Sooo, help me understand this....

So my BMR is 1799, i consumed 1981 calories but burned off 1,100 so my remaning was about 800 calories. Im trying to lose about 15 lbs
im 5'9 an weigh roughly 158 i want to go back down to 140-145 and lose the dreadful "love handles"
between insanity workout (day 2) and cardio at the gym i feel like im burning alot.....anyways MY QUESTION(s) IS....what amount should i eat to lose the MAXIMUM fat ?? should i stay right at my bmr? stay under?? way under?? or is it okay to do like i did yesterday and just work out alot?

Replies

  • SnivyToast
    SnivyToast Posts: 25 Member
    Focus less on weight more on appearance. Weight lifting (heavy) will help to give you a better body when you are done.

    Use http://www.1percentedge.com/ifcalc/ to figure out what you should be eating.
  • weight lifting + cardio? i was told cardio is the most importance to shed all together?
  • SnivyToast
    SnivyToast Posts: 25 Member
    Not really. Cardio will allow you more calories in a day, but if you are doing say 30 minutes of cardio 3 times a week that is 900-1200 calories burned which can easily just be avoided through eating.

    I do both, but largely because a friend and I made a pact to run a 10K race in a few months.

    Weight lifting is generally though to help your body burn more calories after and will make your body much firmer. It'll help get rid of love handles and give you a very flat stomach. (It's also a lot more fun that cardio)

    Look into a program like Starting Strength or Stronglifts 5x5
  • gotcha, thanks! :)
  • crystalflame
    crystalflame Posts: 1,049 Member
    Yep, heavy weights are the way to go. Compound lifts like squats and deadlifts will engage your core and get you results faster - those should be included in the programs mentioned above. Eat at least at your BMR, but preferably at your TDEE-20%. A lot of people on here will say great things about Insanity as well, so if you don't have access to weights, at least keep doing that.
  • rmaglathlin
    rmaglathlin Posts: 20 Member
    and remember, not all calories are equal. you want to be eating a 40:40:20 ratio of carbohydrates:protein:fat (percentages of total calories) for the insanity workouts. if you are eating too many carbohydrates and drinking alcohol but staying under your caloric max, you probably won't lose much, or if you do, you will also lose muscle and you don't want to do that. muscle burns fat, so you want to build muscle. insanity should be great for toning because there is still a lot of strength work in there.