Bad results, lately, not sure how to find a good maintenance level

Entaro
Entaro Posts: 23 Member
edited November 14 in Goal: Maintaining Weight
'Lo, folks.

So I've been trying to figure out a good maintenance level for a while, and I have yet to do so. I lost 250 pounds and got down to around 170 over a couple years.

Back in November I was doing 4 hours a day, for cardio, plus an hour of weight lifting. I had a strict diet of 2,000 calories a day. I'd hit 170 pounds.

I went to get my body fat percentage tested, and it came out to 6%.

That was neat, but I really, really did not feel like 4 hours a day of cardio was sustainable in any way if I wanted to live a normal life. (And god, I am so tired of doing it at this point.)

So, once I had that result, I decided to try to change things. I reduced my cardio to 2 hours a day (still too much? I kinda think so, but..), and continued to keep my diet at 2,000 calories a day. The idea was to keep a steady diet and use cardio as the variable to try to calculate exactly how much I needed to do.

Buuut, there's a problem. I went back in to get my body fat percentage tested again today, around five months after reducing my cardio amount. My current body fat percentage is now at 10.2%. My weight's at 176, and that vague hope that the increase of weight over time wasn't really fat was kinda dashed.

Now, while that's still a healthy amount, fat percentage-wise, I guess I'm just worried because it's not really, you know.. maintaining. It's a negative trend, and I'm gaining body fat.

Every day I still do 2 hours of cardio, and I feel like that should be, well.. more than enough. I was hoping to reduce it even further over time, but now I'm looking at either an increase in cardio or a decrease in food. I kinda don't want to do either, at this point (I'm so tired. =/), but it's looking like there's no choice in the matter.

Everything I look up says that my TDEE should be somewhere around 3100 calories, and I should be well within my rights to eat more than I do, or exercise less. But it doesn't seem like that's the case.

I guess this is more of a rant, because I already know that I'm going to have to just decrease my calorie intake from 2,000 to less. It just doesn't feel fair, and it makes me kinda dread life a bit, if I'm going to be stuck doing this level of cardio/reducing calories intake that much for the foreseeable future.

Replies

  • Entaro
    Entaro Posts: 23 Member
    Don't suppose anyone has run into this, before? Or has any advice on different ways to approach this?
  • scottacular
    scottacular Posts: 597 Member
    10.2% body fat sounds great, this might be a much more sustainable weight for you that allows your body to function better. Numbers like 6% are more for the sort of people who sacrifice everything for bodybuilding contests. Maybe it's time to focus on adding some lean mass and getting stronger?
  • SweatLikeDog
    SweatLikeDog Posts: 320 Member
    Unless you're prepping for a physique contest or photo shoot, 10% BF is low enough. Don't get obsessed.
  • funchords
    funchords Posts: 413 Member
    Do not manage your weight through your activity/exercise. Manage your weight with your food.

    Do the exercise that you like because it feels great, gives you endorphins, and because you'd miss it if you didn't do it.

    Don't do more than that -- forever disconnect the idea that you have to workout to manage your weight. It's never been the case.
  • Ainesilver
    Ainesilver Posts: 72 Member
    scottacular wrote: »
    10.2% body fat sounds great, this might be a much more sustainable weight for you that allows your body to function better. Numbers like 6% are more for the sort of people who sacrifice everything for bodybuilding contests. Maybe it's time to focus on adding some lean mass and getting stronger?
    ^^This
    You might want to check out this article. http://www.builtlean.com/2010/08/03/ideal-body-fat-percentage-chart/
  • Entaro
    Entaro Posts: 23 Member
    I guess I'm not really focused on what the percentage number is, but more on the fact that with reduction of cardio, the number went up.

    If I'd been 10% before, and I'd stayed that way, I'd be fine with the results, but I just worry that it's a backslide.
    funchords wrote: »
    Do not manage your weight through your activity/exercise. Manage your weight with your food.

    Do the exercise that you like because it feels great, gives you endorphins, and because you'd miss it if you didn't do it.

    Don't do more than that -- forever disconnect the idea that you have to workout to manage your weight. It's never been the case.

    2,000 calories a day is too much, then? Everyone always talked about TDEE and I guess I figured that having a TDEE of 3,200~ calories and staying at 2,00 would be, well, enough to maintain. At least make progress towards it.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    Dumb question but how did you get your body fat % tested? It could be an inaccurate test. Do you look that different? Have you taken measurements?

