I'm 5" 6', 132lbs and have a small frame. I'm trying to lose about 7lbs of fat. I'm currently eating close to 1300 calories per day. This is actually an increase as two weeks ago I was eating under 1000 a day. After eating, I'm pretty full so I don't think adding more food is an option.

Here's my profile on FitDay. Please note that I enter an entire day worth of food the night before.

http://www.fitday.com/WebFit/PublicJournals.html?Owner=goldenegg

Break down of today's meals with times:

7:30am - Kashi GoLight Cereal with 1/2cup skim milk
8:00am - Protein Shake with Skim Milk
12:30pm - Roasted Chicken Tortilla (boy was I full after this!)
3:00pm - Banana
5:00pm - 1/2cup of Oatmeal with 1 tsp raw sugar (I love this stuff)
7:00pm - Protein Shake with Skim Milk

I'll be heading to the gym around 8:30pm and will get to sleep shortly after I return home.

These times can basically be applied to everything I eat Monday - Friday. So far, I seem to be loosing 2lbs/week. I've read this is the right amount to loose.

My gym routine is as follows:

Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday - Upper body resistance training (45min), Cadio at 70% (30min + 5min cool down)
Monday, Wednesday, Friday - Cardio at 80% (70min)

I never feel I'm over doing it. The 70min cardio sessions always feel great and I'm never in pain after. While I have minor soreness after resistance training, it goes away rather quickly.

One thing is that I'm not 100% flexible with my diet. I still want to eat stuff I enjoy. Just thinking of tuna or cottage cheese makes me ill :D

I'm not really looking to speed up my weight loss, as it shouldn't take more than a couple of months. Just wanted to check I'm not doing anything that might bring my progress to a halt.

You're not eating nearly enough in general, nor enough protein for that matter. Your diet is also not well planned either, you are eating way too many carbs too late. I stop eating almost all carbs by 4pm. I would make that 5:00pm meal some sort of lean meat with veggies and either can the protein shake or make it with water. And like I said, you must eat more.

You're not eating nearly enough in general, nor enough protein

I'd actually need to force food in to myself in order to eat more. I'll have to figure something out. :confused:

Regarding protein, everything I've read has gone towards 1g per lbs of body weight. I'm not looking to bulk up in any way, just want to lose the excess body fat.


too many carbs too late

The reason I eat carbs later in the day is because they really help give me energy for my workout in the evening. If i lower my carb intake later in the day, I tend to fatigue easily.

believe me, even if you were to increase your protein intake, you would hardly bulk up. it's extremely hard to do.... :flex:

You're your never hungry? I would be starving if I ate 1/2 cup oats for dinner!

So should I just have a couple more shakes during the day? If I'm already losing 2lbs/week, doesn't that mean I'm doing something right? I know my strength had majorly improved since starting the resistance training, so it couldn't only be muscle that I'm losing.

You're your never hungry? I would be starving if I ate 1/2 cup oats for dinner!

It's actually very rare that I'll feel hungry. That would only happen if I didn't eat for a whole day. Even then, I wouldn't feel hungry if I was kept busy.

So should I just have a couple more shakes during the day? If I'm already losing 2lbs/week, doesn't that mean I'm doing something right? I know my strength had majorly improved since starting the resistance training, so it couldn't only be muscle that I'm losing.



It's actually very rare that I'll feel hungry. That would only happen if I didn't eat for a whole day. Even then, I wouldn't feel hungry if I was kept busy.


You are getting nowhere near the daily amount of calories you need, I advise doubling your calories you eat, im not sure how low in muscle you are but I dont know anyone who has a BMR below 2000 mines 2400 so I consume 1900 calories in a day at minimum.

