I've never tracked calories before... advice?

NoSkinnyFat
NoSkinnyFat Posts: 28
in Health and Weight Loss
Hello,

A little about me. I've never counted calories before and have always been "skinny fat". I've never been athletic, and have never really been interested in working out. I always thought because I was slim, and a small size, that I was fine. Now I am 33 and I really would like to be more toned and lose the belly fat..

I am petite - at 119 lbs and 5 ft 3.5. I don't have a weight goal, nor do I necessarily have an inches goal. I just want to feel healthy, lose fat, be stronger, and tone.

I recently started working out using heavy weights in the past 2 months or so, however I was not monitoring my nutrition much. I have no idea how many calories I was consuming. Now, I tend to feel firmer, and am stronger, but I really haven't lost any inches and the scale generally says I weigh more (muscle gain I'm sure) - and until recently I also wasn't doing any cardio..

I am a lacto-ovo vegetarian (eat eggs and dairy) and I exercise about 2-3 times per week - with about 60 min of weights (full body, but varying exercises each time because I get bored with too much routine) and 20 -30 min of cardio.

Since I have never counted calories before, and am only lightly active by BMR is 1309 and TDEE is 1800. I have decided that 1550 calories is right around my TDEE-15% and is what I've started tracking for the past 5 days. I notice that as a tea drinker, I am frequently over my sugars and am getting used to balancing everything else.

Over the past 5 days - and during the past 2 months, I notice that my stomach really fluctuates in size (up and down) and it doesn't really stay at one size more than a few days - hence the overall feeling of no real change in size. It feels like I get bloated quite a bit the day after my strength training, and other days here and there.

Should I be starting my body at cut? Am I taking the right approach? As mentioned, I've never monitored calories before and I'm sure I used to eat quite a bit, but a lot of the wrong stuff. Once I started eating healthier, I'm sure I at times wasn't eating enough daily calories, also being a vegetarian, I try to balance my ratios better.

Any guidance would be welcomed. Thank you.

L

Replies

  • laurainparis
    laurainparis Posts: 64 Member
    Hi!
    Did you give yourself a little half inch there in your height? That's cute. :)
    I am a lacto-ovo vegetarian too. I lost 15 lbs doing 1200 calories a day for about 2 months. My only exercise is walking, but I don't eat my exercise calories. Counting calories probably has made me increase my vegetable intake and decrease my cheese/bread/sweets intake, because veggies are so low in calories- you get more bang for your calorie buck.

    You wrote: Should I be starting my body at cut?
    Sorry, I don't understand what that means! I don't know the lingo, I guess.

    Hope that helps, even a little! Good luck!
  • kimberliiw
    kimberliiw Posts: 242 Member
    Hopefully the heavy lifters here will chime in, they'll have some good advice on calories, cutting and building. To me it sounds like you don't need to lose weight, just fat. In that case you would need to eat your TDEE calories and lift heavy. Bump this up again if you don't get more replies and also you might want to post this on the fitness board.
  • NoSkinnyFat
    NoSkinnyFat Posts: 28
    Thank you both. @laurainparis - cut means to take your TDEE minus 15% so that you are working at a deficit each day but still over BMR. I just learned that, so I'm by no means an expert ;) 1200 calories would be much too low for me as it's even below BMR and I wouldn't be able to sustain that.

    @Kimberliiw - Thanks as well, good suggestion. I agree about the weight loss, hence not really having any "hard goals". It makes it tougher to communicate, thanks for understanding that :)

    For clarification I think what I really need to understand is whether I should start at TDEE - 15% (cut) now, even with no real gauge as to what I've previously been hitting nutritionally, OR whether I should do the "metabolism reset" - where I believe you eat your full TDEE for 4-6 weeks to show your body consistency and then cut later. I've read some posts regarding each, and think there seems to be logic in both approaches, and some have regretted one before the other, so I'm confused and would like to start on the right foot - lol.

