i'm a little lost

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quality coffee

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ok, so i generally feel like i keep going around in circles - i do my research on the net, and feel somewhat satisfied for a while. then i remember i haven't lost any weight at all for about 5 weeks now. and i think SURELY i should be losing a bit, surely the gaining of muscle part is over and now i'm really hitting it.

so basically i'm a 22 year old female. i started at 85 kilograms/187 pounds in june of this year. through diet and exercise, i now weigh 63 kilograms/138 pounds. initially i was averaging 4 hours a week on the treadmill in exercise, which was 600 calories burnt an hour. currently i average 8 hours a week, burning on average 800 calories {3360 kj} an hour, (so average 6400 {26880kj} calories a week) (i do intense dvd workouts and the rest running and jogging). weekends i don't do any exercise. i consume on average, i would think, 1500 {6300 kj} calories a day.

so honestly, would you think i need to up my calorie intake, and if so with any specific foods?? i have a lean cuisine for breakfast and a lean cuisine for dinner with probably 5 cups of steamed vegetables added into these also. during the day i have 4 apples, a banana, a couple servings of weight watchers yoghurt and a coffee and a milo. (the fruit salad comes out to be a massive bowl - trust me).

i do an hour s exercise morning, an hour at night. i usually get home and have a snooze for 20-30minutes before my workout, trying to figure out if this is fatigue, or if its because i'm not getting enough of the right foods.

i take iron tablets, plus lots of other multi vitamin type supplements - silica, apple cider vinega, omega 3, inner health plus.

i drink probably 8-9 litres of water a day - i also wonder if maybe that could possibly be contributing to my lethargy; perhaps i drink too much, but usually if i go 10 minutes without a drink, i get very thirsty.

any advice?? anything obvious??
 
I could be completely off, but the first thing that I noticed was the amount of water you drink, and that you said you're very thirsty if you don't drink like every 10 minutes. That, combined with feelig lethargic, could be an indication that your blood sugars are off. Did you get them checked recently? If not, I'd suggest that you do so, just to be on the safe side. And yes, 8-9 litres is A LOT. I don't think you can drink 'too much' as such, but it's somewhat unusual.

Also, do you run on the treadmill? Because otherwise I think 600/800 calories burnt per hour is way, way off. I get about 100 cals per hour on the treadmill, if even that.

I'm not sure on the calorie intake, but there's peeps around here who are really good with this kind of thing and I'm sure they can give you some good advice. :)
 
I second the suggestion to check on blood sugar.

Also - if you're constantly thirsty when drinking that much, maybe you're low in sodium. You can actually drink 'too much' - you can actually die because drinking too much washes out all of the salts you need to live.

Normally this is found as an issue with long distance runners, but sometimes there can be too much of a good thing. Probably not an issue for you, but can't hurt to be aware of it.

What is Water Poisoning?

Also - I noticed you said "I think" about your calories. Humans are notoriously bad at estimating their calories :D I highly recommend tracking everything you eat - I use fitday.com and find it very helpful.

Also, if you're not weighing your food its easy to underestimate your intake by as much as 200 calories. There's a sticky about this that's really eye opening. http://weight-loss.fitness.com/topic/16780-easiest-fat-loss-tip-ever.html
 
Add my agreement to what's been posted above. Here are my thoughts:


