burn 800-4000 calories per day, how much should I eat?

minnesota_deere

To the naysayers out there that this guy could be burning that much energy working out, I'd like to remind folks that the calories you burn exercising depend a lot on your mass.

A 300 pound man like me walking around burns twice as much energy as someone weighing 150 walking the same distance, all other things being equal (gait, pace, etc.). The amount of energy it takes to carry 1 pound is half the energy it takes to carry 2 pounds, right?

Now variations in individuals and metabolic rates have a big affect, but 1 hour of a good super-circuit workout for me would probably also come close to a 1000 calorie workout (or an ambulance ride).

But asking whether this guy is overdoing it? Well yes. IF he's burning 4000 a day then he should be probably getting more nutrition. At least his BMR. what was that, like 1500 calories? If he can keep it up without wearing his body out, then great for him.

But most of the time when people do this so intensely they get burned out and rebound.

all true, when i started i was burning 23 calories per minute at 155 heart rate, now i about burn 11 calories per minute at 155 HR, now i really have to watch what i eat and work out longer.

MoreBean13

I think you should eat a bare bare minimum of 1800 calories, and then on top of that eat more calories until you feel satiated. I would make a careful effort to replace electrolytes with such intense workouts, and refuel with healthy snacks or energy bars before workouts as needed to maintain your level of effort.

With how much work you're doing it will be obvious if you aren't eating enough, you simply won't be able to perform. Most people trying to lose weight are teetering a delicate balance between getting enough food and enough exercise- your balance is not so delicate. With healthy food choices it would be very difficult to overeat while exercising 3000 cals/day.

Here's the problem: our bodies are very resilient, and will eventually develop a stasis with just about any situation. The risk you are running is that your body will eventually come to expect 3000 calorie workout as part of your life, and keep an energy reserve for that purpose. On those days that you don't get that long intense workout, your body will accumulate those reserve calories, making weight gain almost inevitable. So it's a gamble, can you guarantee that you can keep up that level of intensity? What if you get hurt?

P.S. IMHO, my explanation is exactly why the biggest losers have a hard time maintaining the weight loss.

nivlage

I bought a heartrate monitor and people say its probably about 90% accurate. I go to LA Boxing and each hour session I do burns 800-1000 calories. I am soaked in sweat every time and I am hooked. I sometimes do 4 classes per day no problem. Usually I do 2-3 classes per day. Certain light days(1x per week) I will only do 1. I drink plenty of water and get the proper protein after each class.

I suggest you read this article: http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/exercise-and-weightfat-loss-part-1.html
You're not burning 800-1000 calories per hour session. Why are you doing 2-4 classes per day anyways?

I read part 1 of the link you posted and I understand what it is saying. It is saying that it is unrealistic for people to have the time or motivation to do such intense excercise, but exercise at greater levels has shown to have more of an effect on weight loss.

I have no problem doing 2-4 classes per day and look forward to getting to a point where I can maintain and maybe only work out 1 hour per day, 6x per week.

i am burning 800-1000 calories per session. I have a polar HRM and it has my height, gender, and weight in there. Trust me, the workouts that I am doing are like NOTHING else around. It is more intense than racketball, swimming, basketball, and anything else you can think of. it goes from punch/kick combos to jumping jacks, pushups, burpies, squat jumps, back to punch/kick combos NONSTOP for an hour. I know it doesnt seem possible to burn that many calories per hour but it is.

What were you getting at though? I know I can probably turn it down a little in the exercise department. My diet is pretty good though, no fast food, little processed food, no pop and many fruits and veggies. I could go into more detail but I was just wondering what you wanted me to discover in the article. It was a very intersting one btw!

seriously, i would keep doing what your doing, it may take a couple of weeks or a month or 2, but you will hit the wall or plateau like everyone talks about, when that happens make some changes. go after it man knock the pounds off. you can do it.

Thanks bud!! I appreciate the motivating words!! I look forward to dropping some lbs!!

