New here...need some help, what am I doing wrong???

**MissSunshine** · 10-20-2008, 10:08 AM

Hi All ~

I’m new here….quick background and then some questions:

Been weight lifting for about 4 years now…this seemed to be ok for some time, and I was fine with the results. Lately I have decided that I want to bump it up a notch, lose a few more pounds (5-10), so added 2-3 days/week of HIIT (treadmill work, 20 minutes of a 1:3 ratio….been consistently bumping my speed and times up for the past 2 months and will continue to do so….I am steadily improving and I’m happy with that!).

Here is my issue: I am not dropping ANY weight, and my body fat is the same. I am surprised because from what I have read, most people who add some HIIT drop weight and shape up pretty quickly. This hasn’t been the case for me. I am guessing it’s my diet. Here is a pretty typical meal plan:

Morning: coffee and a couple of eggs and maybe some sausage or bacon
~or~ a protein shake. [On the days that I do my HIIT training sometimes I will have only coffee, it *sometimes* seems to make my workout easier and I have read that this will help burn fat more easily].

lunch: an open-faced sandwich on low carb bread with a lot of lean protein, some cheese and some mayo
~or~ a salad with the same things (minus the bread) and a red wine vinaigrette.

dinner: a large amount of protein, some green veggies, and a salad. I also usually have a glass of wine or a Jack and Diet with dinner.

In the past, a low protein diet was the ONLY way I could lose weight or keep it off. However, either that isn’t working as great anymore, or (more likely), I am cheating more than I should because I am HUNGRIER due to the HIIT training.

Any suggestions???? I am not looking for some crazy, life-altering meal plan in order to lose weight quickly and easily. I would like something that I can live with easily, AND that helps me to steadily lose a few more pounds. I must admit that I am very afraid of carbs because in the past they were the DEATH of me, no kidding. I gain weight and feel like crap when I eat too many….plus they seem to ramp up my appetite something awful.

However, I’d be willing to try anything if someone else has had that same experience AND was able to overcome it. I also prefer to NOT spend money on yet another book that claims to have all the answers to my diet woes…. know what I mean?

Any and all advice welcome.

**Ben dur** · 10-20-2008, 11:53 AM

cant really say

we would need a breakdown of total cals

grams of

protein
fat
carbs

these total numbers are called macros

do you know what your maintenance caloric intake is?

**MissSunshine** · 10-20-2008, 01:51 PM

Originally Posted by Ben dur

cant really say

we would need a breakdown of total cals

grams of

protein
fat
carbs

these total numbers are called macros

do you know what your maintenance caloric intake is?

I have no idea....I have never worried about calories, I have been low carbing for years, so I am fairly ignorant about calories.

**Merkaba** · 10-20-2008, 02:20 PM

Holy shit!

Your body is probably too scared to get rid of any fat.
You need to eat whatever you want for 2 days and do no working out. Thats just a primer

Ok i was gonna ask what you meant by low carb, but if you eat like this everyday....God.

Low carbing for years....generally this doesnt sound healthy

yes you need to start tracking your macro's. there would be no surprise if you fat is too low.

And I don't care what anyone says there's nothing good about alcohol.

Whats your general body composition. Are you pretty lean, average, what?
Please read this "stickie" Refeeds and Leptin

**MissSunshine** · 10-20-2008, 02:31 PM

Originally Posted by Merkaba

Holy shit!

Your body is probably too scared to get rid of any fat.
You need to eat whatever you want for 2 days and do no working out. Thats just a primer

Ok i was gonna ask what you meant by low carb, but if you eat like this everyday....God.

Low carbing for years....generally this doesnt sound healthy

yes you need to start tracking your macro's. there would be no surprise if you fat is too low.

And I don't care what anyone says there's nothing good about alcohol.

Whats your general body composition. Are you pretty lean, average, what?
Please read this "stickie" Refeeds and Leptin

Holy crap, if I ate whatever I wanted for 2 days and didn't exercise, I would gain 5 pounds in those 2 days, and I'm not kidding there.

My fat is too low??? I eat quite a bit of healthy fats ~ olive oil, avocados, etc., as well as cheese, eggs (with yolks), mayo, etc.

I agree about the alcohol, but I like it.

My body composition is....ummm...not sure how to describe it. I'm 5'2, 129 lbs, 29% body fat. I'd say I am pretty average. I have had 4 kids and I am struggling with losing the fat/toning up my lower half. My upper half tones up super easily. I guess this is pretty typical for a female, all that estrogen and all....

I don't look horrible and I actually get a lot of compliments that I look pretty good for having 4 kids....but *I* know I can do better, and I don't want to look "pretty good for having 4 kids"....if I didn't have 4 kids I am not sure people would say this!!

Does this help????

