1500 Calories too low for me? (Weight Loss)

[Fatguy2012]

Someone in the Supplement threads said I am "doing it Sooooo wrong"

With my stats my BMR is roughly 2300 so I figure my maintenance would be 2700 calories or so.

For a week now, I have been eating 1500 calories per day. Lean Meats, Eggs & Egg Whites, Complex Carbs, Friuts and Veggies.

I already lost 9lbs and need to lose about 65lbs more. I dont want to lose too much muscle though so I will start weight training lightly after 2 weeks of only cardio (Starting Monday)

[chillaxbroseph]

Someone in the Supplement threads said I am "doing it Sooooo wrong"

With my stats my BMR is roughly 2300 so I figure my maintenance would be 2700 calories or so.

For a week now, I have been eating 1500 calories per day. Lean Meats, Eggs & Egg Whites, Complex Carbs, Friuts and Veggies.

I already lost 9lbs and need to lose about 65lbs more. I dont want to lose too much muscle though so I will start weight training lightly after 2 weeks of only cardio (Starting Monday)

Catastrophically low, unsustainable intake that will lead to muscle loss and hormone deficiencies. Read the stickies and construct a sensible diet, now.

[Freshdou]

At 265 lbs, you could be losing weight easily at 2k+ calories. Don't start so low right away.

[Fatguy2012]

Catastrophically low, unsustainable intake that will lead to muscle loss and hormone deficiencies. Read the stickies and construct a sensible diet, now.

The problem is, unless I see consistent but drastic results (3 to 4lbs a week), I easily lose motivation and get back to my old eating habits.

I have lost weight in the past (as recent as last January) as much as 50 lbs in about 60 days until I hit the plateau. Then I tried the "HCG 500 Calorie diet" which really sucked. A few problems with personal life issues caused me to gain the weight back because I was eating out of boredom, depression and quitting smoking ect...

1500 cals does not feel low for me at all. I do not feel hungry or fatigued with every day activities.

I guess I want to be aggressive this time around and lose as much as I can in the first 45 - 60 days, then increase calories with more strength training.

[necon76]

The problem is, unless I see consistent but drastic results (3 to 4lbs a week), I easily lose motivation and get back to my old eating habits.

I have lost weight in the past (as recent as last January) as much as 50 lbs in about 60 days until I hit the plateau. Then I tried the "HCG 500 Calorie diet" which really sucked. A few problems with personal life issues caused me to gain the weight back because I was eating out of boredom, depression and quitting smoking ect...

1500 cals does not feel low for me at all. I do not feel hungry or fatigued with every day activities.

I guess I want to be aggressive this time around and lose as much as I can in the first 45 - 60 days, then increase calories with more strength training.

Expecting to see a 4lb loss every week is unrealistic, even at your weight. Throwing in the towel because you set your sights too high won't ever get you anywhere.

The best advice I can give you is to nut up & see sh!t through, or be prepared to see the same reflection in the mirror for the rest of your life.

[joeturner]

take it from someone who lost 300lbs doing it all wrong!

I lowered my cal level to way under 1k, from not knowing s!ht and regret it every day

Results?? yeah i lost 300lbs
but destroyed my natural test production, and have a test score of 69!!! (normal is 800-1000 for my age)

now if i dont keep my calorie level under 2k I gain weight


I have to seek out Testosterone replacement therapy for the rest of my life. This was because I lowered my fat intake to practically nothing for over a year. Fats control hormone production. Keeping you calories to low or zig-zaging for to long has sever side effects


Weight loss is a life change. If you can't put up with "not losing 4lbs a week" then you are in for rough shape, cause at some point that scale will stop rewarding you with numbers....you cant weigh ZERO!

Stop. Enjoy the fact that you can lose on 2k a day. This is a long process.

Eat 2k a day. Walk at least 30min every day (break it up if you need to) do this for the rest of your life
Profit!

Hope you take this advise man, dont want to see people in the same boat as me.

[transformerchad]

def start at around 2400 and taper down , thats jumping into it way too fast

[AlwaysTryin]

With my stats my BMR is roughly 2300 so I figure my maintenance would be 2700 calories or so.

There is no way your tdee is only 2700 if your BMR is 2300

Eat more, seriously

[Fatguy2012]

take it from someone who lost 300lbs doing it all wrong!

