Message Boards › General Health, Fitness and Diet
maliciouspenguin
Posts: 32Member, Premium Member
Posts: 32Member, Premium Member
Male Calories Capped at 1,500?
maliciouspenguin
Posts: 32Member, Premium Member
Posts: 32Member, Premium Member
So I've progressively lost weight, and my calorie 'allowance' hasn't changed from 1,500 for a while; I checked another calculator and it said it should be 1,350 for me - is there a cap on male allowance?
Replies
Unless you are short, sedentary or very light, eating below 1500 isn't necessary for weight loss.
As you get closer to goal you should consider reducing your rate of loss, not increasing it. 2lbs per week is only really suitable if you're obese.
because eating less could lead to not getting enough nutrition/nutrients for the average short male/female
What are yours stats? What is your workout routine? What are your goals in terms of approximate weight and look?
I hope you'll listen to what these nice people will tell you.
How much weight are you needing to lose to be in a healthy BMI?
How are you calculating your current calorie intake? Do you make all your own meals? Are you using a digital food scale? It's possible you're eating more than 1500 anyway.
1500 is not a lot of food. I have a hard time hitting my nutrition goals at 1500. I'll bet you do too - whether you know it or not.
You can log your day at 1200 for a man, and 1000 for a woman, but it won't let you set goals of lower than 1200 for women and 1500 for men.
To the OP: The truth is that 1200 and 1500 are often too low for most women and men, respectively. Many would benefit from more calories. I am not sure of your stats, but with exercise, I have lost consistently on 2300 calories a day.
How much walking do you do? Are you house bound most of the day? What are your average steps a day?
Your total daily energy expenditure at less than 2300 sounds very low for your height and weight.
I personally think that you shouldn't go any lower than 1500, and you should increase your cardio. Are you doing any resistance training? I've lost a significant amount of weight several times, and when I used to eat to little, I basically lost all my muscle mass and ended up "skinny fat" with no definition.
At your height you should be targeting no more than 1 pound a week (500 a day deficit). Trying to target 2 pounds a week is too aggressive and you are likely to shed a fair bit of muscle along with fat.
At your height and weight, 1350 would be crazy low, and 2 lb/week is likely too ambitious -- you don't want to lose unnecessary muscle. I also suspect you are underestimating your TDEE.
So, how much weight have you lost over what period of time eating only 1500, which seems crazy low for a 6'3" man?
Agreed; something doesn't add up. I'm a woman, a foot shorter, almost 100 pounds lighter and I'd gnaw my arm off if I ate 1500 calories per day.
He also eats back half his exercise calories, so it's more than 1500
Even his TDEE of 2200 to 2300 is pretty low. I have the same TDEE, sometimes more.
So, the more exercise he does, the worse his deficit gets.
Regardless, I still think results (weight loss over what period while consuming net 1500 cals) is an important piece of missing information. Probably to be followed by whether or not OP is weighing his food.
Your body gets used to it and adapts fairly quickly.
I'm going to get woo'd here, but- I've averaged Probably around 1400-1600 cal a day since December. I'm 6' 2.5". I weight train 4 days a week with one to two intense high resistance cardio day as well thats usually 65 minutes, to a (projected) burn of near 1300 calories. I do not eat back any of my exercise calories. I would say my counting is accurate to within 15%.
I have lost 53 pounds from 255 to 202 in this stretch and have most definitely built muscle. My arms, quads, traps, and chest muscles are all noticeably larger, and it's not just weight loss revealing muscle. My arms and legs I have measuered growth. The strength gains are probably greater than whatever muscle gains I've had, but that's still a victory. I started untrained, got in adequate protein (0.8 grams per pound at goal weight), and had a fairly high body fat to begin with which is why I think this was possible.
You look super lean, which I imagine makes trying to lose weight at any significant rate difficult on your body, as your energy stores just can't handle that kind of deficit. The energy has to come from somewhere, and if you don't have fat, it's probably just going to make you ravenously hungry to avoid metabolising things it shouldn't. If you got fat on you, it is completely possible to do it all with discipline. Honestly, I think I have maybe another 10 pounds where it's even possible before my body says a hard no. However until then, it is very possible, as I've been doing it for half a year.