PLEASE READ IF NOT GETTING RESULTS- or DIETING HARD Day 760 IN A ROW OF LOGGING IN TO MFP

AlbertBlanco92
AlbertBlanco92 Posts: 3 Member
in Introduce Yourself
First off it sounds obsessive. This I know, but it may help you to know that everything hasn't been tracked to a T, nor have I hit all of my goals in macro counting, but what it has helped me with, is accountability, and consistency. When logging in on a consistent basis, I found that I didn't exclude any food groups AT ALL, and never really had a day where I completely pig out and go haywire ( which I use to do). I should add in a little over two years I have become the most comfortable with my body that I have ever been, as well as have gained around 15-20 lbs of muscle and lost about 6% body fat. These numbers are attainable by anyone, and in short, this is how I did it;
The first 3-6 months of the year I spent in a slight calorie surplus, of maybe +100-200 calories per day, and no "cheat" meals or days, just find a way to include it , from high protein all day, and low carb, so I have more room for carbs at night, to fasting at some points for a few hours, etc. but never over 200 or so calories extra per day. EXERCISE during this time was mainly centered around compound exercises in the gym for about 30 total sets sometime up to 40 depending how I felt, but lots of isolation exercises too; triceps, dumbbell curls, etc for about an hour a day. What I found was that during these times my metabolism seems to really increase and I could up the calories a little bit on days like leg days because I burned so many more calories on those days. What happened during this time of muscle gaining I found that my macros on my fitness pal also could be increased, increasing my overall calories, (always a plus!!!) when The summer months approached I started easy, simply by cutting out 150 calories per day from carbs and some fats, and added some running to my workout plan only about 2-3 days per week. The following weeks (weeks 4-8), I lowered my calories by 300 from maintainace and simply ran an extra 2-3 days per week. Which simply put is waking up Saturday and Sunday and just going for an early morning jog to get the day started for 20-3 min (sometimes on a Wednesday too). Next after I hit a plateu with weight loss, I lowered calories even more, by 400 from my old maintainence (keep in mind my old maintainence is the end of my muscle gain phase). So now I am simply cutting out calories a little stricter, say weeks 8-12. Cardio stayed the same. Up to this point my muscle are really revealing more than they had in the past because I spent 3-6 months in a muscle gaining phase. I continued this until the end of august and was really happy with the results. I am doing this again this year. Once august hits I will return the calories back up ( slowly, on a weekly basis, through the holidays, TIP: don't try to diet INTO, or THROUGH the holidays, lol.) This time it is so crazy I was losing weight , on the same calories I maintained last year. What is crazy about that? The fact that my metabolism should be slowing down now in my mid-late 20's and it is going faster than when I was an athlete until 22.

REASON FOR THIS TIP: some of the community members and clients I run into on MFP or in person, are at a very very very low calorie intake, and doing 6-7 days per week of running. This is way too much! Example : female, calorie needs are 1300 for maintainence, but is at 1000, and doing 1 hour of cardio 4 x per week, and 30 minutes of weights 5x per week, that is essentially 9 workout sessions (so lets call them). Her deficit is too large and metabolism is taking a huge hit! So her metabolism is at an all time low, and she goes out 4 times this month, only 4 times keep in mind, and has dinner, drinks, and a late night snack with friends, Bf, social life, etc. and those nights she had 3500 calories ( not hard to reach at all), then that put her at about 8000 extra calories from those nights in 1 month. 3500 calories in 1 lbs of fat, so she gains 2 lbs of fat in a month. Keep in mind it is not that simple, but with a damaged metabolism, wayyy too much exercise, it is!! Keep this cycle up for 4 months, that is 8 lbs of fat. I'm sure we have all seen the google image comparing 5lbs of fat to 5 lbs of muscle ( if you haven't plz google). And there you have it. Reasons to be patient, log in on a regular (not even daily basis) and practice moderation. Don't cut Foods out. Don't do fad diets. My favorite quote is for this would be; if you can't see yourself eating this way in 3,6,9,12 months from now, it is not sustainable.

I hold a BS, and receiving my registered dietician nutritionist degree this fall, and have done research in the field of nutrition and exercise. Please comment and tell me what you think

Albert B.

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