verhrzn Posted January 19, 2012 Posted January 19, 2012 For the last 3-4 weeks I've been trying to follow a fitness and health plan I set up for myself. The outline of it is: -Change my diet to cut out all grain (rice, bread, pasta), potatoes, peanuts, beans and processed foods -I now make almost all my meals from scratch, and try to eat organic whenever possible. I've also severely limited my dairy, I've started eating breakfast every day and eating small snacks throughout the day instead of large meals -Counting calories, I take in about 1200-1500 a day. -I exercise three days a week at a gym, doing 20-30 minutes of interval running and then 30-40 minutes of weight lifting with squats, dead lifts, over head press, bench press, chin-ups, pull-ups, and push-ups -I am getting back into my martial arts, which is about 2 hours a week -I do belly dancing for 2 hours every week I feel a lot healthier, like I don't feel as "weighted down." I know I'm getting a much better combination of nutrients, with high amounts of protein and fats, and a low amount of carbs coming only from natural sources like fruit. I also know I'm getting stronger, because I can do more reps and weight. But my body hasn't changed at all. I haven't lost a single pound, and I don't look any different. I don't look thinner, or more toned, or even more buff. I look exactly like I did a month ago. I'm starting to feel a little... bitter about the fact that I've given up a lot of foods I love (I LOVE bread, and dairy and potatoes) and yet it's not doing anything. I envy people who I see piling their plate with pasta and yet still look fantastic, when I'm completely abstaining and it isn't doing anything. I'm also starting to terrify myself with the idea that when I DO lose weight, it's going to be entirely from my bust. My mother has complained her entire life about her body shape... a very large stomach and very small breasts. I am terrified that I'm going to look like that, since fat disappears from breasts first. My boobs are the one thing about my body I sort-of-kind-of like, and the thought that eating healthy means I'd love them (and yet keep my large stomach) is enough to make me almost cry in frustration. Does anyone have a similar experience or fears?
Dust Posted January 19, 2012 Posted January 19, 2012 You should take some before and after naked pics... atleast in a bikini right! My recomendation would be maybe add some whole weat pasta or brown rice to your diet. Get to a point where it doesn't feel that hard. More like a life change. I'd also recomend ramping it up with the arobic excercise. Weight training is good and you should keep it up but arobic is where you'l see the real weight loss. And it's only been a few weeks. It's not like you were 300 lbs over weight when you started. You said you feel better. I mean could take a year or more for the weight to really come off.
tman666 Posted January 19, 2012 Posted January 19, 2012 Keep in mind that you've only been at your current diet for a month. That's hardly enough time, especially for a female, to see especially noticeable results. There are no quick fixes or shortcuts, especially if you want your results to be permanent. I have personally never had much long term success with very low carb diets. I do much better cycling carbs (higher carbs/lower fats on lifting days or days that include higher intensity work, lower carbs/moderate fats on non-lifting days). The trick is to moderate your intake. Too many fats will make you fat, just as too many carbs will. Timing is also important in optimizing your progress. It's best to focus your carb intake around your training. Another thing I would suggest (based on your post) is that you do your lifting first so that you can attack it with all you've got, and limit your high intensity interval work to perhaps once per week for conditioning purposes. In my opinion, it would be more beneficial to your fat loss efforts (and your recovery efforts) to do low intensity, steady state cardio daily or most days of the week. Too much high-intensity work can lead to a build of cortisol, which will hinder your fat loss efforts. Check out Myth 2 in this article: http://www.syattfitness.com/myth-busting-101-fat-loss-edition/ (the rest of the site is great too) As far as you losing fat from your bust, keep in mind that your body will remove fat the way it want to genetically. You cannot control how it will do this, so unless you want to abandon your fat loss efforts, there's no point in worrying about it.
