What should be my Plan after weight loss?

WernerZiegler1

Hi, i'm doing this for 3 weeks now when I started with my diet and training my weight was 91.25 Kg now it's 88.20 Kg
My goal is to drop to at least 80 Kg and lose my belly fat, but when that's done what's next?
My end goal obviously is to build muscles, a good amount of it, but how do i do that?

I heard from people that i should eat more like 300-500 kcal more but how do i calculate what my kcal maintenance is?

How do you guys know you don't eat too much nor to less?

Btw when i started the kcal i eat still the case is 2200 should i go down when i hit the 85 Kg mark or should i go with 2200 kcal since i also do cardio?

Regards

Retroguy2000

You should know what your TDEE is by then.

You're tracking your calories and your weight? That tells you your TDEE.

WernerZiegler1

I do track my calories but that doesn't tell my what my maintenance is i just see i lose weight that's all.

AnnPT77

Every pound you lose per week suggests you're eating 500 calories under maintenance daily, on average. If it's fractional pounds, use arithmetic.

Add the calories from those lost pounds to the calories you've eaten on average daily, that's your best estimate of maintenance calories.

Use the last 4-ish weeks of data to do averages. Your lighter body burns slightly fewer calories, but it'll be pretty close.

WernerZiegler1

Ok let me see if if i understand that right
So i do weight myself like on a monday morning do eat afterwards the whole week 2200 kcal and do weight down myself again next monday same time and see how much i lost if it's like 0.5 Kg that means 3500 kcal deficit and that 3500 kcal i split through 7 which makes 500 and then i do add that to the 2200 kcal which makes total 2700 kcal that's my maintenance then?

But i read that in the first weeks i lose a lot of water so does that not foul the calculation?

yirara

Yes, possibly. Or you might not have. That's why looking at this for a longer period of time might be a good idea. As weight fluctuates a lot from day to day (water weight, poop in intestines, etc) you could also step on the scale every day to get more date. You don't have to of course, but it makes those fluctuations more visible, like you might reach a new low on Thursday and thereafter your weight kind of stays the same or even goes up come Monday, your normal scale day.

Lietchi

Just a small math/metric correction: 1kg does not equal precisely 2 lbs - 7700 calories per kg is the equivalent of 3500 calories per lb.

WernerZiegler1

Lietchi wrote: »

Just a small math/metric correction: 1kg does not equal precisely 2 lbs - 7700 calories per kg is the equivalent of 3500 calories per lb.

What do you mean?
1 Kg equals 7000 kcal.

Lietchi

WernerZiegler1 wrote: »

Lietchi wrote: »

Just a small math/metric correction: 1kg does not equal precisely 2 lbs - 7700 calories per kg is the equivalent of 3500 calories per lb.

What do you mean?
1 Kg equals 7000 kcal.

No, 1lb equals 3500 calories. So 1kg equals 7700 kcal.

Sett2023

What Lietchi means is that 1 kg is "about" 2 lbs, not "exactly" 2. (It's a little more: 2,204 lbs)

AnnPT77

WernerZiegler1 wrote: »

Ok let me see if if i understand that right
So i do weight myself like on a monday morning do eat afterwards the whole week 2200 kcal and do weight down myself again next monday same time and see how much i lost if it's like 0.5 Kg that means 3500 kcal deficit and that 3500 kcal i split through 7 which makes 500 and then i do add that to the 2200 kcal which makes total 2700 kcal that's my maintenance then?

But i read that in the first weeks i lose a lot of water so does that not foul the calculation?

You have almost the right concept, but one week of data isn't enough. If you've been losing for 3 weeks, you might be able to use the more recent 2 weeks to get a rough estimate, assuming you're male.

You can (should!) keep revising your estimate as you get more weeks of data. More weeks gives you a better dataset for averaging. Also, calorie needs aren't static - they can change a bit over time (for reasons in addition to aging or being lighter).

Also, they're right about a kg being more like roughly 7700 calories.

Retroguy2000

WernerZiegler1 wrote: »

But i read that in the first weeks i lose a lot of water so does that not foul the calculation?

You wouldn't go all the way back to the start of your weight loss journey for this calculation for two reasons. One, the early water loss as you said. Two, if you've lost a lot of weight your TDEE will drop for that reason, so working out your average TDEE during your entire weight loss phase wouldn't help you knowing your current TDEE.

