I don't get it

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drmastermind
drmastermind Posts: 17 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hello all. I've got a problem with losing this porta-keg (I'm WAY beyond a simple beer gut :) ) and I'm looking for some help.

Here's some history. I'm 5'10" and I've been changing my lifestyle when it comes to diet and exercise for the last couple years and up till around November of last year it was working great. I started out at 320 and was down to 230, I rode to and from work every day (about 20miles round trip) and felt great. Then I had surgery on my shoulder and wasn't able to do anything for about a month at which time I gained about 12 lbs. I then returned to riding and rode all the way through the winter up until a few weeks ago when I decided that I'd like to switch it up with some more running and weight training. I did have a fitness test and figured out that unless I hit some heavy duty hills my heartrate doesn't go above 130 on my bike, even while doing 27 down a busy street, which was another reason why I decided to switch my workouts, so I'm mainly doing like a 5 minute run then 15 reps of 4 different lifts (squat, clean, dead lift, pullups, etc) as quickly as possible then repeating that 4x.

Here's the jist of my problem. Last year I was focusing on around 1900 calories / day and was loosing weight at a fairly consistent rate but after my surgery, even with the same calorie intake I'm not loosing squat and I've even put on a couple pounds to get myself back up to 251ish. I have tried the body bugg before and according to it my daily calorie burn is right around 2900-3200. So I've recently went with the recommendation of MFP and lowered the calories to 1580 and started not counting my exercise against those calories. In the last couple weeks I've dropped back down to 247 but I feel wiped out, I'm constantly tired, every muscle aches and not only do I not look forward to my workouts (which I usually did) I can't seem to get the intensity that I feel I should be.

Sorry for the wall of text but does anyone got any ideas? I really want to keep working out but right now the only thing I can think of is sleep and how bad my muscles are aching.

Replies

  • mcarter99
    mcarter99 Posts: 1,666 Member
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    Personally I'd go back to the 1900 and wait out the plateau. I know you said you were gaining but unless you really suck at food logging, that doesn't seem possible for long. Maybe there is water retention from returning to exercise?

    And I'd go back to bike riding if you enjoy it. You don't have to hit any specific HR zone to burn calories. A couple weight training sessions a week would probably do you a world of good.

    Good luck!
  • amoryb
    amoryb Posts: 1
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    I agree with mcarter99.

    Also since you have recently added weight training exercises (and good full body ones) you are likely building a significant amount of muscle. Muscle is smaller than fat but much more dense so weighs more. When you first start a routine, it's not uncommon for your body to build muscle quicker and therefore although you may have lost 7 pounds of fat, you gained 5 pounds of muscle. Therefore the scale just shows 2 pounds which is disappointing but in reality it's 7 pounds of fat.

    Also, when you weight train, you need those extra calories as building muscle takes a lot of energy. Hang in there. You are doing the right thing.

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