When I started I figured it would be impossible to get that many calories but the key is to plan out meals and eat things that are good for you but higher in calories ex: meats, nuts, protein shakes etc

Ill just give you an example of the calorie intake I follow


Breakfast: 2 cup Quaker oatmeal + 1 can of chicken
340 calories 38 carbs 40 G of protein 4 G of fat

10:30- 3/8 cup almonds
600 calories aprox 45 G of fat 12 G of protein / carbs

1(lunch): sandwitch- 4 slices of light 100% whole wheat bread, 2x Can of chicken for meat, 8 strawberrys
38 carbs from bread 10 from strawberrys 65 G of protein and 3.5 G of fat
500 calories

3:00-3:30 (depending on if I do HIIT: Protein shake in 1% milk (0% is sick)
200 calories

5:30 (dinner)- Meat + Vege (broccoli green bean whatever) 400 calories aprox

7:30: can of chicken/tuna
35 G of protein aprox
150 calories

With this setup I feel much more confident personally and most of my calories will be coming from early day foods which wont turn to fat so Im looking at hmm lets see

340
600
500
200
400
150

aprox 2150 calories or 250 calories below maintenance

Does anyone feel this design will work much better? I will also be taking in about as much fiber as I was getting from my fruit with this setup

Overall Macros: Fat: 55 - 70 G (depending on meat)
Carbs: 100 aprox
Protein: 150 - 250 depending on meat
Fiber: 35 G aprox (most from bread + oatmeal)

Im still testing this but this will be my entire meal plan for tommorow, this way I get alot of my calories early in the day and I dont make it up as I go so when 9 pm comes around Im short 600 calories and have to eat something that will just turn to fat.

Also, alot of times I have to force myself to eat, mainly because, I get hungry like every 2 hours however, most of the time I dont have access to food every second so I have to plan ahead and have a meal planned for the time I generally get hungry, because being hungry is the worst thing you can really do.

I dont know anyone who has a BMR below 2000

According to FitDay, my BMR is 1546. Keep in mind, I'm a small guy :whistle:

I also manually calculated my BMR using

BMR = 66 + (13.7 X weight in kgs) + (5 X height in cms) – (6.8 X age in yrs)

This works out like this

BMR = 66 + (13.7 X 59.9) + (5 X 168) – (6.8 X 25)
BMR = 1556.63

I consider myself moderately active, so I multiply BMR by 1.55. This gives me a value of 2412.78.

From another thread on the forum, I found this information.

1 lb of fat is 3500 calories. Therefore to lose 1 lb a week you do the following: 3500 divided by 7 = 500 cals.

So, I'm currently 1000cal under BMRx1.55 which should have me losing 2lbs/week. So far, this seems to be true. I'm pretty much taking off 2lbs/week and it doesn't feel like I'm losing much (if any) muscle, as I've been able to consistantly increase the wieghts I use and can feel muscles I've never felt before :tucool:

I hate to be rude, but this seems to be a problem all forums are plagued with, no matter the topic.

You ask for our advice, we ALL agree that what you are doing is NOT correct, yet then after our comments, you come back to state that we are ALL incorrect.

If you are so sure what you are doing is fine, why bother asking for our advice? I hate to sound condescending, but I just never understand threads like these.

Do you want to lose weight the OPTIMAL way or the NON-OPTIMAL way? Yes, eating next to nothing WILL cause you to lose fat. You're not only shocking your body, but your body is burning the fat you have. However, for the LONG-TERM you are greatly hurting your potential progress. When your body goes into a "starved" state and starts storing fat for protection and burning muscle, you will regret sticking to such a low-calorie diet.

I wouldn't say you need to eat 2000+ calories, but I'd definitely try to get AT LEAST 1500-1600 per day.

You ask for our advice, we ALL agree that what you are doing is NOT correct, yet then after our comments, you come back to state that we are ALL incorrect.

If you would actually read my responses, you'd know that's not the case. I am simply adding extra information regarding people's responses.

I'm very sorry if you feel bad I'm not willing to blindly follow your advice. I mistakenly thought this was a place for discussion. I guess I was wrong. :mad:

If you would actually read my responses, you'd know that's not the case. I am simply adding extra information regarding people's responses.