It looks like I just missed a whole bunch of posts. I cant wait to read them!

hutchy100

God knows how you do so much in 1 day i'm so tired doing 1 work out a day

But good on you for doing so much, when i was out of work i got fat and i could have worked out and been super fit so good on you

drkrvnchld

i am not super smart when it comes to this stuff and I have been fat my whole life, but I am going to tell you this -

I am 5'11". When I started and took this seriously, I was 320. I work out 3 times a week for 30 minutes. Nothing super intense. In a couple months (less than really) I dropped to 290. ( I also used Hydroxi in this time. Not saying it was the pills, just being up front with all facts). After those couple months, I started eating bbq/southern food while making sure 1/2 my plate was veggies. No processed foods, no fructose, no beer of any sort. In the past 9 months I lost another 20 and maintained. I am now 270. Just so you know, my food intake is 2220/day.

Now I tell you this because you are 5'11" - so am I. And by your profile pic, we are about the same build. What I struggled with when I first started was over exercising and not getting enough calorie intake. Lost slow or even gained at first. I have found that I need to be within 300 calories of that 2220 calorie intake to make any headway in my weight loss.

You need to reconsider your work out and your needs. You are making more work and expense (food & trainer/memberships) if you're burning that many calories in a day. There is only one person/job I can think of that works out that much, that intense - and that's a UFC fighter. And they pay out the nose for pro trainers and dietitians.

If you're in a competition, make sure you guys go by percentage of weight lost. Not pounds. Good luck to you though and good for you for being so passionate about the weight loss. It's a life style, that's for sure.

millerll

Hi, there! It looks like you've already figured out you probably need to eat more on days you exercise so much, so I won't belabor that point further. I certainy commend your dedication, and I completely understand your desire to continue your current work-out routine. Having said that, it's not just about the calories. Since you're putting such a physical strain on your body with all that exercise, you also have to make sure you're getting enough of the right kinds of calories. It's really important that you get enough protein, good fats, and carbs into you to fuel those work-outs. This site's default setting for those macronutrients aren't always optimized for athletes.

I highly recommend you read this article written by one of our own members who is a very knowledgable trainer:

http://body-improvements.com/resources/eat/

The article is a bit long, but it's an easy read, and it spells out most everything you need to know about nutrition. It takes you step by step through determining your personal energy needs, and how to divide up your calories among those important carbs, fats and proteins. Based on this, you can personalize your MFP settings and maximize your fat loss instead of sacrificing precious muscle. Good luck!

heybales

lol! thanks for the input! The heart rate monitor is a polar and it may be wrong but it shouldnt be more than 10% off. I know the only real way is to measure oxygen consumption in the blood for an accurate calorie count. This should be pretty close though.

here is a video of the tv station that came to our gym for a show, it can give you an idea of what the workout is like:
http://www.wciu.com/youandme.php?section=home&assets=videos&assetID=10007785

Lets say that I still want to lose 80lbs in the next 6 months, are you saying that I can just eat what I need to maintain(maybe thats 2400 calories) and I can still burn the 1000 at the gym and I will lose weight?

You need a deficit. Either from diet, or from exercise, or from both, to lose weight. But if too big, your body knows how to protect itself by slowing down.

So you goal is 3.3 lbs per week. While that can be realistic at the beginning, if it continues, you are only burning up muscle, and likely that his happening now anyway.

And you are burning more than 1000 daily avg at the gym, right, that's the point/problem perhaps.

Your body only has so much in the way of glucose stores. 400-450 calories in the liver used first, and used for maintaining blood sugar for the brain and some other organs.
Muscle glucose stores, tapped by ONLY the muscles when the liver runs out, is 1000-2000 if mainly aerobic training - which this is not. That is intense, that is anaerobic. That is burning off glucose like nothing.

When you work out really hard, your ratio of carbs : fat burning is heavily on carbs side, obviously 100% carbs when anaerobic. 30% carbs when at rest. Light cardio may get 50%.

I fully believe you have got to be running through glucose stores since, correct, the Polar is most accurate for men, so those are decent enough estimates.

Make sure the recovery snack you eat in-between workouts is very high carb to try to top those off.

