Nutrion Help please please help me!! (beggin here lol)

Hey guys!

I've posted my story before, but the short of it - I lost 300lb's about 1.5 years. However i did this really stupidly. I ran my ass off 7 days a week + dropped my calories to like under 500 for days on end, weeks at a time. Not on purpose, i was just ignorant. Less was better was all I was thinking (i thought like the mentality of someone who ad bypass surgery, only i didn't have it, i just ate like i did)

so here I am, like almost a year after that extreme weight loss, and now I'm just trying desperately to live the rest of my life at maintenance. Realized my muscle mass went to ****, so I've made it a hobby to get to the gym more now. Pre weight loss, when i was like 450lb's i could bench like 380... now I'd be lucky to put up like 200 lol

i digress

my point is... according to EVERYTHING I've read (and ive read ALOT) i should beable to eat AT LEAST 2000 calories per day, and not care about timing of meals.

So... due to my weird ass work schedule (night shift) i've adopted Intermittent Fasting. 1 large meal a day, it just works for me...

I'm pretty good at tracking my calories (very obsessive) and Im almost positive I get in under 2000 almost every day.

Yet.. I've been gaining a **** load of weight.

Belly fat weight. Leg fat weight. I know most of it is probably around my "excess skin" area's and my body is probably just trying to get back to being 400+ lb's however it is EXTREAMLY frustrating when you dropped down to a size 32 pants, and now your 34's are starting to feel "sung" again...sigh...

So. Please help. Please give me some info that 2000 calories a day isnt going to make me a fat ass again. I like food, i hate starving myself.

Here are my stats.

6ft
27yr
male
170-175lb
the hand held pulse measuring device says "7%" body fat, but i think thats REALLY low (arms and upper body are skinny but belly and thighs have excess skin and subcutaneous fat)

what should my macros be? really be... ?
Is there any pills that can help raise my metabolism up?
do you think my hormones got out of wack? is that why I don't burn 2000 with my TDEE? any pills to help correct hormones?

Lastly, in need of a REALLY good pre-work out energy booster. I'm using Sivation Xtend, but it isnt donig **** for me... I work 13hr work days 4x times a week, and its REALLY hard to get the motivation to go to the gym after a day like that (im a night IT administrator)

my job makes me sit at a desk for 13 STRAIGHT hrs...sigh...
lastly, cause of work + life responsibilities, 4 days a week I only get like 3-5hrs sleep a day, could this be a problem

sorry if this is an onslaught of questions, but please please help me by posting all the info you can. I will take it all to heart. I read these forums CONSTANTLY and you guys are my insperation (meals eating now thread gets me through my fast most nights LOL LOL LOL)

thanks everyone

[QUOTE=joeturner;845571003]Hey guys!

I've posted my story before, but the short of it - I lost 300lb's about 1.5 years. However i did this really stupidly. I ran my ass off 7 days a week + dropped my calories to like under 500 for days on end, weeks at a time. Not on purpose, i was just ignorant. Less was better was all I was thinking (i thought like the mentality of someone who ad bypass surgery, only i didn't have it, i just ate like i did)

so here I am, like almost a year after that extreme weight loss, and now I'm just trying desperately to live the rest of my life at maintenance. Realized my muscle mass went to ****, so I've made it a hobby to get to the gym more now. Pre weight loss, when i was like 450lb's i could bench like 380... now I'd be lucky to put up like 200 lol

i digress

my point is... according to EVERYTHING I've read (and ive read ALOT) i should beable to eat AT LEAST 2000 calories per day, and not care about timing of meals.

So... due to my weird ass work schedule (night shift) i've adopted Intermittent Fasting. 1 large meal a day, it just works for me...

I'm pretty good at tracking my calories (very obsessive) and Im almost positive I get in under 2000 almost every day.

Yet.. I've been gaining a **** load of weight.

Belly fat weight. Leg fat weight. I know most of it is probably around my "excess skin" area's and my body is probably just trying to get back to being 400+ lb's however it is EXTREAMLY frustrating when you dropped down to a size 32 pants, and now your 34's are starting to feel "sung" again...sigh...

So. Please help. Please give me some info that 2000 calories a day isnt going to make me a fat ass again. I like food, i hate starving myself.

Here are my stats.

6ft
27yr
male
170-175lb
the hand held pulse measuring device says "7%" body fat, but i think thats REALLY low (arms and upper body are skinny but belly and thighs have excess skin and subcutaneous fat)

what should my macros be? really be... ?
Is there any pills that can help raise my metabolism up?
do you think my hormones got out of wack? is that why I don't burn 2000 with my TDEE? any pills to help correct hormones?

