Assistance with calories please

C

Curvie Girlie

New member
I'm 24, 5'7", I'm not sure what I weigh right now because I have reason to believe that I lost a bunch of water weight yesterday so I'll say 144-146 lbs, somewhere in there. I'm looking to get to a 20.5 BMI or so.

Anyway, I LOVE to exercise and I LOVE to eat ;) I've been steady losing 5 lbs a month for the past 3, even though it was my objective to lose 4 lbs a month. So I've been doing well, but I'm confused about calories. Obviously I need less than when I weighed 158, now. I had been eating about 2400-1900 the past 2 months, and with the fact that I enjoy exercising for and hour and a half everyday whenever possible (life intervenes sometimes), it worked for me. Now here's a weird incident that I put in my diary but I should post it here because I need advice:

"OK, yesterday to kick off my Month 3 I decided that I would TRY to stay under 1600 calories. I'm pretty embarassed to admit, but reading the diaries here kind of influenced me. I thought if most people who are dieting can eat 1200-1500 calories a day, then so could I. Well, after yesterday I'm not sure if it's the best move for me.

SO yesterday I ate about 1590 calories. I did my normal day, and after work I went to the gym (at that point I had consumed about 1100). I was on the elliptical for 35 minutes, and 25 of those were spent trying to maintain a HR of 152. I sweated profusely. Then I did an intense, hour-long weight circuit. Hmmm, maybe I should show what I did:

2 sets 10 reps bench press regular, then 1 set 10 reps tricep dips, then 2 sets 10 reps bench decline, then 1 set Tri dips, then 2 sets 10 reps bench incline

5 sets 10 reps various shoulder exercises with 10 lb dumbells standing

10 pushups

4 sets 10 reps tricep work, standing and laying down.

3 sets 10 reps rows with 45 lbs

1 attempted pull up; 1 attempted chin up without jumping

lower back and obliques on that thing you stand on and you're at an angle, upper body hanging off--10 xs on each side twice

Leg press, 4 sets 10 reps alternating reg and inner thigh (toes out), with 225lbs

Other leg press machine at different angle, 3 sets 10 reps with 180lbs

Hamstring curls machine, 3 sets 12 reps 40 lbs

Abs, all sorts of things, especially leg lifts

After an hour of this (I may have done a little more) I was kind of disoriented and my muscles were pretty taxed, so I went home. I ate 4 oz salmon, steamed collard greens and broccoli, half a medium yam and 4 oz Merlot wine. By 8:30 I went to bed to read while my boyfriend was playing GTA with our buddy upstairs.

As I lay there, my whole body felt like a bee hive. I know I have an over-active imagination, but I could FEEL my body desparately seeking energy to fix the micro-tears in my muscles. I was in no pain, but very uncomfortable. Eventually, my boyfriend came to bed and we had a little fun before I went to sleep.

This morning, I was astounded at my daily weigh-in. Yesterday I was 145.5.
Today:

142.5"

SO my question is, does weight training require a lot of water for recovery? Is losing 3 lbs of water weight in a day really bad for me? And does anyone have any idea how many calories I should eat? I chekc out A LOT of sites and it's always different--should I shoot for the middle of the range, or what??

Thanks for any interest in helping, have a great day and good luck to all! :eek:
 
You may have had a little more intense workout than you though, or maybe just didn't drink enough water that day, but this may be the cause:



Another factor that can influence the scale is glycogen. Think of glycogen as a fuel tank full of stored carbohydrate. Some glycogen is stored in the liver and some is stored the muscles themselves. This energy reserve weighs more than a pound and it’s packaged with 3-4 pounds of water when it’s stored. Your glycogen supply will shrink during the day if you fail to take in enough carbohydrates. As the glycogen supply shrinks you will experience a small imperceptible increase in appetite and your body will restore this fuel reserve along with it’s associated water. It’s normal to experience glycogen and water weight shifts of up to 2 pounds per day even with no changes in your calorie intake or activity level. These fluctuations have nothing to do with fat loss, although they can make for some unnecessarily dramatic weigh-ins if you’re prone to obsessing over the number on the scale.
 
