Weight-Loss About my calorie intake

[Stubbs]

First post! I stumbled across this forum from yahoo answers

so I'm 21, male, 270lbs (down from 315 )

I went to a calorie calculator to see how much I should intake to lose weight and it said I should consume 3100 calories, and that was setting my activity levels to "light." That seems like a ton of calories! On an average day I take in from 1600-2100 calories and I feel very full. My question, is that too few? Am I putting a hurt on myself? I also started going to the gym this past week. I walk 3 miles on nonweight days, and on days where I circuit train I walk 2 miles. (walking at a speed of 3.0 at a 2.0 incline) I plan to be at the gym 4-5 days a week.

An anverage day of eating is
(I'm a pescaterian, only meat I eat is seafood)

breakfast: cereal/soy milk-250cal
snack: wheat thins, crab dip-250cal
lunch: veggie burger/vegetable soup-400 cal
snack: vegetable egg roll-100 cal
dinner: salmon, beans, baked sweet potato fries-400cal
snack: 1oz almonds-170cal
condiments/sauces-100 calories
drinks: tea, water, 1 diet soda

I always give an extra 100-200 calories in estimates because I know i'm not always spot on in my measurements, but pretty close! So that right there with possible error would max be about 1800 calories.

Any tips, comments, or insight would be much help!

 

[KaraCooks]

Hi and welcome.

Here are my thoughts - fwiw.

First of all, I don't remember a single person who has not said "that seems like a lot of calories". That's because we've all been brainwashed over the years by the diet industry that "fewer calories is better". But it's not one size fits all. Here's the analogy I like to use: If someone told you that a large SUV like a Ford Expedition should use the same amount of gas as a compact car like the Ford Focus ... you'd laugh right? The Expedition is a big car, weighs a lot, and it takes more gas to make it move. The Focus is a smaller car, lighter, and takes less gas to make it move.

How are our bodies any different? How can it be possible that someone who is 250 lbs can be healthy and "run" on the same amount of calories that someone who is 150 lbs takes in? The answer: It's NOT possible.

Ok, so keeping that analogy in mind, if you put too little gas in your Expedition, it will run out quickly and stall and then you won't be able to go anywhere. Your body is the same. If you feed it too little, it will stall.

The goal here is to eat FEW enough calories that you lose weight, while eating enough calories to keep your metabolism as high as possible. It's a balancing act. But the lower you take your calories, the lower you take your metabolism. And yes, you can lose weight quickly at first, but the heavier you are, the sooner you'll stall and get really frustrated.

When I calculate your calories at a light to moderate activity level, I come up with 2700 - which is close to what you came up with.

Ok, that said, I'm questioning that you're eating the calories you think you're eating. I could be wrong or way off, but there are a few things that stand out to me ... that plus the fact that you don't measure. I have to tell you that until you measure and weigh your foods, you *are* going to be off by a lot. There are a couple of videos about servings sizes and measuring - I strongly recommend you watch them:

(really watch this one!)


I can tell you that this was me, every single time I wanted to lose weight. Years of being subjected to restaurant size servings, fast food "supersize" and "biggie size" servings ... and all of those things have completely skewed the perception of what a real serving size is.

Ok, on top of that, there are a couple of things in what you list that I question. I might be wrong, but this is my instinct speaking:

snack: wheat thins, crab dip-250cal
Regular wheat thins are 120 calories for 13 of them. Are you only eating 13? Crab dip is made with things like cream cheese and mayo usually and is around 100 calories for 2 T (that's 28 g or 1 oz - see the measuring video above). Are you actually TRULY limiting yourself to 13 crackers and 1 oz of dip? This, to me, seems to be something that would be very very very easy to over eat to the tune of 200 or more calories.

snack: vegetable egg roll-100 cal
Is the egg roll fried? Is it wrapped in wonton skin? If it's 100 calories, it's going to be a really really small eggroll.

The others, depending on serving size, could be off by anywhere from 100-400 calories per meal.

Dunno ... I could be wrong and you could be measuring out very carefully ... if so, I'd say you just need to add a few more calories to your day. You're getting plenty of protein and a good bit of carbs, but add more veggies and a few pieces of fruit to get the calories up there.

 

[Stubbs]

Sorry about the slow reply! Busy busy day.

Thanks for helping me to get some better insight! I do measure for the most part. The Crab dip I do pull out about 2 tablespoons and according to the nutrition label that will be about 100 calories, and yes I do only eat 9 wheat thins which I believe comes out to about 140 calories. As far as the egg roll goes they come in packs of 5 from wal-mart. The vegetable ones according to the nutrion label are 100 calories, and I do bake them! No fried anything in sight for me.

When I say I could be off, sometimes I don't measure exactly a cup of vegetable soup (I make my own) Also when I portion out a pound of fish I get about 5 portions, and I know I could be off by an oz or two on each one. Just like pasta I know I could be making 1.2-1.3 oz by mistake, but for the most part I watch my serving sizes very well! I as well had a huge problem with biggie sizing and eating every last bite, washing it down with that 44oz cola haha.

I will have to check out the videos as well, I'm sneaking in some internet at work!


So with my workout routine I should up my intake by about 500-600 calories? I'll have to do that because I don't want my body to plateu!

 

[leemartin]

Re

I do agree with you even I don't want my body like plateau and you are doing good. Hope you will get result very soon.




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[KaraCooks]

Hm. Does sound like you're right in line. Yeah, I'd just raise your calories a little ... and see how it goes. It's all an estimate anyway ... every one of us is different.