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  1. #1
    Registered User fhbob's Avatar
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    How many Calories should I eat a day.

    I am trying to cut slowly so that I dont lose my strength. I am 6 foot tall, about 188 pounds and about 17.5% bodyfat.

    My daily routine consists of about an hour on the treadmill daily at 5.5mph. 6 days a week.

    I lift about 75 minutes a day 6 days a week, on a 3 day split.
    Mon- Back, Shoulders, and Abs
    Tue- Bi's Tri's Chest
    Wed- Legs and abs

    I just wanna know, considering my height, weight, bodyfat, and activity level, how much do you experienced guys think I should be eating?
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  2. #2
    Registered User GregTR's Avatar
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    Go with 1,800 and see what happens.
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  3. #3
    Registered User fhbob's Avatar
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    Originally Posted by GregTR View Post
    Go with 1,800 and see what happens.
    I'm not a weight loss expert but even I know thats stupid.. I burn probably 750 or more calories 6 days a week at the gym and my bmr is around 2000. So if I ate only 1800 cals a day I would lose muscle I am looking for knowledgeable advice..
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    Registered User wnc817's Avatar
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    What are you eating now? You might get away with 2000+ for a while. Start with 2200 maybe.
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    Registered User fhbob's Avatar
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    I eat about 2400 a day right now and I have seen the results I want so far, but I really bust my ass at the gym, and I could also be losing some water weight, I really just don't know.
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  6. #6
    Registered User wnc817's Avatar
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    Originally Posted by fhbob View Post
    I eat about 2400 a day right now and I have seen the results I want so far, but I really bust my ass at the gym, and I could also be losing some water weight, I really just don't know.
    So if you are still losing at that intake, keep it there until you stall for a few weeks, then lower it a bit.
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  7. #7
    Cardio is for Birds! Dirtbike35's Avatar
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    75 minutes of lifting a day is to much. And each day put a primary muscle and then a secondary muscle....Pushing muscles and then pulling muscles...thats what i do and i think it works the best!

    Good luck
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  8. #8
    Registered User GregTR's Avatar
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    Originally Posted by fhbob View Post
    I'm not a weight loss expert but even I know thats stupid.. I burn probably 750 or more calories 6 days a week at the gym and my bmr is around 2000. So if I ate only 1800 cals a day I would lose muscle I am looking for knowledgeable advice..
    Your BMR is actually around 2,400 not 2,000. You're not burning 750 calories at the gym lifting weights 6 days a week, no matter how much you'd like it to be the case. If you burn 400 calories over BMR in an hour I'm being VERY generous.

    So 1,800 in and 340 calories out on average (400*6/7) a day for a 2,400 BMR person means under 1,000 calorie a day deficit which is under 7,000 calories a week. That's just shy of 2lbs/week lost. Nowhere near an extreme pace.

    And you're welcome!

    Edit, I just read that you do an hour of moderate cardio almost daily. So that'd mean another 500 calories a day so go with 2,300 calories then or forget the cardio.
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  9. #9
    Registered User GregTR's Avatar
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    Originally Posted by Dirtbike35 View Post
    75 minutes of lifting a day is to much. And each day put a primary muscle and then a secondary muscle....Pushing muscles and then pulling muscles...thats what i do and i think it works the best!

    Good luck
    +1. What do you do for 75 minutes? How many sets/reps and exercises?
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  10. #10
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    What have you been eating over the past few months and how has your weight been trending? You should be able to take this info and reasonably estimate your maintenance. Subtract 500 from there. If you feel like you're losing energy/strength in your workouts add some cals back. Of course, this all depends on how you define "slowly" cutting. 1 lb/wk? 0.5 lb/wk? Within a few weeks of closely monitoring intake, activity, and weight you should have a really good idea of what you need to be consuming.
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  11. #11
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    Originally Posted by fhbob View Post
    I eat about 2400 a day right now and I have seen the results I want so far, but I really bust my ass at the gym, and I could also be losing some water weight, I really just don't know.
    So exactly why are you asking for advice?
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  12. #12
    Registered User TheAsianPlayboy's Avatar
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    If you're desperate enough, go psmf. 1000 calories max. You only have to do it for 2 weeks. Then do another "cycle" later.

    Guaranteed fat loss.
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  13. #13
    Registered User tryingtofocus's Avatar
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    Originally Posted by GregTR View Post
    Your BMR is actually around 2,400 not 2,000. You're not burning 750 calories at the gym lifting weights 6 days a week, no matter how much you'd like it to be the case. If you burn 400 calories over BMR in an hour I'm being VERY generous.

