Nutrition questions

[MiracleGrower]

Hey everyone,

I am looking for some help with my nutrition as I begin my weight loss efforts. Specifically what’s a reputable site that can help me figure my caloric intake needs, it seems there are thousands out there and I’m not sure who to trust. I plan on using MyFitnessPal for tracking and I do some HIIT kickboxing already. Planning on adding in some weight lifting as well. PM me if you’d like to help me or want to talk specifics. Thank you!

 

[FastNHard]

Personally I don't go by any of those apps. According to any of them I should be eating 3000 a day, 300 grams of carbs and 180 grams of protein to gain weight. At one point I was eating over 5000 calories, 500-600 g carbs and 200 g of protein and could hardly gain anything. I said the hell with all that and finally dropped everything. I eat three meals a day, couple snacks, that's it.... I'm gaining slowly now. Honestly, just focus on protein, helps with muscle and fat. I'm literally eating less than 200 g carbs, 120-140 g protein and 1800 calories. By all the known/told/apps understandings I should be loosing weight but I'm not, I'm gaining. Don't stress about all the apps. Honestly, just keep dropping calorie intake until you see the scales go down, that's the best way. I don't know your weight but a good rule of thumb is 1800 calories, 130ish g carbs or less, 120 g protein, I don't even track fats either.

 

[BryanHD]

If weight loss is your goal, you have the right idea by wanting to track your calories as calorie intake minus calorie output is the most basic way to put. There's tons of resources out there to help you along the way.

You'll have to figure out your BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate). This is how many calories your body needs in a day to maintain its current size in a sedentary state. So you'll have to factor in activity level in as well so Google a calculator that can help estimate that for you. It's not going to be exact but it will definitely give you an idea of where to start at least and experiment for yourself to either add or subtract calories accordingly. There is no "golden rule" amount of calories because everyone is different. Weight, BF%, height, age, sex, genetics, training style, activity level all play a role in the amount of calories one person burns in a day.

When you figure out your maintenance calories you'll want to not cut hundreds of calories all the sudden. Fat loss is a marathon not a sprint. Loosing fat too fast and your body will adjust and plateau much too quickly making further fat loss more difficult. You want to cut calories slowly and moderately week by week. Maybe every 2 weeks it doesn't matter as long as your metabolism isn't adjusting to caloric restriction.

If you don't lift weights and want to start while trying to lose weight, don't mind the scale. Use the mirror as your guide as you could be mistaken muscle gains for non fat loss. Muscle weighs more than fat and beginners put on muscle the fastest and quickest.

When it comes to food choices, just keep it clean and healthy. Make sure you're earing wholesome nutritious foods. Always keep protein high to avoid muscle loss and becoming catabolic.

 

[Dport]

Cut out all empty carbs. That's the answer to almost any weight loss question.