Heavy Lifting, Kick Butt Cardio Eating enough?

On January 1,2008 I traded a shopping addiction for a workout addiction. Well, I'm not reallly addicted but there is a very good 6 day a week habit estabished and all is well on that front. I'm having a LOT of success with reshaping my body through weight lifting. Wow, it is really fun to see that you CAN build a butt from scratch, you can broaden your shoulders with lifting weights, ect. I can even see chest muscles developing when I flex. It is so awesome. Anyway, here is the challenge: am I eating enough? I try to follow a diet of all three macro-nutrients including lean, dense proteins (tuna, chicken, lean beef, ect), healthy fats (raw almonds, olive oil, ect) as well as slow burning complex carbs (steel cut oats, green veggies, ect). So, I am pretty much following  a body builder's diet and trying to get in a ton of water and no crap at all. I'm trying not to focus on the scale but have noticed while my body is changing, it is not dropping in weight. That's ok since my clothes fit a lot better. I wonder if I'm eating enough with all this lifting and cardio six days a week? Those of you who work out  a lot, How much do you eat? I don't want to eat up my muscle.

Hi Molly!!! I too am an exercise-addict!  Ha, ha!   I work out a lot too and my dietician told me to eat at least 1800 calories a day, preferably more because I run.  My BMR is 1899 calories ... have you had yours calculated?  I still would like to lose another 10 pounds but no weight is coming off and I'm thoroughly frustrated!  Some days I eat 1600 calories, sometimes I eat 1800 calories or more.  It just depends on how active I am.   I was told by my fitness coach who is also a nutrition major that I should eat around 2000 calories a day because of my high activity level.  I just can't wrap my brain around all that so I just don't know what to do.  I know you have to eat in order to lose, but my concern is eating too much versus eating the right amount!  It's a huge internal battle I have going on! Deanna  :)

Deanna you get to multiply your base BMR rate by your activity level too.  This number does not include the amount of calories you burn when exercising either.   So if your base BMR is 1800 calories and you are moderately active, which I'm sure that's a very conservative estimate, :)  you get to multiple that figure by 1.55 which raises your adjusted BMR to 2790 calories.   Add the calories from exercise and you are most probably burning more than 3000 calories a day.  

Activity Multiplier
Sedentary = BMR X 1.2 (little or no exercise, desk job)
Lightly active = BMR X 1.375 (light exercise/sports 1-3 days/wk)
Mod. active = BMR X 1.55 (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/wk)
Very active = BMR X 1.725 (hard exercise/sports 6-7 days/wk)
Extr. active = BMR X 1.9 (hard daily exercise/sports & physical job or 2X day training, i.e marathon, contest etc.)

Using the BMR calculations for pre-op patients and you really see where all the rapid weight loss comes from.   When I was playing around with the numbers of my pre-op weight based on the calories that I was taking in right after surgery I had a daily caloric deficiency of over 4000 calories! 

Hi Deanna! Thanks for your input. My BMR is around 1530 calculated online. At the gym I have a calculation of my lean body mass and I just need to apply Chad's info to figure some things out. I will def. let you know what I come up with.  Molly

Hi, I guess you can say I have a workout addiction, but I consider it fairly healthy.  I am four and a half years into this good habit.  It sounds like you are eating all the right things.  I have gotten ennamored of the ABS DIET POWER  tby David Zinczenko (editor of Men's Health) to reinforce my eating habits and increase my physique.  I like it because it is RNY friendly, and I already am doing most of what he recommends anyway.   Eat more healthy food, six meals a day, and crowd out the stuff that is keeping you fat. I currently eat around 3,000 calories per days and approximately 120 grams of protein with six meals per day.  Losing weight isn't much of a problem, but keeping the weight stabilized can be a challenge.  I stress  the Almonds and other nuts, Beans, Spinach and greens, Dairy (skim and light soy milk), Instant oatmeal, Eggs, Peanut butter, Olive oil, Whole wheat tortillas and granola, Extra whey powder (Unjury), Raspberries and pineapple.,  In short, you need to eat enough to lose weight.  You already seem to eat the right stuff, so keep it up. Rob

Thanks Rob! The whole "Abs Diet" thing is very thought provoking to me as well! I saw that on Dateline or something and have been mulling it over in my mind ever since. Haven't read the book. But it does sound very grounded in science and all of the things we already know about eating right.  Thanks for your encouraging words!

