Active job and eating enough to DL a sea lion!

[csltrainer]

Hey everyone!

I'm a long time stalker of NF and have finally gotten serious about lifting (and gotten brave enough to post on the forums!). I hear all the time about how you have to take in enough calories to fuel your body in order to get stronger, which is absolutely my goal in every respect. I just have no inkling about what that means.

I have a pretty active job as a California sea lion trainer. I rarely sit down throughout the day (about an hour total between lunch, break, and writing records), am lifting heavy buckets/boxes of fish, am constantly running around trying to get shows/sessions off on time, and am generally just running after 3 year old sea lions who always seem to find something to play with that they shouldn't have...there's a lot of running involved . On top of this I get in 3-4 ~1 hour lifting sessions a week and either do swimming laps or HIIT on the other 2-3. I've been aiming for 2000 cals a day (tracked on MFP...I'm 5'4 ~126) but reading things like Spezzy's article I'm thinking maybe this isn't enough? I lost about 50 pounds ~2 years ago with calorie counting and cardio (oh how I wish I knew about weight lifting back then) and eating crazy amounts of food is definitely a mental barrier (plus on an animal trainer's salary a wallet barrier as well ), but if it's what I need to do to get stronger I say bring it on! What is your advice?

Right now at the gym I do deadlifts, squats, overhead press, leg press, bench press, and good mornings. I'm not seeing quite the gains I'd like (and I seem to be more tired than usual) so that's where my thinking is coming in that I'm potentially not eating enough. I also aim for my body weight in protein every day.

My favorite sea lion, Boomerang, is currently 250 lbs (but he's a rapidly growing boy ). My goal is by the end of the year be able to deadlift his body weight (I'm currently at 150) so that I can say I'm capable of deadlifting a sea lion!

[Sloth the Enduring]

Whoa. Is that job as awesome as it sounds? Do you have to dead lift the Sea Lions often?

[Corbab]

If you're fatiguing from lift days, that's fine. If your next workout suffers, up the calories. You can eat incredible amounts of calories without huge fat gains if you're lifting heavy and working out regularly. It sounds like the combination of your job and your workout regimen definitely will allow you to keep eating more.

On an unrelated note, HOLY F***ING S***, you get paid to deadlift sea lions. (Or am I misinterpreting your job description?)

[HorrorGeek]

Totally jealous of your job!

The general idea is to eat your BMR + TDEE in calories, unless you want to lose weight, then it's BMR + TDEE - deficit for weight loss (500 is generally accepted, which allows for one pound a week in loss).

So, if you're using MFP, be sure to set your job to Active, and track your extra exercise, set your goal at maintenance, and eat what it tells you. Those settings will allow it to account for everything you're doing on an average day, and you should also always eat back your exercise cals to ensure you're eating enough.

[GreenEyesBright]

^ This is outstanding!

Sent from my MB860 using Tapatalk 2

[csltrainer]

Whoa. Is that job as awesome as it sounds? Do you have to dead lift the Sea Lions often?

My job is as awesome as it sounds yes . Although I could do without going home smelling like fish every day! Fortunately no I don't have to dead lift the sea lions very often, and when I do it's only our little 3 year olds who weight about 120 pounds. But when 120 pounds is constantly moving and shifting it is brutal!

If you're fatiguing from lift days, that's fine. If your next workout suffers, up the calories. You can eat incredible amounts of calories without huge fat gains if you're lifting heavy and working out regularly. It sounds like the combination of your job and your workout regimen definitely will allow you to keep eating more.

On an unrelated note, HOLY F***ING S***, you get paid to deadlift sea lions. (Or am I misinterpreting your job description?)

I do find that, while I take a day off in between lifting sessions, the next lift isn't nearly as good as the one before. I think I'm going to up it to 2500 to start and see how that works out and go up from there if necessary. And I more get paid to TRAIN the sea lions then deadlifting them, and when I do lift them it's only the little ones. Our sea lions range in weight from 120-900 lbs....the three year olds are PLENTY. Although I will have to push Boomerang's big butt across the entire aquarium in a few weeks...lucky guy gets to spend the summer outside!

Totally jealous of your job!

The general idea is to eat your BMR + TDEE in calories, unless you want to lose weight, then it's BMR + TDEE - deficit for weight loss (500 is generally accepted, which allows for one pound a week in loss).

So, if you're using MFP, be sure to set your job to Active, and track your extra exercise, set your goal at maintenance, and eat what it tells you. Those settings will allow it to account for everything you're doing on an average day, and you should also always eat back your exercise cals to ensure you're eating enough.

So my BMR is about 1400 and my TDEE is about 2500...does that mean I should be eating 3900?? That sounds like a crazy amount!

[Corbab]

So my BMR is about 1400 and my TDEE is about 2500...does that mean I should be eating 3900?? That sounds like a crazy amount!

Your TDEE (total daily energy expenditure) is your BMR multiplied by an activity factor (in your case, "very active" on the Harris-Benedict scale). You don't have to push it all the way to 2500 on your rest days, but given that it sounds like you're either working out or working most days, you might want/need to to help with your recover. And 3900 calories is a lot of food; it's is closer to what I eat, and I'm 6'1", 200 lb.

[HorrorGeek]

My job is as awesome as it sounds yes . Although I could do without going home smelling like fish every day! Fortunately no I don't have to dead lift the sea lions very often, and when I do it's only our little 3 year olds who weight about 120 pounds. But when 120 pounds is constantly moving and shifting it is brutal!

I do find that, while I take a day off in between lifting sessions, the next lift isn't nearly as good as the one before. I think I'm going to up it to 2500 to start and see how that works out and go up from there if necessary. And I more get paid to TRAIN the sea lions then deadlifting them, and when I do lift them it's only the little ones. Our sea lions range in weight from 120-900 lbs....the three year olds are PLENTY. Although I will have to push Boomerang's big butt across the entire aquarium in a few weeks...lucky guy gets to spend the summer outside!

So my BMR is about 1400 and my TDEE is about 2500...does that mean I should be eating 3900?? That sounds like a crazy amount!

No no, the TDEE accounts for the BMR. So eat the 2500. That will keep you in your maintenance zone on non exercise days. Add more for the days you exercise outside of work.