Lastly, in need of a REALLY good pre-work out energy booster. I'm using Sivation Xtend, but it isnt donig **** for me... I work 13hr work days 4x times a week, and its REALLY hard to get the motivation to go to the gym after a day like that (im a night IT administrator)

my job makes me sit at a desk for 13 STRAIGHT hrs...sigh...
lastly, cause of work + life responsibilities, 4 days a week I only get like 3-5hrs sleep a day, could this be a problem

sorry if this is an onslaught of questions, but please please help me by posting all the info you can. I will take it all to heart. I read these forums CONSTANTLY and you guys are my insperation (meals eating now thread gets me through my fast most nights LOL LOL LOL)

thanks everyone[/QUOTE]


Are you gaining fat or muscle weight? I say keep the calories the same, and if you stop gaining weight, increase them. If you get too fat, decrease them. That said, get your thyroid checked by your doctor.

As for what your macros should be, [youtube]qd-QoR3LsnU[/youtube]


I do nutritional consulting for a living, feel free to send message if you need help.

Your story sounds very familiar to me. I was 300 pounds a little over a year ago, determined to lose weight, and also ignorant due to lack of research. I did a full body dumbell workout 6 days a week, reduced my calories to practically 1000 a day only eating twice a day, with practically no carbs. As you can imagine, one year later I am 190 pounds. Lost 110 pounds in 13 months. But this was not very health obviously, I was wondering, I am working out with these dumbells every day yet I see no muscle gain what so ever, what could the problem be?

Any how, I started researching and joined BB.com and found that at 190 lbs working out 5 days a week, my maintenance was a whopping 2600 calories...so after a long plataue, not gaining muscle, not losing any further weight with my 1000 calories a day. I bumped it up to 2400 calories, surely, I gained weight for about a month, not very much, but went up to 198 again. But after this month, I started gaining muscle and losing weight at the same time! went back down to 190, and got a lot more muscle than I did after 1 year of starvation and back breaking workouts.

The morale of the story is, your body kind of went into starvation mode, so when you upped your calories drastically, it starts to store everything as fat beause it thinks its only a temporary feeding increase. But once it learns that things have changed, it will adapt again and stop storing everyting as fat and start using the calories as it should, repairing and building muscle! Paving the way for a long term health transformation.

thank you for the reply! Im pretty sure its "fat weight" my belly and thighs, the skin is starting to get "poofy" like its bloating back up again, could be water i dont know but its making it hard to wear cloths... I am gaining some strength, but the fat is really bothering me

my macros, i keep my carbs to like 150-200 grams per day, and most of that is from questbars and oats and broccoli and apples.
protein i get about 150grams per day, mostly from questbars, chicken, eggs, tuna, and Kashi cereal.
fat is around 50grams per day.

my diet is mostly the same, my grocery list consists of

chicken
egg whites
tuna
Greek yogurt
almond silk
old fashioned oats
extra fiber light wheat bread
cinnamon
better n peanut butter (or pb2)
questbars
broccoli
Brussels sprouts
carrots
cabbage
lunch meats

on a weekly basis. very few "treats" nuts/cookies/stuff... maybe like 1 special "treat" per day (like, say 1 cookie or something stupid)

i love oatmeal! lol, mix that **** up with tons of stuff, whey powered, cinnamon, cocoa powder, sugar free jelly, greek yogurt..etc...love it!

thyroid? I've had my blood tested with a thyroid panel and nothing has every come back.

I should also mention that I've had my gallbladder removed. After dropping 300'lbs my gallbladder ruptured and i had it removed. So, even though i shouldn't beable to process fat, im getting fat! SIGH

I also take for supplements

Whey
Scivation Xtend
efx - Kre-alkayne
ECA extreme ephedra stack
muli vitamin
b complex
omega 3
vit C

when I do manage to drag my VERY tired ass to the gym after 13hr work day, i do 15-20min of elpicial cardio (hitt style) and do a nonstop type circuit routine on weights for about 30-40min. I do chest/sholders/bi's/tris/abbs/leggs each day, I do all machines, and do like 3sets of 10reps, about 15 different exercises, with veirtually no rest inbetween (fast passed HITT style)
does any of that help answer why I'm putting on fat eating 2000 calories a day being a 27 year old, 6ft 170lb male? lol

[QUOTE=Taziar;845578243]Your story sounds very familiar to me. I was 300 pounds a little over a year ago, determined to lose weight, and also ignorant due to lack of research. I did a full body dumbell workout 6 days a week, reduced my calories to practically 1000 a day only eating twice a day, with practically no carbs. As you can imagine, one year later I am 190 pounds. Lost 110 pounds in 13 months. But this was not very health obviously, I was wondering, I am working out with these dumbells every day yet I see no muscle gain what so ever, what could the problem be?

