Stuck? (dazed and confused)

crash1967
crash1967 Posts: 31
in Health and Weight Loss
I have been reading a lot about weight loss and feel somewhat overwhelmed at the whole thing. I tend to over think everything. I have been using the calorie counter here faithfully for a month now but have been on a keto diet for about a week more than that. I dont know my weight exactly when i started but i am pretty sure i was around 193 and i am now at 183 but i have been here now for about 2 weeks and it seems i have stalled.

My bmr is 1794 and i think i am burning another 500 cal a day with activity but i am not sure if i am figuring that out correctly. I am consuming 1650 cal a day which i just bumped up from 1500 a day as i was worried i was going into starvation mode. I do moderate dumbell work and cardio a couple of times a week but my job can be fairly active. The diet is not difficult at all for me and i feel good cutting out the carbs.

I am 45, 183# and 5'10“.

I dont want to lose the muscle and folks say to not do a lot of aerobic activity on this diet if you want to keep the muscle but i am thinking i should do more aerobic activity?

Thoughts, ideas, and suggestions would be welcome.

Replies

  • crash1967
    crash1967 Posts: 31
    If this helps i am consuming pretty accurately 124g of protiene, 119g of fat, and 21 g of carbs. I dont want to change too many things at once as it may muddy the water of my issues but have been thinking of dropping back to 1500 cal a day. I want to be around 170.
  • kit_katty
    kit_katty Posts: 992 Member
    Hold on, if you're eating 1650 and burning 500, then you're netting 1150 which is waaaaaaaaaaay too low, you should be eating your BMR at least. Though I'd check on how many calories you're burning, running about 5k is about 300 calories for someone who weighs about 150... so you need to be doing about 8k... for an example, are you really working out that much?

    I'd suggest calculating your TDEE and cutting by about 20%, but no more!
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,432 MFP Moderator
    As an active man, you are not eating enough.. That is why you are stuck. The same thing happened to me when I was eating 1800 calories. More than likely, you should be closer to 2200 based on your stats. Also, why are you eating so little carbs? There really isn't a need to eat that little unless you have a carb intolerance. And if you are in any way concerned about muscle loss, then you definitely need to eat more. I would also suggest getting a set of body fat calipers so you can measure body composition to see if you are losing lean body mass.
  • alienrite
    alienrite Posts: 314 Member
    Losing more than a pound or two a week is unsustainable. You'll do it for a couple weeks at best but your body will start defending against a sudden loss. I've had great weeks and flat weeks. In the end, I average 1.5 lbs per week. Since I've embraced the slow and steady mind set, I've been more consistent and relaxed and productive.
  • crash1967
    crash1967 Posts: 31
    TDEE? i will need to look that one up.

    I thought you find out your bmr and then go deficient from there? Thats what i mean by confused...

    So am i in starvation mode and my body wont lose the weight?

    And i am so low carb because that is the keto diet.
  • WinnerVictorious
    WinnerVictorious Posts: 4,733 Member
    I have been reading a lot about weight loss and feel somewhat overwhelmed at the whole thing. I tend to over think everything. I have been using the calorie counter here faithfully for a month now but have been on a keto diet for about a week more than that. I dont know my weight exactly when i started but i am pretty sure i was around 193 and i am now at 183 but i have been here now for about 2 weeks and it seems i have stalled.

    My bmr is 1794 and i think i am burning another 500 cal a day with activity but i am not sure if i am figuring that out correctly. I am consuming 1650 cal a day which i just bumped up from 1500 a day as i was worried i was going into starvation mode. I do moderate dumbell work and cardio a couple of times a week but my job can be fairly active. The diet is not difficult at all for me and i feel good cutting out the carbs.

    I am 45, 183# and 5'10“.

    I dont want to lose the muscle and folks say to not do a lot of aerobic activity on this diet if you want to keep the muscle but i am thinking i should do more aerobic activity?

    Thoughts, ideas, and suggestions would be welcome.

    there's a lot of bad information posted on these forums every day by well-meaning members. try to find the folks here who really know what they are talking about and follow their advice. the 2 members who started the EAT, TRAIN, PROGRESS group are trying to combat that bad information:

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/10118-eat-train-progress
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,432 MFP Moderator
    TDEE? i will need to look that one up.

    I thought you find out your bmr and then go deficient from there? Thats what i mean by confused...

    So am i in starvation mode and my body wont lose the weight?

    And i am so low carb because that is the keto diet.

    TDEE is total daily energy expended. This includes metabolic functions, daily activities and exercise. So I have a desk job, I burn 500 calories a day from exercise and my BMR is 2080 so my TDEE is:


    2080*1.2+500 = 2996

    Here is where I cut 20% which is 2400 ish calories. YOu want to eat more than your BMR or your BMR will adapt and burn less calories. BMR is basic metabolic functions. It's what you would burn if you slept for 24 hours.
  • Ramshots
    Ramshots Posts: 13 Member
    TDEE? i will need to look that one up.

    I thought you find out your bmr and then go deficient from there? Thats what i mean by confused...

    So am i in starvation mode and my body wont lose the weight?

    And i am so low carb because that is the keto diet.
    I've never seen a starving fat man. "Starvation mode" doesn't mean what you think it means.
  • PikaKnight
    PikaKnight Posts: 34,971 Member
    You can check out http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12

    It gives detailed instructions with how to find your TDEE and what your calorie consumption should be.
  • crash1967
    crash1967 Posts: 31
    Thanks for the input. Doing the calcs on the tdee i am uping my intake to 2000cal a day. This was after finding my bmr at 1789 and using light activity giving me a total of 2460 with a 20% deficit....... if i have it right. Sound good?
  • AnvilHead
    AnvilHead Posts: 18,343 Member
    Thanks for the input. Doing the calcs on the tdee i am uping my intake to 2000cal a day. This was after finding my bmr at 1789 and using light activity giving me a total of 2460 with a 20% deficit....... if i have it right. Sound good?
    Sounds like you have it right, as long as you took Dan's advice in the "Roadmap" thread and adjusted your macros accordingly. Shoot for around 1g of protein per pound of lean body mass (which usually comes out to right around 30% of your daily intake). Ignore the scale for a month or so and give your body time to adapt to the change - I think you'll like the results a lot better than starving your body like you were before.

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