    I should also clarify that I'm by no means a bodybuilder, "heavy weights" 2-3 times weekly means about 8-12 reps of whatever weight my body can handle per exercise/body part. I tend to lift say 12 lbs biceps, 20 lbs dumbbells for bench, 80 lbs leg press, etc. Usually 3 sets, some weaker areas I do 4 sets. And I'm only 2 months in... Cardio started 2 weeks ago.

    Thanks anyone else that can assist! :)
  • geekyjock76
    geekyjock76 Posts: 2,720 Member
    You should really figure out what amount of calories you need to consume just to maintain your body weight with your present level of activity first before reducing or upping calories prematurely. I think too many people on here do too much adjusting of calories eaten and exercise calories to the point they have no clue approximately what they need to truly maintain weight. This is especially true if a person has chronically restricted calories by habitually eating less than they need.

    Before doing a "bulk" cycle, it's preferable if your body fat percentage is already relatively low - like 20% or so. The reason is because you will gain [ideally] a 1:1 lb ratio of fat-to-muscle during a surplus of calories. As a woman, you can realistically gain 1 lb of muscle per month. With that said, then you can expect to gain a total of 2 lbs per month which would require a surplus above actual TDEE of 250 calories daily. You do not want to create too large of a surplus because you do not have a limit to how much fat you can gain. So you want to aim for that 1:1 ratio per month. You would stop your bulk cycle when your body fat percentage reaches a designated stopping point - say 24% if you began at 20%. Basically, the leaner you are to start, the longer of a bulk cycle you can maintain and thus, gain more muscle before stopping.

    If you are not quite that lean yet, then it's recommended you focus on "cutting" to reduce body fat while maintaining lean body mass. Since you are so petite, I would only take a .05 lb weight loss goal (250 calorie deficit below actual TDEE) till you reach an acceptable body fat percentage. You can also do a percentage cut around 15 to 25% if you wish if it leads to similar weekly fat loss. You want a smaller deficit to reduce any excessive alterations to your endocrine system such as reduced resting metabolic rate and declining leptin levels. Additionally, try not to overdo it on the cardio which can lead to a greater deficit than intended - too much cardio can have a negative impact on the endocrine system via elevated cortisol levels which typically leads to abnormal water retention.

    Finally, use this site and enter in your stats for both cutting and when you are ready to do a bulk:

    http://www.weightrainer.net/losscalc.html
  • spangey13
    spangey13 Posts: 294
    Additionally, try not to overdo it on the cardio which can lead to a greater deficit than intended - too much cardio can have a negative impact on the endocrine system via elevated cortisol levels which typically leads to abnormal water retention.

    What on earth does "too much cardio can have a negative impact on the endocrine system via elevated cortisol levels ...." mean??
    I run for 40-50 minutes every day. Is that too much?!
  • NoSkinnyFat
    NoSkinnyFat Posts: 28
    @geekyjock76 - Thanks for that. Let me try to work this out in my brain, if you don't mind...

    Based on the online scooby TDEE calculator, I ended up with 1800 as TDEE and 1309 BMR. I'm currently eating 1550 for last 5 days (which is TDEE - 15% approx). Currently I believe I am around 24% BF. Although it's been a few weeks and not sure my BF scale is 100%.

    Based on that, I would assume that your suggestion is that I am to "cut" first, by using your 0.5/week suggestion down to 20% or so BF? SO, using your link, it says for me to eat 1477 kcals/day. And 1727 for maintenance. Similar to the Scooby numbers.

    I tend to do a quick 5 min cardio warm up (say 40 calories burned) and then 20 minutes at the end for an additional ~ 150 burn.
    Since I have no idea what is actually burned in strength training for an hour, I don't factor that in.

    TO sum up then, based on both pieces of information, it seems like my original goal of eating 1550 calories (TDEE - 15%) is pretty accurate, although possibly could be reduced to 1477, or split the difference at 1500. The difference isn't much. Does that seem correct?

