Calories Up or Down?

dsjohndrow

I have been working with a nutritionist. She is very knowledgeable, and easy to talk to. We have discussed my food logs for 3 months and her is where I am at. I lost 2-3 lbs per week when I got started, and then I hit a plateau 60 days ago.

- Our first meeting was to discuss what I ate. IE: Sodium, fiber, and good carbs vs protein. I weighed in at 222. MFP had me at 1350 calories. I added two strength training days a week and 20-30 minutes of cardio a day.

- Our second meeting we we talked more about fixing some of my crappy meals and finding suitable alternatives I weighed in at 220. I changed my setting in MFP from 2 lbs to 1 and upped my calories to about 1600. I added a third day of strength training and still got in 20-30 of cardio a day.

- At our third meeting (yesterday) I expressed the fact that I wanted to lose more than I was. I weighed in at 218 But I lost 4 inches off my hips, none on the waist, and 1/4" off my neck, plus the quads were up 4". We discussed cutting calories to 1350 + exercise, or upping them to a solid 1800 per day regardless of my activity.

What do you think, especially if you have hit a plateau or really lost some weight.

aliciagetshealthy

Im no doctor, and I don't play one on TV, but you asked for suggestions so I'll throw this out there. I know that you do a lot of high burn cardio every day, but it's my opinion that your body has adjusted and now sees this activity as a completely normal occurance. If I were you, I would take this opportunity (while your wounded and SUPPOSED to let your body recover) to try out lower impact cardio like yoga, tha chi, dance, etc.. You're not going to get the running/biking burn numbers, but there are definate benefits (flexibility, balance, endurance) to incorporating these types of workouts into your week. It may even help reduce your risk of injury/reinjury by changing up the workout intensity. As to calories, maybe try 2 weeks higher than 2 weeks lower - you already make good choices, I think your body just needs a shake up

HMonsterX

I just did the opposite of what i was currently doing.

I was eating my exercise calories. i stopped, and the weight starting moving down again.

My second plateau i started eating them again and did exercises i hadn't done before, and i broke through it again.


Just mix things up!

cbirdso

Plateau's are discouraging. I'm thankful that I never experienced one longer than 3 weeks. I have consistently lost weight at the rate I wanted for a year and a half. When I was within 20 pounds of my goal, my weight loss slowed down so I started zigzagging my calories, the helped speed things back up.

My 2 cents, and this is entirely from my own experience which may not translate to anyone else, is that if I exercise too hard (for me), my weight loss slows. Maybe because my body is too stressed out. Also, if my calories are too low, I experience the same thing. I get my best results when I have longer, slower exercise periods every day, eat my exercise calories, and zigzag within 500 calories or so, but the week adds up as if I kept within my daily limit.

Also, (and I repeat for me), WHAT I eat has a big impact. Alcohol slows my weight, empty carbs make me feel hungry and I find it hard to stay within goals. Any food with preservatives, dyes, processed additives, aspertame, etc. causes me to have severe inflammation and over work my liver so that, once again my weight loss slows. Some people's livers are work horses, mine is not. I have to pamper it in order for it to find time to burn fat. This includes getting plenty of rest and drinking lots of water and ingesting as few "toxins" as possible.

So...I would advise you to do different things, even if they seem wrong (!!), and monitor how you body responds. Eat more/less, exercise more/less, rest more/less, try different foods, eat cleaner. See what happens.

KatFierce

I would probably start by changing up my exercise and changing the calories to the 1350 as that would be easier if after 1-2 weeks it didnt change id try the 1800, just what I personally would do.

adtrevors

- Our second meeting we we talked more about fixing some of my crappy meals and finding suitable alternatives I weighed in at 220. I changed my setting in MFP from 2 lbs to 1 and upped my calories to about 1600. I added a third day of strength training and still got in 20-30 of cardio a day.

Can I make a suggestion? I listen to A LOT of exercise and nutrition podcasts and this sounds like a very familiar story. For one, you are doing too much steady-state cardio (making an assumption here that your cardio is probably something like running/biking/jogging/whatever for the same speed) and its probably affecting your cortisol levels (upwards).

Calorie deficit + increased cortisol = weight retention.

Your body is stressed and thinks there is a good shortage, so its going to do whatever it can to hold onto its fat stores. Try dropping the cardio for a week and do 2 strength days and make sure you get plenty of rest. Instead of the cardio just try getting out for a stroll or leisurely hike, nothing too crazy. If you have access to a heart rate monitor, wear it to bed and record the HR the second you wake up. You should see your waking HR drift downward over the week, if not, something else may be affecting your cortisol levels (get plenty of sleep to help with this).

Secondly, more important than the number of calories is the quality of the food. Stick to lean meats (preferably grass fed), wild caught fish, lots of veggies and a bit of fruit. Try to keep starchy veggies to the days you do your strength training. I like to eat a sweet potato with a good chunk of protein (e.g. piece of chicken or 6 oz or ground meat like beef, boar, bison or whatever) right after my workout to replenish my glycogen stores and provide some protein to begin repair.

love4fitnesslove4food_wechange

I have been working with a nutritionist. She is very knowledgeable, and easy to talk to. We have discussed my food logs for 3 months and her is where I am at. I lost 2-3 lbs per week when I got started, and then I hit a plateau 60 days ago.

