Is 1520 calories a day too little or too much
bijank0
Posts: 11
Hey guys,
I'm an 18 year old 5"10.5' man who weighs around 168 pounds. I know the weight makes me sound fairly fit, but I am still quite fat. I'm about 17% body fat, and since dropping from 186 lbs, very few have told me I look skinnier ( although a couple have). Anyway, I want to get down to 155-160, and I'm eating about 1500 each day while running 3 miles in 30 minutes about 3-4 days a week. The results have been great as I have been losing about 2 pounds each week, however, upon doing some readings I heard that 1500 calories maybe too few. I used to be on an 1800 calorie diet wth the same amount of exercise and I lost barely anything, so I find this much more effective. Should I go lower higher or stay the same?
Also, I usually do 1-2 cheat days a week where my calories go up to 1.800-2.000, but I still eat fairly healthy foods. You can check out my food log
I'm an 18 year old 5"10.5' man who weighs around 168 pounds. I know the weight makes me sound fairly fit, but I am still quite fat. I'm about 17% body fat, and since dropping from 186 lbs, very few have told me I look skinnier ( although a couple have). Anyway, I want to get down to 155-160, and I'm eating about 1500 each day while running 3 miles in 30 minutes about 3-4 days a week. The results have been great as I have been losing about 2 pounds each week, however, upon doing some readings I heard that 1500 calories maybe too few. I used to be on an 1800 calorie diet wth the same amount of exercise and I lost barely anything, so I find this much more effective. Should I go lower higher or stay the same?
Also, I usually do 1-2 cheat days a week where my calories go up to 1.800-2.000, but I still eat fairly healthy foods. You can check out my food log
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Replies
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If you want to lose the body fat - decrease your cardio and start lifting.
Good luck!0 -
And yes - you should probably increase you calories - and balance your macros differently0
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Either you math is flawed or your experiment with different intake levels did not last long enough. There is no way you should be losing 2 pounds a week at an intake of 1500 calories and not losing anything at 1800.
For the record, I am female, weigh less than you, am shorter than you and am older than you. I can lose weight while consuming over 2000 calories. While it sounds like I exercise a lot more than you as well, I am very confident you should be able to eat a lot more than 1500 calories and still lose weight.
My goal is to lose .5 pounds per week and I am concerned about limiting muscle loss. 2 pounds a week is way to quick to lose weight for someone of your size.0 -
noexcusesjustresults2014 wrote: »Either you math is flawed or your experiment with different intake levels did not last long enough. There is no way you should be losing 2 pounds a week (implying a TDEE deficit of 1000 calories) at an intake of 1500 calories and not losing anything at 1800.
For the record, I am female, weigh less than you, am shorter than you and am older than you. I can lose weight while consuming over 2000 calories.
My goal is to lose about .5 pounds a week while lifting weights and consuming lots of protein. I am concerned about muscle preservation. I strongly disagree that your losing 2 pounds a week is "great". I suggest you eat more and reduce your deficit if you continue losing weight so quickly.
Alright I'm sorry, let me rephrase that.
I didn't lose a significant enough amount while eating 1800. So there, but still do you think I'm eating too little?-1 -
noexcusesjustresults2014 wrote: »Either you math is flawed or your experiment with different intake levels did not last long enough. There is no way you should be losing 2 pounds a week (implying a TDEE deficit of 1000 calories) at an intake of 1500 calories and not losing anything at 1800.
For the record, I am female, weigh less than you, am shorter than you and am older than you. I can lose weight while consuming over 2000 calories.
My goal is to lose about .5 pounds a week while lifting weights and consuming lots of protein. I am concerned about muscle preservation. I strongly disagree that your losing 2 pounds a week is "great". I suggest you eat more and reduce your deficit if you continue losing weight so quickly.
Alright I'm sorry, let me rephrase that.
I didn't lose a significant enough amount while eating 1800. So there, but still do you think I'm eating too little?
I think you are eating too little. From what I have read, large deficits are meant for people who have a lot more weight to lose. As your body fat percentage drops, the percentage of muscle loss/weight loss tends to increase. The way to minimize this is to keep your deficit small, consume enough protein and lift weights.0 -
harlequin0318 wrote: »If you want to lose the body fat - decrease your cardio and start lifting.
Good luck!
I agree that lifting (with enough protein on a small deficit) is a great idea, but disagree that he needs to decrease cardio. I guarantee Usain Bolt does more cardio than that. Does he look muscular enough to you?
Running 3 miles 3-4 times per week like OP is not going to do him any harm.
There is a point (at very high mileages) where running can make a strength training more difficult, but this is not that situation.
