Should I increase my calories?

weightofyourskin

Before I started NROL, I had my deficit set to a pound a week, or 1550 a day. When I started NROL I bumped it up to half a pound or 1800 and I've been making an effort to get more protein in. I started the workout on November 1st (I'm toward the end of Stage 1). I don't do a whole lot of high-intensity cardio; I walk instead of taking the bus when I can and do 15-20 minutes on the treadmill a couple of times a week.

My weight has remained the same for the past few weeks, at 175 (give or take a fraction of a pound) which is slightly up from my last officially recorded weight of 173.6 on October 26th. My ultimate goal is to lose inches, not necessarily weight, but I would love to see the number on the scale go down as well...

Should I increase my calories? I keep reading that you can't increase your muscle mass if you eat at a calorie deficit since your body will burn fat AND muscle to make up the difference. What happens if I keep eating at a deficit - will I lose inches but not get "toned"?

Sorry, this post feels really rambly. I want to do the workout right and gain muscle but I also want to slim down, so I'm not sure what the best course of action is.

kkauz42

I kind of had the same question as you! I think if you have a deficit of .5 lb/week you should be fine, that is 250 calories a day and the author suggest nothing more than 300 calories/day. I'm at 375 (kind of meeting in the middle between 250 and 500). going to try that for 4 weeks and see what happens!

LHann360

My calories are manually set at 1550 with macros at 40-40 -20 . Those were given to me by my trainer back in April , although I was at 1250 calories then. I upped them in the summer due to being in better shape.

I still need to lose about 20 lbs. to get to my healthy BMI, but my weight loss slowed to a mere .5 a month since September. I thought starting this program would shock my system. So according to my progress chart ( I started ROLFW on Nov. 1st ) I've lost 2.5 lbs. this month. So I look at it as successful. :bigsmile:

My diary is open. I don't get all my protein in, but I do eat pretty healthy. I do eat some sweets, I won't lie, but I am incredibly happy with my progress on this program. I'm totally addicted to it.

On Mon-Wed. I do some type of class....boot camp ( circuit training ) and cardio jam ( insanity class)
Tues-Thurs-Sat. - ROLFW and a core and more class on Saturday as well.

Friday and Sunday is a day off ( sometimes I squeeze in cardio on Fridays because I just can't help myself)\

I have only started working out in the end of January. I was 238lbs and miserable. So all this is still pretty amazing to me and I'm learning every day.

So no matter what you choose to do with your calories, I'm sure by the end of the first month you'll have some results whether it's inches or pounds. Everyone is different, so you just got to play with the numbers and be patient for results. No matter what...keep on lifting

weightofyourskin

So no matter what you choose to do with your calories, I'm sure by the end of the first month you'll have some results whether it's inches or pounds. Everyone is different, so you just got to play with the numbers and be patient for results. No matter what...keep on lifting

Thank you for the encouragement. I'll re-evaluate my calories and ask the question again (maybe in the general Fitness forum to get more input) if I haven't lost pounds or inches by the time I finish stage 1. It's hard to figure out what works best for you and everybody gives you a different answer! I saw a nutritionist between August 2010 and March 2011 and I lost about 16 pounds by eating under 1400 calories every day and not really exercising, but that wasn't sustainable for me and I put 11 of those pounds back on... and I've been trying so many different things since to lose them again and not seeing any results.

kelseyhere

Don't forget it's about training your metabolism. Through lifting, your muscles are going to get stronger, burn more at rest, and then you can eat more.

When you lost weight before and put it back on it was probably because you metabolism actually slowed down and adjusted to eating fewer calories, which is not really maintainable.

Whatever you do with your diet, just make sure you can maintain it so the scale doesn't start to slide up again. Make sure you are tracking accurately too (for example, did you track the calories you drank today?) and if you really are staying close to the 1800 mark, I would think you'll see results soon. Just stick with it for a bit longer before you make too many modifications to the diet. Give your body the chance and keep picking up those weights and you'll get there