so confused

zfitgal

Hi, I'm so confused...im about to start maintenance and I am hearing so many different things right now. By increasing my calories I will be now maintaining my weight, but won't I gain? If I needed to eat 1550 (that's my calorie deficit) to get to where I am won't I need to continue it stay here...so confused...also, I'm currently doing 3 hrs nd 45 mins of cardio nd 4 hrs of heavy weight training a week, I'd like to take out 1 hr of cardio...how would i stay this lean by adding more calories and eliminating 1 he of cardio

heybales

You eat less than you burn to lose weight.

You eat what you burn to maintain weight.

You eat more than you burn to gain weight.

If you ate 1550 and lost weight to where you are now - then you've been obviously eating less than you burn.

Like if you had for last several weeks been losing say 1/2 lb weekly - that means you had a 250 calorie deficit to what you burned daily (if you only lost fat weight).

Which means in that example you could eat 1800 and maintain.

On the same activity level.

Life lesson there though.

You do more, you eat more.
You do less, you eat less.

So if you remove 1 hr of cardio a week - guess what happens on that day, or on average?


As to moving up in calories, suggest you slowly increase calories.

You will likely gain some of the water weight back that you lost in the first week starting a diet.
Don't worry - that's LBM and will increase metabolism.

Besides - you should have a goal weight range, not a single number - or you'll drive yourself batty.
Watch the scale weekly with a monthly change being significant, along with waist measurement to see if fat is going back on or still losing.

zfitgal

my number on the scale is pretty much the same for the past few months, my body fat % is down along with my inches...i can't deal with the scale anymore it makes me crazy

Luna3386

Slowly increase calories and you should be able to maintain weight. Do it as slow as you want. Remember you can't gain fat fast so anything you gain isn't fat.

zfitgal

is it bad to take away an hour of cardio?

zfitgal

I just feel it's to much on my body....

heybales

Then you might think current eating level is your maintenance - and sadly that could be the case.

But likely your body adapted and slowed down your daily activity movements. Workouts probably not as great as they could be either.

So to both, the above advice to increase slowly, like 100 extra daily for a week or two at a time - gives body a chance to speed back up, workouts to improve, body to transform.

Even if you do gain 1-2 lbs of water weight back.

You'll probably love how you progress in lifting.

heybales

I'd wager your cardio is negatively impacting your lifting already - if that is more of a focus anyway.

And with 4 x weekly - sounds like it is. Sounds like enough done for heart health already.

Unless you are really short, I'd bet your food logging isn't great, and likely you are eating more already.

Just means you should still move up slowly.
Just won't be as high with less cardio.

But with better lifting workouts causing more damage causing higher metabolism to repair - may just not matter anyway.

zfitgal

I'm not that short, I'm 5"5, my logging is perfect, I even log my gum! So I'm not eating more already, but thanks for yr kindness...doesnt 3 hrs nd 45 mins of cardio seem like alot?

heybales

Not alot if you have cardio based goals, like running a fast race time.

If your focus is lifting weights - then yes.

Seems like very low calories then for all that working out.

Are you like a total bump on a log all other times besides the workouts, weekend included?

You could be super sedentary (and as I commented, that could easily be because of undereating by too much and body is forcing adaptation) and your workouts barely push the calories higher than a more active lifestyle would cause.

But by slowly increasing calories, you may just become more active unless you literally can't.

Or this has happened through your diet, and you'll just have to live with the consequences, which can make maintenance so much harder having to eat so little.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2i_cmltmQ6A

zfitgal

I'm very into weight lifting, cardio is NOT something I want to do at all lol, but I did need it to get down to where I am...this past week I feel a drop in my strength doing HIT and weight lifting... @heybales

meghannicoleee13

I think that sounds like a lot of cardio. I'm no expert but I haven't heard of anyone doing that much cardio and lifting weights unless they are training or just trying to lose weight very fast. I think you would be fine to take away an hour or two of cardio. Lifting weights alone can find your body. Adding cardio helps too but that seems like too much.

zfitgal

@meghannicoleee13
I agree, but did this extra cardio to lose body fat while still lifting...i feel it's to much on my body...

zfitgal

but how come I needed all this cardio to get to this point

zfitgal

your right @Diem78 , but I didn't want to keep lowering calories...i am at 16% body fat, i love lifting, the more cardio I do the more I can eat... and if I eliminate a little cardio then I'll be maintenaning on a lower calories...so I think I'll be fine taking out an hour....

zfitgal

I'm eating at 1550 right now, if I could eat 1800 a day I'll be super happy!

heybales

zfitgal wrote: »

but how come I needed all this cardio to get to this point

As mentioned and I think you realize - you WANTED that level of cardio so you could eat at the level you were.

You wanted to eat more - so you burned more.

Curious how much deficit you think you had/have in place right now - since not losing?

Some people keep a steep deficit until the end, crash landing their body into maintenance for what they are already eating.

I would suggest if you want the extra calorie burn to eat more - add on 20 min of intense cardio after the lifting.
Try to use different muscles that you didn't workout yesterday that are trying to recover, and not the muscles you'll use tomorrow that need to be fresh to actually get a good workout then.
Then walk on inbetween days just to increase a little bit.

Rusty740

Your at that point now where you can stop that cardio. The reason most people do cardio is because it increases the calories burned each day so that while you are still eating the same amount, your body burns through it faster.

Decreasing your cardio may also decrease your appetite. Many people find that doing cardio makes them really hungry/thirsty and they find they eat many more calories than they would otherwise. I say do the cardio if you want to not because you have to. It's probably the cause of your hunger.

zfitgal

heybales wrote: »

zfitgal wrote: »

but how come I needed all this cardio to get to this point

As mentioned and I think you realize - you WANTED that level of cardio so you could eat at the level you were.

You wanted to eat more - so you burned more.

Curious how much deficit you think you had/have in place right now - since not losing?

Some people keep a steep deficit until the end, crash landing their body into maintenance for what they are already eating.

I would suggest if you want the extra calorie burn to eat more - add on 20 min of intense cardio after the lifting.
Try to use different muscles that you didn't workout yesterday that are trying to recover, and not the muscles you'll use tomorrow that need to be fresh to actually get a good workout then.
Then walk on inbetween days just to increase a little bit.

I'm not even sure of my deficit right now...my scale isn't moving much but my nd % and inches are consistent in moving down...the scale has been making me a bit crazy...does 1550 seem a low caloric defecit?

zfitgal

body fat %

zfitgal

I also thought the more muscle I have the more I can eat and I have a decent amount of muscle....