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Am I eating to little?

J

JumBie

Golden Member
Hey, so basically for the past 3 months I've been dieting. I am a 6ft tall, 21 year old male. My BMR is 1900cal so I've basically been eating 1500cal a day for 3 months. I went from 207-170, a big chunk was water weight. I am actually wondering if I am starving my self, I'm really scared that I might be doing damage to my body eating that little calories. Mostly because I know my body needs 1900 just to function properly. Any help and advice would be greatly appreciated.
 
It depends, if your bf% was pretty high then cutting ~400 cal from BMR is a good way to lose weight. Which you did. Basically your body will keep getting smaller until your intake is enough to sustain the weight. One thing to keep in mind is that you're probably also lost and are going to lose more muscle. It's hard to tell what too much or too little is without some sort of body composition before/after.
 
Pantlegz1 said:
It depends, if your bf% was pretty high then cutting ~400 cal from BMR is a good way to lose weight. Which you did. Basically your body will keep getting smaller until your intake is enough to sustain the weight. One thing to keep in mind is that you're probably also lost and are going to lose more muscle. It's hard to tell what too much or too little is without some sort of body composition before/after.
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For sure. Doing any exercise or just dieting? The latter alone doesn't work. You need the muscle. And high quality calories if you're doing 1500 per day.

Also, what's your goal? In shape or just skinny?


Fat loss sticky at the top of the page.
 
Pantlegz1 said:
It depends, if your bf% was pretty high then cutting ~400 cal from BMR is a good way to lose weight. Which you did. Basically your body will keep getting smaller until your intake is enough to sustain the weight. One thing to keep in mind is that you're probably also lost and are going to lose more muscle. It's hard to tell what too much or too little is without some sort of body composition before/after.
Click to expand...
I never got any exact measurements of my bf%, visually I was really overweight, my face was very chunky. Since then my face has slimmed back to normal, the only thing that remains is my huge stomach which for some reason has not even gone down the slightest bit. I honestly could no tell where or how I lost weight as the only place that looks slimmer is my neck and face. My arms, legs, butt, and stomach are all the same.

I have worried that I've lost a ton of muscle during this diet, and that's probably where most of the weight came from, however I am still able to bench the same, and lift the same amount of weight that I have always been able to lift. I am discouraged because my stomach is still huge even with a 37lb weight loss. I am not sure if my body ate away at the lean tissue and and held onto the fat due to the diet.
 
highland145 said:
For sure. Doing any exercise or just dieting? The latter alone doesn't work. You need the muscle. And high quality calories if you're doing 1500 per day.

Also, what's your goal? In shape or just skinny?


Fat loss sticky at the top of the page.
Click to expand...

I did weight training, and running for the first month, but I was discouraged when I was told that I could not gain muscle and lose fat at the same time. My ultimate goal, is to lose body fat, and gain muscle, I want to look lean and cut.
 
JumBie said:
I did weight training, and running for the first month, but I was discouraged when I was told that I could not gain muscle and lose fat at the same time. My ultimate goal, is to lose body fat, and gain muscle, I want to look lean and cut.
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I gained muscle and lost fat while I went from 208 to 172 over the last year. You can do both, it's just more difficult and probably a slower process.
 
JumBie said:
I did weight training, and running for the first month, but I was discouraged when I was told that I could not gain muscle and lose fat at the same time. My ultimate goal, is to lose body fat, and gain muscle, I want to look lean and cut.
Click to expand...

MrEgo said:
I gained muscle and lost fat while I went from 208 to 172 over the last year. You can do both, it's just more difficult and probably a slower process.
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This. Get back in the gym. Weights and doing cardio. Muscle burns calories just by existing. Fat, not so much.

The gut may be genetics. Or I seem to remember hearing about "collapsed abdominal wall" (???) so your gut will stick out unless you're actively contracting the muscles, holding it in.

Fat loss sticky.
 
iir the recipe to gain muscle while burning fat is to basically do the induction phase of low carbing - and give yourself a calorie deficit while doing resistance training. That way with all the protein you 'shouldnt' cannibalise muscle for energy.
 
I am already on a low carb diet, I started it since day one, I eat tons of protein, chicken, fish, etc...

