Opinions Appreciated!

christadiehl

Hey all, I have a quick question on calorie amounts. I've been eating roughly 2000 calories a day for awhile now, whether I logged it here or not. Here's some info for ya:

Monday Cathe STS (started today first time with a Cathe program)
Tuesday Cardio 30-40 minutes (usually ellyptical or cycling due to bad knees, anything low impact really)
Wednesday Cathe STS
Thursday Cardio 30-40 minutes
Friday Cathe STS
Saturday either a spin class or whatever I feel like cardio wise, if anything at all...usually depends on how I'm feeling or what my work schedule is that day.
Sunday Free Day with exercise and food

I work retail for a very small store, but it's not heavy traffic, so not too much moving around. I'm at the register most of the time, and at home I'm fairly inactive other than light cleaning, cooking, walking the dog on occassion. Main "movement" is the daily exercise.

Per Scoobysworkshop.com
BMR 1471
TDEE 2280
10-15% 1950-2050

I'm 26, 5'4" and 164.5 lbs, 32% BF (roughly)

Anyhow, the past several weeks I've done some workouts, but very inconsistent. I was more focused on making sure I got enough food in, at the correct times in the day....baby steps I didn't gain, didn't lose, but that's fine considering I wasn't really super active.

Anyhow, long story longer, I am curious if anyone out there who has done Cathe STS before, or a program with heavy weights like this, would have any input on my current intake level. I REALLY hope I don't have to go lower (now I'm used to this amount, any less seems like torture!), and I'm a bit nervous to go up, but if it's best, it's best.

My goals at this moment are to lose weight, not necessarily build muscle. I don't really care about the scale, but I'm in a size 12/14 pant, and on my height, it's NOT very comfortable (and seems to be getting tighter, so...yeah, not so great). So, losing "size" and slimming down is my focus.....make sense??

Thanks in advance to anyone who shares your thoughts!

christadiehl

Anyone mind taking a look? I'd truly appreciate it! Thanks!

photojunkie28

I really can't say for sure, but it is possible you need to eat a bit more. I'm saying this just by comparing you with myself since our stats are fairly close. I'm still figuring out my own body after having done lots of damage through vlcd's. I'll give you my info and let you make your own comparrison. (P.S. I get my calorie counts through a device called a BodyMedia that I have now been wearing for a bit over 3 weeks gathering data)

I am 28 years old, 5'5 and 169 lbs (up 5 lbs from increasing my calories 3 weeks ago)
I work retail as well, but spend the majority of the time walking consistantly and setting/moving things..no cashiering. Minimal standing in place. I get about 10,000 steps in on the average workday if that helps.

I also workout about 4-5 days a week for 50 minutes doing a number of various classes including Belly Dance, Weights class, Jogging at the gym, Zumba, Turbo Kick or whatever else strikes my fancy.

My TDEE is roughly 2950-3100. On my intense days I burn 3400 and on relaxed days 2700.

I hope this gives some perspective. Maybe you could try upping just by 100-200 calories for a couple weeks and see what happens?

photojunkie28

Oh and my BF% is somewhere between 29%-31%

christadiehl

Thank you, that does help! Are you currently doing the reset, eating maintenance, or cutting? I know you mentioned you had gained since upping calories, which is normal with the reset. I didn't ever do vlcd, mainly because if I eat below 1500 I get awful headaches, super irritable, and my blood sugar takes a nose dive. I tried 1400 for a month at the beginning of 2012, along with doing Les Mills Bodypump classes 3 days a week and walking 30 minutes 3 days and it was the worst time. I wanted to sleep all day and ended up binging almost every night until the shakiness stabilized, then I'd crash for over 10 hours of sleep, just to get up and do it all again the next day. After that I stopped tracking food and ate as healthy as I could, but didn't turn anything down, and I felt SO much better, but didn't lose any weight or inches at all...assuming maintenance, but no idea what the calorie level was! Kinda backfired

Anyhow, I didn't necessarily do vlcd, but I wasn't consistent day to day either, so not sure...I've had extreme trouble losing weight in the past, and packed on 30+ pounds in under 6 months without doing anything different (this was 2011). Since then I've gained/lost the same 15 pounds for over a year and a half. 165 is the highest I've ever been, so hoping a consistent amount and consistent exercise will do SOMETHING, even if it goes up, just so I have numbers to start with!

