New member looking for some help

[angrystomach]

Hi all,

Just wanted to introduce myself and see if I can get some advise from some experienced members here.

I am 28 years old, 5'7" and currently 215lbs with 35% (give or take a %) body fat. I have always been active my whole life which is what I feel has kept me somewhat slim growing up. I realize now that the reason I was always slightly over weight was a poor diet. Once I got to college I was working out 5-6 times a week and really saw a dramatic increase in my strength. I still didn't have a good diet and was probably sitting at around 20-25% body fat weighing around 180-190lbs. Once i graduated and started working full time I gradually pushed the gym aside, starting up every now and then for a few weeks to a month only to stop going. After watching myself slowly become more and more overweight I decided enough was enough and I needed to get myself back in shape. My wife and I are planning to have kids in the somewhat near future and I fear if I don't start changing my habits now I will never get back to how I want to be and feel.

I have already revamped my diet. With the help of my wife we have pretty much cut out all processed foods, we will get take out maybe twice a month and we have a gym membership to start back working out. This is where I really need some guidance. We have already purchased a kitchen scale and started eating clean, however, I am still confused about calories and macros. I have tried site after site, calculator after calculator to try and figure out how many calories and macros I should be consuming daily. Every calculator spits out a different answer with vast differences, were taking hundreds of calories different. I fully understand that these numbers are really an educated guess and everyone is different but I am looking for a reliable resource to figure these numbers out as accurate as possible. I read through a bunch of the nutrition section and I frequently see people talking about just starting with a goal calorie intake and adjust based on results. My problem is I have no clue where to start. If any of you can point me in the right direction I would truly appreciate it.

Going forward I plan on going to the gym at a minimum of 4 days per week doing about 30-40min of weight lifting and 20 minutes of cardio.

My long term goal weight would be around 170 with about 12% body fat. My wife and I are going to Italy mid July and I would like to be under 190lbs and under 30% body fat by then. With the recent changes to my diet I have managed to stop the weight lose and actually started dropping weight prior to the christmas break. I did gain a few lbs back due to the holiday season but with a strict gym schedule and getting back to my diet I am hoping for the lbs to continue to melt away.

Any help you can provide will be greatly appreciated.

Matt