Weight-Loss Calorie Intake

Weight-Loss
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Hova1

New member
Alright everyone, new here :D

Just wanted to ask a question related to calories, I've decided it's time to sort my life out and lose weight. I'm 22 years old, weigh 285lbs and am 5ft 11. So I've been tracking my intake for a few days eating 'normally' to see where I was going wrong and I was eating roughly 2800 calories per day.

Obviously all in the wrong category's like my sugar went way over the top and so did my carbs. So I checked on a website to see what I should be eating in terms of calories and it said I need to cut back to 3,109 calores per day. But I wasn't even eating that before so it got me rather confused! I ate healthier foods the last days few days and was eating around 1800 calories but I didn't even feel like I was trying that hard, I felt full most of the day. But I'm still 1200 calories short of what it's telling me to eat and I'm concerned I'm not eating enough but it really doesn't seem like that.

Today I've had cornflakes, chicken breast with a salad, 2 bananas, ham and hard boiled egg salad, a yoghurt and I had a piece of salmon after I'd been to gym. Plus I drink plenty of water.

So I guess my question is am I dangerously below my what my intake should be? I don't know I'm just confused haha, 3,100 calories seems a lot!
 
Although a lot of it depends on your specific nutrition (i.e. 1800 calories of cookies is not the same as 1800 calories of a balanced diet) the 'danger' point where you are risking malnutrition from too few calories is generally considered to be around 1200 calories.

If you're above that (and you are) and you aren't finding it terribly hard to maintain, and at risk of binging to make up for the huge restrictions, I don't think you're really in danger.

I'd still take a multivitamin and some fish oil pills to be on the safe side, but I wouldn't panic :D (and eat lots of protein!)
 
Thanks for the reply! :D

I was worried I was going to keel over or something haha! On the tracking thing I'm using it says I had 100g of protein today so I'll stick to that. I think I'm going to get some whey protein powder just to drink after gym seems easier than knocking some chicken up.

The other question I had, is Ryvita any good? Or is it one of those things thats promoted as healthy but it's packed with salt or whatever.
 
First of all, I wouldn't be too sure you were actually eating just 2800 calories before you started. That's how much you ate while you were paying attention to what you were eating. Sometimes, just eliminating the unconscious grazing, without trying to cut back at all, will allow you to lose some weight.

You are starting out from just about the same place as I did. For a while there in the beginning, I was eating around 1600 calories per day, and not getting really hungry. As I lost weight, I'd get hungrier, and eat more. So, that was kind of the reverse of the recommended procedure, but it worked for me. I think if you have a lot of excess fat, you can eat quite a bit less than they say you should. After all, that's why nature gave us the ability to store fat, isn't it, to get you through times of food scarcity?

My advice is to stick with what you are doing, and when you get hungry, then eat a bit more. It's how I did it.
 
I'm a big fan of whey protein for convenience. I like to buy mine unflavored so I don't get stuck with a turkey of a flavor though and end up forcing it down ;)

Not sure on the ryvita - I looked it up, and it doesn't seem to bad, but not super healthy either. I actually eat WASA rye crisps which don't have anything by rye in them, but depending on your salt intake I don't think it's the end of the world. I don't think they're going to give you a big advantage nutritionally, just fill a slot when you want something crispy. The main thing it has going for it is the fiber, and it's somewhere between celery and oatmeal in terms of how many calories you get for each gram of fiber. The ryvita rye crispbread has 100g of sodium, so that's also middle of the road. It has some, but it's certainly way better than a lot of processed foods!
 
Thanks guys.

Yeah I have a lot of excess fat so I guess you're right, I just didn't want to eat too little and then it all goes back on at some point but I assume the gym will help prevent that. I guess you must get hungrier as you build muscle etc but then I think I read just having more muscle burns more calories by itself.

I definitely will get some whey protein this week, it just seems easier after gym to drink one of those than to go home and cook a meal when I'm tired. Ryvita is just something I've been using in between meals, having one of those with some cucumber on the top just to fill a gap every now and then, not really that often though. I'm just looking at it as way better than what I was eating before so it's a good start.

It's difficult in my house to get the right foods because I still live with my family still so when they go shopping they get the foods that they like (chips etc) and I have to try and get a healthy meal out of whatever they buy. I think if I moved out and lived on my own it would be much easier but that's not possible at the moment.
 
It's not the building muscle that makes you hungrier. I think it's due to losing your fat reserves, which causes changes in some hormones. In fact, don't expect to build much muscle. Most people will lose some muscle along with the fat as they diet. The weight lifting exercise and eating adequate protein will allow you to maintain more of the muscle you already have.

The one exception to this is obese beginners, who can sometimes gain muscle while losing fat. Just don't expect to add very much.

It is easier to avoid the junk food when it is not lying around all over the house. Don't use that as an excuse though. There will always be temptations wherever you go, and you have to learn to deal with them.
 
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