Am I doing this right?

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2009-03-30 11:59 PM

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Subject: Am I doing this right?

So I've been trying to log my eating etc., and figure out what I need to be eating for fuel and weight loss. I'm 6'1" and 250 lbs. Right now, I train approx. 1 - 1.5 hrs a day - but that will be ramping up as my base builds as well. My super eststatic, make me very happy goal is to be at 165 in a year. In another thread someone posted about caloriesperhour.com. So I went there and put my info in and used the moderetly active setting so it said I burn approx. 3,100 calories per day.

Then I went and figured it just off of average day - time spent sleeping, eating, working, etc. And got 4,300 calories per day. - Which seems really high!

 Finally I did the goal weight calculator where it asked starting and goal weight and figures out how many calories you need to deficit each day for me - 826 cal/day.

So if I go off of the 3,100 per day which seems more realistic, if I keep my calories below 2300 per day I should get there right?

Does that sound realistic? I've dieted in the past but never just counted calories. I've always tried just this diet prescription or that new thing and hoped it would work. And so now I'm just going to go the old fashioned way - calories in, calories out. I'm going to try and keep my carb/protein/ratio around 40/30/30 and just wondering what I should be shooting for and if what I'm doing makes sense.  Is this too big a deficit while training? or does 4,000 calories sound doable - and edible and so I should shoot for 3500 cal per day?

 Any thought/questions/comments?

2009-03-31 8:03 AM
in reply to: #2050208

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Subject: RE: Am I doing this right?

Yeah, that does seem really high.

My suggestion would be to figure out your BMR (as best you can w/ the calculators available, such as this one) based on SEDENTARY for activity, the ADD the calories burned (which are notoriously overestimated) based on actual activity, and create your deficit (500 cal a day for a 1 lb per week weight loss, etc)

Do NOT be surprised if you don't lose much during full on, in season tri training.  It's a very common happening in these parts.

2009-03-31 11:08 AM
in reply to: #2050208

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Subject: RE: Am I doing this right?
sanhador - 2009-03-30 9:59 PM

So I've been trying to log my eating etc., and figure out what I need to be eating for fuel and weight loss. I'm 6'1" and 250 lbs. Right now, I train approx. 1 - 1.5 hrs a day - but that will be ramping up as my base builds as well. My super eststatic, make me very happy goal is to be at 165 in a year. In another thread someone posted about caloriesperhour.com. So I went there and put my info in and used the moderetly active setting so it said I burn approx. 3,100 calories per day.

Then I went and figured it just off of average day - time spent sleeping, eating, working, etc. And got 4,300 calories per day. - Which seems really high!

Finally I did the goal weight calculator where it asked starting and goal weight and figures out how many calories you need to deficit each day for me - 826 cal/day.

So if I go off of the 3,100 per day which seems more realistic, if I keep my calories below 2300 per day I should get there right?

Does that sound realistic? I've dieted in the past but never just counted calories. I've always tried just this diet prescription or that new thing and hoped it would work. And so now I'm just going to go the old fashioned way - calories in, calories out. I'm going to try and keep my carb/protein/ratio around 40/30/30 and just wondering what I should be shooting for and if what I'm doing makes sense. Is this too big a deficit while training? or does 4,000 calories sound doable - and edible and so I should shoot for 3500 cal per day?

Any thought/questions/comments?

I really like this site: http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm#

 It's got one of the better calculators, and it also allows you to change the equation that they use (The default Mifflin/St. Jeor is one of the better ones). I use that with the little/no exercise to get my daily basic needs. (For me, at 42 y/o, male, 175 lbs at 5'10" that's basically 2000 cals/day).

http://www.nutristrategy.com/activitylist4.htm

 That's the site that I use for my calorie estimations for exercise. All sums given are for a basic weight, one hour of activity. It also gives very detailed breakdowns, so you can see the difference in cals between running at an 8:00 mile pace vs. a 9:00 mile pace, varying bike rates, etc. It's also the closest I've found to my own burn rate, i.e. when I calc calories vs what I'm eating, I lose or gain pretty closely to what both those sites tell me.

Also, 40/30/30 is not really a great diet for an endurance athlete. Carbs should be AT LEAST 50% of calories, closer to 60%.

If you want a GREAT book, "Endurance Sports Nutrition" by...Eblere? Gives you good, solid information and ways to build your diet for success in both training, racing and weightloss or gain.

John 

2009-04-07 10:18 PM
in reply to: #2050208

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Subject: RE: Am I doing this right?
You could try the approach of most of my lightweight rowers.
If your weight has been steady, you're eating the same number of calories you're burning, so start there.
Keep a food journal and write down what you eat for one-two weeks.
3500 calories~a pound, so if you want to lose 1 pound a week, 500 fewer calories a day will do it.
For an even better return on the calorie cut, eating around your workouts, especially right after can help to burn your calories more effectively to rebuild muscle instead of having your body eat the muscle and store fat.
You can also then scale up for longer/harder workouts as you build volume without having to worry about changing your normal eating habits, only your pre/during/post workout food.
It may seem really simple and unscientific but I've got a bunch of guys walking around at about 6.5 percent body fat so we must be doing something right.
2009-04-08 3:17 PM
in reply to: #2050208

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Subject: RE: Am I doing this right?
I would recommend that if you use a calorie counting program to estimate your caloric needs, use your GOAL weight rather than your ACTUAL weight.  That way, you only have to make one adjustment to your eating patterns, which would sustain the goal weight (and lose the weight you have now).  This is better, IMHO, than modifying the diet to drop weight, then trying to reintroduce more calories; or constantly having to drop the calories needed to maintain a rate of weight loss.  By the time you are at your goal weight, your eating patterns will be second nature to you. The only disadvantage is that the weight loss is slower overall, and slows down more the closer you get to the end point. 
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