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Comment by e12e | Hacker News Reader

Maybe "college level athlete" means something different than what I think, but I have a hard time squaring that with 1200 calories a day. I might be overestimating, but when I think "hard exercise", I think of Royal Marines etc, that generally target at least 3000 calories a day. I get that you need to eat less if your goal is to loose weight -- but I can't understand how anyone can be active on that few calories. Good for him it works, though.

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It was a slight exaggeration to make a point. I have what, 8.5 months left to work on it.

Regarding 3000 calories a day etc, I am purposefully eating the 1200 range to lose fat first, that's my first goal. I do HIIT 3 times a week, and cardio 3 times. 6 days total.

I am not trying to build muscle mass at this point. I will be soon, but for now I just need to drop the fat from years of sedentary computer jobs, and condition my heart and lungs. So far, I am very happy with the improvements. I don't know how this activity level would feel at 3000 calories, but at 1200 for the short term, I feel really good.

Seriously. I was only ever a high school athlete but even then I was eating ~3500 calories a day and maintaining weight. At 1200 calories a day you could be mostly sedentary and still likely lose several pounds a week.

No, 1200 is a pretty reasonable diet for weight loss if you're not getting a lot of exercise. For example, I (an early 20s dude) naturally burn about 1800 calories a day, and another 200 from walking to and from work. 2000 - 1200 = 800 calorie deficit, or a week to reach a deficit of 3500 and lose a pound.

Maybe if you are a very small person.

I understood that college level athlete is his objective by the end of next year. For now, he may be trying to loose weight first.

Yes. It's a long term plan, and an illustrative exaggeration. I don't expect a 34 year old designer at a software company to actually enter the NFL combine. But I want to reach for my max potential over the next few years. I'm 34.

"Max potential" will not happen in a few years. It will take a decade or longer. But yes, you will make astounding progress in the first couple of years assuming you stick to a proper meal plan (even if that's Soylent and hitting the right macros) and train appropriately (progressive overload).

I just want to reach for it. I don't need to hit it. I have a personal trainer 3 times a week who does HIIT and conditioning, with some weights mixed in but not as the focus. And then the endurance cardio I do on my own. I'll probably stick with the trainer for quite a while, I learn a lot and it's so convenient as the gym and trainer are at my workplace, it's a real sweet setup.

I thought that was weird too. He won't be making the college's (American) football team if he was fat at 185lb.

I am a 34 year old designer. It was an illustrative point of seeing what 3 days a week of HIIT and 3 other days of weights/cardio will do. Obviously at 34 year old guy who works at a software company won't be trying out for college basketball... or maybe I will! Is Stanford doing open enrollment? Do they have a basketball team?

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