I lowered my cal level to way under 1k, from not knowing s!ht and regret it every day

Results?? yeah i lost 300lbs
but destroyed my natural test production, and have a test score of 69!!! (normal is 800-1000 for my age)

now if i dont keep my calorie level under 2k I gain weight


I have to seek out Testosterone replacement therapy for the rest of my life. This was because I lowered my fat intake to practically nothing for over a year. Fats control hormone production. Keeping you calories to low or zig-zaging for to long has sever side effects


Weight loss is a life change. If you can't put up with "not losing 4lbs a week" then you are in for rough shape, cause at some point that scale will stop rewarding you with numbers....you cant weigh ZERO!

Stop. Enjoy the fact that you can lose on 2k a day. This is a long process.

Eat 2k a day. Walk at least 30min every day (break it up if you need to) do this for the rest of your life
Profit!

Hope you take this advise man, dont want to see people in the same boat as me.

WOW! Repping you for this one for sure.. How did you do it if you dont mind me asking? I will take you're suggestion and run, but just wanna know what you did to lose that much weight.

[Fatguy2012]

I am here to get answers and advice and want to thank you all for you're input.

Does the following "Plan" sound reasonable?

2k Cal per day consisting of Protein, Low Carbs, Low Fat (25 gram max)

30 to 60 Min walking on treadmill or elliptical atleast 5 days a week

Weight Training 3 to 4 days a week

[t3nchi]

The problem with starting too low?

Keeping it up over a long period of time. Natural human tendency is to binge for "mental breaks". Not saying you will do it, but extremes to extremes are never good.

I recommend starting out a lot higher, like ppl have said, 2400 cals is a good start, adjust from there. I'd even go as far as 2600-2800 a day (based on your 265 starting weight) for a few weeks and incrementally drop from there as your body slowly adjusts to it.

[t3nchi]

I am here to get answers and advice and want to thank you all for you're input.

Does the following "Plan" sound reasonable?

2k Cal per day consisting of Protein, Low Carbs, Low Fat (25 gram max)

30 to 60 Min walking on treadmill or elliptical atleast 5 days a week

Weight Training 3 to 4 days a week

What will you be doing in the weight room?

I recommend focusing solely on compound movements. Build your program around bench presses, deadlifts, squats. No isolation movements like calf raises and bicep curls and tricep extensions. Work hard but work SMART.

[t3nchi]

If you don't mind me going just a bit more specific...since I do want to give helpful suggestions.

At 2400 calories:

250 g protein
250 g carbs (mostly complex carb sources if possible)
50g fat

Go from there.

If you need more help, don't be shy to ask.

[lunchboy]

I am here to get answers and advice and want to thank you all for you're input.

Does the following "Plan" sound reasonable?

2k Cal per day consisting of Protein, Low Carbs, Low Fat (25 gram max)

30 to 60 Min walking on treadmill or elliptical atleast 5 days a week

Weight Training 3 to 4 days a week

You didn't read the story very well if you are considering that diet. No to the low fat. He destroyed his testosterone production doing this. Eat at least 70-80 grams of fat per day.

[AlwaysTryin]

Does the following "Plan" sound reasonable?

2k Cal per day consisting of Protein, Low Carbs, Low Fat (25 gram max)

No. More calories + more fat.

The carbs are up to you depending on how you respond energywise

[cbrent1]

If you don't mind me going just a bit more specific...since I do want to give helpful suggestions.

At 2400 calories:

250 g protein
250 g carbs (mostly complex carb sources if possible)
50g fat

Go from there.

If you need more help, don't be shy to ask.

You don't need 250 grams of protein, reduce protein and increase fats. Carbs are personal preferance.

[t3nchi]

You don't need 250 grams of protein, reduce protein and increase fats. Carbs are personal preferance.

Fine, reduce to 200 g protein, up fat from 50 g to say, 70-80 g. Whatever works and is convenient.

[anonymous]

your bmi is 2300, not bmr

[chillaxbroseph]

The problem is, unless I see consistent but drastic results (3 to 4lbs a week), I easily lose motivation and get back to my old eating habits.

You got the way you are due to years of poor choices. You're not going to rectify that by crash dieting for a few weeks. If you're not willing to put in the work, and realize that your current plan is unsustainable, you will fail, like you have in the past. Not trying to be mean, but that's the truth of the matter. Even if you somehow manage to lose the weight on 1500 or even 2000 calories, you'll destroy your body in the process. The smaller you get, the more miserable the diet will become. Obese individuals can survive on extremely low quantities of intake. That isn't a testament to your willpower, but a biological fact. Moreover, when you plateau, you won't be able to reduce your intake at all.

Your TDEE is way higher than what you indicate. Find out what it is and subtract 10-20% from there. Again, start being sensible and stop looking for the easy way out. It's going to take time to undo a lifetime's worth of decisions.

