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Need advice!
tarekhamouda7445
Posts: 465 Member
Hi , I am a 49 year old male, i am 167 CM tall and weigh 85.5kg.
I lost weight previously reaching 79 kg but i also lost a lot of muscle mass in the process.
Now I want to go through a program to build muscle and lose weight at the same time with a target of 75kg with the majority of loss from fat.
I am currently going on 1200 calories per day and do moderate weight lifting training (full body ) and moderate cardio (jogging 4.5m/hour 15 to 20 min) 4 times a week
Any advice is appreciated if I am on the correct path.
I lost weight previously reaching 79 kg but i also lost a lot of muscle mass in the process.
Now I want to go through a program to build muscle and lose weight at the same time with a target of 75kg with the majority of loss from fat.
I am currently going on 1200 calories per day and do moderate weight lifting training (full body ) and moderate cardio (jogging 4.5m/hour 15 to 20 min) 4 times a week
Any advice is appreciated if I am on the correct path.
1
Replies
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Your calories are way too low. 1500 is the minimum for males. If you're weight lifting and only wanting to lose 10 kgs, you should be eating way more than that. Set up this website to lose 0.5 lbs per week (or the kilo equivalent) and eat that.6
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Thanks for your comment, I tend to gain weight eating anything over 1500, don't know why! but actually that was before I started the weight lifting training, I am also intermittent fasting from 3PM to 7AM, thanks again2
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tarekhamouda7445 wrote: »Thanks for your comment, I tend to gain weight eating anything over 1500, don't know why! but actually that was before I started the weight lifting training, I am also intermittent fasting from 3PM to 7AM, thanks again
Do you use a food scale to weigh everything you eat, and log it religiously, no skipping, cheating or forgetting? If not, you're probably eating more calories than you think. Check out this thread.
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10634517/you-dont-use-a-food-scale/p13 -
I am using a scale religiously , thanks for advice!3
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tarekhamouda7445 wrote: »I am using a scale religiously , thanks for advice!
That's weird. You weigh/log everything that passes your lips? Cooking oils, salad dressings, caloric drinks? Are you willing to make your food diary public?
You should be able to eat more calories and still lose weight. I'm female, 43 years old, 5'9", 180 lbs and can lose on 2000 calories a day.6 -
tarekhamouda7445 wrote: »Thanks for your comment, I tend to gain weight eating anything over 1500, don't know why! but actually that was before I started the weight lifting training, I am also intermittent fasting from 3PM to 7AM, thanks again
Your food logging is probably very inaccurate then which makes advice very difficult, 1200 true intake would be disastrous for a male your size and 1500 being maintenance really isn't at all likely even if you were completely sedentary and did no exercise. Your BMR is in the order of 1800 and that's just your basic bodily functions with no activity or exercise.
Would suggest fixing your logging would be the first step towards working with accurate datea making your diary public would help.
5 -
Thanks sijomial, actually i started weighing my food recently, i didn't before, i am 30% body fat, so if I stick to 1500, will that help me build muscle and lose fat?1
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quiksylver296 wrote: »tarekhamouda7445 wrote: »I am using a scale religiously , thanks for advice!
That's weird. You weigh/log everything that passes your lips? Cooking oils, salad dressings, caloric drinks? Are you willing to make your food diary public?
You should be able to eat more calories and still lose weight. I'm female, 43 years old, 5'9", 180 lbs and can lose on 2000 calories a day.
I actually started recently weighing very strictly.1 -
tarekhamouda7445 wrote: »quiksylver296 wrote: »tarekhamouda7445 wrote: »I am using a scale religiously , thanks for advice!
That's weird. You weigh/log everything that passes your lips? Cooking oils, salad dressings, caloric drinks? Are you willing to make your food diary public?
You should be able to eat more calories and still lose weight. I'm female, 43 years old, 5'9", 180 lbs and can lose on 2000 calories a day.
I actually started recently weighing very strictly.
How recently? Give any change at least 4 weeks to see how it's working, then adjust from there.1 -
quiksylver296 wrote: »tarekhamouda7445 wrote: »quiksylver296 wrote: »tarekhamouda7445 wrote: »I am using a scale religiously , thanks for advice!
That's weird. You weigh/log everything that passes your lips? Cooking oils, salad dressings, caloric drinks? Are you willing to make your food diary public?
You should be able to eat more calories and still lose weight. I'm female, 43 years old, 5'9", 180 lbs and can lose on 2000 calories a day.
