1600 calories too low?

[bballcatcher]

I am currently taking in around 1600 calories per day and I was wondering if that was too much of a deficit? I weight 186 and I am 5'7''. I am eating 6 times per day. I always eat pre and post w/o. I also do cardio for no less than 30 mins 5-6 days per week.

[Birddog6424]

I am in the last 3 weeks of a 90 day cut and I am also at 1600 calories. It all depends on the person. I have a fairly low metabolism to begin with. It's age related. My maintainence caloric intake is only 2200 a day.

[JD_Johannes]

Maybe, maybe not.

The biggest mistake people make when starting a fat loss plan is to go "all-in." You are better off calculating with as much precision as possible pre-diet eating then gradually reducing the carbs/calories and swapping out carbs for protein.

If you are starting your fat loss plan at 1,600 calories after 3 weeks your metabolism will adjust to 1,600 calories. Then you don't have much more to cut out to continue losing fat.

Now, there are some people who really do need to go that freakishly low from the start.

I need to be basically ketogenic to lose fat. I learned that through trial and error...mostly error.

And another thing, slow, gradual changes of 100 or fewer calories a day can lead to more sustainable fat loss.

Good luck.

[bballcatcher]

Originally Posted by JD_Johannes

If you are starting your fat loss plan at 1,600 calories after 3 weeks your metabolism will adjust to 1,600 calories. Then you don't have much more to cut out to continue losing fat.

I have never heard of this before, your metabolism adjusting to your caloric intake. What kind of crap is that? Anyone have anything to back this up?

[casticonstantinescu]

Originally Posted by bballcatcher

I have never heard of this before, your metabolism adjusting to your caloric intake. What kind of crap is that? Anyone have anything to back this up?

That's why a lot of people have refeeds or take a week break off of their regular eating and eat above maintenance to speed up the metabolism. they stalled out from dropping from continually eating under maintenance, and the body adapting.

[bballcatcher]

Originally Posted by casticonstantinescu

That's why a lot of people have refeeds or take a week break off of their regular eating and eat above maintenance to speed up the metabolism. they stalled out from dropping from continually eating under maintenance, and the body adapting.

Then what would be ideal for weight loss?

[MattinNC]

Originally Posted by bballcatcher

I have never heard of this before, your metabolism adjusting to your caloric intake. What kind of crap is that? Anyone have anything to back this up?

Use logic. What if your body didn't adjust? YOu really think your body would let you diet to death at 1600? If your metabolism never adjusted you'd burn at the same rate til you weighed nothing/were dead. nomsayin?

[Birddog6424]

Originally Posted by bballcatcher

I have never heard of this before, your metabolism adjusting to your caloric intake. What kind of crap is that? Anyone have anything to back this up?

Yes, it's true.

It's true about a lot of things related to your body. The body constantly seeks homeostasis, so it tries to adjust to the environment you subject it to. That's also the reason why muscle gains plateau and weight increase stalls. The body adjusts to the exercise program you are subjecting it to.

As an FYI, I mentioned above I am at 1600 calories a day, but that is the third caloric adjustment I have made. I spent four weeks at 2000, then four weeks at 1800 and added more cardio, then last week dropped to 1600 and added one more cardio day.

You have to change things up to keep from stalling.

[faust314]

Originally Posted by bballcatcher

I have never heard of this before, your metabolism adjusting to your caloric intake. What kind of crap is that? Anyone have anything to back this up?

the human body is alot smarter than you think.its adjusts to every thing we try to do to it thats when plateau's happen.you have to change things up once in a while.

[bballcatcher]

Originally Posted by Birddog6424

Yes, it's true.

It's true about a lot of things related to your body. The body constantly seeks homeostasis, so it tries to adjust to the environment you subject it to. That's also the reason why muscle gains plateau and weight increase stalls. The body adjusts to the exercise program you are subjecting it to.

As an FYI, I mentioned above I am at 1600 calories a day, but that is the third caloric adjustment I have made. I spent four weeks at 2000, then four weeks at 1800 and added more cardio, then last week dropped to 1600 and added one more cardio day.