Author verhrzn Posted January 19, 2012 Author Posted January 19, 2012 As far as you losing fat from your bust, keep in mind that your body will remove fat the way it want to genetically. You cannot control how it will do this, so unless you want to abandon your fat loss efforts, there's no point in worrying about it. Well what's the point of bothering then if weight loss and "fitness" only results in me having small boobs and a large stomach??
tman666 Posted January 19, 2012 Posted January 19, 2012 Well what's the point of bothering then if weight loss and "fitness" only results in me having small boobs and a large stomach?? What I'm saying is that your body will lose fat in just the way it wants to, and there's nothing you can do to change that (i.e., you cannot just "spot remove" fat from your stomach without losing fat from other places as well). Yes, you might lose some boob size, but eventually, your body will tap into the fat stores elsewhere. Conversely, you might not lose an ounce of boob size and lose it from everywhere else. You won't know for sure until you go there. My point is that worrying about where your body is going to be using up its fat stores first is silly because you cannot control it. FYI, A LOT of female bikini and figure competitors get boob jobs for this reason. Females are not designed to carry extremely low levels of bodyfat. I'm sure you can imagine why when you take into account our respective evolutionary roles. Don't think for a second that I'm suggesting that you run out and get surgery, but I'm just trying to explain some realities. Personally (not that you asked for my opinion), I am much more attracted to athletic looking females with smaller breasts than I am to overweight girls with big boobs.
Dust Posted January 20, 2012 Posted January 20, 2012 Personally (not that you asked for my opinion), I am much more attracted to athletic looking females with smaller breasts than I am to overweight girls with big boobs. What shocker! haha The big boobs many fatter girls have lack the nice shape a skinnier girls smaller breasts have. I like quality over quantity in my breast meat.
kiss_andmakeup Posted January 20, 2012 Posted January 20, 2012 I feel your pain on the boob front...when I was in college and weighed around 130 I had very full C's to maybe even small D's...lost the weight after school and ended up a full cup size smaller. It blows. Maybe tman can comment on this, but it could be possible that your body's metabolism is in shock due to the sudden reduction in calories and change in nutrition, and therefore has gone into "survival mode" which is preventing you from losing a lot of weight. I've seen this happen with friends who drastically cut their calories. I don't know how this can be avoided though, perhaps your body just has to regulate itself? Give it a little more time.
FitChick Posted January 20, 2012 Posted January 20, 2012 (edited) It's only been a month. Whenever you change your exercise, it takes a while for your body to adjust. You can retain water as your body creates microscopic muscle tears. Don't forget to have at least one rest day per week. Don't make the mistake of dropping your calories too low for the amount of exercise you are doing. By the way, you say you've been counting calories but you've been making your food from scratch. Do you weigh and measure everything? Most people underestimate how much they are eating. Invest in a good food scale, maybe from Bed Bath & Beyond if you get one of their 20% off coupons in the mail. There are a lot of fitness forums online where you can ask people who know more than most of us on here. Edited January 20, 2012 by FitChick
Anela Posted January 20, 2012 Posted January 20, 2012 I skimmed The Coconut Diet, in the bookstore the other night. You might want to check it out, if you haven't already.
tman666 Posted January 20, 2012 Posted January 20, 2012 Maybe tman can comment on this, but it could be possible that your body's metabolism is in shock due to the sudden reduction in calories and change in nutrition, and therefore has gone into "survival mode" which is preventing you from losing a lot of weight. I've seen this happen with friends who drastically cut their calories. I don't know how this can be avoided though, perhaps your body just has to regulate itself? Give it a little more time. Verhrzn, I didn't think to ask you what your caloric intake was before your diet change. Kiss_andmakeup makes a good point here. If you drop too many calories from your diet too fast, you won't be doing yourself any favors. Remember that the best diet is the one that you can maintain long-term while making small, incremental changes.
