Need a little help

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mitsvbishi
mitsvbishi Posts: 9 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Im 19yo male 6ft 214lbs, looking to get to 170. I wanna lose it in a healthy way. I wanna reduce as much loose skin as i can. I dont excercise but plan on starting weight lifting and strength training soon because its a good way to lose weight and build muscle to reduce lose skin. Is their any vitamins or supplements i could take to help like fish oil or multivitamins? Anything to help reduce lose skin. Foods i should eat more of?. I got this app to start counting calories. First time tracking yesterday. My goal is to lose 1lb a week. I put little activity just to keep a happy medium but my job keeps me on my feet around 10-20k steps a day with heavy lifting. It put my calorie goal to 2340 calories. Yesterday i ate all 3 meals and i only ate 640 calories but i felt i ate until i was full but got hungry inbetween meals. Is it bad to eat that little? Should i be increasing my portions? Im having a hard time with this. Also i dont make up my goal in protein and other things. Any tips?

Replies

  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
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    640 isn't enough at all for a small woman, let alone a larger man. 1,500 calories is the absolute minimum a man should eat and even that would be too low for a 214-pound 19-year-old man who is planning on exercising and has a job with physical activity.

    Yes, you should increase your portions. Yes, you should meet your goal for protein. Eating enough and getting enough protein isn't going to just protect your health, it will help reduce the amount of muscle you will lose while losing weight. You want to target your fat -- not your muscle. If you get full when eating but then get hungry between meals, add more "meals" and plan some snacks that fit into your goal.
  • VintageFeline
    VintageFeline Posts: 6,771 Member
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    What did you eat for 640 calories that left you, as a 6ft very active (and your steps do make you very active) male so stuffed you couldn't eat anything else? You can't even meet minimum protein needs for that few calories (I as a 5'5 164lb female need that many calories just from protein a day).

    Sedentary males should be aiming for 1500 calories minimum just to meet nutritional needs. You're going to have a very bad time if you carry on as you are and very quickly. Eat more. Add snacks, even protein bars or chocolate bars. Add oils and fats to your meals, eat fattier cuts of meat, even use protein shakes to supplement as it's easier to drink calories sometimes.
  • SamMarriottPT
    SamMarriottPT Posts: 33 Member
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    Hey man, I'll answer a few of those questions for you!

    1 - If your calorie goal is 2340kcal, only eating 640kcal will be doing no good for your goals long term. Thats a severely low amount of calories which can onset quite a few health implications. My advice would be to increase your portion sizes firstly to help increase your calorie intake overall, before looking to add in snacks. After this, then you can look at adding in additional snacks to have between meals to again help increase your calories. Try including high calorie / low volume foods in your diet such as cereal, bread, eggs, cheese, nuts etc because they provide a lot of calories for small portions. Using these foods means it shouldnt feel like you're eating a tonne of food, but you'll still gain a high amount of calories

    2 - Make sure you're getting atleast 0.8g of Protein per lb of bodyweight, so that way you wont lose muscle. If you're struggling for Protein intake, try and pre-plan your intake for the day, the night before. Make sure you plan out to have a high-protein food source in each of your three main meals (such as eggs at breakfast, chicken breast at lunch and salmon for dinner, aim for minimum 30g of Protein per meal) , and look to fill your snacks with high-protein snacks like yoghurt and nuts. To fill in the other gaps, I suggest using Whey Protein supplements to fill in the rest of your Protein Intake if needed!

    3 - My final tip is that there is nothing really to prevent loose skin, just make sure your weight loss is slow and progressive so that your body can adjust to the decrease in body fat. Target around 0.5-1lb a week and that should be fine.

