What is the minimum calories i can eat/burn?

Hi all.

I am at the end of my rope...i am just gaining more and more weight to the point where i can no longer stand to look at myself. I'm not sure if my stats below are right anymore, i'm somewhat afraid to step on the scale. I'm working out obsessivly and trying to watch what i eat, sometimes i do good, and other days, like today, i eat nothing but crap.

I need to lose weight as fast as i can, but i don't what to overdo things to the point where my metabolism screws up, or my body hits starvation mode, because i've had a lot of problems with that before.
With my training, i burn about 1200 calories a day- would it be safe for me to eat 1200 a day as well and just burn of everything that i eat?

What is the minimum amount of calories i can eat/burn to drop weight fast, but safely?

I really need help, so any that's on offer would be appreciated.

You need to take the word "FAST" out of your vocabulary.

The only proven weight loss formula, as proven by these boards:

1. Take the time to work on your diet. Its tough at first, but if you don't take the time to really pound out a clean diet, all that time in the gym isn't going to do you any good. 80% of getting into better shape is making sure you are eating the right foods in the right quanties at the right times. It is never* a good idea to eat less than 500 cals below your maintence calories.

2. Weight resistance & Cardio work

If you want to do things the "FAST" way, you will end up losing too much precious muscle, and thus make it very easy for your body to yo yo back up, or even over, your current weight.

Good luck

* = im sure some wise ass will provide some instance when this is ok, but, for most people its not a good idea to eat less than 500 below maintenence calories. :)

[QUOTE=MightyAphrodite]Hi all.

I'm working out obsessivly and trying to watch what i eat, sometimes i do good, and other days, like today, i eat nothing but crap.
With my training, i burn about 1200 calories a day- would it be safe for me to eat 1200 a day as well and just burn of everything that i eat?
What is the minimum amount of calories i can eat/burn to drop weight fast, but safely?
I really need help, so any that's on offer would be appreciated.[/QUOTE]



First, there is NO WAY you only need 1,200 calories a day at 5'8" and at least 145 lbs. If you only eat 1,000 and you burn 1,000 through exercise, you'll put the body in a starvation mode. After a few days you'll want to binge to deal with the zero calorie balance. Sound familiar?

Safely you can figure out your true caloric requirement and then drop 500 from that. Any more than that and you risk losing muscle while slowing your metabolism. A 500 calorie deficit over a week is one pound of loss. By cleaning up your diet and feeding your body you may lose 1-2 pounds a week through PROPER dieting and exercise.

Why do you need to lose weight so fast?

Where are you getting this 1200 calories a day number?

I would suggest starting off with 1800 calories a day of clean foods. This means nothing you buy in a box, you can only buy food from the outside walls of the grocery store (i.e. Produce, Meat, Dairy). Shoot for 5 cups of green fiberous veggies a day. Eat size meals of about 300 calories a day, shooting for a 40/40/20 breakdown.

If you don't drop weight eating like that after 2-3 weeks, come back here and post your food log for some feedback.

Get your weight/bodyfat tested again. You realize that 17% body fat is very lean? A woman at 17% is comparable to 9% for a man.

As far as how many calories you should eat. How do you burn 1200 calories a day? That's probably over twice as much I burn as 220lbs with 40 min cardio in the morning and 40 min weight training in the late afternoon. But your calorie defecit should never exceed 1/3 of your calories, if that. Find a maintenence calorie calculator, subtract 300 calories off your maintenence.

So, just punching in 5'8" and 145lbs it tells me 1871 calories a day if you sit all day and do nothing. If you walk anywhere it's more. If you're burning 1200cal with cardio and then sit the rest of the day it's 3071 and so on.

Now keep the calories to a reasonable amount. Figure out your activity level and choose the apropriate calories. Lift heavy weight for low reps to gain muscle (you don't have enough testosterone to get bulky). Do cardio 30 min 5 days a week or so.

[QUOTE=nithos]This means nothing you buy in a box, you can only buy food from the outside walls of the grocery store (i.e. Produce, Meat, Dairy)[/QUOTE]

So, you're saying that she shouldn't eat oats, beans, rice, canned/packaged fish, and nuts?

[QUOTE=AUTiger]So, you're saying that she shouldn't eat oats, beans, rice, canned/packaged fish, and nuts?[/QUOTE]

Oh grow up, you know that stuff is great. :D

[QUOTE=DJohnson]Oh grow up, you know that stuff is great. :D[/QUOTE]

I know, I just wanted to make sure that the person who started the topic didn't take that statement too literally.

[QUOTE=AUTiger]So, you're saying that she shouldn't eat oats, beans, rice, canned/packaged fish, and nuts?[/QUOTE]

Minus the canned fish (the nasty rotten tasting stuff that it is) everything on that list is sold around the outerwalls of my local market.

It was just a nice broad generality of "don't eat overly processed foods" which holds true to almost every grocery store I have been in.

[QUOTE=nithos]Minus the canned fish (the nasty rotten tasting stuff that it is) everything on that list is sold around the outerwalls of my local market.

It was just a nice broad generality of "don't eat overly processed foods" which holds true to almost every grocery store I have been in.[/QUOTE]

That's cool. It is pretty much the opposite for every grocery store where I live.

[QUOTE=nithos]Where are you getting this 1200 calories a day number?
[/QUOTE]


I've heard quite a few times that 1200 calories in the minimum a person can eat before their metabolism will screw up.

I need about 2000 calories a day if i don't do any exercise, so i'm currently eating about 1500 a day. However, as previously stated, i burn well over 1000 calories a day through exercise (this has nothing to do with this diet, i just take a lot of fitness classes).

I don't need to drop weight dramatically fast, i want about a kilo a week for the next 4 weeks, but i like weekends off, which means loosing about 1500 calories a day.


Thanks for the advice :)