caloric intake :: tired of wrestling the same damn 5 lbs

[muskles]

hello! first of all, i have to say i'm so egg-cited to have found this board and all u buff ladies to help me be informed and on the right track.

anyways, i've been on dr. dipasquale's anabolic diet for the past few months now, and i've lost about 10lbs total. the last 5 keep coming and going for the last few weeks. my maintenance (18*body weight) is 2160 (i'm 5'4/125-130lbs/bf?), but to continue losing i keep chipping more and more calories away to see results. My goal is to get down to 110 and around 12%bf. i haven't been tested for bf yet, but i'm guessing it's around 20%.

SO, my question is how much is too much to cut for calories? I think I'm pretty clear on the content of my calories and what's more clean. BTW, thanks to the posts here on UDO's my fat intake consists almost solely of it now.. thanks Oh, I'm also spreading my current 1000 calories into about 6 meals a day. I also do weights 2-3 times/week and cardio for 1/2 hour twice a week.

Thanks for any advice

 

[Sassy69]

When I first read your question, I wanted to say try rotating your carb intake to get those last couple pounds down - e.g. go a few days low carb, below 50 or 100 and then bump it up for a couple days. (I would need to go research some specific suggestions.)

But then I read the rest of your post.... In my opinion -

- 1000 cal is not enough -- your body may think its in starvation mode & its starting to hoard the body fat it still has

- 30 min cardio 2x/week -- increase that to around 45- 60 min, either in the early am on an empty stomach or right after your training sessions. Do it 4-5 times / week

- Lifting 2-3 times/week -- bump that up to maybe 2 days on / 1 day off or 3 days on / 1 day off and repeat - this gets you in the gym more.

Again, my opinion, but several years' experience with trying to lose the same 10 lbs tells me that starving is counter productive, you have to eat to lose. Diet is the most important of the 3 (diet, training, cardio), but it works best when coupled w/ the other two. A couple times / week isnt' really enough to get your body into a routine where it adjusts itself for that sort of regular physical demand. Not to say what you are doing won't work initially, but as your body adjusts, its going to respond - if you are cutting calories way back, that will backfire on you. If you are goign from being sedentary to some cardio/training, you will see results. But without making your workouts more demanding, your body will have no reason to burn more fuel.

The whole idea is to establish a lifestyle that gets you to eat optimally to provide fuel that your body can burn optimally. This is an ongoing process of changing the demands you put on your body, its response, the results, and then changing the demands again (e.g. lifting heavier, more reps, whatever) so that your body doesn't get complacent with what its doing - it will maintain, but not improve. If you are demanding too much and not providign enough fuel, it will also respond by adjusting itself to save the fuel it has (bodyfat) to continue "surviving".

 

[muskles]

thanks, sassy - a couple years ago all i knew about dieting was to starve myself, and then i'd lose the weight (i also thought that a diet coke and some pretzels or animal crackers was the perfect healthy snack). now i know how seriously bad that was and how i only lost muscle and water. SO, (thanks to my bb boyfriend for the past couple years), i've learned to eat smaller meals more often and i've been able to maintain an overall lower weight and start building a muskle frame.

The thing is I'm super tired of trying to cut down the bf and beef up the muscle and only seeing minimal gains for all my hard efforts and discipline. So, for the last couple weeks i thought i'd try cutting way low (1000cals) and see what happens. i'm totally determined to take my fitness to the next level and break this plateau - i just need to find the right method of doing it. what is the lowest i should take my calories given my height/weight/training? i'm not super concerned about building muscle right now, so should i take out carbs completely for awhile?

 

[muskles]

spatterson, i read this thread the other day and was super impressed... especially that u were able to make so much progress AND still get to have 21% yummy carbs (i've been at 5% 6 days a week and 60% one day a week). i just noticed that you did it in 3 months - super impressive that's definitely the kind of results i'm looking for. did you give yourself any cheat meals during the week during those 3 months? the schedule you posted - was this your weekday routine (did you take weekend rest days in training)? did you do HIT training or high reps? ooh, and how did you derive your caloric intake (you've got a nice 5" on me in height so i'm still wrestling with that number ) Sorry I'm all questions -- I'm a sponge!

 

[diamonddiceclay]

THE ANABOLIC DIET IS EXCELLENT-JUST CUT DOWN TO A 1 DAY CARB UP AND YOU'LL KEEP LOSING FAT

 

[muskles]

actually, i did cut my carb loading to 1 day a few weeks ago, and i've tried to keep it clean as possible (eg baked potato instead of pizza), but itz so hard to keep the cals low when i finally get to eat those yummy carbs after a whole week. that's why i was starting to think maybe i should cut out carbs altogether (well, 5%) until i get where i wanna be. also, i wish i knew the "magic" calory number for me so i could still cut and not starve all day. actually, the xenadryne i've been taking the last couple days has helped me get through. someday soon i'd also like to start a cycle, but i want to get my diet super clean before i start taking the superclen

 

[new@gettinbig]

1000 calories is WAY to low..I see obese clients every day that are on higher calorie diets than that..You do not want to starve yourself...Your body needs those calories..You can eat more, just make sure they are from good clean sources..keep junk to a minimum....5-6 meals a day..1-1.5 grams of protein per lb..rotatin carbs is a good way to go...I do that when I diet for a show. Weight training to me is your most vital part besides the diet...cardio will help but you need to lift..to gain the lean body mass and this will help boost your metabolism and lose the fat

 

[muskles]

the 1000 cals thing has only been for the last 3-4 days. i've been averaging about 1500 for the past 2 months, and about 2000 on carb day (fridays - right after the workout). but i'd always gain those damn 5lbs back right after the carb up, and then slowly lose them over the following week. SO, i thought i'd do something seriously drastic. for the past 3 days my diet has consisted of 1000 cals of (divided into 6 or 7 meals) protein shakes, flax oil (udo's -- this has done amazing things for my skin), and 1 egg; protein - 50% ,fat - 45%,carbs - 5%. i know this is definitely not the kind of thing you can do for a long period of time - but i'm looking for the best way to break through the plateau. am i way off in your opinions?

btw, i really appreciate the advice and any criticisms. up until now, i've gotten this kind of advice solely from my boyfriend -- found out he actually knew what he was skwawking about but it's so nice to start learning the WHYs of things he's been telling me. he's been on the above mentioned diet (w/ more cals - but not much) for the last couple weeks w/ just a little cheatin' and he's been getting some great results -- so i thought i'd give it a week to see if i could 1) to get over the plateau and 2) if i could do it.

 

[rez]

what are udo's?

 

[muskles]

hmmmmmm... not you got me thinking spatterson - that would be great if that's the case! actually, not knowing that number has been really bugging me since i started reading all these posts. i'm going to find out if my gym can help me find out tomorrow.

as for the udo's, i just bought it after reading it here, and it's so much better than regular flaxseed oil - is it the primrose oil that makes the difference? anyways, over the last year i've noticed running and drinking a ton of water makes my skin better and then just over the last week as i started getting the flax and udo's in my system i've noticed another boost in my complexion - a nice encouragement on my way to getting my body where i want it to be