We are pleased to announce that as of March 4, 2025, an updated Rich Text Editor has been introduced in the MyFitnessPal Community. To learn more about the changes, please click here. We look forward to sharing this new feature with you!

Almost there - now what??? HELP!

grggmrtn
grggmrtn Posts: 171 Member
edited January 22 in Food and Nutrition
I've been running about 5-6 times / week since January 6, run about 7-10 km (4.4 - 6.2 mi) each time, burning between 700-1000 calories each run, and have lost 35 kg (77 lbs), down from over 135 kg (298 lbs) - yes, I'm pushing myself to the EXTREME (with doctor's consent), eating about 1200 cals / day - yes, I'm a guy and should be eating more, but it's worked for me so far, with no fatigue and my progress is something I'm pretty darn proud of. I have about 5-10 kg left to lose (10 according to bmi but I'm a big guy and can't imagine being SO skinny as BMI tells me I should be, so I'm asking the mirror for when I'm finished).

But the transition to maintenance mode is TERRIFYING me.

My new goals:
- Build muscle, especially upper body (all the running gave me great legs already ;) )
- get stronger
- reduce my body fat % even though my weight says "normal"

The last 4 months I've gotten so used to the 1200 calories, that I have NO IDEA how much I SHOULD be eating when I go into maintenance/building, and WHAT to eat, as well as WHEN to eat it.

My diet has been high protein, and low fat and carbs (it varies, but usually over 100 g protein daily, around 50 g carbs and about 20 fat). It's worked. I eat my proteins more around my running, to make sure my muscles get what they need... And no carbs after 7 pm...

But I want to convert some of my cardio into strength training to balance out what's left over, and take care some of the loose skin. I don't have much, but muscles WILL help. But I'm not sure HOW or exactly WHAT I should be doing. I don't want to be EITHER a cardio guy or a weight lifter, I'd like to be a bit of both.

Oh who am I kidding? I want to look good naked.

Any ideas/advice?


P.s. I hope I posted this in the right forum??

Replies

  • The_Enginerd
    The_Enginerd Posts: 3,982 Member
    When you eat will not matter. Being that active, you will have to eat much more to build muscle and maintain weight. I'm 5'10.5", 165 lbs, and I will eat 3000 cal on the days I'm doing a 10k training run. I do runs and weights as well. You must surely be eating more protein/fat/carbs that what you have listed. That only adds up to 780 calories. I would suggest you start upping your intake gradually now if you are that close to your goal weight. Running a heavy deficit for as long as you have can slow your metabolism.

    As far as setting your protein/carb/fat and calorie goals, this is a great start:
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/819055-setting-your-calorie-and-macro-targets
This discussion has been closed.

Categories