In Need of Advice

RPN869
RPN869 Posts: 14 Member
edited December 3 in Health and Weight Loss
Hi there!

So, I'm not 100% sure if I've been losing fat. I'm an 18 year old male, 5'10. I've currently been doing keto (started in the middle of July), eating around 1,800-1,900 calories per day. Every morning when I wake up, I do 10 reps of 6 sprints up my stairs of cardio, and then I split a full body workout into two days (I get exercise every single day of the week). I try to also go on 20+ minute walks whenever I can as well.

So, I managed to drop a couple of pounds, but I think it might have just been water weight (keto always causes water weight loss). I gained it back after a family picnic with heavy eating. Pretty discouraging, I must admit. But I'm also not sure, because I'm not entirely sure if I actually weighed that much before I started keto.

What I'm trying to figure out is:
1: What category would I fall into of my physical activity level (should it be moderately active or active)?
2: Should I just wait this out? I don't know if it's working at all.
3: Would 1,800 to 1,900 calories be safe? Or is it too much/too little?

Replies

  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,562 Member
    1. Exercise is not included in your activity level. Base it on what you do day by day (work/school).
    2. How long has it been since you've lost weight?
    3. Depending on how much you have to lose, I'd say it's too low for your age.
  • RPN869
    RPN869 Posts: 14 Member
    Thank you!

    1. Okay, good to know that!
    2. The pounds that I lost were over the span of 3 weeks.
    3. I'm trying to lose 10-15 pounds (I don't really know how much I want to lose, I'm just basing it off of people I know who are in good shape).

    I FORGOT TO MENTION! I weigh around 170lbs, went down to 166lbs, and I was in the high 160s this morning. I don't really have much to lose...

    How many calories do you think I should consume?
  • RPN869
    RPN869 Posts: 14 Member
    Also, my diet mostly consists of salmon, peanut butter, almond butter, a few leafy greens, 3 glasses of green tea, and a LOT of water, as well as hot sauce whenever I have meats.
  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,562 Member
    With so little to lose, set your goal to half a pound a week and make sure you're logging everything as accurately as possible. This may mean ensuring every item you consume gets logged, weighing all foods on a food scale, double checking that your entries are accurate, utilizing the recipe builder instead of homemade and generic entries, and being mindful of your exercise calories.
  • diannethegeek
    diannethegeek Posts: 14,776 Member
    RPN869 wrote: »
    Also, my diet mostly consists of salmon, peanut butter, almond butter, a few leafy greens, 3 glasses of green tea, and a LOT of water, as well as hot sauce whenever I have meats.

    Your entire diet is 4 different foods? Those all sound healthy, but variety is important. Not just to stave off boredom, but to help get many different kinds of vitamins and minerals into your diet.
  • RPN869
    RPN869 Posts: 14 Member
    diannethegeek wrote: »
    RPN869 wrote: »
    Also, my diet mostly consists of salmon, peanut butter, almond butter, a few leafy greens, 3 glasses of green tea, and a LOT of water, as well as hot sauce whenever I have meats.

    Your entire diet is 4 different foods? Those all sound healthy, but variety is important. Not just to stave off boredom, but to help get many different kinds of vitamins and minerals into your diet.

    There's more than that, but that's just the stuff I get the most of. I also take multi-vitamins + minerals.
  • RPN869
    RPN869 Posts: 14 Member
    malibu927 wrote: »
    With so little to lose, set your goal to half a pound a week and make sure you're logging everything as accurately as possible. This may mean ensuring every item you consume gets logged, weighing all foods on a food scale, double checking that your entries are accurate, utilizing the recipe builder instead of homemade and generic entries, and being mindful of your exercise calories.

    Why is it that I should do half a pound instead of 1-2 pounds?
  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,562 Member
    For two reasons: to preserve as much muscle as possible as you lose, and to make the transition to maintenance easier.
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 10,097 Member
    RPN869 wrote: »
    malibu927 wrote: »
    With so little to lose, set your goal to half a pound a week and make sure you're logging everything as accurately as possible. This may mean ensuring every item you consume gets logged, weighing all foods on a food scale, double checking that your entries are accurate, utilizing the recipe builder instead of homemade and generic entries, and being mindful of your exercise calories.

    Why is it that I should do half a pound instead of 1-2 pounds?

    Primarily to conserve lean mass (muscle). The faster you lose, the likelier you are to lose more muscle than is strictly necessary. (You're pretty much always going to lose some muscle with the fat, but the point is to try to tilt the balance so that as much as possible of what you're losing is fat. You're not even overweight by the BMI charts, so you don't likely have all that much fat, and there are limits to how many calories per pound of fat your body can generate each day to make up for your calorie consumption deficit.)

    Secondarily, to avoid being in such a deep deficit that you don't have energy to work out or even to live your life properly. Some people find that too large a deficit interferes with their sleep patterns, makes them extra irritable, has negative effects on skin, hair, immune system ...
  • RPN869
    RPN869 Posts: 14 Member
    lynn_glenmont wrote: »
    RPN869 wrote: »
    malibu927 wrote: »
    With so little to lose, set your goal to half a pound a week and make sure you're logging everything as accurately as possible. This may mean ensuring every item you consume gets logged, weighing all foods on a food scale, double checking that your entries are accurate, utilizing the recipe builder instead of homemade and generic entries, and being mindful of your exercise calories.

    Why is it that I should do half a pound instead of 1-2 pounds?

    Primarily to conserve lean mass (muscle). The faster you lose, the likelier you are to lose more muscle than is strictly necessary. (You're pretty much always going to lose some muscle with the fat, but the point is to try to tilt the balance so that as much as possible of what you're losing is fat. You're not even overweight by the BMI charts, so you don't likely have all that much fat, and there are limits to how many calories per pound of fat your body can generate each day to make up for your calorie consumption deficit.)

    Secondarily, to avoid being in such a deep deficit that you don't have energy to work out or even to live your life properly. Some people find that too large a deficit interferes with their sleep patterns, makes them extra irritable, has negative effects on skin, hair, immune system ...

    Personally, I felt fine in a really deep deficit like that. But today I decreased my deficit due to the fact that I felt it would stall my weight loss to have a deficit as deep as that.
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 10,097 Member
    RPN869 wrote: »
    lynn_glenmont wrote: »
    RPN869 wrote: »
    malibu927 wrote: »
    With so little to lose, set your goal to half a pound a week and make sure you're logging everything as accurately as possible. This may mean ensuring every item you consume gets logged, weighing all foods on a food scale, double checking that your entries are accurate, utilizing the recipe builder instead of homemade and generic entries, and being mindful of your exercise calories.

    Why is it that I should do half a pound instead of 1-2 pounds?

    Primarily to conserve lean mass (muscle). The faster you lose, the likelier you are to lose more muscle than is strictly necessary. (You're pretty much always going to lose some muscle with the fat, but the point is to try to tilt the balance so that as much as possible of what you're losing is fat. You're not even overweight by the BMI charts, so you don't likely have all that much fat, and there are limits to how many calories per pound of fat your body can generate each day to make up for your calorie consumption deficit.)

    Secondarily, to avoid being in such a deep deficit that you don't have energy to work out or even to live your life properly. Some people find that too large a deficit interferes with their sleep patterns, makes them extra irritable, has negative effects on skin, hair, immune system ...

    Personally, I felt fine in a really deep deficit like that. But today I decreased my deficit due to the fact that I felt it would stall my weight loss to have a deficit as deep as that.

    It just doesn't work like that. It's like saying you're worried that your boat might sink because you're bailing too fast, or that you might get rich because you're spending money too fast.
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