Thoughts and Suggestions Wanted

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domin8orx
domin8orx Posts: 25
in Health and Weight Loss
I'm a 27 year old male at 5'10, 240lbs at 30% body fat

My goal is to get to 200 and not sure of a realistic body fat %

My BMR is 2250 and TDEE is around 3800 (conservative estimate)

I workout 6 days a week and rest on the 7th day.

Weight lift 45 minutes (interchange lower and upper by the days of the week, 3 days upper and 3 days lower by the end of the week)

then...

Elliptical 45 minutes daily (roughly 600 calories burned)

I consume:

1900-2000 calories,170g portien, 60-70g fat, 100g carbs

I snack throughout the day.

I do have a cheat day once a week and its generally on my rest day.

I drink over 150oz water a day.

I've stayed in the same weight range 235-240 for the past month since I started this regiment.

I have lost a few notches on my belt this month and others are noticing results.

I bought 36 jeans in late December and may have to buy 34s in a few weeks.

Any suggestions or thoughts on my plan?

Thank you!

Replies

  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
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    I have lost a few notches on my belt this month and others are noticing results.

    Any suggestions or thoughts on my plan?

    Thank you!

    sounds great!

    though if you are only eating 2000 cals and burning off 600+ with your workout, that a fairly aggressive deficit and puts you eating below your BMR. you could probably eat more.
  • domin8orx
    domin8orx Posts: 25
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    I have lost a few notches on my belt this month and others are noticing results.

    Any suggestions or thoughts on my plan?

    Thank you!

    sounds great!

    though if you are only eating 2000 cals and burning off 600+ with your workout, that a fairly aggressive deficit and puts you eating below your BMR. you could probably eat more.

    Thank you!

    With the weight training/cardio daily, I'm probably burning around 800 daily (conservative weight training estimate).

    I started at 1800 calories... then a trainer recommended me up to 2000 calories at January 12th. Any suggestions as to how much more I should add?

    FYI:I do work an 8hr desk job
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
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    TDEE -20% is the recommended reduction for 1lb per week weight loss, so about 3000cals would probably still lead to a loss each week.
  • domin8orx
    domin8orx Posts: 25
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    I'll adjust by adding 600-700 calories to my diet and that will give me just over 1k daily deficit.

    Its crazy to think I've been doing 1,800 deficit x 6 days = 10,800 ...divided by 3,500 = 3lbs. That is absurd:sick: .

    FYI: I discovered TDEE this morning, I was basing everyting on BMR + workouts to create a deficit. What a noob mistake.
  • 30ismyyear
    30ismyyear Posts: 145 Member
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    I gotta say... if you're seeing results in your pants, you've obviously lost inches and probably gained muscle. The scale isn't always the best tool for showing weight loss. Especially if people have been noticing! They say it can take 8 weeks for friends/family to even see results so you must be doing something right. I've lost 12 and not one person has noticed (although I have much more to lose than you!)
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
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    I'll adjust by adding 600-700 calories to my diet and that will give me just over 1k daily deficit.

    Its crazy to think I've been doing 1,800 deficit x 6 days = 10,800 ...divided by 3,500 = 3lbs. That is absurd:sick: .

    FYI: I discovered TDEE this morning, I was basing everyting on BMR + workouts to create a deficit. What a noob mistake.

    sounds like a plan. you can always increase more if you find yourself hungry or lacking energy
  • domin8orx
    domin8orx Posts: 25
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    I gotta say... if you're seeing results in your pants, you've obviously lost inches and probably gained muscle. The scale isn't always the best tool for showing weight loss. Especially if people have been noticing! They say it can take 8 weeks for friends/family to even see results so you must be doing something right. I've lost 12 and not one person has noticed (although I have much more to lose than you!)

    The ones that noticed I haven't seen in a few months and it was really a vindication of a month of hard work. With going to 3 weddings starting in 3 months, I should get a lot of notice then.

    I've thought about stepping away from the scale and do it once a month and let my clothes do the talking for me.
  • 50kgRussianBallerina
    50kgRussianBallerina Posts: 55 Member
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    The only potential problem I see with increasing your intake by 600 calories is you say you have a cheat day once a week. How do you define a cheat day? Do you eat whatever you want and generally end up eating quite a lot more than usual? If so, that cheat day may well make up for [at least part of] the extra deficit you are about to add back now.

