Looking for some guidance

Hi All,

This is my first post here. :smile:

I need some guidance regarding work out and nutrition. Below are my details

Male, Age 29
Height: 5ft 10
Current Weight: 135.2 kg (I was 138.9 kg around 4 weeks ago)

I have recently started going gym, i try to go 4-5 days a weeks and eat between 800-1200 calories ( please feel free to view my food diary and comment ).

I have always struggled with my weight, at my highest i weighed 160KG and i managed to come down to 125KG then i got really busy with work left gym and gained weight.

Now i am back at gym try to go 4-5 days a weeks, below is my workout routine.

15 mins treadmill warm up, 7 incline and speed 4.5
15 mins cross trainer, effort level 10. HIIT

3x sets of chest press, 25kg
3x sets of pectoral fly, 35kg
3x sets of shoulder press, 15kg
3x sets of lat pull down, 35 kg

3x sets of leg press, 50kg
3x sets of leg extension, 40kg
3x sets of leg curl, 40kg

Occasionally i workout with 12kg kettle bells and do bicep curls.

For nutrition please view my diary, i try to eat less than 50grams of carbs and lots of protein. On some days i am eating less than 30grams of carbs.

Please advise if my work workout and nutrition is good for effective weight loss.

Do i need to make any changes to my workout or nutrition? Am i eating right?

I look forward to all your comments.

Kind regards,

Sohaib

Replies

  • Alyssa_Is_LosingIt
    Alyssa_Is_LosingIt Posts: 4,696 Member

    Please advise if my work workout and nutrition is good for effective weight loss.


    The only thing that matters for weight loss is calories. Eat less calories than you burn, and you will lose weight.

    The workout regimen you choose and the foods you choose to eat are up to you. Do you enjoy your workouts? What are your ultimate fitness goals?

    Do you enjoy the foods that you're eating? Do you allow yourself wiggle room for treats? Do you have problems with binging? Are you measuring what you eat accurately by using a food scale? Are you hitting your macronutrient and calorie goals?

    These are the main questions you need to ask yourself at the beginning. Your workout plan and diet could be impeccable, but if it's something that you will not stick to, it is worthless.
  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,562 Member
    You won't last on 800-1200 calories. You should be eating 1500 minimum, if not the goal MFP gives you. Consistent undereating can lead to muscle loss and other serious health risks.
  • kchartinc
    kchartinc Posts: 21 Member
    800-1200 calories is much too low for a man of your height. Calculate your TDEE (here's a calc: https://tdeecalculator.net) and then subtract 500 calories and go from there.
  • Alyssa_Is_LosingIt
    Alyssa_Is_LosingIt Posts: 4,696 Member
    malibu927 wrote: »
    You won't last on 800-1200 calories. You should be eating 1500 minimum, if not the goal MFP gives you. Consistent undereating can lead to muscle loss and other serious health risks.

    Yikes, I didn't even notice this. That is way too low, especially considering how much OP plans to exercise.
  • Corneredtigers
    Corneredtigers Posts: 5 Member
    Hi guys,

    Thank you so much for replying, i appreciate all the advice.

    I am measuring everything accurately using a food scale, my target weight goal would be 100kg i'd be really pleased with that.

    I do enjoy my workout sometimes but i don't really enjoy what i eat but i don't mind as long as i lose weight.

    I'm just really confused about calories, i have read a lot of articles some say i should eat 800 calories a day, i need to burn more than i eat? :neutral: and some say i need to eat around 1200-1500 calories per day.

    I will definitely take all your advice on board, :smile:
  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,562 Member
    Hi guys,

    Thank you so much for replying, i appreciate all the advice.

    I am measuring everything accurately using a food scale, my target weight goal would be 100kg i'd be really pleased with that.

    I do enjoy my workout sometimes but i don't really enjoy what i eat but i don't mind as long as i lose weight.

    I'm just really confused about calories, i have read a lot of articles some say i should eat 800 calories a day, i need to burn more than i eat? :neutral: and some say i need to eat around 1200-1500 calories per day.

    I will definitely take all your advice on board, :smile:

    You burn plenty of calories just by living. And I don't know anyone who would recommend 800 calories, period. That is VLCD territory.

    Set MFP up to give you a loss of .5-.75 kg a week. Eat that amount, plus a portion of your exercise calories. Your body needs fuel, and without it you'll be too tired to do anything, let alone all that lifting. Also, why eat things you don't enjoy? Eat the foods you like, just in smaller portions. If you don't have a medical reason to restrict your carbs that low, eat them..
  • Alyssa_Is_LosingIt
    Alyssa_Is_LosingIt Posts: 4,696 Member
    Hi guys,

    Thank you so much for replying, i appreciate all the advice.

