Lose more fat than muscle (BF% went up 1.5% on high protein diet after losing 20lbs)

mrsmiley32

I might be buying into gimmicks, I may be screwing some part of the formula up, or something I don't know but I'm concerned after my last BF% measurement. First let me give you full information and there are going to be some critical points (that I recognize are bad... but what can you do)

Starting weight 249.7lbs, BF%: 29
Current weight 230lbs, BF%: 30.5
Lost an average of 3lbs a week (7 weeks so far) I assume some of it was water weight. But it's pretty steadily 2-3lbs/week. (first biggie, I know it's too rapid, I am trying to keep it at 2lbs)

I do eat carbs etc, but I also eat my LBM in grams of protein for the most part (probably closer to an average of 160g/day and not the full 180iirc, it fluctuates). (#2-ish, I can't see this being it, it's .8-1g/lb lbm I aim for a 1:1 but .95:1 isn't going to do it I'd think)

I do a fair amount of cardio (hour and a half twice a week of soccer at work, walk an hour a day round trip to work, walk everywhere instead of driving). This has me concerned though because I'm about to tack on an extra 5miles a day to my work walk and likely this means I'll be shaving another lb/wk off if the calorie burn is correct.

Lastly, this might be the biggest thing but I have put a pause till Monday on doing my resistance exercise. For the most part the last 3 weeks I haven't been doing my calisthenics or weight training. I've been doing these for 6 months now but it's a temporary pause.

My diary is public, I log everything (I didn't make soccer this week due to meetings, I also ate like crap yesterday because I was hungover). You will see what I eat varies but the macro tend to stay the same.

mokaiba

Most bf% calcs are inaccurate. Occassionaly, mine says im 60%BF then 20 minutes later will say 20% then 30% then 25%, etc. I dont pay any real attention to it though as its just a function my scale has.


If you want to determine your bf% an easy way, do this (for males):

30%BF = can hold belly fat in hand (if it needs more than one hand, just assume 35-40%)
20%BF = 1/2 hand full of belly fat
10%BF = stomach is flat.
5-8%BF = abs look like those underwear models


my diary is public as well.



edit: looked at your diary. why so much sugar products? Its unneeded calories. Also, you seem to eat more than the goal on some days. 90% of weight loss is not exercising but what you eat and how much of you you eat.

If you last did your food macros 20lbs ago, you should recalc them. http://scoobysworkshop.com/accurate-calorie-calculator/

mrsmiley32

Yeah I am probably worrying over nothing, I will say the BF% thing is something my fitness center uses (if that leads to it's credibility or not). Something about it using an electrical current to judge total BF%.

ILiftHeavyAcrylics

What method did you use to find your body fat %?

Here's a good read about body fat estimation methods:
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/830595

And here's a thread where you can post your pics for an estimate. Personally I didn't ever post my pics in there but just seeing the estimates other people were getting helped me figure out where I am.
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/826435/bodyfat-estimation-thread/p1

funchords

That's an impedance measurement and it's not very precise. I had one scale that did it and it was all over the map. It measures much more as fat than just fat. Don't put too much stock in it.

mokaiba

ILiftHeavyAcrylics wrote: »

What method did you use to find your body fat %?

Here's a good read about body fat estimation methods:
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/830595

And here's a thread where you can post your pics for an estimate. Personally I didn't ever post my pics in there but just seeing the estimates other people were getting helped me figure out where I am.
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/826435/bodyfat-estimation-thread/p1

could just use these photos too:

mrsmiley32

Really cool, then I am def floating between the 25&30 picture. I thought this was something I could precisely track as I lost weight, I will just keep it as a general idea in the future. I really do appreciate it! (I was freaking out over this)

NekoneMeowMixx

I'm currently attempting a recomp; I'm 23 years old, 5 foot 6, and 132 pounds as of this morning. I'm right around 24% body fat according to my scale. The macros for my training days (days I lift weights) are P40%, C40%, F20%. That means I, a 132 female, and supposed to be getting (somehow) 200g of protein a day... I'm not sure how that's possible or if it's plausible, but if you're eating 160g protein a day, maybe you need to eat more?

I took a quick peak at your diary, and it's kind of all over the place. There are days where you only get ~60g protein, and have a bunch of calories left, and then days when you're almost 3,000 calories over. So basically whatever deficit you're creating on the days that you eat under/at your goal are just abolished by these days of super heavy eating... I'm not expert by any means, so please take what I say with a grain of salt, but that's just my opinion...

Here are the two links through MFP that I found which helped me set up my recomp goals. I just started a few days ago, so I can't really report on progress yet, though I feel better than when I was only eating 1400, or when I was trying to cram down 2,000 to bulk.

http://blog.myfitnesspal.com/the-basics-of-body-recomposition-how-to-lose-fat-gain-muscle-at-the-same-time/

^ This one just kind of tells you the basics, along with how much you should be eating.

http://blog.myfitnesspal.com/the-basics-of-body-recomposition-macronutrient-calculations-to-lose-fat-and-gain-muscle/

^ This one breaks down the macros intake.

