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I'm 5 feet 11 and I weight 189 pounds, I'm trying to lose some weight to reach 176 pounds. My calculated GDA (with online tools) should be 2800 Kcal/per day. My question is: if I lower this value to 2000 Kcal/day, am I going to lose weight?

Edit: Regarding to my diet I just cut off all the sweet things, fuzzy drinks and everything that could contain a lot of fat including dairy foods and I've been exercising since the beginning. There's not a precise reason why I want to lose weight, I just want to stay well with myself. I chose 176 pounds because I thought that was my fit-weight

EdoKo2
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  • Most likely. A caloric deficit, whether through reduced diet, increased exercise or a combination of both will, over time, produce a weight loss. The type of diet and exercise you do can have an effect on how much and for how long you keep the weight off. A more specific question outlining the type of diet, how you intend to exercise and why you want to lose weight might produce better answers. – JohnP Jul 23 '12 at 22:01
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    Why is your goal 176lbs? Unless you are competing in a particular sport with weight categories or in which weight matters (such as water sports), I think a much better goal to set is measurements. Ie, a target of a 34" waist or something like that. – Robin Ashe Jul 23 '12 at 22:43
  • At 5'11", 189 could be a fit weight if you were very strong. –  Jul 24 '12 at 15:00
  • I suppose it could, but I thought of this: if I manage to lose more weight than 189, my abs would be more visible, isn't that correct? – EdoKo2 Jul 24 '12 at 15:17
  • Oh, that's what your goal is? Then yeah, lose as much weight as you want. –  Jul 24 '12 at 15:21
  • @EdoKo2 - No, not necessarily. Showcase abs come from properly developed muscles and a low body fat.You could potentially get down to 160 lbs and still not show abs. – JohnP Jul 31 '12 at 22:05
  • Ok but it's unlinkely they won't show up.. besides girls can't usually judge a strong abdominal muscle from a "basal" one of a skinny boy. – EdoKo2 Aug 01 '12 at 18:03
  • Depends on your definition of 'fit'. 'Fit' to some guys means being slender and being able to fit into skinny jeans. 'Fit' to me means lean & strong. @Sancho is right - 189 in itself doesn't sound too bad for 5'11". – Mike S Sep 04 '12 at 05:50

2 Answers2

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In broad brush terms one pound of weight equates to 3500 calories. So, to lose two pounds per week, you need to cut out 7000 calories or 1000 calories per day. This can be through increased exercise or through dieting.

My personal rule of thumb is that food intake controls your weight, exercise controls whether that weight is fat or muscle. So if you aren't losing weight, you are eating to much.

rthsyjh
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  • -1 3500kcal != lbs weight loss. No study supports it. – michael Sep 04 '12 at 17:33
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    @michael Caloric equivalents of gained or lost weight MAX WISHNOFSKY - The American journal of clinical nutrition, 1958 - Am Soc Nutrition http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/6/5/542.full.pdf – rthsyjh Sep 05 '12 at 08:26
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    @michael Diet and weight loss TB Van Itallie, MU Yang - New England Journal of Medicine, 1977 - Mass Medical Soc. No PDF available but they give a figure of 3409Kcal per pound – rthsyjh Sep 05 '12 at 08:30
  • These analytical figures make sense intuitively, and of course it is true that it takes 3500kcal to burn a pound of fat in a bomb calorometer, but in actual people, in studies where people are using a calorie deficit to lose weight, it doesn't add up that way. It seems to take 7500-10,000 calories deficit to lose one pound because the human body is not a closed system bomb calorimeter. – michael Sep 05 '12 at 14:25
  • I break down some studies and match actual weight loss to calorie restriction here: http://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/7354/calorie-calculations-for-weight-reduction/7357#comment10680_7357 – michael Sep 05 '12 at 14:27
  • Oddly, the second paper you cite says people lost weight at a rate of 1869 kcal/lbs, which is just as odd as 10,000/lbs. In any case, the point is that a 3500kcal/lbs calorie deficit is not predictive for weight loss. – michael Sep 05 '12 at 14:41
  • As JohnP says in his final comment in your exchange with him "Just because YOU choose to disregard an accepted standard, doesn't mean that it is invalid." – rthsyjh Sep 05 '12 at 15:18
  • let us continue this discussion in chat – michael Sep 05 '12 at 15:36
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An easy rule of thumb for weightloss is to just put a 0 after your weight. If you weigh 189 pounds, eat 1890 calories to lose weight. You'll lose weight eating 2000 calories too, though.

Doc Faustus
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