Weight lifting to lose fat

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Trytotryharder
Trytotryharder Posts: 41
in Fitness and Exercise
I'm 5ft 11, 23yr old male trying to lose some fat.

At the moment im eating about 1500 calories, my average breakdown is about - 20% carb, 35% fat, 45% protein.

I'm doing about 1h of strength exercises, 4/5 times a week, heavy lifts etc.

I have bee losing fat but I'm looking to speed it up a bit more.

I'm thinking of starting to run, however I know that when my muscles are growing that its burning up calories. With that happening and running at the same time im worried I'll go over the 1200 calorie mark which I have done before and it significantly stunts my fat loss.

Has anyone else had experience losing fat with running and strength training? Any guidance on how many calories I should be eating if i'm going to be burning up about 300 calories running?
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Replies

  • hookilau
    hookilau Posts: 3,134 Member
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    Calculate your TDEE & take a modest 20% cut from it.
    You can find one here:
    https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&rlz=1C1CHWA_enUS546US546&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=tdee calculator scooby

    It sounds like you're not eating enough, something you'll need to do to fuel your body if you're going to run. :drinker:


    PS...I'm a 45 yr old woman (by virtue of this alone my caloric needs are significantly less than yours) 5' tall @ 123#'s and my maintenance is about 1500 cal

    My husband, 45 yr old 5'5" @ 182#'s has a maintenance calorie goal of about 2700 cal
  • Trytotryharder
    Trytotryharder Posts: 41
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    But if im just lifting do you think that 1500 calorie defict is enough?

    I'm struggling to get enough calories without going over my fat, protein and carb goals (not percentages but actual values)

    I'm also doing low carbs at the moment, eating about 50 max per day
  • hookilau
    hookilau Posts: 3,134 Member
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    How long have you been at this & how much weight have you lost so far?
    Also, what are your stats?
  • Trytotryharder
    Trytotryharder Posts: 41
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    Well i'm not losing much weight because im gaining muscle but ive lost quite a bit of fat.

    Ive been lifting weights for a couple of months now but I started my low carb diet about 2 weeks ago or so.

    What do you mean by stats?
  • hookilau
    hookilau Posts: 3,134 Member
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    But if im just lifting do you think that 1500 calorie defict is enough?

    I'm struggling to get enough calories without going over my fat, protein and carb goals (not percentages but actual values)

    I'm also doing low carbs at the moment, eating about 50 max per day

    Btw, if you're doing low carb & struggling to meet your caloric goal, you'll need to increase your consumption of coconut oil, nuts, eggs, full fat cream etc.
  • hookilau
    hookilau Posts: 3,134 Member
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    Well i'm not losing much weight because im gaining muscle but ive lost quite a bit of fat.

    Ive been lifting weights for a couple of months now but I started my low carb diet about 2 weeks ago or so.

    What do you mean by stats?

    stats are your height, weight, goal weight, age etc.

    what is your starting weight?

    Here's a good keto calculator. Put your information in & it will give you a starting point.
    http://keto-calculator.ankerl.com/
  • Trytotryharder
    Trytotryharder Posts: 41
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    Yeah I eat at least 3 eggs a day and nuts as well, thats whats helping me get to my right amount of calories!
  • darkguardian419
    darkguardian419 Posts: 1,302 Member
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    I'm a 5'11" 26 year old male, and my TDEE - 20% with just weight lifting is around 2600 calories.

    I STRONGLY recommend you figure out your TDEE as I guarantee you that you're not eating nearly enough, especially if you're weight training.

    Set your protein much higher than MFP recommends (try 1g/# of lbm) At a body weight of 275lbs, I'm eating at LEAST 225g of protein.

    How much do you weigh and do you know your BF%?
  • cbhubbybubble
    cbhubbybubble Posts: 465 Member
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    I suspect you aren't gaining a lot of muscle on 1500 calorie intake. I'm a 5'2 female and eat almost that with a 500 cal deficit
  • KarenJanine
    KarenJanine Posts: 3,497 Member
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    Well i'm not losing much weight because im gaining muscle but ive lost quite a bit of fat.

    :huh:
    You've lost a lot of fat, gained muscle and stayed the same weight? All while eating 1500 cal?


    Somthing is off here. As a newby lifter you *may* have gained a small amount of muscle, but not likely to be noticable. Muscle is generally only gained by eating at a calorie surplus (i.e. eating above maintenance). If you really are eating just 1500 then you should be losing weight - it seems a very low intake for a tallish young guy.
  • kessler4130
    kessler4130 Posts: 150 Member
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    I would do a 40/40/20 split (prot./carbs/fat) and do 300 calories of cardio 3 days a week. Unless you are 150 lbs soaking wet, 1500 calories is too low, I would use the calculator in IIFYM.com and find out your maintenance, knock off 500 calories and split up your macros from that. And as the above posted mentioned, if you are eating 1500 calories while lifting weight you will sacrifice lean body mass, you will sacrifice it while cutting weight at any deficit, but at 1500 calories you are dumping virgins in a volcano by the truck load.
  • Trytotryharder
    Trytotryharder Posts: 41
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    Replace this line with your question

    ---
    *Generated by [Keto Calculator](http://keto-calculator.ankerl.com) 7.4*

    23/M/5'11" | CW 184 | % BF | Lightly active

    * 1360 kcal Goal, a 47% deficit. (NaN min, 2543 max)
    * 40g Carbohydrates
    * 165g Protein (g min, g max)
    * 60g Fat (NaNg min, 191g max)

    ----
  • Trytotryharder
    Trytotryharder Posts: 41
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    Well i'm not losing much weight because im gaining muscle but ive lost quite a bit of fat.

    :huh:
    You've lost a lot of fat, gained muscle and stayed the same weight? All while eating 1500 cal?


