Who lifts weights?

nabbigail320

Here's my deal... female, 36 years old, 5'6" 1/2, about 200 lbs. I've lost 60 in the past and maintained that loss for a couple of years no problem, but I'd love to keep going. I hit a plateau and my boyfriend (who didn't know me before) insisted I start strength-training, since I was all about Zumba and the elliptical machine. I resisted because I just didn't want to for whatever reason, but now I love it and I'm in the weight room at the gym four days a week. I have the little gloves and everything. He's into bodybuilding and he made me my routine. I've been doing it consistently like this for a couple of months now and I do see a difference in my body overall. I don't see much in the way of weight loss but I put the scale away tonight and decided that I do see toning and my clothes fit a little better; this is more improvement than I saw in a long time with just cardio, so that's a plus. I'll get on the scale again if my pants get too big; until then, I can easily get obsessed with it and that's not productive. Plus, I LOVE using the app Jefit and tracking my progress there, lifting heavier stuff all the time. That's really fun to see.

Anyway, I still struggle with how to eat. I need to figure out how many calories, the right proportion of protein/carbs/fats. I just don't really know, so that's what I need input on.

My exercise regime:

4 days of lifting (2 upper, 2 lower; I'm very happy with my current routine)
2-3 days of 60-minute Zumba class (my graduate class meets on the same night as one of the Zumba nights, but when we don't have class because of snow or a holiday I get that extra night in; I've been told that 60 minutes of constant cardio like that isn't really that efficient but I really enjoy it and it's a good de-stresser, so I still go)
When the weather allows, I hike a few miles whenever I can. Sometimes more intense than others; depends on if I go for a hill or just a stroll in the woods, but I love to be outside! Of course, that hasn't been an option in a long time because I live in New England. I also ride my bike when the weather permits. I don't really count these things as exercise because I don't feel like I really elevate my heart rate much; I'm just enjoying doing something active for recreation.

Generally I just try to "eat healthy" and stay in the 1500-1600 calorie range, and aim for the 40/30/30 ratio. I'm really good at getting all my water, eating lots of vegetables and knowing good sources of lean protein, not drinking my calories, opting for whole grains instead of sugars and white flour, healthy fats like EVOO and nuts instead of heavy salad dressings, etc. But is that enough calories if I work out that much? And is that the right ratio on days that I'm lifting? And is it different for men and women, as far as those ratios go? I did some reading but I found some information on the ratios for weight loss and for strength training, but what if you want to gain strength while losing fat? Any input would be considered and appreciated.

crocky64

What is your deficit at end of the day?

Sarauk2sf

Are you currently tracking accurately - weighting your food and logging everything?

Is the 1,500 - 1,600 calories net or gross of exercise calories?

I get that you may get obsessed with the scale, but without weighing its really hard to tell if your calorie target is appropriate to your goals.

mkakids

We are very similar. I'm 208#, I lift 4 days week. Run or zumba 3 hours a week.

I eat approx 1800cals daily. Thats my tdee-25%.

I am loosing approx 1.5# a week (15#, in the last 9weeks).

I dont really track macros....I just try to get at least 100g protein daily.

sophdicko1

I weight train 3 x a week. Legs and abs one day, back n biceps one day and chest and triceps the other. Ive lost 5 kg in 2 weeks..counting macros. I have around 140g protein a day. Love this way if life

nabbigail320

I have no idea what my deficit is at the end of the day.
1600 is the amount I take in; I don't eat more on days I work out.
I skipped Zumba tonight and opted for a different workout; I did a bunch of lower-body weighs, then did 20 minutes of alternating step-ups with planks with some rest periods. Kicked my butt!

Liftng4Lis

Are you weighing and measuring your food?

nabbigail320

Of course.

Carlos_421

Sounds to me like you've got it dialed in. I say keep doing exactly what you're doing. If your weight loss stalls or your training starts to lag you can make adjustments. Until then, my thoughts are that you're working with a great plan.

guardianwill

What I recommend is to visit a site called bodybuilding dot com. a great site indeed. I follow a dr Jim Stoppani and learn from him about nutrition, supplements and a wide array of workouts. But there are ton's of workouts, nutrition guides from both bodybuilding men and women. Hope this helps.

ana3067

if you are accurately weighing your food and your workouts aren't struggling with that intake then it's fine.

But FWIW, I'm ~157, also do 4x a week upper/lower, cardio maybe an hour, 90 minutes max per WEEK, a student (so some walking/standing), and I'm eating anywhere between 2000-2250 to lose weight just lowered it a bit again to 2150). So you likely CAN eat more to lose weight, assuming you are logging properly.

What you eat really doesn't matter though. I'm eaing jelly beans right now. Macros based on percentages are really not optimal, but if you want to do that then by all means. 0.8 x your total weight (or 1x your goal weight) in lbs for how much protein you should eat in grams, 0.35x total weight for fat, and then the rest carbs. Fat and protein as minimums. Those are some often advised numbers to go by. I don't need 30% of my cals from protein (160g), which is why I set it by grams and not %.

As far as knowing how much to eat, you can use a TDEE calculator and do a 20% deficit from that number. I like health-calc and exrx.net the most, scooby's is a decent alternative as well.

krhn

From what I can tell, at 5'6 and frequent exercise, 1500 kcal might be on the verge of too low? Check with teh online calculators - nowadays most TDEE and BMR calculators are fairly accurate - and obviously like what everyone said.
- Depending on how advanced your BF is into bodybuilding, he should know the diets fairly well and can personally teach you.

nabbigail320

The calculators I did told me to eat more than 2000/day. That sounds like a crazy amount of food... Does anyone else think that sounds crazy?

Sarauk2sf

nabbigail320 wrote: »

The calculators I did told me to eat more than 2000/day. That sounds like a crazy amount of food... Does anyone else think that sounds crazy?

How much did you put in to lose each week and what activity level did you select?

It does not necessarily sound crazy, but it depends on your circumstances. I lose weight on those calories and am lighter and older.

ana3067

nabbigail320 wrote: »

The calculators I did told me to eat more than 2000/day. That sounds like a crazy amount of food... Does anyone else think that sounds crazy?

That's how much i eat to lose weight, so no.

nabbigail320

I put in two pounds a week at moderately active. I am a teacher so I do have a job where I'm walking around a lot, but not physically demanding. I lift weights four times/week and do cardio 2-3 days.

esjones12

Gain strength = lift.
Lose weight = eat at a deficit.
You can easily do both. But you won't gain muscle (aka bulk) in a deficit.

Personally I'd have my calories set to -1lb per week with light activity and log your exercise calories to eat back. Unless you are weighing and measuring everything you eat, you can't know if you are in deficit. Your macros are probably fine where they are at.

nabbigail320

Well, my goal is definitely to lose bulk while I get stronger. I do weigh and measure everything I eat when I'm actually working on this. I've been a mess lately... I need to tighten that up! I just don't weigh and measure myself right now, and I'm not going to get on the scale for a good long time. It's just how I am. It's unhealthy for me, emotionally. I need to stay away from it until I can learn to be sane about that part of it.

But yeah, the part that makes me batty is HOW MUCH. How much protein/fat/carb in the ratio, how many calories, how much protein.