Ever heard the phrase "don't fix what isn't broken"?

Your plan was going great, you were losing fat smartly, having great energy and then what happened? You got the wrong influence. My advice is go back to what you are doing, your body will thank you for it. If you are going to exercise that much (which isn't needed mind you) but if you are, you have to eat for it.

Your routine and methods could use some work yes, however your caloric intake and attitude were on point. Just because people lose "weight" on here at 1200 calories a day doesn't mean that is what you should do and I haven't seen many long term success stories at that rate either. If you want to cut the calories some that is fine, but cut down on the activity as well. There is nothing wrong with 1600 calories for your size, but only if you aren't working out that long. A happy middle ground would be to cut back on both a little and work from there depending on results. Whatever you do never work out like that again unless you are fueling your body to do so.

Good Luck.
 
Very well put Leigh, I concur.

Please understand that we are all unique, so don't base what YOU do on what OTHERS do. It doesn't work like that.

Also, no need to be so scientific with calories. Even with the best calculations, they are still estimates. Your maintenance caloric intake is probably right around 2000-2200.
 
OK, I that all sounds good. However, what do you people think about losing the maximun of 2 lbs a week? Is that not a 1000 calorie deifict per day? And how on earth would I do that? Because, say my maintenance IS 2200--then I'd have to cut out 1000? because doesn't that 2200 for maintenance take into account the exercise I'm doing? Or would I have to work out EXTRA hard and cut 500-600 calories out? This is what gets me!!
 
The Low Down: Weights

Also, how significant is the metabolic increase from a moderate to vigorous weight training session? Like, if I do weights and it only burns 300 calories, isn't there a duration of increased metabolism? If so, approx how many calories are we talking? Or is it percentage increase in Restinf Basil Rate or whatever it's called?
 
I am no expert but I have found that if you cut your calories 100-200 a day under your maintinance calories in your case take in 1800-2000 a day and burn 400-500 a day extra by exercise you are at an approx 2 lb a week loss. This has worked for me. I am a male much larger than yourself and everyone is different. There is no one fit diet for every one. Try raising your cals back up to your previous intake and doing that work out.
can't locate it at this time but I saw a study that said you can burn cals for up to 39 hours after an intense weight lifting session.
Just my 2 cents.
 
Appreciate it, thank you. BUT I'm just confused--I thought the maintenance caloric intake took into account the exercise I did that day--would that mean I'd have to be doing an extra 600-calorie-burning exercise? Because 2 hard workouts a day is difficult, for me, time-wise. If I was jobless I could pull it off; )
 
No your maintenance cloric intake does not take into account your daily workout. SOme calculators may attempt to take it into account but again everyone is different. I figure my maintenace caloric intake is around 3400-3800 I only take in 3000 and work out for 2-3 hours a day. I have been succesfully losing weight so I am sticking to it. If you were losing before I wouold go back to the old routine. No need in messing with a good thing.
 
Your maintenance is activity plus your BMR. Now what that activity is can change depending. For example is your BMR is 1600 and your daily activity burns roughly 1200 calories then it leaves you with a maintenance of 2800. If you were taking in 2800 calories (roughly) this would leave you staying at your current weight. If you decrease calories by 1000 (to give you a loss of 2lbs per week) then you would eat around 1800 calories a day.
 
Oh thank you SOOOO much!

Thanks you guys! :eek:

I was starting to get really bummed out about eating 1600--1800 or 1900 seems more feasible for me. Ah, I love to eat :p
 
One more question, please--and it's repetitive

Sorry--but just for clarification, the maintenance caloric intake estimate takes into account that as an active person, your resting metabolic rate would be higher than a sedentary person without counting the rough workouts?

I'm looking for a license to eat here, obviously! ;)

But don't worry--my days of over-eating are over!
 
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