    Just something to consider...
  • weird_me2
    weird_me2 Posts: 716 Member
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    I'm a 27 year old male at 5'10, 240lbs at 30% body fat

    My goal is to get to 200 and not sure of a realistic body fat %

    My BMR is 2250 and TDEE is around 3800 (conservative estimate)

    I workout 6 days a week and rest on the 7th day.

    Weight lift 45 minutes (interchange lower and upper by the days of the week, 3 days upper and 3 days lower by the end of the week)

    then...

    Elliptical 45 minutes daily (roughly 600 calories burned)

    I consume:

    1900-2000 calories,170g portien, 60-70g fat, 100g carbs

    I snack throughout the day.

    I do have a cheat day once a week and its generally on my rest day.

    I drink over 150oz water a day.

    I've stayed in the same weight range 235-240 for the past month since I started this regiment.

    I have lost a few notches on my belt this month and others are noticing results.

    I bought 36 jeans in late December and may have to buy 34s in a few weeks.

    Any suggestions or thoughts on my plan?

    Thank you!

    Something else to think about is that your calculations may be off. I did a BMR calculator based on weight and body fat % and it gives you a BMR of 2015 with a sedentary TDEE of 2419, which you would then add exercise calories to for a TDEE of around 3200. Or, with a BMR of 2015 and moderately active TDEE you get 3124, which is pretty close. So, if your estimates are off by 600 calories, then you are having a weekly deficit that's 4200 calories less than calculated. Add this to the fact that sometimes on Ellipticals your calorie burns can be less than expected and your calculations could be off by 800-1000 calories, especially if you are heavier and don't have the resistance high enough on the elliptical.

    I googled this because my calorie burns on the elliptical were so much easier than mine on the treadmill (which matches up pretty well with online calculators) and I discovered that even when the METS were measuring the same, I was expending way less energy on the elliptical than on the treadmill. On the elliptical you have the assistance of forward momentum that you don't have on the treadmill. Have you ever noticed that when you are trying to stop on the elliptical your legs usually go through a couple more rotations? Since calories burned are calculated by METS by most of these machines, I truly believe that I was not meeting my full potential on the elliptical.
  • domin8orx
    domin8orx Posts: 25
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    The only potential problem I see with increasing your intake by 600 calories is you say you have a cheat day once a week. How do you define a cheat day? Do you eat whatever you want and generally end up eating quite a lot more than usual? If so, that cheat day may well make up for [at least part of] the extra deficit you are about to add back now.

    Just something to consider...

    My cheat days are not well defined unfortunately. I think I've done it where I don't worry about a particular meal and the calories consumed.

    You do make a good point and I will look into it more closely.
  • domin8orx
    domin8orx Posts: 25
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    @weird_me2

    I've run into this issue where different websites will give me different figures. I think the TDEE came from a site that allowed you to breakdown your day into how many minutes you sleep, exercies, ect.. ect..

    Any trusted sites?

    With Ellipitcals, I would increase the level if I notice my workout was getting easier the day before. I prefer ellipitcals at this point just so that I'm not pounding my joints @240lbs. I use to run cross country @ 200lbs and that is my goal right now.
  • weird_me2
    weird_me2 Posts: 716 Member
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    While those sites where you can plug in your individual activities, it can have a higher margin of error. First of all, it's based on user input and often our perception is not the same as reality. Secondly, it's going to do it's calorie calculations based on age, sex, height and weight. While that sounds like it would be more accurate, if you have a higher body fat % than is estimated, then you will have less LBM and in turn burn fewer calories than expected. Since you know your body fat %, going by a BMR calculator based on body fat is probably going to be more accurate for you since you apparently have a higher percentage body fat than is estimated for your height/weight/sex/age.

