Just started on Friday!

maegmez

And I'm addicted already! I can't wait to get my workout in today!

I'm still a bit confused about calories and macros, I still need to cut a bit to reach goal (I'm not focused on goal weight but I'm apple and hold all my weight in my tummy so when that is gone, I'm at goal!) Anyway, is there a calculator that is recommended for calories?

Also, if I do stronglifts 3 days a week and run 2 days a week 10k, what would I set my activity level to? I may knock it down to power walking 3 days a week because when I run, my heart rate is always in zone 4-5. I was running and burning about 5000 calories a week and was not losing anything. Since I've just been walking, the weight is dropping off. I probably never ate enough cals back but after running, wasn't very hungry.

Thanks so much for the assistance, looking forward to this new journey!

bumblebums

You can log lifting calories as "cardio--strength training" or whatnot. There's an entry in the exercise database, and I think it gives you something like 150 kcal for an hour of lifting. Which isn't very much, but it's actually not too far off from what you expend.

The complication enters into it when you consider your caloric needs for recovery. I wrote a long screed about this in response to someone else's post in this group, but basically, you burn less while you lift than you would do if you did an equivalent bout of steady-state cardio, but you burn more during recovery between lifts than you do between steady-state cardio workouts.

Because of this, I don't actually log exercise calories, and just try to get at my expenditure level by trial and error. I eat about the same amount every day, without any attempt to vary my intake by activity level--because I am eating for recovery, not just to fuel the lifting. I am at maintenance so all I have to monitor is my weight not going up or down more than a few pounds. You are still aiming to lose weight, so you can expect a stall now that you've started lifting. Glycogen, water retention and all that. Keep an eye not only on the scale but on your measurements, since they might change even as the scale stalls. If you start getting tired and cranky, up your intake by about 100 kcal/day. If not, stay at your current level.

maegmez

Thank you so much for your wonderful post! very helpful, all this calorie stuff is so confusing.