High calorie deficit but high protein intake

[Ortiz7983]

Hey guys, Ive been trying to lose 30 pounds. I started fasting 2 months ago and went from 230lbs to 214lbs with no exercising. A month ago from now, I’ve been strength training. Pretty much to make sure I maintain some muscle. The only fat I have to lose now is my gut. I know it’s the last thing to go but I really want this to happen fast.


I exercise 6 days a week. Monday-upper, Tuesday-lower, Wednesday-upper, Thursday-cardio-forearms, Friday-lower, Saturday-upper, Sunday-off. I do supersets and I rest 1-1 1/2 minutes after a superset. Chest-back-then rest for a minute or minute and a half. Bicep-tricep-rest. Shoulders-traps-rest. 6-7 sets for each body part and I lift where I can only do 8-12 reps and more using proper form. I also take walks with the wife and kid at nights. I currently weigh 204 and my goal is to get to 195 with the major loss from my stubborn gut. The love handles have gone down but I feel like my small gut still hasn’t.


So here is my concern. I burn 1,000-1,2000 calories a day on exercise and being active. I walk a lot at work and climb stairs as well. My BMR is 2,279. So I basically burn 3,279-3,479 calories a day. I have no problem getting my protein a day. This is what I eat everyday for the past month. Mind you I work out at 5:30 am on an empty stomach. Morning-26g of protein from egg whites and 1 egg=160 calories. 25g of protein from shake of Dymatize 100=100 calories. Lunch, either saltgrass steakhouse grilled chicken breast with asparagus and a Caesar salad with dressing on the side or Chipotle with very little brown rice, double chicken, grilled vegetables, corn, and a tad of sour cream. It’s about 600-800 calories for lunch and at least 55g of protein from either meal. Dinner-same as morning. So I eat the same thing everyday and I only drink water and plenty of it. Nothing else.


I’m getting at least 150g of protein a day, at least. My lean body mass is supposedly 129.4 so I’m getting more than enough protein daily. Thing is my calories only amount to 1,200 a day the most. Is that good or bad? Will I lose muscle? I do see some muscle definition and my chest, arms, legs, and I do see some gains. Arms and chest are definitely bigger. I’m not sure if these little calories daily is bad or good. I don’t feel bad at all. I have enough energy throughout the day. I wake up ready to work out. I also take pre-kaged before my workout just so you know. Is this large calorie deficit a bad thing? Stomach has gone down when I’m standing up but when I grab my stomach fat with my hands as a curl over, feels like the same fat I had when I was 230. Let me know your thoughts please. Any questions, let me know.

Navy body fat calculator shows this.
37 years old
Male
5 feet 11 inches
Neck circumference 16 inches
Waist circumference 42 inches
Body fat 28.8%

[xsquid99]

So you've lost what about 16 lbs in 8 weeks or so? That calculates out to roughly about a 1000 calorie a day deficit, thats a pretty decent rate. But if your TDEE really was 3300 that means you're actually eating right around 2300 calories a day. So either your TDEE isn't as high as you think it is, or you're eating a lot more than you think you are, or a combination of the two. Usually this comes from "guestimating" calories and not actually weighing and measuring everything that you eat/drink. But regardless, thats still a very decent rate of loss and you should easily be able to easily fit your protein and fat requirements into those 2300 calories.

How do you know what your bodyfat is? There is no device in existence that can give you that accurate of a reading, so if you want an estimate post pics in the "What's my bodyfat" thread at the top of the forum. You said your LBM is 129.4, but you're currently 214 lbs, which means you're carrying almost 85 lbs of fat. That actually puts your bodyfat closer to 40%, which is what I would expect from someone who has a 42" waist at your height/weight. If your bodyfat really is that high you likely don't have a chance of losing your gut just by dropping down to 195 lbs. At 5'11" most people will need to go down to 165 or less to start to lean out.

Just trying to put things into perspective for you.

[Ortiz7983]

So you've lost what about 16 lbs in 8 weeks or so? That calculates out to roughly about a 1000 calorie a day deficit, thats a pretty decent rate. But if your TDEE really was 3300 that means you're actually eating right around 2300 calories a day. So either your TDEE isn't as high as you think it is, or you're eating a lot more than you think you are, or a combination of the two. Usually this comes from "guestimating" calories and not actually weighing and measuring everything that you eat/drink. But regardless, thats still a very decent rate of loss and you should easily be able to easily fit your protein and fat requirements into those 2300 calories.

How do you know what your bodyfat is? There is no device in existence that can give you that accurate of a reading, so if you want an estimate post pics in the "What's my bodyfat" thread at the top of the forum. You said your LBM is 129.4, but you're currently 214 lbs, which means you're carrying almost 85 lbs of fat. That actually puts your bodyfat closer to 40%, which is what I would expect from someone who has a 42" waist at your height/weight. If your bodyfat really is that high you likely don't have a chance of losing your gut just by dropping down to 195 lbs. At 5'11" most people will need to go down to 165 or less to start to lean out.

Just trying to put things into perspective for you.

I used the navy body fat calculator. Not 100% but it’s a good starting point. Calculator said 28.8%. I don’t have any fat anywhere else. Just my stomach. I track my food intake on myfitness app and that’s the calories I eat. I track my calories with my Apple Watch. Active and resting. That’s what I can go by. But the food intake is spot on. LBM is from my smart scale. Again, not 100% but a good start. Wish I could post a picture but I have to post a certain amount first to allow me to post a picture.

[xsquid99]

I used the navy body fat calculator. Not 100% but it’s a good starting point. Calculator said 28.8%. I don’t have any fat anywhere else. Just my stomach. I track my food intake on myfitness app and that’s the calories I eat. I track my calories with my Apple Watch. Active and resting. That’s what I can go by. But the food intake is spot on. LBM is from my smart scale. Again, not 100% but a good start. Wish I could post a picture but I have to post a certain amount first to allow me to post a picture.

Yeah, the Navy body fat calculator, apple watches, smart scales, etc are all known to be very far from reality most of the time. It doesn't really matter though as long as your average weight loss works out to a consistent 1-2 lbs per week.

You can post a photo on an image hosting site like imgur or other and just post the link.

[TolerantLactose]

I used the navy body fat calculator. Not 100% but it’s a good starting point. Calculator said 28.8%

LBM is from my smart scale. Again, not 100% but a good start.

One measure you use gives you 28.8% bf and the other gives you 35+%. It's not really a good start when they disagree this much.