**Hench** · 10-20-2008, 07:49 PM

join fitday, track what you eat for a week and repost, then the people on the board can help you with correcting your diet.

never mind if you gain five pounds for 2 days, from what you say youve been carb depleted for years!!!! this is not good and you need to carb up to help speed up your metabolism again. a lot of the weight you will gain will be from replenishing the glycogen stores in your muscles, it wont be body fat.

interval training does make you lose weight, it helps to burn calories, which can help in creating a calorie deficit (ie your body burns more calories that you have consumed) which is the ONLY!! way to lose weight. this is why it is vital that you start tracking what you eat in order to work our the maintenance level in order to figure out the amount of calories you will need to eat in order to be in a small (300-500 calories) deficit.

i really only know the general guidelines about dieting, but what you trying to do at the minute is way off and will not allow you to reach your goals!

eggs with the yolk and cheese arnt particulary healthy fats and if you are really focused the alcohol will have to go. im a student, and were all basically all part time alcoholics, however i went for 2 months will no alcohol over the summer because i was cutting. dedication is the only way you can get the most out of yourself.

hopefully built will be along soon to correct me on any points and lay down some further guidelines for you to follow.

**MissSunshine** · 10-20-2008, 10:15 PM

Thank you all!

I have registered at fitday and will start logging my food...I have read a lot of Built's stuff both here and other places and I am hoping she will be along to give some pointers.

I am very frustrated/bummed at the lack of progress. For as hard as I have been working, it seems like SOMETHING should be changing by now.

Thanks again!

**Ben dur** · 10-20-2008, 10:40 PM

if you gain 5 pounds in 2 days

id say

.35 pounds would be actual fat...

thats absolute maximum

in fact

if you could possibly gain 5 pounds in 2 days
that means your glycogen levels are severely depleted and you are possibly even dehydrated...

if you would gain 5 pounds in 2 days
that means your trying to maintain a weight that is 5lbs lower than what your healthy resting weight currently is

losing 5 lbs of glycogen and water is generally only to be done before a show/special event.

living like this is not a healthy practice

**Ben dur** · 10-20-2008, 10:42 PM

to ain 5 lbs means to consume 16000 calories ABOVE maint...

that would mean consuming 22000 calories in 2 days
might be possible...

but you would probably go into diabetic shock...
even if your not diabetic

lol

**KentDog** · 10-20-2008, 11:24 PM

It doesn't seem like you are consuming very many calories. When I was first starting clean dieting to cut fat, I actually increased my calories and noticed immediate results, so do not be afraid to eat more to cut fat if you are undereating and your diet can use significant improvement (which from above, I think is the case).

And what's with the jack and coke with dinner? Is this an every night thing?

**Merkaba** · 10-21-2008, 02:43 AM

I think she was exaggerating a little with the 5 pounds thing guys! Its not gonna happen. Ok, with a decent amount of bloating I would never say never.

So i still say do it. Then let us get your diet better....ok....let THEM get your diet better!

You could type out your foods for the day so that if youre lazy you can at least estimate it. I hate fitday and the like but its a necessary evil! I usually estimate now based on what I eat and I don't think it takes long for people to get a kinda running database in there head if they ever look at the macs for what they eat and look at the labels and try to get an idea of serving sizes. Now if you need it precise or if its your first time then yea you need to really track it. Keep us posted.

**MissSunshine** · 10-21-2008, 09:41 AM

Ok, from what I am gathering, I am not eating enough...or more importantly, I am not eating enough of the RIGHT things.

Yesterday my meals were pretty much what I listed above, except that I had a few extra things (I did both HIIT and a full body workout so I was pretty hungy) ~ a few handfuls of nuts, a few handfuls of popcorn, and for lunch I had BOTH a half of a sandwich and a chicken breast with a boatload of asparagus.

And....whaddya know, my weight is up 1.5 lbs today. I'm not shocked, that's the way it is with me and why I am afraid to eat much more. So today my tendency would be to want to do HIIT again (no lifting though, since I did it yesterday and will do it tomorrow), and eat LESS.

What kinds of things should I be adding????

[I'm working on my fitday thing but man....that is a PITA!! It's taking me forever to log in one day's worth of food!!!! I'll post the totals at some point, however.]

Thanks again to you all, I really appreciate it!

**MissSunshine** · 10-21-2008, 11:02 AM

Ok, here are my totals from yesterday:

Calories: 1856
Protein: 128 grams
Fat: 124 grams
Carbs: 47 grams
Fiber: 13 grams

I had to guesstimate on quite a few things, so I am not sure how accurate this is....it's the best I could do, however.

This was a big day of eating for me, too...for the most part (this seems to be my pattern....I am fairly "good" during the week, then the weekend comes and I will cheat a little bit here and there. This HIIT thing has really ramped up my appetite).

Also ~ I often will throw a protein shake or 2 in there instead of, say the nuts (and certainly the popcorn...I rarely do that).

So that's it...I think this is a pretty good sample.

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