    Do you do any weight lifting at all? it just seems odd that you would gain with a TDEE of 3200, eating 2000, unless you're overestimating your calorie burns (what kind of cardio do you do?) and/or are underestimating your portion sizes... Do you weigh your food?
  • Entaro
    Entaro Posts: 23 Member
    Francl27 wrote: »
    Dumb question but how did you get your body fat % tested? It could be an inaccurate test. Do you look that different? Have you taken measurements?

    Do you do any weight lifting at all? it just seems odd that you would gain with a TDEE of 3200, eating 2000, unless you're overestimating your calorie burns (what kind of cardio do you do?) and/or are underestimating your portion sizes... Do you weigh your food?

    Hydrostatic Weighing in the Physiology Lab at a University close by.

    Yes, I do an hour of weight lifting every day, and my cardio is generally a mix of running (10 minute mile, pace) and elliptical so I don't destroy my knees.

    Yes, I weigh my food.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    Have you seen a doctor? Something is very wrong there. Way too much exercise, way too little food, honestly I can see how you would lose muscle by eating so little and exercising so much... what makes no sense is that you actually gained weight.

    Go see a doctor. Get some bloodwork done and your thyroid checked. Cut down the workouts to a reasonable amount (one hour a day). Eat at what your maintenance should be for a month or two to 'reset' your metabolism... then you can start cutting with a reasonable deficit to lose weight again.

    But that's just my opinion... It seems to me that your metabolism is completely screwed up.
  • funchords
    funchords Posts: 413 Member
    Entaro wrote: »
    funchords wrote: »
    Don't do more than that -- forever disconnect the idea that you have to workout to manage your weight. It's never been the case.

    2,000 calories a day is too much, then? Everyone always talked about TDEE and I guess I figured that having a TDEE of 3,200~ calories and staying at 2,00 would be, well, enough to maintain. At least make progress towards it.

    If your Sedentary TDEE is 2500 and you add 700 calories of running just so you can eat 700 calories more than you otherwise would, that's basically a race with your fork. On the other hand, if your motivation for exercising is that you just love running so much and, so, you're a runner -- then you need to eat more to fuel your running lifestyle.
  • lisab64mfp
    lisab64mfp Posts: 89 Member
    Seconding the opinion about seeing a doc and getting things checked out. You are working out more than me and eating less than me and I'm a 50 year old woman, 5'6" tall, ~142 lbs. My average calories consumed (during my 4 years of maintenance) is between 2200-2400 daily. My main exercise is running, walking, or elliptical 45 minutes (longer when doing it outside) 5 days/week.
  • nikkit321
    nikkit321 Posts: 1,485 Member
    I could be completely off base, but my thinking is that you should have slowly stepped down your exercise and gave your body time to adjust to the reduced burn for a couple of weeks to a month, then step it down again. You dropped it by half, and that's a huge difference. I think your body is extremely efficient at what you ask it to do, and it's accustomed to that burn with the 2000 calories. Think of it as reverse exercising rather than reverse dieting, but use the same concepts. Since you're at 2 hours of cardio and have been at that time since November, try dropping it to 90min for a month and see how it goes, and then drop it again. Good luck! You will likely see some fluctuations on the scale as you work through the process, but I think you'll get to a sustainable exercise time.
  • KBmoments
    KBmoments Posts: 193 Member
    funchords wrote: »
    Do not manage your weight through your activity/exercise. Manage your weight with your food.

    Do the exercise that you like because it feels great, gives you endorphins, and because you'd miss it if you didn't do it.

    Don't do more than that -- forever disconnect the idea that you have to workout to manage your weight. It's never been the case.

    yes! Once I figured this out, life felt more freeing... I don't dread going to they gym just burn off calories. Much easier to just eat a little less/budget calories. Now, I actually like getting exercise (in the form of yoga or walking)...keeps me moving!
  • kdiamond
    kdiamond Posts: 3,329 Member
    I think you're definitely still doing too much cardio. What works for your body at one point, doesn't always continue to work. Your body was in weight-loss mode, and now you're aiming for maintenance, am I correct?

    I would keep your weight training, increase your calories, and go down on the cardio, like, way down. 2-3 times a week.

    I'm a 110 pound girl and I typically eat 2000 calories daily. A young dude who is as active as you should eat way more.
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