Alrighty, I am new to this forum but I have been watching Scott's videos on Youtube for a few days and really like what I see in the videos and on the forum. I hope you guys can help me out here. First some stats:

1. Age: 38
2. Height: 73"
3. Weight: 260 lbs
4. Bodyfat %: 24.5
5. Goal (Muscle Gain, Weight Loss, Strength Gain, etc): Fat/Weight Loss
6. How long you have been exercising: 2 months
7. Daily calories: 1800
8. Daily macros in grams (protein, carbs, fat): 160g protein, 120g carbs, 60g fat
9. Injuries or restrictions: none

On 8/12/15 I weighed 290lbs. My bodyfat % was north of 35%. I have lost 30 lbs since I started working out. My workouts are as follows:

Upper Body Resistance Circuit (Nautilus equipment at the gym) Monday and Thursday

Lower Body Resistance Circuit Tuesday and Friday

HIIT Wednesday and Saturday (Tabata bodyweight and sprint circuit)

Daily 1 hour walk in the evening at a 3.5mph pace.

My BMR is roughly 4470 based on my activity level. My target weight is between 190 and 200lbs and ideally 8-9% bodyfat. My calories are set at 1800 because I would like to be around 230 by thanksgiving (11/26/15). My daily diet looks like this:

Breakfast: 3 whole eggs scrambled, 1 serving of Fiber One ceral, 1/2 cup 2% milk

Lunch: 12-14oz Chicken Breast, 2/3 cup brown rice, 2 cups broccoli (steamed)

Dinner: 8oz Chicken Breast, 2/3 cup brown rice, 2 cups broccoli (steamed)

Snack (if hungry): Tuna Salad using 1 can of Tuna (140 calories as I prepare it)

Supplements: Creatine X3 Elite, 1 scoop, 5400mg Omega 3

My question is, am I being too aggressive in my calorie restriction? I can say that I am never hungry (except at breakfast) and there are times that I have to make myself eat. I am asking because my measurements and bf% has seemed to flatline a bit the past couple of weeks. My weight is still dropping, I am just not looking that much different. Fortunately my bf% hasn't creeped up at all, it just hasn't dropped any where near as quickly as it has in previous weeks. It has only dropped between .5 and 1% in the past 2 weeks. I hope this info is good for anyone to assist me! Any help is welcome!

Hey @lwinfrey.

First off, don't be disappointed about your fat loss. Only 1% in 2 weeks?! That's great man! That means you could be dropping 2% in a month. In 6 months that would be 12%...24% in a year if it stayed like that! So keep it up!

You do seem to be in a massive deficit, but if it is working, I guess you could keep it up for now. Might need to rethink things as your bf% drops further. Your macros look good though, and you're obviously doing some good HIIT training and circuit training to help with the fat burning.

Remember building a physique - whether it's building muscle or losing fat - takes time. Got to be patient. From what I read, it looks like you are making some great progress, os just keep at it! #HTH

Jordan

Thanks so much Jordan! I really appreciate your feedback! Patience is the hardest part!

I would suggest that maybe once a week have a refeed day of carbs on your most active day.. try to get 150 - 200grams on this day.

Larry, you should think about upgrading to platinum for one month free with promocode: FREEFITNESS

I think you will really like the REAL TIME workouts that are in the @exclusive section of the site. Many of them are bodyweight and I provide modifers for the exercises that need them so you can be any fitness level and do them.

If the fat loss has seemed to have slowed down, maybe we just need to bump the intensity of your workouts.. OR, you can do one of these 15 minute workouts in the morning to boost your metabolism throughout the day.. then do you daily split at night.

Thoughts?

Hey Scott, thank you so much for your feedback. The main reason I do my lifting first thing in the morning is due to my gym being unusable for good circuits after work. It is so ridiculously busy there that there are massive delays between stations. So my daily schedule is cardio warm-up (15 minutes) and resistance circuit in the morning with a walk at night. I think intensity could be the key. I seem to burn-out before I hit the end of my workout to where the amount I am able to lift at the end of the session is lower than where I start so I am not sure what to do about that.

I will definitely check out the platinum membership as well.

We really need a lots of paitence to loose weight. To loose weight it very important to take care of what we eat, and how much. You also need to take enough sleep because if you have a balanced life style only then you can be able to acheive your goal.

We are all different!!! I used to use the online calorie calculators... However soon realized that they a only good as a guidline and starting point.

most of the calculators told me to hit around 2300 calories per day to lose 1-2 lbs per week. When actually I gain weight at 2300 per day!!!! you need to see what works FOR YOU. Nobody else is the same ......

Its going to take time.... and alot of it. It took me about a year to get me macros and calories down pat!!

Hey everyone!

I have a question, I have been tracking my macros and calories for a while now and i just got a smart watch, it gaves me a estimated caloric intake I should eat by the activities I have done in the day.

Here is my current weight loss formula.

1890 calorie intake, 35% carbs, 35%protein and 30% fats.

