New here.. am I on the right track for my BMR and BF% goals?

[Synthdude]

Hello everyone! I've been enjoying this forum as a lurker for a little while now. Great job for trying to keep things positive and informative here.

My goal: Fix my metabolism, achieve a BMR of 2300 calories @ 10-12% BF.

I'm 35, 5'10, currently cutting at 201lb, down from 213 at the end of my second bulk. Caliper is telling me I'm around 15% but my love handles are still pretty prominent, 37" waist, 45" chest, 16" arms, 26.5" thighs.

Here's my background:

I broke my leg senior year in HS and went from a chubby 170 to a much chubbier 215 due to inactivity. To lose the weight before college I ate 600 calories per day (not too smart looking back) and lost 65lbs in three months. I stayed 150-165 @ ~9-12% throughout college and into my early twenties. From then events such as stopping smoking and getting a desk job with infrequent volleyball as my only exercise took me to 230lb+ in 1999. My average caloric intake was probably 2500 during the time leading up to my highest weight point. Since 1999 I've tried too many diets to remember, most of them were poorly thought out, skipping meals etc and were intended to lose all the weight in a span of 12 weeks, because I had no interest in making permanent lifestyle changes at that point. Of course, they never worked and I'd inevitably plateau in weight loss at around 190 at 1200-1400 calories for weeks, sometimes months and decide I was destined to be overweight.

I achieved my first breakthrough two years ago when I decided a lifestyle change was in fact necessary and dieted down to 182lbs (guessing ~16% BF)with regular cardio. I maintained that weight with diet and exercise but no resistance training for 1 year. In that time I stayed around the same weight but slowly got fatter. I'm guessing because the lean mass I had at 220 before the diet was no longer needed for my 182lb size and the activities I was performing at the time. During this period my BMR was 1400-1500 calories. In October 2005 I started bodyweight training, bought some exercise bands and started in with some resistance. After a few months of getting the muscles ready, I did my first bulk starting in December 2005 and gained 22lbs in 12 weeks on 2250 calories per day in my home gym.

Fortunately, this had a positive impact on my strength, appearance and metabolism. I was able to cut from around 205 to 194 in the next few months with 1500-1600 calories at around 16% BF. I maintained again for several months with regular cardio and resistance training and now had a BMR closer to 1700-1800 calories per day. Progress.

In June of this year, I started my second bulk. This time with 2700-2800 per day and reached 213 at 17-18%, 38" waist. I started my current cut 4 weeks ago and am down to 201lb @ ~15%. My caloric level during the cut has been decreasing by 50 calories a week and is currently at 1800. I have been doing progressively more cardio every week as well. For cardio, I'm now at 35 minutes per day, slow and steady, 5 days a week. Working out with weights 2 days a week.

I have also been using Lipo 6 and Ephedrine HCL to good effect. My reason for using the supplements is to try to keep the metabolism up due to the thermogenic and stimulant qualities while also limiting the duration of the cut phase in order to prevent my metabolism from once again slowing down.

From looking at the 182lb/1400-1500 BMR starting point with addition of resistance training and a high protein, low fat, lower carb diet and where I am now, having gained almost 20 pounds while slightly decreasing my BF% I would say I am happy with the progress. What I did not expect was to be around 200 with a BMR of what I'm hoping is around 2000 per day now. Cutting to 12% or under right now would probably yield a weight of around 185.

Has anyone here fixed their metabolism after years of crash dieting? Am I on the right track to reach my goals? Are there other things I should be considering? I'm aware that I haven't posted any specifics of my training routine, macronutrient levels, supplementation etc in the interest of preventing this already long post getting any longer. It's strange, everyone I know, including my 115lb wife has a higher metabolism than me.

I am very fortunate that my wife has also decided to transform her body with me. She's hoping to gain some muscle. However while I'm bulking it is often hard to watch her eat 3000 plus and not gain very much weight, and little or no fat. Even though on the bright side, I don't have to eat that much to gain muscle.

I'm starting to worry that reaching my goal will involve gaining another 10-15lb of lean mass. This may not sound bad to some, but as a shorter volleyball player, jumping and spiking is extremely hard on the joints when over 180-185.

So, I'm on track with my lean mass to be 180-185 with a BF of 10-12%. However at that weight, I have to assume that my BMR will be in the 1900 range, far short of my metabolism goal.

That's it, I'm done. Thanks in advance for any advice you have for me.

[Synthdude]

Can anyone offer advice? Has anyone here vastly improved their metabolism?

Thanks

[ChocoChick]

Why do you have a metabolism goal? A "standard" BMR for someone your weight, height and age is ~2000. If you are in the range, I'd say yours is working fine. Obviously, as you add muscle and lose fat, you will increase that number, but I question the wisdom of having a specific goal for your metabolsim.

I don't think it's ever a good idea to eat below your BMR, which is what you are doing now at 1800. You want to eat roughly 15% - 20% less than your TDEE to cut. I certainly don't think you are helping your metabolism by training your body -- with the aid of stimulants and fat burners, no less -- to subsist on 1800 calories.

So I would lose the stimulants, and slowly increase calories to where you are ~20% below your TDEE. You may gain weight or stop losing for a while, as your body adjusts. But if your goal is to have a healthy metabolism, this is what you need to do, imo.

[Synthdude]

Hi and thanks for the response. I understand your caution against the stimulants and the calorie level while cutting. I agree this is going counter to the goal of having an improved metabolism. The metabolism is only part of the goal though, I would also like to be ~10-12% BF.

The BMR goal originated from the year of maintaining my weight on around 1400-1500 calories at a height of 5'10 and weighing around 180-185. I did some activity during this time, but not a lot, probably 2-3 hours of volleyball, cardio etc per week. Based on internet calculators etc, my BMR should have been from 1800-2000 calories per day. So after factoring in the activity I was doing, indications were my metabolism was 30% or more below normal.