Am I not eating enough? PLEASE HELP :(

WxMstr
WxMstr Posts: 25 Member
edited December 2024 in Health and Weight Loss
Hello everyone, I am currently eating 1610 calories a day, and around 150 carbs per day. My current weight is 170lbs with a body fat around 19%. I have been working out steadily for the last 30 days, and losing about 2-3lbs/wk. Well this week, I only lost 0.8lbs but I can visibly see my face and waist getting smaller. I do mostly cardio, but I do some minor weight training like pushups and pullups before I start my cardio session. I take in about 200g's of protein everyday, and burn about 600-1000 calories a day, so with eating 1610 calories; I have a net calories of around 800-1000 per-day. That seems a little low, but with the foods I eat (Chicken, veggies, lean meats) Its hard even with 5-6 meals per day to get that number higher. Any suggestions if I am on the right path of a goal weight of around 145lbs, and a body fat <10%? I am 23 years old and 5'9. When I was in the best shape of my life I was a 135lbs with 8% body fat, but I know your composition changes with time and that was in high school. Thank you everyone!

Replies

  • heatherloveslifting
    heatherloveslifting Posts: 1,428 Member
    I think you should check out the group "In place of a road map". In my humble opinion you are not eating enough. I try not to net below 1200 and am losing at a faster rate than I was on lower cals. I do think 0.8 lbs in a week is pretty good and that more than 2 lbs a week for a sustained period of time is not too healthy. I would *definitely* rather lose slowly than deal with some of the loose skin issues I've read about here!!!

    Also, not sure how tall you are, but you look to be pretty healthy and not overweight- if so, you will lose more slowly. And you might consider that your body fat can go down without you actually losing weight at all if you are lifting.
  • nxd10
    nxd10 Posts: 4,570 Member
    That is a really low % body fat. My son is 24 and has always been in the very low edge of healthy for BMI. He's in the Peace Corps now. He is 6'2" or more and left at 150 pounds and muscly with no fat on him anywhere. Six pack abs just from walking around and carrying a backpack plus a few pushups (that's all about body fat). I think he weighed around 125 when I saw him in July. He still walks everyone and runs 5 miles a day and does pushups. But he has absolutely NO fat on him but has lost a lot of his muscle, despite exercising more. Way too skinny. Hugging him, I felt every single one of his vertebrae and ribs.

    He hasn't been trying to lose weight, he's just on a diet that is completely basic (corn meal, greens, chicken once a week, legumes). He needs more calories to maintain his level of exercise.

    He looked better with a bit more fat. Unless you're going to seriously pump iron, you need more fat to look good.
  • TheeGeeMarie
    TheeGeeMarie Posts: 59 Member
    I had a similar problem before I joined this site, which wasn't that long ago, so I only have this week to go by. After losing a few pounds in a few weeks on a strict, fairly low calorie diet, I plateaued, then gained 8 lbs. My diet was immaculate and developed with my original trainer and I'm pretty active so I was very irritated. Then a cyclist friend went over my diet with me and said immediately I'm not eating enough calories and I need more fat. I sympathize with having trouble adding in fat/calories with the 5-6 meals a day diet as I eat similarly. What I did was allow myself one egg yolk at breakfast (used to eat 4 eggs - whites only), started cooking with 1/2-1 teaspoon of olive oil instead of using non-stick spray and I throw in some fresh avocado here and there. I changed my diet about a week ago, joined MFP a few days ago to keep an eye on fat/carb/sodium/protein details and after my weigh in today I'm down 2.4 lbs. so I think it's working for me. We're all different of course, but based on my recent experience, I would say eat more.
  • WxMstr
    WxMstr Posts: 25 Member
    Thanks for the replies everyone. I am going for the model look (lol...). What I am going to do is up my caloires about 500-600 day so my net after exercise is around 1600... I burn about a 1000 calories a so a day, so I will be eating 2600 calories a day. I am def looking for the ripped look so 8% body fat is still my goal. It will take a long time. I am also going to focus more on weight lifting. My cardio endurance is insane compared to what it was a month ago which is good news. So here is the raw numbers what I am shooting for. 1600 net cals after exercise(2600 in theory but 1000 on avg burned due to exercise), 150 carbs and 200grams of protein.

    On the bright side: I can see my upper abs in the morning if I cough, which is the first time in 4 years I can do that, and I ran four miles in 38minutes today! Happy lol
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