    If you have any more questions feel free to add me :)
  • mitsvbishi
    mitsvbishi Posts: 9 Member
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    I had a packet of oatmeal for breakfast then chicken and broccoli for lunch then had sloppy joe for dinner but on a 100 calorie bun. I ate the amount of one serving for each food group. I just dont wanna overeat but i guess i didn't realise how little all that food is in calories. When you say add snack. Just anything? Theirs gotta be certain things not just eat anything but stay under calorie goal. Is it bad to go over your protein goal?. What other goals in nutrients should i meet. I just dont wanna overeat or be eating the wrong things. Should i double my oatmeal in morning and just add to my lunch?
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
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    It's not bad to go over your protein goal, i average around 150g a day, Fat is also a minimum that you should aim for, not go under.
    As for your calories, I'm a 5"8 147lb woman, age 44 and just my dinner on most days usually clock in at around 600 calories. So yes, you are severely unde reating.
  • Seffell
    Seffell Posts: 2,222 Member
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    mitsvbishi wrote: »
    I had a packet of oatmeal for breakfast then chicken and broccoli for lunch then had sloppy joe for dinner but on a 100 calorie bun. I ate the amount of one serving for each food group. I just dont wanna overeat but i guess i didn't realise how little all that food is in calories. When you say add snack. Just anything? Theirs gotta be certain things not just eat anything but stay under calorie goal. Is it bad to go over your protein goal?. What other goals in nutrients should i meet. I just dont wanna overeat or be eating the wrong things. Should i double my oatmeal in morning and just add to my lunch?
    How did you calculate the calories in these things? Looks more than 640 to me.
  • mitsvbishi
    mitsvbishi Posts: 9 Member
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    gebeziseva wrote: »
    mitsvbishi wrote: »
    I had a packet of oatmeal for breakfast then chicken and broccoli for lunch then had sloppy joe for dinner but on a 100 calorie bun. I ate the amount of one serving for each food group. I just dont wanna overeat but i guess i didn't realise how little all that food is in calories. When you say add snack. Just anything? Theirs gotta be certain things not just eat anything but stay under calorie goal. Is it bad to go over your protein goal?. What other goals in nutrients should i meet. I just dont wanna overeat or be eating the wrong things. Should i double my oatmeal in morning and just add to my lunch?
    How did you calculate the calories in these things? Looks more than 640 to me.

    Breakfast- Oatmeal 160 cal
    Lunch- .5 cup of chicken 90 cal 1 cup broccoli 40 cal 1 sandwhich thin 100 cal
    Dinner- 1/2 cup sloppy joe(manwhich original with lean ground beef 210-230 cal . 1 sandwhich thin 100 cal

    Total - 700 cal. So 60 over what i said. I also gave a generous calorie amount for the sloppy joe which was prob more around 160-180 cal
  • cerise_noir
    cerise_noir Posts: 5,468 Member
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    janejellyroll wrote: »
    640 isn't enough at all for a small woman, let alone a larger man. 1,500 calories is the absolute minimum a man should eat and even that would be too low for a 214-pound 19-year-old man who is planning on exercising and has a job with physical activity.

    Yes, you should increase your portions. Yes, you should meet your goal for protein. Eating enough and getting enough protein isn't going to just protect your health, it will help reduce the amount of muscle you will lose while losing weight. You want to target your fat -- not your muscle. If you get full when eating but then get hungry between meals, add more "meals" and plan some snacks that fit into your goal.
    This.

    Eating so little as you are is a recipe for disaster. You'll lose muscle very fast..... I don't know how it is possible that you even have the energy to lift heavy... I find it hard to lift heavy with a 500 calorie deficit. o_o

  • Crazyfighter99
    Crazyfighter99 Posts: 38 Member
    edited November 2016
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    I might suggest weighing your food instead of measuring it in cups. You'll get a much more accurate representation on calories. You're probably actually eating more calories than you think you are.

    Regardless, just looking at what you ate, it still doesn't look like you're eating enough. Pair the oatmeal with a banana or an egg, and have a salad or some kind of veggie with the sloppy joe. I know just a packet of oatmeal or one sloppy joe will leave me starving an hour later.

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