My girlfriends diet

[greemah]

My girlfriend has quite a large amount of fat all over her body, particularly her legs. She wants to loose some of it, so I got her on a basic weight training routine to maintain muscle and counted her calories which I reduced by about 300. She has been on this for about a month and hasn't lost anything. Problem is she's only eating about 1400 calories a day and I can't restrict it anymore, particularly because she complains about being hungry enough already. She eats pretty clean also.

She's about 5'5" and is 79kg (about 174 lbs). She is 19 years old.

Obviously cardio would help, but she has a significant amount of fat so I don't see how that would be enough to get her slim and wouldn't be a good permanent solution like diet would.

I don't know how she can be that size for what she eats :/

Any help appreciated,
Thanks

[juan23]

ok so shes only eating 1400 a day but how much is she burning a day ?? and i see you got her lifting weights , she might be gaining muscle and loosing fat and so her weight stays steady (thats what i was told in my case)

in my opinion the diet is fine , i say just get her running or swimming at least 1mile a day of a walk and jog and she will drop pounds

my mom eats more than 1400 a day and she dont lift weights she just does those pilates workout videos and walks 1mile or more with her friend and shes lost weight and still keeps loosing and shes about your gf height

at least your gf is making a effort keep encouraging her man
when i had a gf a long time ago she weighed 200lbs and she was 5'6 (heaviest gf ive had) well at first i didnt care i thought she was pretty and great but i worried about her health but she didnt care oh well.

[Wayward]

What is her carb intake like? I know, especially now when I am trying to lose weight, eating too many carbs gets my stomach growling and the pangs started.

Anyway, it sounds like you are already really involved and attempting to keep her on track. A lot of it is going to be mental breakdown, so the most important thing to do is to keep her encouraged. As long as she doesn't derail, you can tweak macros to get the results you want.

Also, as was already mentioned, sometimes the best way to measure it is clothing and a tape measure, rather than the scale. Sometimes it tells half the truth.

[greemah]

Thanks for your helpful replies guys. I will take some measurements off her and see if it is that she's loosing fat but not weight.

I will also try decrease her carbs as she probably is a bit high on that.

What would be a good macro ratio for her do you think? Me myself I'm trying to be close to 40 prot / 30 fat / 30 carb.....should this be the same for her? If so, might be a bit tricky as we can't afford any more protein shakes

[juan23]

Thanks for your helpful replies guys. I will take some measurements off her and see if it is that she's loosing fat but not weight.

I will also try decrease her carbs as she probably is a bit high on that.

What would be a good macro ratio for her do you think? Me myself I'm trying to be close to 40 prot / 30 fat / 30 carb.....should this be the same for her? If so, might be a bit tricky as we can't afford any more protein shakes

remember girls are different than men , her goals and results are going to be different than yours

[greemah]

I know that's why I'm asking if the macros should be different for her

[Ness]

Good luck with everything.

[Joe Black]

greemah, can you list out her diet here?

In general I would be keeping a really close eye on carbs. Keep protein high, fat moderate and only have her eat non vegetable carbs after a workout (i.e you gotta earn them). This approach REALLY kicked into gear with me.

I would highly recommend you pick up a copy of precision nutrition. Not only is it simple, it makes everything easy and is very motivating and geared at normal people wanting to make a transformation. It's quite honestly brilliant and has specific advice for females in it.

I would just look at the quality of the food/mcronutrients to check you have things right and also get her doing some activity. I think exercise has to be the staple of any weight loss routine.

[Joe Black]

Also check out http://www.wannabebig.com/training/a...oman-in-shape/

[badgerer]

My 2p for what it is worth...

Carbs aren't the enemy - I don't think there is a problem with carbs being around 40%-50% of your diet in your girlfriend's circumstances, so long as they are the good type (wholegrain bread, rice, spaghetti, veg, etc). Plenty of veg can be filling and calorie light (a) because of the lack of fat and (b) because veg has a high water content. Get plenty of veg in the meals and fill up on the carbs!

Protein of course is also very filling and absolutely vital in maintaining and increasing muscle mass (in addition to many other things). I would shoot for 30-40%.

Fat is important in moderation - 20%-30% is about right. Make sure it is coming from "good" sources - olive oil and the like (avoid saturated fat as much as possible).