    As for calculating calories burned on an elliptical, I would google it and look at a few sites. The problem with these calculators is that they are usually not speed/resistance specific so can have a very wide margin for error. I've noticed that the MFP elliptical calculator is usually way off from the machines and I even think the machines are too high for me. Doing treadmill work seems to be more accurate for me and my fat loss is what has been expected based on my calories in/calories out. One thing you could do is to determine the average METS you are doing on an elliptical (the machine I used tells you this) and then do a workout of equivalent time and METS on the treadmill and see if you notice a difference in the effort required. If you aren't ready to run to get your mets up, walk at a slower pace on a higher incline. I've found that in order for my treadmill METS to be the same as what I can perform on the elliptical, I have to walk at a 10% incline and 3.3 or higher speed. That's a heck of a lot harder than the elliptical (for me)!

    ETA: Definitely track EVERYTHING, even your "cheat" meals or days. The calories can really add up much more quickly than you think. I don't call my meals "cheats" but I generally go way over on calories when eating out. Last time I ate out I had half an order of cheese fries with ranch and 2 pork spare ribs with extra bbq sauce and consumed over 1500 calories. I stayed away from the rolls, but they are light and fluffy and have a butter spread and come out to 250+ calories PER ROLL. DH consumed close to 3000 calories in that same meal (had more food than me) and we didn't even have any caloric beverages! Just being off on your exercise calories , being off on your true calories burned per day and not tracking those cheats can really put you much closer to maintenance than you would think.
  • domin8orx
    domin8orx Posts: 25
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    Just being off on your exercise calories , being off on your true calories burned per day and not tracking those cheats can really put you much closer to maintenance than you would think.

    I need to do some more studying of my plan to make sure this does not happen.

    Thank you!
  • domin8orx
    domin8orx Posts: 25
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    http://www.health-calc.com/diet/energy-expenditure-advanced

    I checked this one out where it will break you day down into minutes/categories

    I put my sleep at 7hrs

    Moderate Exercise at 1:30

    Sitting at 15:30 (just a hypothetical, I do walk/cook/stand throught the day)

    Shows BMR @ 2343 and TEE @ 4119
  • weird_me2
    weird_me2 Posts: 716 Member
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    First off, it's giving you 1000 calories a day for exercise. Secondly, you have consider the fact that you really probably aren't sitting 15.5 hours per day and you aren't working out for a steady 1.5 hours of moderate intensity per day. Finally, remember that this BMR calculator is based on an average male your height/weight/age/sex. Using a BMR/TDEE calculator based on LBM or body fat % shows that you are at a lower than expected BMR for this combination of factors. This means that any calculator that does not take these things in to account are going to be more inaccurage than not. Plus, depending on your body fat % measuring method, if your body fat % is actually higher than measured, your calorie burn would be EVEN LOWER than I calculated. If you want to try a more exact calorie calculator based on activity, go to www.caloriesperhour.com and use their calculator. You enter your weight and how long you perform an activity for and it gives you a running total. With this calculator you can put in "eating", "Sitting quietly-eg watching TV", "driving small vehicle", "sleeping", etc. I put in 7 hours sleeping, 15.5 hours sitting quietly and 1.5 hours wakling 3.5 mph uphill and they give you a TDEE of 3300, which is 800 lower than you calculated, and I still think probably high. Walking at that pace uphill burns twice as many calories as "weight lifting-moderate" does for the same amount of time, and the weight lifting time isn't including breaks. So, 45 minutes of weight lifting might actually only be 30 minutes of work.
  • domin8orx
    domin8orx Posts: 25
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    Very good points btw weird_me2! You've obviously done the research.

    The link below seems to be what you are describing.

    http://www.cordianet.com/calculator.htm

    Results:240lbs at 30% BF @ moderate exercise

    Estimated Base BMR: 2015 Calories.
    Estimated TDEE: 3124 Calories.
    Estimated Daily Caloric Need For Weight Loss: 2624 Calories.

    .
  • domin8orx
    domin8orx Posts: 25
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    Update: 5 Weeks on program

    230lbs as of last night (2/6), which puts me at 2lb a week loss.

    I have not done my BF calculation because apparently it picks up on water and I drink a ton of water.

    I've adjusted my workout routine to 5 days on and 1 day off.

    Still eating around 2000 calories and feel satisfied.

    This includes a cheat weekend of snacking, alcohol, heavy meals, and desert. My metabolism must be running much higher.

    I also had to drill a new hole in my belt last weekend and my clothes feel bit baggy on me.

    I also found a pair of paints and a dress shirt from my closet that I now fit back into.

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