new guy...

CaptainHandsome
CaptainHandsome Posts: 127 Member
in Introduce Yourself
good morning! so yeah, here to get some tips on getting healthy and staying there. i was a big boy before, 240lbs - and i'm only 5'7" on a good hair day. i'm down to 176lbs, but mainly because i quit drinking a 30 pack of coors light a day (haha, "light", those jokers over at the beer factory really had me going for awhile!)

i'm a pretty upbeat guy, i'm motivated and happy and fun. all of these things i didn't know i was until i gave up the beer. just started playing tennis with my girl, my diet is getting a lot better, especially during the day at work because i bring in my groceries for the week. i still get sidetracked at night and overeat (and get a good talking-to from my lady for it). she's getting on the healthy eating and working out kick with me, so we're hoping to get healthy and sexy together.

i do have to say the site gave me a caloric number of 1280 cals per day based on 2lb weight loss per week, maybe it's just my belly talking, but it seems like i'd be starving myself? i suppose i should point out before i turned into a beer drinker, i was a meat-head, and i worked out only for huge muscle gains, and my caloric intake had to be in the 3000-4000 per day range to do what i wanted. i think that's kind of trained me into this huge appetite.

Replies

  • angelraguel
    angelraguel Posts: 142 Member
    That doesnt sound like alot of cals for a guy :o..... I think a guys daily intake is 2500 but a dieting guy would be around 2000? There is a way to manually adjust your calorie goal intake but Im not sure where as ive only been on site for a few weeks.
  • satxtrap
    satxtrap Posts: 120 Member
    I'm 5'10 and 247 and with a 2 lb per week loss I was given 1500 cals per day and a base of 2000. Not too far off. On heavy workout days I'm hard pressed to eat all the cals back.
  • nichojanes
    nichojanes Posts: 76 Member
    Wow. I am lucky my dieting calories is 2200 per day. Although I am 6'7.

    Feel free to add me.
  • CaptainHandsome
    CaptainHandsome Posts: 127 Member
    i've been maintaining between 170-175 for a few months now without regulating my caloric intake at all, so i suppose i'd have to average what i've been eating to figure out what i should be eating. i imagine metabolism comes into play somewhere, and i think when i nixed the beer my metabolism went through the roof.
  • RuthSweetTooth
    RuthSweetTooth Posts: 461 Member
    Drinking alot of beer and eating alot of meat and being a man (unfortunately, a gene for inclination to gout is produced in the testes of some men) are a good way to get gout, especially when you get into your forties. You will not even know it, but hyperuricemia could have been building up. So glad for you that you are getting healthy and good for your wife for getting on your case at night, all we women do the same thing and our husbands sure don't like it, mine even gets argumentative but he has stage 4 gout now from not taking the time to educate himself and not reducing his meat portions (I even weighed his steak the other night to show him it was a double serving), but we just want to keep them around and not seem them on dialysis. Nighttime is the hard part for me too. Sometimes it helps to budget a snack for night time. I agree with the others that 1200 calories is not right for a man. Did you pick the lady button when setting up? Try again. No need to starve yourself. You're a good weight now, so it's all about maintenance and nutrition that will help you avoid major disease! You'll get great ideas here.

    Ruth
  • satxtrap
    satxtrap Posts: 120 Member
    I dunno. I just ran male 5'7" 175 at age 40 through another site's BMR calculator and it said 1735. Once you pull off 500 cals per day (3500 per week) you're looking at the number joey posted. The upside is that when you burn calories during a workout you get to eat that amount back. :)
  • Way_2_a_Healthy_Mel
    Way_2_a_Healthy_Mel Posts: 175 Member
    I think the calories are so low, because at 176 lbs for a man, you probably shouldn't be shooting for 2 lbs a week loss. Maybe change it to a pound a week or maybe even half a pound. You aren't too far from your ultimate goal at 176 lbs.
  • CaptainHandsome
    CaptainHandsome Posts: 127 Member
    yeah, red meat is a big part of my diet, and i'm trying to curb it with more chicken/pork/fish meals. i love my steak though, and burgers are like Lay's chips to me, i can't eat just one.

    oh and lord almight do i love cheese.

