Help, I'm desperate

[jscottk]

I've become exeedingly frustrated regarding losing weight.

Here are my stats:
53 yr old
MALE
5' 11"
250 pounds
31.7% BF (taken from a handheld device)

I am an extremely 'big-boned' boy. Sedentary in my work, (moving around a bit but at the computer keyboard mostly). I log my calories, macros and exercise daily.

My main problem is finding an accurate reading of my BMR. I know what percentages of carbs/protein/fat to shoot for, know about tapering, carb loading every 3-4 days. I work out 4-5 times per week. Currently doing supersets lifting for 15-18 minutes and cardio for another 30. I've lifted for 23 years.

Most recently I went on a low cal diet (1700 calories after exercise). I felt pretty weak. I did this for about a year and my weight loss stalled. (Obviously slowed my metabolism down). So, about a month ago I increased my calories to around 2400 and as high as 3000, (40-40-20 macro split), and felt great - workouts were great. I lost 1/2 in my waist, BF went down 1.2% and my weight maintained at 248. This all happened over a two week period.

I met with a dietician. She suggested lowering my calories to 2150, upping my carbs to 50%. I gained about .25" in my waist, gained 3 pounds and feel lethargic. When I contacted her she suggested lowering my calories to 1800, (all before-workout calculations). Is she nuts?

I've done all the BMR calculators and they say my weight should be around 179. Crazy, believe me, I'd be skin and bones at that weight. I had a professional assessment years ago and they said if I got down to 219 my BF would be around 11%.

So my question is this. All the charts, calculators and graphs, AND experts seem to base their calculations on a normal species. Has anyone found a way to more accurately assess BMR or have had the same problem and even possibly a solution?

I would be most grateful - I can't tell you how frustrated I am!

Thanks,

Scott

 

[jscottk]

Oh, I also just found this quote regarding the The Harris Benedict Equation is a formula :"This equation will be very accurate in all but the very muscular (will under-estimate calorie needs) and the very fat (will over-estimate calorie needs)."

This throws further confusion into the equation for me as I've lifted for 23 years and am definately carrying more muscle than the average male my age but also carrying way too much fat.

Thanks for hearing my cry

 

[Karky]

you don't need to know your BMR, all you need to do is find out how many cals you need to eat to lose weight at a normal steady pace.

 

[JTM]

BMR is not an exact science. Calculate a figure using the formula and monitor your progress for 1-2 weeks then adjust the calories accordingly. If you have been undereating for long enough it may take some time for your metabolism to get started again.

 

[jscottk]

That's a good point, how long to reset my metabolism. I felt like after two weeks I was a different person. Energetic all the time and my workouts were strong. Then I began to gain weight so I pulled back a bit from there.

Thanks,

Scott

 

[Wrangell]

Here are my stats:
53 yr old
MALE
5' 11"
250 pounds
31.7% BF (taken from a handheld device)

I had a professional assessment years ago and they said if I got down to 219 my BF would be around 11%.

But based on those stats you provided above, if you were to drop to only 15% bf - which is a normal healthy level - you'd be at around 200 lbs would you not ?

And, wouldn't 11% bf would put you closer to 192 lbs. ?

So my question is this. All the charts, calculators and graphs, AND experts seem to base their calculations on a normal species. Has anyone found a way to more accurately assess BMR or have had the same problem and even possibly a solution? I would be most grateful - I can't tell you how frustrated I am! Thanks, Scott

Since you're carrying a lot of fat, you could try the Katch-McArdle Formula to ballpark your BMR as it uses ' lean body mass ' in it's calc and therefore may be more accurate than a formula based on total body weight.

So, if you know your body fat and lean body mass percentage - which you do - you can use the Katch & McArdle forumla, which is.......

BMR = 370 + (21.6 X lean mass in kg)​

Your lean mass is somewhere around 171 lbs - or around 77.6 kg.

So, the formula would ballpark your BMR to be somewhere around 2,046 calories.

And of course, in addition to that estimate of BMR calories, you have to add in an estimate of lifestyle calories and an estimate of exercise calories to get some sense of your estimated overall ' maintenance calories '.