And eating at maintenance, AND throwing in snacks associated with the workouts, will benefit.
Like eat maintenance for normal meals and evening snack. But have a post workout snack that does NOT count towards that of about 400 cals. Couple energy bars would take care of that. You just need carbs.

You are hitting energy needs of pro runners, triathletes, bikers. And they will eat 4000-6000 to maintain and not lose muscle. And during their training. You can mimic that at least because you have 3 workouts a day.

heybales

You have the correct idea from several of your posts about eating maintenance and letting exercise create the massive deficit.

Settings - Diet/Fitness profile.
Activity level, whatever your day is like NOT including your exercise. Probably Lightly Active I'd suggest.

Weight loss goal - Maintain.

When finished, there is your goal page, with numbers. Looks like no weight loss, but there's the number to eat everyday. Workout or not. I hope you give yourself one rest day a week, but better a rest day, and opposite from it, one lighter day.

Get your day figured out to eat those calories every day, workout or not, and get your recovery food planned after your workouts.

And now log your workouts. On your Diary, you'll be told a higher goal now, and the number of credit calories you got from exercise. Don't eat them back.

When you say Completed each day, it's going to estimate your potential loss in 5 weeks.

And you mentally know, 1000 deficit daily is 2lbs weekly. 1500 is 3lb.

As your enter your Check-in weight loss, MFP will adjust that daily goal down automatically, so watch for that at some point.

At some point, you will no longer lose what you once did, time to be concerned and revisit us.

CaseRat

*sniff sniff*
I smell a troll.

Drastiic

*sniff sniff*
I smell a troll.

I came to the same conclusion.

nivlage

*sniff sniff*
I smell a troll.

I came to the same conclusion.

Aww, are you serious? I was hoping the guy above me has good advice. I liked that post. Hmm.... So you are saying what was said isnt valid?

I am going to reply to the rest of these posts tomorrow. Good night for me!

Maurice1966

bumpity

heybales

*sniff sniff*
I smell a troll.

I came to the same conclusion.

Aww, are you serious? I was hoping the guy above me has good advice. I liked that post. Hmm.... So you are saying what was said isnt valid?

I am going to reply to the rest of these posts tomorrow. Good night for me!

They are actually talking about you post - they must not have read the followups or watched the video to see how you could burn up to 4000 in a day. I've done that on a long bike ride, but no way could I do it the next day. Well, not true, did the Katy trail in several days, 6hrs riding, so I guess I did.

Sarauk2sf

First of all, I want to say that its great to ‘see’ someone so enthusiastic and so willing to listen.

I know that you have been given a lot of information, and I am going to add my 2c worth and try to sum it up:

- Not to be a downer, but 80lb in 6 months is not realistic and if you try for it you will not be doing your body any favors . At your weight, a healthy weight loss should really be about 1.5lb a week – but 2lb a week should not be too bad – but please reassess after you get below a weight loss goal of 50lb.
- Juicing is a good way to get extra fruits and veggies but you should also be eating whole fruits and veggies otherwise you are missing out on the fiber
- You are overtraining and should cut back the exercise (you have already mentioned that you will). Our bodies need rest and also, taking it a bit slower will make it more likely you will continue more consistently for longer. If you take a look at gyms in January, they are really busy with everyone starting with New Year’s resolutions – all committed and eager, and then a few months later, you never see most of those folks again. I know you are keen to lose weight quickly – but to use an old cliché – slow and steady wins the race.
- Make sure you are doing strength training (heavy weights) – instead of some of the cardio, rather than on top of it. You will have a better chance of maintaining your lean muscle mass that way.
- MFP does not warn you if you go below your BMR (a much debated topic!)
- If you want to create a deficit with exercise, as was suggested by another poster you need to calculate your sedentary/lightly active TDEE (not BMR) and eat to that target – then just do not ‘eat your exercise calories back’. However, you should not be aiming for any more than 1000 exercise calories a day as this would create a larger than 2lb a week deficit (see my 1st bullet point)

Good luck

CaseRat

*sniff sniff*
I smell a troll.

I came to the same conclusion.

