Contra_'s Journal, 29 October 2018

Yes you do need time. Is your goal weight realistic? Or are you fine at your current weight? Perhaps focus on lifting weights and defining specific body areas? 

Erquiaga, I understand that I look like ok. My weight is a healthy weight for 5‘5 high girl. But I don’t feel myself beautiful in that weight. Probably because it’s difficult to feel when you were thinner. 

if you are thinner then why want to lose weight?? what is your real goal?? mine is body shaping and losing a bit of fat. I am unconcerned about weight. I am within 2 pounds of my high school weight. your exercise should more than take care of any fat you want to slim down and exercise does help promote muscle development which will weigh more than the fat you lose. so try looking at measurements as a guide at this point more than the scale. We have seen many ladies pictures posted where they gained weight and it is lean muscle and lost clothe sizes.  

Buskington, I were thinner abou 3 years ago. Now I gained about 10 pounds and wanna lose them) I know, that weight not always says how do you look like. Probably it’s more in my head that in body) but I try to gain a bit muscles and lose some fat. Probably I want too much from my body, because normally you can’t lose fat and gain muscles simultaneously, because to gain muscles you should have a calories proficit, and if you wanna lose fat you should have a calories deficit. I think that I wanna more lose weight than gain muscles. Or I just hope for miracle)) 

It sounds like with your history of bulimia, you're in a tight spot. Weighing 125, you're not going to lose much on a 1500 calorie diet. Have you calculated your maintenance weight? It can't be much more than 1500, if it's that high.  

Ok, I just did a rough estimate, and it looks like, depending on your age and activity level (I put high activity) you should eat around 1700-1800 calories to lose weight. So, I was wrong. Are you sure you're accounting for everything you eat? Are your clothes fitting any differently? Maybe you're gaining muscle and that's making up for the fat pounds you're losing?  

BTW, just saw your name. That was my first cat's name!  

LPbeachbody, my clothes fit me the same I think. But I think that probably I need more patience, because I work out so hard only two weeks. Probably after a couple of weeks I‘ll try to reduce calories till 1400, when my mental health becomes more stable. On one hand I wanna quick results, but on the other I’m afraid to do something wrong and get new bulimia attacks, and if I wanna be healthy I should do everything very slow and very careful. 

LPBeachBaby really? That’s very logical name for cat😂😂😂 do you or your parents speak Russian?) 

If you're maintaining weight you can lose fat while building muscle. It's called a recomp. The bonus of that is you'll need more calories to maintain the same weight with a lower bf percentage. Lift and focus on the mirror while keeping the calories at a healthy level. 

I wouldn't go any lower than 1500. Lifting weights can cause water retention plus water gain causing you to think you've stalled. Patience is very important, especially at such a low weight.  

Maybe try changing up from counting kcals to counting carbs instead. It's the only thing that's worked for me. I think it more accurately measures what I'm trying to get out of my diet. I don't want to reduce all food I just want less sugars (in all forms). 

Keto worked like any other diet, through CICO. If she can have 1500 calories without having to limit carbs, that is most likely her preferred WoE. 

Diablo360x, you‘re right, I need patience. I don’t wanna use Keto, because I truly believe that our body for normal functionality needs everything - fat, protein and carbs and if people refuse carbs it could bring very unexpected circumstances. But what do you think about my training? Should I keep it as lift day/cardio day/ rest or switch to lift day/ rest? If I wanna a bit more muscles and less fat? 

You don't want to ask me. I say lift 5 times a week at least. Cardio only as needed. Maybe 15-20 min after 2-3 of your lift days. More if you're training for something. 

I don't think it is the calories you are logging or estimating, I would strongly suggest you log everything you eat and weigh it. you would be surprised at how off our estimates truly are. I think you need patience. you need energy to work out and weight lifting or resistance work is a good way to build muscle. You can go for endurance more rep's or progressive addition of weight for more bulk, not that you are going to be a hulk, but I think you know what i mean. I do resistance work and up to 70 pounds and beleive me I do not have big muscles, but I am starting to build some lean muscle. You can focus on that along with your deficiet in the calorie department. and I agree not to overdo the cardio. I like to do my resistance work every other day. I have two different machines to work with. changing it up. you also have to drink a lot of water. many people forget to do this important part of the plan. if you want to balance your macro's then do so, a diet is supposed to be something with some minor adjustments you can live long term.  

Diablo360x, 5 times per week — cool 😎 but yeah it’s not about me right now))  

Buskington, I count everything, really) it makes my husband a bit nervous, but still) ok, I’ll keep program/daily calories as it goes now, if nothing changes in 2 weeks, I try to change something. Not sure what it would be, but) 

more weight or resistance work. even if you just get some weights or resistance bands to work at home 15 minutes, it all starts to add up. and honestly it is easier and less time consuming if you can do some at home. busy life it is hard to get to the gym as often as you would probably like. when you do go some report doing the weight work and the cardio the same day helps burn calories longer. Just a thought. 

Baskington, ok more weight)) I’ll try it) thank you)))