Els Posted January 20, 2012 Posted January 20, 2012 Well, there's really only one logical way of looking at it, IMO. There is no guarantee whether you will look better or worse after the diet, as you are already at a healthy weight, and you don't really -know- if it will be your breasts that drop in size first or not. Frankly, I've never seen anyone ONLY lose weight from their breasts - but that is irrelevant. So, your aesthetics aside, do you feel that the other benefits that you get from the diet (you mentioned feeling healthier) are worth giving up those foods? If you do, then great, keep up with it, and let the fat shed as and from where it may. It you don't, I don't see much point in doing it when you are not currently overweight to begin with. You could perhaps maintain the exercise and healthy nutrients but still take dairy and such - really, most clinicians don't support diets that require you to exclude whole food groups from your diet. Most clinically-approved diet plans still include stuff like a glass of skim milk.
kiss_andmakeup Posted January 20, 2012 Posted January 20, 2012 Verhrzn, I didn't think to ask you what your caloric intake was before your diet change. Kiss_andmakeup makes a good point here. If you drop too many calories from your diet too fast, you won't be doing yourself any favors. Remember that the best diet is the one that you can maintain long-term while making small, incremental changes. I recall her saying in another thread that she had reduced her calories to 1200 a day at one point, which seems pretty drastic, considering most people go well over the "recommended" 2000 in their daily life. I could be remembering incorrectly, though.
Dust Posted January 20, 2012 Posted January 20, 2012 Stop calling it a health plan too... makes it sound like you're talking about medical insurance. 1
Anela Posted January 24, 2012 Posted January 24, 2012 Maybe tman can comment on this, but it could be possible that your body's metabolism is in shock due to the sudden reduction in calories and change in nutrition, and therefore has gone into "survival mode" which is preventing you from losing a lot of weight. I've seen this happen with friends who drastically cut their calories. I don't know how this can be avoided though, perhaps your body just has to regulate itself? Give it a little more time. I think this is what has happened to me. I've barely been able to keep anything down, for a while now, and yet I've put weight on.
wild wolf Posted February 16, 2012 Posted February 16, 2012 For me, completely cutting out things that i enjoy (carbs, cheese, occasional chocolate) NEVER works. I am fairly small and usually only try to lose 10-15 lbs at the most so diet and exercise are key. I train 6 days a week (cardio, weight lifting, hiking with 30+lbs on) and moniter my calorie intake. I stick between 1200-1400 cals a day with a varitey of foods and one treat (20 cal piece of chocolate, a cookie I've been craving, etc). No processed foods, frozen foods or soda. Sodium is a hidden deterrant to weight loss. And drink at least 64oz of water a day, preferably more. I fight fires for a living all summer long so my regimne might be more extreme that you are looking for but control your diet, exercise and live your life without restricting too much or the chances of you falling off the wagon are much higher. Good Luck!
redhighheels Posted February 16, 2012 Posted February 16, 2012 Do you weigh your food or aproximate the calories? If you don't weigh your food, your calories might be higher than you think. Regardless, if you want to lose fat, it's quite simple: 1) Use online calculators to figure out what your maintenance is. The numbers will vary slightly, so pick a round number and start from there. Let's say you start at 2000 calories. 2) Weigh your food and log it every day (fitday is a good tool and it's free). 3) Don't go by macronutrients ratios, but by numbers. Aim to eat your bodyweight in grams of protein and 0.45-0.5 of your bodyweight in grams of fat (eg at a weight of 120lbs, you eat 120g of protein and 60g of fat). Fill the rest of your calories with carbs. 4) Keep your calories at 2000 for 3-4 weeks. Take progress pictures, body measurements and weigh yourself. After that period, reasses...have you lost any fat? Are you stalling? If you're losing fat, keep the number until you stall. When you stall, drop 3-400 calories for a few weeks. Repeat the process until you reach your desired goals. 5) Train with weights at least 3 times a week..heavy. Whatever heavy means for you. Go to failure in your workouts. The body has no reason to preserve muscle when you're dieting, so you must give it a reason. Otherwise, you're just going to end up a smaller and just as flabby version of yourself. A few other notes..if your estimation is accurate and you're eating 1200-1500 calories right now, that number is too low and your body will hang on to fat like there's no tomorrow. Eating too little is just as counterproductive as eating too much. If you train as much as you say you do, you will burn out pretty fast on such low calories and shoot your metabolism into the ground. And when you stall, there's nowhere lower to go..unless you aim at living on 800 calories (that's lower than your BMR, so it won't happen). When you lose fat, you lose it all over. Your boobs might decrease in size or they may not, it's all genetics. You can cross that bridge when you get there, after all you can always gain back the weight and get them back. Good luck!
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