Calorie help!!!!!!

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ccarpenter80
ccarpenter80 Posts: 20
in Health and Weight Loss
I am so confused on how many calories to intake to lose weight. I would like to lose 2-3 pounds a week. I workout 6 days a week. For at least an hour each time. I eat 5 small meals a day. Currently weigh 217. Goal weight is 165. I do lift 4 days a week which really slows the scale down to. Suggestions?
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  • Willdta
    Willdta Posts: 11
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    You have to be in a caloric deficit in order to lose weight. You have to find your maintenance calories which is the calories you can eat to not gain/lose weight. From there, you have to subtract 500 calories and that's when you will start losing weight. Make sure to not decrease your calorie intake by more than 1000 because you will experience muscle loss. Hitting your macros (proteins, fats and carbs) is important as well; also fiber. If you can tell me your height, I can give you your calories needed for weight loss. Feel free to message me if you need anything else.
  • bekahlou75
    bekahlou75 Posts: 304 Member
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    How many calories are eating now?
  • _HeartsOnFire_
    _HeartsOnFire_ Posts: 5,304 Member
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    How many calories are you eating? Do you weigh your food?


    Read these:
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1235566-so-you-re-new-here?hl=so+you're+new+here

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/975025-in-place-of-a-road-map-short-n-sweet

    If you have 75+ lbs to lose 2 lbs/week is ideal
    If you have 40-75 lbs to lose 1.5 lbs/week is ideal
    If you have 25-40 lbs to lose 1 lbs/week is ideal
    If you have 15 -25 lbs to lose 0.5 to 1.0 lbs/week is ideal
    If you have less than 15 lbs to lose 0.5 lbs/week is ideal
  • echofm1
    echofm1 Posts: 471 Member
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    I am so confused on how many calories to intake to lose weight. I would like to lose 2-3 pounds a week. I workout 6 days a week. For at least an hour each time. I eat 5 small meals a day. Currently weigh 217. Goal weight is 165. I do lift 4 days a week which really slows the scale down to. Suggestions?

    First, your goal of 2-3 pounds a week is ambitious. A bit too ambitious for healthy, sustainable weight loss. You might want to start with readjusting those. The only people who hit that average are quite heavy, not a bit overweight. Take me for example. I started at 343 pounds. I lost 3 pounds a week in the beginning, but even at 263 I'd have to eat pretty low to hit that. You should be aiming for about 1 pound a week.

    And there are two ways you can do it. Figure out your TDEE, for which we need your age, height and weight. This method accounts for your exercise, so you eat the same amount every day and do not eat back exercise calories. Option 2 is using MFP's system. In which case, fill out your profile and when you exercise, log that too so you can eat back your exercise calories. Do you have a preference? Some people like the consistency of TDEE. I like the motivation of more food if I exercise in MFP's method.

    No one can give you hard numbers though until we know your height and age.
  • diannethegeek
    diannethegeek Posts: 14,776 Member
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    Good advice and really good links above. Please, take some time and read through them.

    Let me add another one: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/819055-setting-your-calorie-and-macro-targets

    This will walk you through the two methods mentioned of figuring out your calorie goals.
  • jrmatt93
    jrmatt93 Posts: 1 Member
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    I would say you're going to have a tough time losing 2+ pounds per week and doing strength/weight training. I know that sounds a bit depressing, but you will be adding muscle, so don't just judge your results on the scale alone. Follow Willdta's advice -- 500 calorie deficit a day -- which equates to 1 pound per week. You may find that you lose more than a pound some weeks and you may have some "stubborn" weeks, but overall you will be glad you added strength training. You could also try cycling by lifting for 3 weeks and taking 1-3 weeks off.

    In terms of how often to lift, it depends on your goals, but hitting each muscle group (chest, back, shoulders, biceps, triceps, legs, abs) once per week is a good start. Abs you could do 3x per week.
  • Commander_Keen
    Commander_Keen Posts: 1,181 Member
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    Focus on eating between 1200 - 1500.
    Eat the number of calories as a 165lbs person would.
  • ccarpenter80
    ccarpenter80 Posts: 20
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    5'6. I have my macros set at 40% protein 40% carbs and 20% fat. I usually go over on the protein side though. Is this a good setup?
  • WBB55
    WBB55 Posts: 4,131 Member
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    5'6. I have my macros set at 40% protein 40% carbs and 20% fat. I usually go over on the protein side though. Is this a good setup?

