scooby's workshop calorie estimator

[mc54iznit]

hey guys, so i was looking for a tool to find my estimated caloric needs, and i used scooby's. Now a little info about myself, i'm 6'1 feet 219 pounds, last time i checked which was at 223 ibs i was 20% body fat. I go to the gym 5 days a week and do weight training for around 50 minutes followed by 20 minutes of low intensity swimming or running.

Now, according to scooby's workshop my maintenance is 3421 calories and my calories for weight loss is 2737, and therein lies the problem. I eat only 1800 calories a day, and i have a damn hard time getting there, and i finish off with usually 180-200g protein, 100g carbs, and 40g fat. I don't see how i could eat almost 1000 more calories without gaining weight, or taking way more macro nutrients than i feel i should. Not to mention i'm also watching sodium and its damn hard not to go over 2500mg as it is.

So i have to ask, is scooby's workshop giving me an accurate reading? and if so, should i just stay with 1800 if i feel good that way? im losing around 1-2 pounds every week which is slow enough to be healthy so i can't really think i need 2700.

thanks for the help and advice guys

[Khabaal]

It's an estimation. There are people that have followed his advice and used the site yielding great results. But you have to see what works for your own body. Keep at it and see if you can keep the pace, have enough energy, no massive food cravings, etc. When I was at 219lbs, 1800 calories felt a bit low for me. I was losing weight with 2200 just fine, but my activities varied. Everyone's different.
Good luck.

[ejthomp]

How long have you been at it?

If you haven't been 100% strict on 1800 calories per day for at least 3 FULL WEEKS running....you haven't even started.

The idea that you have a hard time eating 1,800 calories is laughable.... I assure you that you didn't get to 225 lbs eating less than 3,000 per day... And if you can be consistent for 3 full weeks, you will be laughing at yourself about saying 1,800 calories is hard to eat.....

That said, your macros look good. Add 40 grams of healthy fat...that's 320 calories...which will put you at 2100 calories...a few tablespoons of olive oil will get you there. That's a solid cutting diet for you.

Don't worry...hunger will come soon enough!

[Electricheadd]

hey guys, so i was looking for a tool to find my estimated caloric needs, and i used scooby's. Now a little info about myself, i'm 6'1 feet 219 pounds, last time i checked which was at 223 ibs i was 20% body fat. I go to the gym 5 days a week and do weight training for around 50 minutes followed by 20 minutes of low intensity swimming or running.

Now, according to scooby's workshop my maintenance is 3421 calories and my calories for weight loss is 2737, and therein lies the problem. I eat only 1800 calories a day, and i have a damn hard time getting there, and i finish off with usually 180-200g protein, 100g carbs, and 40g fat. I don't see how i could eat almost 1000 more calories without gaining weight, or taking way more macro nutrients than i feel i should. Not to mention i'm also watching sodium and its damn hard not to go over 2500mg as it is.

So i have to ask, is scooby's workshop giving me an accurate reading? and if so, should i just stay with 1800 if i feel good that way? im losing around 1-2 pounds every week which is slow enough to be healthy so i can't really think i need 2700.

thanks for the help and advice guys

You are likely miscounting your calories but that's somewhat irrelevant. All that matters is you create a deficit and hit your macros. So for your purposes, yes if you are losing 1-2 lbs a week keep doing what your doing.

[mc54iznit]

How long have you been at it?

If you haven't been 100% strict on 1800 calories per day for at least 3 FULL WEEKS running....you haven't even started.

The idea that you have a hard time eating 1,800 calories is laughable.... I assure you that you didn't get to 225 lbs eating less than 3,000 per day... And if you can be consistent for 3 full weeks, you will be laughing at yourself about saying 1,800 calories is hard to eat.....

That said, your macros look good. Add 40 grams of healthy fat...that's 320 calories...which will put you at 2100 calories...a few tablespoons of olive oil will get you there. That's a solid cutting diet for you.

Don't worry...hunger will come soon enough!

well i was 260 pounds when i started around november last year, so its been roughly 5 months. I only started truly counting calories like you said around 3 weeks ago, but when i started counting i realized i was only eating around 1500 a day, so the counting actually urged me to eat some more and get to 1800.

I know i didn't get to 260 eating less than 3k a day but i also use to eat very unhealthy stuff which was calorie dense. Now that i eat lean things and whole grains, i'm a lot fuller with less cals. I'll try adding the healthy fat cals like you said, seems like a great way to get in those extra cals, i have some organic peanut butter that would do just the trick.

and electric I don't think I'm miscounting, most everything i eat is made at home and i measure specifically the ingredients. I don't use oil to cook or anything like that so i can't be underestimating there, and when i eat out every 2 weeks or so i look up nutritional data online and overshoot by a bit just in case, And i log everything with myfitnesspal.

Oh and PS, i know 1800 seems like a little for the 1 hour and 20 minutes i work out 5 days a week, but I also have online college courses which leads to me sleeping a lot, for the past couple months i've slept like 10-12 hours a day, and then sit around all day studying or listening to music and stuff, my life style is for the most part sedentary other than the hour and a half in the gym, so that might be why i've been getting away with eating less.

i do appreciate the help and info though guys, I'll try getting 2100 in and see if i'm still losing weight, maybe sleeping less could help me out too, get the 8 hours of sleep instead of 12

[ZakAlreadyExist]

"scooby"

stopped read here

[scooby1961]

Every caloric calculator, including mine is just a good estimate. Most calorie calculators are either based upon the Harris-Benedict equations as mine is or the Mifflin-St Jeor equations. Actually I am now working on giving you a choice on my calculator which to use. In any case, they are just an estimate. To "calibrate" the calculator for your individual metabolism, follow the calculators advice for 2 weeks to a month and count your calories and weigh yourself every day. Then compare the predicted weight against your actual weight and see by how much they differ. As a rough approximation figure 3500 calories for every pound its off and then use this correction factor. For example, you set the calculator to maintain your weight but you lose 2lbs in a month. Obviously your metabolism is higher than predicted. 2lbsx3500 = 7,000 calories. 7,000/30 days = 233 calories. In the future you know that whenever you use a calculator based upon the Harris-Benedict equations you should eat 233 more calories per day than it says for your given goal.

[mc54iznit]

Every caloric calculator, including mine is just a good estimate. Most calorie calculators are either based upon the Harris-Benedict equations as mine is or the Mifflin-St Jeor equations. Actually I am now working on giving you a choice on my calculator which to use. In any case, they are just an estimate. To "calibrate" the calculator for your individual metabolism, follow the calculators advice for 2 weeks to a month and count your calories and weigh yourself every day. Then compare the predicted weight against your actual weight and see by how much they differ. As a rough approximation figure 3500 calories for every pound its off and then use this correction factor. For example, you set the calculator to maintain your weight but you lose 2lbs in a month. Obviously your metabolism is higher than predicted. 2lbsx3500 = 7,000 calories. 7,000/30 days = 233 calories. In the future you know that whenever you use a calculator based upon the Harris-Benedict equations you should eat 233 more calories per day than it says for your given goal.

that's actually really informative and I'll definitely try that to get a good read on the calories i need. Thanks for the information, and also would like to give you a quick thanks to your site and dedication to help people in general. Some people laugh like the poster above with the comic, but it takes a better person to actually lift a finger and help some of the people that don't know where to begin with losing weight. I can't say i follow your site religiously to the dot, but it was one of the main sites that helped motivate me to actually do something back when i was 260 pounds a couple of months ago.