How many calories to eat.

coltonweisbrod
coltonweisbrod Posts: 32 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hey everybody!
To begin with, I'm a 6"4 male. I weight 215 and workout just about daily extremely hard. With a rest day one a week if I feel it's necessary which I usually don't. I'm a division 1 athlete and play basketball. With all of that said, I've had a lot of trouble figuring out how much to eat. Every time I use a formula or calculator online I get in the high 3,000's with exercise added in. But I'm just tried to drop some body fat. Could anyone help me get a solid estimate of how much I should be consuming. Carbs are also a question point for me. I been trying around 225g.

Replies

  • shadow2soul
    shadow2soul Posts: 7,692 Member
    Why not just set up your profile here on MFP and use the calorie goal it gives you? Then after about a month you can adjust the goal up or down as needed based on your results during that time period.
  • stevesample76
    stevesample76 Posts: 248 Member
    Your macros may be just as important as your calorie goal. If you are wanting to drop body fat I would go with a 40P/40C/20F. Your calorie goal sounds about right with your high level of activity. Have you been tracking? Do you know how many calories a day you are currently consuming?
  • coltonweisbrod
    coltonweisbrod Posts: 32 Member
    Yes I originally figured I would start around 3300 and go from there and reduce if I needed too. But I talked myself out of it cause I'm stubborn about trying to get rid of the fat that I have so I'm eating about 2800 but it's only been a few days on that. I was originally eating way under that due to bad advice and I believe that my body was pretty much holding on to the calories it was getting which caused me to retain all my weight. My split is about 40/40/20. Upping my carbs maybe around 50g on days that I combine chest and back in the gym
  • coltonweisbrod
    coltonweisbrod Posts: 32 Member
    stevesample76 wrote: »
    Your macros may be just as important as your calorie goal. If you are wanting to drop body fat I would go with a 40P/40C/20F. Your calorie goal sounds about right with your high level of activity. Have you been tracking? Do you know how many calories a day you are currently consuming?
    But yes I agree macros are definitely important and I have no problem hitting those. The only problem is Ive struggled with where exactly my calorie limit should be. I actually managed to eat 1700-1800 for about two weeks. Which is ridiculously low. So I can handle calories, just want to be getting the right amount in for me to be loosing weight a good pace and keeping my muscle

  • Northernlight03
    Northernlight03 Posts: 1,980 Member
    Hope you figure it all out!
  • stevesample76
    stevesample76 Posts: 248 Member
    If your set at 2800 now I would stay there for a week or two and see how your body reacts. If you were eating much lower than that prior to setting it there you may see a little weight gain. If you dont see any change I would up it 100-200 calories a week. It seems crazy but a lot of times eating more will break the plateau and get you burning fat again.
  • coltonweisbrod
    coltonweisbrod Posts: 32 Member
    stevesample76 wrote: »
    If your set at 2800 now I would stay there for a week or two and see how your body reacts. If you were eating much lower than that prior to setting it there you may see a little weight gain. If you dont see any change I would up it 100-200 calories a week. It seems crazy but a lot of times eating more will break the plateau and get you burning fat again.

    Yes! I had a big cheat meal Sunday which is usual. Then upped my calories from 1800 to 2800. I went from about to 212 Sunday and woke up today and weighed 217. I was surprised. But that does make sense.
  • MakePeasNotWar
    MakePeasNotWar Posts: 1,329 Member
    2800 should give you a pretty big deficit. At 40 years old, 5'9", 140 and female, I lose at 2500 calories a day when I'm training hard for a tournament. With your stats and activity level you should be able to lose easily at 2800.

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