Weight Loss/Calorie Count/Help!!!

SwdDub

First off I would like to apologise! I'd hazard a guess that this topic has been covered before on here but I've trawled through a few pages and couldn't find what I required so I decided to just post a thread and ask. Sorry if anyone finds this uber basic or infuriating.

The story is this (and I’ll keep it brief as I can)

About 18 months ago I realised I let myself go into rag order. I was a big drinker and smoker and weighed 215 lbs (15st 5lbs). So anyway, I got decided to do something about it. Kicked the cigs, cut down on the gargle, stopped with the constant junk food and so on.

I now eat what I would consider to be a healthy diet with fresh fruits and vegatables and real dinners made from proper ingredients and proper portion sizes etc...

I got down to 187 (13st 7lbs) and can finally work out properly because my lung capacity has started to improve at long last (my lungs were in tatters from the smoking for a long time). However, the weight loss has come to a stop. Now I was told I’d hit a plateau at some stage but that regular exercise would help get the ball rolling again. At first when the weight stopped coming off I wasn’t exercising because of work and my personal life. But now that I am exercising (min 3 – max 5 days a week) there is still nothing doing. I’ve become a pretty good judge of what my body can handle in terms of exercise and increasing the workouts over time so I’m not really here for advice on that (but feel free to chip in if I’m missing something glaringly obvious on that front).

Anyway, given all the previous information about myself (hopefully I covered most of the relevant stuff), this is the bit I was hoping for a hand with. I got given this information by someone who should really know what they are talking about (friend of a friend of a friend) but I don't have access to the person in question to ask various questions I have. I was never that interested in Calorie counting but I was advised I best get an interest now I’ve hit a plateau.

Sex: Male
Age: 28
Height: 5 feet 9 inches
Weight: 189 lbs
Target Weight: 168 lbs

Estimated Calorie Count per Day to Maintain Weight: 2800 calories
Recommended Calorie Count per Day for Weight Loss: 2200 calories

Estimated Weight Loss: 1.3lbs
Estimated Time to Target Weight: 4 months

So a few questions if any of you lads and ladies can help.

1)[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]Does that look about right? I know its hard to be precise as individual cases vary but does that seem about right?

2)[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]I have been told that I should never eat less than 1800 calories per day as it is very detrimental? Again can anyone confirm this?

3)[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]Not eating enough calories per day can prevent weight loss? Again I know cases vary but may this be true?

Here’s the deal, it turns out I eat, on average, about 1600-1800 calories a day. I eat breakfast, lunch and dinner. I drink plenty of water and usually I’d snack on something like an orange or whatever. When I was given a shove to try and make the 2200 calories per day I found I couldn’t do it. My 3 meals usually come in at around 1500-1700 calories and I only ended up eating for the sake of it to try get up to 2200. I ended up making a pig of myself and eating stuff I didn’t really want and still came in 200 calories short.

I do also know its not just about the calories themselves and there are other nutritional factors involved. The only thing my diet tends to be a little deficient of is protein. I get enough carbs but not too many. Same goes for fat. I need to lower my sugar intake a little too.

Anyway, thats the story with me. I was hoping someone could shed some light on where I am going wrong or what I should be doing. Being stuck on 189lbs is getting a bit frustrating now to be perfectly honest about it. Anyway, from reading the threads here I know there are plenty of you who know what is what so I’m hoping you can help me out.

Cheers

Bottle_of_Smoke

Since you started excercising how have your clothes been? Waist on pants getting looser at all?

What kind of excercise do you do? Best way of getting rid of the fat is lifting heavy weights.