I'm very sorry if you feel bad I'm not willing to blindly follow your advice. I mistakenly thought this was a place for discussion. I guess I was wrong. :mad:

The only "information" I saw you adding was a counterargument to everyone's advice to eat carbs earlier and eat more calories.

I did not say to "blindly follow" my advice, however when 5-6 people all say the exact same thing, I tend to think we have an "idea" of what we are talking about.

This is one message forum I promised myself I would not argue on, because the rest I talk on turn into fights all the time. Do what you want, I just will stay out of your threads.

The only "information" I saw you adding was a counterargument to everyone's advice to eat carbs earlier and eat more calories.

As you stated, I posted looking for advice. All I did was explain why I'm eating carbs later in the day. If my explaination doesn't seem valid, I'm open to getting more information.

EDIT: Removed my last comment due to do private messages from other members on this forum. Thanks guys and gals!

At your size you are not dramtiaclly below your BMR, your fine! Just drop the sugar. Only thing I would add would be vegetables to the mix.

As for the other so called experts here, anyone who would not recommend carb consumption post workout is giving lousy advice, PERIOD!!!!!

Also, 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight is plenty sufficient, more than that is not necassary. High protein consumption is pushed hard by supplement companies.. wonder why :rolleyes:

mcpub,

I will definately agree about needing more veggies! Hmmm ... maybe I'll head out for a salad later this afternoon. Would a tablespoon or two of Vinaigrette dressing be a bad thing?

While I definately do try to avoid sugar carbs, I figured a single teaspoon in my oatmeal wasn't a terrible thing. Do you think that's enough to put my blood sugar level out of balance? What about using a sugar substitute like sucralose?


c8fe,

When adding nuts to your diet, did you find it hard to limit fat intake from other meals during the day? I definately plan to start eating nuts again once I get to my desired bf %, but I've been staying away as I end up with way too many fat calories by the end of the day.

goldenegg,

a tbsp. or 2 is fine, keep within your calorie limits though, you want to be in caloric deficit each week. Walden farms makes very good dressings that are actually calorie free.

If you are consuming oatmeal as part of your PW, sugar isnt extremely bad here. I use a scoop of vanilla whey protein powder, splenda, and cinnaman in my oatmeal topped with some blueberries.

If you are losing 2 lbs a week now at 1300 calories and not losing strength, you are right on track, stick with that amount.

If I were you, I'd skip the banana. Make sure you get enough protein, and complex carbs (not simple carbs like the banana and the sugar). Eat 6 times a day (every 3 hours). Don't eat to many carbs in your final meal. Do fasted-state morning cardio.

Plus, and this is very important. INCREASE YOUR CALORIE INTAKE EVERY FORTH DAY!! Otherwise your body goes into starvation-mode, and starts to retain the fat, while breaking down your muscles. You see, this is the most effecient way for your body to survive this starving situation. You have to make sure your body doesn't know you are starving it.

I just found some tasty cracked pepper dressing the the fridge at work. 15 cal, 0 fat, 0 protein, 5 carbs (3 sugar). While the math doesn't quite add up for the calories, I'm guessing the other 2 carbs aren't digestible. Guess I'm going for a salad :D

Peter,

I currently have one cheat day a week (Saturday). My best guess is that I'd tend to take in 2500cal on my cheat day. Would it be better to have the cheat day every four days instead of once a week?

Peter,

I currently have one cheat day a week (Saturday). My best guess is that I'd tend to take in 2500cal on my cheat day. Would it be better to have the cheat day every four days instead of once a week?

Yep. You would be better off taking about 2100 cals twice per week.

(by the way. While others in this forum seem to think that it is bad, I personally think you aren't eating that bad at 1300 cals per day. Although I would probably take about 1400 if I were you.)

I would not advise you to really cheat for more than once per week. I would try to eat as clean as possible. In conclusion: have your cheat meal once per week (max), and have one other day with 2100 cals worth of healthy meals.