Question about my calorie consumption.

kwikstop

I have a question for you guys. In the last 6 months I've gained ten pounds. I would like to shed those ten pounds. But I also started doing stronglifts. (I did NROLFW before but quit halfway through moves were getting too complicated,I really like the simplicity of stronglifts).

I know that strength training makes you lose Inches but might not necessarily move the scale. So my question is how many calories should I be eating? Should I set MFP to my Lose half a pound, a pound, or maintenance?

PunkE

I pay more attention to my pie and personally shoot for 40 carbs / 30fat / 30 protein intake ratios. Second, I use a bioimpedance scale so the lbs don't matter only if the fat% is going down and the muscle number goes up!

tameko2

I would set it to maintenance for now, and do that for 6 weeks (ish) and see how you do, then set it to .5lb, do it again for 6 weeks, reevaluate, etc. Get someone to take front side and back photos in the same position, take your scale weight, and measurements.

Tthe MFP numbers tend to be pretty low for anyone lifting or generally more active/muscular than average. So you might find that you lose weight eating the MFP maintenance anyway. Or you might just find that you recomp (lose fat, add muscle) on maintenance.

My take on calories is that, if you're in this for the long haul and you don't have a weight related medical condition there's no huge rush to lose weight right? And a lot of people end up undereating too deeply and their bodies just reduce their metabolism to compensate. So try maintenance, see what happens, then slowly drop until you're making progress.

kwikstop

Thanks for the response! I'm going to stick to maintenance for now and change my macros to 40/30/30.