- Our first meeting was to discuss what I ate. IE: Sodium, fiber, and good carbs vs protein. I weighed in at 222. MFP had me at 1350 calories. I added two strength training days a week and 20-30 minutes of cardio a day.

- Our second meeting we we talked more about fixing some of my crappy meals and finding suitable alternatives I weighed in at 220. I changed my setting in MFP from 2 lbs to 1 and upped my calories to about 1600. I added a third day of strength training and still got in 20-30 of cardio a day.

- At our third meeting (yesterday) I expressed the fact that I wanted to lose more than I was. I weighed in at 218 But I lost 4 inches off my hips, none on the waist, and 1/4" off my neck, plus the quads were up 4". We discussed cutting calories to 1350 + exercise, or upping them to a solid 1800 per day regardless of my activity.

What do you think, especially if you have hit a plateau or really lost some weight.

At 220 pounds I don't understand why your nutritionist had you eating below 1800 calories a day to begin with. you're male (i think, based on your photo), so you already burn more calories at rest because of your muscle mass. You've also added in exercise...so you're burning an additional 300-500 calories a day on top of your sedentary burn rate.

I don't know your age but your BMR is about 2000-2100...so assuming you're sedentary aside from working out...it's estimated that you burn 2000 x 1.2 = 2400 calories. When you add in your exercise on a low burn day (cardio alone) you're at 2700 calories MINIMUM burned. So you're at a deficit of 1400 calories a day.

This is waaay too high, your body is probably responding to the incredibly high calorie deficit by reducing your NEAT (non-exercise activity thermogesis) and causing hormonal changes that will disrupt the metabolism. In addition, too high a deficit will lead to muscle loss.

I say eat 1800-2000 (2000 on cardio & strength days) and just wait it out. Good luck!

llkilgore

We discussed cutting calories to 1350 + exercise, or upping them to a solid 1800 per day regardless of my activity.

What do you think, especially if you have hit a plateau or really lost some weight.

Are you averaging around 450 exercise calories? If so it shouldn't make a lot of difference, so whichever is easier...

I'm still logging my exercise and eating back the calories because I need the accountability. I need to know I've earned the calories before I eat them. I no longer try to eat them all on the day I earn them, though. I run 3 or 4 times a week and average out the calories so earned with the non-running days that follow. That way I have nearly the same calorie budget every day without completely breaking the link between calories and exercise.

abyssfully

I don't have much to say - obviously you've received some awesome advice here! I hit a plateau not too long ago. I up'd my calories by 400 calories and have been exercising less (due to an injury) and I immediately started losing weight again. This is just my own experience.

dsjohndrow

I am going to take a week off. I was following the MFP calorie guide for my age and weight. Mixing it up is probably a good idea. I get in routine with my work schedule.

dsjohndrow

Secondly, more important than the number of calories is the quality of the food. Stick to lean meats (preferably grass fed), wild caught fish, lots of veggies and a bit of fruit. Try to keep starchy veggies to the days you do your strength training. I like to eat a sweet potato with a good chunk of protein (e.g. piece of chicken or 6 oz or ground meat like beef, boar, bison or whatever) right after my workout to replenish my glycogen stores and provide some protein to begin repair.

I eat high quality food. But some of the info on cortisol sounds convincing.

dsjohndrow

At 220 pounds I don't understand why your nutritionist had you eating below 1800 calories a day to begin with. you're male (i think, based on your photo), so you already burn more calories at rest because of your muscle mass. You've also added in exercise...so you're burning an additional 300-500 calories a day on top of your sedentary burn rate.

I don't know your age but your BMR is about 2000-2100...so assuming you're sedentary aside from working out...it's estimated that you burn 2000 x 1.2 = 2400 calories. When you add in your exercise on a low burn day (cardio alone) you're at 2700 calories MINIMUM burned. So you're at a deficit of 1400 calories a day.

This is waaay too high, your body is probably responding to the incredibly high calorie deficit by reducing your NEAT (non-exercise activity thermogesis) and causing hormonal changes that will disrupt the metabolism. In addition, too high a deficit will lead to muscle loss.

I say eat 1800-2000 (2000 on cardio & strength days) and just wait it out. Good luck!

I was following the MFP calorie guide for my age and weight. So she let me stay there for a month. I still lost 2 lbs.

hjohns65

Everybody is different, and so are their bodies. You've got some really good advice and input here, I may even take some bits and pieces from it, so thanks for posting such a good topic! I too was stuck for what seem liked forever! I recently ie: this week, started keeping up with someone running faster on the treadmill at the gym next to me, which for me was increasing my jogging speed from 5.0 to 5.5-5.7 and adding an incline. Point here is even when doing your cardio, maybe you need to intensify whatever activities your doing, whether that means doing it faster or adding some difficulty into it, adding that really hilly route while biking or whatever. I'm sure someone has already stated this somewhere, and it's pretty general knowledge that I didn't know about ha! but I felt like letting it out, so good luck to you!