Noob question, How many calories to cut ???

[southwest-rider]

Hello everyone, Im kinda new to this forum, but so far I have found out some great advice.
I've read a lot about nutrition, and I am proficient at setting up my meal plans, what to eat and what not to eat, but the one thing where I cannot get a straight answer on is HOW many calories to cut for weight loss???
HOW many calories is too much, if my body requires about 2200 cal/day, (this is RMR plus a somewhat sedentary activity level) what is a good number to cut down on, 1800 ???

Anyone, please... Any and all comments are greatly appreciated

[Cynic]

Tony Gentilcore made the argument toward a relative amount, rather than an absolute.

So, it's a 20% of sale, 440cals off for 2200-440 = 1760, approx.

[yovwmon]

First of all, welcome to the forum!

Now,, I am not an expert like some of the people here but I have taken-in and followed a lot of their advice, and this is what I learned.

The secret to becoming lean is balance, three meals a day won’t get you there, you need six or more, better yet, try and eat a small meal every 2.5 hours. Eating like this will signal your body to stop storing fat for emergencies because it will realize that it has a constant supply of food. It’s kind of like a fire, as long as you toss another log on every 2.5 hours it will keep the metabolism burning.

Before you can begin cutting you need to figure out your maintenance calories, don’t do this with a calorie calculator, everyone is very different and your needs could greatly vary from the number a calorie calculator will produce.

When you begin your cut it’s extremely important to start removing things from your diet slowly, if you cut your calories and carbs to fast you won’t have anything else to cut when things start to slow. With that said, start building your diet around lean sources of protein, you need to keep this high at least 1g for each pound of body weight. After protein focus on your vegetable intake, you should have veggies with every meal broccoli, green beans and asparagus are great choices. Try and avoid starchy carbs, if you want to eat carbs it is best to only eat them around your workout, one hour before or after is best.

Stay away from miracle supplements, if you want something that is going to help start taking fish oil, 1000mg three times a day will help. Another good one is BCAA, 1000-2000mg before and after your workout to help preserve muscle. Whey protein will also be a good help, it is a low calorie way to get a lot of protein in your system when you don’t have time for a meal, but remember, this is a supplement and should only be used when whole foods are not available.

Start with this and see how it works.

BTW – Start tracking everything through www.fitday.com if you don’t track exactly what your eating it’s not possible to make educated decisions on diet modifications.

[deschain]

After estimating your BMR, a reduction of 20% is a good range.

Also, Yov is right about the calorie calculators/everyone being different. The main thing to remember with any rmr formula is that is in an estimate, and may not necessarily be right on the money for you.

The Harris-Benedict and Miftlin-St.Joer (sp) equations are both widely used, and can give you a decent starting point. Just don't live and die by the exact numbers.