Calories, what I need, whats right and wrong?

[sackamous]

I started my weight loss journy about 8-10 months ago at 330lbs and I am currentley 250lbs. Only prob Is I have been stuck there for about a mounth now. I have done so many diffirent things to loose the weight that im no sure what worked and what didnt and what workes the best, also I recently changed my goals to adding muscle while loosing the fat. Well I stoped by a nutrishop the otherday and the guy that owned the place was was a nutritionist and claimed he could help me jump start my plan again doing just that.
First he said go buy a good scale.
So I went get a homemedics 545 about $80 bucks at dicks.
Then he asked about my exersice routine.
Currently I walk 3-5miles a day (depending on how I feel) with a 40lb weight vest on I usually average about 17min to a mile.
Since I was aming for more muscle I am doing the weight lifting routines of p90x mon threw sat. (Mon - Chest&Back Tues - shoulders and arms wed- legs and back thurs - chest shoulder tricepts fri - back bicepts sat legs and back and usually kenpo x on sunday)
He said that was good he likes someone who works for what they want.
so he sold me protine, mass fusion, glutacore, bcaa, and nsane to drink before and after the work outs, and said the changes will come just keep working hard.

I went back to him about a week later and said I dont think im eating enough to keep me going doing the current workout plan I was fallowing. I also work 12 hrs a day as a laboror in the oil field so hard work also.
He said eat protine and carbs for breakfest, protine and vegs for lunch and protine carbs and vegs for dinner and stay around 1500 cals and you will be fine.

The fancy scale I went buy says im 250.6lbs 28%fat and 38% muscle and should eat 4400 calories a day to maintain that.
So I was thinking to loose 2lbs a week - 7000cal I should be around 3400 calories a day?
So who Is right and what should I do, and help please?

[sackamous]

100 views and no help, come on guys tell me something...

[Retoaded]

in all likelihood that is way too high. read the Emma Leigh stickied post above regarding counting calories, your BMR and TEE. first of all the guy you talked to was trying to sell you stuff. forget him.

you only lose weight through a calorie deficit. periodo end of story. this means eating less, or expending more. thinking your maintenance rate is 4,400 is way, way off most likely. my maintenance rate is around 2,800 for example...and I KNOW this because I have been counting calories, comparing it to a theoretical maintenance rate, and then adjusting until the weight loss matched what I was anticipating. 4,400...thats alot man.

I am personally a big believer in lifting heavy weights and get your calorie deficit through eating...that will enable you to retain the most lean body mass. but to each their own.

the stickie to read is in the nutritional forum btw

[sackamous]

Ok so using the quick estimation method, im around 4000 cal and using the second bmr times activity im around 3400. So to get back on the weight loss track I should be around 2800? With my current physical activity level? I added my usual intake up the other day and im eating around 1450 a day in calories. So i almost need to double my intake then right?

[Retoaded]

Ok so using the quick estimation method, im around 4000 cal and using the second bmr times activity im around 3400. So to get back on the weight loss track I should be around 2800? With my current physical activity level? I added my usual intake up the other day and im eating around 1450 a day in calories. So i almost need to double my intake then right?

are you positive you are counting correctly? positive? its typically alot more than what people think they are eating, is why I ask. If you have been eating 1450 for several weeks and haven't seen a drop, I am suprised. I would also bet 3400 is closer to your TEE yes...so at 2,400 calories per day you should lose 2 pounds per week. but 1,450 is very low, and I can't believe you are actually eating right at 1450 for an extended amount of time and not losing weight!

[sackamous]

are you positive you are counting correctly? positive? its typically alot more than what people think they are eating, is why I ask. If you have been eating 1450 for several weeks and haven't seen a drop, I am suprised. I would also bet 3400 is closer to your TEE yes...so at 2,400 calories per day you should lose 2 pounds per week. but 1,450 is very low, and I can't believe you are actually eating right at 1450 for an extended amount of time and not losing weight!

if the info on the packs are right,
protein shake 285
Breakfest 2 slice wheat toast 300
Beef jerky and cucumbers for lunch 240 and 10
1lb extra lean ground meat and cucumbers for supper 600 &15
So about 1450

done that for about a week and a half felt like **** and didn't loose a thing. When I went back and asked about not eating enough cause i read about it here and there he said no stick to 1500. Not sure exactly what i was eating before that i would assume it was more. When I lost the first 80 lbs i could not tell you what i was eating in calories. I had more or less just stopped going back for seconds had my wife fix smaller plates know what i mean.

[Retoaded]

if the info on the packs are right,
protein shake 285
Breakfest 2 slice wheat toast 300
Beef jerky and cucumbers for lunch 240 and 10
1lb extra lean ground meat and cucumbers for supper 600 &15
So about 1450

done that for about a week and a half felt like **** and didn't loose a thing. When I went back and asked about not eating enough cause i read about it here and there he said no stick to 1500. Not sure exactly what i was eating before that i would assume it was more. When I lost the first 80 lbs i could not tell you what i was eating in calories. I had more or less just stopped going back for seconds had my wife fix smaller plates know what i mean.

a week and a half is not enough to judge...in a lot of cases when you drastically change your eating habits you body is going to grab hold of every bit of water weight that it can. It happens to me like that. especially with some high sodium (eyeing that beef jerky).

but if you can't continue eating that little then its not going to work anyway if its not sustainable. I DO think 1,500 would work for you if you could do it, but you could possibly start around 2,000 range...that is what I would do in your situation. You are gonna have to do it for 4 weeks or so to get enough data to see if its working. you also need to drink water nonstop all day to keep the water weight down.

