i think i'm doing something very wrong? (cutting calories)

[elloca]

Hello everyone,

Firstly i applogize for my bad english

i'm (170cm) 5'7 - (67 kg) 147 pound male, i did some measurement when i entered the gym and it was that i have almost (9 kg) 20 pound of extra fat :confused4: and i need to gain (3.6 kg) 8 pounds of muscles.

so i cut my daily calorie intake to 1200 cals and i workout for 20 mins treadmill and 10 mins elliptical then i do some light lifting. I want to burn fat rapidly thats why i'm counting my cals, and i think it's too low for my daily activities, plus i dont have enough protein in my diet. So i'm thinking to keep it the same but to add protein shake to my diet to give me more cals and protein.

Any advices?


thanks

 

[Goldfish]

Yeah, that's probably too few calories. Most people, once they start doing some worthwhile training, will need 2,000kcal/day, even when focusing on fat loss.

You should reverse your priorities and thinking about training. 30min cardio followed by light resistance training won't stop you from losing fat, but it's a very inefficient way to go about it. Instead, start each session with resistance training, and use the light weights only for warming up. The most important thing for fat loss, training-wise, is to focus on trying to become stronger, because once you enter a calorie deficit (which is required to lose any bodyweight at all), your body will start getting rid of whatever it doesn't need. You don't need much muscle to lift light weights, so unless you do something more demanding, you'll lose a fair amount of muscle mass. Make your body need as much muscle mass as possible, and the weight that you lose will have to come from something else, specifically, from fat.

As far as protein goes, meat, eggs and milk are more important in the diet than protein shakes. If you're currently only eating 1200kcal/day, then I know you're not getting much meat, eggs and dairy, so increase those first. Protein shakes are more for convenience than necessity.