Need Help Maintaining My Weight.

akaporn
akaporn Posts: 231 Member
edited December 2024 in Health and Weight Loss
I started MFP about two months ago. My weight loss progress is pretty good. But, when I look further, It kinda worry me a bit.

AGE: 37, HEIGHT: 5'-10", MALE:
Start (May 1, 2012): 165 LB, BF% =19%, Fat Weight = 31.35 LB
Now (July 1, 2012): 145 LB, BF% =14%, Fat Weight = 20.30 LB
Total Weight Loss = 20 LB, Fat Loss = 11 LB.

My Goal weight is 150LB. I reached my goal weight about a week ago. My current MFP setting is still at losing 1LB/week. I decided to see where it go if I didn't adjust my MFP setting. The reason for that is because, I am no longer limiting my intake any more. If you take a look at my log (except last weekend) I have been eating a lot but they were all healthy and the total is still under the limit. As you can see, my weight is still dropping.

Then I did some math (see above). If I did it correctly, out of 21 LB loss, 11 LBs was Fat. Did I loose 9 LB of muscle??? It kinda scare me a little bit. Please review my math and let me know if I was misunderstanding anything.

As of now, I want to loose a little bit more fat but maintain my muscle. What should I do?

1) Should I adjust my MFP Goal from loosing 1 LB/week to Maintain? How should I ease in the process? 0.5 Lb increment per week?
2) I plan to maintain my healthy & clean eating habit. Do I suppose to eat more protein to build my muscle back? What should my Macro be? I'm clueless.
3) Currently, I pretty much eating what I want (clean and healthy). Do I need to force myself to eat more?
4) I'm on my 7th week of Insanity in the morning and going strong. I also do soccer 3-4 games/week in the evening and I normally run for an hour if I don't play soccer. Is it too much cardio? I pland to do Insanity Asylum after I'm done with Insanity to increase my athletic ability.
5) Have not done any strength or weight training at all. Do I need it? I do NOT want to get big. I want to be lean and fast.

Please feel free to review my dairy and ask me any questions. Thank you.

Replies

  • melsinct
    melsinct Posts: 3,512 Member
    You lost 20 pounds in 2 months? I am guessing some lean muscle went out the door with the fat. You lost that ridiculously fast and it isn't like you started with a ton to lose.

    1. Start eating at maintenance and forget about weight. If you are looking to tone up (i.e. get rid of fat) weight is irrelevant at this point. Start measuring once a month. Once I went from weight loss to toning up I dropped a pants size without losing a pound. Your body will start looking different without necessarily any change in weight.

    2. I am not a crazy strength training person so I just try to exceed MFP's protein number daily and that's about it.

    3. Eat more if you keep losing weight and don't want to. You'll find your maintenance groove but it does take some tweaking. Start with what MFP says to maintain with, eat at least some exercise calories back, then wait a couple of weeks and see where you are. There is a learning curve to maintenance.

    4. As long as you are feeling good, I don't think that's too much cardio. You sound very active though, so make sure you are eating enough. Protein shakes are good to fill in the gaps if you need some extra calories (and protein) during the day.

    5. People dedicate themselves to getting big. Believe me when I say strength training will not easily bulk you up. I do strength training 2x week and have more defined muscles, am stronger, have less fat but am by no means bulky. You would have to try very very hard to bulk up. People try hard and still can't do it, so no fears! I do think people rely on cardio too much for exercise and ignore strength training. Both are important and strength training will develop more muscle, making you more of an efficient calorie burner.
  • iWaffle
    iWaffle Posts: 2,208 Member
    1) Should I adjust my MFP Goal from loosing 1 LB/week to Maintain? How should I ease in the process? 0.5 Lb increment per week?

    I did just that last week. I set my calorie goals to maintain my current weight. I still short myself a few calories each day in an effort to try to pull down just a bit more body fat but I'm not set on losing a pound a week anymore. So long as I don't go over a 500 calorie negative then I'm eating more than I was while losing. Some days I eat all 2470 calories, some days I don't. I'm actually 1 pound under my goal currently so I'd say that I was maintaining just fine.
  • strikerjb007
    strikerjb007 Posts: 443 Member
    It's not good to lose that much muscle! You need to do weights to maintain your current mass. You won't get big because to get big you need to eat way over your maintenance level. I'm guessing the reason you lost muscle is because you're doing too much cardio, no weights and not eating enough.
    You need to combine cardio and weights.

    Melsinct nailed it!
  • NittanyLion95
    NittanyLion95 Posts: 65
    I've been playing with maintenance as well. I changed my calorie intake manually, leaving myself a buffer on what MFP said my maintenance would be. I've been able to sustain for over a month now doing that. I just recently did my first measuring as I'm sure I will be losing inches as I continue which is what I'm really focused on now (with maintaining current weight without gaining and NOT having to log food every single day).
  • boecho
    boecho Posts: 74
    No, you didn't lose 9 lbs of muscle that quickly. You did lose some, possibly 2-4 lbs. The rest is most likely water weight and it will come back quickly once you find your maintenance calorie allowance. Just eat normally and lift some heavy weights.
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