I Lost 12 lbs in one week worried I will gain it back.

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ironmanz35
ironmanz35 Posts: 3
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi- new to the board and my first post.

Background. 43 yr old man 5 "9" 185 lbs I Have been sedentary exercise wise for the last 2 years and have put 30lbs on. Diet has been horrible, soda, fast food processed food etc... additionally consuming ,4-5 beers a few nights a week and 6 beers on Friday and Saturday nights.

Started my diet 1/6/13 and am on a 1200 calorie a day diet Ii have eaten on average 1200-1400 calories a day I am tracking them religiously by weight and by Calorie tracking app.. (all clean food, good fats, lean proteins and good carbs) additionally I am drinking 3 cups of green tea a day and 120-150 +oz or more of water a day. I have completley cut out soda/beer and junk food/fast food. Also I have excercised 60 minutes a day this A.M. on the same scale I weighed 173.5 lbs... I am just worried that I will gain it back as I hear if you lose to quickly you are prone to gain it back?

Prior to being so sedentary I was a very active person and ran marathons did Ironman triathlons and maintained a weight of 155 or so with good body composition, I was able to eat and drink what I wanted because I was doing 8-12 hours of caridio a week training. Obviously as soon as that stopped the weight piled on.

Goal weight is to to reach 155-150 and lose this beer belly that I have put on in he last couple years.

Any input/advice appreciated.

Replies

  • healthytanya1
    healthytanya1 Posts: 198 Member
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    1200 calories is a bit low for men. They say men shouldn't go below 1600 a day. Just try to keep a healthy balance of exercise and diet. I think people dive to crazy into all of it and burn themselves out. If beer is your thing then I would include that in your calories. Maybe once every couple weeks you can have a few to keep you sane lol. Thats what I do!!
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,401 MFP Moderator
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    You lose a lot water when you first start, so it's not uncommon. But men should be eating way more than 1200 calories, unless you want to lose a lot of muscle. Based on the OP's stats, 2200 calories is a much better goal with macro's around 40% carbs, 30% protein and 30% fats so he can hit 1g of protein and .35g of fat per lb of lean body mass. Additionally, weight training would be suggested to mitigate the loss of muscle mass.
  • pattyproulx
    pattyproulx Posts: 603 Member
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    First off, congrats on the weight loss and on taking steps to getting back in shape.

    Now for your question, Psulemon hit the nail on the head.

    Ya, you should be upping those cals. That's too low for a man (my wife is 5'2 and eats 1500 to lose).

    If you lose too quickly, your body will take from your muscle store and you'll lose a lot of muscle. Then the worse part is, if you do gain it back, you're likely to gain it back in fat.

    I'd suggest you set a more sustainable calorie goal, ensure you get some weight training to maintain muscle mass.
  • davepearson86
    davepearson86 Posts: 158 Member
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    If you lose too quickly, your body will take from your muscle store and you'll lose a lot of muscle. Then the worse part is, if you do gain it back, you're likely to gain it back in fat.

    I'd suggest you set a more sustainable calorie goal, ensure you get some weight training to maintain muscle mass.

    This^^

    You're going to definitely need to start off eating more to reach your goal. Your body will eventually adapt to 1200 calories then you'll be looking for ways to keep moving the scale (either cardio (which sucks and will make you HUNGRY) or cutting calories more (which sucks and will make you HUNGRY)...

    This would be well facilitated by starting lifting some weights. The unfortunate part is you'll probably stop seeing scale numbers change when you start lifting heavy - that's okay you'll be able to add muscle and remove fat. Ignore the people who say you can't burn fat and build muscle, you sure can when you're new to lifting, after a year the traditional bulk/cut becomes relevant to you. Muscle is about 1/5 the size of fat so expect body changes to occur. I'm also 5'9" and can tell you that if you went to the gym 3 times a week for a good full-body weight session for 3 months your goal weight would be nowhere near 150. You'd probably be looking good around 170, and looking a lot better than the 150 lb man you're picturing.