Any how, I started researching and joined BB.com and found that at 190 lbs working out 5 days a week, my maintenance was a whopping 2600 calories...so after a long plataue, not gaining muscle, not losing any further weight with my 1000 calories a day. I bumped it up to 2400 calories, surely, I gained weight for about a month, not very much, but went up to 198 again. But after this month, I started gaining muscle and losing weight at the same time! went back down to 190, and got a lot more muscle than I did after 1 year of starvation and back breaking workouts.

The morale of the story is, your body kind of went into starvation mode, so when you upped your calories drastically, it starts to store everything as fat beause it thinks its only a temporary feeding increase. But once it learns that things have changed, it will adapt again and stop storing everyting as fat and start using the calories as it should, repairing and building muscle! Paving the way for a long term health transformation.[/QUOTE]

at 198 how tall are you? what size cloths do you wear (if you don't mind me asking)

yeah, i got down to about 145 before I decided i was killing myself, so now being 170 IS my gain back up so-to-speak.. it just scares me, how much more fat will I gain? what would be absolute upper limit if i ate 2000 calories per day for the rest of my life and dint work out at all? will my body equalibirm at say 200lb's? what is my upper ceiling so-to-speak eating 2000-2200 calories per day. I'd hate to have to give food up again, lol, and I dont know if i can keep up the crazy ass gym schedule, cause again, working 13hr days is VERY hard on me and Im to tired to work out most days

I am 6 feet tall currently, and as of yesterday I weight 189 pounds. My waist size is 36 at the moment. By no means slim, but a long way from my 300 lbs one year ago. I am actually happy with where I am right now, I just want to focus on lifting weights and packing muscle, the more muscle I put on the higher my metabolism will be and the easier it will be to lose the excess body fat.

As for your 2000 calories, I seriously dought that it will continue to cause weight gain for you in the long run. According to the calculator I used at your weight, age, and height, your daily maintenance to stay the same is 2200 calories with a desk job and little to no excersise. Even then, 2000 is bellow maintenance for you, and should cause you to lose weight eventually. Your body is probably just recovering from the 1.5 years of starvation, after a few weeks it will get used to the 2000 calories a day and will stop the extra fat gain in my opinion.

I would still suggest a little excersise, nothing burns fat like gaining muscles. You dont have to do it 6 days a week, just 3 days 45 min a day will still give you results. Best of luck.

This is not at all an unusual story.

Very low calorie diets (vlcd) can have very unexpected affects on some people. One can be that the low cal diet they used to lose large amounts of weight ends up being their maintenance. During this process muscle loss is dramatic and a program that focus' on rebuilding the mass that is lost is the best antidote in my opinion.

If you have the means I would suggest finding a trainer that has extensive knowledge on this subject. That may be a bit of a challenge in itself but the hands on help along with the personalized motivation just might help. If that's not feasible then slowly add in the calories and begin an aggressive mass building program. Let us know how you progress!!! (Oh and nothing wrong with your bench at your new weight)!

[QUOTE=joeturner;845571003]Hey guys!

I've posted my story before, but the short of it - I lost 300lb's about 1.5 years. However i did this really stupidly. I ran my ass off 7 days a week + dropped my calories to like under 500 for days on end, weeks at a time. Not on purpose, i was just ignorant. Less was better was all I was thinking (i thought like the mentality of someone who ad bypass surgery, only i didn't have it, i just ate like i did)

so here I am, like almost a year after that extreme weight loss, and now I'm just trying desperately to live the rest of my life at maintenance. Realized my muscle mass went to ****, so I've made it a hobby to get to the gym more now. Pre weight loss, when i was like 450lb's i could bench like 380... now I'd be lucky to put up like 200 lol

i digress

my point is... according to EVERYTHING I've read (and ive read ALOT) i should beable to eat AT LEAST 2000 calories per day, and not care about timing of meals.

So... due to my weird ass work schedule (night shift) i've adopted Intermittent Fasting. 1 large meal a day, it just works for me...

I'm pretty good at tracking my calories (very obsessive) and Im almost positive I get in under 2000 almost every day.

Yet.. I've been gaining a **** load of weight.

Belly fat weight. Leg fat weight. I know most of it is probably around my "excess skin" area's and my body is probably just trying to get back to being 400+ lb's however it is EXTREAMLY frustrating when you dropped down to a size 32 pants, and now your 34's are starting to feel "sung" again...sigh...

