46 Yr. Old Guy / 1500 Calories / 15 Lbs fat loss 6 Weeks?

livelarge303

Ok... I think I'm on track but wanted to get some opinions. I did 45 days of P90X and got some amazing muscle gains on my upper body. I lost about 3.5" around the belly, but I need to lose another 6" in the next 45 days. Why? I'm in a competition with an old competitor/friend, and I'm not going to lose. It is a "1" measurement competition, measured by % loss around the belly button. He is winning as of now, but I bet on muscle gains to help me burn calories hard on the final stretch.

If I eat 1,500 calories, 600 Calories / Day exercises, and maintain 100-150g protein, less than 50g of fat and carbs, will this get to my goal and not sacrifice too much muscle? I can't afford to make a mistake.

JohnnyX

kommodevaran

I would have investigated the odds before entering the competition, but anyway, 1% of your weight is the most you can expect to lose per week, if you're obese, and on point with calorie intake every day. 1500 calories is the lowest MFP will give a guy, and it's only suitable for the lean, short, sedentary and elderly. And your macro split makes me sad.

Jadub729

Are you fairly active? I think 1500 calories is pretty low for a guy. i eat 1500-1700 a day and I'm a 5'2 female

kimny72

You don't say your current weight, but unless you are over 300 lbs, if you succeed in losing 15 lbs in 6 weeks you will for sure be losing muscle. Especially considering you probably already lost whatever water weight you had to lose in the first 6 weeks.

There is nothing realistic about the numbers you are throwing around. And there is no way to know where any weight you continue to lose will come from, it could come from everywhere except your stomach for the next 6 weeks.

Whether or not you "win" will come down to luck, as the body doesn't lose weight in any specific pattern, and weight loss/muscle gain doesn't happen in a straight line directly proportional to your effort. Whether or not you will sacrifice too much muscle depends mostly on your current weight, and eating only 1500 calories for 3 months while exercising doesn't help. Heck, I was 5'4 140 lb barely lightly active woman and I struggled to limit myself to 1500 cals when I was losing.

billkansas

Can't you just suck your gut in during the final measurement to gain another inch or two? .... seems impossible to fairly measure. I admire your grit though.

livelarge303

Hmm... I'm currently 170lbs., 5'8". I've been on 1500-1650 cal/day for about 3 days and don't feel bad, but some less energy in the workouts. I'm spreading it out across 5 meals. Most of my activity is targeted at my p90X/P90X+ workout and lightly active. 0 Calorie vitamin waters getting me through the hunger times.

You make a good point, it seems like my stomach is not losing as expected, but I've definitely lost fat in in other areas. Maybe I just have to sacrifice the gains to get to my target and I can do a bulk up the month in July.

Tough decisions.

TavistockToad

livelarge303 wrote: »

Hmm... I'm currently 170lbs., 5'8". I've been on 1500-1650 cal/day for about 3 days and don't feel bad, but some less energy in the workouts. I'm spreading it out across 5 meals. Most of my activity is targeted at my p90X/P90X+ workout and lightly active. 0 Calorie vitamin waters getting me through the hunger times.

You make a good point, it seems like my stomach is not losing as expected, but I've definitely lost fat in in other areas. Maybe I just have to sacrifice the gains to get to my target and I can do a bulk up the month in July.

Tough decisions.

How much muscle do you think you can gain in one month?

livelarge303

Not as much as I would like, but I'm guessing about 4-5lbs/mo. I say this because I lost 3.5" in my belly and did not lose a single lb in 45 days. Actually, I went up 2-3 lbs. Also, my comparison picture show the gains on the upper body.

livelarge303

Kommodevaran... I'll research what a macro split is, thanks for the heads up! Johnny

kimny72

It is difficult to gain appreciable muscle. Stressing your body to lose weight super fast and burn through some of your muscle mass is short sighted. And again, there would still be no guarantee that you would lose waist circumference in the process. What you are doing and planning to do is essentially a recipe for how to end up more overweight six months from now than you were when you started.

I would really suggest you get more educated on how weight loss and muscle building work before making any future bets.

Guys who work with professional trainers and dietitians and eat in a surplus are lucky if they gain 1 lb of muscle per week. A guy eating at a deficit doing a BB workout isn't gaining a lb of muscle per week. Body composition changes are long term endeavors, measuring them in the short term is inaccurate due to normal body fluctuations that have nothing to do with body comp. I love BB workouts, but I hate that they sell them by convincing people that normal short term, temporary fluctuations are actually long term gains and losses. Lose 7 lbs in your first week! Lose 10" in a month! It's all woo-woo leveraging off of all the weird water weight fluctuations and stress related hormone surges your body goes through when it is newly stressed and underfed.

