Eating habits.

[XChuleX]

I study and work at a restaurant. I started a week ago, watching what I eat and doing an intake of 1,700 calories a day (mind you, I'm 6'0" and 300lbs) but I burn around almost 5,000 calories a day (including excercise an hour 5 days a week.

My only problem, with such a busy schedule, I can't find myself time to schedule meal properly. Sometimes I eat once a day, maximun 2 times at random hours. 

Apart from trying to schedule eating times, is there any other way to regulate your metabolism?

[SophieGymBeast]

you could pack your days food that you have calculated and maybe eat the meal with the highest calories when you think you most likely to burn. I back small containers with breakfast, morning tea, lunch afternoon tea and dinner. I eat my complex carb either in the morning/noon, because i am more likely to burn it.

[Mermaid3011]

Once a day... ugh... yeah I would try and set an alarm on your watch or phone to remind you to eat every 3-4 hrs. Even if it's just a 200-300 cal snack. And honestly I think with the amount you are working out and your active job, you should allow yourself at least 2000 cal. Your body needs decent fuel, otherwise it'll stop running. 

So - yes - you can make your metabolism go by eating enough (i.e. more). 

If you check this website here you can tell how many calories you would need to eat to maintain, lose 1 lb per week or 2 lbs per week: www.thedietfix.com

Look (I used your stats and assumed you are 30, though I think you are younger and put in a "moderately active" lifestyle, though you might even be very active)

Moderately active: 

You require 3,656 calories/day to maintain your current weight.

To lose 1lb/wk you need to reduce your calorie count to 3,156

To lose 2lbs/wk you need to reduce your calorie count to 2,656

(Generally diets containing fewer than 1,800 calories for men aren’t sufficiently enjoyable to be part of a sustainable lifestyle)

Very active:

You require 4,069 calories/day to maintain your current weight.

To lose 1lb/wk you need to reduce your calorie count to 3,569

To lose 2lbs/wk you need to reduce your calorie count to 3,069

[josephz2va]

Nah it should be spread out. Eating 1700 cals in one go is bad for you. If you can open your schedule to 3 interval periods or 4 interval periods, that would be better for your metabolism. Light meals versus heavy meals. I follow this schedule daily.

 - 4:00 AM breakfast - Prepared Meal

 - 5:00 AM Strength Training

 - Plenty of water (1-2 cups)

 - 7:00 AM startup mid breakfast - Apple and Light n Fit Yogurt

 - Plenty of water (1-2 cups)

 - 11:00 AM to 12:00 PM lunch - Prepared Meal and Apple and Light n Fit Yogurt

 - Plenty of water (1-2 cups)

 - 6:00 PM cardiovascular

 - 7:00 PM dinner- Prepared Meal

 - 8:00 PM if hungry - liquid egg whites in a microwavable omelet tray or frying pan (4 servings of 3tbps 5g protein)

[HelenaFitbit]

That's a tough one @XChuleX, I agree with @josephz2va that eating everything on one sitting may not be right. How about setting up a timer like @Mermaid3011 suggested? Or a really filling breakfast to fuel up your morning. 

I am sure members @SunsetRunner and @Heybales can provide some tips on this. 

[SunsetRunner]

---

@XChuleX wrote:

I study and work at a restaurant. I started a week ago, watching what I eat and doing an intake of 1,700 calories a day (mind you, I'm 6'0" and 300lbs) but I burn around almost 5,000 calories a day (including excercise an hour 5 days a week.

My only problem, with such a busy schedule, I can't find myself time to schedule meal properly. Sometimes I eat once a day, maximun 2 times at random hours. 

Apart from trying to schedule eating times, is there any other way to regulate your metabolism?

---

Over (give or take) 10 Million years of human evolution, we are very accustomed to irregular

eating, that's one of the reasons we store fat, so that we eat it now and then use calories latter.

So, irregular eating is not a problem for metabolism, but it may make losing weight difficult.

At 6 ft. and 300 lb., you should weigh about 160 to 172 lb. (for a body fat at 10% to 16%).

Fitbit (and many people) use what you weigh now, to calculate calories needed for that weight,

and subtract (for what you want to lose) and add (for the exercise). This is one approach.

However, why would you want to eat to maintain 300 lb. less some amount for weight loss?

Why not eat the calories for what you should weigh? That would be about 1,750 cal. per day.

Make them consist of natural (non-manufactured) grains, vegetables, fruit and a bit of meat.

If you can spread it to 2 to 3 meals/day, then your gastric-intestinal system will be pleased,

and the response will not tend to lead to fat storage and spikes in glucose levels. Once you

get close to your weight goal, use 1,750 cal. per day plus the calories needed for exercise.

Maintain an aerobic (some weights) exercise level, to lose fat and retain muscle tissue.

[XChuleX]

thank you guys for your words! the prepared meals and the alarm seem like the best way to go. 

[VivisFitbit]

 If you don't have enough time to set your lunch time, you can also pack some fruits like bananas, apples or granola bars. As @HelenaFitbit mentioned you can start your day with an excellent break fast. 

[Heybales]

---

@XChuleX wrote:

thank you guys for your words! the prepared meals and the alarm seem like the best way to go. 

---

For sure.

Your body with an active lifestyle you obviously have won't like getting fed too little.

And if this routine has been the case for awhile before logging - it could very well be that your body isn't burning as fully as it could be anyway - and you really aren't burning that many calories.

And that made it easier to splurge often enough to gain fat.

Our bodies know how to adapt to undereating too much by slowing down to conserve calories for the most important functions.

Your job prevents it from slowing down at that level, so it'll slow down lower levels of burn.

Many people will do an Intermittent Fasting routine similar (but bigger eating window), but usually their day is not as active. Skipping breakfast and lunch on a sedentary desk job is very different than you doing it.

Then they'll eat a snack to get energy level up, hit the gym hard, and finish a 4-6 hr window of eating until almost bed time.

But being so active can change some things.

Just shows why purely going off hunger cues and "listen to your body" without acknowledging how it can lie to you is foolish - so indeed use your brain.

You don't need to eat a lot, some calorie dense snacks until you can eat a decent meal is just fine too. Broccoli obviously ain't going to cut it for that, so some full fat cottage cheese and yogurt perhaps, something.

Get that deficit down to reasonable 1500 cal daily until you have about 100 left to lose, then get it back to reasonable 1000 deficit daily.

And keep using your Fitbit for estimated calorie burn - that's why you bought it partly, probably.

Why use a rough 5 level chart guessing the activity level when you have a device giving you daily infinite levels?