Nutrition and Cardio

Texas_Don

Hi all I'm 203# 6' 2" and fallow the automated MFP at 1.5# a week loss. Most days I burn between 500-1000 calories walking/power walking. Will I be getting enough protein with me current macro? P 75g C 188g Fat 50g. Thank you for the help

kimny72

Texas_Don wrote: »

Hi all I'm 203# 6' 2" and fallow the automated MFP at 1.5# a week loss. Most days I burn between 500-1000 calories walking/power walking. Will I be getting enough protein with me current macro? P 75g C 188g Fat 50g. Thank you for the help

That's only 1500 cals, which is the absolute minimum for a sedentary male. You should be logging your exercise and eating back those calories as well. I'm guessing you don't have much weight to lose, setting your goal to 1.5 lbs per week may be too aggressive - you don't want to lose too much muscle along with the fat.

I'm sure 75g is technically sufficient, but personally I think more would be optimal. The typical rec here is 0.6 - 0.8g of protein per lb of body weight.

malibu927

75 is awfully low. At a minimum you should be aiming for .8 grams per pound of lean mass you carry.

In fact your calories are likely too low overall. Change your goal to 1 pound a week and eat the amount plus at least a portion of your exercise calories.

fb47

Texas_Don wrote: »

Hi all I'm 203# 6' 2" and fallow the automated MFP at 1.5# a week loss. Most days I burn between 500-1000 calories walking/power walking. Will I be getting enough protein with me current macro? P 75g C 188g Fat 50g. Thank you for the help

That's way too low, I am 5'9 and my maintenance is at 3000 calories....You are taller and heavier than me which wouldn't be normal for you to eat so low. Start with the settings mfp gives you and I sugest you pick a setting where you lose 0,5 lbs a week or at most 1 lbs per week. I wouldn't be surprised if you can lose weight at somewhere around 2600 calories. 1500 calories will make you depleted, your muscles will be eaten away and you will feel like crap all day which will end up increasing your chances of giving up.

Texas_Don

Thank you all for the sound advice! Really appreciate it highly! My goal is to get down to between 185-195. I will soon be picking up the weights again to add back muscle mass.

Texas_Don

So do I have this right, say I eat 1600 calories and I will lose 1# from the calorie deficit. So if I burn other 4k calories from the workouts, I should lose another pound from that? Hense, I should lose 23 a week at that pace?
This is just an example, not set in stone.

fb47

Texas_Don wrote: »

So do I have this right, say I eat 1600 calories and I will lose 1# from the calorie deficit. So if I burn other 4k calories from the workouts, I should lose another pound from that? Hense, I should lose 23 a week at that pace?
This is just an example, not set in stone.

1600 calories is still too low. You will lose weight initially, but you're not doing your body any favors and you will be *kitten* once your body adapts to those calories, because eventually it will.

kimny72

Texas_Don wrote: »

So do I have this right, say I eat 1600 calories and I will lose 1# from the calorie deficit. So if I burn other 4k calories from the workouts, I should lose another pound from that? Hense, I should lose 23 a week at that pace?
This is just an example, not set in stone.

No, you want to lose weight slower and start thinking about muscle now. It is way harder to rebuild muscle than it is to protect it in the first place. Get a calorie goal to lose 1 lb per week, then log your exercise and eat those extra calories so you actually lose 1 lb per week. And start strength training now if you can, so many people reach goal weight, realize they lost a lot of muscle, and wish they had lost a little slower and worked those muscles in the first place.

deannalfisher

if you only want to lose 20ish lbs then .5 loss a week is probably close to appropriate and then eating back a portion of exercise calories

jjpptt2

To your original question - your protein is pretty low. If you have any sort of body comp/appearance goals, you'll probably want to double it to at least 150g per day.

I won't get into the rest of it...

malibu927

Texas_Don wrote: »

So do I have this right, say I eat 1600 calories and I will lose 1# from the calorie deficit. So if I burn other 4k calories from the workouts, I should lose another pound from that? Hense, I should lose 23 a week at that pace?
This is just an example, not set in stone.

No. That's an excellent way to lose muscle.

Eat the 1600 plus exercise calories. Aim for a pound a week at most, with half a pound a week likely being better.

I'm eight inches shorter than you and female, and at that size I was losing on 1700. You should easily eat more.

LivingtheLeanDream

malibu927 wrote: »

Texas_Don wrote: »

So do I have this right, say I eat 1600 calories and I will lose 1# from the calorie deficit. So if I burn other 4k calories from the workouts, I should lose another pound from that? Hense, I should lose 23 a week at that pace?
This is just an example, not set in stone.

No. That's an excellent way to lose muscle.

Eat the 1600 plus exercise calories. Aim for a pound a week at most, with half a pound a week likely being better.

