Q re: weights & weight/fat loss

Sued0nim

blytheny wrote: »

Thanks so much for all the replies... I guess I'm a bit confused about the consistent comments to eat less, as every other forum I've been on says that if you eat at too much of a deficit, you'll go into starvation mode and lose nothing. (within reason, obviously if you starve yourself, eventually you'll lose, but... that's not what I'm trying to achieve. )
I eat what MFP says to eat to be at a 2lb/week loss... 1380 on days I don't exercise, and I eat back only about half of what I burn at the gym (maybe extra 200 cal on those days) My TDEE is about 2400 on non exercise days, add in exercise on those days - so I'm definitely eating at a deficit for the most part, esp if I add up the entire week and average it out. Do I splurge on occasion and have pasta or a beer? Yup... but not enough that it should really matter.
So maybe I just need to give it time... it's only been about 6 weeks, and 4 of them with more weights, so I'll just try to be patient. Cardio just always gave me better/faster results on the scale, but that's not what I'm looking for this time, so I'll wait it out.

blytheny wrote: »

Sam_I_Am77 wrote: »

Yeah, I think a few people hit on the head that it's more about your nutrition plan than anything. I am curious as to your height, weight, and age to see what your calorie requirement should be. A 2,400 TDEE isn't unrealistic but I'm curious if you are undereating a bit much at 1,380.

I am 5'7", currently 178lbs & 48 yrs old. The weight I was comfortable at before I got injured was about 148, but I wasn't all that fit... mostly running on occasion, no weights. So I'm not expecting to get to that weight again, curious as to what weight I will be "comfortable" at now!

I would very much doubt that your TDEE is 2400 on non-exercise days - unless you are supremely active

Are you weighing and logging your food accurately - a goal of 1380 seems extremely low at your stats - you should set MFP to lose 0.5-1lb a week

With a new weights routine, water weight will impact and may hide any scale weight loss

I think you will be pleased with your new approach and the results - although if you're doing stronglifts properly I would be extremely surprised if you would have the energy for before and after cardio on top

We have similar stats - I'm 48, 5'8 and at goal at 160lbs .. lifting heavy and progressively has made a huge difference to how tight and taut I am - I lost most of my weight eating 1500-1800 calories, working out 3 times a week and walking enough to put my activity level at moderately active. My TDEE now, including that kind of workout regime is 2200-2400

Sam_I_Am77

blytheny wrote: »

Sam_I_Am77 wrote: »

Yeah, I think a few people hit on the head that it's more about your nutrition plan than anything. I am curious as to your height, weight, and age to see what your calorie requirement should be. A 2,400 TDEE isn't unrealistic but I'm curious if you are undereating a bit much at 1,380.

I am 5'7", currently 178lbs & 48 yrs old. The weight I was comfortable at before I got injured was about 148, but I wasn't all that fit... mostly running on occasion, no weights. So I'm not expecting to get to that weight again, curious as to what weight I will be "comfortable" at now!

Per the Mifflin St. Jeor calculation, your TDEE without any exercise is approximately 1,765 calories. If you were going to use a 10% calorie deficit for weight loss that would be approximately 1,590 calories. 1,380 is almost a 25% cut, that's pretty rough; you may want to bump your calories back up a little.

If you exercise 4 days per week it's approx 2,090 calories, so a 10% reduction would be 1,880 calories.