How much should I be eating ? How do I know what should be my calorie intake ?

stiloblendz
stiloblendz Posts: 1 Member
I am a 5 foot 7 inches male, 193 pounds, I want to achieve an aesthetic look, I workout a minimum of 3 days a week, and I also do boxing 2 days out the week.
What should be my macros and calorie intake ?

Answers

  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,223 Member
    Hello, and welcome!

    If you put your data into your MFP profile, and follow the instructions, MFP will give you starting goals for calories and macros based on standard scientific estimating formulas and mainstream nutritional guidance.

    That will be more useful as a starting point than anything us random idiots on the internet might make up based on individual experience. ;)

    Follow that recommendation fairly closely for 4-6 weeks (since you're male, would be more nuanced if female with monthly cycles). At that point, you have enough logging and weight change information to do your own estimate based on personal experience, which will be more personalized than the "population average for similar people" that the calculators (such as MFP) spit out. Use the assumption that 500 calories per day is about a pound of weight change per week, and arithmetic to adjust for fractional pounds.

    When you say "aesthetic look", I'm assuming you're wanting some fat loss and some muscle gain. Those are somewhat competing goals. (Think about it: You'd be trying to gain one kind of weight, muscle, while trying to lose another, fat.)

    If your health is robust, i.e., you don't have weight-related health problems, then slow loss plus a good progressive strength training program and good nutrition would be a good route IMO. You may not gain much muscle while losing fat, but you can keep more of what you have with that kind of approach. If you do have pre-existing weight-related health issues, then it might make sense to lose weight a little faster, still do the strength training, and prioritize muscle gain once you reach goal weight.

    Best wishes!
  • need2belean
    need2belean Posts: 358 Member
    Honestly, I wouldn't use MFP as a starting point. I'd log how you normally eat for 2 weeks and see where your current intake is before MFP guestimates for you. It's no different than us guessing for you as well. So, for the next two weeks, just log your food and see how many calories you're eating. I'd recommend a food scale just for accuracy reasons but that's up to you and whether you're willing to go that route - it's easy but it's an adjustment as is weight loss of course. It's just a more precise way of measuring.