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Just a few questions

Splutters
Splutters Posts: 16 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hey all, new to the forum. Reading the answers you guys give people needing pointers and help is really inspirational and motivating so I'd just like to ask a few questions of my own.

I've been working out hard now for about two months. In that time I've lost 21lbs, with a steady weight loss each week. I go to the gym five or six times a week, where I was mostly focusing on cardio but over the past two weeks have started to add quite a lot of weights to my exercising too. Since I've done that I've noticed that my weight loss has started to slow down. I know there is the whole muscle weighs more than fat thing but being a really big guy (started out at 333lbs), I was wondering how long it usually takes for the muscle weight to stop being added on and the scales to show weight loss again?

Another thing is calorie intake. Being a big guy, MFP is saying I should be eating 2000+ calories a day. The problem is I'm hitting around 1500 and honestly struggling to eat any more. I've had a complete diet overhaul and tend to stick to fruit for snacks, I'm loading up on vegetables with chicken or a similar meat for dinner. If I do have chocolate or something, it's usually weight watchers stuff, so because of the low calorie on the items I'm eating, I'd have to eat a ton of them to hit the goal it's given me. Are there any high calorie but good foods out there? Should I try a shake? Or will what I'm hitting be okay?

My last question is can you actually go to the gym too much? A friend of mine recently said maybe my weight loss slowing down a bit was due to that. Personally I find it hard to believe that, unless it's your body getting used to what you do, which is why I change up what I'm doing when I feel I'm not working hard enough.

I've tried a ton of diets and going with a healthy and balanced diet has been my most successful, and I'm finding it really easy which is the worrying part. I think that's just because of how motivated I am, though. I've never been this motivated to lose weight before.

Thanks very much in advance for any help given. I haven't really used MFP much to calorie count and track due to mostly eating the same things, nor have I put my workouts in there apart from a few times running couch to 5k (which I'm still doing) so my profile doesn't shed much light on what I do. I used MFP yesterday to put my days meals in and that's what I have daily,.

Replies

  • DianaAmorim
    DianaAmorim Posts: 75
    If you are training hard, and struggling with calorie intake, maybe you can start taking a protein smoothie after workout. You can make one with whey protein, bananas and peanut butter (caloric, yet good stuff for your muscle recovery). When you train, but not eat enought, you will lose weight, but also muscle, thats why it is important to have a good daily protein intake :)
  • DianaAmorim
    DianaAmorim Posts: 75
    Also you cannot add muscle on a caloric deficit. On a caloric deficit + working out, you will lose fat and with a good protein intake, the muscle you already have will get stronger (but to gain more muscle, you have to bulk = eat more calories)
  • HealthyishWithMaggieG
    HealthyishWithMaggieG Posts: 397 Member
    Since MFP recommends such a high calorie goal for you and you're struggling to hit your goal, I would avoid the Weight Watchers or any other packaged foods that are labeled "low cal" or "low fat" or "sugar free". All of these so-called "health foods" will have more chemicals in them, to compensate for the lack of flavor that taking out the fat or whatever does to them. (Side note: I do recommend "low sodium" or "no salt added" products because they usually just bump up the potassium content to compensate for the lower sodium content.) If you're going to have a treat, eat the full-on version of it. Just be sure to have small portions and keep it within your macros. Your body will feel more satisfied with this than if you eat the "diet" junk.
  • Splutters
    Splutters Posts: 16 Member
    Thanks for the advice :)

    As I say, if I do have a weight watchers chocolate bar or something it's extremely rare. Fruit tends to be my go-to now, but I suppose I could always add a regular chocolate bar if it will benefit me? I was just under the assumption that going completely cold turkey with it all would help.

    My weight was always gained by snacking. I'd boredom eat and not care what I grabbed. Now I'm actually cutting back on everything those calories have been harder to hit.
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,268 Member
    k Im going to be blunt about your intake...

    1800 is bare min for a man...and you can hit that or you wouldn't be here.

    Stop eating diet food. Eat the same foods you always did just in smaller portions.

    Losing weight is about being in a deficet but if you don't want to lose muscle (which you will eating so little) you have to maintain a reasonable deficet...get in your protien (for you I suspect at least 180g a day) get in your fats and do some sort of resistence training.

    I eat more than you to give you some perspective and I lose fat..lots of fat and very little muscle...

    As for overtraining yes you can. If you are going to start lifting weights find a good program such as Strong Lifts, Starting strength or NROL (New Rules of Lifting). They all have "rest" days built in.

    As for your logging...you will continue to lose weight for a while due to your size but it will stop if you don't log your food...

    HOw do you know if you are in a deficet if you aren't logging and weighing your food.
  • Splutters
    Splutters Posts: 16 Member
    I appreciate you being blunt - that's what I'm here for, straight answers as to how I can improve what I'm doing.
  • larrodarro
    larrodarro Posts: 2,512 Member
    I second weigh, measure and log everything. Food and exercise. It will give you a truer reading on what you are doing, and what changes you need to make. Also make use of the recipe feature on this site. It takes all the guess work out of it. I try to stay away from all prepared foods, so I use it all the time.
    I started a light weight training workout after I had got closer to my goal weight. {I had lost 40 lbs before I joined MFP} I do just over an hour, three days a week. I was losing two pounds a week, now it's closer to one. But as long as you eat healthy and exercise, you will continue to lose. Good luck.

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