  • Medical issues. I rarely start with medical issues because I think most people use medical issues as an excuse for not being precise. But if you're drinking a lot of water and are still thirsty all the time, I'd suggest going to see a doctor. Excessive thirst and fatigue are both signs of diabetes among other things. It could be something much more simple, but when you're experiencing those symptoms, it's worth being checked out.
  • Calories. A lot of people do really really well just watchign what they eat and getting balanced food w/out counting calories. But most people are really bad at estimating how much they eat and when you get down to those last pounds, being off by even 10% can totally screw up your loss. I'd suggest registering for a free account at fitday.com or thedailyplate.com and logging what you eat for at least a week - just to give you a good idea of where your nutrition and calories are falling.
  • Numbers. Don't obsess over the number thing. Seriously. I see so many people who count the calories they burn down to the decimal point and it just can't be measured that accurately. Burning 600+ calories an hour means you're working pretty hard - running at a pretty good clip for the full hour. If you're using the figures from the machines, then they're most likely way off. The only way to know for sure is to use a heart rate monitor that takes into account things like your current weight, age, sex, and average heart rate over the period of exercise. Those machines can be waaaaay off.
  • Water. I just ran the figures and 9 liters of water is a LOT. The American Sports Medicine Institute and the American College of Sports Medicine recommend a guideline of 1 oz of water for every 2 lbs of body weight. For you, that would be 69 oz, or about 2 liters. You're getting over 4x that, which could be badly screwing with your electrolytes. Also you have to keep in mind that the food you eat - and especially veg and fruit - also contain water and contribute to that total each day. So 9 liters on top of that ... I'm thinking you're getting into a danger area here.
Those are my thoughts off the top of my head. I do think visiting a doctor might be a good idea ... at least get a physical and have your blood sugar and hormone levels tested. If they come back ok, you'll have a clean bill of health to start figuring out these things from.
 
thanks guys, i appreciate the way you've viewed it, i guess i find it hard to talk to family and friends - all they say is i'm not getting enough red meat or this or that, a million different things, you think its too hard and stop trying to come up with an answer. everyone's got their own opinion - and its usually pretty uneducated, especially when they're on the couch watching telly when i'm out sweating it out for 2 and half hours straight.

the water thing is hard to explain, years ago i trained myself to drink more water, i would keep a tally during the day at work and try and beat my 'personal best' each day. i will admit, after 4 days, i couldn't even tell whether or not i was wearing makeup, my skin was so clear!! i definitely went overboard, i think one day i managed 14 litres. so yes now, recently, i try to subsitute my litre of water that i usually have hourly for a coffee instead. but yes i get extremely thirsty if i go to the shops without a water bottle for even 20 minutes, i need to 'untrain' myself to a degree.

these amounts don't include wat i have before and after work either sigh. i did go and get checked for diabetes when i was worried about this a year ago. so today i'm definitely going to hold off on the water - see if i lag at about 5-6pm which i usually do.

i actually started trying to abbreviate my water for weight watchers cordial - its only 28 calories for a litre bottle - and i found i wouldn't scull it as much as i would do with water. but then i crave lollies :( i found i would get to work and eat lollies from the lolly jar - whereas i never had this problem before.

with the calories on the treadmill, arghhhhh!!! i was just following wat the digital speedometer thing told me! it tells me pulse rate, kilometres per hour, calories burned and time spent!! basically, i could walk very fast and comfortably jog at the pace i was going - i always believed what it told me - maybe it is out??

yes with being rough in guessing my calorie intake - i guess cos i'm so boring with my food - eating EXACTLY the same thing, day in, day out, i can watch it fairly closely. i pretty much hit each hour of the day and have the exact same thing (7.30am - lean cuisine & vegies, 9am - milo, 10am - apple, 11am - coke zero, 12pm - coffee, 1pm - apple, 2pm - coke zero, 3pm - fruit salad with yoghurt, 9pm - lean cuisine with vegies). on the weekends i usually have less - as i get to sleep in so less meals yay...

so all in all, i should definitely get my iron and sugar levels checked - and you reckon a heart monitor is the way to go with monitoring my output?? geez, there's so many gadgets, i actually hadn't considered this one yet?? they will tell me wat i burn??

thanks ppl, i appreciate it, just another ignorant person walking blind i guess!!
 
=It's all a learning experience. :)

I think a heart rate monitor might help if you want to focus more on the numbers. I use mine all the time, just to keep myself on track.

I'd definitely try to pare back the water. One thing - you said you trained yoruself to drink this much and I'm wondering if the "thirst" issue is really just wanting the feel of water in your mouth. What about chewing sugar free gum to keep you from drinking quite so much? Chewing gum stimulates saliva production, so it'll give you that feel of something in your mouth, and the moisture, but you won't be drinking so much water!

I'm also wondering of the reliance on packaged meals might be a problem. The chemicals and preservatives and sodium in those meals might be an issue for you? It's not always for everyone, but it can be for some people.