I will finish this week and next week with the 2000 and the current workout schedule, just because it just started, to see what this does, and if it stays the same, I'll bump it up. I've had my thyroid tested several times, and I'm convinced there's something off somewhere, but my doctor doesn't understand why I'm wanting to look into other situations, so trial and error is my friend these days

Thank you photojunkie28 for the message, I appreciate you giving me something to gauge against!

heybales

So counting 35 hrs of work weekly standing.
Cardio more intense than walking 4 mph of 35 min x 2 + 45 spin class weekly = 115 min.
Cathe video's 45 min sessions of lifting = 135 min.

BMR multiplier of 1.56. So Moderately Active would be best estimate.

That changes of course depending on what I guessed wrong on there. Cathe is really lifting type workout, sets, reps, and rests? Or constant activity with no rests, more cardio type?

Spin class time? How iffy? Might be best to eat it when really done, but not include in TDEE estimate.

On feet time at job? If not 40 hr job, what is the other hrs that might make up a 40 hr work week? Chasing kids around?

Indeed Katch BMR 1466, TDEE 2285.

So you should eventually end up at 2285 if you have been eating a huge deficit for a long time and stalled.

christadiehl

That changes of course depending on what I guessed wrong on there. Cathe is really lifting type workout, sets, reps, and rests? Or constant activity with no rests, more cardio type?

**Cathe is broken up into 3 months, each a different focus. Currently it is endurance, 60% 1RM for 12-15 reps to failure. There is roughly a 30 second rest period between sets, which includes set up for the next exercise. One day is Chest, Shoulders, Biceps, 2nd day is Back, Triceps, and 3rd day is Legs. So, more cardio effect this month, but next month will be hypertrophy and I'll adjust accordingly when it comes.

Spin class time? How iffy? Might be best to eat it when really done, but not include in TDEE estimate.

**The classes are roughly 45 minutes. These are more random, not a "must" every week. I just like to work my legs a few times a week, but not necessarily with weights every time.

On feet time at job? If not 40 hr job, what is the other hrs that might make up a 40 hr work week? Chasing kids around?

**I work roughly 32-40 hours a week, varies week to week. On my feet, but not intense walking (small retail store). No kids, at home I'm fairly sedentary beyond light cleaning, cooking, etc.

Indeed Katch BMR 1466, TDEE 2285.

So you should eventually end up at 2285 if you have been eating a huge deficit for a long time and stalled.

**2285 seems to be what I've been thinking also, just didn't know if 2000 as a cut would make a difference, or if I should lower to 1800. I haven't been on 2000 for a long time, so I'll stick with it for a bit longer to see what happens, but I didn't know if lowering while doing heavy weights would be cancelling each other out.

Thanks Heybales for all your information, I really appreciate it!

heybales

I'm going to actually suggest that with that good lifting in there, you could be down at 1765 and be safe, if you did at least macros of carbs 50%, protein 25%, fat 25%, which would give you the recommended protein and fat intake needed, carbs get the rest.
So 1800 is very reasonable on a full firing metabolism. Stay up there at TDEE until no weight gain there. And if no extreme deficits had been done for extended periods, shouldn't have a problem with a deficit then.

But, your comment about lowering calories doing the lifting - it will impact it.

Just as eating at TDEE would impact strength gains compared to eating in surplus.
Eating in deficit will too compared to eating at TDEE.
And bigger deficit compared to smaller deficit.

So depends on what you need. If not much weight to go, and you'd like body transform faster, than smaller deficit. If you need weight off the joints and realize smaller strength gains is side effect, than bigger deficit.

Oh, that 12-15 reps is still lifting endurance, no need to adjust anything. That's nothing compared to the lighter weights and 40-50 reps some programs do, now that's cardio endurance with strength training benefit.