Need Advice Please

markjoby

Good Morning
I am a 64 year old man trying to lose weight. I have been getting in great shape weight training and cardio 5 days a week. While I have been told i look great the scale has not budged. I am on a 1600 calorie a day diet, my Apple Watch says I burn around 400 calories a day working out. Any advice would be appreciated, looking to lose last 15 pounds.

tomcustombuilder

What is your height and weight? Is the 1,600 your daily consumption or are you adding exercise calories on top of that?

markjoby

I’m 5:8. 210..looking to get down to 195. I have not been adding exercise calories into my 1600 a day.

tomcustombuilder

markjoby wrote: »

I’m 5:8. 210..looking to get down to 195. I have not been adding exercise calories into my 1600 a day.

If the scale hasn't moved after 4 weeks you'll need to lower calories since it sounds like you're exercising enough. I'm guessing that if the scale HASN'T moved after 4 weeks you're undercounting your weekly calories.

markjoby

Thank you, I will try reducing calories, appreciate your help. Mark

h82w8lt

I think your calories are way too low, especially with the workouts. Your body is probably conserving fat for fuel and lowering your metabolism for energy. I am a 63 yr old 5’2” female powerlifter and my calories are 1551 a day and have been losing 2lbs per week. I would check your macros goal on macros inc. Building muscle and moderate cardio will increase your BMR so you can eat more and get leaner w/o sacrificing muscle.

vivmom2014

Are you weighing your food? How do you calculate your daily/weekly intake?

Regardless, those last 15 pounds take a loooong time. At least, if you want them to stay gone!

sollyn23l2

h82w8lt wrote: »

I think your calories are way too low, especially with the workouts. Your body is probably conserving fat for fuel and lowering your metabolism for energy. I am a 63 yr old 5’2” female powerlifter and my calories are 1551 a day and have been losing 2lbs per week. I would check your macros goal on macros inc. Building muscle and moderate cardio will increase your BMR so you can eat more and get leaner w/o sacrificing muscle.

Yes, your body will compensate by lowering your overall activity level. However, eating more is generally not the answer. Regardless, your body will try to compensate to stay at whatever weight you are currently at. Yes, if you eat a little more, your body will increase activity and use a little more energy. But this will not generally result in any weight loss. At best, they would stay at the same weight. At worse, they would eat too much and continue gaining weight. You have the base concept right, but you may have misunderstood how it ultimately affects weight gain/loss.

tomcustombuilder

markjoby wrote: »

Thank you, I will try reducing calories, appreciate your help. Mark

1,600 is probably about right so just try to tighten up your counting and tracking to hit an actual 1,600. You’ll want to hit between 11,000 and 12,000 calories per week.

markjoby

I appreciate everyone’s comments here, last question. Any recommendations on my breakdown for protein, carbs etc?
Thanks
Mark

tomcustombuilder

markjoby wrote: »

I appreciate everyone’s comments here, last question. Any recommendations on my breakdown for protein, carbs etc?
Thanks
Mark

protein will be about .8 to 1 gram per pound of body weight. Fat is around .4 grams per pound plus or minus. The remainder of calories is strictly personal preference

JoeMattMusic

I’m a 63 year old man and I’m 6’ 3”. In October I weighed 265, now I’m down to 229 and I’m working toward 200 or so. That’s a loss of only 4.5 pounds a month. I’m eating about 1700 calories a day, with walking and elliptical 30-40 minutes a day, weight training 2-3 times a week. At this age, it’s very slow going. I’ve had lengthy plateaus and occasionally regain 2 or 3 pounds. It’s discouraging at times, but I’m clearly getting results. I’ve tried cutting calories — it might work to get past a plateau, but it’s difficult to get adequate nutrition — and enough protein, which is really important as you age and especially if you’re doing weights and want to build muscle. If you’re at a calorie deficit and exercising, it will happen. Be patient — and just stick with it.

CaptainJoy

Weighing food is critical in losing those last few pounds. Weigh everything. You’d be surprised how even condiments add up. This is my breakfast

springlering62

sollyn23l2 wrote: »

h82w8lt wrote: »

I think your calories are way too low, especially with the workouts. Your body is probably conserving fat for fuel and lowering your metabolism for energy. I am a 63 yr old 5’2” female powerlifter and my calories are 1551 a day and have been losing 2lbs per week. I would check your macros goal on macros inc. Building muscle and moderate cardio will increase your BMR so you can eat more and get leaner w/o sacrificing muscle.

Yes, your body will compensate by lowering your overall activity level. However, eating more is generally not the answer. Regardless, your body will try to compensate to stay at whatever weight you are currently at. Yes, if you eat a little more, your body will increase activity and use a little more energy. But this will not generally result in any weight loss. At best, they would stay at the same weight. At worse, they would eat too much and continue gaining weight. You have the base concept right, but you may have misunderstood how it ultimately affects weight gain/loss.

@h82w8lt welcome to the MFP boards! It’s such a pleasure to see another lady my age who lifts!

I do think you have a valid point. I’ve experienced the same thing repeatedly, even in maintenance. If I was stuck during loss, or am hovering higher than I prefer in maintenance, an increase in calories does make my weight drop.

I would also question whether 1600 is too low for OP, or if he’s wildly off weighing and logging on the flip side. Is he counting alcohol? He doesn’t indicate how long he’s been stuck. “Plateaus” loom largest in our own heads and seem to take forever to climb off of. It may just be a temporary thing and require patience. Those last few pounds are, of course, the hardest.

It might be worthwhile to invest in a visit or two to a dietician.

Unless you’ve got a lot left to lose yourself, @h82w8lt , two pounds a week seems pretty intense. Make sure you’re fueling your own fabulous self!

Hope to see you around these boards a lot more.

neanderthin

It's a common occurrence to be out 200-500 calories a day counting calories.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12396160/

Results: The energy expenditure of the dietitians and controls were not different (2,154+/-105 [mean+/- standard error of the mean] kcal/day for dietitians and 2,315 +/- 90 kcal/ day for controls). The dietitians underreported their energy intake obtained from the food records by an average of 223 +/- 116 kcal/day, which was not different from their energy expenditure. Participants in the control group, as hypothesized, significantly underreported their energy intake (429 +/- 142 kcal/day

When people say they can't lose weight on x calories it's more than likely the counting is being underreported. Something to keep in mind. Cheers

tomcustombuilder

h82w8lt wrote: »

I think your calories are way too low, especially with the workouts. Your body is probably conserving fat for fuel and lowering your metabolism for energy. I am a 63 yr old 5’2” female powerlifter and my calories are 1551 a day and have been losing 2lbs per week. I would check your macros goal on macros inc. Building muscle and moderate cardio will increase your BMR so you can eat more and get leaner w/o sacrificing muscle.

anecdotal calories are useless for comparisons. Differences in weekly counting and tracking accuracies and widely varying NEAT burn are the main reasons. A pound of muscle only burns around 4 calories a DAY more than a pound of fat so adding muscle is way overrated as far as a BMR boost. Cardio doesn’t improve BMR.