You would take the last few weeks as data here. Even better, since you should be trying to be in maintenance for a while after a diet so your body gets used to this new weight, do it then. If your weight is roughly flat for a few weeks on 2500c, voila, that's your TDEE, regardless what any online calculator may think (that calculator being based on population averages, and not knowing exactly what your exercise or NEAT is each day).

Sett2023 wrote: »

What Lietchi means is that 1 kg is "about" 2 lbs, not "exactly" 2. (It's a little more: 2,204 lbs)

That's more than a ton.

AnnPT77

Retroguy2000 wrote: »

WernerZiegler1 wrote: »

But i read that in the first weeks i lose a lot of water so does that not foul the calculation?

You wouldn't go all the way back to the start of your weight loss journey for this calculation for two reasons. One, the early water loss as you said. Two, if you've lost a lot of weight your TDEE will drop for that reason, so working out your average TDEE during your entire weight loss phase wouldn't help you knowing your current TDEE.

You would take the last few weeks as data here. Even better, since you should be trying to be in maintenance for a while after a diet so your body gets used to this new weight, do it then. If your weight is roughly flat for a few weeks on 2500c, voila, that's your TDEE, regardless what any online calculator may think (that calculator being based on population averages, and not knowing exactly what your exercise or NEAT is each day).

Sett2023 wrote: »

What Lietchi means is that 1 kg is "about" 2 lbs, not "exactly" 2. (It's a little more: 2,204 lbs)

That's more than a ton.

Some countries use the comma to delineate decimal places, instead of the period we use in the US. Could be a typo, but not necessarily.

Sett2023

Yes it was a typo for this forum ('cause in Italy we use comma), sorry. Thank you Ann :-D

Retroguy2000

It was a joke!

springlering62

I’d take a step back. You’re jumping the gun.

You’re losing rapidly right now in your first few weeks, based on your other post.

Instead of worrying about something that’s a year or two down the road, you should be asking yourself,”what habits do I need to create that I can carry into maintenance for continued success?”

If you create those now, they’ll already be true habits by the time you get there, and things will automatically fall into place.

The single wisest peice of advice I ever got off these boards: Treat maintenance like you still have ten pounds to lose.

Having that mentality plus the habits I’ve created have made a rock steady foundation for me in maintenance.

I really like that you’re thinking ahead, but be practical about the real now versus the future you don’t want to be fantasy.

And you’ve got to be prepared for the shock when the rapid weight loss stops, because it does. I had a hard time with that.

AnnPT77

springlering62 wrote: »

I’d take a step back. You’re jumping the gun.

You’re losing rapidly right now in your first few weeks, based on your other post.

Instead of worrying about something that’s a year or two down the road, you should be asking yourself,”what habits do I need to create that I can carry into maintenance for continued success?”

If you create those now, they’ll already be true habits by the time you get there, and things will automatically fall into place.

The single wisest peice of advice I ever got off these boards: Treat maintenance like you still have ten pounds to lose.

Having that mentality plus the habits I’ve created have made a rock steady foundation for me in maintenance.

I really like that you’re thinking ahead, but be practical about the real now versus the future you don’t want to be fantasy.

And you’ve got to be prepared for the shock when the rapid weight loss stops, because it does. I had a hard time with that.

Welllll. . . . dude said he's at 88.2 kg, wants to go to 80. That'd be 18.4 pounds. Even if he goes for half a pound (0.25 kg) a week, which would be sensible given his goals, that's less than a year.

I'm not saying this to nitpick you, but out of a sense (based on this and other posts) that he's feeling quite a sense of urgency here and therefore over-reacting to short timespans. Suggesting it's a year or two for the loss part might be a stressor, y'know? For muscle gain, sure - longer time spans.

I agree that it's too early to set calorie goals for maintenance. Setting up good habits that can continue into maintenance - as you suggest - is a much better focus.

And yes, losing 3.05 kg (6.71 pounds) of fat in 3 weeks would be IMO too fast loss for his current situation and goals. I suspect he's right, that a portion of that (kg or so?) is probably a water weight shift, but no way to be sure. The truth will reveal itself in averages over 4-6 weeks or so on a new program, not likely in 3 weeks.

