Calories when losing weight

That's not how it works. You don't know what your daily calorie use is. And neither do you know how many calories you burned in your running. You're just guessing.

Hungry Boy wrote:

I’m glad I didn’t just listen to people here saying to eat 2xxx calories a day while running.

They must not run a lot.

math fail wrote:

That's not how it works. You don't know what your daily calorie use is. And neither do you know how many calories you burned in your running. You're just guessing.

I'm actually quite good at math, but thanks for the helpful post.

Where is the math fail? Counting calories through food is quite easy, and then I simply use my Garmin for calories burned running. Is it 100% accurate? No, but is it close enough to give a good idea of how much I should eat each day? YES.

Clearly it's working because I am eating more than what I thought possible to lose over a pound a week.

If you want to starve yourself to lose weight, be my guest.

I think you are wildly overestimating your calorie intake and/or underestimating your calorie burn while running. I'm about the same size as you (nearly to the inch and pound) and 40 years old. I've tracked numbers and weight at times in an attempt to lose weight while in the 150-160 lb. range and my base rate for burning calories worked out to be right around 1900-2000 calories and I burn roughly 100 calories per mile ran.

If you are truly eating that much and still losing weight you might want to check with a doctor. That is not anywhere near normal.

Hungry Boy wrote:

math fail wrote:

That's not how it works. You don't know what your daily calorie use is. And neither do you know how many calories you burned in your running. You're just guessing.

I'm actually quite good at math, but thanks for the helpful post.

Where is the math fail? Counting calories through food is quite easy, and then I simply use my Garmin for calories burned running. Is it 100% accurate? No, but is it close enough to give a good idea of how much I should eat each day? YES.

I told you where the math fail is. You don't know how many calories you are burning during a run or doing other things. You're just guessing.

math fail wrote:

Hungry Boy wrote:

I'm actually quite good at math, but thanks for the helpful post.

Where is the math fail? Counting calories through food is quite easy, and then I simply use my Garmin for calories burned running. Is it 100% accurate? No, but is it close enough to give a good idea of how much I should eat each day? YES.

I told you where the math fail is. You don't know how many calories you are burning during a run or doing other things. You're just guessing.

It doesn't matter. If I am being CONSISTENT with the method of tracking calories eaten and calories burned then it will be helpful for me to be able to consistently lose weight without starving myself. The same for anyone else. If you are consistent with the tools used it doesn't really matter. The results will come.

math fail wrote:

I told you where the math fail is. You don't know how many calories you are burning during a run or doing other things. You're just guessing.

He's got a decent idea of calories burned thanks to using a Garmin. If he was off by 10-20% you would have an argument. But he is off by (my estimation) 75% which means something is very wrong somewhere. I'd like to know how he is getting his calories consumed numbers.

Joe Jackson wrote:

I think you are wildly overestimating your calorie intake and/or underestimating your calorie burn while running. I'm about the same size as you (nearly to the inch and pound) and 40 years old. I've tracked numbers and weight at times in an attempt to lose weight while in the 150-160 lb. range and my base rate for burning calories worked out to be right around 1900-2000 calories and I burn roughly 100 calories per mile ran.

If you are truly eating that much and still losing weight you might want to check with a doctor. That is not anywhere near normal.

WOW!!! 1900 calories!?? You seriously ate 1900 calories AND still ran!!??? It's posts like these that truly confuse me. I eat 2000 calories for just dinner many days.

I use Garmin to track calories burned running - usually comes to about just under 100 calories/mile - seems accurate.

I use myfitnesspal to track calories eaten. I literally use the nutritional labels and get an exact measurement of what I am eating.

There is no way in hell I could survive eating 1900 calories in a day. That is nuts.

Joe Jackson wrote:

math fail wrote:

I told you where the math fail is. You don't know how many calories you are burning during a run or doing other things. You're just guessing.

He's got a decent idea of calories burned thanks to using a Garmin. If he was off by 10-20% you would have an argument. But he is off by (my estimation) 75% which means something is very wrong somewhere. I'd like to know how he is getting his calories consumed numbers.

By the way, I didn't mean to come off rude to your post. I do believe you that you eat that little when trying to lose weight.

However, I am being completely honest when I give the numbers I have. I have done this in the past as well as every time my maintenance calories has been OVER 3,000.

Here's an example dinner I had just yesterday - 1680 total calories:

Cheese Ravioli - 28 ravioli (literally counted them) - 700 calories

traditional Sauce - 50 calories

Green Grapes - 150 calories

2 cups milk - 220 calories

8 double stuffed Oreos - 560 calories (not healthy but I was very tired last night and needed to get extra calories in)

I then had two glasses of apple juice after dinner. (4 servings!).

This is why I just find it crazy that some people can eat so little.

I borderline had a eating disorder in high school. I remember counting my calories and often only adding up to 1000-1500 calories. Now I don't count my calories and eat what I want. Crazy how actually eating improves your performance.

Hungry Boy wrote:

WOW!!! 1900 calories!?? You seriously ate 1900 calories AND still ran!!??? It's posts like these that truly confuse me. I eat 2000 calories for just dinner many days.

I use Garmin to track calories burned running - usually comes to about just under 100 calories/mile - seems accurate.

I use myfitnesspal to track calories eaten. I literally use the nutritional labels and get an exact measurement of what I am eating.

There is no way in hell I could survive eating 1900 calories in a day. That is nuts.

I said my base rate for calories is around 1900-2000. That means that If I sat on my arse all day and did nothing, I'd need to eat roughly that amount to maintain my weight. I could eat an extra 100 calories for each mile I ran that day, or use those miles to help me 'earn' a calorie deficit and lose weight. I lost a good chunk of weight running 4-6 miles/day (weekly average) while eating around 2000 calories/day. I probably ate a little more than that in reality as I'm never totally sedentary for a day so my typical burn rate is more like 2100-2200 assuming I get out of bed.

Reading nutrition labels is a good start but how are you measuring how much of each product you are consuming? Is everything you eat packaging as a single serving where you have total control of the calories consumed? All day long?

So your base rate and my base rate are about 1400 calories apart. That is hard to believe. Your base rate seems crazy low to me.

I wil literally count or portion out anything I eat. For example, I literally counted how many ravioli's I had last night. (OCD I know).

If I made a box of noodles for myself and someone else, I will portion it out to get a good estimate. For example if it's a one pound box of noodles and I eat roughly half, that's 800 calories of pasta.

If I get food from somewhere, I will just use the posted nutritional information.

So, to answer your question, I almost always count or portion out what I am eating, and then use the nutritional label.

Joe Jackson wrote:I said my base rate for calories is around 1900-2000. That means that If I sat on my arse all day and did nothing, I'd need to eat roughly that amount to maintain my weight.

If I only ate 2000 calories I would be at my race weight in a matter of a few weeks. However, I would not be able to get through the day. My brain would literally shut down if I tried something like that.

I can only last a few weeks at 2500 NET calories before I get really tired and run down. This would be like eating 3500 calories and running off 1000 calories. This would make me extremely tired after a week or two. A smaller deficit works better for me.

I am also trying to lose weight. I started at 5'10" and 452 pounds, this was 2 years ago.

I keep track of the food I eat by weighing my poop. My previous doctor told me that is an accurate way to find out the calories the body digests. Based on this I eat only 900 calories per day.

However, now after 2 years, I am at my highest weight of 570 pounds. It makes no sense, because I undereat by several thousand calories. So I think the scales are just not accounting for my body's proportions right. Although my measurements have also increased strangely.

Some serious undereaters in this thread. How do u people get energy to run when eating like a bird?

Depends on what you do on an average day, plus everyones different. However your base rate does 'sound' high. I'm similar weight now (used to be heavier and lost 3 stone). My base is 1700, and I drop to 1400 (+ extra for exercise) when I lose weight, and I've now been consistent for about 14 years with that.

What's an example of what you eat out of interest, and do you do much active stuff if working or whatever ?

Sheesh wrote:

Depends on what you do on an average day, plus everyones different. However your base rate does 'sound' high. I'm similar weight now (used to be heavier and lost 3 stone). My base is 1700, and I drop to 1400 (+ extra for exercise) when I lose weight, and I've now been consistent for about 14 years with that.

What's an example of what you eat out of interest, and do you do much active stuff if working or whatever ?

1700 base? Wow, that's just an average dinner for me. I can't imagine eating that little for an entire day. My body would break down and I would no energy to even get out of bed if I tried that.

Could you post an average day of food for you? I would be curious how you get through a day with such little food.

Today for example I have had so far:

Breakfast: 2 cups of Raisin Bran cereal + 1.25 cups of milk (518 calories)

Snack: Green Grapes (150 calories) and 14 cheese cubes (240 calories) = (390 total calories)

Lunch: Two turkey sandwiches with 2 slices of cheese each sandwich and light mayo (700 total calories)

Veggies: 50 calories

Light veggie dip 2 tablespoons: 60 calories

This gives me a total of 1718 calories by noon.

A typical day going forward from here would have me eat a snack of around 200-300 calories this afternoon before running.

A typical dinner for today could be half a box of pasta (800 calories), with homemade sauce (300 calories - I've added up the ingredients for this), 300 calories of garlic bread, fruit (150-200 calories), glass of milk (200 calories). TOTAL = 1800 calories for dinner

I may also have a small snack/drink before bed. This would give me about 3500-3800 calories for the day, with about a 10 mile run. So, that would put me at a NET of 2500-2800 calories, which results in me losing 1-2 pounds per week.

Can you post an example day? How can you get through a whole day with such little energy allotment? That is hardly any food at all.

I would not recommend ANY runner of any age/weight to eat so little.

Guess by how many calories you can have to maintain weight you must be exactly what your username says, a boy. Get back to us when you hit puberty and see how many calories it takes to gain weight.