looking for some info

[KempoGuy06]

Ok with the new year approaching fast Ive decided to kick my weight loss goal in to over drive. Ive got a good workout plan ready and a base diet lined up.

This is where I need help. I understand the whole concepts of calories and how they effect weight loss. Good calories and bad calories. What Im looking for is a chart or whatever on target calorie levels I should reach for based on my current weight and the weight I would like to achieve. If anyone could point me in the right direction that would be awesome. Ive tried to research myself but keep coming up short of what Im looking for. Hell, maybe I really dont have the right thing in mind. Anyway any and all help would be much appreciated

B

 

[Lynne]

Hi,

The following link enables you to calculate your RMR (resting metabolic rate) as well as your BMR. The calculations will give you a ballpark figure to work with.

http://www.caloriesperhour.com/index_burn.php

Exercise will burn some calories and it certainly helps keep disease at bay. But exercise is not a cure for overweight unless you are talking about 2 - 3 hours a day or even more. Let's say you burn off 400 calories in an hour. You have to subtract out the calories (RMR) you would have burned without the exercise. So, you might come up with 250 for an hour. Since one pound of fat has 3500 calories, it takes a lot of exercise to burn up one pound of fat. Still, there is the residual fat burning - you may continue to burn some fat after the particular exercise. Plus, the more muscle you gain, the more fat your burn.

Intense exercise increases appetite for most of us. And you need to eat if you are hungry, not try white-knuckling. Cutting back too far on calories can backfire. We cannot fight our physiology. Being male, you will probably have a less difficult time losing than a woman though.

I would recommend that you stick to whole foods as much as possible. A lot of diet foods are highly processed and not apt to be satisfying. Nonfat dairy foods are a highly processed food. In fact, you can't absorb much of the calcium. Vitamin D is needed to absorb calcium. Fat is needed to absorb Vitamin D. If you eat a starch or a fruit, eat a protein with it for satiety. A starch or a fruit by itself may actually make you intensely hungry. An apple is a good example of a fruit that turns on hunger.

One of the largest weight loss organizations has built its empire on processed and low-fat foods. Which brings me to reduced-fat peanut butter. There couldn't be a sillier product. The good heart healthy fats are replaced with sugar. That's throwing the baby out with the bath water.

Meal frequency - everyone parrots what they've heard. Eating 6- 8 hours came about in the 1990's and some call it a fad. Eating smaller meals onlly burns about 50 more calories a day than eating three times a day. Some doctors have come out against the 6- 8 meal-a-day paradigm citing that's why Americans have gotten so large in the first place - frequent eating. However, that doesn't mean frequent eating won't work. You just have to count calories or watch portions very closely.

Personally, I am done with counting calories or diets I can't stick to. Very low-carb or zero-carb diets make me nauseous and weak. Vegan diets are hard to lose on because you have to eat a lot of calories to meet your nutrient needs. I now do a low-carb diet that actually includes potatoes, sweet potatoes, and some fruits. I have plenty of energy. My brain gets the glucose it wants and I sleep well, too. And I'm losing fat.

Good luck.

 

[Xue Sheng]

http://www.healthierus.gov/index.html

http://www.mypyramid.gov/index.html

 

[JTKenpo]

Ok with the new year approaching fast Ive decided to kick my weight loss goal in to over drive. Ive got a good workout plan ready and a base diet lined up.

This is where I need help. I understand the whole concepts of calories and how they effect weight loss. Good calories and bad calories. What Im looking for is a chart or whatever on target calorie levels I should reach for based on my current weight and the weight I would like to achieve. If anyone could point me in the right direction that would be awesome. Ive tried to research myself but keep coming up short of what Im looking for. Hell, maybe I really dont have the right thing in mind. Anyway any and all help would be much appreciated

B

The nutritional guide for p90x was exactly what I was looking for and sounds like it would be the same for you. it also comes with diet suggestions recipes quick cheats at the fast food chains. If you can't get it on line and you don't need the workouts, find a friend or aquantance who got it and mooch it from them.

 

[KempoGuy06]

thanks for all the help. One of those however gave me some pretty inaccurate info in my opinion. It told me I was inactive and had a desk job. while I do have a desk job I am far from inactive. Im 6'4" and 250lbs, Im guessing these "traditional" charts and stuff arent going to apply to me. Ive been told a lot that Im way over weight for my height but Im built like a linebacked, I have a very big and wide frame. I guess Ill have to pull what worked and throw out what didnt in the diets Ive tried before. Thanks again for the help

B

 

[Lynne]

thanks for all the help. One of those however gave me some pretty inaccurate info in my opinion. It told me I was inactive and had a desk job. while I do have a desk job I am far from inactive. Im 6'4" and 250lbs, Im guessing these "traditional" charts and stuff arent going to apply to me. Ive been told a lot that Im way over weight for my height but Im built like a linebacked, I have a very big and wide frame. I guess Ill have to pull what worked and throw out what didnt in the diets Ive tried before. Thanks again for the help

B

Those charts and calculations can miss the mark. Some people (like yourself) have large to very large skeletal frames.

 

[bluekey88]

Might I also suggets the site www.fitday.com. It's free and it has lots of calculators to help you track calories in, calories burned, macronutrient intake and the like...and the ability to chart all this stuff over time. I've found it really useful.

Peace,
Erik

 

[Phoenix44]

http://www.nytimes.com/ref/health/caloriecounter.html

I would use the calorie counters as general guidelines. You'll probably find you have to adjust as you go along.

 

[CoryKS]

Try this place as well: http://caloriecount.about.com/

I just started using it and it seems pretty good. I'll never take the time to count up the calories I eat, but with this you can select items from their database and add them to your list. They have a lot of recipes too, with pie charts representing the protein/carb/fat ratio and ratings for different types of food. You can also track your activity for the day and get an estimate of how many calories you burned in the time spent.