Today I tried to increase my calories and protein intake. I felt a little hunger around lunch, but otherwise avoided any feelings of deprivation. I still feel I’m a bit low on the calories. I’d like to push them up to about 2,300 and let the exercise do most of the work. Dieting is paradoxical; if you eat too little, your metabolic rate slows and you will remain at the same weight or gain. It is better to error by eating 300 extra calories and make it up with exercise. Keep your metabolic rate up, break even on bad days, exercise to a slight calorie deficit on good days and the fat will come off without any muscle loss.
For exercise, I walked on a treadmill for an hour while studying for my classes. If you already lift weights, an hour walk in the morning will do wonders over time. I like to take this strategy out of my bag of tricks every now and then. Today I used it because I’m too heavy for long runs and I wanted to give my body a small break. Nevertheless, I did up the intensity by wearing a backpack with a 25lb plate.
Here are my macros: