Hi everybody.
I have been reading alot about calories and the amount I need to take daily. I weigh 155 lb, and a friend of mine told me I need about 2500 to 3000 calories a day.
How do I do that, I mean how do I chose healthy calories?
I have also changed eating habits as well. no more unhealthy stuff. I mostly eat : chicken, beef, rice, fruits, veggies, almonds, walnuts, joghurts, eggs, drink 2L of water a day.
Please feel free to suggest few things.
Thank you very much
Confused about Calories
Moderators: Boss Man, cassiegose
depending on what your training for.. your wt i wood say for muscle so in that case do this:
1st take a scale wt with % if possible or simply take a waist measurement
from the next, record everything you eat and drink for the next 7 days eating as normally as you otherwise should with regualr cheat meals etc
on the 8th day take your wt and / waist easurement again
add up all total cal's and divide by 7 to get a daily average
if your wt and /waist measurements are the same than the ave number you fopund is your maintenance calorie intake level where you won't increase or decrease wt
if your wt has increased but waist stayed the same or is leaner, than you've put on muscle so keep cal';s at this level until you don';t increase muscle, than increase cal's slightly and repeat
if you increased wt and waist than you've put on some fat as well as muscle (or maybe just fat) so you'll need to decrease cal's a little or increase activity a little or both
if you lose wt than your not increasing enough
make sense???
1st take a scale wt with % if possible or simply take a waist measurement
from the next, record everything you eat and drink for the next 7 days eating as normally as you otherwise should with regualr cheat meals etc
on the 8th day take your wt and / waist easurement again
add up all total cal's and divide by 7 to get a daily average
if your wt and /waist measurements are the same than the ave number you fopund is your maintenance calorie intake level where you won't increase or decrease wt
if your wt has increased but waist stayed the same or is leaner, than you've put on muscle so keep cal';s at this level until you don';t increase muscle, than increase cal's slightly and repeat
if you increased wt and waist than you've put on some fat as well as muscle (or maybe just fat) so you'll need to decrease cal's a little or increase activity a little or both
if you lose wt than your not increasing enough
make sense???
It does make sense.
I was a little bit worried because i did not want to take bad calories since I have changed eating habits and it is a bit tough to stick to it since I work 12 hrs a day / 5 days a week and on top of that I still go to the gym at least 5 times a week.
By the way swanso, last time I asked you about legs and how to work them properly. In a matter of 4-5 weeks I have put on 6 pounds.
I just want to Thank You and everyone else that guided me.
Cheers
I was a little bit worried because i did not want to take bad calories since I have changed eating habits and it is a bit tough to stick to it since I work 12 hrs a day / 5 days a week and on top of that I still go to the gym at least 5 times a week.
By the way swanso, last time I asked you about legs and how to work them properly. In a matter of 4-5 weeks I have put on 6 pounds.
I just want to Thank You and everyone else that guided me.
Cheers
Tip. Always weigh at the same time, I would suggest first thing in the morning, preferably after a toilet trip.
Reason.
Some people take weight measurements, and the measurement looks screwy, because the person took a morning measurement, and then forgot the week after, and thought it wouldn't harm to take that one at night.
Problem with night measurement is, you may have some undigested food in your body, and possibly a small quantity of Urine and Excreta, which your body may decide, you can eject first thing in the morning.
So if your bladder is empty, you've dumped some colonic weight, and your Stomach is empty, you won't have any such factors, affecting your reading.
Hopefully that makes some sense. I've read quite a few times, people wondering why they lose weight, at say 2lb's a week, then lose about 0.5lb one time, but haven't done anything different, and when you say, did you take your last reading at nght, then explain about the stuff I just mentioned many say, yeah that could have been it, I did weigh at night yesterday.
So if you forget to weigh one morning, leave it 24 hours, don't be tempted to weight before bed, or you might have additional factors messing up the reading.
Reason.
Some people take weight measurements, and the measurement looks screwy, because the person took a morning measurement, and then forgot the week after, and thought it wouldn't harm to take that one at night.
Problem with night measurement is, you may have some undigested food in your body, and possibly a small quantity of Urine and Excreta, which your body may decide, you can eject first thing in the morning.
So if your bladder is empty, you've dumped some colonic weight, and your Stomach is empty, you won't have any such factors, affecting your reading.