    Somthing is off here. As a newby lifter you *may* have gained a small amount of muscle, but not likely to be noticable. Muscle is generally only gained by eating at a calorie surplus (i.e. eating above maintenance). If you really are eating just 1500 then you should be losing weight - it seems a very low intake for a tallish young guy.

    Yeah im losing fat but ive stayed around the same weight as when I started
  • Trytotryharder
    Trytotryharder Posts: 41
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    I suspect you aren't gaining a lot of muscle on 1500 calorie intake. I'm a 5'2 female and eat almost that with a 500 cal deficit

    No I cant say that im gaining much muscle but im definitely gaining muscle
  • Trytotryharder
    Trytotryharder Posts: 41
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    I weigh 184lbs, not sure on my body fat % though, im going to order something so i can work that out
  • MityMax96
    MityMax96 Posts: 5,778 Member
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    I'm 5ft 11, 23yr old male trying to lose some fat.

    At the moment im eating about 1500 calories, my average breakdown is about - 20% carb, 35% fat, 45% protein.

    I'm doing about 1h of strength exercises, 4/5 times a week, heavy lifts etc.

    I have bee losing fat but I'm looking to speed it up a bit more.

    I'm thinking of starting to run, however I know that when my muscles are growing that its burning up calories. With that happening and running at the same time im worried I'll go over the 1200 calorie mark which I have done before and it significantly stunts my fat loss.

    Has anyone else had experience losing fat with running and strength training? Any guidance on how many calories I should be eating if i'm going to be burning up about 300 calories running?

    Keep up weight lifting.
    Do Full body routines, with compound exercises (like StrongLifts 5x5)
    You can add in cardio, doesn't have to be running....lot of studies say that steady state cardio is just as effective.
    I do stairmaster for like 20 - 30 min, and elliptical for about 20 min....while in a fasted state. I found that helped me a ton in burning through stubborn fat areas.
    Caloric deficit is a must.

    I would recalculate my macros if I were you.
    Since you are in a caloric deficit.....
    Do protein at 0.8 - 1.0 gr / pound of body weight
    Do fat at 0.4 gr / pound of body weight (minimum)
    And carbs can be the remainder of your calories....so get a decent amount of carbs on workout days, they benefit your muscle development

    Also as others noted, you need to know your TDEE
    Try http://iifym.com/iifym-calculator/
  • spara0038
    spara0038 Posts: 226 Member
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    I'm a 5'2" 124 lb female and I consume around 1300 calories a day and still lose- since you're male, taller, and I assume heavier than I am (mostly just because of the height thing at least), you definitely need MORE calories! I know based on my activity level (lightly active), I could lose fat and gain muscle at 1500, so I would assume something is going on here.

    Are you SURE that you're only consuming 1500 calories? Since a decent portion of your diet comes from fats (which are calorie dense), then even a small error in measuring could mean you're adding 100 calories a day that you don't know about. You mentioned you eat 3 eggs a day- how do you prep them? Do you cook them in butter? scramble them with milk? Are you adding EVERYTHING that you cook with? Even if I cook my veggies in 1 tsp of olive oil (which is a pretty small amount), I'm adding 40 extra calories.

    A few suggestions:

    1. Calculate your TDEE and stick with a small deficit
    2. Measure accurately
    3. Incorporate a small amount of cardio- like 20-30 minutes, 3 times per week. But- don't go nuts with it and adjust your calorie intake accordingly.
  • Escloflowne
    Escloflowne Posts: 2,038 Member
    Options
    Replace this line with your question

    ---
    *Generated by [Keto Calculator](http://keto-calculator.ankerl.com) 7.4*

    23/M/5'11" | CW 184 | % BF | Lightly active

    * 1360 kcal Goal, a 47% deficit. (NaN min, 2543 max)
    * 40g Carbohydrates
    * 165g Protein (g min, g max)
    * 60g Fat (NaNg min, 191g max)

    ----

    40g of carbs!? Why would anyone do that!?
  • hookilau
    hookilau Posts: 3,134 Member
    Options
    From your previous posts, I'd say there's a bridge somewhere missing it's inhabitant.
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1033158-eating-well-and-exercising-but-very-slow-fat-loss
  • darkguardian419
    darkguardian419 Posts: 1,302 Member
    Options
    I'm 5ft 11, 23yr old male trying to lose some fat.

    At the moment im eating about 1500 calories, my average breakdown is about - 20% carb, 35% fat, 45% protein.

    I'm doing about 1h of strength exercises, 4/5 times a week, heavy lifts etc.

    I have bee losing fat but I'm looking to speed it up a bit more.

    I'm thinking of starting to run, however I know that when my muscles are growing that its burning up calories. With that happening and running at the same time im worried I'll go over the 1200 calorie mark which I have done before and it significantly stunts my fat loss.

    Has anyone else had experience losing fat with running and strength training? Any guidance on how many calories I should be eating if i'm going to be burning up about 300 calories running?

    Keep up weight lifting.
    Do Full body routines, with compound exercises (like StrongLifts 5x5)
    You can add in cardio, doesn't have to be running....lot of studies say that steady state cardio is just as effective.
    I do stairmaster for like 20 - 30 min, and elliptical for about 20 min....while in a fasted state. I found that helped me a ton in burning through stubborn fat areas.
    Caloric deficit is a must.

    I would recalculate my macros if I were you.
    Since you are in a caloric deficit.....
    Do protein at 0.8 - 1.0 gr / pound of body weight
    Do fat at 0.4 gr / pound of body weight (minimum)
    And carbs can be the remainder of your calories....so get a decent amount of carbs on workout days, they benefit your muscle development

    Also as others noted, you need to know your TDEE
    Try http://iifym.com/iifym-calculator/

    QFT

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