Going to gym - do I need more calories?

sheep_dog

Since I've started MFP I've only been eating healthy and riding my bike every night for cardio to lose weight (and body fat). I've went from 174 to 160 in 45 days, which is right at the goal I put into MFP of 2 lbs per week (I'm at about 2.05 lbs per week).

It let me have 1260 calories a day, which after about a week I got easily used to. I eat things high in protein, watch my sugars and carbs, yada yada, and I just eat when I'm hungry, I never really feel STARVING anymore.

After I hit 164 lbs MFP said since I lost 10 lbs I should let it recalculate my stuff, and so now it only allows me to have 1200 calories.

When I get down to 156 I'll be at my weight goal, and I'd like to start a body transformation. Although I'll be at my goal weight of 156, my body fat percentage (that I don't know..) is very bad and I still have a little gut. Starting Monday I'll be going to my university gym mon-fri, and doing cardio probably every day as well (I might skip bike riding on legs day ).

From reading peoples comments on some of my other threads, I'm starting to get really nervous that I won't be getting enough calories, starving my body, and won't build lean muscle and tone my body.

So is there something I need to change in my fitness pal to let it know that I'm going to be lifting weights and stuff at the gym now, or is 1200 calories a day still fine since I'm wanting to tone my body, lose body fat, and build lean muscle?

I just don't want to start working out and eating a lot, and bulk up and have body fat covering the muscles I'm making. so I guess my overall question is...

How do I eat to gain lean muscle while also losing body fat?

Help please !

bahacca

If you have less than 20-30 lbs to lose, you should be losing at 1-.5 lbs per week, NOT 2 lbs per week. It's great you were able to drop weight so fast, but once you get into the healthy ranges, weight loss should be at a slower pace. If you change this, you should be good to go and will get more calories alloted.

bahacca

Eating to gain muscle and lose body fat. It doesn't really work that way. In a calorie defecit, you lose weight, which happens from losing fat AND lean muscle. You can MINIMIZE the amount of muscle lost by eating high protein and lifting to make sure your body knows it NEEDS the muscle mass it has. Just so you are aware, I've been under my calories and eating loads of protein and lifting 4x a week and haven't lost any weight in 3 weeks. I HAVE, however, noticed changes in how I look, so i'm good with that. If you are strictly going by the scale, you may be disappointed.

sheep_dog

Eating to gain muscle and lose body fat. It doesn't really work that way. In a calorie defecit, you lose weight, which happens from losing fat AND lean muscle. You can MINIMIZE the amount of muscle lost by eating high protein and lifting to make sure your body knows it NEEDS the muscle mass it has. Just so you are aware, I've been under my calories and eating loads of protein and lifting 4x a week and haven't lost any weight in 3 weeks. I HAVE, however, noticed changes in how I look, so i'm good with that. If you are strictly going by the scale, you may be disappointed.

oh no no no the point of my post was to say that I am basically no longer going to go by the scale, since I've got to the weight I wanted. I now am going to try to lose fat and gain muscle so I realize that I may only maintain my weight, or even gain weight. I'm totally ok with that, as I'm going to start going off of my body fat percentage to gauge how i'm doing.

I just want to know what I should change in MFP to get more calories allowed to work out

SillyFitMe

This is something I wonder as well. At 37 years old and 128lbs, MFP gives me 1,200 calories a day. Following the MFP logic, the less I weigh, the less I am allowed to eat? So stinkin unfair! I know the magic threshold one should go below is 1,200 but I found I need to go below that AND exercise to start seeing definition and changes in my body composition.

