Am I eating enough/too much?

SamuelH92

Hey guys I’m pretty new to this and need a bit of help.

I’m trying to drop my body fat percentage a fair bit over the next few months (hopefully to between 12-15%) and I think I’m on the right track but I’m wondering if I’m doing it the most efficient way (this is the first time I’ve taken my health seriously).

I’m a male, 28 years old, 6’3, 187lbs, and what you would call “skinny fat”. My arms and legs are pretty slim and most of my fat is stored in my torso. I used an online body fat calculator and came in at around 22-23% based on my measurements.

For the last month I’ve been eating roughly 1,800 - 2,000 calories a day on a predominately plant-based diet, 50% coming from carbs (oats, brown rice and vegetables), 30% from protein (lentils, broccoli, chickpeas, tofu, protein powder and occasionally shrimp) and 20% from fat (coconut oil, avocado, nut butter etc). All whilst intermittent fasting, eating between 11am and 7pm.

For cardio; I’ve been running every second morning about an hour and a half before breakfast (about 3 miles), as well as ensuring I walk a minimum 12,000 steps a day.
For strength training; I’ve been doing a resistance-band workout 4 times a week that lasts about an hour per workout, as well as a 15-minute ab blaster workout twice a week.

I don’t ever feel hungry and I often find myself eating pretty big portions at dinner to reach my 1800 calories but I’m worried that I’m either not eating enough based on my exercising (I don’t want to lose what little muscle I have), or if I’m overdoing it on the calories and have got it all wrong somehow. Or, if I’m actually on the right track.

Any help and insight would be greatly appreciated. Cheers!

wilson10102018

You are obsessing over something that is not a problem. Seek counseling not food plans.

deannalfisher

IMHO if you want to hit your goals - you need to up your strength training - i.e. lift heavy *kitten* - look to a plan like stronglifts or wendler to get you started

MidlifeCrisisFitness

Yep ^^^^ start some more serious strength training. To go from skinny fat to lean will require lean muscle mass.

Two options for two results.
1. Lift heavy, increase protein and add muscle mass and overall size.
2. Add a ton of bodyweight calisthenics and recomposition your fat to muscle for roughly same size but muscle definition. Eat to fuel muscle development.

BlueBowles

wilson10102018 wrote: »

You are obsessing over something that is not a problem. Seek counseling not food plans.

This is why I don't look at these forums often. Thanks for the reminder.

deannalfisher

BlueBowles wrote: »

wilson10102018 wrote: »

You are obsessing over something that is not a problem. Seek counseling not food plans.

This is why I don't look at these forums often. Thanks for the reminder.

ignore him best thing to do

SamuelH92

Yeah I plan on lifting heavier as soon as my gym reopens but at the moment I’m restricted to resistance bands and calisthenics right now (I am trying to use as much weight where possible).
I’m getting about 130g of protein with the amount of calories I’m eating. I’m just wondering if I should be eating more to make sure I’m not burning muscle with my running, or if 1800 is too much and I could be trimming down fat quicker if I cut it back?

harper16

SamuelH92 wrote: »

Yeah I plan on lifting heavier as soon as my gym reopens but at the moment I’m restricted to resistance bands and calisthenics right now (I am trying to use as much weight where possible).
I’m getting about 130g of protein with the amount of calories I’m eating. I’m just wondering if I should be eating more to make sure I’m not burning muscle with my running, or if 1800 is too much and I could be trimming down fat quicker if I cut it back?

Are you logging your exercise separately and eating back those calories?

Adding: can you please make your food diary public?

sijomial

1800 seems very low for someone your gender, age, size, with a high activity level and also exercising.
Rapid weight loss would be contrary to your goals.

Running doesn't burn muscle for fuel (that's a myth) - but an excessive deficit can mean you can lose more muscle than you can afford if you truly are "skinny fat".

If you picked 2lbs/week rate of loss that's probably a mistake.
If you aren't eating back your exercise calories that's another mistake.
130g of protein is probably sub optimal (especially if losing weight fast). 0.8 to 1g of protein per pound would probably be better.

SamuelH92

@harper16 I’m not logging the exercise separately. I’m just eating about 1900ish calories and the app tracks my steps but that’s about it.
I’ve made the diary public now.

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gallicinvasion

There’s a very simple way to tell. You say you’ve been doing this for the last month. Average daily calories of 1900, and pretty steady activity. How much weight have you lost in that time?

If you get your weight loss pound total for those four weeks, you can calculate what your daily calorie deficit has been. Then you have a solid number from which to apply a deficit or a surplus as your goal requires.

Let’s do a practice problem. Say for example you’re looking at 4 weeks of time. 28 days. Take your weight loss over that time (let’s say 5 lbs total). 5-lbs-lost times 3500-deficit-calories-per-pound-lost (this number, 3500, is a constant) is 17500 deficit calories over that period of time. Divided up over 28 days, that’s a daily deficit of 625 calories.

If you’ve been eating (let’s say) an average of 1900 calories a day, and your average daily deficit is (let’s say, as per the practice problem above) 625 calories, your maintenance at this level of activity would be approximately 2525 calories per day (1900 plus 625).

Ok, now for real life. Plug in your OWN numbers into the practice problem above so you can get an estimate of your own maintenance at your current level of activity. Once you have your maintenance calories, you can choose an appropriate calorie target to shoot for based on your goals. Want to do a small surplus while you strength-train? Apply a small amount of extra calories to your maintenance to get your surplus target. Want to lose a half pound a week while strength training? Take 250 calories off your maintenance calorie level to get that deficit calorie target.

It’s really empowering to calculate your own maintenance calorie estimate. You can do a lot with it.

mmapags

BlueBowles wrote: »

wilson10102018 wrote: »

You are obsessing over something that is not a problem. Seek counseling not food plans.

This is why I don't look at these forums often. Thanks for the reminder.

So multiple people give good answers and one person gives an off the wall one and that means the forums are poor?

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wilson10102018

mmapags wrote: »

BlueBowles wrote: »

wilson10102018 wrote: »

You are obsessing over something that is not a problem. Seek counseling not food plans.

This is why I don't look at these forums often. Thanks for the reminder.

So multiple people give good answers and one person gives an off the wall one and that means the forums are poor?

Well, if you read through the replies with an open mind, you will see that the OP does not get an actual answer because there is no answer - hence my dismissive reply. Apologies to the OP if you were actually seeking an answer. If you are working out to gain body mass, you don't need a food plan at 6'3" and 187.

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