any tips, and am i eating enough calories per day?

samuelwpannell
samuelwpannell Posts: 5 Member
edited November 2024 in Health and Weight Loss
hi here's some information about me which might help :)

24 years old
male
6ft tall
18 stone 10 (262 pounds)

i started my journey at the end of march of this year and started by just concentrating on my food as i didn't have the motivation to work out, but over the last 2 weeks i've started the 'couch to 5k' and have been running 3 times a week. i've currently lost 24 pounds.

i'm currently eating 1600-1800 calories a day (35% carbs, 25% fat and 40% protein).

am i eating enough, i feel i have changed my habits and i don't feel as i'm starving myself and feel like i have more energy etc than before.

can anyone help me out as to if i'm doing anything wrong? or can share some tips?

many thanks,

sam

Replies

  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    How did you arrive at that calorie goal? 1,500 is the absolute lowest a man should go. Given your starting weight and your activity level, it's possible that you could eat more.

  • erienneb66
    erienneb66 Posts: 88 Member
    I mean, I'm 6' tall, though female and heavier than you are by about 40lbs and I eat 2100 a day which is a goal to lose 1.5 a week so I'm thinking you should be eating more.

    How accurate is your logging? As in, do you weigh all your solid food, measure liquids, all that good stuff? You might be eating more than you think you are just because humans are so bad at guessing food portions.
  • samuelwpannell
    samuelwpannell Posts: 5 Member
    edited June 2017
    -
  • samuelwpannell
    samuelwpannell Posts: 5 Member
    janejellyroll wrote: »
    How did you arrive at that calorie goal? 1,500 is the absolute lowest a man should go. Given your starting weight and your activity level, it's possible that you could eat more.

    thanks for your reply! i guessed and originally set my calories at 1900 ish but the app seemed to have adjusted it for me for some reason so i just left it where it was (which is currently 1770) thanks
  • samuelwpannell
    samuelwpannell Posts: 5 Member
    edited June 2017
    erienneb66 wrote: »
    I mean, I'm 6' tall, though female and heavier than you are by about 40lbs and I eat 2100 a day which is a goal to lose 1.5 a week so I'm thinking you should be eating more.

    How accurate is your logging? As in, do you weigh all your solid food, measure liquids, all that good stuff? You might be eating more than you think you are just because humans are so bad at guessing food portions.

    https://gyazo.com/f79c2cdfc3e6c05b037d3c3625a3abd1 - here's today diary for example. i log everything, and have 1 day per week where i don't track everything but i stick to similar meals, but i generally just have 1 cheat meal per week
  • Derf_Smeggle
    Derf_Smeggle Posts: 610 Member
    I'm a 41yr, 5'11", male that currently weighs 201 pounds. In other words, I should burn slight fewer calories than you.

    My Net Calorie intake is 1830 (total calories minus exercise calories).

    My Daily average gross calorie intake for the last 2 weeks was 2500 to 2600. I am getting cardiovascular exercise 4-5 times a week.

    The issue with too severe a calorie deficit is that you metabolize more lean muscle mass, and in most cases the severe deficit isn't sustainable over the long term.

  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 10,224 Member
    janejellyroll wrote: »
    How did you arrive at that calorie goal? 1,500 is the absolute lowest a man should go. Given your starting weight and your activity level, it's possible that you could eat more.

    Given OP's starting weight, activity level, and rate of loss,* it's possible that he is eating more than 1600 to 1800 calories (i.e., he's undercounting, as many people do).

    OP, if you have energy and your workouts aren't suffering and you're not losing more than 2 lbs a week, you are probably OK with the amount you are consuming (although I suspect you are consuming more than you think you are -- are you weighing your food?). Once you get down to about 225 lbs or so, you probably should start increasing the amount you're eating to slow your rate of loss to 1 to 1.5 lbs a week.

    *24 pounds lost in almost three months = about 2 lbs a week, not even accounting for extra water weight loss at the start.
  • samuelwpannell
    samuelwpannell Posts: 5 Member
    edited June 2017
    lynn_glenmont wrote: »
    janejellyroll wrote: »
    How did you arrive at that calorie goal? 1,500 is the absolute lowest a man should go. Given your starting weight and your activity level, it's possible that you could eat more.

    Given OP's starting weight, activity level, and rate of loss,* it's possible that he is eating more than 1600 to 1800 calories (i.e., he's undercounting, as many people do).

    OP, if you have energy and your workouts aren't suffering and you're not losing more than 2 lbs a week, you are probably OK with the amount you are consuming (although I suspect you are consuming more than you think you are -- are you weighing your food?). Once you get down to about 225 lbs or so, you probably should start increasing the amount you're eating to slow your rate of loss to 1 to 1.5 lbs a week.

    *24 pounds lost in almost three months = about 2 lbs a week, not even accounting for extra water weight loss at the start.

    thanks for the response :) i started eating healthier in late january (eating less than i am now) but wasn't weighing myself or using this website to track anything, so i definitely lost a bit before using this website.

    yeah i weigh everything, however, in my meal today i just tracked a large sweet potato and it was a medium sized one, but did that really just to save time. when it comes to meats and everything else i will weigh it.

    the meds i take (for chronic facial pain) is known to cause weight gain but i'm not sure on the effect this has on my weight loss :/

    i tend to loose around 2 pounds a week without doing any exercise.
    i've only started working out the last 2 weeks and generally don't feel excessively tired or anything like that.


  • Derf_Smeggle
    Derf_Smeggle Posts: 610 Member
    samuelwpannell wrote: »
    lynn_glenmont wrote: »
    janejellyroll wrote: »
    How did you arrive at that calorie goal? 1,500 is the absolute lowest a man should go. Given your starting weight and your activity level, it's possible that you could eat more.

    Given OP's starting weight, activity level, and rate of loss,* it's possible that he is eating more than 1600 to 1800 calories (i.e., he's undercounting, as many people do).

    OP, if you have energy and your workouts aren't suffering and you're not losing more than 2 lbs a week, you are probably OK with the amount you are consuming (although I suspect you are consuming more than you think you are -- are you weighing your food?). Once you get down to about 225 lbs or so, you probably should start increasing the amount you're eating to slow your rate of loss to 1 to 1.5 lbs a week.

    *24 pounds lost in almost three months = about 2 lbs a week, not even accounting for extra water weight loss at the start.

    thanks for the response :) i started eating healthier in late january (eating less than i am now) but wasn't weighing myself or using this website to track anything, so i definitely lost a bit before using this website.

    yeah i weigh everything, however, in my meal today i just tracked a large sweet potato and it was a medium sized one, but did that really just to save time.     when it comes to meats and everything else i will weigh it.

    the meds i take (for chronic facial pain) is known to cause weight gain but i'm not sure on the effect this has on my weight loss :/

    i tend to loose around 2 pounds a week without doing any exercise.
    i've only started working out the last 2 weeks and generally don't feel excessively tired or anything like that.
    Depending on how often you are saving yourself time can swing your calorie intake quite a bit, especially at the deficit you're at already.

    If you were consistently losing 2 pounds/wk, then you really should be looking at eating back the calories you are now burning with exercise.
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