What now?

ohtheveganity
ohtheveganity Posts: 25 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I've lost 31 pounds in the last 6 months, and am two pounds short of what was my goal weight of 130. 130 was really just a random number for me, so I'm not stressing too much over reaching those two pounds. I've gotten a lot smaller, but I still have a pretty high body fat content. I'm very jiggly... So at this point I pretty much just want to not worry about my weight and focus more on getting some more fat off and building muscle. I'm torn between whether I should keep my calories low for weight loss like they have been (I'm eating 1300 a day) or whether I should up them to what MFP says will maintain my weight (which I think is somewhere like 1500 or 1600.) I know it's easier to build muscle when you're eating more calories (and therefore more protein and such) but how will this affect fat loss? Should I up my calories for weight maintenance or keep them low?
Thanks everyone :)

Replies

  • LaurenAOK
    LaurenAOK Posts: 2,475 Member
    You'll probably get a lot of different answers on this, but what I'd suggest based on personal experience is to eat your maintenance amount of calories every day (I doubt it's less than 1600 - how tall are you?), lift weights, but don't eat your exercise calories back from lifting. Also make sure to get enough protein - .8-1g per pound of your weight is generally considered a good amount.

    Make sure you have a good lifting program! There's tons of threads here on MFP with suggestions for that. I'd also keep cardio to a minimum - maybe some HIIT two or three days a week at the most. I'm trying something a bit different now, but when I had my best results I was lifting 4 days a week and doing HIIT the other 2 days. Fat came of realllll fast.
  • JessiesGirls520
    JessiesGirls520 Posts: 75
    What I've been doing for the past 3 weeks is eating more and exercising hard. My body composition is definitely changing.

    Everyone's body is different though. How do you feel? Are you tired alot? Are you able to complete your workouts successfully? Are you eating clean and only when you are hungry and not bored, sad, stressed, etc? I would keep checking in with yourself and see how your body responds but I would think that you could increase your cals a tad with good food choices.

    If you would like to be friends feel free to add me!

    Good luck! xoxo

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