Fiddleman

I went back and tweaked per second formula and aggressive fat loss (lowers total daily calories a little) and now it tells me to eat 31.3 grams for each meal, 6 meals a day. That is a lot of Protein. I need to start up my own farm to have readily available chicken, beef and pork! I know the zoning laws will let me have chickens...haha. Seriously, I am going to increase my Protein powder even more as I usually only get in about 25 g protein when I drink shakes and between 17-25 g when not drinking shakes. Would the body actually know how to process 60 g of recovery shake if I took it after training? The Wheybolic 60 actually recommends people take 60 g after training, but I usually just do 25 g. I cannot believe the tdee calculator recommends more protein (> 30g) than the body is capable of processing in a meal (30 g) . Maybe I should just woof metrx bars more often (30 G protein @ 400 calories) and call it a day. I typically do not eat these because i get icy stares from my wife, but i do enjoy the 2 i have tried so far in the last few months. Eating these bars are probably cheaper than trying to get in real meat all the time from costco. Gosh, that is expensive.

Really great suggestions aroundhky!!

Hey Laura- 90 or 100 grams of Protein a day is a great place to be for moderate active lifestyle (say, 30 min exercise a day). You will find it easier and easier to eat more protein as your exercise increases. You will just be hungry and your body will need more to support that BMR of yours. It is not necessary to try and rush progress. It will happen over time, one day at a time. One week at a time. One month at a time. Before you know it, you will be easily hitting 125 G protein to support your future ramped up exercise. A person should be eating 6-7 x a day of 25-30 grams of protein per meal to sustain the numbers of an athlete (150+ g of protein a day). For you, your activity levels do not require so much protein. Instead, try 5-6 x a day at 15-20 grams of protein a meal. Use the Protein shakes to make it easier to hit the numbers for first and last meal. Start eating early in the morning when you wake. Finish eating when you goto bed. Eat at least every 3 hours and keep the meals small, but balanced. Last meal should be a long lasting protein that will engage your metabolism for 5-8 hours while you are sleeping. The gold standard casein protein works well for me and makes a huge difference over night. A fast acting whey protein is good for when you wake as your body does not want to wait around for the protein. By following these guidelines, you will train your body to be burning fat and building (some) lean muscle 24 hours a day. You have to eat small protein based meals all day long to increase efficiency of the fat burning furnace in your body. It will get easier the more you do it, like breathing after a while. And your residual hunger you have now will vanish.

My only suggestion at this point is to modify the heck out of the pull up or chin up. These are probably the single most difficult body weight exercise!! You can modify by using bands looped over the bar which your left or right foot sits in, depending on your dominant side. For me, i put the band around my left foot because i am right side dominant. Thicker or more bands will help you get up and over the bar. It is a bit of an application of elasticity To reduce the effect of gravity on your exercise. Use a box to help get into the band and start the exercise. Keep your hands further apart to engage your back and lat muscles. This is key. Do not try and get yourself over the bar with your arms alone. It won't happen. Start out trying to get one, then 3, then 5 and then 10. if you can do a set of 10, pat yourself on the back. great job! Now try and do 3 sets of 10. I am almost to the point where I can do 30 (3 sets of 10) unbanded pull-ups and chin ups, but it has been months of using bands. Practice, practice and practice these as much as you can. My weekly workout routine has me doing pull-ups 2x a week. Once You can comfortably do pull ups and chin ups without bands or a box, try advancing onto the rope climbs. This is where I am heading next.

I have spent a fair amount of time reviewing these 4 options on you tube and Amazon. Right now, I am leaning towards the power-block adjustable dumbbells set because of durability, ease of use and handle grip. Cost is a factor too, but not the most important thing. Note that with Amazon prime I can get free 2 day shipping on some of these. Yeah!!! I am leaning *away* from Bow-flex because there are many reviews on Amazon that it can be dangerous if the plates slip ( see 1 star reviews). This will be my goal weight gift from my wife. I like that these take up a small real estate and are cost effective over time when considering one needs to own 25-30 or more individual dumbbells. I currently own 4 or 5 dumbbells that range from 15-35 lb and will need to graduate higher soon. I am mostly an at home fitness guy with the exception of doing cross fit with my PT 2x a week. On 3 other days, I am doing traditional strength training with push, pull and leg days at home in my workout room. What do you think. Do you own any of these and can vouch for them?

I still get these whenever standing up from a seated position. Used to it now. My take is that as long as I do not completely fade to black, I am a-ok.

Sort of tempted to order from amazon, but again some horrid reviews. They also talk about added sugar and other things (chloride?)

