Calorie Question..

[bOOTh_000]

Hey Everyone.

So I am a bit confused about calorie intake. I am looking to lose alot of weight and tone up.

I was limiting my calorie intake to roughly 1800 but felt terrible at the gym with dizzyness and just being weak.

I just started to work out in the afternoons 5 days a week and box in the evenings 3 days a week.

So I was just wondering what my calorie intake should be to give me the best chance to get healthier.. i checked out a few of those calculators (not sure how reliable they are) and they are saying anywhere from 2800-3300 calories per day...

Any help at all is greatly appreciated!

[dirtsniffer]

^^ sounds good. you need energy bro, fill up on good stuff.. lots of veg and protein when you get home at night,
carbs in the morning.
try to avoid salty processed foods, late night eating, booze

[Khyron]

It's math. Income vs spending.

Start with this:

http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/

That's what you burn if you stay in bed all day.

Most people, even computer nerds walk to the bathroom, the car, etc so you x the number by 1.2

Even though I'm super active, my "nonworkout" life is not active - ie, I don't do manual labor at work. So I'm still sedentary when it comes to base burning.

So you'll probably be right around 2000/day. If you diet 350 a day, you'll lose a pound every 10 days. (3500 cal = 1 pound).

So you GET 1700 cals to spend, with no exercise, and you'll lose weight slowly but steady.

If you exercise, you add those cals to what you are allowed to eat. So a 10k run might burn 700 cals. You now get 2400 cals total to eat and still lose the pound every 10 days.

People get screwed up when they have huge swings - ie one day they'll run 16K and still eat only 1700 - then wonder why they feel like shit the next day. Or they don't work out and eat a pizza.

I have no idea how many cals you burn weight lifting - cause so much time is spent standing around.

For cardio, roughly 500/hr is a safe bet if you're sweating.

For running it's 1cal/1kg/1km (ie if you're 70kg you will burn 70cals for every km you travel, no matter how fast or slow)

For biking it's different since you can burn almost nothing if you're just noodling about. 20 cals /km is a safe bet if you're working.

Swimming is roughly 100 cals for every 400m (16 lengths)

It's very hard to keep the income/spend straight, especially if you eat out a lot. You need a scale and a measuring cup, and you have to count EVERYTHING. 2 pieces of bread can push you over instead of under.

[J-hop]

Originally posted by dirtsniffer
^^ sounds good. you need energy bro, fill up on good stuff.. lots of veg and protein when you get home at night,
carbs in the morning.
try to avoid salty processed foods, late night eating, booze

I agree with this if you are looking to get healthy. Getting thin and getting healthy are not always synonymous. If you are concerned with image then calorie count, if you are concerned with health then change what you eat.

hitting the gym and starting a strict low cal diet all at once isn't good for the body IMO. It is tough for your body to get healthy if your output is increasing but you fuel source is now decreasing.

[bOOTh_000]

thanks guys. Ya ive started to stick with whole grains, fruits and veggies and lean proteins. Just got to eat more of the good stuff.

I noticed it last week most at boxing. the second class i took, i hadnt eaten much that day, felt awful, sluggish, weak...the next class i had eaten almost twice as much as the previous time, felt great.

Thx for the input, hard to find alot of advice/knowledge up here at times

[Mitsu3000gt]

When I was working out 5-6 days a week pretty hard I could easily eat 4000 cal a day and I was losing weight. If I ate much less I would feel hungry and light headed all the time.