Hopefully that makes some sense. I've read quite a few times, people wondering why they lose weight, at say 2lb's a week, then lose about 0.5lb one time, but haven't done anything different, and when you say, did you take your last reading at nght, then explain about the stuff I just mentioned many say, yeah that could have been it, I did weigh at night yesterday.
So if you forget to weigh one morning, leave it 24 hours, don't be tempted to weight before bed, or you might have additional factors messing up the reading.
Re: Confused about Calories
Hi,artoni wrote:Hi everybody.
I have been reading alot about calories and the amount I need to take daily. I weigh 155 lb, and a friend of mine told me I need about 2500 to 3000 calories a day.
How do I do that, I mean how do I chose healthy calories?
I have also changed eating habits as well. no more unhealthy stuff. I mostly eat : chicken, beef, rice, fruits, veggies, almonds, walnuts, joghurts, eggs, drink 2L of water a day.
Please feel free to suggest few things.
Thank you very much
Your calorie requirement depends on many things. Height, weight, activity level, goals. All of the foods you have named are nutrient dense, or "healthy", but I would be interested in knowing what your personal health goals are. How did your friend determine what your calorie level should be?
i always weigh naked first thing in the morning before eating. late night or any other time is deceitful because of bodycomposition change after workout, eating etc.
for the caloric intake since i only cook for myself, i don't record what i eat i just record what i buy (groceries and cooked food), log it and in a week i kind of know how much i ate so i use an inventory management system kind of and from there i guess daily intake. the hardest part is to calibrate intake and excercise, what works best is to listen to your body once you get lean enough and your nutrition is spot on... for % when it gets close to 10% for a man it is easier to notice change on the mirror neither a caliper nor a fat scale really work. swanso is correct, measuring waist, arm, leg etc. is helpful but again body changes too much especially if you train often. i remember when i hurt arm and stayed one full week without training all body parts grew except stomach which shrunk... deconditionning? probably yes but measuring bodyparts is tricky.
for the caloric intake since i only cook for myself, i don't record what i eat i just record what i buy (groceries and cooked food), log it and in a week i kind of know how much i ate so i use an inventory management system kind of and from there i guess daily intake. the hardest part is to calibrate intake and excercise, what works best is to listen to your body once you get lean enough and your nutrition is spot on... for % when it gets close to 10% for a man it is easier to notice change on the mirror neither a caliper nor a fat scale really work. swanso is correct, measuring waist, arm, leg etc. is helpful but again body changes too much especially if you train often. i remember when i hurt arm and stayed one full week without training all body parts grew except stomach which shrunk... deconditionning? probably yes but measuring bodyparts is tricky.
Health goal
Thank you for your reply guys.
As for sameey70 question goal is to gain maybe around 10-15 pounds. I am at 155 punds right now. I consider myself fairly active.
friends got that idea of calories needed from an web site that you put your weight and height and it calulates it for you.
I was a little bit worried because I have not paid any attention to what I ate before I started working out and this time around I really wanted to change that.
And to be honest its not like friends are all that gifted when it comes to nutrion so I just wanted some advice from someone that has more knowledge.
Thank you
As for sameey70 question goal is to gain maybe around 10-15 pounds. I am at 155 punds right now. I consider myself fairly active.
friends got that idea of calories needed from an web site that you put your weight and height and it calulates it for you.
I was a little bit worried because I have not paid any attention to what I ate before I started working out and this time around I really wanted to change that.
And to be honest its not like friends are all that gifted when it comes to nutrion so I just wanted some advice from someone that has more knowledge.
Thank you
There are loads of aspects to consider when determining calorie level. When I work with nutrition clients I have 2 pages of questions that I ask before I ever determine the best calorie level for them. A lot more than any of the online calculators can factor in.
To fill your caloire needs with good caloires, try to eat plenty of small meals that contain good carb sources such as fruits, veggies, whole grains such as brown rice, oats, whole weat. Add in some lean protein and a smaller amount of good fats. Good fat sources could be a handful of dry roasted nuts, some sliced avocado, or some oilve oil.
If you make 6 or so meals a day this way you should be able to fill your calorie needs nicely with good caloires.
Sarah
To fill your caloire needs with good caloires, try to eat plenty of small meals that contain good carb sources such as fruits, veggies, whole grains such as brown rice, oats, whole weat. Add in some lean protein and a smaller amount of good fats. Good fat sources could be a handful of dry roasted nuts, some sliced avocado, or some oilve oil.
If you make 6 or so meals a day this way you should be able to fill your calorie needs nicely with good caloires.
Sarah