Hello,
Looking for help on weight loss tips. I'm petite. 117.4lbs, 5' tall, female, 33 years old. I'm not overweight just looking to get rid of the thin layer of cushion I seem to have over everything. I'm freakishly strong for my stature and have a decent amount of muscle. Two years ago when I got married I was 112lbs, and doing more cardio than anything else. I feel like around then though my more maintainable weight was 114lbs, I was happy there. In any case, my measurements haven't changed much, they've only grown by about 1/2", at most, in some places, since then.
My current regime is Mon, Wed, Fri weight training (right now I'm doing p90x) and Tues, Thurs I do cardio (right now Im doing Insanity Max 30). I do 10-15 min of abs 2 or 3 times a week as well. Mon-Friday I strictly eat 1200 calories a day, drink only water and coffee, and have a vegan diet. My dinners are most vegetables and a protein substitute. I try to get around 50-75g of protein a day. No sweets or empty calories. Clean good.
On weekends however, I eat whatever I want and don't count calories. I keep a vegetarian diet, and consume alcohol (not much, maybe a couple beers or glasses of wine, usually only one of the days). I also will indulge in sweets if the opportunity arises.
I've always done this type of calorie cycling.It's always worked for me, now it seems to not be as I'm slowly gaining weight. Could this weight be muscle? Since my measurements haven't changed really and I'm doing a lot more lifting? Or am I just getting older and the cycling diet isn't doing the trick anymore? I have to admit I used to restrict my calories a lot more when I was lighter, about 800-1000 per day so I could eat what I wanted on the weekends. But that didn't seem healthy so I upped it to 1200 (which for me and my activity level is a 500 calorie deficit)
But I don't know, I would just think working out 5 days a week, only eating clean meals and limited calories, the weekend shouldn't make much difference. I know being petite throws a wrench in everything but my maintainable calorie intake is about 1700. So I'm already in a 500 deficit. So unless I'm eating back all those calories on the weekend (which would be A LOT) I don't know why I wouldn't see some form of weight loss
Anyone have any insight on this? Am I doing this all wrong, should I lower my calories below 1200? I've also starting 16:8 intermittent fasting 3 days a week. But I only started a week ago. Not sure if that will help. Any tips would be greatly appreciated!
