I've been lifting since January (sticking with the new years resolution). I'm lifting with a guy at work. We started doing a six day a week routine, every muscle group twice a week. We've both lifted on and off for the last few years, so we both could handle it. I thought it might have been a little on the overtraining side. Anyway. I haven't seen the progress I'd like. I started at 208 and now I'm down to 198 over that 13-15 week period with most of that happening in the first 8 weeks (went up to 211 then down to where I am). I wanted to see my abs for my B-day (July 3) and feel that I've really hit a plateau. My calorie intake was probably a little less than 2,000 at that time. Here's my stats:

Current Weight: 198lbs
Current Body Fat: 16-18% (using calipers at home)
Goal: 8-10% by July 3
Goal Weight: 180lbs 'ish

First: Does this seem doable? Second: Recommendations? I switched my routine to a 3 days a week lifting and 5-6 days a week cardio. I do cardio at the gym on TTh and on my lifting days I bike to work (about an hour after I'm done lifting). It's 5 miles one way. Takes me a half an hour.
I just started using fitday to track my calories and i'm taking in between 2200 and 2700 calories (days I bike I try to take in a few more). Does anybody have any experience in this weight bracket and know if I keep with 3 day a week lifting (might try HST) and 5-6 day cardio, are my goals reachable? I've found to much conflicting information on this. I think my body is/was in starvation mode. I've had my calorie intake up for a week now, and if anything I've lost a little.

Summation: I'm looking for some direction/support on if this new system sounds like a good plan. Fitday is telling me that on biking days I'm burning over 4000 calories (I know its mathmatically computed). I figure if it's even 500-750 calories high, with the intake I'm getting that's a pretty good cut rate. I need to lose about 1.5 lbs/wk to get to my goal. Thanks for taking the time to respond.

First, the caloric expenditure numbers on any website are bogus. Don't worry too much about it.

Second, find a good Katch-Mcardle calculator to figure out your daily caloric needs. Someone here can probably post a spreadsheet for you. I assume there is one in the beginner's forum.

Third, yes, that is very attainable, in my opinion. You have a few months to drop 20 lbs. Keep reading, and trying out good programs. Don't drink booze, eat cleanly, and the lifting 3x/wk and cardio 5-6/wk should get you there.


I've been lifting since January (sticking with the new years resolution). I'm lifting with a guy at work. We started doing a six day a week routine, every muscle group twice a week. We've both lifted on and off for the last few years, so we both could handle it. I thought it might have been a little on the overtraining side. Anyway. I haven't seen the progress I'd like. I started at 208 and now I'm down to 198 over that 13-15 week period with most of that happening in the first 8 weeks (went up to 211 then down to where I am). I wanted to see my abs for my B-day (July 3) and feel that I've really hit a plateau. My calorie intake was probably a little less than 2,000 at that time. Here's my stats:

Current Weight: 198lbs
Current Body Fat: 16-18% (using calipers at home)
Goal: 8-10% by July 3
Goal Weight: 180lbs 'ish

First: Does this seem doable? Second: Recommendations? I switched my routine to a 3 days a week lifting and 5-6 days a week cardio. I do cardio at the gym on TTh and on my lifting days I bike to work (about an hour after I'm done lifting). It's 5 miles one way. Takes me a half an hour.
I just started using fitday to track my calories and i'm taking in between 2200 and 2700 calories (days I bike I try to take in a few more). Does anybody have any experience in this weight bracket and know if I keep with 3 day a week lifting (might try HST) and 5-6 day cardio, are my goals reachable? I've found to much conflicting information on this. I think my body is/was in starvation mode. I've had my calorie intake up for a week now, and if anything I've lost a little.

Summation: I'm looking for some direction/support on if this new system sounds like a good plan. Fitday is telling me that on biking days I'm burning over 4000 calories (I know its mathmatically computed). I figure if it's even 500-750 calories high, with the intake I'm getting that's a pretty good cut rate. I need to lose about 1.5 lbs/wk to get to my goal. Thanks for taking the time to respond.

I cut at about 1900 and I am approaching 140. I suggest you increase the calories. Training weights 6 days a week may lead to overtraining. I only train 7/14 days, going every other day. Sometimes I skip a day and go 6/14 days. GPP is done on other days, or else I practice my forms and do some cardio.

Its doable, especially with all that cardio you are doing. Now about your training, I'm not sure I fully understand...

1)You bike to work (5 miles at horizontal=150 calories roughly!) plus you do cardio at the gym. How long is this cardio and what type (Low Intensity Steady State, High Intensity Steady State, High Intensity Interval Training)? Overtraining will lead to diminishing returns.

2)What is your macronutrient ratio like i.e. how much protein, how much carbs and how much fat? It's not THAT important but 1g of protein per lb of lean body mass and minimum 20% of your calories from fat are a good place to start.

3)I've heard fitday is pretty good at calculating calories so I don't think you can go wrong there. The Kathie-McArdle formula for Basal Metabolic Rate is:
370+(21.6*Lean Body Mass in kg) 1kg=2.2lbs

Let's say you are 18% bodyfat

Lean Body Mass= 198-(0.18*198)=162.36lbs

Lean body mass in kg=73.8kg
Round up to 74kg

370+(21.6*74)=1968.4kcal

That is you BMR. Don't go below that. No need.

