Help with a game plan

gundon

hey guys,

Just recently came off a 115 pound cut, I tried mainteince for 3 weeks or so. Haven't been able to wait train in about six months I developed a pinched nerve from rapid weight loss. Now that my back is feeling much better I started back lifting. I'm trying to figure out how many calories a day I should be eating I assume I messed up my metabolism from restricting my calories so extremely. My fitness pal has my BMR at 1775 Plus I run and have been lifting but I've put on some weight eating at 22 to 2500. Went from 155 to 170 in about a month and a half,maybe a pound of it is muscle but I doubt that I could've put that much fat back on seeing as I eat very clean.The only thing that I eat that might be unhealthy is a lot of bran cereal and oatmeal at night I like to sleep on a full stomach, I also have some digestive issues so the fiber helps me stay regular. Do you guys think I should continue to bulk or cut my calories back down and try to figure out what my maintenance calorie is?I don't really notice any fat in the mirror I still look just about as defined,my shirts fit a little tighter at the chest but my waistline is the same? Any suggestions or insight on any of this would be greatly appreciated

psuLemon

Clean, dirty, or whatever, if you gained a lot of weight and haven't been progressive lifting, you have gained a combination of additional glycogen build up and a lot of fat. Nutritionally things differ, but calories and exercise determine the fat/muscle ratio.

Are you using a food scale?

Also, do we assume that you did an aggressive cut (like 1200-1500 calories. Because if you are gaining like a boss on 2200-2500, then your RMR/BMR isn't even close to 1775, considering that you are running and lifting now.

Personally, I think you should eat at maintenance for awhile and work on lifting for a few months and then slowly bulk back up.

gundon

Gotcha thanks for the advice , I wish it was it 12 to 1500 I cut more at like 500 a day for six months I threw in some fasting and juice fasting as well I've also abstain from a lot of fat foods I haven't had fast food in over a year beside Subway,I guess I'll be sticking to around 1800 cal a day I've been running quite a lot lately so I'm going to stick with that and try strong lift 5x5

ndj1979

gundon wrote: »

Gotcha thanks for the advice , I wish it was it 12 to 1500 I cut more at like 500 a day for six months I threw in some fasting and juice fasting as well I've also abstain from a lot of fat foods I haven't had fast food in over a year beside Subway,I guess I'll be sticking to around 1800 cal a day I've been running quite a lot lately so I'm going to stick with that and try strong lift 5x5

how much are you running?

if you are running a lot then you are going to need to factor that into your intake. I would suggest going to 2000 a day.

Also, you may want to re-examine your relationship with food, as it appear to not be a healthy one.

gundon

Yeah I relieze my mentality around food is not ideal but I'm doing what I can I was always big and now that I lost that weight I never want to have to go back again , I run 2-4 miles almost every day , I do use a food scale and weigh by the gram, I might mention that I'm not regular when it comes to digestion( about 3-5 days between bathroom trips)I don't know if it's from my fat intake being low or not

psuLemon

gundon wrote: »

Gotcha thanks for the advice , I wish it was it 12 to 1500 I cut more at like 500 a day for six months I threw in some fasting and juice fasting as well I've also abstain from a lot of fat foods I haven't had fast food in over a year beside Subway,I guess I'll be sticking to around 1800 cal a day I've been running quite a lot lately so I'm going to stick with that and try strong lift 5x5

Honestly, drop the running or keep it to a minimum (2x a week) until you can work your way back to normal. I would definitely work on adding fats to your diet to help stabilize hormones. Essentially, for you, reverse dieting is where I would start. Work on getting your RMR back to where it should be. At the same point, I would start with strong lift to address any neurological efficiencies and then bulk.

_benjammin

psulemon wrote: »

Honestly, drop the running or keep it to a minimum (2x a week) until you can work your way back to normal. I would definitely work on adding fats to your diet to help stabilize hormones and regularity. Essentially, for you, reverse dieting is where I would start. Work on getting your RMR back to where it should be. At the same point, I would start with strong lift to address any neurological efficiencies and then bulk.

^this with bold for emphasis and my additional thoughts added in italic.