HELP! Trainer upped calories by 1000?

I was talking to my trainer yesterday and he was asking how much I was eating. He looked at my app and almost fell over. "You can't eat 1400 calories a day, you'll die!" So then he did some quick math and told me I need to be eating 2200 calories a day.

Does anyone have any advice on this? How am I going to be losing weight eating that many calories a day?

HELP!
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Replies

  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    Depends on your stats.
  • Sabine_Stroehm
    Sabine_Stroehm Posts: 19,263 Member
    Francl27 wrote: »
    Depends on your stats.

    ^^this^^
  • YMTaylor
    YMTaylor Posts: 230 Member
    Is your trainer a certified personal trainer? Do you trust him? Just my personal thoughts but why take the advice of random people online over your trainer? Depending on your stats like Francl said, upping your calories just might be the thing you need. Make them good, healthy calories and see what happens.
  • StealthHealth
    StealthHealth Posts: 2,417 Member
    Francl27 wrote: »
    Depends on your stats.

    and your goal - do you and your trainer have a clear understanding of what your goal is? It's not a given.
  • Mystical64
    Mystical64 Posts: 108 Member
    torid10 wrote: »
    I was talking to my trainer yesterday and he was asking how much I was eating. He looked at my app and almost fell over. "You can't eat 1400 calories a day, you'll die!" So then he did some quick math and told me I need to be eating 2200 calories a day.

    Does anyone have any advice on this? How am I going to be losing weight eating that many calories a day?

    HELP!

    YES!

    My trainer had upped my calories so many times the first six months of my journey. I kept thinking, there is no way this is correct. But every time, I would lose. You have to feed your body to fuel it. It also depends on the actives you are doing.

    I always went with what my trainer said, and he never steered me wrong.

  • Maxematics
    Maxematics Posts: 2,287 Member
    Knowing your stats would be helpful, but I am 5'3" and 112 pounds and my maintenance is around 2200 on most days due to my activity level. Now that I'm trying to build muscle, I regularly take in 2400. So, depending on your goals, the amount you were told to eat by your trainer may be just right.
  • runnerchick69
    runnerchick69 Posts: 317 Member
    Mystical64 wrote: »
    torid10 wrote: »
    I was talking to my trainer yesterday and he was asking how much I was eating. He looked at my app and almost fell over. "You can't eat 1400 calories a day, you'll die!" So then he did some quick math and told me I need to be eating 2200 calories a day.

    Does anyone have any advice on this? How am I going to be losing weight eating that many calories a day?

    HELP!

    YES!

    My trainer had upped my calories so many times the first six months of my journey. I kept thinking, there is no way this is correct. But every time, I would lose. You have to feed your body to fuel it. It also depends on the actives you are doing.

    I always went with what my trainer said, and he never steered me wrong.

    This a million times! I lost weight by reducing calories and then I lost more weight by increasing calories. I know how backward it sounds and I fully understand your fear but at least give it a try :)
  • sonjavon
    sonjavon Posts: 1,019 Member
    I agree that it depends on your stats - how much you currently weight and how active your lifestyle is. But also, make sure your trainer (and you) understand how the app works with exercise calories. If you are only eating 1400 calories a day and burning 800 calories in your workouts and not adding those calories back in - you will do yourself harm. But if you are eating 1400 calories, burning 800 and eating back those calories - then you're doing exactly what your trainer said!
  • SingingSingleTracker
    SingingSingleTracker Posts: 1,866 Member
    torid10 wrote: »
    I was talking to my trainer yesterday and he was asking how much I was eating. He looked at my app and almost fell over. "You can't eat 1400 calories a day, you'll die!" So then he did some quick math and told me I need to be eating 2200 calories a day.

    Does anyone have any advice on this? How am I going to be losing weight eating that many calories a day?

    HELP!

    Don't panic.

    Plug in your stats here to see what you need to eat to maintain your weight, lose a pound a week, lose 2 pounds a week, gain a pound a week, and gain 2 pounds a week.

    http://www.calculator.net/calorie-calculator.html
  • torid10
    torid10 Posts: 37 Member
    I am 5'3 and currently weigh about 175lbs. I am trying to lose right now, so that is why I am so confused as to why he would give me such a large number of calories to consume.
  • sonjavon
    sonjavon Posts: 1,019 Member
    torid10 wrote: »
    I am 5'3 and currently weigh about 175lbs. I am trying to lose right now, so that is why I am so confused as to why he would give me such a large number of calories to consume.
    How many calories are you burning in exercise per day?

  • ColossusCain
    ColossusCain Posts: 124 Member
    torid10 wrote: »
    I was talking to my trainer yesterday and he was asking how much I was eating. He looked at my app and almost fell over. "You can't eat 1400 calories a day, you'll die!" So then he did some quick math and told me I need to be eating 2200 calories a day.

