Serious question?

mlh29

I have been doing my best in an attempt to drop weigh for the past yr. I have listened to multiple comments and advice since I joined here. So far I have lost some weight, but have been stuck for a long time at about 190lbs ( 33yo male, 68 tall, Active duty military deployed). I have tried calories as suggested on the basic settings, modified calorie goals as suggested, varied my exercise, varied my calories and fat/protein/carb ratios etc. My caloric intake is between 1700 -2200 during this period, currently at 2000 with a lower carb/ higher fats/protein ratio. I average 5 workouts a week of cardio, and use a Polar ft60 hrm( hrm suggested here) and burn from 750- 1200 calories during each workout. I also do various trx system training and pucsh ups/ abs during the day( no hrm worn) I do not add the workouts into exercise, so I can just eat a flat 2000 cal diet and add workouts to the comments food page.
Recently I changed my cal intake to 1875 which really meant to meet macros I was around 1700-1750 for the day.. this totally wiped me out, no energy( less than normal) couldnt push it during workouts etc So I put it back up to 2000 a day .
Out of curiosity I recently wore my HRM while sleeping/ no activity for 10 hrs 3 x this past week.. The results surprised me.. average for these were 875 calories burned in roughly 10 hrs of no activity.. This would equate to roughly 2000 a day if I were just sitting around doing nothing.. which is more than the 1750 ish suggested for a bmi.

My question is, Should I be eating more? Or what should I do to get better? I would ideally like to be around 170 , for many reasons one of which is to put getting taped for the ARMY behind me( I make it now but just want to get under a weight of 179)
I am at a loss for ideas, I have been trying multiple ideas and really want to drop weight and get in better shape.
Any suggestions are welcome, profile is open, this past week was bad as I didnt exercise like I normally do and ate junk 2x.. even after this bad week I still stayed at 190 no +/- so am totally confused.. Am now back on track and have about 30 days to hopefully break into the 180 area. Thanks in advance

cartea01

As far as I can tell, you aren't eating enough if you aren't eating back your exercise calories. According to this calculator, your basal metabolic rate (BMR) - the number of calories you burn if in a coma are 1889. (I assumed when you wrote 68 you meant 68inchs not 6 foot 8 inches). Depending on your activity level, at your goal weight of 170 you would need to eat the following to maintain your weight:
Sedentary (little or no exercise, desk job) 2117
Lightly Active (light exercise/sports 1-3 days/wk) 2426
Moderately Active (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/wk) 2734
Very Active (hard exercise/sports 6-7 days/wk) 3043
Extremely Active (hard daily exercise/sports & physical job or 2X day training, i.e marathon, contest etc.) 3352

If you start eating at this level, you will slowly and healthily lose weight. Given what you've said about how you excise I'd say you need to be eating 2700-3000 calories per day.

cartea01

TavistockToad

eat your exercise calories!!!

nlehmann

I agree you aren't eating enough for the calories you are burning. Even if you don't eat them all back start with 1/2 and see if that helps. Good luck!

ronellevan

I agree with the above, you MUST eat your exercise calories.

One thing no one has asked is: what type of exercise do you do?
The only way to change your body composition (fat vs muscle) and shape is to do strength training and introduce high intensity intervals to your cardio workouts.

fxst78

Set your calories at 1800.

Log the calories from your HRM. - Why have the HRM if you are not actually using the data from it?

Eat those calories.

Stick to 1800 NET.

mlh29

Thanks, exercise consists of r
elliptical, stationary bike, stairmaster, treadmill, resistance training via trx, light weight weight training, push ups and situps..
May increase by a few hundred to about 23-2350 for tues and see what happens

mlh29

also biggest thing is I try and stick to a set calorie day, am deployed to OEF, food is available at chow hall 3x a day so I try and build meals in am and do stick to them as planned.

mlh29

I have upped my calories to a flat 2350, 20 carb 40 proteins and 40 fats. I am coming home soon so workouts are getting a littlle less intense as pre redeployment is taking more time out of each day. I plan to hit 600-850 calories burned a day. Does this sound right? Or do you think that 2350 is too much/little with a 6-850 calorie exercise routine?

daz60

please elaborate. how can you lose weight eating exercise cals?

sweetyedie

Also no one has mentioned water. Are you drinking enough?

ScatteredThoughts

please elaborate. how can you lose weight eating exercise cals?

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/10589-for-those-confused-or-questioning-eating-your-exercise-calo

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/23912-links-in-mfp-you-want-to-read-again-and-again