Upping Calorie Goals and Getting More Protein

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carchie94
carchie94 Posts: 45
in Health and Weight Loss
Well, I've basically been an idiot for the past month or so, attempting the 1200 calorie thing. Again. Yeah, it doesn't work. I tried it before for a long, long time (was using livestrong's app) and it really didn't work. Yet, I'm stubborn and stupid. But I've learned. With the amount of exercise I do, I should've known better. I always ended up going over and eating back my exercise calories.

I have been around 128-131 for the past six months. I'm almost 5' 4". I've finally managed to get to 126. I'd like to be 110, or at least have the look of 17%-18% body fat. I'm around 21% now. I'm going to start lifting in the fall, but I simply can't fit it into my schedule right now (gym has weird hours at school and I have to cancel my PF membership).

Since I do Insanity every morning, Power Yoga for 55min five days a week, spinning once a week for 55min, and step aerobics twice a week for 55min, I've decided to up my calories to around 1800 and changed my macros. I don't even know if my "work" schedule is sedentary or active. I'm a student. I guesstimate that I walk approximately 2 miles a day, but I'm lacking a pedometer. I have a art class, so I kind of walk around, but I'm sitting for about 3 hours. My heart rate monitor comes in tomorrow.

I will not lie—I used to eat like ****, but I'm getting better. After my last bought at Carl's Jr, and getting super naseous in the morning, I'm deciding to quit fast food for a while, as much as I love fries. I guess my question is this: are my calorie and macro goals appropriate? And how do I get more protein without going crazy on bars/shakes because they're gross and expensive and sugar heavy (unless someone has a good low sugar alternative)?

My diary is open, fyi. Thanks for reading.

Replies

  • The_Enginerd
    The_Enginerd Posts: 3,982 Member
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    You are doing a LOT of cardio, over 10 hours a week by my count. You don't need to do that much to lose weight. There are MANY success stories on here from people who do little to no cardio and just eat at a slight deficit and lift. Not saying it is necessarily harmful, but not necessary.

    Looking at your diary, you are very low on protein. Hard to judge your calories since it appears you have just recently upped them. I would shoot for 90-100 grams per day based on your stats.

    Your sedentary TDEE is around 1470 cal/day. At your current activity level, your TDEE is probably over 2000 cal/day and 1800 GROSS calories a day would be a good goal. Using this method, you would not eat back your exercise calories as they are already accounted for. Your other option is the MFP method, which is to set your weight loss goal for a slow weight loss and eat back your exercise calories. At 1/2 lb/week of weight loss, this would put you around 1200 calories NET. This link should help in setting your goals: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/819055-setting-your-calorie-and-macro-targets

    Since you don't have gym access, some body weight exercises would make a good stand in to begin with. Any sort of resistance training will be beneficial. This is important to maintaining your lean body mass and getting the look you are after instead of being skinny but squishy.

    I get my protein via chicken, beef, shrimp, beans, cheese, nuts, milk, yogurt, and some protein bars to supplement when I need the convenience.
  • carchie94
    carchie94 Posts: 45
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    You are doing a LOT of cardio, over 10 hours a week by my count. You don't need to do that much to lose weight. There are MANY success stories on here from people who do little to no cardio and just eat at a slight deficit and lift. Not saying it is necessarily harmful, but not necessary.

    Looking at your diary, you are very low on protein. Hard to judge your calories since it appears you have just recently upped them. I would shoot for 90-100 grams per day based on your stats.

    Your sedentary TDEE is around 1470 cal/day. At your current activity level, your TDEE is probably over 2000 cal/day and 1800 GROSS calories a day would be a good goal. Using this method, you would not eat back your exercise calories as they are already accounted for. Your other option is the MFP method, which is to set your weight loss goal for a slow weight loss and eat back your exercise calories. At 1/2 lb/week of weight loss, this would put you around 1200 calories NET. This link should help in setting your goals: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/819055-setting-your-calorie-and-macro-targets

    Since you don't have gym access, some body weight exercises would make a good stand in to begin with. Any sort of resistance training will be beneficial. This is important to maintaining your lean body mass and getting the look you are after instead of being skinny but squishy.

    I get my protein via chicken, beef, shrimp, beans, cheese, nuts, milk, yogurt, and some protein bars to supplement when I need the convenience.

    Thanks! I'm going shopping today so I'll probably pick up some of those things. It's hard teaching myself to like yogurt again and to actually eat meat (I used to be a vegetarian but I don't care to eat all the processed tofu products and I like seafood too much), but it tastes about a million times better than Clifs.

    By resistance training/bodyweight exercises, do you mean things like planks, pushups, and using resistance bands?
  • jzammetti
    jzammetti Posts: 1,956 Member
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    I don't like to cook (I suck at it) so I always keep the Atkins or Pure Protein bars around the house (low sugar - Atkins are lowest).

    I also have Pure Protein Isopure Dutch chocolate protein powder - 3 carbs per 50grams of protein. I mix it with peanut butter after a workout.

    Typically, I have one bar each day and my hubby feeds me chicken, seafood, steak, pork... I aim for 125-150 grams of protein per day
  • _Zardoz_
    _Zardoz_ Posts: 3,987 Member
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    Why are you trying to loose weight you are a good weight for your height ?Concentrate on your fitness to tone up and eat enough to sustain yourself and stop obsessing about your weight number. 110 will put you at the lower end of normal and more likely under weight.
  • carchie94
    carchie94 Posts: 45
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    Why are you trying to loose weight you are a good weight for your height ?Concentrate on your fitness to tone up and eat enough to sustain yourself and stop obsessing about your weight number. 110 will put you at the lower end of normal and more likely under weight.

    It's not so much the number as opposed to what it looked like on me. Last year this time I was 154 and set my goal for 110, what I weighed two years previously. The fat around my hips and thighs bothers me because my waist is so small in proportion to them. It makes it hard to find jeans that actually fit. Either they're too tight around the hip or too loose around the waist. I'm honestly more concerned about BF%, though.

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