Take a long hard look at your calculation of her calorie intake and ponder on the possibility that it is perhaps not correct. If it truly is 1,400 calories then she must be barely moving throughout the day in order to lose no fat (and at this point I would reiterate that you should check to see if she has gained lean muscle, although I doubt this is the case to any great extent because she would have noticed less fat on her body). If she is doing any kind of exercise then she shouldn't be eating any less than around 1,400 calories per day anyway. My suspicion is that she is in fact eating a fair bit more than 1,400.

You've really got to get her into cardio if she is going to lose the weight effectively. this is vital - I cannot stress it enough. Even if it is just a mile walk 3 times a week to start off with and working up, effective weight loss is acheived through proper diet AND aerobic exercise. The options are nearly limitless - walking, jogging, biking, rowing, swimming...I could go on forever.

If she follows the above advice she will lose weight. It's all based on my personal experience, having lost around 30lbs in around 3 months earlier in the year (and I'm keeping it off no problem - now looking to increase muscle mass - I can certainly claim to have no expertise in that field!).

[suprfast]

The only thing not brought up here is CHEATING. She is cheating on you, and the diet. Can you vouch for her eating only 1400 calories all day or is there a vending machine at the college she attends.
I dont want to be the ******* here but this could explain everything.
I cheated on myself at the beginning of my diet. Now i have a scale and measuring cups to monitor myself like i should. No more guessing what 12oz really is by eye. I have lost 13lbs in just around 13 weeks and still falling closer to 200lb goal weight.

[badgerer]

The only thing not brought up here is CHEATING. She is cheating on you, and the diet. Can you vouch for her eating only 1400 calories all day or is there a vending machine at the college she attends.
I dont want to be the ******* here but this could explain everything.
I cheated on myself at the beginning of my diet. Now i have a scale and measuring cups to monitor myself like i should. No more guessing what 12oz really is by eye. I have lost 13lbs in just around 13 weeks and still falling closer to 200lb goal weight.

I was kind of trying to ask that question in a subtle manner

[Jayfive]

I'd have to say that even at 1400 cals per day, its still possible she's not losing weight due to the bodies starvation mode and insulin sensitivity. I was eating around 1800 cals for 2 months and was at a complete standstill till I learned more about macros and insulin sensitivity. I'd say at 1400 cals, either the above two are right and she is sneaking food or you do need to mess with her carb intake. If the latter is the case try this; Fuel the weight routine with some pre workout carbs and re-energize after with some carbs. Make them complex, low GI carbs in either case (just to be safe, higher GI complex carbs aren't awful but still if you're gonna do something...).

Yes, cardio would help a great deal but I would try to get her into ACTUAL cardio. Not fat burning, slow, solid state, low HR cardio. I mean either HIIT or fast, high HR, solid state cardio (probably not a great idea at first as it takes some getting used to). Theres a very long explanation for this but I'll sum it up simply with. Slow cardio= fat burning while working, fast or HIIT cardio= fat burning while resting.

[greemah]

I know for a fact she's not cheating because once or twice she's had a sugary drink or a sandwhich that wasn't on her diet, and she told me about it. And she's up front about stuff like that

I think I'm going to keep her cals as-is, and just up the protein and lower carbs and see how that goes. Might try getting her into some form of cardio also, though I don't like my chances lol

[Jayfive]

I know for a fact she's not cheating because once or twice she's had a sugary drink or a sandwhich that wasn't on her diet, and she told me about it. And she's up front about stuff like that

I think I'm going to keep her cals as-is, and just up the protein and lower carbs and see how that goes. Might try getting her into some form of cardio also, though I don't like my chances lol

There are some very... fun... forms of cardio i can think of

[sayagain]

My girlfriend has quite a large amount of fat all over her body, particularly her legs. She wants to loose some of it, so I got her on a basic weight training routine to maintain muscle and counted her calories which I reduced by about 300. She has been on this for about a month and hasn't lost anything. Problem is she's only eating about 1400 calories a day and I can't restrict it anymore, particularly because she complains about being hungry enough already. She eats pretty clean also.

She's about 5'5" and is 79kg (about 174 lbs). She is 19 years old.

Obviously cardio would help, but she has a significant amount of fat so I don't see how that would be enough to get her slim and wouldn't be a good permanent solution like diet would.

I don't know how she can be that size for what she eats :/

Any help appreciated,
Thanks

I hope your girlfriend doesn't read this forum. My wife would kick my a$$ if she caught me saying that on the internet.