Can somebody please estimate my calorie intake ?

[Sol Rosenberg]

I am trying to drop 20 lbs and have trouble using those calorie counters. You don't have to be exact, just a ball park estimate.
Thanks.

Morning - 3/4 cup oats, 1 banana, 1 scoop whey (blender with 1 cup water)

lunch - 1/4 lb turkey sandwich on whole wheat bread, 1 tbs light mayo + vitamin pack

post w/0 - 1 scoop whey with water

dinner - chicken breast , baked potato (1 tbs butter) veggie

before bed - 4 poached eggs , 1 piece whole wheat bread


I know it's far from perfect, but I am just getting started. Also, I have been doing 30 mins of cardio in AM on empty stomach and 30 mins of weights 5 days per week in the evening. Any help would be appreciated.

PS- my work will be slow and I have a good 8 weeks to dedicate to this.

 

[jared530]

Do it yourself with livestrong daily plate food database

 

[DZLS]

yup the daily plate is a great tool... use it, and you'll get results...

 

[Sol Rosenberg]

real quick question...

Say my diet is around 2,000 cals. I just bought a HR monitor and I have been doing cardio in the AM and weights with circuit training in the afternoon. The HR monitor said I burned 500 cals both workouts. If I am burning 1000 cals of the 2000 total cals I am taking, is this good or bad ? Am I trying to burn more cals than I take in ? Damn, I am stupid. Please help.

 

[stevesmi]

I will be putting up a catabolic diet soon on here..

i hope you are drinking a ton of water and I would definately up your fruit and veggies. they both will help stimulate your thyroid and speed up your metabolism. little things like swapping out the baked potato for a sweet potato . and eating some citrus/watermelon before bed. and getting rid of the bread, that wheat bread you are eating is almost as bad as white bread, don't be fooled.. there isn't a wheat bread sold in the supermarket that is a good idea for someone trying to lose weight. millet bread from a health food store is OKAY, but i would dump breads for now while you are in catabolic mode.

also if you are serious then dump the butter and mayo. condiments are crappy fats are diet killers. and swap in almonds (good fats), salmon (good omega's) , and olive oil (good fats and omega's) with your salad!! good fats are your friend, bad fats are your enemy. you can add some cinnamon to your sweet potato (dont forget to eat the skin too!) , but no butter.

 

[Sol Rosenberg]

I will be putting up a catabolic diet soon on here..

i hope you are drinking a ton of water and I would definately up your fruit and veggies. they both will help stimulate your thyroid and speed up your metabolism. little things like swapping out the baked potato for a sweet potato . and eating some citrus/watermelon before bed. and getting rid of the bread, that wheat bread you are eating is almost as bad as white bread, don't be fooled.. there isn't a wheat bread sold in the supermarket that is a good idea for someone trying to lose weight. millet bread from a health food store is OKAY, but i would dump breads for now while you are in catabolic mode.

also if you are serious then dump the butter and mayo. condiments are crappy fats are diet killers. and swap in almonds (good fats), salmon (good omega's) , and olive oil (good fats and omega's) with your salad!! good fats are your friend, bad fats are your enemy. you can add some cinnamon to your sweet potato (dont forget to eat the skin too!) , but no butter.

Thanks a lot. Am I burning too many cals with 2 sessions at 1000 total ? I do the cardio in the AM on empty stomach and weights / circuit training in the evening. I will be doing this 5 times per week, and 1 time of cardio only with 1 rest day per week. (my mayo is miracle whip light. Can't eat the tuna without it). Also, the bread is only 3 pieces per day. Is that really a diet killer ?

Thanks again for the help.

 

[DZLS]

if you burn too many more calories than your maintainence level, you'll likely end up sacrificing more muscle tissue than you want, which will in turn decrease your metabolism, hence making it harder to lose weight...

you have to remember that your body burns calories just to stay alive... if you are consuming 2000 and burning 1000 through exercise, you are only giving yourself 1000 additional calories to burn...

ideally you want to lose no more than 1-2 pounds per week, so you need to figure out your maintainence caloric needs first... if you are burning an additional 1000 cals that you were not prior the pounds will come off... but don't look for it to happen too quickly or you'll end up being counterproductive...

you need to have a deficiet of 7000 calories under your maintainence to lose 2 pounds of body weight per week... this will likely be 75/25% bodyfat / lean tissue... as i said previously, if you go too much below your maintainence level, you'll likely burn more lean tissue which is not what you want to do...

 

[Sol Rosenberg]

if you burn too many more calories than your maintainence level, you'll likely end up sacrificing more muscle tissue than you want, which will in turn decrease your metabolism, hence making it harder to lose weight...

you have to remember that your body burns calories just to stay alive... if you are consuming 2000 and burning 1000 through exercise, you are only giving yourself 1000 additional calories to burn...

ideally you want to lose no more than 1-2 pounds per week, so you need to figure out your maintainence caloric needs first... if you are burning an additional 1000 cals that you were not prior the pounds will come off... but don't look for it to happen too quickly or you'll end up being counterproductive...

you need to have a deficiet of 7000 calories under your maintainence to lose 2 pounds of body weight per week... this will likely be 75/25% bodyfat / lean tissue... as i said previously, if you go too much below your maintainence level, you'll likely burn more lean tissue which is not what you want to do...

makes sense. Thx

 

[stevesmi]

^^^ techniqually there is no way to know how many calories you are burning. the whole burn more calories than you eat theory just doesn't fly ... there are more factors in play like metabolism and how the body stores fat.

just stick with a catabolic diet and do cardio and you can't go wrong. don't worry if you lose muscle right now, you will lose some muscle no matter what if you are cutting, no way around it.. just like if you bulk you will put on some fat.

and yes just 3 pieces of bread can screw things up bigtime. at the very least swap in organic millet bread.

 

[Sol Rosenberg]

Another question...

Let's say I am supposed to be eating 2500 calories per day just to maintain my current body weight. To lose weight, I need to subtract 500 calories off that numbers. What if I am working out and doing cardio and burning 1000 cals ? So now I am subtracting 1500 calories off that original number of 3500. Is this good or bad ?