Is my caloric intake too low?

A

ahammad

New member
I just wanted an opinion on this. I'm a 24 year old male, 224lbs, 5'10". I want to hit 195lbs so I went on a diet and I exercise 5 times a week. I also use fitday.com to keep a food log.

My concern is that I am not eating enough. For example, yesterday, I had a total intake of 1751 calories. Seems good, right? But, that does not take into account the exercise that I have done. I used the elliptical for a total of 30 minutes, burning a total of 620 calories (according to the machine, so it may not be the most accurate number). That puts me at a caloric intake of 1131, which strikes me as a little low.

This will end up doing more harm than good, right? If that is the case, what would you recommend I do to balance it out more?
 
I worked out this for your weight/height/sex/exercise amount:

Maintenance:
2946 Calories/day
Fat Loss:
2357 Calories/day
Extreme Fat Loss:
1792 Calories/day

Of course, this in an estimate. I'd be aiming for 2000 a day at least on days that you exercise. If you're working out plenty maybe look at adding extra lean protein or a protein shake to boost you calories? It's not going to do any good if you're eating junk food just to get up to the calories you need to be at. It wont hurt you to be under a few times a week but if you consistently under-eat it will do you damage.

Hang around and get some more opinions, as I'm not sure I'm right! Just my opinion based on the details you have given. :)
 
I would not worry because you are well above the recommended daily minimum of 1500 calories for men. The more exercise you do the more fat you'll burn! No need to increase your calories as long as you don't get any symptoms like fatigue etc. That's my opinion.
 
TikTak, where did you get 1500 from? From research I've done the minimum men should eat is 1800..

The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) recommends that calorie levels never drop below 1200 calories per day for women or 1800 calories per day for men.
 
Is everyone talking about net calories, or consumed calories?

I consume about 2200 calories/ day when I am in the dieting zone, but burn several hundred (usually about 800) so my net for the day is around 1400.

There were times when I was early in the diet, where I was burning around 1300 calories, and consuming about 1800... so a net of 500. It worked, I was not unhealthy, and I lost plenty of weight.

If ahammad wanted to lose 2 pounds/ week, he would need a daily deficit of 1000 calories. So if he was burning 2200, he would need to only net 1200. 2 pounds/ week is healthy rate.
 
Sunflower said:
TikTak, where did you get 1500 from? From research I've done the minimum men should eat is 1800..

The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) recommends that calorie levels never drop below 1200 calories per day for women or 1800 calories per day for men.
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1500 kcal is the number I have found on different sites, they don't say anything about who has recommended it though...
 
Hey ahammad, do you know how many calories per day you were eating before you 'went on a diet'? Aside from BMR, and daily calorie intake, etc., if you create a caloric deficit relative to what you were eating before you went on a diet, you should start to see weight loss. Stick with that for a while, then if you start to plateau, either drop your daily calories by 100-200 cals less per day, exercise more, or both.
 
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Thanks for the input.

What I was concerned about is the minimum intake of 1500-1800 for men. I consume that much so I should be fine, BUT I exercise as well, which puts me at a net of something closer to 1100.

The minimum recommended calorie intake is the confusing part. Is it intake, or net? So Let's say I eat 1800 calories a day, but then I exercise for 1600 calories (I've done that before). This puts me at a net of 200 calories, which is way below the 1500-1800 minimum. Presumably, the 1600 that I burn comes from existing stored energy in forms of sugars/fats, so it wouldn't interfere with whatever I had that day? I'm not sure how that works...
 
I'd suggest aiming for 2000. You would be fine going to 2200 some days or 1800 others but I personally feel hungry if I eat less than 2200. I'm 6'0"/184.
 
I would not worry about the net calories. The lower the net is the more fat you'll burn. I would not use the term net calories because exercise is not lowering the caloric intake it raises the caloric output.
 
TikTak said:
I would not worry about the net calories. The lower the net is the more fat you'll burn. I would not use the term net calories because exercise is not lowering the caloric intake it raises the caloric output.
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I would be slightly cautious with doing this TikTak. I think there are different ways of looking at things, but "net" calories/ day is a great way to eat healthy, and maintain weight, including weight-loss. Before you pick up that last ice-cream bar, you have to think... "am I willing to walk for 45 minutes to eat this?"..., and sometimes you may be. Some people (like myslef), are willing to run a little longer knowing that I can have another couple hundred calories at the end of the day. I have been losing weight in a healthy/ steady way for the last several months, using 'net' calories. Some days, I intake 3000+ calories (family bbq's etc.) but burn 1800, my net for the day is 1200. I still lose at the end of the week.

As long as it all boils down to calories in vs. calories out, anyway you chose to manipulate the equation will generally result in weight loss. :)
 
I think that the 'minimum' of 1500-1800 is for nutrition. I.e. if you're eating less than that, there's a good chance you're missing out on important vitamins, minerals, essential fatty acids, etc.

But when you calculate calories burned, it looks like you're only looking at 'through exercise' normally you look at calories eaten - ( BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate I think) + exercise) and shoot for around -500 to -1000. That ends up with 1 to 2 lbs a week lost. Bigger deficit to lose faster. The 'net' number isn't the minimum here since you actually need a negative number to lose weight.

Hopefully I explained that in a way that made sense ;)
 
Melancholy said:
I would be slightly cautious with doing this TikTak. I think there are different ways of looking at things, but "net" calories/ day is a great way to eat healthy, and maintain weight, including weight-loss. Before you pick up that last ice-cream bar, you have to think... "am I willing to walk for 45 minutes to eat this?"..., and sometimes you may be. Some people (like myslef), are willing to run a little longer knowing that I can have another couple hundred calories at the end of the day. I have been losing weight in a healthy/ steady way for the last several months, using 'net' calories. Some days, I intake 3000+ calories (family bbq's etc.) but burn 1800, my net for the day is 1200. I still lose at the end of the week.

As long as it all boils down to calories in vs. calories out, anyway you chose to manipulate the equation will generally result in weight loss. :)
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Could you explain what exercise you are doing which burns 1800 calories? Thanks
 
CODPLAYER said:
Could you explain what exercise you are doing which burns 1800 calories? Thanks
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Please understand, that was ONE day that I burned that. I usually "go big" one day/ week with my exercise, to burn that many calories, and really get myself tired.

Morning: Take my dogs for a 45 minute walk @ about 3.7mph - 5.5 calories/ minute. Total, about 200 calories.

Afternoon: 8.5 mile run, average speed 6.5mph. Heart Rate Monitor (HRM) burns about 1250 calories

Evening: 3.5 mile walk w/ wife, VERY brisk pace, almost jogging: 6.0 calories/ minute: ~300 calories.

Total of 1750 calories, for the whole day.. this is a weekend day only, obviously not a weekday w/ work schedule
 
Hey ahammad, it looks like the ACSM minimum of 1800 cals per day (for males) recommendation is based on total calories eaten, not net calories. Keep in mind that this is a very low number, and ACSM recommends staying above that.

The idea is to create a deficit of 500-1000 calories per day below your 'maintenance' level through exercise and diet. Sunflower figured out your maintenance level to be just under 3000 cals per day. So on the extreme end, being 1000 cals per day deficit, if you burn 600 cals per day (I think the elliptical may be overestimating though) and take in no more than 2600 cals per day, theoretically, you should lose weight. This should put you around a 2000 cal per day net intake, which helps to minimize the risk of muscle loss and messing with your metabolism.

Keep in mind that your 'maintenance' level will change as your weight changes. Also, if you're not losing weight taking in 2600 calories, reduce your net calories by 200 or so every few weeks until you do start to see weight loss.
 
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