How many calories to loose weight and tone up

kingabs1980

Hello

So I have started my weight loss journey and have made some good progress so far.

I have now plateaued

My current stats are:

Height: 5'9
Weight: 195lbs
Age: 41
Male

What I am asking is how many calories do I need to get a little leaner and lose body fat.


I have now started the following exercise regime as of this week.

I walk for 50 mins each day and weight train x 3 per week.

I have now increased my protein to around 135-145g per day.


I would love to hit 168lbs within 4months.


Any help and advice would be appreciated.

Lietchi

When you alk about a plateau, how long has it been?
And how many calories are you eating currently?

If the plateau started at the same time as your new exercise regime, water retention in your muscles could explain the stalled weight loss.

kingabs1980

Lietchi wrote: »

When you alk about a plateau, how long has it been?
And how many calories are you eating currently?

If the plateau started at the same time as your new exercise regime, water retention in your muscles could explain the stalled weight loss.

So currently I am consuming around 1900-2000 per day.

I started to cut calories around 4 months ago when I was around 220lbs, I did some walking etc etc.

so I know it's not always about weight going down on the scale but sure would be nice to start seeing it move again lol

I have been at a plateau for around 4 weeks, hence the uptake in protein and weight lifting.

spiriteagle99

Are you weighing and logging everything you eat? The only way to lose weight is to consistently eat fewer calories than you burn. How many calories did MFP say you should eat to lose 1 lb. a week? Aim for that. One pound a week won't get you to 168 in 4 months, but it will give you a good start and is sustainable over the longer term. If you want to lose faster, try for 1.5 lbs. a week. With only 30 lbs. to lose, you shouldn't go for a much faster rate than that. Too big a cut tends to make people binge more or even give up entirely.

The exercise is good for your health, but isn't likely to burn a lot of calories, unless you are walking very briskly. Keep it up though, as it is very good for your health and every little bit of extra calorie burn can help.

kshama2001

kingabs1980 wrote: »

Lietchi wrote: »

When you alk about a plateau, how long has it been?
And how many calories are you eating currently?

If the plateau started at the same time as your new exercise regime, water retention in your muscles could explain the stalled weight loss.

So currently I am consuming around 1900-2000 per day.

I started to cut calories around 4 months ago when I was around 220lbs, I did some walking etc etc.

so I know it's not always about weight going down on the scale but sure would be nice to start seeing it move again lol

I have been at a plateau for around 4 weeks, hence the uptake in protein and weight lifting.

You could be retaining some water from the weight lifting, which will mask fat loss on the scale. I myself GAINED seven pounds when I started weight lifting. It all came off and kept going doing after a few weeks.

Deviette

Congrats on your weight loss so far!

Not wishing to pour water on your ambitions, but I would like to mention that as you lose weight, the rate of weight loss will slow down, so it might be wise to manage your expectations. With your current weigh loss you're averaging around 1.5lbs a week, which is quite fast, but fine when you have a lot to lose, but you're probably getting to a point when it's becoming unsustainable. Moving down to 1lb a week will mean you get to your goal in around 6 months, but you'll probably find it a somewhat more pleasant journey.

Questions:
Do you log everything, food and drink?
Do you use a foodscale for everything, or do you use cups etc?
Have you updated your calorie goal since losing some weight?
Are you eating back exercise calories, and if yes how is that calculated?

As has been mentioned, starting an exercise routine can seriously mess with your scale weight. I can recommend getting the tape measure out, if you've not done so previously, so that you can get a different measure of if weight loss is progressing.

And have you at any point engaged in a diet break? This is when you eat at your body's current maintenance calories for a period of time (often a week but some people do longer). Often people find a diet break helpful when they're plateauing as it gives them a mental break from the weight loss process. It also give your body a chance to rest and people do often lose weight on their diet break week, even eating at maintenance (theory is that stress causes water retention and diet breaks reduces the physical stress your body experiences from weight loss)

Jthanmyfitnesspal

Well, you and I are the same height and I've been at that weight. My NEAT (base calorie burn without workouts) is about 2000kcals. Yours will be a little higher, because you're a bit heavier and younger. MFPs estimate is a good place to start, but everybody is also a little different, so the final answer is given by your weight trend.

Weight loss requires patience. In 4 months, you could possibly lose 32lbs, but that would require close to a 50% mean calorie deficit, which is very extreme. More reasonable would be a 25% deficit, ~500kcals per day, which would lead to a 1lb/week loss (16lbs in 4 months). I've done that for months at a time and it is what I recommend to you. Note that losing 16/195lbs is highly significant-- you'll probably need all new clothing!

Remember, once you lose the weight (a long slow process), you will want to maintain your new lower weight (requiring diligence for the rest of your life). I say this to help you see that there is little reason to rush the process.

sijomial

I'm also 5'9" and started at 198lbs.

I lost the first 23lbs at 1lb / week to get to my initial target goal weight.
Lost the next 7lbs over a very extended period of time to fine tune my final weight range.

Not much point telling you my calorie intake as I don't know your activity level (mine was lightly active, desk job but lots of daily movement too), my exercise burns would have been a lot higher than yours too as your routine is pretty low in terms of calorie expenditure (I ate all my exercise calories back).

But what I can say is that I did find that MFP's estimate was pretty reasonable, lost a little slower than predicted at first due to slightly sloppy (but consistent) food logging and slightly inflated exercise counts but a simple adjustment taking 1000cals off a week fixed that.


My questions to you would be:
How long is this plateau?
How good is your logging?
(Making your diary public helps enormously with problem solving.)

Would also suggest that after changing your exercise routine by adding weight training you need to wait a period of weeks to let the potential water weight effects even out.

Jthanmyfitnesspal

Let me add that when @sijomial says that his "exercise burns are a lot higher than yours," he's referring to his cycling workouts. I do these, too, and you really can burn a lot of calories that way.

But, you don't have to do big workouts to lose weight. All you need to do is eat at a consistent net deficit, accounting for whatever workouts you do and your base burn (NEAT). If you do a big workout, you get to compensate, but you also have to be very careful not to overcompensate. (And big workouts can make you very hungry!)

Best of luck!