Add strength training, but there is no need to stop running:)
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Yes it's far too few calories
You should be losing very slowly at your weight ..no more than 0.5lbs a week
You should enter your details on here http://www.weightloss-calculator.net or http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/ to get a good idea of what you should be consuming and you should increase slowly at say 100 a day a week until you hit those points
For your height and weight loss target you should be eating around 2000 calories
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You're so close to what you want to weigh, that you should be thinking long term. You're no longer fixing a weight problem, you're setting up your future long-term habits. And, at 18, you still might be growing a little taller -- so it's not a time to cut calories and nutrients back very far. Eat from all of the food groups, including a fair amount of dairy and eggs.0
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For your age size and gender, yes you are eating too little. Losing at a rate of 2 pounds a week, is eating away your muscle as it takes that fat, its not worth it. I would definitely look into a progressive weight lifting program at this point.0
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First off17% body fat is not fat. However I understand where you are trying to get to because I am also 5 10 and I'm shooting for 13% body fat and I believe 155 is the number not only from calculating the fat left to lose but that was also a number I remember when I played college sports.
You do need to include some resistance exercises to get that nice and lean look. Right now I use rowing, swimming, pushups, squats, bicycles and kickboxing to give me muscle definition. Not because they are the best ways to get it but because that's what I like to do for the body I want back.
If you are ok at that number then go ahead. However i don't think you need it that low and with these cheat days, I highly doubt that's what you are really doing.
My target BMR is around 1650 and on exercise days sometimes I get well below that. My TDEE is around 2300. If 3500 calories is one pound of fat, then all I'm trying to do is make sure that I net for the week a deficit of 3500+ calories. Just doing my normal routine, learning more about foods, and watching the fat melt away.0 -
noexcusesjustresults2014 wrote: »Either you math is flawed or your experiment with different intake levels did not last long enough. There is no way you should be losing 2 pounds a week (implying a TDEE deficit of 1000 calories) at an intake of 1500 calories and not losing anything at 1800.
For the record, I am female, weigh less than you, am shorter than you and am older than you. I can lose weight while consuming over 2000 calories.
My goal is to lose about .5 pounds a week while lifting weights and consuming lots of protein. I am concerned about muscle preservation. I strongly disagree that your losing 2 pounds a week is "great". I suggest you eat more and reduce your deficit if you continue losing weight so quickly.
Alright I'm sorry, let me rephrase that.
I didn't lose a significant enough amount while eating 1800. So there, but still do you think I'm eating too little?
If you weren't losing at 1800 then you were eating more than you think0 -
noexcusesjustresults2014 wrote: »harlequin0318 wrote: »If you want to lose the body fat - decrease your cardio and start lifting.
Good luck!
I agree that lifting (with enough protein on a small deficit) is a great idea, but disagree that he needs to decrease cardio. I guarantee Usain Bolt does more cardio than that. Does he look muscular enough to you?
Running 3 miles 3-4 times per week like OP is not going to do him any harm.
There is a point (at very high mileages) where running can make a strength training more difficult, but this is not that situation.
Add strength training, but there is no need to stop running:)
My guess is that the suggestion was based on an assumption that he had limited time to workout. If he keeps the running and adds strength training, then he'd need to eat even more (which really isn't a problem lol). Again, just guessing though. I bet Usain ain't eating no 2000 calories :laugh:
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noexcusesjustresults2014 wrote: »Either you math is flawed or your experiment with different intake levels did not last long enough. There is no way you should be losing 2 pounds a week (implying a TDEE deficit of 1000 calories) at an intake of 1500 calories and not losing anything at 1800.
For the record, I am female, weigh less than you, am shorter than you and am older than you. I can lose weight while consuming over 2000 calories.
My goal is to lose about .5 pounds a week while lifting weights and consuming lots of protein. I am concerned about muscle preservation. I strongly disagree that your losing 2 pounds a week is "great". I suggest you eat more and reduce your deficit if you continue losing weight so quickly.
Alright I'm sorry, let me rephrase that.
I didn't lose a significant enough amount while eating 1800. So there, but still do you think I'm eating too little?
If you weren't losing at 1800 then you were eating more than you think
This. And you're not eating 1520, you're eating more than that with your 'cheat days'. They count.0 -
noexcusesjustresults2014 wrote: »Either you math is flawed or your experiment with different intake levels did not last long enough. There is no way you should be losing 2 pounds a week (implying a TDEE deficit of 1000 calories) at an intake of 1500 calories and not losing anything at 1800.
For the record, I am female, weigh less than you, am shorter than you and am older than you. I can lose weight while consuming over 2000 calories.
My goal is to lose about .5 pounds a week while lifting weights and consuming lots of protein. I am concerned about muscle preservation. I strongly disagree that your losing 2 pounds a week is "great". I suggest you eat more and reduce your deficit if you continue losing weight so quickly.
Alright I'm sorry, let me rephrase that.
I didn't lose a significant enough amount while eating 1800. So there, but still do you think I'm eating too little?
If you weren't losing at 1800 then you were eating more than you think
This. And you're not eating 1520, you're eating more than that with your 'cheat days'. They count.
Well people are saying I should be losing 0.5 a week instead of 2 pounds so I guess I am not eating very much0
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