You seem set on what you are doing, so best of luck. I hope it works out for you.

livelarge303

Ok.. ran an IIFYM calculator on the aggressive setting. It is saying 2076 Calories, 147 protein, 219 Carbs, and 68 Fats. I'm guessing I need to up my calories and carbs from 50. Wonder why the carbs are so high on the macro tracking diet.

TavistockToad

livelarge303 wrote: »

Ok.. ran an IIFYM calculator on the aggressive setting. It is saying 2076 Calories, 147 protein, 219 Carbs, and 68 Fats. I'm guessing I need to up my calories and carbs from 50. Wonder why the carbs are so high on the macro tracking diet.

50% isn't 'so high'?

Jadub729

livelarge303 wrote: »

Ok.. ran an IIFYM calculator on the aggressive setting. It is saying 2076 Calories, 147 protein, 219 Carbs, and 68 Fats. I'm guessing I need to up my calories and carbs from 50. Wonder why the carbs are so high on the macro tracking diet.

2000 calories sounds more reasonable at least.

JJordon

livelarge303 wrote: »

Ok... I think I'm on track but wanted to get some opinions. I did 45 days of P90X and got some amazing muscle gains on my upper body. I lost about 3.5" around the belly, but I need to lose another 6" in the next 45 days. Why? I'm in a competition with an old competitor/friend, and I'm not going to lose. It is a "1" measurement competition, measured by % loss around the belly button. He is winning as of now, but I bet on muscle gains to help me burn calories hard on the final stretch.

If I eat 1,500 calories, 600 Calories / Day exercises, and maintain 100-150g protein, less than 50g of fat and carbs, will this get to my goal and not sacrifice too much muscle? I can't afford to make a mistake.

JohnnyX

If you can brave the storm? Why not for the next 44 days run a P90X Doubles routine?

Or, if you can wait, get your hands on P90X2 and really pump up the results?

elisa123gal

sounds to me you're under eating and over excercising.. it slows weight loss for me. i'd eat more..exercise less..and you'll lose faster... and that belly will go down.

AnvilHead

elisa123gal wrote: »

sounds to me you're under eating and over excercising.. it slows weight loss for me. i'd eat more..exercise less..and you'll lose faster... and that belly will go down.

Except that's not how weight loss works.

Sunna_W

• Don't go under 100 carbs or you will screw with your thyroid.
• Make sure that you eat healthy fats (like grass fed butter) and ditch the fruit, sugar, diet drinks.
• Carbs should include things like sweet potatoes, butternut squash, pumpkin, beans...
• No nuts or grains AT ALL... that will definitely cause you to lose water weight.
• Research Resistant starch -- a type of starch that isn't fully broken down and absorbed, but rather turned into short-chain fatty acids by intestinal bacteria -- that helps your metabolism.
• Get on a good probiotic -- see www.gutsense.org If you are pooping multiple times a day that can haelp you be 5-10 lbs lighter due to water content and solid waste.

Good luck.

TavistockToad

Sunna_W wrote: »

• Don't go under 100 carbs or you will screw with your thyroid.
• Make sure that you eat healthy fats (like grass fed butter) and ditch the fruit, sugar, diet drinks.
• Carbs should include things like sweet potatoes, butternut squash, pumpkin, beans...
• No nuts or grains AT ALL... that will definitely cause you to lose water weight.
• Research Resistant starch -- a type of starch that isn't fully broken down and absorbed, but rather turned into short-chain fatty acids by intestinal bacteria -- that helps your metabolism.
• Get on a good probiotic -- see www.gutsense.org If you are pooping multiple times a day that can haelp you be 5-10 lbs lighter due to water content and solid waste.

Good luck.

You're back!

h1udd

cyberberry wrote: »

@TT: is that a good thing or a bad thing?

depends on how much you like using the woo button I guess

Stockholm_Andy

livelarge303 wrote: »

Not as much as I would like, but I'm guessing about 4-5lbs/mo. I say this because I lost 3.5" in my belly and did not lose a single lb in 45 days. Actually, I went up 2-3 lbs. Also, my comparison picture show the gains on the upper body.

I admire your optimism LL but assuming you are natty (not on steroids) , you can expect to gain a maximum of 2-3 pounds of muscle per month as a true beginner, 1-2 pounds of muscle per month as an intermediate, and 0-.5 of a pound per month as you get more advanced. And that would be if you are eating more than you use.

Water weight and fat will add a few more pounds, but it takes a lot of time to build lean muscle, even if you're doing everything right.