Hello, I am wondering about how many calories to eat in a day. If I look up my BMR, the average on most sites is 2250. I have been running a mile in the morning and 2 miles in the evening with a 20 minute session of stretches, planks, push-ups, sit-ups before each run. I have been doing this about 3 weeks now and haven't had huge success yet and am wondering if I'm eating to much or to little to were my body isn't losing any weight. I understand this could be because I am gaining muscle and losing fat at the same time. I currently am eating 1700 calories a day. I just want to get everything lined up so I can start seeing the results on the scale as well. 28 years old Male weight- 263 Goal-215 no medical issues
Answered by Jamie Kerem You are currently eating 550 calories less than maintenance.
You are also burning around 500 with your exercise.
That means that your daily caloric deficit is actually around 1050.
This can be counter-intuitive to weight loss and I would in fact suggest eating more. When you eat more you are doing several things for your body:
You are telling it that more food is coming so it need not worry about keeping the food (or weight) that it has now.
You are giving your body enough calories or energy to crush the next workout
Yes you could very well be losing fat and gaining muscle at the same time, which is why I'm not an avid fan of the scale in the first place. Use the mirror to judge your results, as well as how you feel each day. More energy? That's a good thing! If you can, try to take measurements where possible. This is aso a good way of determining whether you're losing any weight.
You might also want to give HIIT a try.
Instead of your 2 mile evening run, go for a 20 minute sprint interval. Warm up, sprint for 30 seconds and jog for a minute. Repeat this process for 20 minutes. This has been proven to accelerate fat loss through an extended period of caloric burning. It raises your metabolism.
Best of luck to you.
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