fitness and protein question

[tricia]

This is totally an off the wall question. I have been working out on and off over the last 20 years or so. In between babies and nursing. That kind of thing. I have 12 kids and my youngest is 4. So, I've been working out pretty regularly for a while now. Here is my question. I need to lose about 15 more lbs. I've lost about 25 over the last year or so of really stepping up up my workouts. My problem however is I only lose about 1 pound a month. Oh yes, I've lost in size and that's great. But I need to see it on the scale. I ensure I take in plenty of protein too. Probably about 40 to 60 grams daily. Is that my problem? Am I just building muscle? My husband and sons lift weights and they get into the protein of course. But I am looking to see the scale move rather than the muscle building. I'm sure that's it since I've come down in size but I'm now wanting to see the scale move. Should I lesson my intake of protein for a while to do this? What would be your suggestion?

 

Thanks,

Tricia

[Aggie]

What else are you eating? IME, it's usually not the protein that causes a stall.

[jplain]

Dairy and nuts are common dietary culprits when the scale stalls.

 

If you're exercising, you probably need at least 60 grams of protein a day, so don't change that. If anything, you might need to up it if you're doing much weight training.

 

Why do you think you need to lose 15 pounds? Depending on your current body composition, that may not be realistic unless you want to lose muscle mass. I hope that's not your intention! My advice is to stop paying attention to the scale and use a tape measure to measure progress instead.

 

It might also help to track body fat percentage. You can get a fairly good estimate of body fat % by using a calculator like this one. Google for a few others too, to get a general consensus, as you'll find they use slightly different measurements. If you're already at or below 25% body fat, it probably isn't realistic to expect the scale to go down much more. If it does, it means you're probably losing lean mass. If you're above 25%, multiply the number of percentage points above 25 by your total body weight to calculate the number of pounds you might reasonably try to lose. Example: if you're at 28% body fat, multiply your body weight by 0.03 to calculate pounds of fat you could reasonably lose at this point.

 

Good luck!

Edited October 20, 2010 by jplain