@WernerZiegler1, if I had your goals, I'd shoot for 0.25kg of loss per week (set your calorie goal accordingly), start a good progressive strength training program now if you haven't already, get excellent overall nutrition (especially but not exclusively ample protein), work hard and be patient.

I've never seen anyone here say they wished they'd waiting until they'd lost the fat to start lifting. I've seen a whole bunch of people who started lifting when they got to goal, or otherwise late in weight loss, say that they wish they'd started lifting really early in the process, maybe even day 1.

(Me? I started lifting when I was obese and not even trying to lose fat, and did it for fitness/athletic reasons. I don't lift enough now, but for your goals, its THE thing, IMO.)

Retroguy2000

AnnPT77 wrote: »

I've never seen anyone here say they wished they'd waiting until they'd lost the fat to start lifting. I've seen a whole bunch of people who started lifting when they got to goal, or otherwise late in weight loss, say that they wish they'd started lifting really early in the process, maybe even day 1.

(Me? I started lifting when I was obese and not even trying to lose fat, and did it for fitness/athletic reasons. I don't lift enough now, but for your goals, its THE thing, IMO.)

I agree people should lift, and I agree it's absolutely too late to wait until near goal weight before even thinking about starting lifting. Skinny fat is not a good look at all imo, plus the person probably lost a bunch of existing muscle along with their fat during their weight loss phase. Just a small amount of lifting plus a good supply of protein can help retain some or most of the muscle during weight loss.

I do believe though that obese and morbidly obese should prioritize cardio first over lifting. Say 75/25 for example, to pick a ratio from thin air. People only have so much time and energy to work out, and the cardio will burn a lot more calories. Even just walking more can be a great starting point. As the fat comes off, shift the ratio more from cardio to weights as desired.

AnnPT77

Retroguy2000 wrote: »

AnnPT77 wrote: »

I've never seen anyone here say they wished they'd waiting until they'd lost the fat to start lifting. I've seen a whole bunch of people who started lifting when they got to goal, or otherwise late in weight loss, say that they wish they'd started lifting really early in the process, maybe even day 1.

(Me? I started lifting when I was obese and not even trying to lose fat, and did it for fitness/athletic reasons. I don't lift enough now, but for your goals, its THE thing, IMO.)

I agree people should lift, and I agree it's absolutely too late to wait until near goal weight before even thinking about starting lifting. Skinny fat is not a good look at all imo, plus the person probably lost a bunch of existing muscle along with their fat during their weight loss phase. Just a small amount of lifting plus a good supply of protein can help retain some or most of the muscle during weight loss.

I do believe though that obese and morbidly obese should prioritize cardio first over lifting. Say 75/25 for example, to pick a ratio from thin air. People only have so much time and energy to work out, and the cardio will burn a lot more calories. Even just walking more can be a great starting point. As the fat comes off, shift the ratio more from cardio to weights as desired.

I wouldn't necessarily argue with that, though if someone's severely obese some forms of cardio can be more risky, and some forms of strength training less so.

But again, here we're talking about a guy - it seems - with 8.2 kg (18.4 pounds) he wants to lose, and in the long run he wants to "build muscles, a good amount of it". I agree that doing some cardio would be good for him - it's good for everyone - but I wouldn't put the priority there for this guy, personally.

Retroguy2000 wrote: »

It was a joke!

I should've realized: Apologies.

I will say this, though: They make emojis for that, and MFP lets you pick 'em from the drop down if your device doesn't make them easy. :drinker:

neanderthin

If I was 10kg's overweight but wanted to put on a lot of muscle then I wouldn't be dieting to lose weight, the precious muscle that can be lost isn't worth the fat loss when the simple fact that when you lose that 10kg's you'll just need to eat over maintenance to put on all this muscle your looking for. Yeah a body comp is a popular concept and it can work but it's no where near as good as the results you'll get doing bulking a cutting phases especially if someone wants to put on a lot of muscle like you do. O course that involves moving a lot of heavy weights, so I would suggest doing that, and if your not putting on any or enough muscle in a reasonable time frame, then eat more and add weight. Add the muscle now and cut later. imo

kshama2001

FYI, Werner has been working out for about three weeks: https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10904231/do-i-do-my-exercises-wrong