But my watch works with myfitnesspal *currently using iphone :( so no ms app yet* adjusts my actual activity and I am not really sure how this works. for examply I usually try to stay around 1890 calories and my watch usually adjusts calories to 2390 which should be my normal tdee. But i am not sure if myfitnesspals goal adjusts my tdee from 2390 to 1890 based on how i set it up to lose a lb per week. I know eating too little will be not effective for weight loss and I do not want to be out of whack. For another example, yesterdays adjustment was 1890 +2346 of activity saying i could eat 4236 calories that day. *we got a lot of snow and i helped my father in law move* so I am not sure how many calories I should eat to maintain my 500 calorie deficeit.

Thanks in advance!

Hey @jalves!

First off, have you tried using the calculator on the @mealplan page yet? That will give you a set of numbers as well, for your BMR at rest and in motion. In motion would be on the days you workout.

I think you're getting a little confused with the way your current system is working.. I might be wrong, but I think when it says your activity level was 2346, that was your TOTAL number of calories burned for the day. I could be wrong, but that's how I would have seen it if your regular intake is around 1900. Burning enough energy to double that intake would have taken a lot of effort.

But my suggestion would be to try out the calculator on the @mealplan page, and just eat about 250-500 calories LESS then your BMR in motion on your workout days. Of course it might vary a little bit day-to-day depending on what else you do, but for the most part, you would be safe with that number of calories daily.

At the end of the day, if you know for a fact you did something that consume a few hundred calories worth of energy EXTRA, then you could afford to eat those calories back to maintain that slight deficit.

Does that all make sense? Post your numbers from the @mealplan page here if you want some help adjusting them too!

Thanks Scott for getting back to me,

I first starting out by setting the goals in Myfitnesspal as close as possible to the numbers I got from the meal plan app. Including my macros so I can try to hit those macro goals.

I have a 2021 calories at rest and 2425 in motion. My work can be physically demanding to sitting in a chair, plus I always try to make time for my workouts and meeting just basic step and stair goals. So i was hoping the watch would help fill in the gap of if i am eating enough or too much.

This information is super helpful. I can see that my watch can easily over estimate how much I actually burn. I think I will remove the watch calculation and go back to inputting activities manually. For example. It will say that my step goal burned 600 extra calories plus my workout would have burned an extra 450 calories. where the workout seems closer to accurate where as the step goal adjustment seems really out of it.

I have yet to buy the body fat percentage tools to calculate it, so it's hard to set up my goals using the meal app calculator but I do a conservitive estimate of 23% body fat, and I get 161g protein 56g fat and 257g carbs.

Looking at your profile photo, it's probably around that 18%-20% mark, but you have the abs coming through so it's probably not too much higher than that, if at all.

Your macros are OK for a start, but I think we should edit them a little bit, particularly the fat. So at the moment, you're eating roughly 2176 calories according to my calculations. So about a 250 calorie deficit if your BMR in motion is 2425. I actually tossed your numbers in the calculator, and if you're doing moderate exercise 3-5 times a week, you're more likely to be around 3000 calories in motion, which seems more accurate for a guy your size.

And given how much extra activity you say you're doing, it makes even more sense that you would be burning at least that many calories. So to be in a deficit, you could probably aim for at least 2500-2700 calories daily.

How long have you been following your current macros, and what results have you seen?

I have been following my current macros for about month and half, the first month and dropped about a lb a week and then it was about two weeks till i lost one more lb and it seems to have slowed down, just finishing up week 3 of month 2. The top half leaned out with the weight loss but the bottom is slowly losing fat. So i think my body type has tougher fat cells in the lower body and will be the last thing to go. I usually eat around the 2100 mark, but just looked at the last two weeks and its been closer o 2500 calories. I was using the remaining function from myfitnesspal..... I dont think it was helping hahaa.

OK so, either way, it probably is actually a sign that you need to reduce your intake a little bit. However, because you think you've been aiming for about 2500 calories the last two weeks or so, that means if we cut you back to, say, 2300 calories, you'll be back in a small deficit.

The main thing is to look at what your weight is doing. Even if a calculator tells you that you're eating in a deficit, if you're not actually seeing weight loss on the scale, then chances are that the calculator isn't quite right. That's why I always talk about how they're just starting points 😊 Also, keep in mind that as you lose weight and have less mass overall, the amount of calories your burn will decrease as well. To hit a 2300 calorie target, I would suggest having your macros at something like this...

Protein: 210g (840 Calories)

Carbs: 150g (600 Calories)

Fat: 100g (900 Calories)

Total Calories = 2340

If you wanted a little less to go just below 2300, cut the fat back to 95g. Thoughts?

Thanks Scott!! It’s awesome to be able to go to a site and get answers one needs as u say fitness isn’t a one size fits all kind of deal. I will plug those in and try them out for the month and see the progress. Can’t weight to see those gains I’ve been working on!

Thank you!!

You're welcome @jalves! That's why I made this site, so people can actually get the help they need 😊 Look forward to seeing your progress man! 🏋