Expert: Kim Farmer - 1/18/2011

Question
QUESTION: Hello

Here is my problem and let me know if you can help me anyhow, cause I gave up myself!

First of all, I'm a female, 29 years ols, 170m height and currently 68 kg weight!
For the last few months I’m trying to loose some weight (3-4 kg), however it seems that I’m actually gaining weight slowly (around 0.5 kg per month ... in September I was 65 kg!!).

My work is from home on a computer, so I’m not very active throughout the day. I do go to the gym though, first thing in the morning and try to walk whenever I can. I also have a mini stepper at home which I try to use it when I can, like when I'm talking on the phone.
My gym sessions are as follows and they are quite intense:

Monday: whole body strength workout + 20 min cardio
Tuesday: 1h cardio (mix interval and steady state) + 20 min core (abs/lower back)
Wednesday: 1h steady state cardio
Thursday: whole body strength workout + 20 min cardio
Friday: 1h cardio (mix interval and steady state) + 20 min core (abs/lower back)
Saturday: rest OR 1h mini stepper at home
Sunday: rest

Now about nutrition, I try to eat no more than 1500 cals per day and I do believe that my meal choices are very healthy and well split. I don't eat fried or sweets, include protein on every meal and eat 6 meals a day. A sample menu is as follows:

Pre-gym: Nothing if a cardio day OR 1 slice wholemeal bread with 1 slice low-fat cheese before strength training

Breakfast: porridge with semi-skimmed milk + 1tbsp linseeds + 1tsp honey OR pot of low-fat plain greek strained yogurt + 1/2 banana + 1tbsp linseeds + 1tsp honey + cinnamon (around 250 cals)

Lunch: salmon OR chicken OR omelette (1whole egg+2whites) OR low-fat cottage cheese OR chicken soup + 1 slice wholemeal bread + green salad (spinach, lettuce, cabbage etc) + 1tbsp olive oil (around 400 cals)

Afternoon: pot of low-fat plain greek strained yogurt + 1tbsp seeds& raisins + 1tsp honey (around 200 cals)

Dinner: tuna salan + slice wholemeal bread OR toast (wholemeal bread+low fat cheese + turkey slice + tomato) + green salad (around 300 cals)

Before-bed: half apple with a slice of low-fat cheese (around 100 cals)

Snack trhoughout the day: I handful unsalted nuts (around 150 cals)

Besides all that, not only I cannot loose weight, but it seems I am slowly slowly gaining some!! My thyroid is ok, so that's out of the way.
I'm trying to think if I eat to much, but I don't think that less than 1500 cals a day for a 29 year old female is too much. Then again, could it be I don't eat to much so that I am in starvation mode? Well, this does not make sense either ... I might eat healthy, but I do think I eat quite a lot!

Can you please help me at all?? I seem very confused!
Thanks,
Anna

ANSWER: Hi Anna, I commend your efforts!  You are doing great!  Keep up the good work and don't get frustrated or discouraged.  First of all, I don't know if you are entering a particular competition or something that requires you be at a certain weight...?  You mentioned that you are 170m, I'm assuming that's 170 meters?  Are you sure?  One meter is 39 inches....I don't know what your BMI (body mass index) is without the corrected information, but your BMI should be 25 or less ideally.  Have you noticed a change in your body fat?  The way your clothing fits?  The way you feel?  Unless you are severely overweight or obese, these things should matter a little more than what the scale says to be honest with you.

It sounds like you are doing all the right things, however if you are STILL concerned about the weight, you might need to completely shock your body with an entirely different training regimen like running, hiking, boot camp exercise routines, etc.  Give your body something it is not used to in order for it to get off the plateau.

Hope this helps...thanks for the question.

Kim Farmer
ACE Certified Personal Trainer
ACE Certified Clinical Exercise Specialist
www.milehighfitness.com
www.milehighfitness.com/fitnessmatters

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thanks for the reply!

My height is 1.7m (170 cm), so my BMI is within the normal ranges, however I do look much better with 4-5kg off, when I am around 63kg.

I am not that much worry about the weight and I wouldn't mind if the extra weight was lean muscle! My jeans and other clothes though are much tighter, so it's more about how I feel than how I weight.

Do you think I should focus more on changing my diet or my exercise?
Am I eating too much/little or maybe the wrong type of food?
Should I increase/reduce my cardio?

Thanks,
Anna

Answer
Hi Anna, I would recommend CHANGING your cardio.  Do something else altogether different than you are used to doing.  Don't know what that is, depends on where you live and what resources are available, but it needs to be pretty intense since your body is already used to working out regularly.  On M/W, do more cardio instead of just 20 minutes for example, but try something new.

Thanks again for the question.