Looking for some pointers!

r3nu4l

So I've read ths stickies and according to g'ems excellent post these are my stats:

73Kg Male 32 yo

RMR = 1725.8
Daily needs = 2416
Exercise expenditure/7 = 171
Therefore Calorific requirements = 2588

Now according to the sticky I need to reduce by 15% to lose weight i.e. 2200 Cals/day.

However, having been keeping a FitDay diary for a few days (missed last weekend!) I notice I'm not even consuming that many calories in one day so the weight should be coming off me without even exercising! I guess my metabolism is very slow and the exercise will increase that.

GOAL: Reduce Body Fat (keeping heart rate between 130 and 150 bpm).

Workout:
Warm-up 5 mins bike
Cross-trainer, resistance 10, 15 mins
Hand-bike, resistance 3, 10 mins
Rower, resistance 7, 2000m (approx 10 min, 10 secs)
Treadmill, 0.5% incline 1.3 miles, 5.8-6mph (approx 14 mins)

I've been to the gym four times since Monday April 9th, doing this workout. I haven't weighed myself since the first day so I may have lost some fat, I certainly feel a lot better and have more energy! I'll be changing the workout in about 5 weeks.

Can you advise me as to whether the workout is okay? Bear in mind I am trying to reduce body fat. I can't do weights at the moment until I have my next blood pressure test in about 6 weeks so weights are NOT an option.

Can you look at my Fitday records? I know there is some crap in there but I'm working on it.

Can you give me some pointers on replacing some of the carbs in my diet?

Finally, all pointers gratefully received Thanks in advance.

Dragan

Looks to me like your grossly undereating.

How long have you been eating this few calories?

amazingemmet

Looking over your fitday you need to eat more.

r3nu4l

How long have I been eating like this? Well about a week tbh. Imagine that food diary with less fruit/veg and a lot more biscuits, chocolate bars. Seriously!

Also please have a good look through the diary as I may have inadvertantly selected the wrong amounts (although I thnk I'm right!). It's hard to judge with all of the oz. measurements and some foods only allow you to select by the cup (mixed seeds)!!

Other than the amount of food, are the types okay? More of one thing, less of the other?

EDIT: The thing is, I never feel hungry as I regularly have either an apple or banana or something throughout the day so that I don't feel hungry.

Money Shot

Can I ask how tall you are ?
I only ask because as you're a male and weight 73 kgs, I wouldn't imagine you would need to loose a lot of weight, unless you are quite short.

I really don't know how you get through your day eating so little.

r3nu4l

Hammer.Nail.Head.

I'm 5ft 6, so not a giant.;) I'm not so much trying to lose weight as reduce body fat (having it measured in the next two weeks, but there is a bit more there than necessary). Losing weight will happen as a result of losing body fat though, nothing I can do about that unless you guys have some suggestions, remember, weights are NOT an option for me right now.

EDIT: BTW, the day that I only had something like 500 Cals...that won't happen again, I didn't like that and was shocked myself when I added it up on FitDay!

r3nu4l

Okay, you guys have said I'm not eating enough but if I start to proportionally increase the volume of foods I'm eating, will I not start to put on more weight?

I want to reduce body fat but eating more is only going to increase that isn't it?

I'm not incredibly skinny, I'm an average build with more body fat than I should have. I feel energetic most days and never really feel hungry. Could this be down to a slow metabolism? Will my cardio work help revitalise that?

Dr4gul4

r3nu4l wrote:

Okay, you guys have said I'm not eating enough but if I start to proportionally increase the volume of foods I'm eating, will I not start to put on more weight?

This is quite a common misconception, by actually eating more, say under 1800 calories a day, broken down into 5 - 6 small meals you keep you're metabolism running all day long, this actually improves you're body's ability to burn fat.

r3nu4l wrote:

I want to reduce body fat but eating more is only going to increase that isn't it?

A good work out program with Cardio and Weights will prevent this from happening, of course thats assuming you dont eat 1800 Kcals of McDonalds a day .

I think over all you need to come to terms with the "balanced diet " idea, 1800 Kcals will prob be a max amount for you, ( you should prob double check that i know you have stated above that 2200Kcals is what you worked out, but thats based on you're Body fat, and i have no ide what that is.) try and keep you're Protein , carbs and fat at a ratio of 40 - 40 - 20, and see how you get on.

