260 pound male 1660 calories/day... isn't it too low?

edwardkim85
edwardkim85 Posts: 438 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I'm trying to lose about 1kg/ week or 4k/month.

In my myfitnesspal goal, I inputted 'sedentary' as lifestyle because most of the day I'm either sitting or walking short distances.

I, however, do crossfit 3 times / week and I do cardio/heavy lifting(1.5 hours) 3 times/week for a total of 6 workouts a week.

I log my 1 hour crossfit workouts as circuit, 35 min or so (550 calories burnt) and for cardio workouts(walking, running, elliptical, bike) I put 1/2 of the time spent on it because it seems to way overestimate calories burnt. I don't count the intensive weight lifting sessions that take up about an hour/day.

With these 'added' calories, I eat about 1800 - 2100 calories/day in general.


According to OTHER websites that calculate my BMR and maintenance calories, it seems like at 260 pounds, I should be able to eat around 3500 - 4000 with daily moderate-vigorous 1 hour - 2 hour exercise sessions... to maintain my weight.

Wouldn't this mean that I should be able to lose approximately 1kg fat/week at 1100 cal deficit/day or 7700 kcal deficit/week(since fat is 3500kcal).

This should mean that I can eat 2300 - 2900 cal NET and lose 1kg fat/week for now.

Should I ignore myfitnesspal's recommendation of 1660?

Replies

  • edwardkim85
    edwardkim85 Posts: 438 Member
    I did lose about 8kg in 3 months now and my body composition changed significantly; however, I am not sure how much muscle I've gained and how much fat I've actually lost.

    I slacked off 3 weeks of 2nd months and maintained the loss from month one.

    Nonetheless, after a 5kg loss, myfitnesspal recalculated my calorie intake and 1660 / day net seems way too low imo.

    I am not sure how many kcal I should actually eat/day to lose 1kg/week considering I am 260 lbs, intenstive 1-2 hour exercise sessions 6 times/week. Shouldn't it be at least 2500 - 3000 kcal?
  • SteveStedge1
    SteveStedge1 Posts: 149 Member
    Well dude...Im 225 and eat about that and my losses arent staggering. It actually really sucks how slow the weight is coming off. I dont think youll lose any weight at all eating 2900 calories a day.

    Lets be honest here...none of us got where we are because we ate "too few" calories.

    If youre gonna commit, then commit.

    To be fair, if you start dropping weight too fast you can up your calories. But generally speaking people tend to UNDERestimate their calories eaten and OVERestimate calories burned.

    Good luck dude.
  • edwardkim85
    edwardkim85 Posts: 438 Member
    I don't think so either but with people constantly saying ' eat more to lose weight, you're eating too few calories etc etc' I thought I might be doing it wrong.
  • annerae1
    annerae1 Posts: 4
    . I was 255 when i started and it said 1600 calories a day for a 1 pd loss a week. It is usually a little higher for a man.. The max you could eat and loose 1 pd a week would be around 2100 calories a day. Check out this site. It will calulate it for you http://www.thinandhealthyforever.com/CalorieRequirement.asp
  • philanthropichelmick
    philanthropichelmick Posts: 24
    Reduce ure calories by eating mostly veggies but eat ure recommended protein. Work out a bit more, if u keep pushing ureself u'll see more weight loss. I've lost 25 lbs in 4 months. Good luck!
  • Walter__
    Walter__ Posts: 518 Member
    You are eating way too little.

    Sure you will quickly lose weight in a short period of time.. but what happens when you plateau? Are you going to cut more calories from 1660 a day?

    Eat as much as you can while still losing the weight you want every week. If after a week you don't lose any weight, drop the calories a bit more.

    But do keep in mind that when you go from 1660 calories a day to 2900 you will see immediate weight gains from water retention from eating more carbs.
  • SLLRunner
    SLLRunner Posts: 12,942 Member
    What I see is you have lost around 18 pounds of thereabouts. So, you are doing something right. I would just keep up with it. If you are not losing the 2 pounds a week you want to lose, I would just make sure you are logging both food and exercise calories accurately and keep working toward your goals.
  • ElectricDragon
    ElectricDragon Posts: 60 Member
    The calculations, the math part of what you want to accomplish, sounds about right to me.
  • edwardkim85
    edwardkim85 Posts: 438 Member
    What I see is you have lost around 18 pounds of thereabouts. So, you are doing something right. I would just keep up with it. If you are not losing the 2 pounds a week you want to lose, I would just make sure you are logging both food and exercise calories accurately and keep working toward your goals.

