My Desire Exceeds my Capabilities

Hi All........First time posting here.

I am at 278.4 last weigh in, down 44.1lbs. from the start. Two issues I am having:

First I seem to have plateaued, I have been hovering around the 280 mark for about 3 weeks. My current daily intake is as follows.

1500 Calories
4.5 miles Walking Daily (Working up to a slow jog) I consistently put in 5-6 days weekly all tracked on Map my Walk.
I do not eat my calories burned, on average I am probably around 1200 calories daily as I do sometimes eat over the 1500 to 16 or 1700 but do not consume the entire amount of the calories burned.

Second issue is my attempt at pushing my workouts to the next level. When I push my self harder and faster I feel great the day of, unfortunately the folowing day my body feels hammered, joints, muscles etc. no fatlogic here, just need some thoughts on a high burn low impact excercise routine. I have began lifting weights this week to increase my muscle tone and build more energy burn, as well I am going to integrate an 30-45 minutes of swimming per day.

Any other suggestions, questions or thoughts would be appreciated. by the way I am a 38 year old male if that makes any difference.

Thanks All

Replies

  • coco3382458
    coco3382458 Posts: 296 Member
    hello. I am new here too and trying to figure this all out so i am probably not that much help. But I wanted to say congrats on the weight you have lost. I think that is wonderful. I can relate with the achey joints and muscels. I am going through that right now as we speak. I can barley walk down the stairs, but I am still going to my exercise class tonight although I am in much pain. I think you are doing great and am sure someone with more knowledge will enlighten you
  • orange_you_glad
    orange_you_glad Posts: 38 Member
    You're not eating enough. I would try upping your calories by at least a couple hundred, probably more. You're a big dude, and given your current weight, your RMR is probably well over 2000 cals per day. At the very least, see what happens if you start eating back your exercise cals. I estimate 150 cals per mile burned for me, and I'm 5'2 and 185 lbs. It's probably more for you.

    In order for your body to let go of the weight you're carrying, you need to be feeding it enough to maintain your muscle mass, and right now, you're a long ways from that. Other people who have more experience can probably give you more detail as to the whys of this, but simply put, you're just not eating enough.

    I know lots of people have tried TDEE - 20%. I just started about a month back on this after a loooooooooong plateau, and so far it seems to be working. Maybe give that a try?
  • CJ_Holmes
    CJ_Holmes Posts: 759 Member
    Congratulations! I'd agree that you probably need to eat more, especially if you want to do more intense workouts.
  • Hi All.......I appreciate the feedback, and while I always suspected that I was on the low side of the caloric intake, I just wanted to continue the progress I was making.

    I have upped my calories to 1800 daily so hopefully that will alow me to put forth a greater physical effort without the negative results.

    Thank you all for your comments and compliments. For someone like me that has literally been overweight my entire life it feels absolutely amazing.
  • jblackjr
    jblackjr Posts: 89 Member
    Deleted
  • Whenever my loss stalls I drink more water! It has worked every time. I try to stay around about 100 ounces a day. I sounds like a lot, but not bad really. Also I swim every morning. If you have access to a pool it is so much easier on your body. I started just walking in the pool then started adding in swimming laps. I have been heavy my entire adult life, even at about half way thought my weight loss I feel amazing! You are going to love it! Congratulations! Making up your mind to do it is half the work - Great Job!
  • Hello Again.......So I adjusted my caloric intake to 1800 calories after the advice all of you left. It seemed to work very effectively. This week I had a 7.5lbs weight loss, I'm sure that won't hold up week in and week out, but I was a little surprised at the amount.

    I am consuming 1800 calories, however I am still not eating back the calories from excercise, usually about 600 per day. I know I need to monitor my calorie intake and excercise more closely going forward. I appreciate all of the advice I recieved.

    I have now cracked losing 50lbs. and can't wait for the next 50 to come off.

    Thank you all again.
  • nicola1141
    nicola1141 Posts: 613 Member
    Awesome, congrats!
  • TammTammS
    TammTammS Posts: 55 Member
    Way to stick with it. Huge Congratz to ya
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