calorie calculation

I believe 1500 calories is very low. I doubt you will be able to sustain training on that. The 2100 with daily training will even be a little low as your training progresses.

Yah - 1500 is pretty low. The beginnings of my journey were focused on losing weight - I did use supplements and took in extra protein because I started lifting. After a bit I cound that I was still losing and getting more tired during lifting. My trainer (a freind) cautioned me that I was beginning to burn off muscle during workout. With the extra training for tri now, I've upped my calorie intake. It's still a balancing act - but for me, early muscle fatigue and a slowdown in muscle growth is my tip off to take in a bit more. Are you doing any weight training? You will for sure want to increase calorie intake.

After losing a bunch of weight - I was actually a bit anxious to hear folks saying to take in more - especially adding a bit more fat - but I was told my performance would drop.

i am weight lifting, twice a week. i do double workouts four days a week. i'm uncertain about how many calories i need to take in w/out adding on weight. i've lost unnecessary weight and would like to keep it off! :-)

If you are looking for something to tell you that you should eat 2127 calories per day to maintain your weight if you work out 10 times a week, I think you're out of luck. There are too many variables. Your weight, your metabolism, your resting heart rate, intensity and length of your workouts, variables within your workouts, hills, wind etc. When and how much you eat, how much sleep, and rest you are getting.... and on and on. I think you should just use the calculators to give you a starting point and then experiment. Also remember weight is not the only factor, you can gain muscle weight and loose inches, cause muscle weighs more than fat, so measuring different parts of your body weekly, and an occasional body fat percentage test could be helpful too. Sorry I can't be of more help.
JD

I just made a comment to my wife this afternoon that I don't know the 1st thing about counting calories.

Can anyone suggest any reference material on this subject?

I'm getting a little lost in the various theories about nutrition, but it seems to be widely agreed that burning more calories than my intake will help me "lighten" my weight while training.

BTW, I am about 6 weeks into being a triathlete and have miles to go (no pun intended.....). Also, I am 6'3" 250 lbs. Pretty active, but never seem to drop the extra weight.

Edited by dhyte 2004-01-03 7:23 PM

these's a calorie counter above that is useful. also, knowing the importance of hr zone training is key to burning fat while you train. if your hr is too high, your body will be burning carbo's as the main source of fuel, as opposed to fat.

trilover, in your first post you said you wanted to gain lean mass (muscle) and later not gain weight. My post was related to gaining muscle which is different from maintaining and having enough food for training. LEt me know what you goals are.

As far as counting calories, you have to also look at what you eat. I you eat a bowl of ice cream and a bag of chips for 1,000 calories, are you then going to eat 1,000 calories of regular food? I don't think you would make it. The point is, try to concentrate on 5-6 meals a day of good foods and watch portion sizes.

One thing to watch while cutting calories is to not lose too much muscle. I've seen people do the Atkins diet and lost 25lbs, but they just look like a smaller version of how they did before because they lost a lot of muscle. When eating strict, I take body fat% measurements once a week. If my lean mass goes down, then I increase my protein intake, usually with shakes or larger chicken breast portions.

How are you taking body fat percentages? What method are you using?
Thanks,

I have two ways. First, I have a Tanita BF scale. It's not very accurate and I wouldn't recommend it for BF. It is very accurate for weight though. Second, I have the AccuyMeasure digital calipers that seem to be fairly accurate and works great for seeing progress.

I have heard about the calipers but wondered how easy are they to use? Cost? where can I get them?
Thanks for the info.

www.fitday.com is an excellent free web based source to keep track of calories.

Your first step should be to find out how many calories you are consuming on a daily basis. This can be done by using that website, looking at food labels, and writing down everything that your put in your body. It is tedious, but very helpful in my opinion. After you do it for a while, you can then guesstimate you caloric intake pretty well.

I also think that this is a decent primer for how to eat "clean" : http://forums.menshealth.com/thread.jsp?forum=5&thread=66900 (note that the harris benedict calculation is for men and there is a different formula for women)

also generally speaking, this is an easy way:

Take your body weight and multiply it by:
10-12 to wane
14-16 to maintain
18+ to gain


You will need to be careful not to "starve" your body of the calories that it needs to sustain the muscles that your are working. If you do not eat enough, your body can go into 'starvation mode', where it will slow down your metabolism and start catabolizing your muscle. You will not lose fat in this scenario (but you might lose weight), and you will also probably have no energy and just feel lousy.


Feed the machine.

Thanks for the link. I will check it out and see if i cam get more intentional in my eating habits.

Dan