Nutrition and Metabolism Questioon

[tylermetcalf1998]

Hey guys! I am a white male, 18 years old, 5' 9.5". I weight about 150-155 lbs as of this moment, bf at 8-15%. I believe I have some issues and need some help

My problem is this: I do cardio every m-f morning.I wake up at around 5:00, go do a 30 minute elliptical session, racking in about 3 miles, in the level 15 setting. I then return to the gym late in the day on m,t,w, and f for heavy weight training, and m, w, f, I do abs. I do an extra 30 minute cardio session on Tuesday, and on Thursday I do no heavy weights, but a second cardio session. Saturdays consist of early morning heavy weights, and an elliptical cardio session. Sundays are rest days.

I just came off of a wrestling cut where I dropped from 170 to 140, 1750 cals/day. and then after wrestling in February, I jumped to my PROJECTED maintenance (2850 cals), and I've been gaining weight like crazy. I'm at 2700 calories/day at the moment, and in the last 3 weeks I've gained 7 pounds, not water weight, this is net.weight, my highest was 155, lowest was 146. All weigh ins before my morning cardio, after my morning piss.

It is obvious to me that I've got a metabolic rate error, and I have no idea how to fix it! I love doing cardio, and am willing to eat more to accommodate for the extra cardio, however when I eat more, I gain. I want to maintain around 150-155, but I want to eat as many calories as I can with all of my activity.

My plan was to drop all cardio, and keep weights and abs, whole dropping calories to 2000. I then planned on reverse dietting, 100 cals/week until 2500, then adding a single cardio session in each week, continuing my calorie uptake of 100/week until I've reached my cardio goals.

Any suggestions? Am I doing the right thing? Should I see a doctor? I have no idea but that was my main plan! Hopefully someone on these forums can help! Thank you!

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[stevesmi]

when i competed in weight lifting my life was like yours

a lot of cardio, eating strict, and watching my weight like a hawk.

there is nothing wrong with you bro.. the body is simply fighting all the things you are doing to it.. it is a constant war. are you planning on competing in college? if so this is something you will have to continue doing.. if you are going to be done competing then re-assess your goals

you seem to have a good read on your body for your age which is great. but you might be overthinking things a bit too much and stressing out a bit too much

 

[tylermetcalf1998]

My stress comes from not knowing what to do... I love cardio. I love weight lifting. My goals are to maintain a low level of fat, maintain weight, enjoy life.

However, I constantly stress over getting cardio sessions in, as I have a huge appetite! I have cut cardio out for this week. I don't know if that is a good idea or not. I am maintaining my heavy weights training and abdominal training, but limit cardio from 8-10 sessions week to 6.

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[MasonicBodybuilder]

Are you gaining fat or fat and muscle? If it is just fat then I you will likely have to drop calories a bit. You are already extremely active so I think it would be tough to add more activity in.

 

[muskate]

When it really comes down to it - all these sort of metabolic rate calculators are just estimates. If you are gaining weight, you are consuming more then your maintenance calories. If you are loosing weight, you are consuming less. That's the fact of the matter.

What your maintenance calories actually are - it's very individual. Everyone is different. It depends on your genetics, age, lifestyle, etc etc.

It sounds to me like your body is burnt out and it needs a break. I think you plan is really smart. Dropping all cardio and reducing your calories and then slowly building up your calories is exactly what I would recommend.

You don't need to see a doctor. You are perfectly healthy. Your metabolism is just fried because you have been doing so much cardio and on low calories for so long. If you stop the cardio and slowly bring up your calorie intake by reverse dieting, you will fix your metabolism issues.

 

[tylermetcalf1998]

Great advice... My question is how much cardio can I do and maintain a healthy metabolism? Also, should I wien myself off the cardio or drop it altogether? Thank you.

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[MasonicBodybuilder]

There is nothing wrong with doing cardio. It is extremely healthy. If you want to cut it back, no problem. I only do about 3 days per week personally.

 

[muskate]

Great advice... My question is how much cardio can I do and maintain a healthy metabolism? Also, should I wien myself off the cardio or drop it altogether? Thank you.

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I recommend 20-30 minutes of cardio 2-4 days per week. Don't do long duration steady state cardio. That kills your metabolism. Instead, do INTENSE hard cardio that really gets your heart rate up.

You should slowly wean yourself off the cardio over the course of a couple weeks. I would remove one cardio session per week until you are at the 2-4 days per week number.

 

[tylermetcalf1998]

Thank you guys! I've already noticed a drop in weight of 5 lbs since getting more sleep and de-stressing. I am a firm believer in hormonal weight gain now!

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