I have had some success but now struggling should I up my calories?

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TrueAsGod
TrueAsGod Posts: 15 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
So I am about 4 weeks into calorie counting and I have had some success but it has been really rough. I started off at 1200 calories and felt like I was going to die so I upped my calories to 1500 and did well for like a week. Everyday is becoming harder so I was thinking about going up to 1700 but I'm not sure if this is the right thing to do.

Also I am male 5'6 and 300+ pounds so I can't give up

Replies

  • christinegarriock
    christinegarriock Posts: 2 Member
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    Hey there, I would definitely try it on 1700 cals and maybe some light workout - walking or swimming are always the best and easiest ones to start off with ☺
  • thehardsoftrock
    thehardsoftrock Posts: 1 Member
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    Hey , I may not be the best person to help u. But I am in a similar position as you. I am 5,6 and I am 350 pounds. I have recently lost some weight. I feel that diet is all about what u eat and how u exercise . I started on a low carbohydrates diet at roughly 100 carbohydrates max per day . It may sound harsh but what this diet gives is that it allows u to eat loads of meat and veggie in 1 day so much that probably u will be full at 1k calories . Not only that as ur body get used to it u will get better at managing hunger and eat lesser over time. Lesser food means lesser exercise needed. Start off the exercise really really slow but just try to stay active everyday and build up over time at ur own pace . Doing this u won't have to push urself to exercise 1.2k calories per day and feel full and still lose weight slowly ! But be strict with the carbohydrates.
  • GeeLosingit
    GeeLosingit Posts: 9 Member
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    Hey! As a male you have 2500cals a day so by having a deficiency of 800cals a day so you'd still definitely be losing! Good luck & listen to your body
  • TrueAsGod
    TrueAsGod Posts: 15 Member
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    I really appreciate you all replying to me, thank you.
  • amara_84
    amara_84 Posts: 18 Member
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    My husband had the same problem. Stay low on carbs high on protien. Since you're a guy you really need 1700-2000 calories a day or you'll go into starvation mode and not loose a thing. Slowly ease back. Do light cardio or something you feel comfortable with to boost metabolism. Good luck!!
  • zyxst
    zyxst Posts: 9,136 Member
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    What does MFP give you for losing 1# a week?
  • TrueAsGod
    TrueAsGod Posts: 15 Member
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    I highly urge you to set up MFP and use the calories calculated for you.

    Ok so I let MFP do the calculation for me and it gave me 1760 calories per day. This would have been higher if I were active but I don't do much exercise because of pain. As I lose more weight I will increase my exercise but atm all I can handle a light kettle bell routine and about 20 minutes of walking before my back and knees go tight. So I guess it wasn't far off what I was thinking anyways, thank you for the advice.
  • AFWXDUDE
    AFWXDUDE Posts: 53 Member
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    im 5'10 and 200 lbs. At my weight, I eat 2100 cals a day and lose about 1.5 lbs a week. I would highly recommend uping your cals to around 2k. With your weight, your body will naturally burn a bit more as moving in general is somewhat of a workout on your body. Definitely would not go below 1500 though or you will be starving your body. If you add in walking or exercise in general, this will provide more cals to eat. typically you can eat back about half your exercise cals.
  • CattOfTheGarage
    CattOfTheGarage Posts: 2,750 Member
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    How much did you set it to lose per week? At your weight you can get away with losing 2lb per week but best not to try and lose any more than that.

    Good luck!
  • TrueAsGod
    TrueAsGod Posts: 15 Member
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    CattOfTheGarage wrote: »
    How much did you set it to lose per week? At your weight you can get away with losing 2lb per week but best not to try and lose any more than that.

    Good luck!

    I set it to 2lb yes
  • lemonychild
    lemonychild Posts: 654 Member
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    It's absolutely insane to eat that little u should be at least at 1800 and pushing 2000 unless ure dead sedentary
  • CattOfTheGarage
    CattOfTheGarage Posts: 2,750 Member
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    lemonychild wrote: »
    It's absolutely insane to eat that little u should be at least at 1800 and pushing 2000 unless ure dead sedentary

    That depends if he is quoting total calories, or if he's talking about net calories and adding exercise on top of that.

    OP, are you logging exercise and eating the extra calories? If you're using the default myfitnesspal method, that's an important piece of the puzzle.
  • TrueAsGod
    TrueAsGod Posts: 15 Member
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    CattOfTheGarage wrote: »
    lemonychild wrote: »
    It's absolutely insane to eat that little u should be at least at 1800 and pushing 2000 unless ure dead sedentary

    That depends if he is quoting total calories, or if he's talking about net calories and adding exercise on top of that.

    OP, are you logging exercise and eating the extra calories? If you're using the default myfitnesspal method, that's an important piece of the puzzle.

    At present I am not logging exercise because I am doing so little because of pain. most of the day I am just sitting but I have started doing a light full body kettle bell routine every day. But honestly for me just being alive is exercise as bad as it sounds.

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