I'm eight inches shorter than you and female, and at that size I was losing on 1700. You should easily eat more.

And I'm even shorter and lose eating 1700 too.

Eat most of those exercise cals back OP.

Tacklewasher

Texas_Don wrote: »

So do I have this right, say I eat 1600 calories and I will lose 1# from the calorie deficit. So if I burn other 4k calories from the workouts, I should lose another pound from that? Hense, I should lose 23 a week at that pace?
This is just an example, not set in stone.

I'm sorry, but is this a serious question? I really hope not.

Burning 4K calories a day without fueling it is going to hurt you very badly. Don't even get into the muscle loss.

First, if you eat 1600 calories that is to lose 1 lb per week. Which sounds like a decent rate of loss for where you are at. If you exercise then eat back the calories you burn from exercising and do not try to lose weight any faster than the 1 lb per week.

jjpptt2

OP - when people say they are eating x calories... keep in mind that there's a lot of estimating, rounding, approximating, etc going on... so your 1600 cals may or may not equal someone else's 1600 cals.

kschildroth

You definitely need to be eating more. I'm 5'10" female and losing on 1900 calories.

Texas_Don

Tacklewasher wrote: »

Texas_Don wrote: »

So do I have this right, say I eat 1600 calories and I will lose 1# from the calorie deficit. So if I burn other 4k calories from the workouts, I should lose another pound from that? Hense, I should lose 23 a week at that pace?
This is just an example, not set in stone.

I'm sorry, but is this a serious question? I really hope not.
***This is just an example, not set in stone
Burning 4K calories a day without fueling it is going to hurt you very badly. Don't even get into the muscle loss.
***4k calories per week

First, if you eat 1600 calories that is to lose 1 lb per week. Which sounds like a decent rate of loss for where you are at. If you exercise then eat back the calories you burn from exercising and do not try to lose weight any faster than the 1 lb per week.

Texas_Don

What is or who is OP? Sorry for the noobish question.

jjpptt2

Texas_Don wrote: »

What is or who is OP? Sorry for the noobish question.

OP = Original Poster.... in this case, that's you.

sgt1372

OP: First, don't mindlessly follow MFP's recommendations for cals and/or macros. You should calculate them yourself.

To do this, you need to determine your base TDEE at maintenance (the cals you need to maintain your weight at the current level based on your "normal" level of activity without any additional exercise).

Then decide how many pounds of weight you want to lose per week and multiply that number by 3500 and divide the result by 7. This will give you the cals/day to subtract from your TDEE to arrive at the cals/day you should eat to lose weight at the desired rate.

For example, if your TDEE is 2500 and you want to lose 1#/wk, 1x3500=3500/7=500. So, your cal goal would be 2500-500 or 2000 cal/day to lose 1#/wk.

This is just an estimate and may require some tweaking to get it right but it is a reasonable starting point. Your cal needs will also change (go down) as you lose weight. So, determining your cal needs is not just "one and done." It is a continual process.

Second, for this to work, you need to log your food and exercise cals ACCURATELY.

I think your estimate of 500-1000 cals/day waklking (power walking or not) is way too high. Is this a guess or are you using a reliable device to measure this? Whatever the case, you will never lose weight if it's wrong.

Third, there are a lot of disagreements on MFP on how much protein and other macros that you need to consume. Nutritionally speaking, the bare min of protein recommended is 0.8g/kg of BW or about.0.4g/#BW.

That's what MFP was recommending for you BUT, for an active man your size, that's way too low.

Other people reconmend, 0 8-1g/# of LBM but, unless you have your BF/LBM measured by DXA or hydro, you really don't know how much LBM you have. So, this suggestion is all but useless because has to be based on a guess.

For physically active men engaged in lifting, sports and/or regular exercise, the better recommendation is 0.8-1g/#BW.

So, based on the extremes, you "should" be fine eating anywhere between 0.4-1g per #BW of protein/day, depending on your level of activity and goals for physical and muscular development.

FYI, when I started my weight loss effort, I was at 196#"w/a TDEE of 2200 and lost 36# in 6 months on 1800 net cals a day. I then started maintenance at 160 and gradually reduced my intake down over the following 16 months down to 1650 net cals a day, where it is now, at 156#.

My macros throughout this effort averaged 33%P/38%C/29%F. Based on 1650 cals, this works out to 550 cals or about 160g of protein per day, which is almost exactly 1g of protein per #BW.

I have no proof but I believe that this diet contributed to my ability to also drop my BF from over 20% at the start down to just 8.3% (as measured by hydro) now.

A lot of people will tell you that you don't "need" to eat THAT MUCH protein but there are certain benefits to eating a high protein diet that are believed to contribute to weightloss and body fat reduction.

Do the research, experiment w/your diet and decide what works best for you.

Good luck!