katevarner

Tell it you are more active. Go to goals and click the change goals button. Then start at guided. At the next page, choose active at least. Then put in how many days you are going to workout and how long. That should get you higher than 1200. At active, my minimum is 1610 and I'm only 5'3" and weigh 111. You can also eat back some or even all of your workout calories if you are comfortable that you are actually burning as many calories as MFP or a HRM tells you. Or invest in a fitbit or BodyMedia Fit. You may also want to change your macros. To do that, go to goals again, but instead of choosing guided, pick custom. On the next page, you will be able to change the percentage of calories you get from carbs/protein/fat. If you are trying to build muscle, want to get more protein. At least 1g per kg of weight, altho many places recommend 1g per lb. You can try a 30/30/40 split, or play with it based on what you read on the bodybuilding sites. I personally do better with lots of protein and fat and not so many carbs, but not everyone responds the same way to carbs. Just be sure that whatever carbs you eat, you limit the amount you get from processed foods.

SomeoneSomeplace

Well I think 1200 is way too low honestly so def up your calories...but I mean on exercise days you're eating more anyway right? 1200 is what I eat if I legit sit in bed all day. And 1200 is very close to my BMR, it's just under it, barely. And I still feel hungry on days where I am active. I have my goals set to 1350.

Capt_Apollo

eat more than 1200 calories please. and please, start strength training now. actually, start yesterday if you can.

http://www.quickbmr.com/what-is-tdee.html

go here to find out your tdee (total daily energy expenditure) and that'll help you find your BMR (basal metobolic rate). BMR is what you would need to consume, at MINIMUM, if your body were just laying in bed all day.

you should be eating in between you TDEE and BMR. unfortunatly some people get confused and eat below their BMR, which causes their weight lose to suffer.

eat more, work hard, feel awesome.

Brujah1981

The thing with MFP is that it's there for weight loss, not really for toning, which is what you want to do. Once you're at your ideal weight, you will want to change MFP so that your target weight matches your regular weight. Or simply use your BMR and maintain that level of calorie intake. It should be quite a bit above 1200 actually. Honestly at this point you'll be used to eating less and should have some good life habits in place. Getting regular exercise and lifting in will get you were you want to be, but it'll be the start of a whole new journey, and you'll probably want to speak to a trainer at your local gym.

kairisika

This is something I wonder as well. At 37 years old and 128lbs, MFP gives me 1,200 calories a day. Following the MFP logic, the less I weigh, the less I am allowed to eat? So stinkin unfair! I know the magic threshold one should go below is 1,200 but I found I need to go below that AND exercise to start seeing definition and changes in my body composition.

Yes. the less you weigh, the less you need to eat. Is this news?
What it really amounts to is that the less *lean body mass* you have, the less you should be eating.
But a maintenance weight for a smaller body is smaller, and therefore to keep losing, it goes even smaller.
But aside from lean body mass, you also need to eat more if you burn more aside from your daily metabolism. So you want more food? Exercise.

sheep_dog

Hmmm.. well thanks everyone for trying to help but i'm still kinda depressed.

I didn't think that once I LOST the weight that's when I'd feel WORSE.

I feel like I worked hard to get to now over the last nearly two months, but now i'm here there is nothing more to help me from MFP.

MFP asked for a "goal weight". That's kind of misleading because I didn't really have a goal weight. I don't care what I weigh, I care what I look like. I just set it for 156 to lose from my 174, because I had a gut and I wanted to get rid of it.

Now that I'm down to 160 I still have a little gut, (although I do look and feel much better), but now I want to make the change to start working out and get fit, but I don't know how to eat appropriately. Do I set MFP for weight gain, or what? Feel like I just fell in the cracks in the system and I don't know where to go from here.

sheep_dog

eat more than 1200 calories please. and please, start strength training now. actually, start yesterday if you can.

http://www.quickbmr.com/what-is-tdee.html

go here to find out your tdee (total daily energy expenditure) and that'll help you find your BMR (basal metobolic rate). BMR is what you would need to consume, at MINIMUM, if your body were just laying in bed all day.

you should be eating in between you TDEE and BMR. unfortunatly some people get confused and eat below their BMR, which causes their weight lose to suffer.

eat more, work hard, feel awesome.