If you need idea's on food's etc have a look at what im eating, sum days are better than other though ok, so dont take my fitday to be a goldmine of recipes and foods.

r3nu4l

Thanks Dr4gul4, I've only started the 6 meals in a day thing in the last week as well so I've taken that on board. Hopefully that and the exercise will lift the metabolism

I've cut out 90% of the processed foods and am working on cutting out the rest. I need to find more protein sources, larger servings of tuna and chicken perhaps while slightly reducing the amount of rice, pasta and couscous that I'm eating to balance things out in the main meal might be a good idea.

The 2200 figure is not based on body fat at all, it's calculated from g'ems post in the stickies so my body fat doesn't come into it. Again, right now I cannot do a weights workout until I get my BP checked again in a few weeks time.

I had a look at your Fitday, looks good. I'm relctant to try protein shakes for now. I need to get my body used to eating better and exercising first so I'll try to make up the protein from egg whites, chicken, tuna and steak.

Thanks for the advice, all appreciated, keep it coming

rubadub

r3nu4l wrote:

Also please have a good look through the diary as I may have inadvertantly selected the wrong amounts (although I thnk I'm right!).

Some odd amounts in there. 1 tablespoon of porridge?
8 out of 15 items are under 50kcal! barely worth even listing.

Do you really have 1% & 2% fat milk? when drinking such tiny amounts?

I think you really need to get a €20 digital scales in argos. I do not believe your portions are that small at all. After a few weeks of weighing it becomes second nature and you can just tell how much calories are in stuff at a glance. Most portions listed on packets and products are tiny compared to what people normally eat.

BossArky

I'd recommend increasing the rowing to 15 minutes and reducing the level from 7 to 3. This way you will get into a rhythm which is not too tiring but you should work up a good sweat and have enough energy to continue the extra 5 minutes. Maybe best to stick to 2 machines for longer rather than just mixing and matching a load of various cardio for such a short time each.

Also, why not up the threadmill speed a bit? Start off at 8kmph, up the speed by 0.2 every minute and see what speed you get up to. This will get you up to 11kmph after 15mins... which is not too fast once you get used to it for a few sessions. Contine at this pace for another 10 mins.... so 25 in total on the threadmill.

To recap --> 15 mins rowing on level 3, followed by 25 mins jog to run.

r3nu4l

rubadub wrote:

Some odd amounts in there. 1 tablespoon of porridge?

Yes.

Do you really have 1% & 2% fat milk? when drinking such tiny amounts?

Yes. Although tonight I've just had a pint of 1% so I'll put that into FitDay tomorrow

I think you really need to get a €20 digital scales in argos. I do not believe your portions are that small at all. After a few weeks of weighing it becomes second nature and you can just tell how much calories are in stuff at a glance. Most portions listed on packets and products are tiny compared to what people normally eat.

I have a scales (bought from Argos ) and those are the portions I've been eating. I've been using Google to convert g to oz but only discovered this morning that my scales is interchangeable between both The difficulty I have is that with mixed seeds for example, the only quantity choice I have is "cup" so I'm guessing the quantity to some extent.

What I will do is start using the oz measurement instead of g. Thanks for the advice though. I guess I'll increase the portions and keep weighing it all out as I go along.

BossArky, I'll try that with the rower. At the moment I can't up the speed of the treadmill because my heart rate goes above 150 if I do and I want to stay in the fat burn zone. As I get fitter, I'll probably be able to do this. Right now I'm incredibly unfit.

/btw, I haven't added tonight's dinner or milk to my FitDay so please ignore today.

Thephantomsmask

r3nu4l - just with regards to volumes on fitday, 1 cup = 250ml so if you have a measuring jug handy then you can use that to calculate your seeds. Also the fl oz they use aren't the same as fluid oz here, they are what we call liquid oz as the US measure is different so 100ml = 3.38fl oz on fitday.


Some useful ones to remember for everyday cooking are:

1tsp = 0.02 cup = 0.17 fl oz
1tbs = 0.06 cup = 0.5 fl oz
100ml = 0.4 cup = 3.38 fl oz
1 pint = 2.27 cup = 19.2 fl oz
1 litre = 4 cup = 33.8 fl oz

r3nu4l

Now that's good to know Thanks Thephantomsmask!

Not that I'm going to buy it but I wonder does the software they sell have the facility to convert between British and American Imperial and the Metric system?