    But how many calories are you eating?
  • ccarpenter80
    ccarpenter80 Posts: 20
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    Thats exactly what I do with weights. Sometimes I hit legs twice just because I love it lol. I never thought about the one week off! Great idea thank you. That will be a hard week I love to lift. I need to get the scale out of head and throw it away. I know the benefits of lifting and losing and really need to stop weighing myself and just do measurments
  • ccarpenter80
    ccarpenter80 Posts: 20
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    Right now I eat around 1500
  • ccarpenter80
    ccarpenter80 Posts: 20
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    34 and 5'6.
  • WBB55
    WBB55 Posts: 4,131 Member
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    Right now I eat around 1500

    seems reasonable for an average day. do you eat more than this on the days you work out?
  • ccarpenter80
    ccarpenter80 Posts: 20
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    No that is the max I eat. If I dont work out I try to eat less.
  • WBB55
    WBB55 Posts: 4,131 Member
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    No that is the max I eat. If I dont work out I try to eat less.

    This is just me, so your millage my vary. If you were me, I'd eat closer to 1500 on my off days and 1800 on my workout days. I like to workout HARD. REALLY HARD. And I find that if I eat in the 1200-1500 range every day, I simply don't have the same kind of energy to really push myself if I eat less than 1500 on average over the long term. If my average intake was less than 1500, I'd run two miles and collapse. But that's just me. I have a lot of muscle and I like to give it the energy it needs to really perform at a high level.
  • ccarpenter80
    ccarpenter80 Posts: 20
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    No that is the max I eat. If I dont work out I try to eat less.

    This is just me, so your millage my vary. If you were me, I'd eat closer to 1500 on my off days and 1800 on my workout days. I like to workout HARD. REALLY HARD. And I find that if I eat in the 1200-1500 range every day, I simply don't have the same kind of energy to really push myself if I eat less than 1500 on average over the long term. If my average intake was less than 1500, I'd run two miles and collapse. But that's just me. I have a lot of muscle and I like to give it the energy it needs to really perform at a high level.


    I dont want to ruin muscle which is my goal to lose fat and build muscle. I'm not trying to get super skinny weight goal is 165. I do fasted cardio at 5am 4-5 days a week for a half an hour on the elliptical. Then I go back int he evening for weights. On non weight days I go to the park and walk for over an hour. I'm thinking to much cardio and not enough food! I do not want lose skin or to be flabby!
  • secretsofmanna
    secretsofmanna Posts: 7 Member
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    You're macros are also a little uneven, you want more carbs than protein.

    Extra protein gets stored as fat, so you won't be helping yourself by eating a ton of it. This is a mistake most people make, including myself.

    Carbs are your fuel source, bump those up a little and try to select whole wheat, unrefined wheats.

    Also, if you track your calories every day, MFP does a great job of guiding you throughout your weight loss. I would also recommend measuring your body fat percentage either with a scale or whatever. This might help you see progress better than just scale numbers alone since you are building muscle.
  • WBB55
    WBB55 Posts: 4,131 Member
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    I do not want lose skin or to be flabby!

    So change your goal to lose 1# per week. Honestly, I mean it. Learn from the mistakes the rest of us made.
  • secretsofmanna
    secretsofmanna Posts: 7 Member
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    I do fasted cardio at 5am 4-5 days a week for a half an hour on the elliptical.

    This honestly concerns me. Eating a healthy breakfast when you wake up is very important for how you feel the rest of the day and it also helps kick start your metabolism. You are not gaining anything by trying to do cardio on an empty stomach. You should at least have a quick energizing snack is you don't have time for breakfast right then. A piece of toast with some peanut butter would even be fine.
  • secretsofmanna
    secretsofmanna Posts: 7 Member
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    Also, 3500 calories is about equal to a pound of fat. This means you need to have a deficit of 3500 calories to lose one pound.

    And a reminder, it is not healthy to lose more than 2lbs per week. You are more likely going to put your body into starvation mode which will slow your metabolism. Slow and steady wins the race.

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