how many calories...

[evilqueen]

...would I need to support 90 minutes of cardio a day plus 4 days a week of lifting (2 bodyparts, 3 exercises per bodypart plus abs, 12 sets, 15 reps/set)?

BMR is 1300. But since the calorie calculators on treadmills and other cardio equipment are often wrong, I'm unsure of how many "workout" calories to add to my BMR.

My goal: fat loss, while losing a minimum of muscle. As Spats has said, I want to eat enough and then create a small deficit of 200 calories. Also, what ratio of protein/carbs/fat i would need to support this amount of activity?

I'm guessing maybe 1700 calories a day, but want to be sure this is enough.

Thanks for any insights...

 

[geness]

I think that a lot of it depends on what type of cardio exercise you are doing and how intense you are exercising for the hour and a half. You are going to use a lot more calories if you jog for an hour and a half compared to walking for an 1.5 hours. Give us an idea of what you are doing for cardio and how intensely you are doing it . This should help you to get some much better and accurate answers.

 

[evilqueen]

Good point, Geness.

I usually break up the cardio into 2 parts:

1) 60 minutes: 20 minutes of rowing, 20 minutes of stepper, 20 minutes of elliptical trainer. This is at noon.

2) 30 minutes of walking at 4 mph. This is at night, anywhere from 8 to 11 p.m.

BTW: I'm 5'2" and about 125.

 

[geness]

What would you consider your intensity to be during your noon time workout-low,medium, high?

 

[BrickGirl]

my gosh why are you doing that much cardio?

 

[evilqueen]

First reply: I'd consider it high intensity. 20 minutes of rowing at 8 or 9, 20 minutes of elliptical at 6 and 7, 20 minutes of running at 5.5 mph or 20 minutes of staircliming at 10 or 11.

Second reply: I'm doing all this cardio because--oh, god, it's a long story. but like poor gladiola, I'm eating clean and am pretty active, and it's just not coming off. i think it's from quitting smoking, depo-provera, and/or because i'm 39, and/or all of the above.