[Rudster01]

Weight loss isn't necessarily measured on the scale... for example it might be that your losing fat and gaining some muscle as you started lifting weights....thus no change when you weigh in!

[sackamous]

Well like I said, after a week and a half by the end of a work day if i sat down I had hell getting up. Just no energy left whatsoever. Im thinking im going to try about 2400 for a month. That I hope will be enough to keep me going at work. My job is quite physically demanding, everything from shoveling dirt to 48" pipe wrenchs and everything inbetween usually 12hrs a day.

The scale I bought does muscle, bone, water, and fat. The numbers were identical so not sure about gaining muscle and looking fat. I have been threw one round of p90x already and didn't see the muscle gains I was hopping for so i went get some select tech 1090 dumb bells and have really been pushing hard and doubling up on the muscle days.

[sackamous]

Would wearing one of those watches all day be a good way to determine daily maintenance calories?

[Rudster01]

Yea! after only a week of lifting there wouldn't be any noticeable muscle gains! With the kind of work your doing and a decent diet you should be losing weight...it all comes back to your diet!

Try this calorie needs calculator or google another to get an estimate of what you really need to consume daily...if that doesn't work try some other techniques like carb cycling (it worked for me)

[sackamous]

Ok so here is the plan will try this for two weeks see if it will at least keep me up on my feet at work for now...
400am - 3 mile walk with 40lb vest try to push it down to 16 min per mile average.
530am - Breakfastst 4 slice wheat toast tiny bit of butter.
900am - Pure Protein bar for first work break
1200pm - Lunch Pure Protein bar & 2 cucumbers
300pm - Pure Protein bar for afternoon break
530pm - PWO shake 3/4 scope n sane, scope bcaa, 4-1xd pills.
600pm - Round p90x muscle routine for day from first post.(moved to afternoon to allow for more sleep was getting up at 130 to do this before my walk)
700pm - Post work out shake 1 scope protein, 1scope mass fussion, 1scope glutacour
730pm - Dinner 1lb 96% lean ground beef cooked into patties on forman grill and 2 tbs bullseye, 1 slice wheat toast, 1 cucumber.

That puts me at
Calories 2064
Protine 207.8 45%
Carbs 177.3 39%
Fat 31.9 16%

Sunday im off work and will prob follow close to the same diet except for the shakes and muscle routine will be switched for kenpo x.
dinner will get switched around different protiens aka chicken fish and stuff but will try and keep the totals close to the same.

Does this sound like a deacent attempt to get back on the right track?

[Kingname]

hey man personally i would try to mix up the diet instead of all those protein bars..like all of them said above its simply a matter of calories in vs calories burned...try getting different things in your system so your body doesnt get to used to anything and you can maintain a healthy lifestyle not just a fat loss period u know what i mean

add some fresh fruits + vegetables and lean meats into your diet if you can..but anyways...maybe it would also be helpful if you up the tempo of your cardio instead of walking with a 40lb vest..take that vest off and try to do a slight jog or if you can try to fit Hiit cardio into your week would be nice boost to your whole system..i am not familiar too much with how much the impact of p90x does on your body but maybe you can still fit some more intense cardio.

[Rudster01]

Yes, to many protein bars...there is no substitute for whole foods. Supplements will not give you the nutrition needed to fuel your hard laboring work day...not to mention workouts!

[sackamous]

Ok, the protein bars were the quickest thing i could find at the store last night. I only bought a box of six so that gives me two days to find something better to replace them with.

How is the numbers overall? As far as calories & nutrients go?

On uping the cardio intensity, I am on the road and staying in a hotel at the moment. Its 7 laps around the hotel for a mile and i have been trying to run half a lap walk half a lap with the vest on. I can only do it every other day for now cause my legs are usually pretty sore the next day. Some times I have to skip two days, but im trying.

[Rudster01]

how is this...made some minor tweaks (diet can be made much more effective still)

400am - 3 mile walk with 40lb vest try to push it down to 16 min per mile average.
530am - Breakfastst 2 slice wheat toast tiny bit of butter / Whey protein
900am - Pure Protein bar for first work break
1200pm - Lunch Chicken breast & 2 cucumbers or mixed veg
300pm - Fresh fruit for afternoon break (feel free to add protein, supplement not recomended)
530pm - PWO shake 3/4 scope n sane, scope bcaa, 4-1xd pills.
600pm - Round p90x muscle routine for day from first post.(moved to afternoon to allow for more sleep was getting up at 130 to do this before my walk)
700pm - Post work out shake 1 scope protein, 1scope mass fussion, 1scope glutacour
730pm - Dinner 1lb 96% lean ground beef cooked into patties on forman grill and 2 tbs bullseye, mixed veg

With this you get more or less the same amount of cals, just more effective. Remember to drink LOTS of water....

[sackamous]

Yea I think I can do that the only thing that im unsure about is the lunch, would some form of deli meat work for that? Im not a big fan of cold chicken, I would be just fine with some turkey sandwich meat though. I guess i need to start doing a lot of research on nutrients in various foods instead of just looking at calories.

[Rudster01]

Sure, you don't have to go with the chicken...just make sure you take in some form of protein

[sackamous]

Thanks for the help figuring out the new diet guys, im deff feeling much better at work. Im going to stick with this a few weeks and see how it goes.

[Rudster01]

Good to hear & good luck!

[SteveMezz]

hey bud,

I just saw your post. Read my thread I just posted, I think it's quite effective it helped me shed off 15lbs, mostly fat, in a 3 month period. I'm 169lbs now and i feel greater than ever. showthread.php?t=144805531 let me know if it seems like something you can do!!
best of luck!