Calories for cutting

[jamesm11]

Be been trying to cut for a while and am not noticing much results. I think the calories might be too low.

5'10
210lbs
15% bf
1800-2000 calories at 40/30/30 p/c/f breakdown

Lift 5 days a week for 45 minute and 45 minutes cardio on treadmill 4mph @12%

Calories are based on livestrong app

 

[epstaneman]

Be been trying to cut for a while and am not noticing much results. I think the calories might be too low.

5'10
210lbs
15% bf
1800-2000 calories at 40/30/30 p/c/f breakdown

Lift 5 days a week for 45 minute and 45 minutes cardio on treadmill 4mph @12%

Calories are based on livestrong app

Or not low enough. Try 1,500 calories a day. Also take out the cardio and stick to 1,500. Do this for a week and start adding in the cardio the following week.

 

[SLW2]

Try calculating your TDEE and seeing what that says you need for maintenance, then start slowly dropping cals below maintenance until you are loosing weight.

 

[fightu35]

biggest mistake people make is doing cals x or divided by there weight..thats wrong it has to be by your LBM or even your goal weight.

 

[epstaneman]

biggest mistake people make is doing cals x or divided by there weight..thats wrong it has to be by your LBM or even your goal weight.

Some people can't figure out their LBM so you simply go through trial and error till you find what works for you.


I like you kid.....You got 'spunk.'

 

[fightu35]

Some people can't figure out their LBM so you simply go through trial and error till you find what works for you.


I like you kid.....You got 'spunk.'

lol there are so many methods to use...take your LBM and add a 0 to it...weight divided by 2.2x 24.... 8,10,12 x LBM OR WEIGHT FOR WEIGHT LOSS,MAINTENANCE AND WEIGHT GAIN..THE LIST GOES ON..LOL

 

[mk3less]

Are you tracking all you calorie intake paper or app? 1800 should do it for your size.

 

[jamesm11]

Are you tracking all you calorie intake paper or app? 1800 should do it for your size.

With an app

 

[Jiigzz]

1800kcals is much too low for your weight and height. The average man needs around 2000 just to cover his BMR, which is the energy required just to live properly. You dip into your BMR calories and your in for a world of disaster. Your body will start catabolzing muscle, or whatever else just to make sure your physiological functions can perform properly.

Your body which much rather prefer that your heart keeps beating than for the muscle you have to be fuelled, so itl eat at your muscle to make sure the heart can keep beating. Etc. Etc.

 

[epstaneman]

1800kcals is much too low for your weight and height. The average man needs around 2000 just to cover his BMR, which is the energy required just to live properly. You dip into your BMR calories and your in for a world of disaster. Your body will start catabolzing muscle, or whatever else just to make sure your physiological functions can perform properly.

Your body which much rather prefer that your heart keeps beating than for the muscle you have to be fuelled, so itl eat at your muscle to make sure the heart can keep beating. Etc. Etc.

VERY important not to under-eat. A common mistake people make too when trying to get some abs or just lean in general.




Yup. I'm telling you....spending a 50 dollar bill is well worth getting your BMR tested to take all the guess work out. If your really getting impatient with what calorie target you should use, which formula to use, or if the formula even provided a target that will see results......this should be something you can look into.



If your a cheap bastard or just don't have the money....then stay consistent and see what calorie target does good for you on a week by week bases. Adjust till you find your 'sweet spot' so to speak.

 

[mk3less]

Well I'm not saying you guys are wrong but I'm 72" tall and that the same protocol I've been following and I manage to shed a **** load of fat. Maybe my body doesn't know it needs 2000 cal?

 

[Basso]

Do a weekend reefed, heck go to maint for a week and give your body a couple of days off, then go back at it. If you don't know what your maint cal is then all your doing is pointless, once your done where will you go? 2000 is pretty low for someone over 200lbs, what is your lbm?

 

[jamesm11]

Do a weekend reefed, heck go to maint for a week and give your body a couple of days off, then go back at it. If you don't know what your maint cal is then all your doing is pointless, once your done where will you go? 2000 is pretty low for someone over 200lbs, what is your lbm?