EDIT: The last post in your post history suggests you're looking into fat burners as well. Don't waste your money. There's no magic pill that is going to magically make the process simple. Allocate your financial resources elsewhere. Drinking coffee will provide pretty much the same benefit of any burner on the market. Glorified caffeine pills.

[iviicrociot]

I agree, start at 2500, if you're lifting you'll hit around 2/lb per week. As you get smaller, so will your TDEE, and you will need to continually go down from the 2500. You don't want to start at 1500..when you're 200 and you're body had adapted then you'll have nowhere to go but even lower. Even if you can handle this, you'll probably put it right back on once you start eating normally afterwards. I was 305, and in month 8 I've just now dropped to 2k from 2200 (down 80 lbs).

[Fatguy2012]

EDIT: The last post in your post history suggests you're looking into fat burners as well. Don't waste your money. There's no magic pill that is going to magically make the process simple. Allocate your financial resources elsewhere. Drinking coffee will provide pretty much the same benefit of any burner on the market. Glorified caffeine pills.

Not really looking for a magic pill, but more of a supplement to keep me energized and focused without a jittery or anxious feeling. Maybe a PWO?

How many MG of Caffeine pills and how many should I take?

What will you be doing in the weight room?

I recommend focusing solely on compound movements. Build your program around bench presses, deadlifts, squats. No isolation movements like calf raises and bicep curls and tricep extensions. Work hard but work SMART.

Want to work on my legs, triceps (maybe press down?), Chest, Biceps, so pretty much what you have suggested.

[joeturner]

WOW! Repping you for this one for sure.. How did you do it if you dont mind me asking? I will take you're suggestion and run, but just wanna know what you did to lose that much weight.

Honestly? I was living with the girl who I (thought) i loved, and was trying to convince her I was someone she could be with. She was dating someone else, my friend at the time (who also lived with us). Waking up every day staring at the one thing in life you want, is the best motivation there is. It's easy to run those 2 miles every day, in the rain or snow, when you know that your doing it for someone else.

Over the course of years, it changed into doing it for myself. I started to love the new me. The only problem was, like I said, I started to equate being "skiny" with bing "fit" and just running more + eatting practically nothing was how i was achieving it.

I was fitting into size medium shirts (and smalls) and 32inch pants for the first time IN MY LIFE! (used to wear size 60 pants when i was 470lbs...)
the progress was addictive, and when the progress STOPPED because I had nothing left on me but bone/skin and organs... yeah... thats when I woke the FUK up.

Now? I love being strong again. I love deadlifting HUGE numbers and squating HUGE numbers. I hope to get my test levels in check soon with TRT, which will let me go back to eating normal again and getting even HUGER (muscle wise)

Its hard to belive my lifts went up as much as they did with a test level of 69! I have been busting my @ss in the gym with weights since dec of last year, and the progress shows!

To answer a few of your questions:

2k might even be to low to start. Everyone here is right. Find your current TDEE and eat 500 less per day. Just 500. Track for 2 weeks.

WEIGH OUT EVERY SINGLE THING THAT GOES IN YOUR MOUTH OTHER THEN WATER
log it
after 2 weeks, see how much you weigh. If your tracking your food 100% accurately then you can find your actual TDEE rather easily

Eat 500k a day less then this
then exercise.

Look at your exercise as bonus weight loss. DO NO REPEAT DO NOT!!! "EAT BACK" your exercise calories. WHY? because you really have NO IDEA how many your burning!!!! Myfitness pal can be wrong. Machines can (and often are) wrong!!!

If you are not losing weight fast enough, you can always walk/run more. however NEVER eat less then 500 below your TDEE (max MAX MAX 1k below your TDEE, but only do this for like a month at a time, then return to 500 minus your TDEE)

You dont have to do 500 under every day either...as long as your 3.5k per 7 days under. 3.5k per week. So if you eat 200 over one day, eat 700 less the next day.
Sometimes I would go for 48hrs without eating, then eat a really NICE meal of what ever I wanted.


Again, this is gong to take TIME! Reward yourself with objects. if you have a hobby, reward yourself with somethign

me? for instance, I a toy / trading card game collector. If i hit a goal, I'd buy something for myself.


NEVER REWARD YOURSELF WITH FOOD! You need to break that mental relationship with food!

EAT TO LIVE, DONT LIVE TO EAT!

[Fatguy2012]

Honestly? I was living with the girl who I (thought) i loved, and was trying to convince her I was someone she could be with. She was dating someone else, my friend at the time (who also lived with us). Waking up every day staring at the one thing in life you want, is the best motivation there is. It's easy to run those 2 miles every day, in the rain or snow, when you know that your doing it for someone else.

