 140 bpm

Day 3 (Estimated calories burnt: 500)

• Stationary Bike 80minutes / Rowing machine, Average HR 115 ~ 125 bpm
• Air Walker 20 minutes (optional), Average HR 100 ~110
• Weight lifting with light Weights (5lbs)
• around 200RM of abs toning exercises again

End up, my total work-out hours added up to 22.45hrs, and estimated total calories burnt 8190kcal.
However, my weight loss was only 1.3kg (meaning extra 130kcal burnt with daily activities).
With my calories deficit, I should have been able to lose more than that.

I'm suspecting: one, over-estimating the calories burnt with work-outs; or two, eating too much.

If it's the former, then if I want to speed this up, I'll have to work out more intensely, coz I don't want to lengthen them any more... I really don't see how not intense enough is my current work-out plan... I can't rule out the possibility of that still... my resting HR recently dropped from 60~66 to around 48~50 rpm. It takes sprints to push my HR up to 170rpm, but I only need to jog for less than a minute to get in back down to 140rpm. That's why I'm questioning if I'm not working out hard enough.

Or if it's already enough, am I eating a bit over the limit? I do think 1400 kcal a day is appropriate.

Then after talking to a friend, she thought I could be over-exercising. Again... I don't feel like over-exercising... I usually feel like I could have run a mile more after I've returned home from the gym. (usually don't do so as my knees ache after the high impact cardio. exercise injuries a year ago.)

That's why I need a third opinion~~~

And not forgetting my second question.
I find it harder to lose weight too during the week before my mensuration when my PMS starts bothering me again. Does PMS affect weight loss? I've googled it (even with google scholar...) and haven't yet come across any info. / literature on that... Is there a relationship???

Thanks in advance to anyone who bothers to finish reading this!!!

 

[ad52317]

try eating more

I think you may need to eat more! You should probably look into it. Your body may be in a starvation mode, holding onto those calories. I'm certainly not a professional, but I think you should look into it. I would eat more snacks in between meals like fruits and nuts to keep your metabolism going.

It's not as simple as estimating how many calories your body burns and eating a little less...and everyone's body works differently, so try different things until you find something that works. If you're not losing anything right now it's worth a shot, right?

 

[candytpw]

I think you may need to eat more! You should probably look into it. Your body may be in a starvation mode, holding onto those calories. I'm certainly not a professional, but I think you should look into it. I would eat more snacks in between meals like fruits and nuts to keep your metabolism going.

It's not as simple as estimating how many calories your body burns and eating a little less...and everyone's body works differently, so try different things until you find something that works. If you're not losing anything right now it's worth a shot, right?

thanks for the comment.

I double-, triple- and quadruple- checked my calories need and meal plans. The picture of my calories allowance feels simply too good to be true. I can eat up to 1800 kcal and still lose weight.

Right now, I feel like I'm eating all day long. Meals are usually around 300, and in-between snacks are around 100~150.
Getting protein rich breakfast (1 egg + 1 serv of skimmed milk + whole wheat bread/ whole wheat bread + tuna + low-fat cheese), Carbs-packed lunch and dinner with lots of veggies. Normally don't feel the need to eat snacks. But when PMS starts affecting, I prepare whole wheat (again) buns or oatmeal buns, weighed and calorie counted.

The one deficit I have to admit is that I have really little fat in my diet. I know it's recommended that 20% of calories come from fat. If i'm eating 1400 calories a day, I should eat 40g of fat. Surely I'm not eating that much. I'm not cutting it off totally. A considerable amount still sneak in when I eat out. Still I'm sure I'm not taking in more than 30g of it every day. I don't know if that's the reason....