Well 210 @ 15% so 210 * .85 = 179 would be my LBM

Goal is 8% which would be like 15lbs lost

 

[Basso]

Depending on your lifestyle (normal activity level) your maintenance calories are probably 3000 or higher. If it is 3000 then dropping to 2000 should yield a loss of 2 lbs a week, if you add cardio etc then even more. You really need to nail down your Maint cals and work from there. If you go to low for to long you'll slow fat loss and lose muscle. Whatever the deficit you want (500, 1000 etc) you need to add calories to make up for your workouts, otherwise you may end up with a -2000 day and thats really going to slow you down in the long run.
This may not help but what works for me is cycling my diet, non-workout days -1000 calories, w/o days -500, every 10-14 days 1-2 days at maintenance. If I maintain -1000 every day my weight loss comes to a halt after 2-3 weeks, if I keep mixing it up and never let my body adjust I keep making progress. Does it take forever? Hells yes!! Sometimes I'll go to maintenance every week for a day it just really depends on how I'm feeling and how my progress is coming along. You have to keep experimenting and find what works for you!

 

[jamesm11]

Depending on your lifestyle (normal activity level) your maintenance calories are probably 3000 or higher. If it is 3000 then dropping to 2000 should yield a loss of 2 lbs a week, if you add cardio etc then even more. You really need to nail down your Maint cals and work from there. If you go to low for to long you'll slow fat loss and lose muscle. Whatever the deficit you want (500, 1000 etc) you need to add calories to make up for your workouts, otherwise you may end up with a -2000 day and thats really going to slow you down in the long run.
This may not help but what works for me is cycling my diet, non-workout days -1000 calories, w/o days -500, every 10-14 days 1-2 days at maintenance. If I maintain -1000 every day my weight loss comes to a halt after 2-3 weeks, if I keep mixing it up and never let my body adjust I keep making progress. Does it take forever? Hells yes!! Sometimes I'll go to maintenance every week for a day it just really depends on how I'm feeling and how my progress is coming along. You have to keep experimenting and find what works for you!

Thanks for that. Yeah I've been running like 1800-2100 calories and my cardio and gym is burning about 700. So I was at 1100-1400 calories or so. Definitely think I'll bump it up some more. So if I wanna run 2500 calories a day, and burn 500 working out then consume 3000? That way the deficit is compensated?

 

[Basso]

So if I wanna run 2500 calories a day, and burn 500 working out then consume 3000? That way the deficit is compensated?

Exactly, if you keep going into large deficits by not accounting for exercise you'll slow your progress, sounds backwards but your body will defend itself against starvation and the less you give it the more it will fight.

 

[Jiigzz]

Well I'm not saying you guys are wrong but I'm 72" tall and that the same protocol I've been following and I manage to shed a **** load of fat. Maybe my body doesn't know it needs 2000 cal?

Your body knows it needs 2000kcals (varies on LBM etc.), because thats what a BMR is. Look up the "females athlete triad" if you don't believe me, this outlines that when energy intake dips into BMR, then the body will shut down its reproductive system in order to restore energy balance in the body, Because survival of self is more important than survival of the species. Whether or not you are a female makes little difference, your body still needs to find energy balance from somewhere and it will do whatever it can to restore it. In males with higher LBM the body will most likely catabolize energy consuming muscle in order to fill the deficit, and in doing so, will cause your scale weight to drop.

And just becasue you see a drop of 20lbs in scale weight doesnt mean it was all fat, especially if you drop calories way to low. In fact, dropping calories too low will cause your body to enter survival mode and actually hold onto more fat every time you eat in order to have as much energy as possible for when it needs it most. You may be lighter but how sure are you that it was all fat and not muscle?

The body would rather not use muscle for fuel, but when it has too, it will.

 

[fightu35]

unless prevented by 'you' the body will lose 1 lb of muscle per 3 lbs a fat..

 

[mk3less]

I personally ran 1800 cal for ten weeks I went from 216lbs down to 194lbs from 20%bf down to 13%bf. Not only did I kept my strength but in some workouts it increase. I feel more energetic and alert. use both an electric fat scale and skin fold test. I wouldn't go below 1800 but for me thats the magic number. Please feel free and stop by my logs I have all my results and pic to prove it. To the original OP good luck with your goals.

 

[mk3less]

Double post edit