I've just started going to a gym. I'm 18, about 6'2" and about 277lbs. I was wondering how much calories I'd have to burn to have an effective weight loss. I've been burning 300 calories and I'm not sure if it's good enough. So if anyone can help me out here I'd appreciate it.

Welcome to the forum, Wally.

The answer to your question depends on the calories that you're taking in from food and drink.

Your resting metabolic rate (RMR) at your current weight is around 2,800 calories. If you expend an average of 300 calories a day, that would come to 3,100 calories a day to maintain your existing weight.

I'm not sure, but it appears that you want to lose 50 lbs., and get down to 220. Your big challenge will be to do that without losing your lean muscle mass. The best way to do that is to shoot for an average daily deficit of between 500 and 100 calories. A deficit of 500 calories will cause you to lose an average of 1 lb. a week (7 x 500 = 3500 calories); a deficit of 1,000 calories will cause you to lose 2 lbs. a week.

Many people think, "gee if I cut 1,000 calories a day to lose 8 lbs. a month, why not just eat 1,000 calories a day and lose 16 or 20 lbs. a month. This is a very bad idea. You will screw up your metabolism, and you will cut deeply into your lean muscle mass. The end result will be that you'll get to your target weight (maybe) but still retain a high percentage of body fat.

300 calories a day sounds like about 20 to 30 minutes in the gym. That's a great start. Are you doing weight training, too? If not, I would highly recommend weight training at least a couple of times a week.

You may want to start a log/diary, too, so that others can comment on your plan, and it will help you hold yourself accountable.

You might want to vary things every now and then too. People who strictly control their calories and practice the same routine every day, each week sometimes hit this 'plateau' thing, where it is suggested that their body has become normalised to the routine and simply makes fat to be burned. Vary it with longer periods of rest, or add weight lifting to the routine.

Thanks, and yeah I am do weight training too.

Do you have any idea how many cals you are intaking on average now? This is the main factor at play here. Not the calories you expend while exercising.

You are a big guy, and to maintain that, you need to be eating a lot of food.

The average calorie intake of food I take would be around 1500cal.

Way way to low my friend. Wow.

That is almost 5 calories per pound of body weight. Maintenance is around 15, and to lose weight, in extreme cases, I would go down to 8.

You should be dropping weight quickly at this caloric intake, might not be healthy or the right kind of weight, but you should be dropping it. And if you are not, you have some inaccuracies in your caloric measures.

When did you start eating 1500? What made you choose 1500?

I didn't really choose it. I'm just looking at what I'm eating now. I'm probably wrong about it though. I'd say about 2000 I guess.

if you sign up for an account at FitDay - Free Weight Loss and Diet Journal - and enter your daily food intake -you'll know for certain how much you're getting... but i would suggest measuring - actual portions are usually a lot smaller than you think

Put it this way, 1500-2000 cals did not get you up to 250+ lbs. And if it did, I would suggest seeing a doc.

Thanks, I'll be sure to check it out!

In the past I've been eating alot of calories. Probably 3000+ or so. Now I'm eating much differently. I'll still go to eat fast food or buy junk food one in a while and thats about it. I really haven't been counting the calories I eat...I guess really should though. I don't know.

my personal belief is that you can't cut back unless you know where you are starting from to begin with... Knowing what you are eating in a day is important

Also, if you haven't been counting cals, I promise, based on empirical evidence, you are way under estimating. Even in scientific studies, the test subjects under-report. And they are "supposedly" counting cals to a T.

I guess I'll start today. I signed up on that FitDay thing. It's awesome!