Could you maybe sub something like fruit and yogurt for your breakfast. Or oats and fruit. Something quick and easy but not packaged or preserved? See if that helps boost things? Also the reason I suggest yogurt is that you might want to add some calcium to your diet - it's especially important for women below 30 to get as much calcium as they can, and dairy is a good way to get a good bit of it.

But yeah, a checkup at the doctor would also be a good idea. :)
 
sob - i knew the day would come when i would have to think about kicking my lean cuisines!! i guess, i've fallen in love with one, its better than any fast food meal i've ever eaten, i could eat it all day, and its bludy wonderful to be able to treat myself TWICE a day every day and still feel healthy doing it. but it is very expensive ($6.89 AU per meal), so two per day on weekdays amounts to a lot with buying fruit and veg and yoghurt etc on top.

i'll definitely go and buy a heart rate monitor straigtaway - do u use this purely to gauge calories burnt??

i've just given the sugar free chewing gum a whirl - i've only had 2 litres so far today rather than the usualy 5! thanks for that, thats interesting - i wonder if its just if i've been busy. and another thing it could definitely help with, i didn't want a cigarette because of the taste in my mouth. hmmm could be a lifesaver in more ways than one.

i'm considering going back to scrambled eggs for breakfast - i just have them plain - no milk, no toast, and chop up tomato in them, wat would you think of 3 eggs scrambled with a tomato chopped??? that would be a good source of protein, its just a bit more time consuming to whip up than a lean cuisine, so i gave it up a while back.

thanks again - you're very thorough.
 
Glad I can help.

The eggs and tomato sounds like a great idea. You could probably even add a slice of toast in there if you wanted.

I use my heart rate monitor both to judge calories, but also just to monitor my heart rate depending on the kind of exercise i'm doing. For example, when I'm doing HIIT work, I very much base it on my heart rate rather than on settings on the machine. Even when I'm doing SS cardio, I try to keep my HR to around 160 or so ... and the HR monitor helps a lot with that.
 
Just a little note about the lean cuisines. You don't necessarily have to give them up completely, maybe try having a few on hand for those busy days. Or maybe, since you love the taste of them, use them as a sort of "treat" meal once in a while? Not sure if that works with your schedule all the time, but that's what I try to do! Have a couple on hand for when I'm busy or incredibly silly and forget to pack a dinner even though I packed a lunch haha
Just a thought ^_^;
 
ok well this morning i switched my lean cuisine for scrambled eggs.
am i overboard??
3 x eggs scrambled
no milk
2 x small tomatoes chopped (love my tomatoes)
half an onion diced??

i was knackered for the first 2 hours of work grrrrrrr
did my jog/run for an hour this morning nonstop 5.20am - 6.20am
wonder if i'm just in recovery mode from the weekend still

all i've eaten since being at work from 8am-11.46am is an apple and i didn't eat any lollies either yay!!
and probably only a litre of water because i'm cranking the sugar free gum.

it stops me from thinking of food (the gum appears to) wat the??

thanks guys.
luv to make a change...
 
The eggs and tomatoes and onion sounds pretty good .. I don't think it's excessive at all! :)

Can you add some protein to your morning snack - maybe some cheese with your apple? That might help some with energy levels.
 
I'm curious how tall are you? And what is your weight goal? Are there specific areas of the body where you want to lose fat that you haven't?

In addition to high sodium most pre-packaged foods contain corn syrup or modified corn starch. I just looked up lean cuisine and it does. This can be one reason why you haven't lost any more weight. You may want to read my blog post on corn syrup: [spam removed]

I know it takes more time to prepare your own meals but then you have complete control over the amount of salt, sugar, and fat that you put into your diet.

Also over-exercising could be a factor, combined with not enough calories to give your body the energy it needs. Dr. Vash who wrote: The Fat to Muscle Diet, says on pg. 80 that cutting too many calories can cause us to "stop losing weight or to lose very slowly."

Here's an equation you can use to figure out how many calories you should eat factoring in the amount of exercise you do:

Harris-Benedict equation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sincerely,
fitgirlsoon
 
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fitgirlsoon said:
I'm curious how tall are you? And what is your weight goal? Are there specific areas of the body where you want to lose fat that you haven't?