4)From what I understand you are doing calorie cycling (more on heavy training days, less on lighter training days) which is a very good thing. However, 500 calories is a bit much. Try to keep the high and low days at 300-400 calories. Do you have a weekly cheat meal or cheat day? This might be holding you back, but it might also keep you on track.

5)Weight training is MORE important than any cardio you can do. Make sure you are using most of your energy on your lifts and keep progressing on them, an extra rep or an extra 2lbs on the squat bar every week for example. Big compound lifts like squat, deadlift, bench press, lat pulldown and shoulder press burn the most calories AND build the most muscle. Use them but use them wisely. They can really wipe you out and you don't want to injure or overtrain yourself.

Most importantly, monitor yourself. Experiment. Measure up every Sunday morning for example i.e. bodyfat calipers, weight, look in mirror etc. You must try and keep your Lean Body Mass as much as you can, if not increase it. Work out WEEKLY calorie needs, calorie intake etc. There are 3500 calories per lb of fat. If you stagnate one week then change up a bit for your next week: slightly less or more calories, a bit more or less cardio.

That's all I can think of. Remember, your body adapts quite well to calories and training so you need to change it every now and again. Not drastically but as said before, a slight change in calories or an extra 2lbs on the squat bar every week should do the trick.

Best of luck to ya mate. You definitely are trying hard and I know how it feels to stagnate. You've got about 11 weeks. On yer bike!:bb: :tucool:

Thanks for the replies guys.

Its doable, especially with all that cardio you are doing. Now about your training, I'm not sure I fully understand...

1)You bike to work (5 miles at horizontal=150 calories roughly!) plus you do cardio at the gym. How long is this cardio and what type (Low Intensity Steady State, High Intensity Steady State, High Intensity Interval Training)? Overtraining will lead to diminishing returns.

2)What is your macronutrient ratio like i.e. how much protein, how much carbs and how much fat? It's not THAT important but 1g of protein per lb of lean body mass and minimum 20% of your calories from fat are a good place to start.

:

To answer your questions.
1. I live in a town along the river. Some good sized bluffs. I push it on the way to work. Have a few hills to climb. I work up a good sweet. The estimators I've looked at tell me I'm burning between 250 and 350 calories per way. At the gym, I use an elliptical runner. I do a 30 minute session on a weight loss interval program. My heart rate stays between 155 and 175. If my max heart rate is around 196 (220 -age), I'm running between 80% and 90% of it. The machine tells me I burn about 480 calories during the session. Don't know how accurate that is. I'm sure it calculates it based off age, weight, rpms, resistence, and duration.
2. I pulled up my fitday and looked at the breakdowns. Over the last week, I've been really close to a 40/40/20 (carbs/prot/fat) % split. Fitday says 46/31/23. Gram breakdown is averaging 314g/188g/62g. So it sounds like I'm pretty close. Sidenote: Fitday puts my BMR at about 2054, so that's pretty close to the method you used.

Again, thanks for your help in reaching my goals.

This calculator might help you.

http://www.virtuatrainer.com/bmr.php

Weight loss cannot be completely scientifically manipulated. Every body reacts different to different stimuli, so while one plan may work for one person, it can't be guaranteed to give the same results to another person. Some people might be extra carb sensitive, for some people meal timings might make a big difference.

I don't think any software is really perfect at tracking exact calories consumed, just as no fitness equipment can track exact calories expended. Your metabolism differs from other people's.

I agree that the most important is to monitor yourself to see what's working and what's not.

I don't think eating at your BMR is enough calories for anyone unless they are sedentary.

This calculator might help you.

http://www.virtuatrainer.com/bmr.php
That's your TDEE, not your BMR.

There are quite a few BMR calculators and daily caloric need calculators out there. Most have pretty similar results. Remember, your body ADAPTS! Suppose you calculate your daily caloric needs (BMR + Activity) at 2500).If you take in 2000 calories and exercise 5 times a week, your body will EVENTUALLY slow your metabolism enough to stop losing any more fat. Same will happen if you even go down to 1600 calories in theory. It will work for a while but one day it'll stop. Nothing works forever. Start off on just 300-500 calorie deficit from your CALCULATED BMR. Did you lose a lb of fat at the end of the week? Good. Then continue another week. Have you still lost a lb of fat? Good. The cycle continues. If you stagnate for a week, then change something,even just the littlest of things. 200 calories more or less, calorie cycling, carb refeed for two days, more cardio, cheat day, week off, ANYTHING!

Fitness experts know that your body adapts. Hugo Rivera suggests 12x lean bodyweight for five days a week AND 15x bodyweight for the other two. Bill Phillips's portion diet can actually vary your calorie intake a lot day by day (i.e. One portion =one apple (50kcal) or rice (100kcal)) AND he also suggests a cheat day.

The higher the calories whilst achieving measurable fat loss, the better IMHO.:gl: