How many calories?

rimhof456

First time post here. Since the beginning of the year I have lost nearly 65 pounds (88 from my all time high years ago) but have hit the dreaded plateau. I exercise 45min-1hr five days a week and my calories daily between 1500-2000. I am also 6'5" and 337 pounds in my mid 20s. My question is...am I eating enough? I am usually not that hungry, but when I am I will eat more up to 2400. I am wondering if upping my average daily calories to 2000 would help me break this. Currently I strive for around 1800.

I currently do other plateau breaking strategies such as mixing up my workouts and calorie cycling. I should also probably disclose that my diet is pretty high in sodium.

Goal_Line

Listen to your body. Other than being hungry from time to time, how do you feel?

Personally, I'd keep it simple. If hungry eat more, if not, don't.

rimhof456

I feel fine most of the time. There is usually one day every few weeks where I can't seem to feel satisfied so that day will usually consist of up to 3000 or more until I am full. The reason I bring up this discussion is not only because I hit a plateau, but also a few weeks ago I had an entire week where I couldn't satisfy my hunger no matter how much I seemed to eat.

GauchoMark

at 6'5" and 337lbs you eat 1500 - 2000 calories with exercise? I'm 6'1" and 198lbs and eat 1900 before exercise and that is with a 500 calorie deficit.

My advice is to do what works for you, but be willing to make changes when you hit a stall. If I were you, I'd increase my calories to about 2650 /day before exercise and eat back your exercise calories. You will feel better, still lose about 1.4 lb/wk, and you will actually have the energy to work out harder.

taylor5877

I'm 5'10" 235" and my calories are set to 2900. Granted I do a lot of strength training and cardio everyday, but I'd think you'd be able to up that a bit and still be more than fine.

popzork

I'm a 5'4" female and I eat between 1600 and 1800 calories a day. That was on the advise of a registered dietician. Upping my calories was probably the toughest part of this journey for me, but so far, it's paying off!

rimhof456

at 6'5" and 337lbs you eat 1500 - 2000 calories with exercise? I'm 6'1" and 198lbs and eat 1900 before exercise and that is with a 500 calorie deficit.

My advice is to do what works for you, but be willing to make changes when you hit a stall. If I were you, I'd increase my calories to about 2650 /day before exercise and eat back your exercise calories. You will feel better, still lose about 1.4 lb/wk, and you will actually have the energy to work out harder.

Congratulations on over 100 pounds lost. If you don't mind me asking, how many calories were you eating at the beginning of your weight loss journey?

My workout routine consists of alternating days of strength training and cardio. A typical day (if you can believe the machines) consists of anywhere from 600 to 1300 calories burned.

JustPeachy044

Cut the sodium, it can make you retain water! I didn't believe I could do it either, and some days are pretty tough not to reach for the salt shaker when i sit down with some veggies, but I'm doing it! Maybe try a day without adding salt, then allow it for a day. Then try 2 days, allow a day, etc. Or quit cold turkey, that's what I did.
Another thing to think about is cutting processed foods from your diet, or at least dramatically reducing them. Try to eat clean whole foods as much as possible.
Just suggestions, I am sure you will get lots of ideas. I can tell you by going radically different (plant based, greek yogurt only for dairy, and minimal meat) I have busted through my June plateau and it just keeps coming off!!

rimhof456

I'm a 5'4" female and I eat between 1600 and 1800 calories a day. That was on the advise of a registered dietician. Upping my calories was probably the toughest part of this journey for me, but so far, it's paying off!

Did you see an immediate benefit from that?

GauchoMark

Thanks. When I first started, I used a VERY rough estimate. I thought I wanted to be at about 200 lbs, so I ate 2000 calories/day and gave myself 1 "off" day/week where I wasn't horrible, but wasn't good. Then, about 60 lbs in, I hit a stall. I started paying a lot more attention to logging everything, started aiming for macro targets, and started eating my exercise calories back and the weight started coming off again.

Personally, I don't take credit for strength training exercise, and I would be careful with the machine's numbers. Not saying the are wrong, but make sure they make sense. If you can use a HRM, that is best. I know there is 1 machine at the gym I don't like to use because it is "easier" than the others, but says I burn about 900 calories in 45 minutes vs the 700 I normally do on another "harder" machine. I usually put in about 500 calories for that machine when I am forced to use it.

Just be careful with the numbers - all of them are estimates!

GauchoMark

by the way, the stall I hit - I don't think it was my body really doing anything. I don't think I went into "starvation mode" or my metabolism decided to slow down or any of that.

I think that when I first started, any change I made was healthier than before, so it worked. However, as I began to get more fit, the changes needed to be more accurate. I was essentially tricking myself into thinking I was doing great, but int he meantime, I wasn't logging all my food, I had my bad day, which can easily negate a week's work, and I probably wasn't that accurate in my portion sizes. Like I said, all of it is estimates