Can someone please guide me in the right direction :)

I'm so confused about all this weight loss experience. I need some guidance please. So I've lost a total of 33 pound total since I first stated my weight loss journey. I've done from from running to 2hrs of gym classes ( zumba, spin, power sculpt, cardio kick etc etc etc) 2 classes back to back. I lost some weight but didn't really notice it on my body but it was clear on the scale. I moved to insanity, I was able to finish it and lost about 10 lbs and really saw the difference in inches i looked a lot tighter and a little definition. Went on to p90x and ended up gaining 3 pounds and saw a little more definition. I expected more thou. Upper body I was lifting 12lbs doing about 12-16 reps, lower body 12- 25lbs depending on the workout ( I have bad knees I blame spin class for that). I did 30 days of bodyrock and now I'm currently doing asylum (today was my 1st day) I absolutely love to workout and challenge myself.

So here is my deal I am really confused of my calories and how much I should be eating of Carbs, Protein, Fats. Yesterday I started searching the web for answer and came across a topic on this on bodybuilding.com. Which stated I needed to do a nutrition macro of 40% carbs - 40% protein -20% fats wondering if this is only for body builders. I calculated and this was my results:

1,450 calories a day,
145g of protein, which I think is a lot.
145g of carbs, same here a lot of carbs
32g of fat



I was currently doing 1,200 default Myfitnesspal has here loosing 2 pound a week. ( which haven't seen it happen for a very long time) I have actually gained 10 pounds since My mud run in October of 11 to now (6 months). I got comfortable and was splurging a lot more. I've came to far to go back up. My goal is to loose more body fat and tone up ( have definition).

I got down to 135 lbs now I'm 145lbs I'm 5'6, 33yrs old.

I know I don't see the results I should be getting because of what I eat and that's why I need guidance.

Please help :blushing:

Replies

  • Based on what you've written, I don't think you're eating enough calories. There are many threads on here about calculating your BMR and TDEE. I think your macro % are probably good for building some muscle. I'm not quite there yet and have mine set to 40/30/30

    My BMR is 1,321 and TDEE (moderately active) is 2,047 and so I set my calories at 1,638 which gives me a 20% deficit.

    Based on your info, I get a BMR of 1,440 and TDEE of 2,484 for very active. You might even qualify as extremely active, which would put your TDEE at 2,736. A 20% deficit would give you 1,987 for very active or 2,189 for extremely active.

    Hope that helps some!
  • jerjan
    jerjan Posts: 33 Member
    Thank you Very much. :smile:
  • Sarauk2sf
    Sarauk2sf Posts: 28,072 Member
    @mommyof3 gave you good suggestions regarding your target calories.

    A couple of additional suggestions:

    - lower your reps and increase the weights for your strength training - for example, try 3 sets, 6 - 8 reps at the highest weight you can do while retaining form - you should be pretty much failing at the last rep (but make sure you can do so safely)
    - try setting your macros at 40% carbs, 30% fat and 30% protein. A rule of thumb is 1g of protein for each lb of lean body mass (the 40% gives you and unnecessarily high protein target) and 0.35g of fat per lb of total body weight.
    - take measurements and ignore the scale for a while.
    - you do not have much weight to go, so you should really only expect/aim for about 0.5lb a week.
  • jerjan
    jerjan Posts: 33 Member
    Thank you! It's making more sense now. Today I tested out the 40%, 40%, 20 % macros and freaked me out how much food I had to eat. LOL! but I do agree I was under eating. I'll try your suggestion tomorrow.