What does 2000-2200 calories a day look like?

[Arkitech]

Using about 3 different calculators my resting BMR is about 2000-2200. Can anyone give me an idea of what 2000-2200 calories worth of meals would look like? Also if I wanted to lose 3-4 pounds per week would 30-60 minutes of cardio for 5 days a week and resistance training 3 days a week be enough?

 

[Sixguns]

Myfitnesspal app is great for tracking food and lift heavy over cardio

 

[Zivic]

Using about 3 different calculators my resting BMR is about 2000-2200. Can anyone give me an idea of what 2000-2200 calories worth of meals would look like? Also if I wanted to lose 3-4 pounds per week would 30-60 minutes of cardio for 5 days a week and resistance training 3 days a week be enough?

3-4 lbs a week? no, 5 days of cardio and 3 days of training wouldn't be enough. the intake side is the EVERYTHING in terms of weight loss.

1 lb = 3500 calories

to lose 4 lbs = 14,000 calorie deficit. If your resting BMR is ~2000 that means you would have to eat no food during the week.

^hope that shows you how dramatic (ie unrealistic) that type of weight loss is.

 

[z1ggy]

Using about 3 different calculators my resting BMR is about 2000-2200. Can anyone give me an idea of what 2000-2200 calories worth of meals would look like? Also if I wanted to lose 3-4 pounds per week would 30-60 minutes of cardio for 5 days a week and resistance training 3 days a week be enough?

First off, read the Fat Loss sticky.

And don't waste your time with 30-60min of cardio. You can negate more cals by not eating that muffin, than doing some boring elliptical routine.

Lift weight 4-5 times a week, doing moderate to heavy weight. End each session with some high intensity full body cardio, like doing 12 burpees then 30 seconds of jump rope, then rotate between that with no rest for 5-10 mins.

Also, if your BMR is 2000-2200, that means if you do office work, your daily needs are probably around 2500. If you want to lose 1lb per week, that's averaging 2000cal a day. Don't bother with 3-4lb a week unless you are very much over weight (you might be if you want 3-4lb a week). Trying to lose too much, too fast is a set up for failure.

 

[lord_emperor]

Another vote for MyFitnessPal, it's been instrumental in my success.

Also unless you weigh like 600lbs don't try for 3-4lb/week, you'll hate yourself and feel terrible trying to eat so little. I picked 2lbs/week, the most agressive option in MyFitnessPal and while I have been successful I still have to eat over my target some days especially when I take a day off exercise - 1550 Calories is simply not enough to keep me going.

I can answer your question quite precisely with a random day from MyFitnessPal:

Foods     Calories     Carbs     Fat     Protein  Cholest     Sodium     Sugars     Fiber
Breakfast
Coffee - Brewed from grounds, 0.2 cup (8 fl oz)     0     0g     0g     0g     0mg     1mg     0g     0g
Homemade - Oatmeal Porridge, 1/2 cup dry oatmeal     148     23g     3g     5g     0mg     1mg     1g     4g
Craisins - Dried Cranberries, 1/6 of a cup     87     22g     0g     0g     0mg     0mg     19g     0g
Royal Nuts - Deluxe Mixed Nuts Unsalted, 25 g     160  6g     13g     5g     0mg     0mg     2g     2g
Earth's Own - Vanilla Almond Milk, 1.5 cup (250 ml) 120     20g     3g     2g     0mg     180mg     18g     2g
ensure high protein - chocolate, 235 ml     225     31g     6g     12g     0mg     290mg     0g     0g
Lunch
Homemade - Chili With Beans, Tomato Sauce, and Ground Beef, 1 cup cooked     300     37g     20g     25g     70mg     758mg     7g     5g
Johnsonville - Chili Cheese Smoked Sausage, 1 link (63g)     200     3g     18g     8g     40mg     490mg     1g     0g
Ziggy's (Canada) - Cheese Tortelini, 1 cup cooked (100 g)     270     51g     3g     11g     35mg     370mg     7g     3g
Dinner
Generic - Bc Roll, 6 pieces     245     34g     4g     16g     0mg     0mg     0g     0g
Japanese - Sushi: Dynamite Roll , 8 pieces     370     60g     9g     15g     90mg     880mg     10g     1g
Agata - Salmon & Avocado Roll, 8 pieces     250     31g     7g     15g     35mg     300mg     5g     2g
TOTAL:     2,375     318g     86g     114g     270mg     3,270mg     70g     19g
Exercises     Calories     Minutes     Sets     Reps     Weight
Cardiovascular
Bicycling, 12-14 mph, moderate (cycling, biking, bike riding)     427     40      
Bicycling, 12-14 mph, moderate (cycling, biking, bike riding)     414     41      
TOTALS:     841     81     0     0     0

 

[smackababy]

First off, read the Fat Loss sticky.

And don't waste your time with 30-60min of cardio. You can negate more cals by not eating that muffin, than doing some boring elliptical routine.

Lift weight 4-5 times a week, doing moderate to heavy weight. End each session with some high intensity full body cardio, like doing 12 burpees then 30 seconds of jump rope, then rotate between that with no rest for 5-10 mins.

Also, if your BMR is 2000-2200, that means if you do office work, your daily needs are probably around 2500. If you want to lose 1lb per week, that's averaging 2000cal a day. Don't bother with 3-4lb a week unless you are very much over weight (you might be if you want 3-4lb a week). Trying to lose too much, too fast is a set up for failure.

