Need help finding a calorie range

Miller Time

New member
Hi there. Almost a year ago I weighed over 310 lbs. After some decisions and realizations I decided to lose the weight and now I'm at a little over 180 lbs and 18% bf. But now that I'm nearing the end of the road, I am having more trouble then I ever had before.... especially since I got a new job. Prior to my job, I was trying to eat between 1500-1800 calories per day, and I would do some form of cardio every single day. Within the past couple months i decided to switch some things up and I dropped the jogging and elyptical and picked up HIIT and weight training. Here is what my exercise routine looks like:

mon: HIIT
tue: lower body
wed: HIIT
thu: chest, biceps, triceps
fri: HIIT
sat: Back, shoulders, core
sun: off

Since January I had been loosing weight at a constant rate of around 2-3 lbs per week. I would every once in a while hit a plateau, but they would eventually fade and I would go back to losing weight like normal. But lately my plateaus have been rather erratic....

It all started after I got a job at UPS. My job is pretty manual labor intensive as it involves lifting and moving alot of packages for anywhere between 2-5 hours per day 5 days per week. the average package size can be anywhere between 1-70 lbs, with the average being 15 lbs. On a pretty intense day I will be pushing out nearly 1200-1500 packages per hour, but it rarely ever gets that busy for any long period of time.

Needless to say, my weight loss has ground to a halt... I usually go 3-4 weeks at the same weight, but then when I try to do something to boost my metabolism (change workout routine, eat a little more calories per day, eating 5-6 meals per day) I'll keep up that new routine and I'll start to lose maybe 2 lbs the next week, but then it will grind to a halt... again... and I'll have to pick up the pieces and try again.

I talked to a nutritionist and was told that perhaps my problem was that it was a combination of my low cal diet and job and that perhaps I was eating far too little. Unfortunately she couldn't offer me a suggestion on how much I should be eating in a day... I just wanted to see if anyone here had any suspicions about how many calories I burn at work and what my calorie range for weight loss should be. I count calories like a fiend, usually planning out my meals for the rest of the day before I ever eat anything. I'm willing to do anything to finish this extra fat off! I'm so close!

Also, could anyone explain why my weight will drop for a week after I try eating a little more or changing my weight loss, but then then mysteriously stop a week later? I know the body adapts to diets and exercise, but only a week is a little ridicules...
 
There are plenty of formulas used to estimate the calories you need (also known at metabolic rate).

Harris Benedict is the most popular one:



Note that the formula only estimates your basal metabolic rate. The activity factor is hard to estimate, but I'd go a bit higher considering your profession.

I wouldn't follow this religiously, because your actual weight is a better indicator than any formula.

The reason that you see your weight changing a week after you change diet is because it takes time for your body to respond. It is probably actually responding to the last change you made, rather than the one you are currently on.

Brian Dean MS,RD
Collaboration Coordinator, NutriYoga LLC
NutriYoga.com
 
ah, that makes sense! I suppose I should have included this earlier but the past couple weeks I've been trying to eat between 2000-2500 calories... according to most BEE calculators, my body requires 1900 calories per day not including exercise... one website told me to multiply that number by a factor of 1.6 for manual labor jobs and intense exercise, so that makes my total calorie expenditure at around 3000. Does this sound right for me, or is it perhaps higher?

Also, I am extremely curious.... how long it takes for the body to respond to changes in diet? I am an anthropologist by trade and I am always fascinated by the human body's ability to adapt. I am puzzled why the body would wait two diets later before any of the effects actually actually kick in.
 
Back
Top