Aww, are you serious? I was hoping the guy above me has good advice. I liked that post. Hmm.... So you are saying what was said isnt valid?

I am going to reply to the rest of these posts tomorrow. Good night for me!

They are actually talking about you post - they must not have read the followups or watched the video to see how you could burn up to 4000 in a day. I've done that on a long bike ride, but no way could I do it the next day. Well, not true, did the Katy trail in several days, 6hrs riding, so I guess I did.

Oh, no, I've read every single post here.
I just don't see how you haven't noticed him screwing you all around *shrug*

nivlage

*sniff sniff*
I smell a troll.

I came to the same conclusion.

Aww, are you serious? I was hoping the guy above me has good advice. I liked that post. Hmm.... So you are saying what was said isnt valid?

I am going to reply to the rest of these posts tomorrow. Good night for me!

They are actually talking about you post - they must not have read the followups or watched the video to see how you could burn up to 4000 in a day. I've done that on a long bike ride, but no way could I do it the next day. Well, not true, did the Katy trail in several days, 6hrs riding, so I guess I did.

Oh, no, I've read every single post here.
I just don't see how you haven't noticed him screwing you all around *shrug*

Yeah, ok.. now who's the troll? YOU

nivlage

I will be back a little later to reply to the rest of the posts that I haven't replied to yet. Busy at work now.

My thoughts:

"I am really disappointed and discouraged now because I dont want to lose 2lbs per week. It is going to take forever for me to get down to 200lbs. If I will be losing muscle from burning more than I eat and going below my BMR then I say goodbye muscle. I have always had no problem putting muscle back on.

For example: I was in boot camp 10 years ago and while I was there we were running 10 miles per day, and doing cardio for 8+ hours a day. Definitely burning the same if not more calories than what I am burning in the gym now. Now heres the thing, we were only allowed to eat when were were told to eat and trust me it was definitely not much. I lost 50lbs in 4 months. There were some people who had access to weights for lifting and they bulked up big time. All right in front of my eyes.

We were all eating way below our BMR and we all survived just fine with TREMENDOUS weight loss. It was because we did not keep up a diet to MAINTAIN afterwards that we gained weight back. I am looking to work just as hard now and after I do, switch to a maintain mode. I understand the numbers but I don't understand how this worked for 100's of us in boot camp but everyone here says it will not work.

Also, there is a documentary on netflix called "Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead," where the guy juices nothing but veggies and fruits for 60 days and loses 83lbs. He has doctors supervision and afterwards he leads a healthy lifestyle of a balanced diet and exercise program to maintain and even trim a little bit more. Not going to lie, I want a quick fix because I know that my mind is strong enough to make it last afterwards. I quit smoking, quit fast food, quit drinking pop, and more. When I set out to do something I am determined to do it. I don't want to wait a year to be where I want to be. I want to be there in 3 months and then maintain. I would rather be skinny trying to put on muscle than fat and trying to lose weight. I would like to get an attractive girlfriend sometime soon, rather than waiting a year till my confidence is back."

Those are just my thoughts now. I just woke up and am in RANT mode but hey, I will process everything that was said in these posts and be back later.


Can you guys watch that movie "Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead" and explain to me how they did it then? I would rather do what they did seriously. No matter what I am going to post what I have done to lose all my weight, so in the end we will see what really works!

have a great day everyone! Thanks for the advice!

nivlage

I have shared a ton of info with you, with out any reciprocation or any acknowledgement . I told myself I wasn't going to reply to your topic again, but i think this is when you need it the most. BTW this is why some called yo a troll, it just seems you look over the comments and ignore a lot of people who have given you good advice.

Here's the thing, heavier people such as yourself can lose more weight. I even gave you a recommendation of how much to lose per week based on your results. Which was completely ignored.

The entire military weight loss thing, yes it works... you can starve yourself thin to some degree. but what's the point really? How come you didn't keep the weight off since your military time? Because you NEVER TOOK THE TIME TO PRACTICE EATING RIGHT AND EXERCISING. Which I have said before. Anyone can brute force and effort, but that doesn't maintain anything.