You have to change things up to keep from stalling.

Then what do you do when you hit 1600? Do you start going back up? Also if this happens then sould the body also go the other way? Example: people getting fat

[Birddog6424]

Originally Posted by bballcatcher

Then what do you do when you hit 1600? Do you start going back up? Also if this happens then sould the body also go the other way? Example: people getting fat

No, you don't go back up from there. Ideally you make adjustments as you hit your goals so that you don't ever run out of options before you have achieved your goal. In my case I have eight more pounds to lose, so I won't have to make any more adjustments.

I suppose if someone messed up then they would have to throw their body a curve to keep the metabolism burning. One thing that works well is to go back to maintainence caloric intake for a couple weeks then drop it again.

Once people reach homeostasis at a low caloric intake it doesn't meant they have necessarily stopped losing weight. It just means the weight loss has slowed way down as the body is trying to shut down it's metabolism in an effort to hang onto it's mass when it doesn't have enough calories. If you are calorie deficient, then you won't gain weight. But if you remain in a calorie deficient state for a long period of time your body will begin burning energy anywhere it can find it, and that leads to muscle loss.

[bballcatcher]

Originally Posted by Birddog6424

No, you don't go back up from there. Ideally you make adjustments as you hit your goals so that you don't ever run out of options before you have achieved your goal. In my case I have eight more pounds to lose, so I won't have to make any more adjustments.

I suppose if someone messed up then they would have to throw their body a curve to keep the metabolism burning. One thing that works well is to go back to maintainence caloric intake for a couple weeks then drop it again.

Once people reach homeostasis at a low caloric intake it doesn't meant they have necessarily stopped losing weight. It just means the weight loss has slowed way down as the body is trying to shut down it's metabolism in an effort to hang onto it's mass when it doesn't have enough calories. If you are calorie deficient, then you won't gain weight. But if you remain in a calorie deficient state for a long period of time your body will begin burning energy anywhere it can find it, and that leads to muscle loss.

how do you figure out maintnence calories?

[Birddog6424]

Originally Posted by bballcatcher

how do you figure out maintnence calories?

There are formulas out there, but they are just a ballpark. You can Google them.

Honestly, the best way is through experience. If you stay in the game long enough you get a feel for how many calories you need a day to maintain your bodyweight.

[AmenoKaji]

I can tell you from my experience, i started at 1200 calories at 440lbs and at 307lbs i'm at almost 2000 calories, i've had to keep increasing to further weight loss, even though 1200 was bringing me incredibly fast weight loss at that weight, extreme dieting so to speak but that was out of not understanding how things work. Had to adjust as at each stage of calories, my body adapted and weight loss stalled because my body got use to it. plautueing and what not, calorie spikes do help the body because it has a "WTF" moment and adjust for the new intake. Which is why someone that has gone from eating totally unclean, high calorie ****ty diet to a clean diet on a cut will see a large drop in weight because its a huge difference and your body is burning at a higher leve, i think is how it goes.

[bdun]

Originally Posted by AmenoKaji

I can tell you from my experience, i started at 1200 calories at 440lbs and at 307lbs i'm at almost 2000 calories, i've had to keep increasing to further weight loss, even though 1200 was bringing me incredibly fast weight loss at that weight, extreme dieting so to speak but that was out of not understanding how things work. Had to adjust as at each stage of calories, my body adapted and weight loss stalled because my body got use to it. plautueing and what not, calorie spikes do help the body because it has a "WTF" moment and adjust for the new intake. Which is why someone that has gone from eating totally unclean, high calorie ****ty diet to a clean diet on a cut will see a large drop in weight because its a huge difference and your body is burning at a higher leve, i think is how it goes.

Congrats on losing all that weight, and keep it up!

When changing calorie intake I was under the impression that it is almost always better to drop calorie intake from a higher level, rather than immediately bump up your intake.

For example:

1600 => 2500 => 2000

would keep your metabolism higher than:

1600 => 2000.