When I first started my diet, me and a buddy started doing it together. He was about 175 when he started I was 207, we are both 6ft tall. We did 7 days a week cardio, and weight lifting for a month, a long side a low carb, high protein diet.

In that month, I went down down to 188, and he went down to 160. Since then he has maintained his weight lifting 7 days a week, I dropped all exercise. 2 months later I weigh in at 170, he weighs in at 158. I don't notice a difference in how his body looks, and I can lift the exact amount of weight he does.

So he has lost a total of 17lbs, I lost 37lbs. While he might be gaining muscle and losing fat, he looks no different at all. Which is just another reason why the whole keep your strength and lose fat baffles me. I haven't touched weights for 2 months, but I can bench the same amount of reps with the same weight, and its the same for all other exercises.

If I start back lifting, how can I even gain muscle if I'm on a calorie deficit. And if I'm not gaining muscle, and I'm just maintaining strength, how is it that in these 2 months I have magically maintained my strength with no exercise, odd as it is, I actually benched more than I did when I was exercising.

I know this may sound frustrating and ignorant to you guys, but I'm just curious. I really would like to start back weight training, but if its not helping me one bit on actual fat loss than doesn't it make sense to spend that time doing something more "productive"?
 
blackdogdeek said:
did you read the fat loss sticky at the top of the forum?
Click to expand...

Yes I've read it many times, and I keep my self up to date with the discussion in there also. Like I said, its telling me everything that I already know, that's the problem. I know that it says eat high protein low carb, which I am. I know it says to lift to maintain strength, which I'm sceptical about. And numerous people debate it, both for and against, but I guess it all comes down to my personal choice, on whether I want to lift and diet at the same time. My main concern was if it was healthy to eat below my BMR, it just scares me.
 
If you're not losing any more I'd bet your BMR has dropped and/or you're getting more calories than you think.

What are you benching after 2 months of not working out?
 
highland145 said:
If you're not losing any more I'd bet your BMR has dropped and/or you're getting more calories than you think.

What are you benching after 2 months of not working out?
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Don't laugh, but when I started 3 months ago, I was benching 60, and worked my way up to 75. Now after two months, I can bench 100.

Also, my BMR as calculated is 1896.7, when I first started at 207, it was 2000. Also as you mentioned I have hit a wall, and am not longer losing weight.
 
IMO you need to start bulking or at least doing a "clean bulk". 6' and 170 lbs is very thin. If you actually have a gut at that weight you must have very little muscle. I'd try to get back to at least 190 before cutting again.
 
according to the fat loss sticky you're supposed to eat ABOVE your BMR. otherwise, your body will go into starvation mode and retain calories, ie - you'll stop losing fat.
 
the DRIZZLE said:
IMO you need to start bulking or at least doing a "clean bulk". 6' and 170 lbs is very thin. If you actually have a gut at that weight you must have very little muscle. I'd try to get back to at least 190 before cutting again.
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Yeh, my arms have flab, and my stomache is pure fat, I also have love handles. So I'm not sure if I am even losing fat.
 
JumBie said:
Yeh, my arms have flab, and my stomache is pure fat, I also have love handles. So I'm not sure if I am even losing fat.
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Are you sure that you can accurately assess your own appearance? You might be soft but you can't possibly be that fat at that height and weight.
 
the DRIZZLE said:
Are you sure that you can accurately assess your own appearance? You might be soft but you can't possibly be that fat at that height and weight.
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Yes I am 100 percent sure, that I have a ton of midsection fat, and fat around other parts of my body. So let me get this straight im suppose to eat over my BMR, which means I should eat about 2000 a day? Is it possible im not losing fat, and im losing muscle instead...gosh.
 
Just dieting does in fact work. Went from 215 to 150 just dieting fine (5'5"). Currently 137 (I have to exercise now that I'm in the Air Force). Your body doesn't think it's starving just from eating under your BMR. You have to really work at it to go into starvation mode (aka not just a few hundred under bmr(assuming you aren't very skinny already)). Your body can't just magically stop burning calories. That said keeping at a 400 calorie deficit you'll be losing less than a pound a week so you need to be patient, and that assumes your counting calories perfectly.