    And based on that, should I eat back my cardio calories on those days, or is the amount burned 150-190 small enough to be contained in the ~ 1500 daily?

    So confusing, thanks! Much appreciated.
  • geekyjock76
    geekyjock76 Posts: 2,720 Member
    What on earth does "too much cardio can have a negative impact on the endocrine system via elevated cortisol levels ...." mean??
    I run for 40-50 minutes every day. Is that too much?!

    Calorie restriction is a stress. Exercising is a stress. When both are within acceptable levels, your body can keep up and alterations to one's endocrine system are kept minimal. However, if you engage in one or both in an extreme fashion - ie eat way too little and exercise excessively - it creates a stress that's too great. As a response, your body - the endocrine system in particular - adjusts. Your resting metabolic rate drops at an even faster rate; leptin levels do so as well; and cortisol can be elevated.

    If you aren't restricting calories to insane levels, then 40-50 minutes is within acceptable levels. I'm referring to people who eat maybe at 50% deficits and then do 60 minutes or more of cardio each day.
  • spangey13
    spangey13 Posts: 294
    What on earth does "too much cardio can have a negative impact on the endocrine system via elevated cortisol levels ...." mean??
    I run for 40-50 minutes every day. Is that too much?!

    Calorie restriction is a stress. Exercising is a stress. When both are within acceptable levels, your body can keep up and alterations to one's endocrine system are kept minimal. However, if you engage in one or both in an extreme fashion - ie eat way too little and exercise excessively - it creates a stress that's too great. As a response, your body - the endocrine system in particular - adjusts. Your resting metabolic rate drops at an even faster rate; leptin levels do so as well; and cortisol can be elevated.

    If you aren't restricting calories to insane levels, then 40-50 minutes is within acceptable levels. I'm referring to people who eat maybe at 50% deficits and then do 60 minutes or more of cardio each day.

    Gotcha (after reading over a few times!!).
  • NoSkinnyFat
    NoSkinnyFat Posts: 28
    You should really figure out what amount of calories you need to consume just to maintain your body weight with your present level of activity first before reducing or upping calories prematurely. I think too many people on here do too much adjusting of calories eaten and exercise calories to the point they have no clue approximately what they need to truly maintain weight. This is especially true if a person has chronically restricted calories by habitually eating less than they need.

    Before doing a "bulk" cycle, it's preferable if your body fat percentage is already relatively low - like 20% or so. The reason is because you will gain [ideally] a 1:1 lb ratio of fat-to-muscle during a surplus of calories. As a woman, you can realistically gain 1 lb of muscle per month. With that said, then you can expect to gain a total of 2 lbs per month which would require a surplus above actual TDEE of 250 calories daily. You do not want to create too large of a surplus because you do not have a limit to how much fat you can gain. So you want to aim for that 1:1 ratio per month. You would stop your bulk cycle when your body fat percentage reaches a designated stopping point - say 24% if you began at 20%. Basically, the leaner you are to start, the longer of a bulk cycle you can maintain and thus, gain more muscle before stopping.

    If you are not quite that lean yet, then it's recommended you focus on "cutting" to reduce body fat while maintaining lean body mass. Since you are so petite, I would only take a .05 lb weight loss goal (250 calorie deficit below actual TDEE) till you reach an acceptable body fat percentage. You can also do a percentage cut around 15 to 25% if you wish if it leads to similar weekly fat loss. You want a smaller deficit to reduce any excessive alterations to your endocrine system such as reduced resting metabolic rate and declining leptin levels. Additionally, try not to overdo it on the cardio which can lead to a greater deficit than intended - too much cardio can have a negative impact on the endocrine system via elevated cortisol levels which typically leads to abnormal water retention.

    Finally, use this site and enter in your stats for both cutting and when you are ready to do a bulk:

    http://www.weightrainer.net/losscalc.html

    aha! figured out the quote thing! lol...