    Good luck, friend me up if you like!
  • ironmanz35
    ironmanz35 Posts: 3
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    I neglected to mention I am eating back my calories, so realistically eating 1400-1500 a day but I am staying below the net 1200 for what I am burning in cardio. Exercise is 6 days of cardio, 3 days strength training consisting of mainly compound movements, bench squats etc, with some bicep/tricep/shoulders/back thrown in... Also diet is 50% protein attempting to get at least 12g of protein daily (lean protein turkey/chicken /whey. 25 % carb 25% good fats.... I should have included that in original post. Thanks for the feedback.

    I am wondering if I just lost mainly water weight as I cut out the beer and have been consuming copius amounts of water...
  • ironmanz35
    ironmanz35 Posts: 3
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    Main goal is to try and get back to the shape I was in per profile photo (body composition wise) 155Lbs 5% BF
  • 4legsRbetterthan2
    4legsRbetterthan2 Posts: 19,590 MFP Moderator
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    Yup it was water weight, as you said you cut the beer but you also went from fast food/jusk to eating pretty clean which means you also probably cut a load of salt out too which makes you retain water. I second the eat more than 1200 calories advice (even for a net thats pretty low). Focus on the proteins and fat so you burn fat and hopefully keep the muscle you have.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,401 MFP Moderator
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    I neglected to mention I am eating back my calories, so realistically eating 1400-1500 a day but I am staying below the net 1200 for what I am burning in cardio. Exercise is 6 days of cardio, 3 days strength training consisting of mainly compound movements, bench squats etc, with some bicep/tricep/shoulders/back thrown in... Also diet is 50% protein attempting to get at least 12g of protein daily (lean protein turkey/chicken /whey. 25 % carb 25% good fats.... I should have included that in original post. Thanks for the feedback.

    I am wondering if I just lost mainly water weight as I cut out the beer and have been consuming copius amounts of water...

    Either way 1400-1500 is still not even close to enough. For an active man. If your goal is to be lean and ripped, then you need to maintain your muscle mass as much as possible. You do that with a small deficit, high protein resistance training. To emphasize that you are probably not eating enough, below is a thread with 500+ women who eat 1800 calories a day. Know that muscle has a much higher caloric requirement than body, it will be advisable to eat more. Also, there is no reason to do 6 days of cardio. Just do 3/3 or 4 weight training and 2 cardio. The more important thing for fat loss is diet.

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/506349-women-who-eat-more-than-1800-calories-a-day
  • astrampe
    astrampe Posts: 2,169 Member
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    I neglected to mention I am eating back my calories, so realistically eating 1400-1500 a day but I am staying below the net 1200 for what I am burning in cardio. Exercise is 6 days of cardio, 3 days strength training consisting of mainly compound movements, bench squats etc, with some bicep/tricep/shoulders/back thrown in... Also diet is 50% protein attempting to get at least 12g of protein daily (lean protein turkey/chicken /whey. 25 % carb 25% good fats.... I should have included that in original post. Thanks for the feedback.

    I am wondering if I just lost mainly water weight as I cut out the beer and have been consuming copius amounts of water...

    Either way 1400-1500 is still not even close to enough. For an active man. If your goal is to be lean and ripped, then you need to maintain your muscle mass as much as possible. You do that with a small deficit, high protein resistance training. To emphasize that you are probably not eating enough, below is a thread with 500+ women who eat 1800 calories a day. Know that muscle has a much higher caloric requirement than body, it will be advisable to eat more. Also, there is no reason to do 6 days of cardio. Just do 3/3 or 4 weight training and 2 cardio. The more important thing for fat loss is diet.

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/506349-women-who-eat-more-than-1800-calories-a-day

    This is the best advise you can get - follow it...I'm 45 and female and I never eat less than 1500 cals a day....No idea how you can eat so little and still have energy to breath, never mind work out.....

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