Where am I going wrong?

ErinGoBrath

Hi all,

Over the past month I've been restricting my calorie intake and upping my workouts in an attempt to lose weight.

I'm 5'11'' and 193lbs. I've lost approx 14lbs since the new year avoiding alcohol and a clean diet.

A month ago I started Rippetoes Starting Strength program and I'm enjoying it thus far. I'm also doing a some swimming and continuing my football training.

My weekly routine is like so:
Sunday: Rest
Monday: Weights
Tuesday: Swim & football training
Wednesday: Weights & 2 hrs astro football
Thursday: Swim and football training
Friday: Weights
Saturday: football match

I'm being completely honest with my calories, first week or so I dropped 3lbs but it's remained the same since. I'm taking on 2000 cals a day which is 500+ under my maintenance and going back up to maintenance level every 4th day.

Although I'm seeing the changes in my body I can't work out why I'm not dropping weight? Am I fooling myself? Could I be adding muscle on a deficit? And ideas?

cc87

Post up your diet, warts and all, and allow people to make suggestions to improve it. Also give more time....dropping weight in a healthy manner takes time.

TommyKnocker

Hi ErinGoBrath

Can I ask how you came up with a figure of 2,500 for your maintenance calorie figure please?

I am going to guess that your actual maintenance figure is much more than 2,500 calories daily, and you are therefore eating waaaayyyy below your maintenance figure, which puts your body into survival mode.

Making the following assumptions (due to you playing football), You are male, and early 20's I put your numbers into this site http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/ and calculated a BMR of 2,020 for you. This calculator is based on the Harris Benidict formula.

Then I went to this page http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/harris-benedict-equation/ to work out your daily calorie needs based on your activity level. I chose a figure between option 3 and 4, so I multiplied 2,020 by 1.675 and came out with a figure of 3383.5 calories daily for your activity level (depending on how accurate my assumptios were). This would be your maintenance figure if I were correct with my guesses.

So, if I was even close with my assumptions, then you are only eating about half of your maintenance figure, which is way too big fo a deficit. You should be eating around another 900 calories daily to have a 500 calorie deficit. Too big a deficit is counter productive to losing weight.

Also you should be more concerned with losing body fat than weight. See if your gym can measure your body fat % and track this, rather then the figure shown on your scales.

Anyways using the links above, you can crunch your numbes again using the correct age and sex and see what you come up with.


Best Regards,

M

ErinGoBrath

I used the Harris Benidict formula and my maintenance was 2890. I went with the lesser activity level (1.55) as I've an office job and sit around most of the day. I'm late 20's too.

This would be a typical day's food for me:

9:00 Protein shake, oats (with water)
11.30 Oakcake + peanut butter, orange
1.30 Soup + small brown bap, protein shake
3.30 Apple + handful of nuts
7.30 Salmon, broccoli and small amount of brown rice
9.00 Orange and protein shake

jaggiebunnet

ErinGoBrath wrote: »

I used the Harris Benidict formula and my maintenance was 2890. I went with the lesser activity level (1.55) as I've an office job and sit around most of the day. I'm late 20's too.

This would be a typical day's food for me:

9:00 Protein shake, oats (with water)
11.30 Oakcake + peanut butter, orange
1.30 Soup + small brown bap, protein shake
3.30 Apple + handful of nuts
7.30 Salmon, broccoli and small amount of brown rice
9.00 Orange and protein shake

That's an awful lot of shakes in there would be my first thinking but I don't use shakes so I could be wrong.

Brian?

ErinGoBrath wrote: »

I used the Harris Benidict formula and my maintenance was 2890. I went with the lesser activity level (1.55) as I've an office job and sit around most of the day. I'm late 20's too.

This would be a typical day's food for me:

9:00 Protein shake, oats (with water)
11.30 Oakcake + peanut butter, orange
1.30 Soup + small brown bap, protein shake
3.30 Apple + handful of nuts
7.30 Salmon, broccoli and small amount of brown rice
9.00 Orange and protein shake

What time do you get up? You want to be eating as early as possible. I'd also replace the protein shake first thing with scrambled eggs or an omlette. Same for lunch, drop the shake and eat some protein from a whole food.