The documentary about the juice fasting, I seen it. Juice fasting is a touchy subject. Here's my question, he looks at a normal weight. How come these guys don't get insanely ripped??? What stops the weight loss if they're only consuming a few hundred calories a day?

Hey man, I know you have shared a ton of info with me and I hope you understand how hard it is to respond to every single post in a timely manner. I am headed to the gym now but trust me I will definitely respond to your post. I was responding to 1-4 posts at a time if you look at my previous posts. I apologize if I have offended you by not responding, but note that I did respond to some of your earlier ones. I am aware that I still have yet to respond to you and at least a couple other people who posted excellent info. Lets get to the bottom of this later. Hell you can even shoot me a text if you like and maybe we can talk. I will respond to you when I get back. If you feel like talking you can shoot me a text though 815.546.3548. I have a 25 minute ride to the gym and am leaving now. Otherwise I will talk to you a little later. And that goes for anyone. See you all later!

MoreBean13

OK I get that you are trying to lose weight for a competition, so maybe short term weight loss is what you're looking for- and that's your prerogative. I said this before and I think its really important so I'm going to say it again- eventually your body will come to expect a 3000 cal/day workout and if you don't do it you will hug on to extra calories and it will be almost impossible not to gain weight back. It is great that you can do such an intense workout - and you're inevitably going to gain muscle while burning fat- but it's unsustainable. And I don't mean in that mental "all you have to do is want it and push through it" kind of unsustainable, I mean eventually life will intervene and give you circumstances where you can't produce that level of consistent effort- could be an injury, could be family or job circumstances, or maybe just a vacation. This is the exact reason that you didn't maintain your weight loss after boot camp and why the Biggest Losers have a difficult time when they go home, just to cite two examples. Just don't think of yourself as a failure when it happens and sink back in to old habits- your program as is is designed for short term success and long term failure. Maybe this is OK for you since your weight loss goal is for a competition- but be honest and say that- that you don't care about the longevity of the solution as long as you win the competition (if that's the case). I think a lot of people won't want to pipe up and help you with that goal, but at least it won't be insulting to those of us trying to make positive changes for life. See, what you're saying subversively by not being honest about your motives is that everyone else just isn't willing to work hard enough, and that is not true at all. I doubt that was your intention, I'm just telling you what the message is that you're spreading whether you like it or not.

Re: "Fat Sick and Nearly Dead" : I recently saw this movie and I liked it- I am 100% in favor of more veggies and fruits in everyone's diet, and if juicing works for you then work it. But the takeaway should be just that - that fruits and veggies can make you healthy. There is no way you could sustain your high intensity workouts on a juice fast. The guy in that movie- he did add some exercise in to his diet and by the end you see him happy and running on the beach, but I don't think they meant to convey that you could juice fast and exercise 3000 cal/day. Plus, I think he was drinking A LOT of juice- I don't think he had a huge calorie deficit. I got the impression that he was just juicing all the live long day. I mean he would have to be to be consuming that big-a** $15 dollar veggie box every day. Plus there's nutrients that you NEED that you simply can't get from a juice diet- like for example cholesterol. Our brains function on cholesterol and communicate with our bodies using cholesterol, and ultra low cholesterol leads to impaired brain function. That's a pretty serious side effect in my book- even if your weight loss is only for a competition I would think impaired brain function would be worth avoiding.

You just have to be really conscious that "The Biggest Loser" and "Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead" and any other shows like it are trying to sell you something, and they only show you what is best to advertise what they're selling. You don't know what goes on when cameras aren't around or what ends up deliberately on the cutting room floor. You can't try to replicate the methods they use because we don't know all of them. For me, I still like them and use them as motivation- I like seeing people work hard!

One final comment- under the right conditions any diet can make you lose weight- The guy who did the Twinkie Diet last year demonstrated that- but just losing weight does not a healthy diet make.

Tabsta

I guess I'm trying to understand the 3000-4000 calories / day too. I have only burned that many once, when I ran a marathon!

Exactly, perhaps doing one a day )