Weight Loss

Hi all,

    I started calorie counting 11 days ago, my Daily Calorie Intake is 1,928 cals, while my average daily calorie spending is 3082 cals, which means my average daily cal deficit is about 1154 cals per day...im 6 foot tall male weighing in at about 176 pounds, nd i exercise 5 times per week, doing intense cardio(HIIT) 3 times per week, nd preforming weight lifting 5 days a week and im supplementing with creatine monohydrate and l-glutamine with the usual whey powder...but im not loosing weight on the scales, even though i can see a difference in my belly and love handles, but lately ive been feeli ng down and being confused as to if im doing anything wrong in my fat loss plan while being really scared of plateauing:s..so I would be grateful if anyone could give me some tips or advice as to if im doing anything wrong in my plan.....Thank you in advance guys!!

Hi,

First of all, you've been counting for eleven days, so be patient. My weight training teacher said that it can take up to four weeks before you start seeing a difference, because your body takes that long to adjust. It sounds to me like you're gaining muscle, which was your plan, right? That's generally what I've heard creatine is for, and most people I've met who use it are trying to put on muscle weight, which is not necessarily a bad thing. So gaining muscle while losing fat is going to make it hard for you to see the difference on the scale, see? Try using a non-weight measurement, like how your jeans fit, or even use a tape measure. That way you can measure a difference without using a scale.

Also, since you seem to be into really intense workouts, I thought I might suggest reducing your Calorie deficit to 500-600 Cals per day -- right now you're running a deficit of twice that! Now, I'm a girl, so it may be different, but lots of things I have read have said that a 500 Cal deficit is plenty. I hear that having too high a Calorie deficit can do strange things to your body, so make sure you're eating enough. Also, make sure you're drinking plenty of water.  I hope this helps, because it's just my humble ideas!  

Well my plan is to increase lean muscle mass while loosing fat(about 4kgs), and so i guess your right since im gaining muscle mass i cant tell how much fat ive lost, as for reducing my calorie deficit, i know i should reduce my deficit to about 800, but im finding it hard to do mostly because im always full...as for water consumption, i drink in excess of 3 litres per day, so running to the bathroom every half hours is becoming a calorie consumer by itslef:p..thanks for your help:))!!LOOKING FORWARD FOR MORE ADVICE!!:))

First of all, you really need to make up your mind what you want to accomplish first. Lose fat or gain muscle? You really can't do both at the same time. Losing fat requires a calorie deficit. Adding muscle requires a calorie surplus. You may see some initial muscle gains if you are new to weight training but the "newbie gains" won't last long. The idea is to maintain muscle mass while losing fat but unless you are a genetic freak, you won't be able to gain long term on a caloric deficit. Also, you are doing too much cardio for muscle gain. It is counter productive. See this post:

http://caloriecount.about.com/forums/post/112 368.html

As for the deficit, you really do need to go with a smaller one. You can safely lose 1% of your body weight per week. For you that is about a 750 calorie deficit max.