Completely confused
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llfretwell
Posts: 218 Member
About my caloric needs. I have always been a cardio junky and *tried* to eat 1200 calories plus exercise calories. I just began SL a week ago and have been trying to do research on how much I should be eating. Why am I so lost?!?
I am currently 5 foot 7, 143 lbs., and would love to lose 10 lbs. while gaining lean muscle. I do SL 3 days a week and walk/run intervals every day. While I've been trying very hard to meet my protein goal every day (between 130 and 150), I have stayed at 1200 calories plus the exercise calories. I would so much appreciate someone giving me some guidance with my diet and nutrition. Please!!
I am currently 5 foot 7, 143 lbs., and would love to lose 10 lbs. while gaining lean muscle. I do SL 3 days a week and walk/run intervals every day. While I've been trying very hard to meet my protein goal every day (between 130 and 150), I have stayed at 1200 calories plus the exercise calories. I would so much appreciate someone giving me some guidance with my diet and nutrition. Please!!
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check out http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/ I came up with way more than the 1200. Your young and you have a lil one that you run after, you can eat more.0
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Should I put "lightly active" or "moderately active" for my exercise? Also, should I choose "gain muscle, lose fat" or "lose fat- 20% reduction"?0
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How many calories do you tend to eat back for exercise calories? If you end up between 1600 and 1900 calories a day you might be ok. I wouldn't go below 1500, even on days when you don't exercise. If you want to maintain as much muscle as possible, you only want a slight calorie deficit and need to be patient enough to lose weight slowly. Your protein goal looks good. I am 5'6 and 157 pounds. I have been eating a straight 1750 a day for the last 8 weeks. I just enter my exercise at 1 calorie. Weight loss is slowing down for me this past month, but I am still seeing progress. By the way, your protein goal looks good.
http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=1217039810 -
I would say moderate and a 5-10% reduction. Ill give you my info and see if that helps you to figure it out, play with my stats in there and see where my number come up at. I am 36 yrs old, 5'7", 173 lbs. I lift 3 times a week, work 8 hours a week at most as a massage therapist and other wise i am a SAHM. I can eat at 2800 a day and maintain my weight, i know this cuz i have done this the last 3 months.
You dont have much to lose so you would be better off with a smaller deficit or even the gain muscle lose fat. I can tell you also that when i was running 3 times a week burning 1100 calories a week from that and i can eat even more now since i have added more muscle.0 -
I am 5'7" and about 145 pounds. I started lifting (again) about a month ago. I am slowly losing at 1600 calories a day using the TDEE method (no exercise calories). I would say that since you are younger than I am you can probably eat more than 1600 and still lose. I have found that meeting my protein goals are the most important ones for successful long term weight loss and overall satisfaction. My macro split is 40/30/30 protein/carb/fat.0
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Welcome @llfretwell! I apologize in advance for the long post. If I've confused you more or if you have questions, I'm happy to help!
You should eat at a deficit and lift to lose fat and retain muscle. You would need to bulk to gain muscle. Seems you want to focus on shedding fat so lifting and eating at a slight deficit is the way to go. You need to eat more than 1200 calories -that is far to low.
I put your stats into the IIFYM calculator (you can use other ones mentioned here, too, I just used this one) and your Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE), assuming 3 workouts/week is about 2000 calories to maintain your weight. Your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) (what you burn daily just by existing) is about 1400 so you should not eat below that amount. It says you could eat between 1550 and 1650 at your activity level to lose weight at a reasonable rate. Using this TDEE method, you would strive to eat this amount regardless of exercise.
I set my MFP activity level to lightly active and I tweaked the macros so that I got more protein than the default (for me, 50% carbs, 25% each for fat and protein). Though I have a desk job, I move around throughout the day, particularly when I'm home and I also exercise. I record exercise and the calories burned for my information but I don't try to eat them all back because I'm sort of following the TDEE method. I mostly lift but I throw in some cardio to make up for estimation uncertainty and to feel better.
If you want to use MFP's variable method and eat different amounts daily depending on your activity, set it to lightly active and make sure it's at least 1400 calories. Do this by setting a reasonable deficit to lose about a half pound a week since you only have 10 to lose. Record exercise and eat back *most* of the calories it says you burned (*I said most considering that people tend to overestimate exercise while underestimating calories consumed).
I went from under eating and doing cardio to eating normally and lifting and I've never looked or felt better. Before, I definitely lost weight but it looked like someone let the air out of my *kitten* and I was hangry. Now I feel satiated, strong, mentally healthy. Plus, my butt has perked. Best of luck!!
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MissHolidayGolightly wrote: »I went from under eating and doing cardio to eating normally and lifting and I've never looked or felt better. Before, I definitely lost weight but it looked like someone let the air out of my *kitten* and I was hangry. Now I feel satiated, strong, mentally healthy. Plus, my butt has perked. Best of luck!!
This.
