New to this whole watching what I eat stuff

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curtlush
curtlush Posts: 7 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hey Community,

So a quick background. I have been an athlete pretty much my whole life till now and was never concerned about what or how much I was eating as I was training hard 6x a week. I am 25M and have retired from competitive sport just over a year ago and took some time off. So here I am now wanting to get back into it but am realizing I have no idea what I am doing. The only working out I know is low rep/ high weight and like I mentioned and watching my diet was non existent. I figured MFP was a good place to start so I am 2.5 weeks in now with an intake goal of 1540. I am working out 5-6x a week (30 min bike & lift 4 days a week / Long duration cardio with HIIT the other 2 days). My lifting is all very high rep/ low weight. Dietary wise, I am gluten free (dietary issue) but aside from that I do not have any restrictions. I eat healthy for the most part and cook all my meals at home and am measuring everything. I am down to only a few drinks a week (vodka soda when I do) and am only drinking water/ almond milk other than that.

So now the reason I am writing this, I have not lost a single pound. Now I need to mention that I did not do measurements but my clothes do feel better and I am in a hole on my belt loop already. So I guess my question is should I be concerned that there is no weight loss? I am not trying to bulk like I used to, I am trying to drop ~25lbs. Also, with the exercise I am doing, it is adding ~1000 extra calories a day to my net calories. Should I therefore be trying to eat 2540 instead of 1540?

If I left out any info or anything else, please ask and I will answer as quick as I can. I just want to make sure I am doing the right things now instead of waiting another month with no progress and find out I am doing something wrong.

Thanks!

Replies

  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
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    Do you weigh everything you eat on an electronic food scale, and double check each item, before you log it?
  • curtlush
    curtlush Posts: 7 Member
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    Down to the gram. I log it all right after I finish prep.
  • capaul42
    capaul42 Posts: 1,390 Member
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    You should take measurements as well as weighing. Water weight can mask scale losses for as long as 2 wks. If your clothes are looser, you are probably losing. But where you just started back up, the exercise is probably causing some water retention which is masking the loss.
  • curtlush
    curtlush Posts: 7 Member
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    Thank you very much for your reply. I have been trying to drink as much water as possible, most days aiming for 3L. It's just been strange for me because in the past, when I just dieted and didn't workout, I would lose wait very easily but adding in the exercise seems to be countering something. I have always been able to change my body quickly (not a blessing since it goes both ways) but this has been the tightest I have stuck to a schedule and first time measuring my food etc. I think I was just expecting some freakish, unrealistic returns.
  • pzarnosky
    pzarnosky Posts: 256 Member
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    Knowing your background in sports you're probably the only person I'd say this for. It's probably water weight. Even though/if you've gained fat and lost some muscle in your time off, you still likely have a greater proportion of your mass coming from lean skeletal muscle than the average person. When you come back after a break and start working those muscle groups again it's going to stimulate the body to store more glycogen and thus water.

    I run a lot. And I can say that the size of my legs will vary. I had to take 2 weeks off because of a muscle strain in my hip and I can feel the difference in my legs between when I'm running regularly and when I took that time off.
  • curtlush
    curtlush Posts: 7 Member
    edited June 2016
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    pzarnosky, thank you for taking the time to respond. I am definitely not in bad shape even after taking some time off. My time off just meant not being in the gym but I still remained active. Is there anything I should be doing differently or just continue what I am doing and not worry about the numbers? I feel like I should just be focusing on how I feel but it's just a bit demoralizing as I am working hard but seeing no change on the scale.
  • meritage4
    meritage4 Posts: 1,441 Member
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    so measure yourself. The disappearing inches will be encouraging.
  • cwang125
    cwang125 Posts: 76 Member
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    Do you care more about the weight or the body recomp? Those are two different goals and with two very different paths.
  • curtlush
    curtlush Posts: 7 Member
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    I know I am never going to weigh 150lbs, its just not the way my body is built and I look sickly skinny even around 170lbs. A good weight for my body type I have found to be around 190-195. During my seasons, I was normally up around 205-210 though. The more I think abou it, weight really is not that big of deal, just something I thought I could use to measure progress. My main goal is to trim all around, trying to change my bulk muscle build into a trimmer, leaner muscle would be nice but I have no clue how to do it.
  • cwang125
    cwang125 Posts: 76 Member
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    If you have a good bit of muscle already, it may be better physique wise to lose more fat.

    How tall are you?

    If you're say 5'10", and you can be around 180-190 lean, that would be an excellent physique.
  • curtlush
    curtlush Posts: 7 Member
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    I'm 5'11" so yeah right around 190 is what I found to be good. The hardest part I think is going to be working off the legs and butt developed from years of heavy squatting (they definitely account for a few lbs).
  • cwang125
    cwang125 Posts: 76 Member
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    There's no way to selectively burn or lose muscle. You can go into starvation and not workout at all and you will lose muscle and fat but it will come from all over. That's also neither healthy nor recommended obviously.

    I wouldn't focus too heavily on the fact that you have more muscle mass in your lower body. Focus on cutting the bit of fat you have remaining. When you have a really lower bodyfat percentage the more muscle you have the better physique you'll have.

    For your current situation try doing upper body 2-3x a week and only train lowerbody once per week just to maintain. Building a big chest and big back to go along with your more muscular lower body will help to balance out your desired aesthetic physique. On resting non lifting days do some light cardio.
  • curtlush
    curtlush Posts: 7 Member
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    Yeah definitely not looking to starve myself over it.

    Cheers for all the advice though, I really appreciate it!

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