I actually started recently weighing very strictly.
How recently? Give any change at least 4 weeks to see how it's working, then adjust from there.
Thanks1 -
tarekhamouda7445 wrote: »Thanks sijomial, actually i started weighing my food recently, i didn't before, i am 30% body fat, so if I stick to 1500, will that help me build muscle and lose fat?
I highly doubt you'll build much muscle at 1500, but I suspect you're eating more than you think.2 -
Dude, I eat more than you to loose weight and im a tiny female so something is off.
If your not loosing weight on ‘1500’ then your tracking is highly inaccurate.
With your stats you BMR is gonna be more than 1500 which is just the minimum your body need to keep you alive, so, your eating more than you think.5 -
I must have been off then, I will give it try at 1500!1
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tarekhamouda7445 wrote: »Thanks sijomial, actually i started weighing my food recently, i didn't before, i am 30% body fat, so if I stick to 1500, will that help me build muscle and lose fat?
Gaining muscle in a deficit is possible but not easy. A large deficit (which would be giving you a rapid rate of weight loss) would make it extremely unlikely or at best very short lived.
A lot depends on your personal circumstances and if you are relatively under-trained and with a high bodyfat it's a lot easier (but still not easy).
A good training program, high'ish protein levels and a very moderate rate of loss gives you the best chance.
Do please remember when considering how fast to lose weight that it's far easier to retain muscle by doing the right things rather than lose weight quickly , be really disappointed in how you look when you get to goal and then face a long and slow slog to regain lost muscle. It's far slower when you are past your 30's!!
6 -
Previously when you saw an increase in weight when eating over 1500, how long did you eat at over 1500? If it was only for a few days to a week, then it probably wasn't fat but water weight from increased sodium and carbs.quiksylver296 wrote: »Your calories are way too low. 1500 is the minimum for males. If you're weight lifting and only wanting to lose 10 kgs, you should be eating way more than that. Set up this website to lose 0.5 lbs per week (or the kilo equivalent) and eat that.
I'm going to agree with @quiksylver and @sijomial. Cutting back to .5 pound loss per week (which if I'm remembering correctly is .25 kilo) since you have so little left to lose. You will see a jump in the scales because of the sodium and carbs but it will drop off eventually. Going at a slower rate will give you a chance to get used to the idea of eating more at maintenance and, as @sijomial said, it will make it easier to retain muscle. From everything I have seen, it's hard to create muscle mass when in such a steep calorie deficit.
Also, as others have said, weighing everything and giving any change 4-6 weeks are both important. You'll also want to make sure that your deficit is a net deficit so making sure to eat back at least part of your exercise calories. I know many people start with eating back half and then, after 4-6 weeks, seeing if your numbers are doing what you expect them to do.
Good luck!2 -
Just to update so everyone can benefit from my post
I have been on eating 5 times a day 1500 calories plus exercise (cardio plus weights) and I am losing weight , not fast as I am used to but losing weight
I was comparing to periods were I went on very restricted calories and lost very fast a lot of weight (fat and muscle )
Hopefully this time I will loose less muscle mass and more fat
Thanks to everyone1 -
tarekhamouda7445 wrote: »Just to update so everyone can benefit from my post
I have been on eating 5 times a day 1500 calories plus exercise (cardio plus weights) and I am losing weight , not fast as I am used to but losing weight
I was comparing to periods were I went on very restricted calories and lost very fast a lot of weight (fat and muscle )
Hopefully this time I will loose less muscle mass and more fat
Thanks to everyone
How much weight have you lost?1 -
Eat more calories and weigh yourself less. The number doesn't mean anything if you're losing inches and gaining lean muscle.2
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TavistockToad wrote: »tarekhamouda7445 wrote: »Just to update so everyone can benefit from my post
I have been on eating 5 times a day 1500 calories plus exercise (cardio plus weights) and I am losing weight , not fast as I am used to but losing weight
I was comparing to periods were I went on very restricted calories and lost very fast a lot of weight (fat and muscle )
Hopefully this time I will loose less muscle mass and more fat
Thanks to everyone
How much weight have you lost?
Well on weight not much 2 kilos but in inches at least 2 inches1 -
CandiCulek wrote: »Eat more calories and weigh yourself less. The number doesn't mean anything if you're losing inches and gaining lean muscle.
exactly, I weigh plus or minus the same but clothes fit much more now, no more buttons trying to jump out of their place.1
This discussion has been closed.
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