Help with a game plan

gundon
gundon Posts: 32 Member
in Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
hey guys,

Just recently came off a 115 pound cut, I tried mainteince for 3 weeks or so. Haven't been able to wait train in about six months I developed a pinched nerve from rapid weight loss. Now that my back is feeling much better I started back lifting. I'm trying to figure out how many calories a day I should be eating I assume I messed up my metabolism from restricting my calories so extremely. My fitness pal has my BMR at 1775 Plus I run and have been lifting but I've put on some weight eating at 22 to 2500. Went from 155 to 170 in about a month and a half,maybe a pound of it is muscle but I doubt that I could've put that much fat back on seeing as I eat very clean.The only thing that I eat that might be unhealthy is a lot of bran cereal and oatmeal at night I like to sleep on a full stomach, I also have some digestive issues so the fiber helps me stay regular. Do you guys think I should continue to bulk or cut my calories back down and try to figure out what my maintenance calorie is?I don't really notice any fat in the mirror I still look just about as defined,my shirts fit a little tighter at the chest but my waistline is the same? Any suggestions or insight on any of this would be greatly appreciated

Replies

  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,425 MFP Moderator
    edited October 2015
    Clean, dirty, or whatever, if you gained a lot of weight and haven't been progressive lifting, you have gained a combination of additional glycogen build up and a lot of fat. Nutritionally things differ, but calories and exercise determine the fat/muscle ratio.

    Are you using a food scale?

    Also, do we assume that you did an aggressive cut (like 1200-1500 calories. Because if you are gaining like a boss on 2200-2500, then your RMR/BMR isn't even close to 1775, considering that you are running and lifting now.

    Personally, I think you should eat at maintenance for awhile and work on lifting for a few months and then slowly bulk back up.
  • gundon
    gundon Posts: 32 Member
    Gotcha thanks for the advice , I wish it was it 12 to 1500 I cut more at like 500 a day for six months I threw in some fasting and juice fasting as well I've also abstain from a lot of fat foods I haven't had fast food in over a year beside Subway,I guess I'll be sticking to around 1800 cal a day I've been running quite a lot lately so I'm going to stick with that and try strong lift 5x5
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,136 Member
    gundon wrote: »
    Gotcha thanks for the advice , I wish it was it 12 to 1500 I cut more at like 500 a day for six months I threw in some fasting and juice fasting as well I've also abstain from a lot of fat foods I haven't had fast food in over a year beside Subway,I guess I'll be sticking to around 1800 cal a day I've been running quite a lot lately so I'm going to stick with that and try strong lift 5x5

    how much are you running?

    if you are running a lot then you are going to need to factor that into your intake. I would suggest going to 2000 a day.

    Also, you may want to re-examine your relationship with food, as it appear to not be a healthy one.
  • gundon
    gundon Posts: 32 Member
    Yeah I relieze my mentality around food is not ideal but I'm doing what I can I was always big and now that I lost that weight I never want to have to go back again , I run 2-4 miles almost every day , I do use a food scale and weigh by the gram, I might mention that I'm not regular when it comes to digestion( about 3-5 days between bathroom trips)I don't know if it's from my fat intake being low or not

  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,425 MFP Moderator
    gundon wrote: »
    Gotcha thanks for the advice , I wish it was it 12 to 1500 I cut more at like 500 a day for six months I threw in some fasting and juice fasting as well I've also abstain from a lot of fat foods I haven't had fast food in over a year beside Subway,I guess I'll be sticking to around 1800 cal a day I've been running quite a lot lately so I'm going to stick with that and try strong lift 5x5

    Honestly, drop the running or keep it to a minimum (2x a week) until you can work your way back to normal. I would definitely work on adding fats to your diet to help stabilize hormones. Essentially, for you, reverse dieting is where I would start. Work on getting your RMR back to where it should be. At the same point, I would start with strong lift to address any neurological efficiencies and then bulk.
  • _benjammin
    _benjammin Posts: 1,224 Member
    psulemon wrote: »

    Honestly, drop the running or keep it to a minimum (2x a week) until you can work your way back to normal. I would definitely work on adding fats to your diet to help stabilize hormones and regularity. Essentially, for you, reverse dieting is where I would start. Work on getting your RMR back to where it should be. At the same point, I would start with strong lift to address any neurological efficiencies and then bulk.

    ^this with bold for emphasis and my additional thoughts added in italic.

Categories