Calorie intake + general nutrition FAQs

[Wally]

I found the following formula in Men's Fitness magazine. I think it is a bit more precise than bodyweight x 15 = maintenance calories.
The formula published is as follows:

1. Determine your basal metabolic rate (this is your body's caloric requirement just to stay alive)
   The formula is: 66 + (6.23 * your weight in pounds) + (12.7 * your height in inches) - (6.8 * your age in years).
   
   For a 200lb, 5'10" man who is 27 years old, this works out to 2,017 calories.
   
2. Step 2 takes into account your daily activity level.
   If you sit at a desk and get no exercise, ever, multiply the # from step 1 by 1.2.
   If the only exercise you get is a trip to the gym 3+ times a week, multipy the first # by 1.4.
   If you play sports, multiply by 1.6.
   If your job is physical (i.e. you are a brick layer or construction worker) and you work out regularly, multiply by 1.8
   
   For the 5'10", 200lb man who works a desk job, but hits the gym 3-6 days per week, we multiply the BMR by 1.4 to get 2,824 calories

If you followed the above step, you now have the number of calories required for you to maintain your current weight (based on your current activity level).

If you wish to lose weight, you should either:
1) increase your physical activity to burn more calories
OR
2) decrease calories consumed by 300-500 below your "maintenance level"

I would recommend doing only one of these at a time as doing both could confuse your body.

[Wally]

How should I get these calories?

The simplest way is to use what should be common sense:

• Eat lean proteins like chicken and turkey breast, lean steak, pork, and fish.
• Eat complex carbohydrates like old-fashioned oatmeal, whole grain breads and cereals, fruits and vegetables. Avoid enriched flour and high fructose corn syrup
• Ingest healthy fats like those found in fish, nuts, and olive oil

A simple nutrient breakdown to follow would be 40% calories from carbs/40% from lean protein/20% from unsaturated fats.

protein = 4 calories per gram
carbs = 4 calories per gram
fat = 9 calories per gram

[Wally]

How often do I eat?

Eat 5-6 small "mini-meals" per day. Make sure to get protein and complex cards with each meal.

If your daily caloric requirement, based on your needs, goals and activity level is 2,400 calories, each of your 6 meals should be around 400 calories. It's pretty much just that easy.

[Wally]

What if I am skinny and looking to bulk up?

If you want to pack on muscle, you need to eat above your maintenance level and lift heavy weight. Eat lots of lean protein and hit the gym.

[Cam]

My theory is....just eat as much as you can. Dont ever get hungry.

[Wally]

Originally Posted by 20eclipse01

My theory is....just eat as much as you can. Dont ever get hungry.

You are right. Regardless of whether you are tryiong to pack on muscle or lose fat, you should never get to the point where you are very hungry. If you eat every 2-3 hours, you just don't get hungry.

[Wally]

Can I lose fat and build muscle at the same time?

If you have never lifted weights before, your body will be able to do this for about 6 months from when you start seriously lifting. You will see phenomenal muscle gains and fat loss. After this wears off, it becomes quite difficult to lose fat and build muscle at the same time.

Here is the problem:

• You must eat more calories than you burn to build muscle.
• You must burn more calories than you ingest to lose fat.

If you can figure out how to eat more calories than you burn while also eating fewer calories than you burn, please let me know as you are a genius.

[stilwrks]

FYI: just had a complete personal profile done. turns out for my age, (old fart), that i'm doing alot of things correct, which was good to hear. as far as suppliments are concerned also work out, ( 6 days a week), alternating weights with midsection/cardio.
of course he had to add a few things, like 10 more min. of cardio each day, (i do 50)thats 150 min a week. tried to sell me a detox program. (i did one on my own for 7 days, from GNC.) my complaint to him was wanting to tone up my midsection & thats about all he came up with. i have increased the midsection work by atleast double, so we'll see.
anyway, also had a meeting with a dietician. looks like i'm doing well according to her except need to cut back more on my cheese & the usual more friut & vegy's. i do supplement a lot but that was well recieved.
also about being more attuned to more label reading than what i already do.
and like you mention trying to tie in /balance fat, protein, etc.
thanks for your info, very informitive.

[Wally]

Since I have been over my ideal weight for quite a while, I don't have too much info on bulking. If anyone would like to contribute some general guidelines on eating to gain lean mass, that would be a quality addition to this thread.

[TEC-9]

I hit my target weight, 154lbs, down from 167lbs. Now I'm ready to bulk up. I think my body is hitting a plateau and my muscles trained don't feel like they are gaining as much as I want them to. I'm stuck.

So help me out here with that caloric intake formula you posted.

I'm 5'6", 154lbs, I work a desk job but hit the gym 3-4 times a week but I do a lot of walking around on my lunch break usually.

[BigFri]

Take in one gram of protein for every pound of body weight per day for bulking.