How many calories should I be eating?

A

ahammad

New member
Hello all,


I've always had mixed answers about this question. How many calories should I be eating? How low can I get away with without entering starvation?


I'm a 25 (almost 26) year old male, 198 lbs, 5'10". What I did in the past worked quite well. I basically limited myself to 1800-2000 calories per day, and burned 500 calories a day on the elliptical. I was able to get from 284 lbs to where I am now. However, all my habits changed, both eating and exercising. I can do up to 1100 calories at the gym on some days, and my eating has gone down slightly to about 1700 calories per day.


I used a BMR calculator to get a feel of what I should be eating, and the base number is 2018. I only work out at the gym and I do have a desk job, so I do believe that I qualify as a "sedentary" lifestyle (multiplier of 1.2), which puts me at 2422 per day. Assuming I burn 800 calories per day exercising (I have a heart rate monitor, so it's fairly accurate), how many calories should I be consuming every day IF I wanted to lose 2 pounds a week?


I hope I was clear on this. I'm on the last stretch of my weight loss journey (target is 176) and I want to do it in a healthy way. I managed to keep the weight off for 3 years and I would like to do the same once I reach my target.


Thanks!
 
I found the BMR calculator on fat2fitradio to be pretty handy when looking for a good base starting number. It lets you put in current weight, goal weight and then provides a nice summary of the calorie limits based upon activity levels. And even though you have a desk job, the fact that you burn up to 1100 calories a day would bump you up a category or two in the multipliers from their table.


Roughly speaking you need a 500 calorie daily deficit for every 1lb/week of loss you're shooting for so you'd need a 1000 calorie deficit between eating and exercise to create a 2lb/week loss.


Good luck and congrats on the amazing loss to date
 
Just to be clear, the deficit should also include the amount of calories I burn?


As a quick example. If my base caloric intake is 2200 calories, that means I would need to consume 1700 calories for 1lb/week. If I also burn an additional 1000 calories, then I should consume 2700 calories and still be able to lose 1lb/week? Or can I consider those 1000 calories a 'bonus'?


I assume that for 2lbs a week, it would be a 1000 calorie deficit. But the same principle applies.
 
I think you've got it right. When I started out, I calculated my BMR and then used the multiplier based upon activity level to figure out how many calories I was burning on an average day and then subtracted 1000 from the total and made that my target calorie intake. I could then ignore the numbers of calories burned on machines and heartrate monitors as those numbers ended up built into my average daily burn. As long as the number of calories going in are at or above your BMR, the theory is that you don't have to worry about starvation mode kicking in.


One additional thing to watch out for particularly if you're primarily doing one specific exercise like the elliptical is a principle called SAID which basically means that you're body will adapt to the single exercise, become more efficient at it, and you'll end up burning fewer calories in the same time period so mixing up the routine may also help.
 
I see, so if I work out harder, then I have to eat more in order to offset the extra calories that burned. That makes sense.


Out of curiosity, what is the lowest possible caloric intake that I would be able to consume without getting into starvation? Truth is, sometimes I am just not that hungry, but if I am below the starvation threshold, I can force myself to eat anything random to bring up the caloric levels to a safe amount.


I did notice that my body adapted to the elliptical, and I have added in some resistance training and Insanity 3 days a week.
 
Not sure what the minimum would be but if it's only a day or two I wouldn't worry about not hitting the exact target each day as it should all work itself out in the end and I have heard that there are advantages to varying the amount of calorie intake from day to day as well.


Great ideas to mix in the resistance and insanity, that should keep the body guessing for sure.
 
Dump the cardio and build some muscle. This will allow you to burn more fat throughout the day.


I would suggest 1700-1900 calories/day. Have 1 cheat day/week and eat 2500-2800 calories.


Eat lots of vegetables & protein to ensure you feel full between meals. Drink lots of water/tea.
 
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