Calorie needs

[lost180]

Thanks for that. I'm so bad at math and I had no clue as to what the calorie gram ratio was.

This will prove to be a challenge. I'm still so used to eating breakfast lunch and dinner at their "set" times. And then finding foods to incorporate all the macronutrients I'll need. Like I don't want to just rely on almonds for my fats because they're high in calories. And protein I was only doing one protein shake on weight days because I read taking in too much can be bad or you just pee it out. But by those calculations I'm sure I wasn't taking in enough. I can be a bit of a picky eater at times. I'll have to do some more research for ways to get in my foods and I'll be upping my shakes to once a day. This should be a fun challenge.

I also bought some snacks last night for a little variety. I bought some carrots, low fat mozzarella cheese sticks, and some almonds. I added half a cheese stick and half a serving of almonds to the fruit that I was having for my snacks. And I can always add peanut butter to my carrots and apples for my fats and protein.

[Brian Ayers, CSCS]

Sounds like you are developing some great strategies. Remember that even foods that are higher fat/calorie such as nuts can be incorperated as long as you measure a portion that is appropriate.

[lost180]

Sundays are weigh in days and even though I was concerned, I'm down a couple pounds this week.
I haven't been real strict in tracking the recommended grams portions you gave me. For now I've just been watching how much I eat and making sure I have a little bit of each nutrient at every meal. And yesterday I drank a ton of water. Hopefully this keeps up.

[Brian Ayers, CSCS]

That's great!! Keep up the good work.

[lost180]

On days that I may miss a work out is my body still going to need those 2000 calories or should I lower them slightly on days I can't work out? This is one of the parts I don't understand. I missed Sundays cardio and I'm going to miss chest and triceps today because I don't feel well. Hopefully I'm just over tired and not getting and won't miss anymore this week. I don't mean cut my calories down to like 1200 cause I'm worried about gaining or anything. Just cut them by a hundred or two to make up for the fact that I'm not burning anything through activity. Should I not do that? Is it not necessary? Is my body still burning calories at a higher rate because even though I missed a workout here and there it's still functioning on the level as it would had I got in my 6 days of working out?

[Brian Ayers, CSCS]

For right now I would recomend keeping your calories consistant even on off days. Just because you are not working out that day, it doesn't mean that your body isn't still recovering and rebuilding from previous workouts. Eventually I would recomend calorie cycling as another method to facilitate weight loss, however, I wouldn't do it untill you run into a real plateau. For right now stay the course and let your body's metabolism adjust to a constant intake.

[lost180]

I'll stick to that. It's a little harder today because I am and my appetite is down. And I'll at least be missing another work out today and probably tomorrow. Depends on when I feel better.


What is calorie cycling? And what is considered a plateau? When I haven't lost for 2 to 3 weeks or something like that?

[Brian Ayers, CSCS]

I usually consider a plateau to be when you are doing your current program @ 90% or better and you haven't made progress for a week or two.

Calorie cycling is usually done durring a cutting phase. Once you've got your metabolism used to a set amount of calories, then you would have a few days/week that you would purposely take in a lower calorie amount (usually less carbs), but you would always go back to the higher calorie intake every second or third day. The reason being that you body will down regulate your calorie expenditure if you consistantly eat a lower calorie intake. Using calorie cycling attempts to trick your body into remaining at the higher calorie expenditure which will result in a deficit on the low days.

[lost180]

Hmm. Well when I'm ready for that I'll have to give it some more research. For now I'm just anxious to get back into my old habits. I've been out of commission since wednesday with a horrible cold I picked up from my nephew. I don't think I'll be ready for any kind of exercise for at least 2 more days. Cardio especially. I've got a nasty cough and it won't do me any good to get on the treadmill and wheeze. I'm feeling better though so I can hopefully get my normal appetite back and start eating better foods and stop living off of cereal. Being is quite irritating. I was doing good and seeing consistent results for a change. I don't think I lost or gained anything which I'll take. I'm just annoyed at having lost what will probably be more than a weeks worth of progress but what can you do.

[Brian Ayers, CSCS]

I wouldn't waste time or energy worrying about the would've could'ves. There's no real deadline right? I've found that life can sometimes throw obstacles in the way of what we want to accomplish. The best we can do is get back on track when we can and keep moving forward.

[lost180]

No deadline exactly. I've just always had it in my head that I'd like to join the military in some capacity but I've never met the standards. This is my first time getting serious so I'm just anxious to get down to a good weight so I can actually make the call and be serious this time to talk about it and see if it is in fact what I want to do. I feel like I've wasted so much time already.

I did a half work out last night. I did chest and triceps. I kinda called it quits early though. Still haven't done any cardio because my chest is still all weird. And I finally bought a food scale. It should be here tomorrow.

[gregsashinsky]

Thanks guys for subject, it's very good!!!