Also 6' 170 is just normal; it's not skinny or overweight. The fat around your midsection is going to be the last to go; it's where your body likes to store it's fat. I don't have a completely flat gut unless I'm 125 pounds.

All of that said, building muscle will make losing fat easier (I don't personally like having a lot of muscle). It takes calories to maintain fat or muscle in general (more to maintain muscle though) so if you do build more muscle it'll increase your BMR and make it easier for you to diet.
 
AyashiKaibutsu said:
Just dieting does in fact work. Went from 215 to 150 just dieting fine (5'5"). Currently 137 (I have to exercise now that I'm in the Air Force). Your body doesn't think it's starving just from eating under your BMR. You have to really work at it to go into starvation mode (aka not just a few hundred under bmr(assuming you aren't very skinny already)). Your body can't just magically stop burning calories. That said keeping at a 400 calorie deficit you'll be losing less than a pound a week so you need to be patient, and that assumes your counting calories perfectly.

Also 6' 170 is just normal; it's not skinny or overweight. The fat around your midsection is going to be the last to go; it's where your body likes to store it's fat. I don't have a completely flat gut unless I'm 125 pounds.

All of that said, building muscle will make losing fat easier (I don't personally like having a lot of muscle). It takes calories to maintain fat or muscle in general (more to maintain muscle though) so if you do build more muscle it'll increase your BMR and make it easier for you to diet.
Click to expand...

Where you eating below your BMR while dieting? If so by how much were you eating less than your BMR?
 
AyashiKaibutsu said:
Just dieting does in fact work. Went from 215 to 150 just dieting fine (5'5"). Currently 137 (I have to exercise now that I'm in the Air Force). Your body doesn't think it's starving just from eating under your BMR. You have to really work at it to go into starvation mode (aka not just a few hundred under bmr(assuming you aren't very skinny already)). Your body can't just magically stop burning calories. That said keeping at a 400 calorie deficit you'll be losing less than a pound a week so you need to be patient, and that assumes your counting calories perfectly.

Also 6' 170 is just normal; it's not skinny or overweight. The fat around your midsection is going to be the last to go; it's where your body likes to store it's fat. I don't have a completely flat gut unless I'm 125 pounds.

All of that said, building muscle will make losing fat easier (I don't personally like having a lot of muscle). It takes calories to maintain fat or muscle in general (more to maintain muscle though) so if you do build more muscle it'll increase your BMR and make it easier for you to diet.
Click to expand...

6' at 170 is ridiculous skinny if you ask me. Especially since he stated he wants to look like he's in shape. At 6' you could easily weigh 210 lbs and look like a beast with little fat visible.
 
I personally don't see how 170 at 6ft is not overweight. When I was 155lbs, I had a flat, yet flabby stomach, it was was no where close to what it is now. I swear I feel like something must be wrong, considering the actual size of my stomach and love handles.
 
JumBie said:
I personally don't see how 170 at 6ft is not overweight. When I was 155lbs, I had a flat, yet flabby stomach, it was was no where close to what it is now. I swear I feel like something must be wrong, considering the actual size of my stomach and love handles.
Click to expand...

I don't see how someone 6' could weigh less than 200lbs(my weight at 16). I'm currently between 215-225 depending on the day/time of day. Granted I'm not super cut by most anyone's terms I'm not fat. I do have some fat but getting rid of it while maintaining my strength and endurance to keep up with my current routine it's going to be a long slow cut.
 
JumBie said:
I personally don't see how 170 at 6ft is not overweight. When I was 155lbs, I had a flat, yet flabby stomach, it was was no where close to what it is now. I swear I feel like something must be wrong, considering the actual size of my stomach and love handles.
Click to expand...
6 foot 170 is on the thinner side unless you have zero muscle. When i was in the army i was 6 foot 175 at my thinnest and my family said i looked unheathily skinny. I feel my best around 190, but i may never get back there 😛

I guess it depends on your frame. If you have very short arms, narrow shoulders, i guess you could be 170 and flabby...but my guess it that is not true, and you are just overly critical of yourself. You probably need to GAIN weight in the right places to fill out. Increase your back chest and thighs, even if you maintain body fat - you'll have a better appearence.
 
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