900 calories a day

[BroadDaylight]

I run around 100 miles a month and do a 30-minute HIIT three times a week, and 15 minute dumbbell workout every morning.

I eat healthily, no junk food, nothing processed and cook from scratch. I log my food and my daily calories are between 1200-1500 a day but I'm just maintaining, even with exercise.

I am still a stone (maybe a little more) overweight and it's making me depressed. I can't shift it.

I've read that because of my height (5'1) I need to reduce my calories to 800-900 per day, has anyone had success this way?

It’s not my comprehension skills at fault here Daisies. This is sub GCSE stuff.

TatianaBis, what do you eat in a normal day? Hoping you have insights into how to get all needed nutrients and variety of whole foods in less than 1200kcals? Would be very helpful.

Thanks for that link @NathanNathan - it's great.

It doesn’t sound a lot of food to me op. Sounds very healthy to me. I eat similar to lose lean protein and veg so lots of salads, high protein yoghurt and eggs. I’d have double your breakfast so 250g Greek yoghurt and berries or 40g oats. I’m thinking it’s loose skin. I’m taller than you and lost 5 stone. My bmi is 22 now but I have a big stomach I can tuck in my knickers. I have separated muscles from a very large baby too. If I look at before and after tummy tuck photos I’m the before, only surgery would shift it. I’m a Size 10 and wouldn’t want to lose more as I’d look very drawn in face but even if I did I think stomach would be there as it’s skin. I find it hard to lose now my body seems happy here I honestly don’t think I could get another stone off.

On a normal day or if I was trying to lose weight?

The problem you've got OP is that you don't have a lot of body fat but it's all collected in one place. When you try to lose fat your body clearly doesn't want to lose it from that particular spot and is resisting. It often happens for women in the lower belly :( but there isn't a lot you can do about it without becoming very skinny because you'd end up losing fat everywhere else before it touched your belly store.
I think you really need to try to become ok with it.

Read 'The Obesity Code' by Jason Fung.

Weight loss isn't about exercise and calories (as you are finding out).

It's about eating food that doesn't raise your insulin levels.

It's eye opening! I've changed to a low carb diet and have finally started to lose weight, whilst eating more calories than I was before.

CodenameVillanelle I suspect you might be right :( in my mind I'm hoping that if I were to drop another stone then the fat would have to go!

You might well end up losing your bum and boobs before you lose your belly. Sorry

I have no idea what I said that caused offense. I note others e.g.@thecognoscenti raised similar issues.

I think its sad that some women try to gain some kudos by doing without food.

Your diet sounds really healthy to me, I have a lot more carbs than that.

Proper weightlifting will get you the results you want. For example, this is a personal trainer near me - she is now absolutely stacked, no body fat on her (obviously you won't look like this unless you go all-out with protein shakes and stuff) but this is a photo of her when she was teaching 23 hours of cardio a week:

en-gb.facebook.com/LucyWaltonPersonalTrainer/photos/a.300312167012242/304734099903382/?type=3&theater

When I ran I just got fatter and fatter, it's like someone put padding on me, plus I was always starving so would out-eat the run every time. With weightlifting the weight fell off. Plus I'm very suspicious of running, it's not great for your knees or your face.

I can't believe they deleted @randomer 's post. @mnhq what are you playing at? It wasn't hateful or abusive.

Muscle weighs more than fat

Muscle does NOT weigh more than fat!!!

A pound of feathers weighs the same as a pound of lead.

However, muscle is denser than fat. That's what you mean.

This whole thread is like a nutrition and exercise misinformation bingo. Christ, running is bad for your face and makes you fatter, 900 calories per day is sufficient for health, and you are not losing weight due to starvation mode. Just some of the absolutely ridiculous things with no basis in science that I have read on this thread.

Stop giving advice to people if you don't have a clue.

@BrandyandBabycham

Muscle weighs more than fat

What's that got to do with the OP who has a fat store on her lower midriff that she would like to see gone?

BeijingBikini when you talk about weightlifting do you mean something like body pump (low weight, high repetition) or the heavy lifting type? I've just started the former although I'm interested in the latter but there's no where to do it at the moment! Considering getting a PT to help.

Can I just ask before I crawl under a stone ,how on earth a kilo of muscle weighs any different from a kilo of fat?

randomer

It doesn't

As Biwi said, it's denser.

@randomer

Can I just ask before I crawl under a stone ,how on earth a kilo of muscle weighs any different from a kilo of fat?

It doesn't.

But you can fit more muscle in the same space.

@OneForTheRoadThen

BeijingBikini when you talk about weightlifting do you mean something like body pump (low weight, high repetition) or the heavy lifting type? I've just started the former although I'm interested in the latter but there's no where to do it at the moment! Considering getting a PT to help.

Heavy lifting though I did some body pump classes too. I just got a free intro session when I joined my gym, and the trainer showed me how to do all the exercises with proper form - squats, deadlifts, bench press, shoulder press, pull-ups, bicep curls etc. He wrote me a plan which was 3-4x a week with each day a different focus - legs, upper body pull and upper body push. Some cardio and core around that. I think most gyms should offer something like this so I would enquire at yours. Or PT.

At my best I was doings squats of 40kg, deadlift 30ish, bench press 25 and shoulder press about 15. Might not sound loads but I am short, I never looked "stacked" (it's actually really hard for women to get like this) but lost the extra stone I put on in my student years and some more.

Thanks BeijingBikini! That sounds loads to me, very impressive. Thanks for the advice, I'll look into it when the gym reopens. I really enjoy body pump and I'm hoping to build a bit of muscle (although as you say it's really hard for women).

Fast every 3rd day but eat more