Caloric Intake

tama

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I get laughed off the weight training boards. Apparantly you can't be a noob. Just a quick ? How accurate are caloric intake calculators. Trying to shed extra pounds but I'm getting different answers. Could somone direct me to a place/website that might help me out.


My calorie intake is around 1500 every 24hrs. But I'm being told this is too little? Most of my calories come from lean protein (poultry & fish). I'm eating alot of greens for carbs but calorie wise it doesn't add up to much.

I'm 5'6 and weigh 205lbs.

thanks
 
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Grizzly Adams

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Holy shit you are a stalky little ****er!

It al depends on what you are trying to do, if you are trying to shed some pounds, don't worry about calories as much as fat. You don't want to go overboard with the calories, of course, but if you are doing anything meaningful as far as physical activity, those calories burn off relatively fast.

It also depends on how you feel at the end of the day. If you are dead beat after a work out at the end of the day, you might need to up the calories. If you are fine as far as energy goes though, stick with what you are doing.

Drink lots of water & cut out the fat & sodium, not the calories. Eat small and often. Make sure you eat a solid breakfast, not eating a good breakfast can **** your entire day.
 
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logan_yomtov

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depends on your ultimate goal. I'm guessing its to LOSE WEIGHT. so a 1500cal/day diet is fine, just keep in mind that your caloric intake has to be lower than what you burn daily if you want to lose weight
 
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IH8GM

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if you are trying to shed some pounds, don't worry about calories as much as fat. if you are doing anything meaningful as far as physical activity, those calories burn off relatively fast.

It also depends on how you feel at the end of the day. If you are dead beat after a work out at the end of the day, you might need to up the calories. If you are fine as far as energy goes though, stick with what you are doing.

Drink lots of water & cut out the fat & sodium, not the calories. Eat small and often. Make sure you eat a solid breakfast, not eating a good breakfast can **** your entire day.


Could not have said it better.

and those caloric intake calculators can be good if just to track what you eat a day.
 

Blown 89

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don't worry about calories as much as fat.
That's horrible advice considering that calories are the key to losing weight. It's simple physics, burn off more calories than you take in and you'll lose weight. It's as simple as that. Limiting fat will make it easier considering that dietary fat accounts for higher calories but in the end the only thing that matters are the total calories. Take your total desired caloric intake and divide that by your number of meals and snacks and plan your meals accordingly. Add in some exercise and voila, weight loss.

People make losing weight out to be really hard but it's not. It's simple math and being able to follow it. Use a calculator to get a baseline and tweak it from there. Between 1500 and 2000 calories is a good starting point. You'd be shocked how much food you can pack in to 1500 calories when you eat healthy and even more shocked how fast that goes by when you don't. When I was in school for dietetics I was invited to join an American Heart Association dinner in which we had a 4 course meal that I could not finish that was 480 calories. Do some reading on healthy low calorie foods and how to cook them....the American Dietetics Association has recipes and ideas on their website, start there.
 

stangin99

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I have an approximate 3000 calorie diet and that is my maintenance level. When I want to bulk up I eat more, when I want to die I eat less.

1500 is for little girls.
 

2FST4USonicBlue

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Also, if u are only eating 1500 cal a day your body will burn more muscle than fat, just becasue it will go into a survival mode and if you arent taking in the proper amount of nutrition then your body will actually save the fat to be used as your source of energy last and you will start to catabolise. You should be around 2500 to 3000 cal/day and then slowly start to trim that number down every week or so, couple that with cardio (mix it up between anaerbic and aerobic cardio), and also get in at least 3 days of lifting. Eat your good fats and carbs in the morning and stop eating carbs around 6 or 7 at night.
 

tama

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Also, if u are only eating 1500 cal a day your body will burn more muscle than fat, just becasue it will go into a survival mode and if you arent taking in the proper amount of nutrition then your body will actually save the fat to be used as your source of energy last and you will start to catabolise. You should be around 2500 to 3000 cal/day and then slowly start to trim that number down every week or so, couple that with cardio (mix it up between anaerbic and aerobic cardio), and also get in at least 3 days of lifting. Eat your good fats and carbs in the morning and stop eating carbs around 6 or 7 at night.

This seems to be my problem. The fact that I'm taking in too little in calories. I have 4 meals a day and 2 protien shake before and after a workout. But when i add up what I'm eating and the calories it amounts to it seems to be way under.

