Am I eating enough?

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Reinventi0n
Reinventi0n Posts: 71 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I am a 22 year old guy that currently weighs 186 pounds at 5'10. I have lost about 37 pounds so far and would like to lose about 30 more. MFP has me at 1590 calories per day with a lightly active activity level and set to lose 2 pounds per week. I have been pretty consistent in losing about 2 pounds per week (give or take) and I am satisfied with that speed of weight loss.

However, I am starting to become concerned that 1590 calories a day is too little for me. While I know I should probably change my rate of weight loss to 1.5 pounds a week so I can have a slightly higher calorie goal, I do not want to slow down my weight loss progress but I also don't want to start stalling because I am eating too little.

How do I know if 1590 calories per day is enough for me? Is it too low?

If it is too low, how can I determine a healthy calorie goal for myself that won't slow down my weight loss?

Any thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Replies

  • GauchoMark
    GauchoMark Posts: 1,804 Member
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    The main danger of losing weight at that rate is muscle loss. However, you can mitigate this by making sure you are eating 1-1.25g protein/lb lean body mass and some weight training. Keep in mind that your goal at the gym is to retain muscle, not build, so don't go in expecting to be a beast on 1500 calories a day.

    If you are doing those two things and feel fine, considering that you still have 30 lbs to lose, you are doing just fine.

    As you get closer to your goal, you may want to slow down, but only if you start seeing muscle loss or start feeling like you need more energy.
  • terbusha
    terbusha Posts: 1,483 Member
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    You should be eating more, at least 1800 cal/day. I dropped 64 lbs (getting to 166 lbs eating 1800-2000 cal/day, I'm 5'10"). How are you exercising to reach your goal? Also, what are your macros?

    Allan
  • Reinventi0n
    Reinventi0n Posts: 71 Member
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    You should be eating more, at least 1800 cal/day. I dropped 64 lbs (getting to 166 lbs eating 1800-2000 cal/day, I'm 5'10"). How are you exercising to reach your goal? Also, what are your macros?

    Allan

    I just started doing Focus T25 this past week and I also go on sporadic walks throughout the week. I could probably stand to get more exercise in. Generally I tend to get 30% Carbs, 30% Fat, and 40% Protein.
  • RobertReese12
    RobertReese12 Posts: 10
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    Eating food is necessary for health but doing exercise according to it is also necessary. It is also important that what type of food you are eating. Nutritious food never become a cause for increasing weight.
  • _lyndseybrooke_
    _lyndseybrooke_ Posts: 2,561 Member
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    No, you're not eating enough. The BARE MINIMUM calorie intake for men is 1600 calories, and I think even that's way too low for you, especially at your age. Your BMR is 1963, meaning your body will burn nearly 2000 calories while you're lying in a coma. If you get out of bed at any point during the day, you're burning more than that. I'd say your bare minimum would be more like 1800-1900. Your TDEE is 2700, so your TDEE-20% is 2160. So, you should be able to eat 2000-2160 calories per day and lose 1 lb per week. Go into MFP and change your goal from 2 lb/week to 1 lb/week or even .5 lb/week and see how your goal changed. Or, even better, manually change your goal to 1800-2160, don't log your exercise, and see what happens.

    In short, EAT MORE! And make sure you're getting 1 g protein per lb of bodyweight, or at least 1 g per lb of lean body mass.

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