    So 1,800 in and 340 calories out on average (400*6/7) a day for a 2,400 BMR person means under 1,000 calorie a day deficit which is under 7,000 calories a week. That's just shy of 2lbs/week lost. Nowhere near an extreme pace.

    And you're welcome!

    Edit, I just read that you do an hour of moderate cardio almost daily. So that'd mean another 500 calories a day so go with 2,300 calories then or forget the cardio.
    Just wondering how do you know he isn't burning that many calories 6 days a week?

    I burn right around 500 3 days a week and 200 another 2 days a week....just wondering how you know that he isn't doing that.

    75 minutes a day lifting should garner quite a bit of burned calories, which I agree is too much.
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  14. #14
    Registered User GregTR's Avatar
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    Originally Posted by tryingtofocus View Post
    Just wondering how do you know he isn't burning that many calories 6 days a week?

    I burn right around 500 3 days a week and 200 another 2 days a week....just wondering how you know that he isn't doing that.

    75 minutes a day lifting should garner quite a bit of burned calories, which I agree is too much.
    Because at his weight he's not burning 600 calories, not even in 75 minutes lifting weights. I burned 600 calories doing 60 minutes of elliptical at 135 bpm avg heart rate back when I weighed 225 lbs. Now I burn 700 in an hour at 132 bpm at 190lbs but my VO2 max has increased substantially from 38 to 47 meaning I'm a lot more efficient now and I can transfer a lot more oxygen at a lot lower heart rate so even though my heart rate is lower and my weight is lower I'm still using more oxygen. I have also upped resistance on the elliptical from 5 to 12 (scale of 20) just to get my heart rate up.

    I use a Polar heart rate monitor to measure my caloric expenditure. And I burn a whopping 143 calories in 25 minutes doing 4 compound exercises, 3 sets, 10 reps to failure with 2 minute rest in between each set. And that includes my BMR not on top of it. Since my BMR is around 2400 that means I burn 100 calories in an hour not doing jack squat. Which means I burn 41 calories sitting at my computer and I burn 143 calories lifting weights in 25 minutes. That is a whole 100 calories burned lifting weights for 25 minutes. Hardly the 600 he's claiming in 75 minutes, it's about half of that.

    Also, I am doing compound movements with large muscle groups. I just can't see anyone spending 75 minutes at the gym doing nothing but lat pulldowns and squats. He must be doing a whole bunch of "pretty boy" exercises that do nothing for him at his weight and muscle mass. And those burn even less calories as he's working much smaller muscle groups which require much fewer calories.

    Now I don't know what he's lifting and how much and I don't know how long of a rest period he has between sets but I am betting money on the fact that he's nowhere near the 600 calories.

    People simply tend to overestimate caloric expenditure when it comes to exercise. But if he starts using something like physicsdiet.com he would see how his weight is dropping and he'd see that if he claims 600 calories for each of his weight sessions his BMR would indicate 2,000 calories to keep the weight loss in balance. But that's the same as saying he only burns 200 calories and his BMR is 2,400 which I think is a lot closer to the truth.

    He can believe he's burning 600 calories and has a 2,000 calorie BMR but as soon as he quits lifting and compensates for it by eating 600 calories less he'll be losing weight. That would be the only proof and indication that he was miscounting calories. As long as he miscounts on both accounts and keeps doing what he's doing everything will be in total equilibrium.
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  15. #15
    Registered User GregTR's Avatar
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    Originally Posted by ejthomp View Post
    So exactly why are you asking for advice?
    I'll +1 this one
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  16. #16
    Registered User man0war's Avatar
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    NOBODY ever uses the Katch-McArdle formula for calculating BMR around here ? It takes into consideration lean mass only, which is the relevant bit, it's always fairly accurate. I personally have used it up to now and it's been reliable for me, a few people I've helped in their weight loss/bulk in the gym, and many people I told about on this forum.

    - For 18 % bodyfat at 188lb your BMR is about 1880.
    - Given your activity level (which is very high, I could suggest doing slightly less cardio at least) , your maintenance level of calories is around 3000 actually, maybe even slightly higher.
    2400 calories ( a roughly 600-700 deficit ) is ... well basically about what I would recommend

    I repeat, this formula never failed for me or anyone I used it for so far.
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