u/tea_is_better

Searching for the best way forward with calorie goals to burn fat while building muscle, and still having enough calories/energy to work out. Info dump below, all suggestions welcome as I'm very out of my element.

45/F 5'9" 257#, down from 270# two months ago

Body fat 44.6% confirmed by DEXA scan 2 weeks ago

I've been primarily following a keto diet for the last 8+ years. Change to whole foods while working with a nutritionist but it failed miserably so now I'm back.

Daily meds: estrogen/progesterone for perimenopause, Thyroid supplement, Adderall as needed

Supplements: Creatine (Sports Research) 10mg twice daily

Broken foot recovery supplements: calcium 500 mg, vitamin c 500 mg, Sports Research D3 plus K2 as Rx'd by orthopedist

Daily macros: Calories 1450g (25% deficit) Protein 142g Net carbs 20g Fat 89g

I've been working out twice a week with a personal trainer for about two months. My sessions run hard and I'm soaked in sweat by the end. I consistently tell my trainer when movements feel too easy so we can up the weight, to the point of me barely being able to finish by the third set.

Within the first 6 weeks I've over doubled the amount of weight I'm able to move on every exercise, and my trainer has stopped being surprised how quickly I'm progressing and now automatically offers me higher weights. I have slowly but steadily been losing weight, and assumedly I'm gaining muscle based off my increased capacity at the gym. My first few weeks were pretty rough and when I got home after doing just eight deep squats I would walk around like a newborn deer for the rest of the day. Beginning the creatine supplement has helped.

I am sedentary the remaining 5 days of the week as I am recovering from a broken foot and healing slower than usual due to my age. My trainer has been able to modify my workouts to remove pressure from my foot injury. Previously I would take a casual lunch walk and get around 5k steps a day.

I don't currently attempt to eat back my workout calories, and the only pre-workout I take is creatine. MCT oil makes me feel ill.

My eating window throughout the day can vary between 2-3 meals or OMAD, depending on how hungry I am and how dug in like a tick I am with my work.

I consistently prioritize protein and usually exceed that macro, rarely exceeding my calorie or fat limit for the day.

Suggestions welcome of what, if anything, I should change. Previously I've been able to manage a 25% deficit with no problem, but I'm unsure if I should increase my protein and relax my deficit so I'm able to perform well in the gym and continue to gain muscle.

Hi all. What a difference 8 years can make.

I had massive success with a nutritional ketogenic diet around 8 years ago. Through diet alone and with no additional exercise I lost just over a hundred pounds in a year, dropping from a size 20-22W to a size 10R. I looked amazing, but could not see it due to body dysmorphia.

Around 4 years ago life started to fall apart for a variety of reasons that I will spare you, and I drastically fell out of maintenance and back into carbs. I have now regained most of what I had initially lost.

Over the years I've tried jumping back into keto with little to no success. I worked with a functional nutritionist while eating keto with little results, then tried a whole foods-based diet on their suggestion. Unfortunately I have a very difficult time not binging on processed carbs, and will even sneak eat bakery items given the opportunity. A high protein, moderate fat, limited carb diet has consistently made me feel mentally and emotionally better than any other way of eating over the years, and I am dedicated to sticking with it for those reasons. But this time around, the weight loss is very slow to not existent, and I can't figure out why.

I have A LOT of stored body fat, I'm estimating around 40%, and that is what I used when I set my macros. I'm getting a DEXA scan next week and will be able to find tune my macros at that point.

My current version of keto is mostly chicken breast and pork loin (pork is occasionally baked with pork panko breading) with occasional shrimp, fish, and beef. Carbs are broccoli, cauliflower, cucumber, strawberries, and blackberries. Primary fats are 1-2 tb Kerrygold butter (mixed with my daily serving of Diva rice), Chihuahua cheese, avocado/olive oil, and occasionally homestyle ranch. I'm planning on trying a drizzle of olive oil when eating my chicken and cutting back on the Kerrygold a bit. For processed food, I occasionally eat a Quest protein cookie or a serving of Choc Zero, and they don't cause binge or food sneaking urges the same way full sugar cake does. I enjoy the King Arthur Keto Pizza crust, and have been splitting each 12" pizza in half to get four days of good fiber supplementation.