I did that, and I got this. According to this, I should eat 2800 calories a day if I ride my bike 3 times a week.....

That doesn't seem right at all to me

katevarner

Hmmm.. well thanks everyone for trying to help but i'm still kinda depressed.

I didn't think that once I LOST the weight that's when I'd feel WORSE.

I feel like I worked hard to get to now over the last nearly two months, but now i'm here there is nothing more to help me from MFP.

MFP asked for a "goal weight". That's kind of misleading because I didn't really have a goal weight. I don't care what I weigh, I care what I look like. I just set it for 156 to lose from my 174, because I had a gut and I wanted to get rid of it.

Now that I'm down to 160 I still have a little gut, (although I do look and feel much better), but now I want to make the change to start working out and get fit, but I don't know how to eat appropriately. Do I set MFP for weight gain, or what? Feel like I just fell in the cracks in the system and I don't know where to go from here.

Maintain.

sheep_dog

Hmmm.. well thanks everyone for trying to help but i'm still kinda depressed.

I didn't think that once I LOST the weight that's when I'd feel WORSE.

I feel like I worked hard to get to now over the last nearly two months, but now i'm here there is nothing more to help me from MFP.

MFP asked for a "goal weight". That's kind of misleading because I didn't really have a goal weight. I don't care what I weigh, I care what I look like. I just set it for 156 to lose from my 174, because I had a gut and I wanted to get rid of it.

Now that I'm down to 160 I still have a little gut, (although I do look and feel much better), but now I want to make the change to start working out and get fit, but I don't know how to eat appropriately. Do I set MFP for weight gain, or what? Feel like I just fell in the cracks in the system and I don't know where to go from here.

Maintain.

I'm just so confused. I hear for muscle gain you want to eat surplus calories so that your body has calories to use to make muscle. But if i'm over my calories then how can I lower my body fat percentage?

ARGGGGGGG. All I want to know is how to lower my body fat percentage and gain muscle ... Why is it this hard :l

edit: every website keeps saying "Do you want to lose fat? Or do you want to gain muscle?" I want to do both...

I'm not someone with 50 lbs to lose (lose fat) and i'm not a frail person who wants to bulk on and gain muscle. I want to gain muscle, and I want to lose body fat % so I can actually see the muscles. What do I dooooo?

nz_deevaa

You've set your gender to male... are you male? Because MFP doesn't generally allocate 1200 cals to males.

SO, if you are a female, try your BMR again as a female.

sheep_dog

You've set your gender to male... are you male? Because MFP doesn't generally allocate 1200 cals to males.

SO, if you are a female, try your BMR again as a female.

Yes I'm a male. I used to be at 1260 calories, but after it recently wanted me to have it recalculate it put me down to 1200

My settings are:

started at 174
Goal weight was 156

Activity was: sedentary, because i'm a full time student so I sit in class all day.

My exercise was set to 5 times a week, 35 minutes a week.

Weight loss was 2 lbs a week.

Thats what gave me the 1260. After I lost 10 lbs it asked me to let it recalculate, and I let it - it put me down to 1200 (I guess to lose the last 4 lbs?)

Hezzietiger1

Hmmm.. well thanks everyone for trying to help but i'm still kinda depressed.

I didn't think that once I LOST the weight that's when I'd feel WORSE.

I feel like I worked hard to get to now over the last nearly two months, but now i'm here there is nothing more to help me from MFP.

MFP asked for a "goal weight". That's kind of misleading because I didn't really have a goal weight. I don't care what I weigh, I care what I look like. I just set it for 156 to lose from my 174, because I had a gut and I wanted to get rid of it.

Now that I'm down to 160 I still have a little gut, (although I do look and feel much better), but now I want to make the change to start working out and get fit, but I don't know how to eat appropriately. Do I set MFP for weight gain, or what? Feel like I just fell in the cracks in the system and I don't know where to go from here.

