How many calories to eat.

coltonweisbrod

Hey everybody!
To begin with, I'm a 6"4 male. I weight 215 and workout just about daily extremely hard. With a rest day one a week if I feel it's necessary which I usually don't. I'm a division 1 athlete and play basketball. With all of that said, I've had a lot of trouble figuring out how much to eat. Every time I use a formula or calculator online I get in the high 3,000's with exercise added in. But I'm just tried to drop some body fat. Could anyone help me get a solid estimate of how much I should be consuming. Carbs are also a question point for me. I been trying around 225g.

shadow2soul

Why not just set up your profile here on MFP and use the calorie goal it gives you? Then after about a month you can adjust the goal up or down as needed based on your results during that time period.

stevesample76

Your macros may be just as important as your calorie goal. If you are wanting to drop body fat I would go with a 40P/40C/20F. Your calorie goal sounds about right with your high level of activity. Have you been tracking? Do you know how many calories a day you are currently consuming?

coltonweisbrod

Yes I originally figured I would start around 3300 and go from there and reduce if I needed too. But I talked myself out of it cause I'm stubborn about trying to get rid of the fat that I have so I'm eating about 2800 but it's only been a few days on that. I was originally eating way under that due to bad advice and I believe that my body was pretty much holding on to the calories it was getting which caused me to retain all my weight. My split is about 40/40/20. Upping my carbs maybe around 50g on days that I combine chest and back in the gym

coltonweisbrod

stevesample76 wrote: »

Your macros may be just as important as your calorie goal. If you are wanting to drop body fat I would go with a 40P/40C/20F. Your calorie goal sounds about right with your high level of activity. Have you been tracking? Do you know how many calories a day you are currently consuming?

But yes I agree macros are definitely important and I have no problem hitting those. The only problem is Ive struggled with where exactly my calorie limit should be. I actually managed to eat 1700-1800 for about two weeks. Which is ridiculously low. So I can handle calories, just want to be getting the right amount in for me to be loosing weight a good pace and keeping my muscle

Northernlight03

Hope you figure it all out!

stevesample76

If your set at 2800 now I would stay there for a week or two and see how your body reacts. If you were eating much lower than that prior to setting it there you may see a little weight gain. If you dont see any change I would up it 100-200 calories a week. It seems crazy but a lot of times eating more will break the plateau and get you burning fat again.

coltonweisbrod

stevesample76 wrote: »

If your set at 2800 now I would stay there for a week or two and see how your body reacts. If you were eating much lower than that prior to setting it there you may see a little weight gain. If you dont see any change I would up it 100-200 calories a week. It seems crazy but a lot of times eating more will break the plateau and get you burning fat again.

Yes! I had a big cheat meal Sunday which is usual. Then upped my calories from 1800 to 2800. I went from about to 212 Sunday and woke up today and weighed 217. I was surprised. But that does make sense.

MakePeasNotWar

2800 should give you a pretty big deficit. At 40 years old, 5'9", 140 and female, I lose at 2500 calories a day when I'm training hard for a tournament. With your stats and activity level you should be able to lose easily at 2800.