what is wrong here?

[Taker]

hello. i've been perusing these boards awhile and gleening some interesting knowledge..but i also have some questions..i am trying to shave bf%. last year i was measured at 17% bf. i'm 5'6" and just about 150 lbs. i lift pretty heavy about 4 times a week and i incorporate cardio in about 3 times a week. for the last month i've been trying HIIT. i run a half hour on the treadmill with 2 minute intervals from jogging to sprinting. i do standard lifting routines. my weekly breakdown goes monday - chest/triceps wednesday - legs friday - back/biceps sunday - shoulders/moderate leg. HIIT is not my bag. i dont really feel worked hard even when sprinting at 10 on the treadmill for the 2 minute interval. my main goal here is to lose more bf and at least maintain the muscle i have now. so i've changed my cardio to push it to the limit for calorie burning. every other day now i'm running for an hour solid at a good pace nothing too fast. i reach just under 6.5 miles in an hour of running and i really feel worked. according to the treadmill i burn roughly 850- 870 calories when i do this. my diet is pretty conservative. in the morning i grab a bowl of raisin bran after i run and a protien shake. i snake on various beef jerky trailmix throughout the day. lunch is always 2 chicken breasts with water and maybe a few potatoe cuts dinner is pretty light usually a chicken breast and some vegetables (peas, lima beans etc.). i drink roughly 4 liters of water throughout the course of the day. does this sound like a good way to burn fat quickly? i've tried so many things to get down around the 12% bf area and none of them seem to work. i need help!

[Hort]

Your plan doesn't sound too bad- by running hard for an hour, however, and burning 800+ calories at your size, you -may- be risking muscle loss. How long have you been at this? It's debatable, but some would say you should do cardio at a lower "fat burning rate"... I do that and it works great- it's slower but the loss may be more permanent. Remember, the cardio isn't about "feeling worked out," it's just about creating a 500 calorie per day deficit so you can lose fat. Pushing to feel "worked out" is more of an endurance goal, in my opinion.

Do you know your exact calorie intake and breakdown of fat/protein/carbs? Post an exact list of one of your day's diets including size of portions. You mention eating three chicken breasts and a protein shake and potatoes in one day... depending on total ounces and the cals in that shake... that could be 1200-1600 calories right there. Plus everything else you eat--- you might (hard to guess with little data) you might need to adjust your total calories to meet your goal. Or perhaps you are eating too much protein for your size? Your lean body mass is about 125, so if you are eating a lot more than 125gms a day, you could be working against goal.

Admittedly- there is a fair amount of speculation in what I wrote- forgive me if you know most of this already. I'm just writing from personal experience.

[Taker]

how do i figure out my exact portions? i'm on a roughly 2200 calorie diet last time i added everything up. i apologize i'm pretty ignorant when it comes down to the numbers game with my diet.

[Hort]

There are a number of online resources that will help you journal what you eat... follow the labels... some sites also tell you how many calories, fats, etc in common foods...

I use software that I got from the gym...

This is a handy database:

http://www.nutritiondata.com/

[ARMY_of_One]

I'm not sure what your fitness level is but when it comes to cardio I personally am more partial to high intensity but for shorter durations(15-25 minutes)..

If that 10 mph pace for 2 min intervals isn't smoking you.. then I would recommend running no less than 9mph as your baseline pace and run 2-3 minute intervals of 10.5-11.5 mph. I'd say it would be best to run for like 15-20 mins at that pace. Try doing that one or two times a week. You wont burn as many calories on the treadmill calculator but your body will be burning tons of cals throughout the day trying to recover.