    Does anyone have any advice on this? How am I going to be losing weight eating that many calories a day?

    HELP!

    Your trainer is there to help you succeed. If you do not progress he/she becomes unemployed. Bottom line, stop asking a bunch of strangers on a random site what they think and pay attention to the person that knows you and is trained to help you win
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    torid10 wrote: »
    I am 5'3 and currently weigh about 175lbs. I am trying to lose right now, so that is why I am so confused as to why he would give me such a large number of calories to consume.

    Ok that seems excessive then. Don't listen to him, although 1400 seems too low if you exercise regularly (I'm assuming you're not eating exercise calories back).

    Go to http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/ and enter your stats with a 20% deficit, and just eat that every day.
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,993 Member
    YMTaylor wrote: »
    Is your trainer a certified personal trainer? Do you trust him? Just my personal thoughts but why take the advice of random people online over your trainer? Depending on your stats like Francl said, upping your calories just might be the thing you need. Make them good, healthy calories and see what happens.
    Unless trainer actually went to school to learn nutrition, many parrot "broscience". Yes one could eat too little and have too high a deficit, but I've met and worked with many trainers who don't have any inkling of an idea on how nutrition actually works. Many would conform with the idea that a post shake is NEEDED after a workout, when in truth, it's not.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

    9285851.png
  • SingingSingleTracker
    SingingSingleTracker Posts: 1,866 Member
    torid10 wrote: »
    I am 5'3 and currently weigh about 175lbs. I am trying to lose right now, so that is why I am so confused as to why he would give me such a large number of calories to consume.

    Looks like a target of dropping a pound a week means you should be eating 1321 calories per day at your age/height/weight. 2200 Calories a day is going to have you gaining nearly a pound a week.

    25352106452_ea39e15311_o.jpg
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,993 Member
    torid10 wrote: »
    I am 5'3 and currently weigh about 175lbs. I am trying to lose right now, so that is why I am so confused as to why he would give me such a large number of calories to consume.
    If your TDEE is 2700 calories a day, then that's fine. Based on your stats your BMR is around 1650. So that's about another 950 calories you burn exercising and just being physically active (walking around, getting up and down, chores etc.) to meet that number. And that doesn't sound unreasonable.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

    9285851.png

  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    torid10 wrote: »
    I am 5'3 and currently weigh about 175lbs. I am trying to lose right now, so that is why I am so confused as to why he would give me such a large number of calories to consume.

    Looks like a target of dropping a pound a week means you should be eating 1321 calories per day at your age/height/weight. 2200 Calories a day is going to have you gaining nearly a pound a week.

    25352106452_ea39e15311_o.jpg

    No way. If she was bed ridden maybe...
  • CasperNaegle
    CasperNaegle Posts: 936 Member
    You do have to feed your body to lose weight, however that number seems high to me. I would just watch what happens over a couple of weeks. It will depend on your exercise routine, how active you are in a day, etc. You can always work it back down if you don't track the way you want to.
  • I_Will_End_You
    I_Will_End_You Posts: 4,397 Member
    I agree that the number sounds high. Trainers tend to spout out a lot of nonsense when it comes to nutrition. How are you doing with 1400 calories? Do you feel good, are you losing at a reasonable pace?
  • StealthHealth
    StealthHealth Posts: 2,417 Member
    I agree that the number sounds high. Trainers tend to spout out a lot of nonsense when it comes to nutrition. How are you doing with 1400 calories? Do you feel good, are you losing at a reasonable pace?

    ^^ This is the acid test.
  • ilex70
    ilex70 Posts: 727 Member
    Hey OP, lots of different advice, eh?

    I would freak at jumping 1000 calories in one go to...don't think I could do it.

    Well FWIW there is a rule of thumb that you shouldn't eat less than body weight X 10, which for you would be 1750 calories a day. So in your shoes I think I would try that first - 1750 - then if you are still losing try bumping it 100 a day, still losing bump it another 100 a day, etc. It may well be that you can be happy and losing well on 2200, but this way the scale is less likely to jump up on you. More food is good, right? :)

    I've been eating less than body weight X 10. Naughty of me..OTOH there is also another little tidbit out there that you can supposedly pull 31 calories a day from every pound of fat. Could be that number is higher than my actual, but if it is 31 calories a pound then I could theoretically eat only about 700 calories a day and still not burn through lean mass. Not going to push it that far though.
  • SingingSingleTracker
    SingingSingleTracker Posts: 1,866 Member
    Francl27 wrote: »
    torid10 wrote: »
    I am 5'3 and currently weigh about 175lbs. I am trying to lose right now, so that is why I am so confused as to why he would give me such a large number of calories to consume.

    Looks like a target of dropping a pound a week means you should be eating 1321 calories per day at your age/height/weight. 2200 Calories a day is going to have you gaining nearly a pound a week.