    enough of that! i had a banana, yogurt, cottage cheese and a granola bar over the last three hours. which seems to be better than the three egg & cheese omelette, three slices of toast and 6 links of breakfast sausages that i would usually wolf down.
  • Way_2_a_Healthy_Mel
    Way_2_a_Healthy_Mel Posts: 175 Member
    I see you are ultimately only trying to lose 11 lbs, so I would probably change it to 1/2 a lb a week...that's more realistic.
  • Hksalex
    Hksalex Posts: 144 Member
    sup man, how are you! Im 6'2 321lbs.. im given a 2400 cal diet; shooting for 2lb / week loss ,but im going to make adjustments manually my self.. you can do it.
  • jkvoight1
    jkvoight1 Posts: 4
    Hi Joey,
    I also had a different calorie limit here on fitnesspal but when I did my program of Insanity it was much different. I think it depends on the intensity of your program as well.
  • CaptainHandsome
    CaptainHandsome Posts: 127 Member
    I dunno. I just ran male 5'7" 175 at age 40 through another site's BMR calculator and it said 1735. Once you pull off 500 cals per day (3500 per week) you're looking at the number joey posted. The upside is that when you burn calories during a workout you get to eat that amount back. :)

    what site? does it change dramatically for a 33 year old?

    i'm not really certain what my weight loss goal is or should be, i'm not even so sure i need to lose weight necessarily, more looking to stay fit. i'm pretty sure every fitness pyramid out there will say my current weight is too high for my height, though.
  • CaptainHandsome
    CaptainHandsome Posts: 127 Member
    Hi Joey,
    I also had a different calorie limit here on fitnesspal but when I did my program of Insanity it was much different. I think it depends on the intensity of your program as well.

    i have Insanity, but have yet to try it, not sure i'm ready for it yet.
  • HeavyLiftGirl
    HeavyLiftGirl Posts: 1,267 Member
    Welcome, Joey! I am also new here.
    As far as the calorie intake, just do more exercise to add more "allowed calories" back on your food plan. That may help.

    GL!
  • Pete969
    Pete969 Posts: 5
    yeah, red meat is a big part of my diet, and i'm trying to curb it with more chicken/pork/fish meals. i love my steak though, and burgers are like Lay's chips to me, i can't eat just one.

    "The meat of choice for this healthiest ever sandwich may surprise you. It isn’t turkey or chicken breast. No, this ultimate sandwich uses beef....."

    I read this today - follow the link. Got it from this excellent site.

    Read more: http://www.livestrong.com/article/424893-one-of-the-healthiest-sandwiches-ever-created/#ixzz208Y83200

    I also read somewhere once that the body can only breakdown a max 2LB of fat per week...I don't know how true this is??

    Pete
  • satxtrap
    satxtrap Posts: 120 Member
    Joey, you can just google 'bmr calculator' if you want to get another site's opinion. There are bunches of them out there :) And you may be right, as a former weight lifter you may still be carrying around a lot of lean mass. I don't like the BMI charts. I find them misleading because they only look at height and weight to determine obesity. If I were to drop to 0% BF I'd still be obese on those charts.

    You may be better off if you figure out what your current BF is and focus on getting to a healthy one if your're not already there.
  • christiangandy
    christiangandy Posts: 48 Member
    hey dude,

    i feel you, but that sounds like a drastic caloric defecit for a guy, i am 6"2, and i was 263lbs when i started my programme, I am now 212 lbs, ( i am also concentrating on putting on more muscle mass, so the weight bit doesnt bother me cos i am going for the look of a full teashirt, rather that Skinny-fat look.......and if you are doing strength and conditioning training as well, then you need to be putting at least 1500-1600 cals per day down ur neck otherwise your body will go into starvation mode and get rid of muscle mass....and store as much energy as it can, in the form of fat cells.......but if you dont work out and you are mostly sedentary, then your stomach will shrink in time....(but you seem to have lost a lot of weight so far, so i reckon it would have happened already......my programme so far has made me realise that if i am hungry, i drink a pint of water then wait for ten minutes, if i am still hungry, then i eat something, i also break my meals up to about 5/6 times a day at between 250-350 cals per meal...might help. as its always good to mix it up a bit
  • fitnfabat40
    fitnfabat40 Posts: 2 Member
    Hi Joey,

    Sounds like you and your girl are focusing on getting healthy and not just 'sexy.'
    That's awesome!

    Angela
  • superpapa16
    superpapa16 Posts: 244 Member
    Right now I'm at 192, 5' 8" (on a good day), 33 years old, and am "allotted" just over 1,400 calories for a planned 2 lb/ week weight loss. I'd guess the number MFP spit out is pretty right on for 2 lb/ week. You may try adjusting that goal. I know that as I get closer to my goal weight (170) I plan on reducing the lbs/week to be whatever is feasible.

    Feel free to add me!

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