47 year old male ex-athlete needs help!

jjtheone
jjtheone Posts: 2 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Hello all,

I suppose it is is time for me to ask the same questions that many have asked so I apologize for the redundancy.... I am 6' 3" 233 pound 47 year old ex-college athlete (Rugby and fencing at NCSU) and have been active in competitive volleyball and other fitness activities ever since. I still play in a competitive volleyball league 2 or 3 days a week and try to jog and fit in other exercise when I can.

My problem seems to be that I am forever stuck in the 230-235 pound range. I know it is not all muscle as I can clearly see the fat, though others tell me that I do not look fat.

I think I look my best when I am around 220-225. My fitnesspal tells me that I should be eating 1950 calories a day. Everything else I read says I should be eating closer to 3000-4000 calories per day but if I eat that much I would quickly gain weight. I have been eating 2000-3000 calories for years and years and I think I probably have permanently ruined my metabolism. I have been doing fitnesspal for about 8 weeks so far and have religiously and accurately tracked everything that I eat. A few people have commented that they think I look a little trimmer and my clothes fit better but I am convinced that I am doing something wrong. I can't bring myself to believe that I am eating too few calories to lose weight? Do I need to just give it more time? Do I need to eat more calories? I am usually 3-4,000 calories below goal for the week. I actually feel like I am eating enough and not usually hungry.

I understand that at 47 I will not have the same body I had at 25 but I am pretty sure I could be better. If I could just cut out about 10-15 pounds of fat I would be happy as a clam.

Any ideas? I think I opened up my profile so you can see what I eat . It is set to "friends". If you cant see it I will change it to "public"

Thanks,
J

Replies

  • jwdieter
    jwdieter Posts: 2,582 Member
    Need it set to public if you want general pop to look at it.
  • jjtheone
    jjtheone Posts: 2 Member
    done
  • jwdieter
    jwdieter Posts: 2,582 Member
    You should be losing weight with your intake log. If you aren't, the most likely scenario is measuring inaccuracy.

    I'd recommend a few things:
    1) Get and use a food scale if you aren't doing that - volume measurements are pretty notorious;
    2) Don't use entries where the macros are obvious inaccurate or incomplete (e.g. pork chops with no protein);
    3) Increase your protein macro to ~1g/lb, which is probably ~40% at your intake level (this will help retain lean mass while losing weight);
    4) Think about setting up your own recipes for home cooked meals, if you aren't doing that. Huge variability there.

    And check this out if you want some good, helpful, comprehensive advice for MFP:
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants

    Good luck!
  • Ralphone
    Ralphone Posts: 1,863 Member
    i am 43 and have lost 60 lbs over about 2 yrs lower ur intake to about 1500 and run 5 times a week try to work up to a 60 min run over time it will work i am 6 ft now at 200 was at 258 2 yrs ago if u dont like running try biking it works well too,running burns the most for me any way
  • Chieflrg
    Chieflrg Posts: 9,097 Member
    I beg to differ. You can have the same body, if you want. Might take a little to get there, but its possible.

    I'm 44, 6'3, 215lbs. I'm an athlete myself in many sports and traveled the US playing one in particular into my mid thirties.

    I've had many major surgeries and chemo/radiation in the past couple years along with a disease that causes my body to attack it's own joints. If I can do it, so can you.

    Feel free to check out my pictures on profile for inspiration if you'd like or PM me with questions.

    Good luck.
  • padams2359
    padams2359 Posts: 1,093 Member
    At our age, it doesn't come off as quickly. You need more vegetables. Salads with grilled chicken, steamed veggies, etc. Will clean out your colon. Get your body processing things better. Get Dr Oz poop.
  • SoLongAndThanksForAllTheFish
    SoLongAndThanksForAllTheFish Posts: 831 Member
    First off, ignore the guy saying 1,500 or anyone saying any calorie number to you. Everyone has their own set of errors inherent in their calculations and quirks built in, and it really doesnt work most of the time to just tell someone "I'm the same height, eat x cals". You should be going by the MFP calculations, and adjusting from there up or down, measuring your foods, changing your exercise burn counts by taking an assessment every so often: if it shows you should have a deficit and you arent losing, if you measure accurately, exercise or basal metabolism is different from where you set it, and lower that. Then go back and try another week, see what happens, etc.