[AmenoKaji]

Thanks and yeah, That would also work, i've always just d one it as a steady incline though. Although for the next step it might be a large jump like that, I never really read up on it, its just what i've done through trial and error.

[bballcatcher]

Originally Posted by AmenoKaji

I can tell you from my experience, i started at 1200 calories at 440lbs and at 307lbs i'm at almost 2000 calories, i've had to keep increasing to further weight loss, even though 1200 was bringing me incredibly fast weight loss at that weight, extreme dieting so to speak but that was out of not understanding how things work. Had to adjust as at each stage of calories, my body adapted and weight loss stalled because my body got use to it. plautueing and what not, calorie spikes do help the body because it has a "WTF" moment and adjust for the new intake. Which is why someone that has gone from eating totally unclean, high calorie ****ty diet to a clean diet on a cut will see a large drop in weight because its a huge difference and your body is burning at a higher leve, i think is how it goes.

So your saying cheat meals are not a good idea, or thats how you should do it. I have about 1 cheat meal every 7 days.

[kamjah]

Originally Posted by bballcatcher

So your saying cheat meals are not a good idea, or thats how you should do it. I have about 1 cheat meal every 7 days.

cheat meals are more for sanity than actual benefit. in the end, it is always a step in the wrong direction. but people tend to get burned out eating 100% clean 24/7.

don't let people fool you into thinking that a cheat (aka eating above maintanence) is going to magically boost your metabolism.

[iothar]

To boost my metabolism I slowly increase my calorie intake for 10 days doing the same exercise. After 10 days I hit it back down to diet. Seems to work.

[bdun]

Originally Posted by iothar

To boost my metabolism I slowly increase my calorie intake for 10 days doing the same exercise. After 10 days I hit it back down to diet. Seems to work.

That seems like an interesting idea to try. By what intervals do you increase by? What is your "diet" level of calorie intake and how long to you stay at that level?

[KingOfChaos]

Originally Posted by bballcatcher

I have never heard of this before, your metabolism adjusting to your caloric intake. What kind of crap is that? Anyone have anything to back this up?

Indeed it does...think about it...especially when lifting, your body is creating greater and/or denser muscle mass that requires more calories just to exist (not to mention function during work outs)...now with that logic, isn't it logical that your caloric intake is going to increase?

[iothar]

Originally Posted by bdun

That seems like an interesting idea to try. By what intervals do you increase by? What is your "diet" level of calorie intake and how long to you stay at that level?

I eat about 2200 a day. I increase my calories by 100ish a day over 10 days to get to 3200. After the ten days its right back to 3200.

I eat lots of protein and peanut butter shakes ( bout 500 a serving with 2 tablespoons of peanut butterish. )

Just good foods in excess for the 10 days.

[noethix]

Ask yourself if it's working for you or not...

Meet your protein intake, fill in the blanks.

[donluchiti]

So to piggyback off this discussion, I'm 6'2, 225 right now and after about 4-5 weeks on my cut, I feel like I've hit a plateau as I'm not losing any more weight in 2-3 weeks. I've also heard about how the metabolism can slow if one jumps "too low", so I'm thinking of varying my calories around 1800 a day, (mon 2000, tue 1800, Wed 2100, Thur 1600, Fri 2000.... What does this sort of configuration do to metabolism, keeep it guessing in a good way?

[StueyT]

Typically, I change my intake every week or two to a different deficiet when I'm on a cut, and do the same exercises. I weigh myself out of curiosity every day but only react on each Monday weigh in. Same conditions - soon as I wake up at 8am, after peeing and before food.