TommyKnocker

jaggiebunnet wrote: »

That's an awful lot of shakes in there would be my first thinking but I don't use shakes so I could be wrong.

To be honest and IMHO I would not have an issue with the shakes (depending on how many scoops of protein used). The OP takes 3 shakes per day as do I.

A single scoop of the protein I use provides 120 calories. I take a shake around 08:30 at desk in work (1 scoop whey, 5g creatine, 5g L-Glutamine, 400ml skimmed milk), another at around 16:00 (1 scoop whey with 400ml skimmed milk) and 1 shake post workout, circa 20:00 (2 scoops whey, 5g creatine, 5g l-Glutamine, 1 scoop Glucose).

It's a convienient way of gettting your protein while keeping carbs low.

I would be surprised if the diet listed provides 2,000 cal and I still think (though I am by no means an expert) that the OP is possibly eating too little.


M

ErinGoBrath

Yep it's only a single scoop I'm using which weighs in at 98cals. I take it with my breakfast to keep insulin levels down. The other shakes are taken post workout/training.

I'll try upping my calorie level and see what results I get from that.

Skr4wny

B-Builder wrote: »

Making the following assumptions (due to you playing football), You are male, and early 20's I put your numbers into this site http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/ and calculated a BMR of 2,020 for you. This calculator is based on the Harris Benidict formula.

Then I went to this page http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/harris-benedict-equation/ to work out your daily calorie needs based on your activity level. I chose a figure between option 3 and 4, so I multiplied 2,020 by 1.675 and came out with a figure of 3383.5 calories daily for your activity level (depending on how accurate my assumptios were). This would be your maintenance figure if I were correct with my guesses.

That's actually really helpful info. I actually always worked off the 2000 cals a day RDA and going on the above I'm falling way short of what I should be taking in.

Brian?

B-Builder wrote: »

To be honest and IMHO I would not have an issue with the shakes (depending on how many scoops of protein used). The OP takes 3 shakes per day as do I.

A single scoop of the protein I use provides 120 calories. I take a shake around 08:30 at desk in work (1 scoop whey, 5g creatine, 5g L-Glutamine, 400ml skimmed milk), another at around 16:00 (1 scoop whey with 400ml skimmed milk) and 1 shake post workout, circa 20:00 (2 scoops whey, 5g creatine, 5g l-Glutamine, 1 scoop Glucose).

It's a convienient way of gettting your protein while keeping carbs low.

I would be surprised if the diet listed provides 2,000 cal and I still think (though I am by no means an expert) that the OP is possibly eating too little.


M

I don't think there is anything wrong with the shakes, I just think its a problem when they are the only protein source. You should be eating as much protein as you can, but if its not convienent to eat at certain times then by all means have a shake. The OP is sitting down to meals at certain times anyway so he should be eating his protein then.

OP, I don't think you're getting enough fat either. That's why I was suggesting more eggs.

TommyKnocker

briankeating wrote: »

I don't think there is anything wrong with the shakes, I just think its a problem when they are the only protein source. You should be eating as much protein as you can, but if its not convienent to eat at certain times then by all means have a shake. The OP is sitting down to meals at certain times anyway so he should be eating his protein then.

OP, I don't think you're getting enough fat either. That's why I was suggesting more eggs.

Hi Brian

I would whole heartedly agree with you. The point I was trying to make (though badly i'll admit) is that I did not think have 3 shakes was an issue per se. As you pointed out, it appears to be the main source of protein, and IMHO the only meal that is in any way balanced is dinner. And as you also pointed out, diet is lacking in healthy fats.


Best Regards,

M

corkcomp

OP, im not a big fan of formulas (only as a rough guide) but based on your physical activity vs goals IMO you should take in approx 2800cals per day with one day per week of maybe 4000. others will say you need more calories, but IMO the starvation mode theory only really applies when people drop to silly calorie intake (e.g. 1200 for a guy)
i dont see why you need three shakes, i would replace with cottage cheese and scrambled egg, lots of tuna / prawns and chicken and also some red meat. other than that, you have lost over a stone so i wouldnt be too worried. if you were to shake up your exercise routine you will break that plateau. also, be patient, just keep it up and wait a few weeks before jumping on the scales