    25352106452_ea39e15311_o.jpg

    No way. If she was bed ridden maybe...

    Go ahead - feel free to play around with that calculator. That's with the pull down menu set at sedentary. Plug in the numbers and pull down the menu to the other options. The OP is trying to lose weight, so she is going to have to maintain a deficit (even with exercise) to do that.
  • trinty425
    trinty425 Posts: 108 Member
    I am in a diabetes prevention program right now...and I was averaging 1300-1400 calories a day. Now my lifestyle coach (she is highly qualified) is telling me to eat 1850 calories a day. This is even with still being fairly sedentary and have not started any real workout routine. The first few days I felt miserable trying to eat so much more, and really thought that this was not going to work.

    Now...it's only been 8 days eating more than I was...and I've held steady at 1.5 lbs lost for the last 3 days. It's still early, but it is showing promise....eat more to lose more. I know it sounds counter-productive...but if your trainer is licensed and trustworthy you might want to try out what they say for a little bit at least. Especially since you are on a workout routine....the more you workout the more your body needs.
  • msf74
    msf74 Posts: 3,498 Member
    Gross or net calories?

    How much exercise are you doing per week?
  • Cindy01Louisiana
    Cindy01Louisiana Posts: 302 Member
    edited March 2016
    Francl27,

    Why do you say "No way..."? I just used the same calculator and this is what is said for me:

    5'10"
    167 lb.
    49 Years
    Moderately active
    It said to lose 2 pounds a week, I'm at 1287 or so.
    I try to keep my Net Calories below 1300 and usually eat less than half my exercise calories back. I just started this journey, so I've seen no results yet.

    But, my question is why do you say "No way" when that is what the calorie calculator is saying? Are you saying it is not a good tool?

  • sllm1
    sllm1 Posts: 2,130 Member
    I would give 1800 or so a go for awhile to see what happens. I wouldn't add 1000 a day for sure.

    I have upped my calories in the last 6 months to fuel my workouts, and I feel like I'm on a much better track than when I tried to eat too little. I'm still losing. I'm more focused on getting fitter and less on moving the scale down as quickly as possible.
  • msf74
    msf74 Posts: 3,498 Member
    ilex70 wrote: »
    Well FWIW there is a rule of thumb that you shouldn't eat less than body weight X 10, which for you would be 1750 calories a day. So in your shoes I think I would try that first - 1750 - then if you are still losing try bumping it 100 a day, still losing bump it another 100 a day, etc. It may well be that you can be happy and losing well on 2200, but this way the scale is less likely to jump up on you. More food is good, right? :)

    Total body weight x 10 is used as a rough estimate to calculate BMR for individuals who are not particularly overweight. Therefore if a person eats that amount per day (so gross calories - no eating back exercise calories) their deficit will be created through planned exercise, unconscious physical activity and energy cost of digestion. Therefore weight loss should occur.

    The trainer's suggestion of 2,200 calories equates to about the OP's total body weight x 12 which is a rough estimate to calculate maintenance calories for a sedentary lifestyle. Same principle applies as above but the deficit generally comes from planned exercise. The higher calorie intake may allow the individual to do more exercise however comfortably which can be good for body composition - the eat more do more approach.

    And yes, more food is a nice bonus!
  • Mystical64
    Mystical64 Posts: 108 Member
    I would go with what the trainer says. Mine has never been wrong when he told me I wasn't eating enough. There are so many people that think they know everything. And I had great success this past year. I listened to everything he said. Even when I didn't think it was right, but never mislead me. Just saying
  • 3dogsrunning
    3dogsrunning Posts: 27,167 Member
    torid10 wrote: »
    I am 5'3 and currently weigh about 175lbs. I am trying to lose right now, so that is why I am so confused as to why he would give me such a large number of calories to consume.

    Looks like a target of dropping a pound a week means you should be eating 1321 calories per day at your age/height/weight. 2200 Calories a day is going to have you gaining nearly a pound a week.

    25352106452_ea39e15311_o.jpg

    But OP is not sedentary.
  • 3dogsrunning
    3dogsrunning Posts: 27,167 Member
    Francl27,

    Why do you say "No way..."? I just used the same calculator and this is what is said for me:

    5'10"
    167 lb.
    49 Years
    Moderately active
    It said to lose 2 pounds a week, I'm at 1287 or so.
    I try to keep my Net Calories below 1300 and usually eat less than half my exercise calories back. I just started this journey, so I've seen no results yet.

    But, my question is why do you say "No way" when that is what the calorie calculator is saying? Are you saying it is not a good tool?

    No way because the poster suggested the OP eat at sedentary level which gives a low number. Op is not sedentary.

    In your case -
    #1 - two pounds a week is too high of a goal for your stats.
    #2 - that calculator includes exercise so that is supposed to be your calorie goal, not net. If you net that, you're calorie intake will be higher, which alleviates the concern of #1.