Calories for weightloss
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littlelawson83
Posts: 46
Hi guys, for those of you on here who want to lose weight/fat doing crossfit I am keen to know how many calories you take in on 1) WOD days and 2) on rest days? I crossfit usually 4 times a week (working up to 5!) with the aim to lose weight (but atm I'm not). I'm eating to my TDEE -20% and just curious about what you guys do as I could do with guidance. Thanks 
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I have the same question. I just started Crossfit and am in the on ramp stage. Looking to loose weight AND get strong...about 30 pounds to lose. Been eating 1500 on rest days and 1800 on workout days. In put please!!!0
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Glad it's not just me in the dark then. Yep, I would love to lose 30lbs but would be happy with 20.0
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I've been CF'ing since late January (started 2-3x/week and now at 4-5x/week) and eat TDEE-20% every day. I've lost about 30# and 3 clothing sizes since I started CF. I still have a LOT to lose but this is working well for me.0
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I eat my TDEE minus 10% every day, whether it's a rest day or not. I CF 5 times a week, so for me, that's about 2500 cals/day. I've been doing this for about 2 weeks (did 1.5 weeks at 2100 since I was only going 3x/week). I've lost a clothing size in a month and a ton of inches. Scale weight is not my friend, but I (FINALLY!) couldn't care less.
And this calculator is a good one to see where you should be! http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/
Also check out the Eat More to Weigh Less group here on MFP. Ton of really good info there!0 -
I don't make any changes to my total calories on rest days vs. days I do CrossFit. Since the workouts are short in duration, there is no concern that I am going to "bonk" which happens my your body is depleted of glycogen. To exhaust glycogen, I personally find that it takes about 90-120 minutes of heavy cardio. I even do CrossFit in a fasted state on most mornings.
The only thing that I change is making sure I dose up on protein immediately after the WOD.0 -
Glad it's not just me in the dark then. Yep, I would love to lose 30lbs but would be happy with 20.
I think you have the right approach. As long as you aren't ravenously hungry and your energy level in your workouts is high stick with what you are doing. If either of those begins to go you should eat a bit more/get more rest and keep tweaking it as needed.
I have about 50 lbs to go and want to lose the fat slow and steady and keep what muscle I have, maybe add some.
I'm about 295 and 30% BF right now. If I can get to 15% and maintain my lean body mass I'd be about 245. That is the goal right now and I will re-assess when I get there.0 -
Thanks everyone :flowerforyou:0
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I did six months at -20% and maintained, coach said I wasn't eating right (not enough, not right food, too often) then switched to -15% but cleaner with a keener focus on Paleo and finally started losing again, losing 15lbs since April first after no real loss in the prior year ( I'm on a long journey it would seem!)0
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One of the coaches at my box suggested eating paleo or going zone but not counting calories. He suggests that the hormonal changes of those food choices paired with the natural portion control of not eating carbs etc will lead to weight loss. His theory is not to complicate it with calorie counting. Not sure how I feel about that....0
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Just eating Paleo tends to be a drastic calorie cut for most people. It is difficult to eat the same level of calories as on a SAD when you eliminate grains.0
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One of the coaches at my box suggested eating paleo or going zone but not counting calories. He suggests that the hormonal changes of those food choices paired with the natural portion control of not eating carbs etc will lead to weight loss. His theory is not to complicate it with calorie counting. Not sure how I feel about that....
That would work with Zone (because the blocks basically ARE calorie counting), but would never work for me with paleo. I have to be really careful to eat enough when I'm eating paleo, I get full a lot faster on less calories.0 -
^I tend to keep eating beans when I go Paleo. I find I need the caloric load from them unless I'm very diligent.0
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I normally have a 200/300cal deficit Personally i think its most important to it the right stuff to the right times! I focus on my protein intake and eat low-carb.
Real food is better to digest from your system, i get the feeling i could eat the same amount of cals from healthy food then from unhealthy and still would lose some fat, but don't know if thats true.
good luck, it takes ages in the beginning! x0 -
For me it's not so much about the amount of calories, but the quality of the calories. I do much better eating my calories, than drinking 1200 calories in wine and eating 400 calories in nuts :laugh:0
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One of the coaches at my box suggested eating paleo or going zone but not counting calories. He suggests that the hormonal changes of those food choices paired with the natural portion control of not eating carbs etc will lead to weight loss. His theory is not to complicate it with calorie counting. Not sure how I feel about that....
That would work with Zone (because the blocks basically ARE calorie counting), but would never work for me with paleo. I have to be really careful to eat enough when I'm eating paleo, I get full a lot faster on less calories.
I agree with this, I think the principle is great but combined with common sense? Paleo without cal counting lasted about 2 weeks for me, I got over the "illness" of converting and realised I was too nervous and does counting cals actually harm anyone!?0 -
I agree as well. It's very easy to not eat enough on Paleo because eating lots of greens and meats fills you up more quickly and for longer periods than grains do.
I was actually getting headaches and realized I just wasn't eating enough. Added in some beans and the problem was solved. I've cut down on the beans a bit now that I've adjusted but I think they will always be in the mix for me.0 -
I currently eat between 1600-1800 and for the last couple weeks I haven't lost any weight nor have I lost any inches. I read a previous post and thinking maybe to add cardio some days, maybe run a couple miles, nothing too serious just to get that cardio up and see. I don't feel hungry the way I eat now, and I try to make sure I get high protein food....0
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I currently eat between 1600-1800 and for the last couple weeks I haven't lost any weight nor have I lost any inches. I read a previous post and thinking maybe to add cardio some days, maybe run a couple miles, nothing too serious just to get that cardio up and see. I don't feel hungry the way I eat now, and I try to make sure I get high protein food....
MIght be that you've found your maintenance amount for the moment.0 -
I've been doing CrossFit for about a year. I've only lost between 5 and 10 lbs over that year, but my body looks a lot different. I have dropped 1-2 sizes....Womens 10 to an 8/6 and my weight is higher than you would think. If your body tends to build muscle fast, the scale won't show for a long time, but you'll start seeing it in your clothes after a month or two.
There is a website/Facebook page called Eat to Perform. It's good information geared towards a paleo (like) diet and CrossFit. Their philosophy is to add more clean carbs into your diet versus strict paleo. Our box did something similar last year and most people were successful. It was paleo plus a single clean 'starchy' carb a night. So, you could have rice or whatever once a day. I had the carb 2-3 times a week and it worked well.
Best of luck!0