When I started my cut 3 weeks ago, I was at 178lbs at roughtly 18.5%BF (according to scales). I hadn't done any cuti n approx 2 years (lazy lifestyle). Maintenance should have been in around 2800 cals, so for the following two weeks I took in 2200. I lifted weights, did some cardio (Football (Soccer) for 2-3 hr periods twice a week and walked 30 mins each way to and from work every day). Nothing changed after two weeks, I was still around 178lbs and 18% every single day. Not even water weight came off (dropped carbs considerably)

So at the start of this week (Sunday), I dropped to 1600 cals (carbs are roughly the same as they were at 2200, around 120g), doing the same weights/cardio routine. This weeks weighs have gone:

Monday: 177.2
Tues: 176.8
Weds: 176.5
Thurs: 175.0
Fri (this morning): 174.0. Scales say 17.2% BF

Sure, its every day weigh-ins. But its the first changes I've seen since I started the cut. I started at a 600 cal deficiet and saw nothing. Only thing I changed was intake, by another 600. Weight is changing instantly. I may keep 1600 for another week yet than change to 1900 for 2 weeks. I think keeping the body guessing every fortnight helps as it doesn't have the time to fully adjust to any 1 calorie intake

[SeanEH]

Originally Posted by bballcatcher

Also if this happens then sould the body also go the other way? Example: people getting fat

Fat people, assuming they don't keep upping their calorie intake, will eventually get to a weight where their maintenance is equal to what they're consuming, and they'll stay there. A 1000 calorie surplus for a person who weighs 200 lbs. would be roughly maintenance when they got to 350 lbs. That's why people who eat crappy for their entire lives (which is a lot of people) don't all end up as 500+ lb. giants.

And the other way - if you diet and lose a significant amount of weight, you'll have to recalculate your maintenance and adjust. The lighter you are, the lower your maintenance. At my height and weight, if I lost 15 pounds, I'd need to cut another 100 calories just to remain at the same deficit.

[bballcatcher]

Originally Posted by SeanEH

Fat people, assuming they don't keep upping their calorie intake, will eventually get to a weight where their maintenance is equal to what they're consuming, and they'll stay there. A 1000 calorie surplus for a person who weighs 200 lbs. would be roughly maintenance when they got to 350 lbs. That's why people who eat crappy for their entire lives (which is a lot of people) don't all end up as 500+ lb. giants.

And the other way - if you diet and lose a significant amount of weight, you'll have to recalculate your maintenance and adjust. The lighter you are, the lower your maintenance. At my height and weight, if I lost 15 pounds, I'd need to cut another 100 calories just to remain at the same deficit.

Is it alright to go from 1600 for 4 weeks then 2000 for 4 weeks then drop to 1400? Would that work for weight loss?

[iothar]

Originally Posted by bballcatcher

Is it alright to go from 1600 for 4 weeks then 2000 for 4 weeks then drop to 1400? Would that work for weight loss?

I wouldn't go below 2000 if I were you. Slowly increase your calories to 2000 and when you plateau slowly increase then spike down.

[bballcatcher]

Originally Posted by iothar

I wouldn't go below 2000 if I were you. Slowly increase your calories to 2000 and when you plateau slowly increase then spike down.

so your saying evry 2-3 days increase calories from 16-17-18-19-200, then go to like 2800?

[jtkitche]

Bottom line is what is your Long Term Goal.

Tailor and make short term goals.

Sounds like you have a short term goal of get hot for the ladies... its summer time! I can feel ya on this.

Do a precontest diet. I think the most important thing you can do is choose your game plan, then stick with it to the end. Whether you choose a low carbohydrate, high protein, moderate fat plan, or a low fat, higher carbohydrate, high protein approach. Don't switch between the two because it can have dramatic effects on metabolism and greatly influence the outcome. Choose a plan and stick to it to the end.

For me, nutrition is 90% responsible for how I look and feel. Remember you are what you eat, not what you lift. Training is just the catalyst to get your body's hormones and nutrition to do their things.

Rather than cut 700 calories or so out of your diet, increase cardio instead. For me that would equate to an additional 1.5 hours of low intensity cardio per day.

My diet consists of 245g protein, 40g fat, and 288g carbs. Whenever I ddin't perform enough cardio to create that 700 calorie deficit, I reduced my carb intake to make up for it.

Sorry this does not answer your question directly. Hopefully indirectly you gain something out of it.