please please please help me!

N

NoraLynn

New member
Hello,

I am a 21 year old female 5'2", currently weighing in at 132 pounds and 24% body fat. By no means is this unhealthy, but i absolutely CANT TAKE IT ANY MORE!! i have been working out, since january, 4-7 times a week, averaging about 4.5 hours a week at the gym split evenly between strength and cardio taking spin class, toning classes, working with a personal trainer, and on my own. i eat healthy, love vegetables, grill chicken, dont eat red meat, dont use condiments, an occasional snack or piece of chocolate but nothing overboard. i HATE the way i look. I have not lost ONE POUND since january, although i did lose 2 percent body fat. i am beyond frustrated and i just do not know what to do at this point. what is the point of working out if it isnt helping? i have gotten to the point where i am considering severely cutting calories, because i dont see how doing this the "healthy way" is working. any advice to switch things up and see some improvements would be much appreciated.

thanks
nora
 
i would also like to add that the reason why i am so uncomfortable with my body is that it seems like all of my weight is stored in my middle region, around my stomach and love handles. no matter what i do i cant change this!!
 
NoraLynn said:
i would also like to add that the reason why i am so uncomfortable with my body is that it seems like all of my weight is stored in my middle region, around my stomach and love handles. no matter what i do i cant change this!!
Click to expand...

Try counting calories exactly. It's hard to tell how much you're eating if you don't count. Buy a scale to weigh food, and be very precise about it. Write down every single thing, even that little bit of milk you pour into your coffee.

Even if you are eating healthy, it's easy to eat too much.

According to this calculator , and assuming you work a desk job this is how much you need to maintain your weight:

"Maintenance:
1582 Calories/day"

This is assuming you don't work out. Every time you work out, you could calculate the calories that spends, which would also depend on your weight.


My guess would be you should stick to what you're doing, but just eat a little bit less than you're eating now. You're by no means fat, so maybe eat around 1400-1500 calories getting you a 100-200 caloric deficit without exercise. Or per week it would be 700-1400 caloric deficit from diet alone. (A pound is 3500 calories.) If you decide to be extreme about eating, make sure not to eat below 1200 calories because if you do your body may go into starvation mode.

If you exercise for 4.5 hours a week, and say you burn 300 calories per hour (just an estimate, not knowing how intensely you work out) that's another 2100 calories which would give you about a pound loss per week.


The single most important thing is counting what you eat. I can't stress that enough. Before I started writing down and weighing everything I eat, I wasn't losing weight even though I was eating healthy. When you write things down, you really see just how much you're eating.
 
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Hi, Nora! You definitely need a food journal if you don't have one already. Statistically people are WAY off on what they guess their calorie intake is. Here is my advice - If you bite it, write it - then you will know exactly how much calories you are taking in a day. Then with that information in hand drop your daily calorie intake. Keep in mind that a pound equals 3500 calories. So if you want to lose a pound a week you need to cut back on your calories by 500 calories a day.
 
NoraLynn you don't seem to be eating any good fats. Try adding some peanut butter or dark chocolate(chocolate chips work) to your diet. Tree nuts and olive oil are also good for fat lose especially around the waist.
It seems like an oxymoron to eat fat to lose fat but it will work for you.
 
NoraLynn said:
Hello,

I am a 21 year old female 5'2", currently weighing in at 132 pounds and 24% body fat. By no means is this unhealthy, but i absolutely CANT TAKE IT ANY MORE!! i have been working out, since january, 4-7 times a week, averaging about 4.5 hours a week at the gym split evenly between strength and cardio taking spin class, toning classes, working with a personal trainer, and on my own. i eat healthy, love vegetables, grill chicken, dont eat red meat, dont use condiments, an occasional snack or piece of chocolate but nothing overboard. i HATE the way i look. I have not lost ONE POUND since january, although i did lose 2 percent body fat. i am beyond frustrated and i just do not know what to do at this point. what is the point of working out if it isnt helping? i have gotten to the point where i am considering severely cutting calories, because i dont see how doing this the "healthy way" is working. any advice to switch things up and see some improvements would be much appreciated.

thanks
nora
Click to expand...

If you're working out at the gym for 4.5 hours per week, you're probably not going to lose weight. You're realistically toning and building muscle - muscle weighs something, so as you gain muscle, you gain weight. And, if the amount of muscle that you're building is the same amount as the fat you are losing, your weight will remain the same.

Also, maybe you aren't eating as well as you THINK you are. As Stacy said, keep a food journal. Try counting the calories you are eating. Don't estimate...be exact as possible. A lot of people have a huge problem when it comes to their estimations - they UNDER estimate the calories they're consuming and OVER estimate the amount of calories they're burning (AKA - how much they exercise). And, they get all frustrated when they're not losing weight and can't figure out why. So, try keeping a little notebook with you and keep track of exactly what you eat - how many calories you are consuming. You have to burn more calories than you consume in order to lose weight. So, just keep track of what you eat and make sure that you're doing just that.
 
If you're losing body fat and not just weight you're doing everything properly. I don't see what your problem is here. The scale isn't your friend when you're trying to get healthier/leaner. I think the only people who should really use the scale as a measure for success are obese people, 280lbs +.

5'2, 132lbs doesn't sound bad to me at all. Keep focusing on changing your body and the changes will come. Never give up... it takes longer then a few months to see a big difference. Reducing your body fat by 2% and maintaining the same weight is an excellent accomplishment.

Try to shoot for 90-100g+ of protein a day, lift heavy weights 3 days a week, do some cardio 2-3 days a week. You don't need to go to the gym so much, trust me. You could make that 3 trips to the gym a week instead of the amount you're doing. You could be over training going that much... I have no idea what kind of work outs you do.
 
Sounds like you're working really hard, but maybe a little too hard?

See, if you don't allow your muscles to fully recover from a strenuous work out they wont draw upon any fat reserves (and good fuel you've put in to your body by way of chicken and grilled vegetables) to repair themselves.

Something I heard about fat loss happening when your body is actually at rest, not in the gym.

Make sure you allow whatever muscle group you've worked on at least a day's rest before working them again ok?

J
x
 
Excellent suggestion about keeping a journal... I have been keeping a journal and it works. I was faithful for 30 days, it is amazing when you look back on the weeks! Every habit takes 30-90days to create. If you start today and stay committed for 30 days you will start to create your habit... In 30 days on a high protein, High Antioxidant diet I have lost 12lbs and 2.5inches around my waist... I am so excited to share this and I eat chocolate everyday!!! Keep going and never give up!! Best of Luck
 
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