How many Calories should I eat?

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DavidG789
DavidG789 Posts: 28 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I'm a 21 year old male who is about 183cm tall and weights about 106kg, my goal weight is eventually to hit 75kg but for now I want to reach below 100kg. I work as a line cook five times a week and also study I am on my feet a decent amount of time moving around but apart from that I don't really do any exercise. Any advice as to what I should be aiming for a guy my age to drop weight a healthy speed?

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  • galgenstrick
    galgenstrick Posts: 2,086 Member
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    I would start with 2900 calories per day. Eat ~200 grams of protein per day. start a resistance training program 3-5x per week. weigh all your solid food and log it to make sure your calories are in check. Weigh yourself every morning after going to the bathroom and keep a log of your progress. after 2-3 weeks you should see decent progress. If not, you'll need to either up your activity / add cardio or lower your calories by a couple hundred. Aim for 1-1.5lbs a week weight loss.
  • erinc5
    erinc5 Posts: 329 Member
    edited January 2016
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    MFP will tell you if you input your settings into the goals page.

    I also really like this calculator: http://scoobysworkshop.com/accurate-calorie-calculator/

    Scooby's is telling me that you should eat around 2314 for a 20% calorie deficit based on a "lightly active" lifestyle. 2020 calories for a sedentary lifestyle. Use those numbers as a base for a few weeks and adjust if you are losing too slow or too fast. You can also play around with the MFP setting or the calculator yourself in order to get a good goal if you think you are more active.
  • AJ_G
    AJ_G Posts: 4,158 Member
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    galgenstrick wrote: »
    I would start with 2900 calories per day. Eat ~200 grams of protein per day. start a resistance training program 3-5x per week. weigh all your solid food and log it to make sure your calories are in check. Weigh yourself every morning after going to the bathroom and keep a log of your progress. after 2-3 weeks you should see decent progress. If not, you'll need to either up your activity / add cardio or lower your calories by a couple hundred. Aim for 1-1.5lbs a week weight loss.

    2900 calories per day is extremely high for weight loss. I plugged his info into a TDEE calculator and it came out with 2800 calories to maintain his weight. To lose weight he'd need to eat around 2200-2500 calories.
  • galgenstrick
    galgenstrick Posts: 2,086 Member
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    AJ_G wrote: »
    galgenstrick wrote: »
    I would start with 2900 calories per day. Eat ~200 grams of protein per day. start a resistance training program 3-5x per week. weigh all your solid food and log it to make sure your calories are in check. Weigh yourself every morning after going to the bathroom and keep a log of your progress. after 2-3 weeks you should see decent progress. If not, you'll need to either up your activity / add cardio or lower your calories by a couple hundred. Aim for 1-1.5lbs a week weight loss.

    2900 calories per day is extremely high for weight loss. I plugged his info into a TDEE calculator and it came out with 2800 calories to maintain his weight. To lose weight he'd need to eat around 2200-2500 calories.

    That's assuming he's not very active. If he is on his feet as much as he says and starts a resistance training program 3-5x a week then 2900 is really not that high... For example, I'm the same height as him, weigh 30kg less than him, and am also sedentary besides my 5x a week resistance training and eat 2200 calories to lose ~1lb per week.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,867 Member
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    this calculator will calculate all of that for you OP...that's what this calculator does...it calculates your calorie targets.
  • erinc5
    erinc5 Posts: 329 Member
    edited January 2016
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    galgenstrick wrote: »

    If he ... starts a resistance training program 3-5x a week then 2900 is really not that high...

    Why would you assume that he is gonna start working out? He said in the OP that he doesn't work out. Most likely, somewhere between 2000 - 2300 is more accurate for him.

    He can figure it out by going to the "goals" page here on MFP
  • galgenstrick
    galgenstrick Posts: 2,086 Member
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    erinc5 wrote: »
    galgenstrick wrote: »

    If he ... starts a resistance training program 3-5x a week then 2900 is really not that high...

    Why would you assume that he is gonna start working out? He said in the OP that he doesn't work out. Most likely, somewhere between 2000 - 2300 is more accurate for him.

    He can figure it out by going to the "goals" page here on MFP

    I didn't assume he would start working out, but I told him what I would do if I were him, which is start at 2900 calories and start a resistance training program. There are several reasons everyone should work out when starting a weight loss program, they go hand in hand, and if he doesn't he is going to be sorely disappointed when he hits 75kg if he cares at all about what he looks like, which most people do.

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