Just go in and set your own custom goals. I eat 1500 a day plus exercise calories back and I'm still losing about 1 a week and I currently weigh 160. I would start there and adjust as needed.

Easywider

During the course of human events it becomes self evident that one shall dissolve ties with non-swoles to achieve aesthetic supremacy.

It is for this reason that I cast my ballet for Barack O' Drama, Ron Paul 2012.


NWO.

Rayman79

There are two approaches you can take, the traditional method is bulk/cut. This is where you have a period of time (at least several months) eating at a small/moderate caloric surplus, and hit the weights hard to build some muscle. You will put on a bit of fat too, but a good diet and macro split 'should' keep the fat gain in check. Then you eat at a deficit and cut the fat off (while still eating well and lifting) to preserve the muscle you have.

The other option is recomposition, where you eat at around maintenance or calorie/carb cycle in an attempt to cut the fat and build muscle at the same time.

My view on this is that recomp is significantly harder in that you have to be a lot more disciplined with your diet, and will take longer to see gains. It is probably best for those who are absolute beginners (to take advantage of noob gains in weight training) or well into their training where it is more about making smaller increments of progress.

This is why most people stick to the cut & bulk cycle. If you are happy where you are now and have a reasonably low body fat, it might be a good time to up the calories and hit the gym! Set your goal for a 1/2 lb gain, and see how that works for the next couple of months.

edit: 1200 cals is too low for almost every guy unless on a short term aggressive cutting program like RFL. 2lbs is too aggressive a target when you have such a small amount left to lose.

nz_deevaa

So from the picture, it says that you set yourself as lightly active with sports 3 times a week.

But you told MFP that you are sedentary with exercise 5 times a week -- have you been eating back your exercise cals?

You should def. be eating more than 1200 cals.

I'd suggest setting yourself to maintain for 4 - 6 weeks and re-evaluate at the end of that.

jeremyawilliamson

Do what it says! Up your calories to what the activity calculators are telling you. If you're into biking, do 3-4 rides each week at your aerobic threshold or below. Mix in some strength training at your gym 1-2 days a week. Continue eating the calories that you think you shouldn't be eating. Come back in 2 weeks and take your weight, body fat %, and measurements. Since you're not fixated on weight, you won't really care what your weight does, but go ahead and see what your weight, body fat % and measurements are. You'll know at this point if the calories you are eating is too much, too little or just right for your level of activity. Be sure to perform consistent weigh-in's (e.g. in the morning after you go to the bathroom).

By the way, don't fall into the trap of thinking that you have to eat nothing but protein to gain muscle and lose fat. The body uses carbohydrate to do any activity, be it aerobic or anaerobic activity. It can only utilize so much protein regardless of what you put in. You're much better fueled for your workouts if you will start to eat appropriate levels of carbohydrates... good workouts fueled by clean carbohydrates are going to facilitate the muscle gain that you are looking for. Many foods with carbohydrates are dense and contain a lot of calories (think potatoes, breads, brown rice, beans, etc.) and will help get you to your calorie goal. These are the foods that you should incorporate more of. Not more meat and protein powder. Good luck.

sheep_dog

So from the picture, it says that you set yourself as lightly active with sports 3 times a week.

But you told MFP that you are sedentary with exercise 5 times a week -- have you been eating back your exercise cals?

You should def. be eating more than 1200 cals.

I'd suggest setting yourself to maintain for 4 - 6 weeks and re-evaluate at the end of that.

Says I'm lightly active because I'm a student, and it says 3-5 times a week of moderate exercise (ride my bike 5 times a week)

and I told MFP that I am sedentary , because I'm a student, and that I exercise 5 times a week (same as above)

I thought with healthy eating and exercise I could work on my body , but from what I read it's either your 100 lbs overweight trying to drop weight, or your trying to massively body build into hulk.