Pretty much this.

Even if you are extremely overweight, cutting more than 1-1.5lbs a week is much harder than you think. 4-5lbs a week is basically unsustainable for more than a week or two.

 

[z1ggy]

Pretty much this.

Even if you are extremely overweight, cutting more than 1-1.5lbs a week is much harder than you think. 4-5lbs a week is basically unsustainable for more than a week or two.

Some over weight folks can sustain 4-5lb/week loss because it's not fat. Generally speaking, if they are cutting carbs a bunch (they should be) plus drinking lots of water, a lot of that initial weight loss is simply water.

 

[Arkitech]

Thx guys

I think what I'm going to focus on is lots of fruits, veggies and lean meats.

In addition I'll also keep working on weight lifting and some hiit

 

[z1ggy]

Thx guys

I think what I'm going to focus on is lots of fruits, veggies and lean meats.

In addition I'll also keep working on weight lifting and some hiit

The most important part will be to remain dedicated. Don't expect to see tons of results in a week or something. It takes many weeks to really get your body in the groove. Good luck.

 

[IHateMyJob2004]

Counting calories is the best way to keep yourself honest. If you have a bad day, have a n exceptional day the next day.

Shoot for 1500 cals and exercise daily. If you car about not being weak, make sure you keep the protein intake high. You'll need Whey powder to do this at 1500 cals (you need to get a lot of protein per calorie).

 

[M0oG0oGaiPan]

About two of these:

or one of these:

 

[IHateMyJob2004]

If cutting calories, consider Subway. It's not he healthiest food in the world but they have an online calculator. I can get a 600 calorie 12" turkey/ham sub simply by choosing the right bread, the right cheese and putting vinegar on it instead of oil or mayo.

Big philly cheese steak though and you are pushing 900-1000 cals.

A Whopper w/ fries and a diet soda at Burger King? Something like 1100 calories.

A head of lettuce: 100 cals.

If oyu count calories for a while, you'll start knowing what healthy is and what low calorie is.

 

[Koing]

3-4 lbs a week? no, 5 days of cardio and 3 days of training wouldn't be enough. the intake side is the EVERYTHING in terms of weight loss.

1 lb = 3500 calories

to lose 4 lbs = 14,000 calorie deficit. If your resting BMR is ~2000 that means you would have to eat no food during the week.

^hope that shows you how dramatic (ie unrealistic) that type of weight loss is.

THIS.

Thx guys

I think what I'm going to focus on is lots of fruits, veggies and lean meats.

In addition I'll also keep working on weight lifting and some hiit

Log everything and be as consistent as you can. It's a slow grind to lose grind 10-20lbs but you can do it. Just take it easy and don't beat yourself up over small slip ups.

1lb a week is a good figure to drop as it's much more sustainable than 3-4lbs over the course of 10-16 weeks.

Koing

 

[IHateMyJob2004]

THIS.



Log everything and be as consistent as you can. It's a slow grind to lose grind 10-20lbs but you can do it. Just take it easy and don't beat yourself up over small slip ups.

1lb a week is a good figure to drop as it's much more sustainable than 3-4lbs over the course of 10-16 weeks.

Koing

I lost about 40 pounds doing a 1/2 pound loss over almost 2 years. Slow and steady does work.

 

[AntonioHG]

Using about 3 different calculators my resting BMR is about 2000-2200. Can anyone give me an idea of what 2000-2200 calories worth of meals would look like? Also if I wanted to lose 3-4 pounds per week would 30-60 minutes of cardio for 5 days a week and resistance training 3 days a week be enough?

~2300 calories with the food I eat looks like this:




You might want to eat something else at different times, lol...

As everyone else has said, go with slow and steady weight loss. Too much of a deficit is not a good thing. I do believe cardio is worthwhile. 15-20 minutes a day with medium intensity is a good way to bring up your endurance and would help you to use up some extra calories along the way.

 

[Chaotic42]

I've lost 22 pounds over the last two months, which is 2.75 pounds per week. I've been on something called Victoza which among other things makes the idea of food highly undesirable. I don't think there's been more than one day where I've eaten 2000 calories, and most days I'm at around 1200-1500.

It sucks and has been brutal. I've barely had the energy to just get up and go to work, so 3-4 pounds isn't very realistic.

It's going to be a lifestyle change and it will start with diet. If you're hooked on salt, sugar, and fat, which you likely are, it will be even worse because eating properly will begin to drop your blood sugar which will just add to your misery.

Just remember, it took you a while add those extra pounds of fat, so expect it to take a while to lose them.

 

[NAC]

I've been dieting for almost three months now. Well, sort of. The first month I was able to lose almost 8 pounds. Then, I was a bit more relaxed about it, and basically stagnated for a month. Even though I was careful about what I ate during the week, I'd go to a party or go out to dinner and didn't lose any weight. The past few weeks I've been strict again, and have lost another four pounds or so. This weekend hasn't been good so far, so I suspect I wont make progress again until late in the week.

Based on this experience, and other times I've been careful about diet, I can be very strict for about a month. Beyond that it gets much tougher. For me work days are much easier than weekends because I have very set patterns and habits. Because of this, in the future I plan to alternate a month of losing weight with a month or two of building muscle.