Hi, Molly Mae.  Good for you for kicking the shopping addiction and replacing it with a "healthy" addiction:  exercise!  Like you, I am amazed at our body's ability to change with exercise, particularly strength training.  I lift weights 4-5 times per week; two sessions for lower body and core, two sessions for upper body and core, one session for full body and core.  I also do cardio for 45-60 minutes 4-5 times per week.   With this schedule, I eat 2000-2200 calories per day, about 250 g. carbs, 55 g. fat, 25 g. fiber, 150 g. protein.  Like you, I try to eat a combination of good carbs, fats and proteins with every meal/snack.  Only exception to that is my pre-workout snack, which is often just carbs and a little fat (piece of fruit, yogurt w/ a couple tablespoons of granola, etc.)  I eat small meals/snacks 7-8 times per day to keep my metabolism stoked.   I started at 396 pounds, am now at 191.5, my body fat percentage is around 32% and skeletal muscle is 31-32% as well.  I'd like to get down to 175-180 before plastics, but if upper 180s/lower 190s is where I land, I could be happy with that.   Keep up that new habit, girlfriend; it will serve you well for many years to come.  Plus, you'll be smokin' hot in no time Kellie

Oh wow Kellie! You have an awesome work habit my friend. That is awesome.  As for being smoking hot in no time. I had to laugh in agreement (because it's all a state of mind!) When I look around the gym I see all of the different shapes of bodies and really have a deep appreciation for where I've been and where I'm going. This body serves me so well and I have felt like a hottie since I broke 200, lol. Of course I am a legend in my own mind but that's ok because I know where I've been! Do you know what I mean? Life is so great when you take command of your body - HUH?! Oh yeah...and your stats are amazing! WTG! Keep it up!

Hi Molly Mae.  Congrats on your switched addiction.   I've also been told that I'm addicted to exercise.   That's a good thing though.  :)

A common statement that you will hear in many weight lifting / bodybuidling circles is that "Each pound of muscle (lean body mass) needs approximately 1.5 - 2 grams of protein to support it."  Sometimes that will be distorted to say that said person should consume 1.5 - 2 pounds of protein per pound of body weight.   Personally I think that's a little excessive so I stick to the 1.5 grams of protein per pound of lean body mass.   Actually, to be quite honest I really stick to a little over 1g of protein per pound of lean body mass.  I usually consume around 200g of protein a day.

First you will need to figure out what your lean body mass is.   To do that you need to calculate your body fat percentage.   Now keep in mind that this is a rough estimate because the lean body mass is not taking into account the weight of your organs, skeletal tissue and skin but it's close enough.  

There are a few ways to get your body fat percentage:

1) The easiest and least accurate is an electrical resistance test that some scales perform.   It sends and low electrical pulse from head to toe and calculates body fat based on the resistance of the fat to return an electrical signal or something.   Tanita is one of the companies that makes the scales.  Most weight loss surgeons have one of them.  

2) There's also the tape measure test that the military uses.   I was ALWAYS taped when I was in the Army even though I wasn't obese.  The formula they use for males is:

% body fat = 86.010 x log10(abdomen - neck) - 70.041 x log10(height) + 36.76

Abdomen - Measure abdominal circumference against the skin at the navel (belly button), level and parallel to the floor. Arms are at the sides. Record the measurement at the end of member's normal, relaxed exhalation. Round abdominal measurement down to the nearest ½ inch.

Neck - Measure the neck circumference at a point just below the larynx (Adam's Apple) and perpendicular to the long axis of the neck. Do not place the tape measure over the Adam's Apple. Service member should look straight ahead during measurement, with shoulders down (not hunched). The tape will be as close to horizontal as anatomically feasible (the tape line in the front of the neck should be at the same height as the tape line in the back of the neck). Care should be taken so as not to involve the shoulder/neck muscles (trapezius) in the measurement. Round neck measurement up to the nearest ½ inch.

There's plenty of freeware calculators online as well as some webpages that calculate the formulas.

3) The most accurate body fat percentage test is a hydrostatic water test where you are dunked in a vat or water and weighed.  I don't know much about this one but it's supposed to be the most accurate of all the tests available. 

Ok...   Still with me?  :)    Now that you have your body fat percentage you can get your lean body mass.   For me my total weight is 215 pounds.  My body fat percentage is 12%.    12% of 215 pounds is 25.8 pounds.   So my lean body mass is 189.2 pounds.    Using the protein consumption formula above I would need to 283.8g of protein a day to support my lean body mass.    Like I mentioned earlier I very rarely reach that quota.   I'm luck to get in 200g a day using my 4oz water blended with 30g of protein powder shots.

Sorry for the long post and I hope this helps.

Chad.

Chad! Holy Cow! 12% body fat?!!? That is sweet! Thanks so much for the great info. I will take some time to digest it more later but you've given me some great things to apply.  I definately have to step up my proteins with all this lifting. I try to adhere to a serving of protein the size of my palm and the same amount of slow burning carbs but that is just too much real food for my pouch 6 times a day. ya know? So, I need to rework some aspects of this eating thing as I really want to feed the muscle, burn the fat! TY for sharing your knowledge. I will call the gym and have them check the records for my lean body mass.