About 5 months ago I went on a weight loss/exercise program, to try and trim down from 260 lbs, to around 210 lbs.

Naturally, once would start by looking at the amount of calories I eat, and the amount of calories I burn, and make sure that part of my life is in proper order so that I actually lose weight in a consistant manner. Well it worked, or has been working thus far, I've dropped from 260 lbs, and now weigh in at around 230-235 as my weight fluctuates daily. Around 233 lbs to be accurate.

Now, when I was 260 lbs, my BMR rate was around 2400, more or less a few. Obviously when you lose weight, your BMR rate would go down, according to the sites that calculate your BMR rate.

So, now at 233 lbs, my BMR rate would be 2300 calories, more or less a few.

My question is, I have also been doing a moderate level of walking/running/biking to help push off the pounds, and a very high level of pushups to gain muscle. I currently hit around 100-150 a day, a big gain from the 10 I started out with 5 months ago. Because of that, I have gained a good amount of muscle on my shoulders, chest, pecs, and such. My doctor estimates it around 5 lbs gained in the last 5 months.

Would that not increase my metabolism rate, and if it does, by how much? I try to eat healthy, but every once in a while I grab a bar, some chips, or other junk food. Only difference now and before I went on this routine, is that I don't over do it.

According to other sites, with the amount of activity I do, moderate to high, I need around 3300 calories to maintain my current weight. Well no wonder I've been dropping the lbs.

And help would be appreciated.

The key is daily caloric deficit. As long as you keep up the deficit and don't do junk food too often, you'll be ok. The problem with junk food is that it literally provides empty calories and no nutrition that could have been otherwise been replaced with some lean protein source(chicken, tuna, salmon, turkey, beef) or a vegetable.

Aye, I try that as much as possible.

Of course I am only human, and we all love our junk food. The amazing part is, I totally quit eating it for 4 months, now slowly I allow myself a bit here and there. And its not like I crave more either.

More muscle will raise your metabolic rate. The problem I see you are having is that you think you need to set some exact number of calories to consume to lose weight. This is true but then if you are progressing with your fat loss at your current caloric level, why change anything? You should always set your caloric intake based on your results, not any formula. Formulas are great for estimation but since everyone is so different, you can't apply it to everyone. By the way, I'm sure the pushups have allowed you to gain a little lean mass. But then I think your doctor is wrong about 5lbs gain of muscle. I suggest start getting into serious weight training instead of just push-ups. This will further enhance your fat loss, build muscle, raise metabolism, and just make you more healthier. It'll also probably allow you to eat more. If you don't start weight training, you'll probably start losing muscle. Congrats on the weight loss!

Firstly :
"If it ain't broken don't fix it"

Secondly :
Start lifting some weights or at least do a more balanced bodyweight resistance program.
Your pecs/delts/triceps contain probably around
20-33% of your entire muscle mass. Any particular reason you do not train the other 70-80% ?

Shahar.

Go to the site below and calculate your BMR under different weights, remember the BMR is the amount of calories that you would need to suppose your body if you never got out of bed! I suppose you do get out of bed that means you must adjust the calories needed by your activity.

To determine your total daily calorie needs, multiply your BMR by the appropriate activity factor, as follows:


If you are sedentary (little or no exercise) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.2

If you are lightly active (light exercise/sports 1-3 days/week) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.375

If you are moderately active (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/week) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.55

If you are very active (hard exercise/sports 6-7 days a week) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.725

If you are extra active (very hard exercise/sports & physical job or 2x training) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.9

OK, lets give you 1.55 activity. then you would multiply bmr X 1.55 = maintenance level, if you don't want to lose or gain weight. If you want to lose weight, take 500 calories off for each pound you want to lose.

Now I suggest if you use the BMR method that you recompute it each time you lose 10-15 lbs.

http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/

The most commonly used formula for BMR assumes you have a 15% BF (for males). So you will have to take that into account to get a more accurate picture of your BMR. Lets say you are 235lbs with 20% BF. Then you have (235 x 0.8) 188lbs of lean mass. Now a person with 15% BF and 188lbs of LBM will be at (188 x 1.15) = 216lbs. This is the weight you need to plug into the formula when you are calculating the BMR (again, assuming you are @ 20% BF).

The most commonly used formula for BMR assumes you have a 15% BF (for males). So you will have to take that into account to get a more accurate picture of your BMR. Lets say you are 235lbs with 20% BF. Then you have (235 x 0.8) 188lbs of lean mass. Now a person with 15% BF and 188lbs of LBM will be at (188 x 1.15) = 216lbs. This is the weight you need to plug into the formula when you are calculating the BMR (again, assuming you are @ 20% BF).

No, you sure you haven't mixed it up. These formulas were developed using thousands of people, all ages shapes and sizes. You are talking about something I have never heard of. It has nothing to do with BF% or lean mass. where did you get this?

RTE,

I don't remember where I've seen it, maybe on Hussman's site. But it did seem to make sense because like you said those numbers were established over thousands of samples and, so the numbers we see on the formula are most likely the numbers that fall in the middle of the bell curve (hence people with average fat percentage).

BTW - I messed up in my calculation earlier. Instead of LBM x 1.15, it really should have been LBM/0.85.

-Farhat