    @geekyjock76 - Thanks for that. Let me try to work this out in my brain, if you don't mind...

    Based on the online scooby TDEE calculator, I ended up with 1800 as TDEE and 1309 BMR. I'm currently eating 1550 for last 5 days (which is TDEE - 15% approx). Currently I believe I am around 24% BF. Although it's been a few weeks and not sure my BF scale is 100%.

    Based on that, I would assume that your suggestion is that I am to "cut" first, by using your 0.5/week suggestion down to 20% or so BF? SO, using your link, it says for me to eat 1477 kcals/day. And 1727 for maintenance. Similar to the Scooby numbers.

    I tend to do a quick 5 min cardio warm up (say 40 calories burned) and then 20 minutes at the end for an additional ~ 150 burn.
    Since I have no idea what is actually burned in strength training for an hour, I don't factor that in.

    TO sum up then, based on both pieces of information, it seems like my original goal of eating 1550 calories (TDEE - 15%) is pretty accurate, although possibly could be reduced to 1477, or split the difference at 1500. The difference isn't much. Does that seem correct?

    And based on that, should I eat back my cardio calories on those days, or is the amount burned 150-190 small enough to be contained in the ~ 1500 daily?

    So confusing, thanks! Much appreciated.
  • geekyjock76
    geekyjock76 Posts: 2,720 Member
    @geekyjock76 - Thanks for that. Let me try to work this out in my brain, if you don't mind...

    Based on the online scooby TDEE calculator, I ended up with 1800 as TDEE and 1309 BMR. I'm currently eating 1550 for last 5 days (which is TDEE - 15% approx). Currently I believe I am around 24% BF. Although it's been a few weeks and not sure my BF scale is 100%.

    Based on that, I would assume that your suggestion is that I am to "cut" first, by using your 0.5/week suggestion down to 20% or so BF? SO, using your link, it says for me to eat 1477 kcals/day. And 1727 for maintenance. Similar to the Scooby numbers.

    I tend to do a quick 5 min cardio warm up (say 40 calories burned) and then 20 minutes at the end for an additional ~ 150 burn.
    Since I have no idea what is actually burned in strength training for an hour, I don't factor that in.

    TO sum up then, based on both pieces of information, it seems like my original goal of eating 1550 calories (TDEE - 15%) is pretty accurate, although possibly could be reduced to 1477, or split the difference at 1500. The difference isn't much. Does that seem correct?

    And based on that, should I eat back my cardio calories on those days, or is the amount burned 150-190 small enough to be contained in the ~ 1500 daily?

    So confusing, thanks! Much appreciated.
    You do not "eat back" exercise calories when using the TDEE formula because exercise is already considered when including activity level. So you could eat about 1500 calories and see what happens. However, if you are exercising most days (4 or 5) of the week doing weights and a bit of cardio, you may fall into the moderately active category and would need slightly more calories.
  • NoSkinnyFat
    NoSkinnyFat Posts: 28
    You do not "eat back" exercise calories when using the TDEE formula because exercise is already considered when including activity level. So you could eat about 1500 calories and see what happens. However, if you are exercising most days (4 or 5) of the week doing weights and a bit of cardio, you may fall into the moderately active category and would need slightly more calories.

    Thank you! :happy:
  • Missmsg
    Missmsg Posts: 5
    OMG.. Same feelings here, I went a got tested for food alergies. I was allergic to yeast and dairy. I have taken it out of my diet and have lost that bloated feeling ever since. Get tested.. Sorry I couldn't answer any other questions.
  • NoSkinnyFat
    NoSkinnyFat Posts: 28
    OMG.. Same feelings here, I went a got tested for food alergies. I was allergic to yeast and dairy. I have taken it out of my diet and have lost that bloated feeling ever since. Get tested.. Sorry I couldn't answer any other questions.

    Thanks, I'm going to try this calorie adjustment for 4 weeks and if I don't see results, I definitely will have an allergy test. :) Glad you were able to find the culprit.

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