How Many Cals?

Hi all

Just a question I’m hoping someone can answer.

My daily diet consists of…

Morning

2x wholemeal toast with thin layer of peanut butter

Morning tea

1x low-fat yoghurt
2-3x pieces of fruit

Lunch

1x footlong sub or equiv

Afternoon tea

2-3x pieces of fruit

Dinner

1x footlong sub or equiv

I also drink 2-3 coffees with low-fat milk and sweetener.

Can someone give me a rough estimate of what my daily calorie intake would be?

At the moment I’m not body building, I’m trying to shed the excess fat before I start. I’m burning 600cals a night on machines.

Cheers

www.nutritiondata.com

Go do some leg work. You can store the values in Excel.

Looking at what you’re telling us, it is very difficult to give you an estimate of your calorie intake. I can tell you that it looks as if you aren’t getting any protein. I assume there is some lunchmeat on the subs, and there is a little protein in the yogurt. Other than that, all you eat is carbs. That’s not the way to lose fat.

First, you don’t have to be bodybuilding to lift weights. I’m not going to tell you to “LIFT HEAVY!” or anything, but if you aren’t lifting, you are asking to lose muscle. Especially with your diet right now. You need to look through the site and read some of the workouts listed and fine one that fits your schedule and goals. Search for Vroom’s beginner thread for more info. Doing SOME cardio isn’t bad, but excessive cardio will rob you of the muscle you need to lose the fat.

Second, you really need to look at your diet. There weren’t any eggs, meat or vegetables in it at all. Most sub sandwiches are on white bread (the spawn of the dieting devil), and that is bad. I also don’t recall seeing any dietary fats listed. Flax and olive oil are good choices. Mayonnaise is not. Look for Berardi’s articles on diet. Several are listed in Vroom’s thread.

Third, you didn’t tell us anything about you at all. Height, weight, age, workout history (although I assume you are new based on your “before I start” comment). Losing the fat first is a good thing, but this is a package deal. If you try to take one thing without the others, you will not accomplish what you think you will. Cardio without diet and weights = muscle loss. All three have to come together for the results you will want.

Oh, and to answer your question, based on some wild assumptions, that looks like about 2300 cal a day.

Use the search function. Oh, and did I mention Vroom’s beginners thread?

Good luck, and feel free to ask more questions

-folly

Thanks for the replies.

Funny thing is I see a dietician and also have a trainer.

I’ve been working out only the last 4 months. Since then I’ve lost 22kg. I did body/fat % test a few weeks back and had lost about 6kg of muscle.

My longterm goal is to bulk up, but I’ve only been slimming down so far.

The last probably 3 weeks all I’ve been doing is machines and about 150 pushups a day - 3-4 times a week.

Before then I was doing cardio + some weights, but I was hoping to quickly shed the excess fat I have around the thighs and belly over the next couple weeks by just going hardcore cardio. By the way I’ve lost 4kg since I started that, but some of that’s probably muscle.

The subs I eat are always wholemeal. I don’t eat any white bread whatsoever.

I see the dietician again next week so I’ll talk to her about protein. I don’t like eating heaps of meat, so what other foods contain lots of protein? Are protein powdered drinks a safe supplement?

By the way I’m 21. I’m 90kg now, was 112kg about 4 months ago. I’m around 5’11".

Cheers

Wow. You’ve lost 48 lbs? And 13 lbs was muscle. That sounds about right. That is very good progress. I think you could prevent some of the muscle loss with more protein.

You should really have some protein with every meal. You can cycle carbs and fats and all that, but you need the protein. Building muscle requires protein, and muscle burns fat.

You don’t have to have huge amounts of meat. You can have eggs and milk as well. Powders are great for supplementation, but whole foods should be the staples of your diet.

As for the workout, do as much as you can with free weights, machines only when necessary. I’d definitely look around the beginner’s section and threads.

Any other info you’d like, you should pm me.

-folly