So. Please help. Please give me some info that 2000 calories a day isnt going to make me a fat ass again. I like food, i hate starving myself.

Here are my stats.

6ft
27yr
male
170-175lb
the hand held pulse measuring device says "7%" body fat, but i think thats REALLY low (arms and upper body are skinny but belly and thighs have excess skin and subcutaneous fat)

what should my macros be? really be... ?
Is there any pills that can help raise my metabolism up?
do you think my hormones got out of wack? is that why I don't burn 2000 with my TDEE? any pills to help correct hormones?

Lastly, in need of a REALLY good pre-work out energy booster. I'm using Sivation Xtend, but it isnt donig **** for me... I work 13hr work days 4x times a week, and its REALLY hard to get the motivation to go to the gym after a day like that (im a night IT administrator)

my job makes me sit at a desk for 13 STRAIGHT hrs...sigh...
lastly, cause of work + life responsibilities, 4 days a week I only get like 3-5hrs sleep a day, could this be a problem

sorry if this is an onslaught of questions, but please please help me by posting all the info you can. I will take it all to heart. I read these forums CONSTANTLY and you guys are my insperation (meals eating now thread gets me through my fast most nights LOL LOL LOL)

thanks everyone[/QUOTE]









In my opinion - your metobalism has decreased due to the one big meal - eat the same cals but break that one big meal into 3 - eat every 2-3 hours - try it and see what happens

2. Lack of sleep 3-5 hours - try get in atleast minimum 8 hours

3. 7% body fat is not bad at all I would assume you have very visible abs ~ eat healthy fats like nuts for snacking to maintain this

4. Stop stressing and worrying your body and mind is more clever than you think

[QUOTE=KingWass;1203676851]In my opinion - your metobalism has decreased due to the one big meal - eat the same cals but break that one big meal into 3 - eat every 2-3 hours - try it and see what happens


3. 7% body fat is not bad at all I would assume you have very visible abs ~ eat healthy fats like nuts for snacking to maintain this

[/QUOTE]


Please explain these two. Nuts help preserve abs? What.

OP. Here's some tough love for you bud.

If you're only getting 2-3 hours of sleep a day, then what are you doing outside your 13 hours of work? You say you have lack of motivation for the gym, which I get, it takes time to create a habit, but if you rarely go to the gym after work, and only eating ONCE a day, then what are you doing outside of your work hours that is stopping you from getting to sleep earlier? Do you watch a lot of tv? Do you spend a lot of time playing games? You need to prioritize your life, health, wellbeing and sanity over short term pleasures. Not saying you have to cut out all kinds of fun, and never allowed to watch tv again...

You work 4 day weeks right? How about doing some high intensity cardio on a couple of those days and focus on weight training on the 3 days you are not working? That's just a suggestion to get you started.

But it looks like your lack of motivation to do anything fitness or health related is your problem. You even said you would rather never exercise again and just eat 2,000 calories because it's EASIER. Stop looking for easier ways out and find what works. You'll probably find that once you organise and prioritize your life, that things will become much easier anyways.

Read the stickies, learn how to count your macros and calories. Learn about macro nutrients and why some of them are ESSENTIAL to you.

[QUOTE=Nav1991;1203686031]Please explain these two. Nuts help preserve abs? What.

OP. Here's some tough love for you bud.

If you're only getting 2-3 hours of sleep a day, then what are you doing outside your 13 hours of work? You say you have lack of motivation for the gym, which I get, it takes time to create a habit, ébut if you rarely go to the gym after work, and only eating ONCE a day, then what are you doing outside of your work hours that is stopping you from getting to sleep earlier? Do you watch a lot of tv? Do you spend a lot of time playing games? You need to prioritize your life, health, wellbeing and sanity over short term pleasures. Not saying you have to cut out all kinds of fun, and never allowed to watch tv again...

You work 4 day weeks right? How about doing some high intensity cardio on a couple of those days and focus on weight training on the 3 days you are not working? That's just a suggestion to get you started.

But it looks like your lack of motivation to do anything fitness or health related is your problem. You even said you would rather never exercise again and just eat 2,000 calories because it's EASIER. Stop looking for easier ways out and find what works. You'll probably find that once you organise and prioritize your life, that things will become much easier anyways.

Read the stickies, learn how to count your macros and calories. Learn about macro nutrients and why some of them are ESSENTIAL to you.[/QUOTE]



I meant nuts as a health snack rather than junk - I did no mean what you think -

Also explain to me why does majority of peoples answer be count your calories - clearly he counts them - this is why we know he has 2000 LOL. Your food intake is very important but the body can be complex and everyone is different -