    Yes, but myfitnesspal recalculates my calorie intake every 5kg of weight loss, so in 2kg more, it will say I need to further drop my calorie intake to... I believe around 1560kcal/day(at 116kg)

    1460kcal/day(at 111kg)

    1360kcal/day(at 106kg)

    1260kcal/day(at 101kg)

    This is if I lose 4kg/month, which is around 2.2 pounds/week

    I've been trying to keep to those numbers as closely as possible and lost about 20 pounds now but I'm not sure if I can go that low the more weight I drop...

    I just want to know for my height, body weight, current composition, sex, how much can I actually eat to lose 4kg/month WITHOUT exercise if I am say, lightly active(some walking, a bit of every day activity)? Is it actually only 1660?

    I say this because right now, I am struggling to meet that 1660 net calorie mark. A small bowl of brown rice and one chicken breast and veggies just doesn't get my energy level going for the workouts lol

    6 feet, 260 pounds, around 28-30% body fat, male.
  • edwardkim85
    edwardkim85 Posts: 438 Member
    With moderate activity, it says I can eat 2751 calories/day to lose 2 pounds/week.

    Sedentary, around 1950 calories/day.

    Both a lot higher than myfitnesspal. Not sure which is right anymore.

    I might have to just wing it and up the calories by 300-500 and see how the weight loss goes for a month lol.
  • tigersword
    tigersword Posts: 8,059 Member
    My Fitness Pal doesn't include exercise, those other calculators do, you're comparing dollars to pesos. You're getting the same answers, just different currencies. You're comparing two completely different methods of calorie counting. My advice is to pick one method and stick to it. 1700 calories plus 600 exercise calories is 2300 calories. Splitting the difference between the numbers you got for sedentary and moderately active is about 2300 calories. You're at the same place either way. Using those other calculators, you aren't eating exercise calories back, because they factor them in already.
  • WhoHa42
    WhoHa42 Posts: 1,270 Member
    Seems way too low. I'm 185 and cut on 2400
  • mustgetmuscles1
    mustgetmuscles1 Posts: 3,346 Member
    I dont really understand. It seems you are purposely not imputing all of your exercise and telling MFP you want to lose 2 lbs per week but surprised it does not match other calculators.

    Maybe I am misunderstanding.

    Log and eat what it tells you then adjust calories up or down to match your goals. OR manually input what the other calculators tell you, dont log your workouts, and adjust calories up or down to match your goals.
  • Sarauk2sf
    Sarauk2sf Posts: 28,072 Member
    I had a look at your diary - assuming accurate logging, you are eating about 2,700 calories a day.

    What are your stats?

    Also, read this: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/818082-exercise-calories-again-wtf
  • Sarauk2sf
    Sarauk2sf Posts: 28,072 Member
    With moderate activity, it says I can eat 2751 calories/day to lose 2 pounds/week.

    Sedentary, around 1950 calories/day.

    Both a lot higher than myfitnesspal. Not sure which is right anymore.

    I might have to just wing it and up the calories by 300-500 and see how the weight loss goes for a month lol.

    From your diary, I would not increase calories.

    How much are you actually losing? How much over the last say 4 weeks?
  • StevenH74
    StevenH74 Posts: 129
    I am about the same and have the same target and mine is 1870 but I put myself down as moderately active or something.
  • RoyBeck
    RoyBeck Posts: 947 Member
    I'm 212 and lose 1lb per week on 2100.

    When I started in May I was 266 and ate around 1800 so I was never as low as 1660 but not far off. With that exercise I would say you could lose on a bit more, say 1900 NET, but that's just my opinion. Feel free to add/PM me if you like I'd love to help further.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    You have to eat your exercise calories back. Or just use http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/

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