Big men: how do you stay under target?

stevenleagle

I have been on this weight loss journey through mfp for over 140 days now and have lost between 11 and 12kg so far.

I set my goal as a 1.5 pound a week loss but have NOT reduced my calories as I have lost weight. Therefore I am effectively now on a 1 pound a week loss. My theory is that slow and steady is working for me.

However I am getting a little bit frustrated lately as I have noticed my weight loss slowing down considerably. I cannot say I have reached a plateau as I am still losing. But it is very slow. And I still have over 15kgs to lose!

So I put in 1.5 pounds in and now the system says I should be eating less than 1300 calories if I want to keep going at the same rate as before!

1300 calories.

Now seriously. Are there any big beefy blokes out there who can live on less than 1300 cals?

I already find it very hard to keep to a calorie limit of something like 1640 cals!

How on earth is a big bloke like me meant to survive on 1300 cals? (and before anyone comments, I do try and exercise as much as possible particularly during the weekends, I do not feel that I can cope with a lot more exercise!)

So all you big men out there (on low calories) - how do YOU do it???

SergeantSunshine_reused

I don't think men should eat under 1800 calories. 1300 is WAY too low

MarchelleLynne

I can barely survive 1390!! you should be earning more by exercising?? I do not eat my exercise calories but I do use them for cushion lol

Charger440

I am 6 foot tall 240 pounds and my daily is 2070 but when I was 340 it was a tad over 3000. Hope that helps you some.

adross3

how many pounds are you loosing per week.

I personally burn 3200 cals per day. I am usually under 600 cals. I am loosing fat, but my muscles and bone density are growing. So, it doesn't show that I am loosing weight.

mcjabber

I know you wrote not to comment about exercise, but that might be the only solution. And not just for burning calories. Strength training continues to burn extra cals for many hours after you finish your workout, and you can do it pretty simply and quickly (like under 15 minutes, unlike cardio, which burns tons of calories but also takes a long time). And exercise can have an appetite suppressing effect too. There are also a bunch of studies that say you're at a risk for type 2 diabetes if you only lose weight through diet, because diet alone can't target the scary visceral fat in the abdomen.

I don't mean to sound preachy, it sounds like you're already on a great track! Just some food for thought (pardon the pun)

stevenleagle

Ok, thanks everyone for your replies so far. I better correct my initial post and clarify a few points:

1. I am around 1.73 metres tall (which I think is around 5 foot 8). I used to weigh over 106 kgs. Now I am around 95kg.

2. My body fat percentage (according to my Tamika scale) has recently gone down from "obese" to "overweight" (though I am still "obese" according to BMI standard). Effectively this means that although I have lost weight overall, I have also gained some muscle.

3. I was WRONG about mfp saying I need less than 1300 cals to lose 1.5 pounds. In fact I have double checked and it says I will need to reduce my daily cals to 1520. However if I want to lose 2 pounds a day, then yes, it goes down to only 1270.

4. I'm middle aged, pretty busy at work (especially during the week) and as hard as I try, cannot fit in a lot of exercise during the week. However please note that I do aim for at least 4 to 5 days per week of walking/jogging and do heavy weight training once to twice per week. I usually exercise for one to two hours on weekend days).

I know that patience is the key to mfp and believe that the reason that I have done relatively well so far is that I am making small changes at a time.

I can entirely understand all the blokes out there having to eat around 2000 cals plus to lose weight. I just cannot seem to fathom trying to do it as a bloke on 1300 - or even 1520 for that matter - as recommended by the mfp system!

Liquid741

i eat a max of 1750, not including my exercise cals....cant comprehend 1300. bleh! we are meant to eat more then that!

lacroyx

need more information like height and starting weight but 1300 calories is way low in my opinion. are you excercising at all?
my stats.
31 yrs old
6'3 ft
Current weight: 326
Goal weight: 200-220
Cardio: 1hr. 5x a week. burning 500-1100 calories a session.
Lift weights 3x a week 60-75 mins
Calories for 1-2 lbs. loss 2600-2800.
I eat my excercise calories about 80% of the time.
do you measure yourself at all? the scale can be a deceiving number. I found measuring myself helps. even though it doesn't show on the scale I know to be patient because I am making progress. clothes feeling less tight or going down in shirt sizes.

lacroyx

Ok, thanks everyone for your replies so far. I better correct my initial post and clarify a few points:

1. I am around 1.73 metres tall (which I think is around 5 foot 8). I used to weigh over 106 kgs. Now I am around 95kg.

i've always used this b/c I felt MFP sometimes is screwy on the numbers

http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm

plugging in your stats with excercise 3x a week I got

Maintance 2495 calories
1 lb loss 1996
extreme loss 2lbs + 1672 calories

dewgirl321

MFP gives you the calorie amount you should eat, not including exercise calories. You are exercising a significant amount, so you should be increasing your calorie intake accordingly. My suggestion is to get a BodyBugg that will give you a better understanding of your daily calorie burn.

Before getting my BodyBugg I was eating 1300 calories per day, plus (poorly) estimated exercise calories. The BodyBugg showed me that I was burning more cals when I wasn't exercising (and fewer when I was) than I had thought. I upped my daily cals to 1450 per day and let my exercise give me more of a deficit on those days rather than changing my daily target. I am consistently achieving a 3500 calorie per week calorie deficit and losing a pound a week. By the way, I am 5' 0" and 144lb.

So I would say you need to UP your calories!!! If you aren't interested/able to get a BodyBugg, perhaps checking other websites for more info on your estimated BMR and TDEE would help you set a calorie goal. I have had some success using FitnessFrog.com.

stevenleagle

Thanks for that. I'm aiming for 1540 over the next couple weeks to see how I go.

Dewgirl - might look into Bodybugg. Not sure what it is though (I know google...)

dewgirl321

How is your new 1540 target working out?