I can't find anywhere that will help an average person at all... so I guess now I sit.

edit: and sorry i'm taking it out on you helpful people. Just depressed. MFP made it soooo easy to just bam follow my calorie goal, work out, and I saw results. Now that I'm to a different stage in my journey I feel like now I have nothing to help me. blah.

jeremyawilliamson

And set your MFP goal to maintain or slightly gain weight... 1200 indicates that you still have it set to lose weight. Or so it would seem.

kairisika

Set it to maintenance weight for a calorie estimate, then stop using your scale and ignore the weight.
Start lifting heavy weights, and eat more on your lifting days. See how your clothes fit in 3 months and go from there.

If you really need direction, visit a clinic, get a scientific assessment of your lean body mass, and eat at maintenance for your lean body mass.

LadyIntrepid

Here's a good calculator that may be able to help: http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/

nz_deevaa

So from the picture, it says that you set yourself as lightly active with sports 3 times a week.

But you told MFP that you are sedentary with exercise 5 times a week -- have you been eating back your exercise cals?

You should def. be eating more than 1200 cals.

I'd suggest setting yourself to maintain for 4 - 6 weeks and re-evaluate at the end of that.

Says I'm lightly active because I'm a student, and it says 3-5 times a week of moderate exercise (ride my bike 5 times a week)

and I told MFP that I am sedentary , because I'm a student, and that I exercise 5 times a week (same as above)

I thought with healthy eating and exercise I could work on my body , but from what I read it's either your 100 lbs overweight trying to drop weight, or your trying to massively body build into hulk.

I can't find anywhere that will help an average person at all... so I guess now I sit.

edit: and sorry i'm taking it out on you helpful people. Just depressed. MFP made it soooo easy to just bam follow my calorie goal, work out, and I saw results. Now that I'm to a different stage in my journey I feel like now I have nothing to help me. blah.

So what are your goals? You want to hit the gym get yourself into shape, but not get 'hulk-like'?

If that's the case... do what I said. Eat at maintenance. Go to the gym. and re-evaluate your goals in 4-6wks.

You can't turn into a hulk without trying really hard, and it's not going to happen quickly. If you see your body going 'hulk' in 4-6wks modify what you are doing.

sheep_dog

So from the picture, it says that you set yourself as lightly active with sports 3 times a week.

But you told MFP that you are sedentary with exercise 5 times a week -- have you been eating back your exercise cals?

You should def. be eating more than 1200 cals.

I'd suggest setting yourself to maintain for 4 - 6 weeks and re-evaluate at the end of that.

Says I'm lightly active because I'm a student, and it says 3-5 times a week of moderate exercise (ride my bike 5 times a week)

and I told MFP that I am sedentary , because I'm a student, and that I exercise 5 times a week (same as above)

I thought with healthy eating and exercise I could work on my body , but from what I read it's either your 100 lbs overweight trying to drop weight, or your trying to massively body build into hulk.

I can't find anywhere that will help an average person at all... so I guess now I sit.

edit: and sorry i'm taking it out on you helpful people. Just depressed. MFP made it soooo easy to just bam follow my calorie goal, work out, and I saw results. Now that I'm to a different stage in my journey I feel like now I have nothing to help me. blah.

So what are your goals? You want to hit the gym get yourself into shape, but not get 'hulk-like'?

If that's the case... do what I said. Eat at maintenance. Go to the gym. and re-evaluate your goals in 4-6wks.

You can't turn into a hulk without trying really hard, and it's not going to happen quickly. If you see your body going 'hulk' in 4-6wks modify what you are doing.

Ok, I'm in a better mood today! I'll take your advise, and eat at maintenance while going to the gym, and I'll see how i feel/look in a month and a half, then reevaluate if I'd like to focus on muscle, BF%, or what. Thanks!

Capt_Apollo

btw, you can enter 20 hours of exercises a week, and trying to burn 20,000 calories a week into MFP, and the numbers won't change.