    I am measuring everything accurately using a food scale, my target weight goal would be 100kg i'd be really pleased with that.

    I do enjoy my workout sometimes but i don't really enjoy what i eat but i don't mind as long as i lose weight.

    I'm just really confused about calories, i have read a lot of articles some say i should eat 800 calories a day, i need to burn more than i eat? :neutral: and some say i need to eat around 1200-1500 calories per day.

    I will definitely take all your advice on board, :smile:

    We all burn a certain number of calories a day based on our height, weight, and activity level. You just have to eat less calories than this number to lose weight. You don't have to burn those calories at the gym.

    What was the calorie goal that MFP gave you when you set up your profile?
  • Mumu190672
    Mumu190672 Posts: 76 Member
    Your body needs calories to function.
    Even if you do absolutely nothing all day 1200 calories is a too big deficit for a man of your size.
    1200 calories is a minimum for women. Men need at least 1400/1500 calories.
    Try to enter you information in mfp and it will tell you how many calories you can eat each day.
    Enter the exercise you do. Mfp gives you extra calories to eat for that.
    Most of people eat half of exercise calories back.
    If you eat to little you burn fat but also muscles.
  • Corneredtigers
    Corneredtigers Posts: 5 Member
    malibu927 wrote: »
    Hi guys,

    Thank you so much for replying, i appreciate all the advice.

    I am measuring everything accurately using a food scale, my target weight goal would be 100kg i'd be really pleased with that.

    I do enjoy my workout sometimes but i don't really enjoy what i eat but i don't mind as long as i lose weight.

    I'm just really confused about calories, i have read a lot of articles some say i should eat 800 calories a day, i need to burn more than i eat? :neutral: and some say i need to eat around 1200-1500 calories per day.

    I will definitely take all your advice on board, :smile:

    You burn plenty of calories just by living. And I don't know anyone who would recommend 800 calories, period. That is VLCD territory.

    Set MFP up to give you a loss of .5-.75 kg a week. Eat that amount, plus a portion of your exercise calories. Your body needs fuel, and without it you'll be too tired to do anything, let alone all that lifting. Also, why eat things you don't enjoy? Eat the foods you like, just in smaller portions. If you don't have a medical reason to restrict your carbs that low, eat them..

    Thank you for the tips, i will change my diet and eat things i enjoy in smaller portions :smile:
  • Raptor2763
    Raptor2763 Posts: 387 Member
    Diet is the key to weight loss. As long as you're in a calorie deficit, you'll lose weight safely. Put another way, you can't out-work a bad diet. Speaking personally, I like to keep things simple as concerns my diet. WHAT you eat, WHEN you eat, and HOW MUCH you eat are the three keys to successful diet management and weight loss
  • Corneredtigers
    Corneredtigers Posts: 5 Member
    Hi guys,

    Thank you so much for replying, i appreciate all the advice.

    I am measuring everything accurately using a food scale, my target weight goal would be 100kg i'd be really pleased with that.

    I do enjoy my workout sometimes but i don't really enjoy what i eat but i don't mind as long as i lose weight.

    I'm just really confused about calories, i have read a lot of articles some say i should eat 800 calories a day, i need to burn more than i eat? :neutral: and some say i need to eat around 1200-1500 calories per day.

    I will definitely take all your advice on board, :smile:

    We all burn a certain number of calories a day based on our height, weight, and activity level. You just have to eat less calories than this number to lose weight. You don't have to burn those calories at the gym.

    What was the calorie goal that MFP gave you when you set up your profile?

    When i set up my profile i set calorie goal for 1200 calories, 100kg goal and to lose 1kg per week.
  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,562 Member
    Raptor2763 wrote: »
    Diet is the key to weight loss. As long as you're in a calorie deficit, you'll lose weight safely. Put another way, you can't out-work a bad diet. Speaking personally, I like to keep things simple as concerns my diet. WHAT you eat, WHEN you eat, and HOW MUCH you eat are the three keys to successful diet management and weight loss

