for the guys on here...calories

bubbanene

I see alot of women posting their calories what about the guys?? what are your cals and what kind of progress are you making? Im a little nervous about upping my cals.

neanderthin

You seem to be eating well over your calorie goal, why are you asking?

jojo1410

What neanderthin said!!!

At some point, logging your calories should be drawing attention to where you need to tighten up! Being honest about what you eat is the first, most important step, but you need to be adjusting your calories to get closer to your goal!

Sorry, not a guy!

bubbanene

im just confused lol. im 356lb and some sites say i should be eating more im losing about 2lbs a week but idefinitely dont want to lose muscle i do some form of lifting 4 time a week mixture of machines and free, going to join another gym march first and maybe try stronglift thx for all replies in advance

TheVimFuego

I have taken to just chewing 20 Marlboro Reds a day, really slowly.

I have no idea how many calories but it's working for me.

Maybe the lack of carbs is the key?

I used to smoke them but the health stuff got to me in the end.

bubbanene

i dont get it

neanderthin

OK, that makes sense. Yes the extra poundage of body fat your carrying around is taken into account. Personally I don't see the need for the extra calories to support that extra fat. Obese people consuming few calories than normal don't lose lean body mass as quickly and with the weight training your doing I believe your good to go, for now.

iWaffle

I'm about 6'2" and weigh around 207. I'm eating 2500 calories a day and I add in more to compensate for exercise. Days I run it could be 3500 - 4000 calories a day.

You need to base your calories on your goals. If you're wanting to cut back body fat you need to short yourself about 500 calories a day. I wouldn't try to lose more than a pound a week. Perhaps 2 in your case if you're trying to lose a lot but you're going to need to taper that as you get closer to your goal weight.

I dropped from about 250 down to my current weight. Of course you lose some muscle but I didn't waste away to nothing. Just keep your protein intake high and keep hitting the weights hard. You'll come out like a champ if you just keep working on it week after week.

FitBeto

I used to eat around 16-1800 cals a day because I thought I was smart - now I lift and actually calculated my TDEE and I range from 2500 to 3000 depending on where or what I eat that day/or if I exercise. Depending on what method I use my TDEE is around 26-2800 calories to maintain. I am going on a 6 week dirty-cut so I cut my cals down to 2400 unless I workout, then I eat back my exercise calories. I have overate and ate pizza / ice cream / massive amounts of cheescake (of course not everyday) and I have been between 170 - 173 for about 3 months now at 12.42% bf (for my dirty bulk lol).

I lift 4 big lifts and do minor assistance plus HIIT on the weekends and do no cardio besides that. about an hr a day weight training too

Kmenczynski88

3 Months back i began at 2500 cals coming off of a 3 month cut to slowly ease back into it and not gain a ton of weight very rapidly.

October: 2500 cals - Didn't see any weight gain, so i added in 250 more per day
November: 2750 cals - Didn't see any weight gain, so i added in 250 more per day
December: 2900 cals - Gain of .6 lbs every in a 3 week period. I will stick with this number until i don't add anymore weight then add another 200 cals and so forth.

If you want to focus on minimizing the fat gain, just increase the calories in small increments. My Goal is about .5 - 1lb per 30 days.

bubbanene

thanks guys look like im going to increase cal my tdee is like 4000 without excercise still a little nervous appreciate the input.

Kmenczynski88

What're your measurements/stats etc?

Rak0ribz

I'm sticking with the 1950 calorie/day recommendation for now. I'm still just starting out (at around 4 months in), so I'm still seeing strength gains from the weight machines without having to worry too much about calorie intake. When I started, I was at 2100 calories/day, which is a lot easier to maintain; right now, I'm going for cardio improvement, mostly.

bubbanene

5, 11 355 51yo

Kmenczynski88

I would just say to take the increase slow.... there isn't much to worry about. take what you are currently at and add in 200 additional calories. In 30 days assess where your weight is at. Are you looking to lose or gain weight?

bubbanene

definitely looking to lose weight but ive done it before and ended up needing even less calories so put it back on, want to lose as much fat as possible while maintain as much lbm as possible lol dont we all just started smith machine squats to add muscle but now read thats wrong so gonna try dumbell squats

FitBeto

Use barbells - and based on your stats/diary I wouldn't increase my calories just yet but stay between 28-3000 calories, how active are you?

bubbanene

activity is prob 30 minutes cardio 5 times week lift 40 minute 3 times a week(body for life) work on loading docks prob 90% forlift no barbells at my gym i know im gonna change come march

dsjohndrow

I am at 1350 per day plus 200 exercise calories on workout days. I tried doing 1800 and gained 10 pounds. I am having a rough time with the last 20.

taunto

I have set my calories to almost 1900 after some tdee and stuff calories but I don't feel bad about going upto 2200 since it is still well under my calories range.