I'm tracking everything I eat and drink through Cronometer, down to the gram. I always meet and occasionally exceed my protein and rarely meet my fat goal, but ensure I get enough fat for vitamin absorption and to feel satiated. Electrolytes are tracked as well - I track salt and NuSalt added to food, and take Natural Calm at night. I am well hydrated, I get good sleep each night, and I have a low stress job.

Daily meds: levothyroxine, estrogen patch, progesterone, Adderall once or twice a day.

I intermittent fast each morning, splitting one LMNT between several water bottles for breakfast. I occasionally also skip lunch and 20:4 or 22:2 my supper. I do tend to eat late in the day and sleep not long after.

Current ruled me macros for a 5'10" 45 year old female with an estimated 40% body fat who is sedentary besides working out with a personal trainer (weights, core, balance, 1 hr 2x weekly) at a 25% deficit =

1600 calories: 156g protein, 100g fat, 20g net carbs.

I don't feel I am building enough muscle to offset the fat loss to explain the scale not moving, as I've only been working with my trainer for 6 weeks. I had an initial pound or two of retained water from the first workout session (where my quads felt they may never recover), which has since dropped. My workouts are challenging and I am dripping with sweat by the end of the hour, but they are not high intensity, and I don't try to eat back any calories I may burn during those sessions. I'm definitely building some muscle, as I have been able to increase the weight in several movements and no longer walk down the stairs like a baby giraffe after a session including deep squats.

I used to take a walk in the afternoon but broke part of my foot a few weeks ago and it's also in the mid-90s where I live. I work from home, from my couch. I walk around the house a few thousand steps every day at the most. I have a walking pad that I have used in the past, but I hate using it because my feet roll out and my Hokas catch the edges of the pad and make me trip a lot. I feel like I need a super wide walking pad but I haven't been able to find one.

Suggestions? Advice? Do I need to trust the process and weigh myself once a month? Am I eating too much fat? Am I eating too much protein? Am I just older and need to stop expecting things to work the way they did when I had more normal hormone levels and wasn't working out?

I'm trying to decide the best option for me and my medicine regime when it comes to fiber supplements.

I am supplementing based on the recommendation of my doctor due to high cholesterol levels. They want me to eat a Mediterranean diet, and upping my fiber was a happy medium when I vetoed their suggestion. I'm willing to increase my fiber for the next hot minute to see how it affects my system and blood work results.

Between my early morning thyroid med (empty stomach with just water), Adderall twice a day starting an hour after the thyroid med, and a hormone pill at bedtime, I'm struggling deciding not only when to take the supplement but with which supplement to take.

I've read that whole psyllium husk can partially block vitamin and mineral absorption, while psyllium husk powder just delays it. I'm leaning more towards psyllium husk powder.

Also, how do y'all take it? I would normally mix it with a protein shake, and I guess a slower or delayed absorption of the electrolytes and vitamins in my Keto Chow wouldn't be the end of the world.

My best guess is to take the powder form a few hours after my first Adderall dose mixed with a keto chow shake.

Open to any suggestions or other real life experiences.

Hi everyone!

My spouse and I are taking our first ever cruise on VV in a few months. We booked our trip last year, and have had a great time watching YouTube reviews and reading posts here to prepare! We've found several YT channels that are super helpful, and at least one we watch partly for info and partly to count how many times they misuse the word "literally" while trying to figure out if their humor is just super dry or if they're actually jerks.

I get that not everyone is a planner by nature, or take enjoyment in the process, but for me the planning of the trip is half the fun of it. By our powers combined we now have Google notes for ship and port activity options, food options, pack lists, etc. I travel a lot for work and was able to use hotel and airline points for our roundtrip flights and a hotel room the day before we embark, which I handled since booking such things are my forte. They are logistically minded and are helping a lot on that end of things. We both play to our strengths but still consult each other regarding everything, and it really cracked me up that on each section of the activities notes they set the top priority as RELAX 🤣

We talk about the trip nearly every day, and the anticipation and fine-tuning of our plan options is just so much fun! It made me curious if the majority feels that way vs if more of you tend to book it and forget about it until excursions and dining open. I'd love to hear your opinions 😊

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The emotional abuse scars cut so much deeper than a bruise or broken bone ever could.