    How much you eat- yes, absolutely important
    What you eat- when it comes to losing weight, not so important, but very important for nutrition
    When you eat- not important at all
  • sonjatarokic
    sonjatarokic Posts: 5 Member
    if the goal was set to 1200kcal, that means that if you only stick to the diet and eat 1200kcal per day, you will effectively lose weight. if you go to the gym and you lose 500kcal, then myfitnesspal will calculate that for that day you are allowed 1700kcal, to stay in your minimum.
    but of course, it doesnt mean that you definitely should eat that 500kcal extra.
    "to burn more kcal than you eat" means that you cannot eat as many calories as an average person, lets say 1800kcal, and expect to lose weight. you need to lower the intake, but with excersizing, you enhance the way your body processes those calories, you build muscles, and for men - its even easier, because you build the muscles much faster, and the muscles are the ones that truly "digest" the fat.
    good luck!
  • sonjatarokic
    sonjatarokic Posts: 5 Member
    and on the "when you eat" topic - try to avoid eating in the evening, and you will see the results much faster. it is very difficult to build that discipline, not to eat after 7 or 8pm., but soon, you will start feeling much better over all. just make sure that you remind yourself that your last meal should be around 7, so you dont forget about it, and at 10pm realize that you havent eaten since breakfast. then you will probably overeat because of the huge hunger.
  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,562 Member
    if the goal was set to 1200kcal, that means that if you only stick to the diet and eat 1200kcal per day, you will effectively lose weight. if you go to the gym and you lose 500kcal, then myfitnesspal will calculate that for that day you are allowed 1700kcal, to stay in your minimum.
    but of course, it doesnt mean that you definitely should eat that 500kcal extra.
    "to burn more kcal than you eat" means that you cannot eat as many calories as an average person, lets say 1800kcal, and expect to lose weight. you need to lower the intake, but with excersizing, you enhance the way your body processes those calories, you build muscles, and for men - its even easier, because you build the muscles much faster, and the muscles are the ones that truly "digest" the fat.
    good luck!

    The way MFP is set up, you're given a calorie deficit already without exercise. Say you are assigned 1800 calories to lose a pound a week. This means that MFP believes that you burn, on average, 2300 calories a day through regular activity. You then burn 500 calories through exercise. You have now burned 2800 calories, but your deficit is now 1000 calories. To keep the deficit consistent and fuel your body, you eat those calories back. However, as it's easy to overestimate calorie burns, many will only stick to eating back 50-75% of their exercise calories.

    Also, no man will build muscle on 1200 calories.
  • Alyssa_Is_LosingIt
    Alyssa_Is_LosingIt Posts: 4,696 Member
    and on the "when you eat" topic - try to avoid eating in the evening, and you will see the results much faster. it is very difficult to build that discipline, not to eat after 7 or 8pm., but soon, you will start feeling much better over all. just make sure that you remind yourself that your last meal should be around 7, so you dont forget about it, and at 10pm realize that you havent eaten since breakfast. then you will probably overeat because of the huge hunger.

    This is not true. You can eat your food whenever you like. As long as you're in a deficit, you will lose weight.
  • sonjatarokic
    sonjatarokic Posts: 5 Member
    malibu927 wrote: »
    if the goal was set to 1200kcal, that means that if you only stick to the diet and eat 1200kcal per day, you will effectively lose weight. if you go to the gym and you lose 500kcal, then myfitnesspal will calculate that for that day you are allowed 1700kcal, to stay in your minimum.
    but of course, it doesnt mean that you definitely should eat that 500kcal extra.
    "to burn more kcal than you eat" means that you cannot eat as many calories as an average person, lets say 1800kcal, and expect to lose weight. you need to lower the intake, but with excersizing, you enhance the way your body processes those calories, you build muscles, and for men - its even easier, because you build the muscles much faster, and the muscles are the ones that truly "digest" the fat.
    good luck!

    The way MFP is set up, you're given a calorie deficit already without exercise. Say you are assigned 1800 calories to lose a pound a week. This means that MFP believes that you burn, on average, 2300 calories a day through regular activity. You then burn 500 calories through exercise. You have now burned 2800 calories, but your deficit is now 1000 calories. To keep the deficit consistent and fuel your body, you eat those calories back. However, as it's easy to overestimate calorie burns, many will only stick to eating back 50-75% of their exercise calories.

    Also, no man will build muscle on 1200 calories.

    thats pretty much what i said, just with "minus" instead of "plus" sign
  • Alyssa_Is_LosingIt
    Alyssa_Is_LosingIt Posts: 4,696 Member
    Hi guys,

    Thank you so much for replying, i appreciate all the advice.

    I am measuring everything accurately using a food scale, my target weight goal would be 100kg i'd be really pleased with that.

    I do enjoy my workout sometimes but i don't really enjoy what i eat but i don't mind as long as i lose weight.

    I'm just really confused about calories, i have read a lot of articles some say i should eat 800 calories a day, i need to burn more than i eat? :neutral: and some say i need to eat around 1200-1500 calories per day.