Typically I go +/- 150 calories from my 1900 calories. I also don't eat back my calories. If I am not hungry, I don't force feed myself either even if it means 1,000 calories (very rare) because typically it means I will be going over my calories the next day. Also, no matter how much I workout and burn calories, I always count it as 1 since I have a set amount I try to eat back

PS. Good thread

FitBeto

www.freedieting.com

I use the calculators on here alot - it may be useful to you!

elothen

Just make sure you don't go so low you kick into starvation mode man. That will halt your progress quick, fast, and in a hurry. They say max reduction is 1k under your resting burn rate. You'll have to look up what that is for your height and weight. My resting is supposed to be 2500 so I'm on a 1500 budget.

If you keep the right proportion of protein to carbs/fat then you won't lose the lean muscle mass. What's the right proportion? I'm not certain but just target foods high in protein and low in fat. Grilled chicken is my new best friend. Almond milk rocks my world. A protein shake starts the day off great. I use a standard shake but there are low cal options if you need to balance out better. For me I need the extra cals early in the morning, and I have a general distaste for artificial sweeteners and what not.

Hang in there man, be religious about your logging and be patient. If you keep doing the right things over time you have a 95% chance at getting the results you want!

FitBeto

Just make sure you don't go so low you kick into starvation mode man. That will halt your progress quick, fast, and in a hurry. They say max reduction is 1k under your resting burn rate. You'll have to look up what that is for your height and weight. My resting is supposed to be 2500 so I'm on a 1500 budget.

If you keep the right proportion of protein to carbs/fat then you won't lose the lean muscle mass. What's the right proportion? I'm not certain but just target foods high in protein and low in fat. Grilled chicken is my new best friend. Almond milk rocks my world. A protein shake starts the day off great. I use a standard shake but there are low cal options if you need to balance out better. For me I need the extra cals early in the morning, and I have a general distaste for artificial sweeteners and what not.

Hang in there man, be religious about your logging and be patient. If you keep doing the right things over time you have a 95% chance at getting the results you want!

I go for at least 1 to 1.5 g per lb of body weight - and to hit that I have a 40c-30p-30f ratio. And your calorie deficit is supposed to be from your TDEE not you BMR unless you absolutely don't move at all.

Richie2shoes

I'm at 362 lbs right now and I want to stay as close to 2000 as possible and not go over 2500. I do a mixture of strength and cardio 3x a week and I'm building up to strength 3x a week and cardio 5x a week.

Right now I'm not eating back any calories burned but I know that I will have to start, probably when I break the 300 mark.

PhilipByrne

Had a look at the website. Lots of good info.
Thanks for posting.

Phil

www.freedieting.com

I use the calculators on here alot - it may be useful to you!

myofibril

im just confused lol. im 356lb and some sites say i should be eating more im losing about 2lbs a week but idefinitely dont want to lose muscle i do some form of lifting 4 time a week mixture of machines and free, going to join another gym march first and maybe try stronglift thx for all replies in advance

If you weigh that much then you could comfortably raise your calories to around 3,500 - 3,750 and still lose weight comfortably (but this factors in exercise so no need to worry about eating those calories back if you choose this range.)

It's up to you whether you want to do so. Obese people are the exception to the rule when it comes to calorie deficits. Their bodies are much more able to handle steep deficits with little loss of muscle.

Long story short is that you have a lot of "wiggle room" when it comes to a workable deficit. If you want to be at say 2,500 to speed up your rate of loss then that is fine. If you would prefer to sit up some where around 3,500 then that is fine as well.

It won't always be this way as you get leaner.

As a good rule of thumb 1% of total body weight loss per week is relatively safe.