How many calories a day to lose fat and keep muscle?

bloomblythe5

Hi all,

I’m just wondering how many calories I should be eating a day if I want to lose fat and either keep building or at least maintain muscle. I’m 5’3 and 175, I was at 200 and I lost all that weight from severely undereating and now I’ve been at a plateau since October. 2 months ago I started getting into lifting weights so I do that at the gym at least 3 days a week and I also do fairly rigorous dance 12+ hours a week. Lately I’ve been just being nice to my body and just eating until I’m full or satisfied and I haven’t gained weight I’ve just been maintains my weight, I’d say I eat probably around 2500 calories a day typically. I’m worried about cutting it too low again and just reversing any progress. How low should I cut?

Thanks

gardengirllifts

I would say the biggest thing to focus on, for your goals listed, is macros. Yes, a calorie is a calorie when it comes to weight loss. But if you are concerned at all about body composition, as you say (and rightly so), then the breakdown is important. Protein allows you to build/preserve muscle, adequate carbs help you slam your workouts and daily living without catabolizing too much , and adequate fats keep your body systems running smoothly (think great hair, skin tone, and mental concentration). So if you're worried about undereating/getting too aggressive with only calorie counting (been there!!), the macros is where I'd start. Counting macros naturally keeps track of calories anyway. There's some formulas out there that can be a good start, and then just play with it to see what makes you feel best. I find that when I'm hitting a plateau, generally my protein could be higher. If I feel hungry all the time even after hitting my calories, usually I need more fats in the breakdown. Hope that helps! You're on a great track. Keep it up!

sardelsa

Are you accurately logging and weighing your food? If you are currently maintaining, cut down about 250 cals from that and go from there. I would not go beyond 1lb per week loss which should be fine considering your stats, but in your case I would probably start with a smaller deficit especially if you were undereating in the past. If this is something that continues it might be helpful to talk to someone.

In order to retain muscle while you lose, make sure you are following a proper progressive lifting program, getting adequate protein (0.8-1g per lb goal weight or lean body mass if you know it), a not too steep deficit as mentioned, and make sure you are resting since you are doing a lot of cardio it can impact your lifting progress and recovery, so keep that in mind.