    I will definitely take all your advice on board, :smile:

    We all burn a certain number of calories a day based on our height, weight, and activity level. You just have to eat less calories than this number to lose weight. You don't have to burn those calories at the gym.

    What was the calorie goal that MFP gave you when you set up your profile?

    When i set up my profile i set calorie goal for 1200 calories, 100kg goal and to lose 1kg per week.

    If you put that you were sedentary and want to lose 2 lbs (1 kg) per week, and you don't have a whole lot of weight to lose, that is probably why it gave you 1200 calories. That rate of loss is way too aggressive for you, and you are more than likely not sedentary.

    Put in your stats again, choose at least lightly active, .5 kg per week, and eat back 50-75% of the calories you burn through exercise. This should give you a more attainable goal.

    No 29 y/o male should be eating 1200 calories a day, and no one except toddlers should be eating 800 calories per day.
  • sonjatarokic
    sonjatarokic Posts: 5 Member
    and on the "when you eat" topic - try to avoid eating in the evening, and you will see the results much faster. it is very difficult to build that discipline, not to eat after 7 or 8pm., but soon, you will start feeling much better over all. just make sure that you remind yourself that your last meal should be around 7, so you dont forget about it, and at 10pm realize that you havent eaten since breakfast. then you will probably overeat because of the huge hunger.

    This is not true. You can eat your food whenever you like. As long as you're in a deficit, you will lose weight.

    well, maybe it depends on the way you live,
    but many of my friends and myself too have lost weight much faster and more effectively by avoiding to eat before bedtime, by not going to sleep with your stomach full, and still feeling full when you wake up. if you are a 29 year old guy, you probably go out in the evening with your friends, or your girlfriend, and you enjoy food socially very often. getting hungry after a beer is very common. if you skip lunch, but then eat a burrito at midnight, its still a deficit, but not a very smart one.
  • Alyssa_Is_LosingIt
    Alyssa_Is_LosingIt Posts: 4,696 Member
    and on the "when you eat" topic - try to avoid eating in the evening, and you will see the results much faster. it is very difficult to build that discipline, not to eat after 7 or 8pm., but soon, you will start feeling much better over all. just make sure that you remind yourself that your last meal should be around 7, so you dont forget about it, and at 10pm realize that you havent eaten since breakfast. then you will probably overeat because of the huge hunger.

    This is not true. You can eat your food whenever you like. As long as you're in a deficit, you will lose weight.

    well, maybe it depends on the way you live,
    but many of my friends and myself too have lost weight much faster and more effectively by avoiding to eat before bedtime, by not going to sleep with your stomach full, and still feeling full when you wake up. if you are a 29 year old guy, you probably go out in the evening with your friends, or your girlfriend, and you enjoy food socially very often. getting hungry after a beer is very common. if you skip lunch, but then eat a burrito at midnight, its still a deficit, but not a very smart one.

    I usually eat a bowl of ice cream at night before bed and I'm losing weight at my predicted rate of 1 lb per week.

    Last night I had peanut butter.

    Your metabolism doesn't just quit working while we're sleeping. This is an old myth that needs to be put to bed.
  • sonjatarokic
    sonjatarokic Posts: 5 Member
    and on the "when you eat" topic - try to avoid eating in the evening, and you will see the results much faster. it is very difficult to build that discipline, not to eat after 7 or 8pm., but soon, you will start feeling much better over all. just make sure that you remind yourself that your last meal should be around 7, so you dont forget about it, and at 10pm realize that you havent eaten since breakfast. then you will probably overeat because of the huge hunger.

    This is not true. You can eat your food whenever you like. As long as you're in a deficit, you will lose weight.

    well, maybe it depends on the way you live,
    but many of my friends and myself too have lost weight much faster and more effectively by avoiding to eat before bedtime, by not going to sleep with your stomach full, and still feeling full when you wake up. if you are a 29 year old guy, you probably go out in the evening with your friends, or your girlfriend, and you enjoy food socially very often. getting hungry after a beer is very common. if you skip lunch, but then eat a burrito at midnight, its still a deficit, but not a very smart one.

    I usually eat a bowl of ice cream at night before bed and I'm losing weight at my predicted rate of 1 lb per week.

    Last night I had peanut butter.

    Your metabolism doesn't just quit working while we're sleeping. This is an old myth that needs to be put to bed.

    well eating ice cream in bed has brought me to this website :) maybe thats why i'm trying to avoid it :)
  • Corneredtigers
    Corneredtigers Posts: 5 Member
    Thank you all the tips and advice everyone, I really appreciate it. I will take all this on board and report back on my progress. :smiley: