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godchagk
New Member
| Joined: | 9 Dec 2009 |
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| Posts: | 5 |
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Posted: 13 Dec 2009 02:28 am |
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just quickly my background: I'm 20 male 5'9 and over the last five months I've managed to lose 35-40 and I weigh about 148 now. I'm not sure where I'd like to be but I want to lose some more. About three / four weeks ago I started extreme calorie restriction and ate about 200-500 calories a day while running a lot. About a week ago after reading that that was a terrible idea I bumped up to 700-900 a day.
So the problem I'm having is how many calories I need in a day. A used the calculator on the website and to lose 2 lbs a week it said I need a little less than 1,200. On normal days I never go above 900 calories. If I do I make sure to hit the gym. So normally I'm just over 800 calories, and I consider myself quite through in counting. I've read you are not suppose to go below 1200, I just don't see how this is true. 1000 calories seems like plenty of food...I don't know how I was eating 2,500 calories a day before, that would make me want to barf now. If someone had just shown me how many calories I was really and truly eating a day and how easy it was to cut back I would never had weighed so much.
So here is the problem. I've stopped losing weight, or at least its much much slower.
This is why I don't understand how I could ever eat 2,000 calories and maintain my weight, or eat 1,200 calories and lose weight. Plus if I ate that much I'd be eating all the time. I eat like every three hours, they are just small meals / snacks. Here is what I eat (not all on one day lol): non fat greek yorgut, carrots, tomatoes, oatmeal!!!!, pickles, blueberries, fat free cottage cheese, air popped popcorn no oil/butter, 80 calorie packs of tuna fish, kimchi, brussels sprouts, salad with 10-20 calories of fat free dressing, egg whites, 100 calorie pack of almonds, occasionally beans (too high in calories for volume but good for you), and random low calorie dinners that I prepare and control and thus can count. I'm also going to try adding quinoa because I've read its very good for you. So as you can see I eat healthily. Its not like I'm eating 2 pieces of cake or taco bell to get my calories. Plus I also take a natural vitamin supplement that is very expensive. It has an amazing list of all kinds of vitamins / nutrients and most are at least the daily value. And yes I even count those calories...45.
So as far a nutrition goes I think I do fine. So even if I were to get up to 1,200 I feel like I'd have to eat a lot more. Today, I ate about 764 calories by my count. And I'm stuffed...I made myself have an extra 50 calorie pack of brussels sprouts with my dinner, I actually feel terrible because I'm so full and bloated...darn veggies. This is another example of me being healthy and not just calories, before I ate the brussel sprouts I toyed with the idea of getting some sort of small dessert of no nutritional value. But I chose healthy and thus probably saved 50-70 calories but got way more nutrition...so I'm better off right (except for the bloating), even though I've had less calories.
Plus, why is 800 calories too little...yes it takes a little work to keep tract of all my calories and I have to have self control/awareness, but I still eat every three hours (Plus I graze on a 80 calorie pack of carrots throughout the day (I prepackage all my food after I buy it, even lettuce and spinach). I was reading an article on calorie restriction and longevity today and the author was like I tried the "diet" and he said he couldn't go more than two days eating 1,800!! calories. Like what? Its really not that hard people. Thats what I don't understand, yeah its hella easy to eat 2,000 calories a day eating fast food, but if you eat healthy and prepare all your own meals like I do its down right hard. So should I start trying to up my intake? Sorry this was so long. I just don't understand why I should 1,200 calories a day, let alone 2,000.
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 13 Dec 2009 12:42 pm |
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I start by observing that your BMI is 21.9 and that the guideline that applies to you is to not eat below your unadjusted RMR. Next I use the RMR calculator to work this out as 1672. So no, it wouldn't be healthy for you to go as low as 1200, you need a minimum of 1672 calories.
The figure of 1200 has been suggested as a minimum figure for women by the ACSM (American College of Sports Medicine) the corresponding figure for males is 1800.
I don't see why someone at BMI 21.9 needs to lose at 2lb/week, that is quite a fast rate - you should adjust your expectations and not be in a hurry.
Finally, you will need to deal with the way your metabolism has now adjusted to the extremely low intake (especially given how long you've exposed yourself to this) the watchword is GRADUAL. Don't bump your calories up from 800 to 1672 in one day. Increase by 100-200 calories then wait a week etc.
Keep up the the veggie intake, that's obviously the healthiest habit you've got. As you increase your calories you can focus on using more calorie-dense yet healthy calorie sources, amongst them:
beans, lentils, peas
fruit
starchy vegetables (e.g. sweet potato)
nuts and seeds (raw are healthiest)
whole grains (e.g. oats)
I'm male, 36, 5'5" and 115lb and I maintain (or even lose slightly) on 2000 (with an hour of exercise a day) so I fail to see why as a younger, taller, heavier person (all of these factors push your RMR higher) you shouldn't be able to maintain your weight on 2000 calories, once you perform the gradual increase outlined above. And yes, I count my calories as accurately as I can: http://www.nirmk.byethost13.com/staticfood/days.php
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