Nicole- great first week and keep at it! Results may take some time (see my description of the phases above), but are going to be worth it many times over. The key to success on this 12 week program is always to be hitting peaks in your weight sets or your HIIT cardio with laser like focus. Never settle for repetition or boredom. Push yourself with each rep. Challenge yourself. Make the mind body connection at the peak of each rep. It will be hard, but rewarding. This requires each week to be a step up from the previous week as you get stronger both physically and mentally. Workouts will generally be much shorter then what you are used to or have seen others do, but much more effective. Just a repeat of what you probably already know: gaining weight when first working out with weights is quite natural as muscle weighs more then fat and muscles need an ample supply of Water to support growth. Your size will be smaller though as your stored fat is converted to glycogen for those muscles. Be sure to drink enough water to support muscle growth and removal of waste.

I do not think you can count coffee as a daily water source for the same reason you cannot count pop.

Globetrotter- it is mostly just Water weight. As you break the muscles down, they need a lot of water to repair themselves (hence, up 4 pounds). Your weight will drop soon enough as soon as your muscles let go of the water (glycogen store / burn cycle). This process of building muscle definitely requires rest so do get a day off at least once a week or even in between lifting days if you lift every other day. Rest is so important to building muscle, second to a good eating plan. My trainer told me more than once that a person's weight, especially for women, starts going up a few pounds before it drops to a new low. I did experience this slight gain before drop, and it sounds like you may fit the pattern too. In addition to scale weight, your clothes will fit better, you will feel smaller, you will feel stronger, you will notice in the mirror, people around you will notice, etc. Hang in there. It will get much better and easier for you soon enough with your commitment to success.

Swizzley, sounds like you are ready to do this! Excellent to have another challenger. Coffee should be ok, just do not overdo it. Cheers!

Great job! You are 5 months out right? Try and move your calories up to 900 by next month and by 1200 in 3 or 4 months from now. Your carbs and fats can slowly increase as well, but do focus on good carbs and good fats. Make your food selections count! After that, reevaluate and continue to push up the calories as well as fitness. It will all seem natural after a while and feel like a lifestyle. You can do it!! you have done some great changes already in the last few weeks. Thanks for sharing.

Gradually work your way up to the TDEE number. It may take you 2 or 3 months. Please do not try and rush the caloric increase or you may find your body storing the calories instead of burning them. A gradual increase will be more natural for your body and allow you to retrain the BMR. For the average adult, it is usually .8 gram protein per kg of body weight and there are 2.2 kg in a pound. Take your body weight and divide it by 2.2 to get your body weight in kilograms. Then multiply that number by .8 to get the amount of protein you should eat daily. For example, I weigh currently 188 lb. That is 85.45 kg. Now multiply that number by .8 to get 68.36. This is the minimum amount of daily protein I should eat as an adult that weighs 188. However, I am not the average adult. We have had WLS. As WLS post op, we should be consuming at least 80 G protein a day. Everyone should definitely meet these protein goals, no questions asked. That is what the doctor recommends as the minimum, even without being active. I think you get this now. Athletes need much more. If you are physically active like an athlete, you should consume at least 1.8 to 2.0 grams of protein per kilogram. This is to. Support a healthy BMR for the high levels of fitness. i am sure a lot of VST members who are far enough out can see themselves as athletes and should try and eat this much protein to keep the BMR running efficiently. For example, I workout intensely daily so should consider the athlete protein levels. Taking the 85.45 kg body weight and multiplying it by 2 gives 170.9 grams of protein daily, on the higher recommendation side. I eat around 170 G lean protein now by focusing on lean protein every 2-3 hours and also drinking Protein shakes when waking up and going to sleep. Lean protein is good for regulating your hunger, so do the best you can to gradually increase the number depending on how active you are.

Glad you are trying this, but all in moderation. Increase a little bit at a time each week in order for your body to adjust. It will take weeks to double caloric intake safely with the purpose of "fixing" the BMR. Not sure you are going to have an issue, but doubling your calories overnight may cause your body to store all of it because you have been in caloric deficit for so long. Best of wishes to your progress.

As stated above, starting weight definitely makes a big difference. I started at 360 and was extra morbidly obese; I had a lot to lose. 188 lb today at 17% body fat. Good place to be and easy to maintain. However, Trying to drop 15 lb fat and gain 5 lb lean muscle in next 4 months.

I did not know slugs had the bone structure to get crippled. Lol. It would either have to be stepped on or salted, both which win the slug a Darwin award.

Really nice destination point !! Great job on the hiking. You are among hiking friends here on VST.

When I do the inputs to the calculator I get 2152. I would think that is doable. What do you think?