Confused about my diet/workout plan. Help needed!

sawrbmathur
sawrbmathur Posts: 1 Member
edited November 2024 in Health and Weight Loss
Hello!

I've read the stickies, gone through a whole bunch of posts and I'm still confused about my diet/workout plan. A little insight from people who've been doing this for a while, would be really appreciated.

I'm 35 years old, 5'7", 77Kilo (169.7 Pounds) - down from 80Kilos over the last month and a half. I'm trying to get lean and working out 6 times a week for shape.

I've been using a Fibit Charge HR to track daily calorie burn and MFP to track what I eat. Fitbit config told me my BMR is ~1650 Calories. Over the last month and a half I've been confused about the right number for my daily calorie intake - to lose ~3-4kilos in a month.

If I follow Fitbit's meal plan - it allows me to eat back some of my exercise calories as long as it sees a 1200-1300 calorie deficit on a daily basis (which is my weight loss goal daily). But I read on the forums here that you shouldn't eat your exercise calories back and stick to a calorie goal for the day - 1400, let's say.

Here's my calorie burn for the last 28 days. (1000+ calorie walk in the evening, 200~300 calorie 60 min gym workout in the morning).

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Here's my calorie intake

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Protein intake

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I wanted to get everyone's opinion on what they think my daily calorie intake budget should be? Okay to continue with Fitbit's floating calorie budgets (lets me eat anything between 1600-2200 calories every day depending on my calorie burn)? Or do I stick with an aggressively fixed 1400 Calories (which I tend to find hard to stay under)? I still don't know what is the safest deficit I can maintain without overdoing it.

I intend to lose 4-6 kilos over the next month and a half.

Any views on my daily protein intake goal of 120gms?

Any and all help would be massively appreciated :)


Replies

  • FGTisme
    FGTisme Posts: 87 Member
    Not experienced enough to help, so I am bumping this to the top where someone who can help will see it. Good luck!
  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,562 Member
    Eat what MFP says plus a portion of those Fitbit calories that get added on. That's how this place is set up, unless you're following TDEE. Your deficit should be no more than 1000 calories, and at your size I probably wouldn't aim for more than 500.
  • daniwilford
    daniwilford Posts: 1,030 Member
    A 1200 to 1300 calorie deficit is too aggressive for what you can lose in a healthy manner. When you are that aggressive you run the risk of losing lean body mass. A 1000 calorie a day deficit would be the maximum and as you lose additional weight that maximum amount will decrease as well. What can be confusing with Fitbit calorie goals is they show real time where MFP shows for the day. So when eating the correct amount in MFP by 8PM will show as over calories in Fitbit. If you don't eat anymore before midnight, the next morning Fitbit will tell you, you are in the zone.
  • blankiefinder
    blankiefinder Posts: 3,599 Member
    When I started, I was at similar stats to where you are now... 5'7 and 169 lbs. I can tell you after the fact, 2 lbs per week is too fast at this point. if you lose at 1 pound per week you will lose less muscle mass. Since you've been losing for a while, you can figure out for yourself what you should be consuming based on your rate of loss. So figure out your average calorie intake over the last month, your weight loss over the same period, and that will tell you where you should be.

    Day 1 calories + day 2 +... through day 28 lets say, provided you have your weight on the start and end date. total calories for that period / # of days gives you your average intake. # pounds lost during said time x 3500 calories per pound = your average deficit / # of days = average daily deficit. Add the two, that gives you your daily maintenance calories. For every half pound per week you want to lose, subtract 250 calories from your daily maintenance number.
  • dubird
    dubird Posts: 1,849 Member
    The general rule is to enter food ONLY on MFP and exercise ONLY on Fitbit. The two work together best that way. So, I don't rely on Fitbit for my calories. I use it for exercise and activity, but only pay attention to MFP for where my calories are at. You can make the calorie goal the same on each, even if you need to enter a custom goal, so that they sync better. That way, when you burn over what you've set your Fitbit for, it will add those calories to MFP for you. I personally don't have negative adjustments enabled because I've set it to sedentary, so I've set MFP to what my day would be like without any extra activity or exercise. Having the negative adjustments gets confusing fast, so for simplicity sake, I keep it off. I know that in the course of a normal day, I have XXXX number of calories I can consume. If I do more activity, Fitbit will add it and I'll eat that back. Otherwise, it doesn't. That's be the easiest way for me to go.

    As for what your calorie goal is, my suggestion is to set MFP to sedentary, then enter that total on Fitbit. That way, whatever exercise you do is above your goal, so if you miss a day or are sick for a few days, your calorie goal will reflect that. Also, don't set MFP for more than 1lb a week. The closer you get to your goal, the smaller that deficit should be in order to keep healthy. If you're concerned about MFP getting your calorie goal right, try using a few other online calculators. They're all going to be different because they all have different ideas of what activity levels are, but you can get a good average and see if MFP is close.

    And as for your macros, I don't really keep track of mine. I check out the sodium and a few other things that I know my diet has issues with, but I don't have a set goal and it's been working out fine for me. About the only thing I can suggest is that if you're working on building muscles, you do need a good amount of protein, but that tends to vary based on who you ask. So you might be better off asking your doctor about it, and you can work out what goals are best for your body and what you're wanting to do.
  • daniwilford
    daniwilford Posts: 1,030 Member
    In addition as a male, you should not go under 1500 total calories a day. 120 grams of protein should be fine you could go a bit higher if it helps you to feel less hungry. With only 11 pounds to go, you might want to consider recomp. Either way consider adding or increasing weight/strength training, I think you will be happier with your appearance.
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