So it looks like I'm going to have to increase my meal sizes each serving a bit and try to calculate it so that I get it up to at least 2000 calories.

Today is a horrible example. 1320 calories and I added 45min of free weights and 30min of cardio. So it may be this is why i'm failing to shed that fat.
 

Grizzly Adams

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If you are trying to lose weight, you are wasting your time with protein shakes. You shouldn't need any more protein than what you get in your regular diet. The average American consumes more protein daily than top flight athletes need. The only time you should need extra protein is if you are trying to build muscle.
 

2FST4USonicBlue

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Fist off, I dont see how u managed to be at the gym for 1.25hrs on 1300 cals. anyways, the other thing u need to look at is what liquids are u taking in...if alcohol is one of them, it is going to be hard to burn that stuff off, cokes...kiss a diet goodbye, simple sugar juices...u are still staying chubby. good ole h20 should be the only thing u r drinking and plenty of it. When u intake things like simple sugars from cokes, sweets, ect and u dont use them as a source of energy, your body stores them as reserved energy in the form of FAT. Just try drinkning an 8oz glass of water on the hour every hour and u will be surprised how much water u can actually take in during a 14 - 16 hr day. Dont waste your time on cardio machines doing the "fat burning program" unless you plan on being on that thing for 90 minutes. Try getting on a treadmill and walking at a slight incline at the fastest pace that you can handle and then every 2 weeks increase the incline degree just a bit. If you are at the gym lifting, then protein intake becomes essential in building and maintaing lean muscle mass. Eat every 2 - 3 hrs in order to increase your metabolic rate and keep it high, remember our bodies are not cars, you have to refuel them constantly. Read up on the glycemic index and pick your smart carbs to snack on. Set short (daily or weekly), medium (monthly or quarterly) and long term goals (yearly) for your weight loss and diet plan and reward yourself when you reach them. good luck
 
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tama

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Fist off, I dont see how u managed to be at the gym for 1.25hrs on 1300 cals. anyways, the other thing u need to look at is what liquids are u taking in...if alcohol is one of them, it is going to be hard to burn that stuff off, cokes...kiss a diet goodbye, simple sugar juices...u are still staying chubby. good ole h20 should be the only thing u r drinking and plenty of it. When u intake things like simple sugars from cokes, sweets, ect and u dont use them as a source of energy, your body stores them as reserved energy in the form of FAT. Just try drinkning an 8oz glass of water on the hour every hour and u will be surprised how much water u can actually take in during a 14 - 16 hr day. Dont waste your time on cardio machines doing the "fat burning program" unless you plan on being on that thing for 90 minutes. Try getting on a treadmill and walking at a slight incline at the fastest pace that you can handle and then every 2 weeks increase the incline degree just a bit. If you are at the gym lifting, then protein intake becomes essential in building and maintaing lean muscle mass. Eat every 2 - 3 hrs in order to increase your metabolic rate and keep it high, remember our bodies are not cars, you have to refuel them constantly. Read up on the glycemic index and pick your smart carbs to snack on. Set short (daily or weekly), medium (monthly or quarterly) and long term goals (yearly) for your weight loss and diet plan and reward yourself when you reach them. good luck

i kicked alchohol and any form of suger drinks. All I drink is water. And the protein shakes before and after a workout. I don't drink them during the day. i stick to water.

I've dropped a few pounds but that may be water weight. I do cardio power walking on an incline for about 30min-45 min with a heart rate of 130-145bpm by checking my pulse rate. The reason I'm doing weight lifting is to build/sustain muscle plus I'm aware it helps in burning fat and losing weight.

I think I'm going to increase my portions during my meals. I'm sure i can get that extra 500-700 calories I may need. I just have to adjust.

Thanks:thumbsup:
 

tama

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If you are trying to lose weight, you are wasting your time with protein shakes. You shouldn't need any more protein than what you get in your regular diet. The average American consumes more protein daily than top flight athletes need. The only time you should need extra protein is if you are trying to build muscle.

I'm trying to do both.
 

tama

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when I want to die I eat less.

:dw: I'll keep that in mind. When I want to die starve myself. Got it.:thumbsup:

No seriously though I have too much fat so I'm trying to cut my fat down while maintaing or building muscle. Trying to find the appropiate balance. I wasn't getting much help on some body building sites.
 

cobra_4

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I try to shoot for around 2000 when I am dieting. Sometimes a little less if I can get by. Might no be the best method but it sheds the pounds off of me.
 

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