Drastic Calorie Deficit

_Not270

Hey everyone I’m pretty new to weight management but I recently snapped and started eating a lot less. I used to eat very large amounts of food, I could easily eat 7 regular sized meals a day. I am 6’2 and an 18 year old male at 270. For the last 3-4 days I’ve been eating less than 1500 calories a day. I play football, and I lift weights every day during the week vigorously for an hour and a half. I am worried about muscle loss but I’m tired of being fat. What’s gonna happen if I keep on.

JBanx256

What is going to happen?

Short term: You are going to lose lean tissue (muscle), your performance is going to absolutely tank, and you're going to feel like hammered dog poo.

Longer term: Your heart health will suffer, your hormones will be in the gutter (as an 18-year old male I'm pretty sure you aren't too wild about the prospect of ED?), and you'll suffer other ill effects of malnutrition.

Sounds great, huh?

Instead, why not go into a sensible calorie deficit, keeping your protein at decent levels, which will allow you to lose weight while maintaining (if not improving) your performance? I'm a 5'5" female on a cut and eating more calories than you.

sijomial

You will be fine.
But only for a very short period of time.....

Then you will start to feel tired, exercise performance will tank, recovery will be poor, you might feel cold, you might well down regulate your daily activity as your body will try to conserve energy, nagging hunger.

Three primary factors to losing weight while retaining muscle:
Strength training (which you are doing but if you starve yourself your performance and results will suffer badly).
High protein intake (which is really hard and restrictive on a very small diet).
Moderate calorie deficit (which you absolutely are not doing).

Take it much slower, try to make the process as easy as possible not as hard as possible, have a weight maintenance plan, you may well want to plan some diet breaks/maintenance periods during your weight loss. Think of ways to fit your social life into your diet plan. Try to learn some lessons and skills during your weight loss that will help you maintain at goal weight long term.

Don't rely on motivation alone as that will wane (especially if you make it hateful), "tired of being fat" will probably get replaced with "tired of dieting". Have a proper think and make a plan, an emotional reaction can get you started but won't sustain you for a long duration.

You have identified the cause of you getting fat but don't swing to the opposite extreme, the middle ground is where you need to find.

snowflake954

The above advice is all good--follow it. I would suggest that if you were eating 7 regular size meals a day, why not cut back to 5 for a month and then 4 the following month? You need a reasonable deficit and to keep active. You want to lose fat--not muscle.

The above posters are very experienced. If asked they will walk you through a good program. I wish you luck, and good on you for posting. It means that you know you're doing something wrong.

ChickenKillerPuppy

Agree with all the posts above! Just work on eating less than you currently are - there is no finish line - you don't "win" by losing weight quickly, you win by keeping the weight off, which involves slower changes that are sustainable for you. Love the advice of Snowflake954 above - do what you are doing but go from 7 meals to 6, then after a month maybe go from 6 to 5.

To give you perspective as JBanx256 did, I am a 49 year old woman, I'm 5'4", and I weigh 122 pounds. I literally can lose weight eating 1700-1800 calories a day, and I maintain my weight eating around 2000-2100 calories a day. You are eating less than I am!

KarmaKamen

Find a calorie goal that is sustainable to you. If you're too restrictive, it will be easier to fall back into over eating habits (or binging). It's not just about the total amount of calories you're eating. It's what you're eating, too. Would you like to replace fat with muscle? Increasing your protein and weight training might be a good place to start? Protein can also help some people feel fuller, too. I'm new to weight loss, so I don't know very much yet, but others might be able to point you in the right direction if you ask for help with your specific goals.