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My diet & exercise plan, any thoughts?
letspushthingsforward
Posts: 14 Member
Ladies and gents, please could I ask for some advice on the viability and healthiness of my plan, detailed below? I'd love to know what you think about the 'regime', and it's plus points and negatives, and anything I might change up. Crucially, I've developed it to suit my lifestyle and social situation. I know, obviously, that if I cut down on alcohol even more, it would help, but I truly believe I'm hitting a good balance here.
So please, any advice on the calorie averages, or the workout regime, would be much appreciated.
Profile:
Age: 26
Height: 5ft 10inches
Weight: 226lbs
Goal Weight: 189lbs
Diet: (looking to average the following, per day)...
Cals in: 2000
Cals out (through exercise): 400
I'm mixing up the meal structure. Occasionally 3 meals a day, occasionally 5 or 6 meals a day. Always eat breakfast, as I can't function without it. Keeping sugars, including alcohol, to a minimum Monday-Thursday, and limiting on the weekend where possible but maintaining a good balance. Of the 2000 intake a day, it's relatively balanced but making sure I eat a good deal of protein and fats. Wholegrain carbs wherever possible.
Exercise:
3x runs a week (1 of which is 10km or further)
4x weight training sessions a week (rotating the major muscle groups)
So please, any advice on the calorie averages, or the workout regime, would be much appreciated.
Profile:
Age: 26
Height: 5ft 10inches
Weight: 226lbs
Goal Weight: 189lbs
Diet: (looking to average the following, per day)...
Cals in: 2000
Cals out (through exercise): 400
I'm mixing up the meal structure. Occasionally 3 meals a day, occasionally 5 or 6 meals a day. Always eat breakfast, as I can't function without it. Keeping sugars, including alcohol, to a minimum Monday-Thursday, and limiting on the weekend where possible but maintaining a good balance. Of the 2000 intake a day, it's relatively balanced but making sure I eat a good deal of protein and fats. Wholegrain carbs wherever possible.
Exercise:
3x runs a week (1 of which is 10km or further)
4x weight training sessions a week (rotating the major muscle groups)
0
Replies
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So are you looking to net 1600 calories a day? If so, that seems too low.
I plugged your stats into a TDEE calc and got 2400 for your sedentary TDEE. To lose about 1lbs a week, you'd need a 500 calorie deficit so 2000 NET calories per day. So I'd try to stick around that, assuming your calorie burns are accurate.
3 -
Thanks for that. Yeah, that was the plan. I will reconsider then - which calc did you use online?0
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I used this one: http://www.sailrabbit.com/bmr/
It seems a bit more scientific than the others I've seen and it's worked well for me!
You'll probably need to make adjustments as you go. I'd recommend starting with 2000 net cals and if you aren't seeing good progress in a month or so, decrease by 100 calories. And if you're feeling too hungry, or your workouts are suffering, increase by 100 calories.2 -
What's your actual lifting program? Self designed or structured? 2000 might not be too bad. I'd probably have protein around 160-180g per day.1
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What rate of loss does that intake level give you?
Are you designing your lifting and running workouts yourself? There are tons of solid beginner lifting and running programs, so it might be a better idea to use one rather than write your own.
What is your current fitness level? What amount of exercise are you accustomed to now?2 -
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letspushthingsforward wrote: »
Can you provide some detail (lifts, frequency, progression scheme)? Do you incorporate deloads? What are yours goals for the program?1 -
What rate of loss does that intake level give you?
Are you designing your lifting and running workouts yourself? There are tons of solid beginner lifting and running programs, so it might be a better idea to use one rather than write your own.
What is your current fitness level? What amount of exercise are you accustomed to now?
Thanks for the reply!
Approximately 2.5lbs per week. It would perhaps be a little more, and potentially even too much, if I didn't allow myself as much beer as I do on a Friday and a Saturday.
In terms of running, it's very much a 'feel' activity where I only do what I feel I can handle. Same with weights but I have had input from friends who lift a lot.
I was, at one point, an exceptionally fit competition Karate practitioner, but the years have not been kind and only this year have I felt confident enough (and been in the right mental state) to get fit again. I was 242lbs at the start of the year, so I have had some success, but now I want to really kick on, hence the aforementioned regime.0 -
letspushthingsforward wrote: »
Can you provide some detail (lifts, frequency, progression scheme)? Do you incorporate deloads? What are yours goals for the program?
I'm off out for a run now but I will reply with detail later on, thanks!0 -
I used this one: http://www.sailrabbit.com/bmr/
It seems a bit more scientific than the others I've seen and it's worked well for me!
You'll probably need to make adjustments as you go. I'd recommend starting with 2000 net cals and if you aren't seeing good progress in a month or so, decrease by 100 calories. And if you're feeling too hungry, or your workouts are suffering, increase by 100 calories.
Thank you! I certainly intend the programme to be flexible and dynamic. Chiefly, I'll listen to my body. Today, after a solid workout last night, and with a long run just around the corner, I am very hungry, and I'm upping calorie intake to 2600 with some additional protein!1 -
Here's what I would be concerned about if I were you...
You have an aggressive weight-loss goal (even if you're doing high-low days and averaging 2 pounds per week, it's still fairly aggressive) + an aggressive weekly training schedule. (It looks like you're intending on running or lifting every day, although I guess you might be planning on doubling up to give yourself some rest days). It also sounds like you haven't been very active in the recent past.
That sounds like a recipe for burnout or injury if you jump straight into all of that. Or a recipe for kicking yourself into over-eating (or over-drinking) on your weekend days and undoing all of your hard work during the week. Could you design more of a ramp-up into this plan instead of a 0-to-60 start?2 -
Here's what I would be concerned about if I were you...
You have an aggressive weight-loss goal (even if you're doing high-low days and averaging 2 pounds per week, it's still fairly aggressive) + an aggressive weekly training schedule. (It looks like you're intending on running or lifting every day, although I guess you might be planning on doubling up to give yourself some rest days). It also sounds like you haven't been very active in the recent past.
That sounds like a recipe for burnout or injury if you jump straight into all of that. Or a recipe for kicking yourself into over-eating (or over-drinking) on your weekend days and undoing all of your hard work during the week. Could you design more of a ramp-up into this plan instead of a 0-to-60 start?
Quick reply before my run, as this is a really good point!
To some extent I am already ramping up, as over the past 6 months I have been intermittently achieving the same level of exercise (Feb and March I kept to this pretty well), and I have been running every week this year. It's the calorie intake which I have not stuck to, and, granted, I haven't been in the gym with this regularity for a longggg time.
Perhaps I'll consider a slightly less aggressive regime to begin with, in order to ramp up as you say; maybe a net of 2200 and an extra day off!0 -
If you intend to maintain your muscle, you would definitely benefit from a less aggressive plan. Also, severely cutting calories, or getting a lot from alcohol will probably reduce yours gains. Albeit, the question is do you care more about weight loss or physique/strength.
The general issue I have weight self designed programs (unless you have specific training or education in the field), is that it will largely be less effective than programs designed for your appropriate level of fitness. Now, I will say, that once you post the program, we can give more feedback.
What I will say, don't get short sighted with weight loss being a primary goal, if you have long term goals that are specific because more often than not, those short-sighted goals do not support or inhibit long term success.1 -
If you can burn 400 calories during the week, do 600 on the weekends to make up for a few beers.0
This discussion has been closed.
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