I also agree with Jarek, since a lot of the advice given by Daniel thus far, not just in this thread but also in others, is misleading at best.
Despite already being prompted to do so, he’s demonstrated that he has no interest in reading medical journals, to further his knowledge and understanding of how the human body works, nor is he willing to entertain different methods of achieving a healthy balance between the macro nutrient groups, particularly if they depart from his own ideals.
I won’t dwell upon his comments any further, but I’m sure you get the idea.
Anyhow, with that out of the way, hello and welcome to the forum, Kimmiieee.
Firstly, even though you may have gained back what you’d lost, despite how unhappy you may currently feel, you’re certainly not excessively overweight, even for your height.
Equally, I can appreciate your sense of frustration over the fact your level of activity hasn’t delivered the results you’d hoped it would. However, the lack of progress may be due to the kind of exercise you perform and your calorie intake.
The art of successful weight loss is very much a numbers game. Once you know your numbers, you stand a far greater chance of success.
In order to ascertain numbers, you should obtain both your BMR and TDEE. Your BMR (basal metabolic rate) is roughly how many calories the body requires in its resting state to maintain existence, while TDEE (total daily energy expenditure) relates to the amount of calories required to maintain weight based upon level of activity.
Having obtained both BMR and TDEE, upon introducing a daily calorie deficit from your TDEE, provided the deficit introduced doesn’t take you below your BMR, weight should be lost, as the body utilises energy stored in existing levels of fat to provide the calories needed to meet energy requirements.
By all means research BMR and TDEE calculators, since they’re something you’ll need to refer to as weight is lost and/if level of activity increases. However, since you’ve provided measurements, I’ve performed the calculation for you.
The calculation has been performed on the assumption that the ‘accumulated excess and more’ has led to you weigh 140lbs. As such, your BMR equates to 944Kcal and taking into account your level of activity, your TDEE measures 1463Kcal. Don’t be alarmed by how low your calorie intake is, since your body requires far fewer calories than you may think it does.
That said, the difference between your BMR and TDEE is around 513Kcal, so you have to be astute with any deficit you introduce. If the deficit takes you beneath your BMR, you’ll not lose weight as your body will hold on to excess body fat in order to maintain existence.
As you’re active, don’t seek to introduce a deficit through calorie restriction, aim to consume around 1460Kcal each day and allow the deficit to be introduced through calories expended during exercise and daily activity.
Moving on to exercise itself, regardless of body weight, it’s not so much the quantity that ensures fat loss, it’s the intensity. While steady state cardio increases endurance by improving how the body processes oxygen during exercise, it does very little to utilise the energy stored in fat, largely since it takes 40-45 minutes of SSC to fully deplete your glycogen reserves (carbohydrate stored in muscles), before switching to burning fat.
By comparison, HIIT (high intensity interval training) is far more effective at utilising the energy stored in fat, largely since HIIT exercises the body’s anaerobic energy system. During anaerobic exercise, since the body is unable to deliver oxygen as quickly as working muscles require it, the muscles begin to rely upon other energy sources, chiefly that of glycogen and fat.
Since the hard intervals require the body to work in the absence of oxygen, glycogen reserves are quickly depleted, meaning that it turns to burning fat once glycogen has been exhausted.
In addition to a host of other beneficial physiological changes that occur through HIIT, from a weight loss perspective, depletion of glycogen and burning of fat is your main goal, so I’ll not confuse you.
However, aim to incorporate HIIT into your regime twice a week, performing the activity for no longer than 20-25 minutes. Perform 30s splits to begin with, as you allow the body to adapt, before introducing longer intervals.
Don’t seek to increase the intensity too severely, either. Use the RPE scale (rate of perceived exertion) to guide you towards the correct level in the initial interim and see how you get on. You should be working at level 9/10 on the RPE scale, but don’t worry if the level of intensity on your choice of equipment isn’t reflected as highly as you think it should be.
For example, when I perform HIIT, I’ll use the StairMaster, performing hard intervals at level 18 (the machine goes up to level 20) for 60 seconds, reducing the speed at which the stairs rotate down to level 1 for 30 seconds as I recover, repeating the process for 20-25 minutes. On the RPE scale, level 18 currently represents my perception of all-out effort.
Given that you exercise regularly, you should already possess a decent level of fitness, so the transition towards incorporating HIIT shouldn’t be too difficult. It’ll also provide a massive boost to your flagging motivation.
As for diet, ensure that protein accounts for 40% of your total daily calorie intake and that complex carbohydrates and fats account for 30% respectively. With the exception of coconut oil (which is a saturated fat), aim to keep consumption of saturated fat relatively low, obtaining intake through oils, seeds, fish and nuts, instead.
Despite being very much maligned, Daniel Egan is correct in suggesting the use of macro-nutrient calculators, since they do provide a clearer idea of how many calories should be obtained through the respective food groups. However, since you’ve been provided with a rough breakdown of percentages between the respective macronutrients, the maths shouldn’t prove too difficult, but bear in mind that each gram of fat contains 9Kcal and protein and carbohydrate each contain 4Kcal per gram.