I understand a recomp may not be in your best interest, as you're likely not at/almost at the goal weight you'd like to be at. I'm just saying this is what I'm using for where I am/what my goals are. You may actually find THIS link to be a bit more helpful. It discussing the different macro ranges for different body types/goals:

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/macro-math-3-keys-to-dialing-in-your-macro-ratios.html

Best of luck, and keep us posted!

mrsmiley32

Why it looks that way, I log everything (so if I ran out of time and had to skip a meal there is likely some quick substitute in there like last nights dinner was a protein shake). However a day of 68g of protein sounds awfully low given (oh hey though, it did happen on 3/13) but as you see most of those are around the 160mark. That was when I ran out of protein shakes the last time to help adjust (keep in mind other days were 100ish).

Regarding the calories logs, I don't eat back my cardio calories (this is what I was wondering if it was getting me in trouble) I aim for a calorie intake that is near the line MFP drew in the sand. The days where I have things like 3k calories it's either a ton of fast food because I was on the road/out with the fam or a metric shitload of alcohol.

Beyond that, I was concerned you said you need 200g of protein per day? Did the formula change? I thought it was 1g protein per 1lb of LBM. If you need 200g's of protein I don't think it'd be possible for me to hit my protein goal a 12oz steak only has 99g of protein in it

Will def read through the links, seriously thank you for the information

ILiftHeavyAcrylics

NekoneMeowMixx wrote: »

I took a quick peak at your diary, and it's kind of all over the place. There are days where you only get ~60g protein, and have a bunch of calories left, and then days when you're almost 3,000 calories over. So basically whatever deficit you're creating on the days that you eat under/at your goal are just abolished by these days of super heavy eating... I'm not expert by any means, so please take what I say with a grain of salt, but that's just my opinion...

OP is losing 2-3 lbs per week. If anything he needs to be eating a bit more.

ILiftHeavyAcrylics

mrsmiley32 wrote: »

Really cool, then I am def floating between the 25&30 picture. I thought this was something I could precisely track as I lost weight, I will just keep it as a general idea in the future. I really do appreciate it! (I was freaking out over this)

It's really more of a rough estimate. Like weight, it's more of a watch the trend kind of thing than an exact number.

ILiftHeavyAcrylics

mrsmiley32 wrote: »

Why it looks that way, I log everything (so if I ran out of time and had to skip a meal there is likely some quick substitute in there like last nights dinner was a protein shake). However a day of 68g of protein sounds awfully low given (oh hey though, it did happen on 3/13) but as you see most of those are around the 160mark. That was when I ran out of protein shakes the last time to help adjust (keep in mind other days were 100ish).

Regarding the calories logs, I don't eat back my cardio calories (this is what I was wondering if it was getting me in trouble) I aim for a calorie intake that is near the line MFP drew in the sand. The days where I have things like 3k calories it's either a ton of fast food because I was on the road/out with the fam or a metric shitload of alcohol.

Beyond that, I was concerned you said you need 200g of protein per day? Did the formula change? I thought it was 1g protein per 1lb of LBM. If you need 200g's of protein I don't think it'd be possible for me to hit my protein goal a 12oz steak only has 99g of protein in it

Will def read through the links, seriously thank you for the information

It is 1 gram of protein per pound of lean mass. You could do a little higher if you like, but that's the recommendation that's most often given.

Setting calorie/macro targets:
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/819055

Research on optimal protein intake:
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/823505


Also I would not really trust the MFP blog for info. Some of it is okay. A lot of it is really wrong. That group where all the links I posted are located is a great source of science-based information. One of the leaders is a certified personal trainer and they're both competitive powerlifters. They also have a great reputation here for reading all the available science on a topic before making recommendations.

mokaiba

You can get close to 200g protein with just 500g a chicken (not a lot), 100g fish, and 184g egg beaters, which is around 800 calories. This alone will make you feel full for a considerable amount of time. You would just need to fill in the rest of the calories with fats (9 cal per 1g (limit 60g though~540cal)) and carbs (4cal per 1g).

mrsmiley32

17oz of chicken not a lot

But remember protein is 4calories/g so it's 800calories for the protein alone. Fish can be pretty fatty and it'd have to be 184g of egg whites (no yolks). Let alone misc calories that get digested (is that how that works? I know carbs:4g, protein:4g, fat:9g, but there is extra mass there that isn't those three).

And I will say this much, I am looking for a diet that is a permanent change to the way I eat (which most of the time is an omelet with ham, cheese, and peppers for breakfast, steelhead for lunch (with brocolli), and steak/chicken/ or fish with a cup of greenbeans/corn/peas for dinner. I offset the extra protein with 1 or 2 whey shakes a day (plus that helps me get my calcium and iron since I'm lactose intolerant).

I don't measure w/ a scale, I'm losing fast enough as it is and ... well... my wife has the scale back in kansas and I'm waiting for it to be shipped up here so I'm using the pre determined weight on the package of meat and a measuring cup for veggies, and eyeballing the butter.