Diet is a mess, question about having too few calories

[PriestRidden]

Hello,

I've been lurking these forums for a bit, and after much reading and looking at some videos I realized my diet is a mess.

Prior to the beginning of this year I was basically eating out 2 times a day and spent my day either traveling or infront of a computer.

At the beginning of this year my job changed and I have been able to remove the takeout. I felt I was doing a good job of watching my diet as I had started losing weight without working out.

Last month I began working out again regularly, for the first time in 2 years. As I began working out I realized I needed to look into my diet. Here is an example of what I was/am eating since the start of the year. I realize that it isn't the greatest.

Example
Breakfast: 2 slices of wheat toast w/pb, + fruit. or random meal replacement bar.

Snack: meal replacement bar or mixed nuts and fruit.

Lunch: brown rice + a meat (chicken, pork, ground beef) w/mixed veggies

Dinner: same as lunch.

Snack: mixed nuts, or popcorn, fruit, or a slice of bread w/PB

I have recently stated adding a protein shake that has 25 grams of protein as I know i need to get my protein levels up.

I'm a 5'10" male who weighs 270lbs and I used a calculator (where i gave it some body measurements, and it gave me a bf%) and it put my bf% at 33.

I understand that the calculators aren't the best, but for a starting point it allowed me to get an idea of my caloric needs.

I came up with a daily need assuming light activity (3 days of week of cardio + weights) of: 3234

Now I'm trying to lose weight so I think somewhere around 2500 calories would be closer to what I need.

Here is my question, I'm taking in under 2000 calories a day, and losing weight, but I realize it's not a good way to lose weight and keep any muscle.

How do I go about adding calories to get my daily intake upto what my daily needs are without gaining weight in the process?

I'm working on getting a good healthy diet together, and will post that for critique later, but was hoping for some suggestions. I have no problems just adding calories to my diet, but don't want to gain any more weight at the moment.

Thanks in advance for your time and advice.

[eatrainrest]

hello, welcome to the forum althought you have been creepin as you mentioned.. have youw atched the dvd videos? all of these links will answer most of your questions

ALL LINKS, ID WATCH THEM IN ORDER MAKE SURE TO WATCH ALL THE VIDS IN THE 1ST!
http://forums.steroid.com/showthread.php?t=323516 ** WATCH ALL DVD VIDEOS FIRST!
http://forums.steroid.com/showthread.php?t=384395 BMR CALCULATIONS
http://forums.steroid.com/showthread.php?t=384553 CARDIO AND HR
http://forums.steroid.com/showthread.php?t=384006 INTRO TO EXERCISE
http://forums.steroid.com/showthread.php?t=385368 FREE TRAINING ADVICE
http://forums.steroid.com/showthread.php?t=383337 RONNIES CARB CYLCLING/KETO
http://forums.steroid.com/showthread.php?t=380883 AM CARDIO
http://forums.steroid.com/showthread.php?t=384009 PHYSIOLOGY


in regards to gaining/losing it will have to do with decrfeasing slowly by 300-500 cals a day

[PriestRidden]

Thanks for the reply, I guess my main concern was. I know my calories are too low now, and I need to increase them to get them to a healthy level. My concern is that adding calories to get up to that level will increase my weight.

So would it be better to go from my ~ 1800 calories I have been typically getting slowly up to a level that will allow me to lose weight and maintain muscle, or just up my calories right away and go from there.

[eatrainrest]

Thanks for the reply, I guess my main concern was. I know my calories are too low now, and I need to increase them to get them to a healthy level. My concern is that adding calories to get up to that level will increase my weight.

So would it be better to go from my ~ 1800 calories I have been typically getting slowly up to a level that will allow me to lose weight and maintain muscle, or just up my calories right away and go from there.

if i were yuo, i wuold slowly incrase my calories to match my maintenance level BMR. but to be accurate you should get ACCURATE bf percentages, or just follow the first method as posted int he link i sent you. just by tweaking macros and time of day and all different food types youll lose fat. but slowly increase liek 300 cals a week to slowly get to that maintenance. 1800 is way to low i ate about 1000k just for breakfeast during bulk

[PriestRidden]

Thanks, for the input. I had been happy that I was dropping weight, but after reading things here and doing some math using the links provided I knew that I was basically starving myself. And I'd rather take the time getting to where I want to be and have some muscle left, then being a skinny fat guy. Once I get up to a healthy level of calories, I'll post up a diet and let you guys take a look. Thanks again

[eatrainrest]

np, keep us updated

[jamyjamjr]

why havn't we seen a detailed diet yet???

[jamyjamjr]

EAT, ur slacking mofo!!!!!!

lmao

[eatrainrest]

EAT, ur slacking mofo!!!!!!

lmao

haha bro im in the workout section alot now as well, answering alot of questions.. come get your workotus critiqued! haha and ive been trying to pick up what you left bro i havent seen you on here in like a day! haha

[PriestRidden]

EAT, ur slacking mofo!!!!!!

lmao

I know, I know....
I basically went from eating out all the time to not, which was a good thing, but then I didn't replace the calories with healthy ones - bad thing.

I'll have a detailed diet up in the next day or so, and we can go from there. I wanted to research more before laying out a diet.

[eatrainrest]

I know, I know....
I basically went from eating out all the time to not, which was a good thing, but then I didn't replace the calories with healthy ones - bad thing.

I'll have a detailed diet up in the next day or so, and we can go from there. I wanted to research more before laying out a diet.

I think he was referring to me as EAT, but i cuold be wrong lol... and get that diet up priest!

[jamyjamjr]

haha bro im in the workout section alot now as well, answering alot of questions.. come get your workotus critiqued! haha and ive been trying to pick up what you left bro i havent seen you on here in like a day! haha

my internet connection at work is down.. im using a desktop from one of the other workers but usualy i connect wirelessly through my labtop.... so i havn't been able to keep up with the section...

this wont last long though.. we're gonna get it fixed..

toppa that i just got accepted to a university and i have alot going on with that.. including a 5hr drive for a move.. but that's a whole nother story....

[PriestRidden]

Ok, I've figured out my BMR using this method:
BMR = 66 + ( 6.23 x weight in pounds ) + ( 12.7 x height in inches ) - ( 6.8 x age in year )

to be:
3010 (includes reduction of calories for loss and assumes moderate activities 1.55 multiplier

I also figured it out using the alternate calculations suggested in this post:
http://forums.steroid.com/showthread.php?t=384395

270*.33 = 89.1
270-89.1 = 180.9
180.9*13 = 2352
2352 + 700 = 3052 (used numbers based off of the fitday calculator, will get a better number as i start logging calories burned while at the gym)

So this method gives me a BMR for maintenance of 3052 if I subtract 500, as my goal is to lose weight I come up w/a daily caloric need of 2552

Now, I haven't gone to get an accurate bf% done at my gym yet. The 33% number comes from a fitness calculator where i entered my height, weight, and waist size.

My question, until I get an exact bf% done, should I use the caloric amount for method 1 (3010) or the estimate from method 2 (2552)

I'm in no huge rush for an answer as it will be a couple weeks before I get up to either of those caloric numbers, as I plan on slowly increasing my calories over the next couple of weeks to get to what should be a healthy number.