Over the course of years, it changed into doing it for myself. I started to love the new me. The only problem was, like I said, I started to equate being "skiny" with bing "fit" and just running more + eatting practically nothing was how i was achieving it.

I was fitting into size medium shirts (and smalls) and 32inch pants for the first time IN MY LIFE! (used to wear size 60 pants when i was 470lbs...)
the progress was addictive, and when the progress STOPPED because I had nothing left on me but bone/skin and organs... yeah... thats when I woke the FUK up.

Now? I love being strong again. I love deadlifting HUGE numbers and squating HUGE numbers. I hope to get my test levels in check soon with TRT, which will let me go back to eating normal again and getting even HUGER (muscle wise)

Its hard to belive my lifts went up as much as they did with a test level of 69! I have been busting my @ss in the gym with weights since dec of last year, and the progress shows!

To answer a few of your questions:

2k might even be to low to start. Everyone here is right. Find your current TDEE and eat 500 less per day. Just 500. Track for 2 weeks.

WEIGH OUT EVERY SINGLE THING THAT GOES IN YOUR MOUTH OTHER THEN WATER
log it
after 2 weeks, see how much you weigh. If your tracking your food 100% accurately then you can find your actual TDEE rather easily

Eat 500k a day less then this
then exercise.

Look at your exercise as bonus weight loss. DO NO REPEAT DO NOT!!! "EAT BACK" your exercise calories. WHY? because you really have NO IDEA how many your burning!!!! Myfitness pal can be wrong. Machines can (and often are) wrong!!!

If you are not losing weight fast enough, you can always walk/run more. however NEVER eat less then 500 below your TDEE (max MAX MAX 1k below your TDEE, but only do this for like a month at a time, then return to 500 minus your TDEE)

You dont have to do 500 under every day either...as long as your 3.5k per 7 days under. 3.5k per week. So if you eat 200 over one day, eat 700 less the next day.
Sometimes I would go for 48hrs without eating, then eat a really NICE meal of what ever I wanted.


Again, this is gong to take TIME! Reward yourself with objects. if you have a hobby, reward yourself with somethign

me? for instance, I a toy / trading card game collector. If i hit a goal, I'd buy something for myself.


NEVER REWARD YOURSELF WITH FOOD! You need to break that mental relationship with food!

EAT TO LIVE, DONT LIVE TO EAT!

Thanks again man. Much Appreciated!

[k9pit]

Google "team3dmj", check out their last few uploads (Q and A series).

It may shed a nice amount of info on your situation and a strategy for cutting and long term macro intake diet stability.

[VIsland]

Someone in the Supplement threads said I am "doing it Sooooo wrong"

With my stats my BMR is roughly 2300 so I figure my maintenance would be 2700 calories or so.

For a week now, I have been eating 1500 calories per day. Lean Meats, Eggs & Egg Whites, Complex Carbs, Friuts and Veggies.



I already lost 9lbs and need to lose about 65lbs more. I dont want to lose too much muscle though so I will start weight training lightly after 2 weeks of only cardio (Starting Monday)

I would start your deficit at 20 percent. If you drop your calories too low too quick you're setting yourself up for failure. IMO

[Fatguy2012]

I would start your deficit at 20 percent. If you drop your calories too low too quick you're setting yourself up for failure. IMO

Thanks, I am trying to figure out my TDEE

[transformerchad]

take it from someone who lost 300lbs doing it all wrong!

I lowered my cal level to way under 1k, from not knowing s!ht and regret it every day

Results?? yeah i lost 300lbs
but destroyed my natural test production, and have a test score of 69!!! (normal is 800-1000 for my age)

now if i dont keep my calorie level under 2k I gain weight


I have to seek out Testosterone replacement therapy for the rest of my life. This was because I lowered my fat intake to practically nothing for over a year. Fats control hormone production. Keeping you calories to low or zig-zaging for to long has sever side effects


Weight loss is a life change. If you can't put up with "not losing 4lbs a week" then you are in for rough shape, cause at some point that scale will stop rewarding you with numbers....you cant weigh ZERO!

Stop. Enjoy the fact that you can lose on 2k a day. This is a long process.

Eat 2k a day. Walk at least 30min every day (break it up if you need to) do this for the rest of your life
Profit!

Hope you take this advise man, dont want to see people in the same boat as me.

holy ****! i wonder if ill stuff up my test if im on a huge deficit?? thats scary ! cant believe it can fk ur hormones like that

[transformerchad]

my TDEE is 2850! nd i eat 1700! damn!

[Fatguy2012]

my TDEE is 2850! nd i eat 1700! damn!

How much weight did you lose? What was you're start weight?