how much weight should I expect to lose?

[randomname]

hi, right now I'm 20 and trying to lose a little weight, I already have a plan for what I'm doing but am wondering what kind of progress I should be seeing. at the moment I'm eating about 2500 caloires worth of food a day, walk about 30 minutes a day, and 5 days a week go to the gym and burn about 500 calories on the stationary bike. could anyone give a rought estimate of how much progress i'll see in a month or so?

 

[35ft6]

How tall are you? How much do you weigh?

11 calories per body pound is about how much your body burns per day just to stay alive. So 2200 a day for a man who weighs 200 pounds, give or take depending on body fat percentage. And 3500 calories equals one pound of fat.

The following assumes you weigh 200 pounds.

So 2200 times 7 (one week) = 15,400 calories.
You say you're eating 2500 a day. 2500 times 7 = 17500.

So a 200 pound man intakes 2100 more calories a week than he "needs" eating the way you do. In a month, this man will GAIN. about 2.4 pounds (2100 x 4 = 8400... 3500 equals a pound).

You say you're exercising 5 times a week, burning about 500 calories a session. Without factoring in your metabolism being stoked by exercise, just going by the straight 500 calories burned...

500 x 5 = 2500.

- 15400 calories burned a week just by virtue of being alive.
+ 17500 calories a week that you're eating
- 2500 calories a week you're burning off by exercising
_____________________________________________________
= a 400 calorie weekly deficit

Meaning it will take you nearly 9 weeks to lose a pound at this rate. If you weigh less than 200 pounds, than you may actually be GAINING weight on this plan.

If you're trying to lose weight, get your calories down to about 1500 a day. More if you exercise a LOT but it sounds like you're not really exercising that intensely.

 

[randomname]

hmm, I might be over estimating how much im eating then, right now I'm at about 165 and 5'9, and I ate about the same before and I definetly wasnt gaining weight before I started excercising as much as I am now so theres something wrong with that, but thanks for the info.

 

[JMaj]

http://wvda.org/calcs/mcals.htm

to calculate your daily calories.

Reduce by 500 calories per day to lose 1 lb/week.
I cut 800-1000 calories per day and still have pretty good energy. 30 lbs weight loss in 12 weeks, about 8 more lbs. to go.

 

[Kabob190]

http://wvda.org/calcs/mcals.htm

to calculate your daily calories.

Reduce by 500 calories per day to lose 1 lb/week.
I cut 800-1000 calories per day and still have pretty good energy. 30 lbs weight loss in 12 weeks, about 8 more lbs. to go.

3588.7 i got this number, what do i do with it?

 

[Rickson]

hi, right now I'm 20 and trying to lose a little weight, I already have a plan for what I'm doing but am wondering what kind of progress I should be seeing. at the moment I'm eating about 2500 caloires worth of food a day, walk about 30 minutes a day, and 5 days a week go to the gym and burn about 500 calories on the stationary bike. could anyone give a rought estimate of how much progress i'll see in a month or so?

I have a much quicker way of losing bodyfat, but the key word is bodyfat and not weight. I do a lot of resistance training and my increased muscle mass helps me burn more calories. Cardio will slow down your metabolism in the long run because your resting heart rate will slow down. I do cardio for conditioning, not for weight loss so think about resistance training for bodyfat loss instead of cardio. Remember, cardio is good for endurance training, but resistance training is better for bodyfat loss.

BTW, there's no guarantee that weight loss is coming from bodyfat when doing cardio and eating less at the same time. Always remember that it's easier to lose muscle than fat.

 

[goober]

3588.7 i got this number, what do i do with it?

That's the amount of daily calories required to maintain your weight. You must be a pretty big guy.

 

[El Diablo]

The assertion that "cardio" exercise will slow down your metabolism because it slows down your heartrate is incorrect. The physiology here is well understood: exercise causes a reflexive vasodilation in muscle tissue, which allows blood to flow through muscle more freely. If training is intensive enough, this vasodilation is so significant that the heart can pump much more efficiently, allowing a decrease in heart rate. This is not a direct indicator of overall metabolism, and not an indicator generally of decreased blood flow. And since most of your "metabolism" at rest serves the purpose of thermoregulation (maintaining your body temperature), any exercise that eventually decreases fat tissue, which cardio will also do, will probably necessitate an increase in metabolic activity since there is less insulating fat to assist in thermoregulation. (Fat tissue itself is minimally vascular and minimally metabolically active).

 

[precision response]

Always remember that it's easier to lose muscle than fat.

This is not entirely true. This mentality is essentially a wives tale that has become gospel on many bodybuilding websites and messageboards. It is at the very least misleading.

Your muscles are made up of protein in its numerous different forms. As a fuel for energy, protien is the body's least favourite of the three macronutrients. Protein as a fuel source will only be utilized in extreme circumstances - think along the lines of starvation and possibly hawaii iron man. Believe it or not, fat is the body's 'ideal' form of fuel as it yields the most molecules of adenosine triphosphate per gram. The downfall with fat is that is needs large amounts of oxygen present to be metabolised and this is not always possible in exercise when intensity reaches a reasonable level. This is where carbohydrates come in as they can be used with or without the presence of oxygen (aerobic glycolysis and anaerobic glycolysis) and as such, are often the predominant fuel used during moderate intensity exercise (more than ATP, creatine phosphate, fats, and certainly protien which will provide little to NO energy at all).

My advice? Don't buy into the hype that many fitness messageboards, particularly body building messageboards are renowned for. Their advice to 'cut' at rapid rates, often recognising exercising first thing in the morning without anything to eat is both stupid and unsafe. I often laugh when they squabble over the benefits and risks exercising on an empty stomach. The classic would be some arguing that because it is first thing in the morning their muscle glycogen stores would be depleted (which is absoulte ludicrous, unless of course the athlete ran a marathon the night before and did not eat afterwoods) and the body would 'break down their muscle' instead of fat because it is easier to utilize. Please, please don't buy into this. Protein will only be utilized by the body in EXTREME circumstances, and as such, you will be safe doing aerobic/distance training to lose fat.

 

[Kabob190]

That's the amount of daily calories required to maintain your weight. You must be a pretty big guy.

Im overweight but i wouldnt call myself dangerously obeise or anything. Im 6'2" 195lbs and im 16 years old. The thing with me is that i exersize a lot but i eat a lot too.

 

[goober]

Im overweight but i wouldnt call myself dangerously obeise or anything. Im 6'2" 195lbs and im 16 years old. The thing with me is that i exersize a lot but i eat a lot too.

Well I would get your body fat % tested. It is better than just looking at your weight or even BMI.

If you are built like a linebacker that weight is ok