questions concerning fat loss for females

[BIGGUNZ401]

Okay heres the story I have a friend that is gonna get married in a year and wants to lose weight. She weighs about 180lbs and I wanna try to get her in better shape.

Is a 1500-1700/daily calorie diet good or should I start higher her w/ higher calories and cut down?

Is 1500-1700 calories daily healthy?

She is also going to be doing weight training and cardio also.

Also will be taking fish oil and a fat burner

I have been training for 2 years and I have a good amount of knowledge for losing fat, Im a bit confused..is it the same for females??thanks in advance.

 

[Rage (SoCal)]

It is definetely the same for females. For whatever reason, woman have set prejudgements on getting into shape and how to lose fat.

Theres many variables involved so judging from the limited information you gave us. Start her off at maintenance and then go from there. You don't want to shock her metabolism and drop her cals to low as it may prove to be counter-productive. Not to mention it may be discouraging for her. She has a year which is more than enough time to reach a realistic goal.

Right off the back, 1500 cals is NOT healthy for a 180lb woman.


Sit down and see what her diet is like. You have to know 100% of what she's eating to tackle this problem effeciently.

 

[Ziricote]

Is a 1500-1700/daily calorie diet good or should I start higher her w/ higher calories and cut down?

Uh, why would you want to start her higher? Just find her maintanence calorie intake and minus 500-750kcal imo.

 

[BIGGUNZ401]

thanks..anybody else?

 

[Rage (SoCal)]

There's not much more that you need to know. Do some more researching and reading on fatloss. It all applies to homo-sapiens.

 

[Achilles13]

Give some of her stats for starters. Age, Heights, years of training etc...

 

[FitnFirm]

how tall is she? 6 foot or 4 foot????? cant rec anything till I know that!

 

[NYhomeboy]

IMO, 1500-1700 cals isn't necessarily "not healthy". It should be more or less the same for females, but if you're talking about a female non-bodybuilder who has very little muscle mass, doesn't care about putting on that much muscle, and just wants to lose weight, I think a 1700 cal diet could be reasonable, depending on all the variables of course.

 

[wastedwhiteboy2]

thats what I wanted to mention. some depends on how much muscle she has. probably very little which requires less calories. also a height would help. have her count calories for a week to see what she is eating now.

 

[BIGGUNZ401]

First of all I would like to thank everyone so far for the the replies.

I spoke with her today and she said she's not concern about muscle mass. ( she doesnt have much muscle anyways to begin with).

Her stats are 200 lbs, 5 feet 5 inches and she just started going to the gym.

Since she doesnt care about muscle, I was thinking about putting her a 1500/1700 calorie diet consisting on protein/complex carbs/good fats.

 

[FitnFirm]

First of all I would like to thank everyone so far for the the replies.

I spoke with her today and she said she's not concern about muscle mass. ( she doesnt have much muscle anyways to begin with).

Her stats are 200 lbs, 5 feet 5 inches and she just started going to the gym.

Since she doesnt care about muscle, I was thinking about putting her a 1500/1700 calorie diet consisting on protein/complex carbs/good fats.

That is too low of cals for her size, it would shut her down in a heart beat!!!!! More like 2400 minimum!!!! And she will have to do cardio, and alot of it.

 

[NYhomeboy]

2400? I don't know, I think it's case-by-case... I think that the biggest difference between male and female is that females can honestly have very very little muscle mass. I know my sister is about 140-150 at 5'5 but has a really low metabolism. She exercises religiously and eats relatively well, but she's only maintaining weight at about 1700 cals or so. All dependent on the person.

 

[BIGGUNZ401]

Due to the fact that she is overweight, wouldnt I want her to consume less calories so she would be losing weight quicker? (losing 1-2lbs per week)

what do you mean by "shut down"? her body being very tired?

Her diet will consist of an evenly spread of complex carbs to assure her energy through out the day.

 

[FitnFirm]

Due to the fact that she is overweight, wouldnt I want her to consume less calories so she would be losing weight quicker? (losing 1-2lbs per week)

what do you mean by "shut down"? her body being very tired?

Her diet will consist of an evenly spread of complex carbs to assure her energy through out the day.

to keep a 200 pound person alive she would have to eat 2400 cals, minimum, I guarantee she is eating more than this now to weigh what she does. I am 5'6" and 140 pounds, Im eating 2400-2800 daily but I am training and eating smart.

You could eat 4 hershey bars and get 2000 cals. By shut down I mean her metabolism- starvation mode, it will happen. Like I said she needs cardio, I wouldnt even worry about any weight training until further down the road, her health is at risk right now, reduction of BF is a must. But if you starve someone on those cals, she will not lose weight, her metabolism will just shut down and store everything.

 

[Nitrox]

to keep a 200 pound person alive she would have to eat 2400 cals, minimum, I guarantee she is eating more than this now to weigh what she does. I am 5'6" and 140 pounds, Im eating 2400-2800 daily but I am training and eating smart.

BMR is dependent on body composition and so far there has been no mention of what hers is.

 

[FitnFirm]

BMR is dependent on body composition and so far there has been no mention of what hers is.

It doesnt take a rocket scientist to figure it out.

 

[BIGGUNZ401]

thanks for the info/advice fitnfirm. Im going to put her on a 2400 calories diet and the main focus will be cardio.

So when would I start cutting more calories down when shes down to 196??190???180? and how much calories.

 

[NYhomeboy]

I personally still think 2400 is way high at her weight/height/bodyfat (my guess of it anyway), especially if she's not doing weight training. At 180 lbs 12% bodyfat on a cut, I'm losing 1-2 lbs a week on 2300 cals per day. I have a bad metabolism, but I'd think I have significantly more muscle mass than your friend and am utilizing more calories per day, considering I do morning cardio and train hard. You can try 2400, but I still think that the 1800-2200 range is going to be better.

The best thing to do so that we can take out the guessing, would be for her to log her normal caloric intake on fitday so we can see how many calories she is consuming per day.