I am now maintaining at 1950 cals and have never felt better (5'5", 119lbs). I upped my cals this year (January) from 1400 and have maintained all year0 -
This is all very interesting to me. I keep tweaking my calories and macros. I'm at least 10 lbs overweight (from what I was comfortable weighing pre pregnancy) @ 133-5, 5'2". I've always had a good percentage of muscle but for the last few years my BF has crept up and up. Been lifting for 2 months and plugged in my TDEE macro numbers. Came up with eating around 1450 to lose BF slowly and hopefully keep muscle. But I've gained a few pounds. I lift 3x/wk and am a SAHM. I'm not that worried,could be water retention or newbie gains. Measurements changed a bit the first month but not this month. Guess I'm eating too much. But I like to eat!0
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I realize this is not helpful to you, llfretwell, except to say that I am confused too!0
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This does bring up an interesting discussion, seeing everyone's different stats and current approaches to the nutrition side.
I'll post mine but few things vary. First, I'm obese and need to lose about 30 more lbs (I've lost almost 30 since end of August so far this year) just to get to the overweight category. This is due in part to the fact that I'm only 4'11.5". I started at 211 in August, though my highest recorded weight is from 2010 at 229. I now weigh 182. My target weight is set at 150 on here but that will change once I get closer since that's just barely into the overweight category for my height.
I have my MFP set at 1.5 lbs loss per week, though it says projected is 1.4 but that's close enough. Lightly active because at work I'm on my feet and get 8,000 to 16,000 steps depending on day and department, 5 to 6 days a week with 6 or 8 hour shifts. I mostly work photo and move around a fair amount. I put in a rough estimate of 5 workouts a week, though I should probably change that to 4. 3 days of lifting, 1 day of cardio. Anyways, my calorie before exercise is 1350. My general intake ranges from 1200 to 1600 with the occasional more or the very bad day of less. I don't get enough protein but I'm working on it.
Probably not much help but I would think more than 1200 is sustainable for weight loss for someone much taller than me but I also know those last lbs are the hardest for anyone.0 -
I'm still figuring out what I call my "caloric sweet spot" too, but lots of good info here. Only a couple things to add:
1. The scale will go wonky the first few weeks after starting heavy weight lifting, so don't let the numbers worry you. They'll settle down.
2. Choose a reasonable calorie range and stay there for 4-6 weeks before adjusting up or down. There are so many variables that switching things up too soon isn't always based on "real" information, you know? Obviously watch the scale (after the first few weeks), but also pay attention to how you're feeling with your lifting (do you have energy, are you adding weight to the bar, are you failing lifts, etc.?). For example, when I eat too few calories, I fail most of my lifts. When I bump up those calories, I feel better and make good progress at the gym.
3. Be patient. It will take a while to figure this all out.
And keep us posted on how things are going! The daily check in thread is an awesome place, so definitely pop over there!
Courtney 0 -
Wow! I am so thankful for all of the feedback! I took before pictures last night (a couple weeks AFTER beginning SL...whoops), and I HATED the way I look. I guess I have not looked at my profile in a bathing suit from behind in awhile. Those pictures that I took motivate me more than anything to stick to this.
Anyway, I think since I lift 3x a week and walk/run most days, I will try my calories at 1700 to begin with and stick to that for 4-6 weeks. Does that sound okay? I tried using my calipers last night and I'm hoping I used them right. I came up with 19% BF. I also took a stab at using the scoobysworkshop calorie counter. I came up with about 2200 TDEE. So....1700 a day?
My body fat is embarrassing! I am definitely SKINNYFAT! I need that to melt!
Thank you ladies so much for the advice and support! Ya'll are awesome!0 -
19% BF is pretty low BF for a woman, I think. I have calipers, too but I can't get an accurate reading when I use them by myself.0
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Just looked it up. 19% is In the ideal range for women.0
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Agree with @Sumiblue. 19% is pretty low - you can have definition at that percentage. That being said, I'm sure it's not as bad as you think. 1700 calories sounds good for you. Try it for a few weeks and see how you feel.0
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I'm really hoping I'm measuring BF correctly. I will definitely try 1700 calories for awhile, though. Thank you!
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Body fat % is notoriously inaccurate - especially doing calipers on yourself. When I was working out my maintenance cals, I added 100-200 cals every month and weighed in every day. My weight varies by up to 6lbs depending on my cycle, but weighing in every day enabled me to see the fluctuations and not to panic when the scale goes up. You may find a similar method useful0
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Calipers can be hard and as mentioned, terribly inaccurate, but they are a useful tool to watch a trend. If you use them in the same place every time you'll at least have an idea if you're moving up or down, you know?0
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I'd like to get body fat checked at some point though right now I probably don't want to know that number. Maybe one day I'll get the courage to just find out.0
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Oh yes, I guess I can just use them in the same spot to see if it changes at all, even if it's inaccurate.
Speaking of fluctuation in weight, I weighed myself at the beginning of the week (before my cycle), then weighed myself this morning (the third day of my cycle), and am 3 lbs. lighter. Too bad that can't be fat loss!!
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