In addition to high sodium most pre-packaged foods contain corn syrup or modified corn starch. I just looked up lean cuisine and it does. This can be one reason why you haven't lost any more weight. You may want to read my blog post on corn syrup:

[spam removed]

I know it takes more time to prepare your own meals but then you have complete control over the amount of salt, sugar, and fat that you put into your diet.

Also over-exercising could be a factor, combined with not enough calories to give your body the energy it needs. Dr. Vash who wrote: The Fat to Muscle Diet, says on pg. 80 that cutting too many calories can cause us to "stop losing weight or to lose very slowly."

Here's an equation you can use to figure out how many calories you should eat factoring in the amount of exercise you do:

Harris-Benedict equation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sincerely,
fitgirlsoon
Click to expand...


thanks for the info fitgirl, i'm 167cm so apparently just under 5 foot 6 (measurements seem to vary on google).

yeh the thing that aggravates me the most is not knowing whether i'm eating enough to supplement the exercise - if i was just burning myself out and then my body on top of that was just conserving everything to deal with fatigue.

i don't think i'll every really know - i've gotta sorta keep sticking the feelers out and trying to see if i can find a happy medium.

ur a lifesaver with the chewing gum thing kara - not just cos i've cut back on water but because i'm eating less!!

initially i was worried, because i know if you chew gum for hours u'll always get that tummy rumble because your stomach is expecting something, but by then its lunch time anyways! whereas before i'd always want an apple every hour. which definitely adds up...
 
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I would say you need more protein in your diet. 1/2 cup low fat cottage cheese instead of one of your apples. 1 low fat cheese stick; egg beaters (egg whites only) has very little calories (120 in a cup) and like 24 grams of protein. Nix the portable dinners (although tasty, are just loaded with carbs and sodium, and very little, if any protein).

Try lifting some weights on alternate days of cardio. Building muscle is the key to maintaining weight loss (and keeping it up, of course).

I look forward to being where you are some time next year.
 
LadyLuck70 said:
I would say you need more protein in your diet. 1/2 cup low fat cottage cheese instead of one of your apples. 1 low fat cheese stick; egg beaters (egg whites only) has very little calories (120 in a cup) and like 24 grams of protein. Nix the portable dinners (although tasty, are just loaded with carbs and sodium, and very little, if any protein).

Try lifting some weights on alternate days of cardio. Building muscle is the key to maintaining weight loss (and keeping it up, of course).

I look forward to being where you are some time next year.
Click to expand...

so do you really think i need to get rid of my lean cuisines completely??
i guess looking at pro s and con s in a basic way
it tells me exactly wat i'm consuming calorie wise
and its also so easy to make
so i never go for an easier quicker option
and i absolutely love the one particular flavour i've discovered

but you think it could be boycotting my weight loss that much??

thanks heaps!
 
Hi there,

Have you logged your food and calories. Never mind what you're burning; if you are working out that hard, you are obviously burning calories. But if you are working out so you can eat more, then your not going to be loosing weight. Here is one of my daily eats with calories. I write everything down or I don't eat it.

Coffee w/half n half 60
1 cup egg beaters 120
Yoplait light f/f yogurt 110
2 ounces turkey breast 60
Low fat mozzarella stick 80
1 hard boiled egg 90
1/2 cup low fat cottage
cheese 90
1 cup tea w/skim milk 29
Popcorn (100 calorie pack) 100
Protein shake 190
Turkey burger 200
Whole wheat roll 220
Skinny Cow Fudgicle f/f 100
TOTAL 1449

Usually I do not eat the egg or the popcorn, but wasn't loosing weight with 1200 calories, so just recently added those to my eating plan. Keep in mind - I do not put any other morsel of food in my mouth, period.

Last night I did 1/2 hour on the stationary bike doing 1 minute high intensity and 1 minute at regular speed. I also did 30 minutes on the treadmill at a level 3, walking 3.8-4.0 miles per hour at an include of 4. On alternate days, my personal trainer has a routine that I follow with squats, push-ups, weights, boards and some other weight lifting techniques.

When I began my regimen, I was also eating the 300 calorie, prepackaged lunches, and didn't loose an ounce. They say calories in calories out to loose weight, but I really do think we are all different. If what you're doing isn't working, try something else.

I wish you luck in your journey.
 
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