    However, from experience and what it looks like, it appears you are actually eating too little, and would benefit greatly from strength training, especially large muscle group lifts, especially since you may be low on testosterone in that age group. I'm 42, 5'11.5" and I eat almost 3k cal (eating exercise cals back) per day and am losing weight, in fact I'm right around your weight as well. I did a lot of hiking this summer, and lost some, but its only when I lift heavy and regularly that I seem to make good reliable change and change my composition. Even though the hikes I did burnt 2k-5kcals according to MFP and I didnt eat all those cals back (but I also wasnt recording my food intake back then), I didnt lose weight as regularly as I do burning less and lifting heavier. Now should you eat 3k cal? No, dont just take any number from anyone: do the settings, adjust from there and eat your cals back! I'm also different than you, I'm more bulky and broader probably and you are probably a leaner tall body type (hated you b*****ds in fencing with the 'poke the toe' epee point, why shouldnt disarming opponent count and why isnt saber fencing as prevalent?!?! ;):) ) Anyways, I'm just saying everyone is different and you shouldn't take anyone's calorie starting points, but find your own, because you also inherit their biases and errors (almost everyone has calorie or exercise errors) and you just aren't them. jwdeiter's points are right on too.
  • padams2359
    padams2359 Posts: 1,093 Member
    Not going to quote the above post, but I do agree. I am 5'9", and 155. I am in Maintanance, and my base Maintanance calories are 1960. That is working for me. Your body compositition has me thinking that my base Maintanance calories are still to low for your successful weight loss numbers. I still think you need more none processes foods to get kick start processing your foods better. I don't drink, but I don't see the alcohol as a problem either. Some would classify them as empty calories because of the sugar in the alcohol, but empty calories are better that the calories tied to the processed foods that slow down your bodies ability to process foods quickly. Just my two cents, and as we know, two cents doesn't buy much these days.
  • mrdexter1
    mrdexter1 Posts: 356 Member
    I beg to differ. You can have the same body, if you want. Might take a little to get there, but its possible.

    I'm 44, 6'3, 215lbs. I'm an athlete myself in many sports and traveled the US playing one in particular into my mid thirties.

    I've had many major surgeries and chemo/radiation in the past couple years along with a disease that causes my body to attack it's own joints. If I can do it, so can you.

    Feel free to check out my pictures on profile for inspiration if you'd like or PM me with questions.

    Good luck.

    you tell him !!!!

    I totaly agree ..

    And the only reason it might take more time is the fact testosterone levels are usually lower, but a visit to the doctor and that is easily sorted.

    52 and i can see i look better than 90% of 25 year olds !
  • RoxiesDada
    RoxiesDada Posts: 7 Member
    Why not? I'm 54 and n the last 2years, thanks to MFP I have found my way back to 25ish?... Years in weight that is
    Go for it!
  • MissMormie
    MissMormie Posts: 359 Member
    There seem to be different numbers that you're comparing that seem the same but are in fact different.

    You mention the 1900 calories a day that MFP gives.
    And you mention the 3000-4000 calories a day that other sources give.

    The number MFP gives you already includes a deficit. I'm guessing you have set in your profile that you would like to lose 2 lbs per week. That translates into a 1000 kcal a day deficit. In this case MFP says that to maintain your current weight you would need to eat 2900 calories. And that's really close to what your other source says.

    2500 is an estimate of what men need to eat on a day. But that's for the average man, and who in the world is average? Since you mention you're still quite active that would increase with say 500-700 calories a day. Your age is about average so we'll skip that here. What isn't average is your weight, whether it's fat or muscle or the combination thereof, a higher weight also translates into a higher calorie need. Let's add another 200 for that. So that gets you a guestimate(!) of 3200-3400 calories a day to maintain. Which is right in the middle of the 3000-4000 calories a day your other sources mention. But that does not include a deficit.

    Have you logged your calorie intake before? You mention that you used to eat 2000-3000 a day. But is that based on actual measurements or on guessing? Because it is very hard to guess correctly the amount of calories and people are easily off by up to 25%. It would've been nice if you knew how much you really ate, but if you don't no problem. Just keep doing what you're doing now for a few weeks and see what the results are. Are you losing weight too fast? Or are your constantly hungry? Then eat a bit more.

    Also, as someone above mentioned, weight lifting could be a very good plan. You seem to get plenty of exercise but mostly cardio types. For weight loss lifting helps because it build muscle. And muscle requires energy just to exist, in comparison with fat which just sits there. The extra muscle will also help you increase your metabolism. And on top of that lifting gives you 'after burn'. Up to 24 hours or longer after you've lifted your body will use more calories, unlike cardio which stops using calories as soon as you stop.

    TLDR: Just look at your body how it's changing, if it's not doing what it should adjust your plan accordingly, but stick to every change for at least a few weeks to see actual changes.

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