Hello, I am a 21 year old male. I am 5'10 and weigh 240 lbs.

I have been exercising and dieting, although the calorie intake is what I am confused about. I have been eating about 1,500 calories daily.

I worry about muscle loss. Probably more than weight gain. What I have been eating always keeps me full though, which is actually how I ended up choosing 1,500 calories, so I have difficulty knowing what a safe calorie range is.

All those online calculators didn't include minimum calorie intake. There probably isn't a formula though, so how would I know what is healthy?

Well for your stats that is really to low of a caloric intake, you will find you might plateau soon and lose a decent amount of muscle mass. If you have been under eating like this for sometime then you need to increase your caloric intake slowly mixed with a heavy strength training routine...and I mean heavy as to not gain any fat back. What this also does is if your body reads the extra calories as a surplus then it will turn some of that energy into muscle. I work a lot with metabolism repair and this is the winning combo.

So go to this site and figure out your caloric needs...
Harris Benedict Equation
Most people range in a moderate activity level. Work up to that number slowly. By 50-100 calories a week. Again while doing aggressive strength training. Once you hit your maintenance number go back down by a 500 cut deficit, that is a safe number to not lose muscle but still achieve fat loss. After that focus on strength training and HIIT cardio.

Sometimes you have to reset your system to lose fat or otherwise you will keep trying and trying and not getting anywhere and losing alot of muscle in the process.

Thanks. It said 1800 minimum for men on one of its links. I will go for 1,900 - 2,000 then.

That is a advertising link not a link with the calculator. That is still to far low of calories. Just your BMR alone is 2200. That is what you would need if in bed rest all day long, if you exercise at all then it can be upward to 3300 adding daily activity and exercise.

If you starve yourself you will regain the weight, you will plateau and you will lose muscle. Its your decision but take the time to do the formulas and figure out a proper program.

Ok, will do around that, because I am exercising every day.

theleip,

for the last five months or so i've been consuming approx 2200 cal per day, and burning 2000 cal at the gym with HIT cardio. I am 6'4 220lb.

I've been consuming about 160g of carbs per day and 90g protein, with about 2200 cal daily.

So I have been operating on a severe caloric deficit of about 2000 cal per day, and have not (also, have never really) been doing any strength training.

At this stage loosing fat is my number one priority but, also, I want to start gaining muscle some time in the near future and realise that my current diet is going to make this very hard.

Since you mentioned you specialise in 'metabolic recovery' can you suggest any ways for me to restructure my stuff so that I will continue to loose weight but will also be priming my body for muscle gain in a couple of months

Thanks

I sent you a message in your private folder for us to discuss some things at length.