Right.. I've seen two different methods being explained on this forum

1. Multiply your body weight by 10 - 11 (or was it 12?) (which would give me these values: 2068 - 2274)
2. Multiply your lean mass weight by 10 - 12 (or was it 11?) (which would give me these values: 1510 - 1811)

So... I guess what I'm asking is... which one is considered to be "correct"?

And are those calculations for when I'm doing nothing? How much should I add to it if I do workouts one day? Let's say for example 15 minutes of cardio at "medium intensity" (what I guess I will be doing in the beginning)

A little bit confused here :) :p

Put me in the camp that believes 10-12 times your body weight (in pounds) should be the minimum daily caloric intake for anyone who is cutting. 10-12 times your lean mass weight in calories is too few calories, in my opinion.

I eat approximately 10 times my body weight in calories when I'm cutting, and I do cardio 3 times a week and lift 3 times a week. This works best for me, but everyone is different. An ectomorph, for example, would need many more calories. The best way to go is to use the "10-12" rule as a starting point, and adjust from there. Monitor your weight and body composition for 1 or 2 weeks. Losing more than 1-2 pounds per week (excluding water weight)? Up your calories. Not losing weight? Cut them by 100 per day. That's how I see it, and that's what works best for me, but I'm looking forward to reading other points of view.

Thanks for the reply, John :)

I (roughly) calculated todays caloric intake.. and it was way too low... 1362... I think I may have to increase the size of my breakfast and snack meals a little bit... My carb intake was also way too high

Put me in the camp that believes 10-12 times your body weight (in pounds) should be the minimum An ectomorph, for example, would need many more calories.

John, do you have an url to go along with your definitions of ectomorph/mesomorph/endomorph? I believe I've seen the link somewhere on your site or these forums but I can't seem to find it.

John, do you have an url to go along with your definitions of ectomorph/mesomorph/endomorph? I believe I've seen the link somewhere on your site or these forums but I can't seem to find it.
Here's a good one: http://bodybuildingpro.com/bodytypeinformation.html

I've been doing exercise for a year now and never really stuck to a program until Max-ot. I was on max-ot for 6 solid weeks before i started to track my nutritional intake. For those 6 weeks of exercise effort i noticed my body change...but not my weight. When i went on to a nutritional plan Jan 1st, i have since lost 9.5 pounds and 4-5% fat. For certain an effort in diet and exercise is a real effort to lose weight!

jan 1st weight/fat : 196 28%
jan 28th : 186.5 24%

I try to eat 1700-1800 calories a day. I feel healthier when i do that. I noticed a 4 day period where i went from 192 to 186.5. I did not think that was healthy, and i was getting light headed and dizzy just from getting out of bed. Looking at my sheet, i wasn't getting enough fats or solid food. I have read some posts here where people lost 15 pounds in a couple weeks. Im being careful and saying take it slow and steady. You will get steady results which i think is better than living off the high of those miraculous and probably not so healthy high-weight-loss periods. I have kept my muscle (it looks a lot better now), and have only lost fat weight. My rec. is to aim for 2-3 pounds a week if you are new and have high fat like i do.

Oh yeah, i've received at least 3 compliments at the gym just this last 1 1/2 weeks. Thanks to john and everyone else here.

Put me in the camp that believes 10-12 times your body weight (in pounds) should be the minimum daily caloric intake for anyone who is cutting.

I've got my meal planner spreadsheet set up to accept a +-10% variance of body weight (total) * 10 - 50, as OK (white on green text) and anything greater than +-10% being BAD (yellow on red text)

Any suggestions on that?

Yah, I'm thinking I will have to increase my caloric intake. I'm doing 12xBW and I'm still losing weight like crazy. Some of this is probably water, but I've dropped from 186 to 173/4 in about 14 days while eating 1925 calories a day.

I have been watching my calorie intake now for a week (Thursday) and the lowest I have gone was 1200 calories in one day (one day I was busy and was lower, but either way). Anyway - I don't feel bad, or hungry, but everyone keeps telling me to up the calorie intake. I'm 19, 5' 6'', 160 lbs. and from the measurements I did online, somewhere between 17 and 19% bodyfat. In order to do the 10/12 X, I'd have to add a couple hundred calories a day.

I bought a thing of whey protein today - so that will add the few I need by taking it twice a day on my cardio/weight training days - but...I'm just so confused. I know I am making this a lot harder than it has to be...

Put me in the camp that believes 10-12 times your body weight (in pounds) should be the minimum daily caloric intake for anyone who is cutting. 10-12 times your lean mass weight in calories is too few calories, in my opinion.

I eat approximately 10 times my body weight in calories when I'm cutting, and I do cardio 3 times a week and lift 3 times a week. This works best for me, but everyone is different. An ectomorph, for example, would need many more calories. The best way to go is to use the "10-12" rule as a starting point, and adjust from there. Monitor your weight and body composition for 1 or 2 weeks. Losing more than 1-2 pounds per week (excluding water weight)? Up your calories. Not losing weight? Cut them by 100 per day. That's how I see it, and that's what works best for me, but I'm looking forward to reading other points of view.


What about if you're going for fat loss? Should you eat fewer calories? I'm doing weigh 165ish (started this at 167) and I'm eating around 1700 calories a day. I'm at around 24% body fat.

What about if you're going for fat loss? Should you eat fewer calories? I'm doing weigh 165ish (started this at 167) and I'm eating around 1700 calories a day. I'm at around 24% body fat.
Cutting == fat loss.

Cutting == fat loss.
Oops. My mistake. :) Thanks for the reply.

[QUOTE=nibrudt]I'm 19, 5' 6'', 160 lbs. and from the measurements I did online, somewhere between 17 and 19% bodyfat. QUOTE]

If you're 160 lbs and 19% bf, that means you have [160 x(1 - 0.19)] 129.6 lbs of lean muscle mass. You goal to be 15% bf means your weight should be [129.6 / 0.85] 152.5 lbs, assuming you lose no lean muscle mass. You have your endgoal as being 140 lbs and 15% bf. I don't know if that's a typo, but if it isn't, the good news is that you only need to lose 8 lbs to get your goal of 15%. At 140 lbs you would be 7.4% bf.

The other thing I'll add is that you may want to reduce the amount of milk you drink. I posted a question on milk on this board, and the general consensus was that milk contains lactose, which is a sugar, and should be avoided.

I would eat more than you're doing right now. Chances are you're not able to give your workouts as much intensity as you could since you're eating so little. Adding the protein shakes to your diet will help out a lot. The split between your carbs, protein and fat is similiar to what I see recommended.

I hope some of this helps you out.

Ok, I believe I'm taking in 1200 to 1300 calories a day. I'm at 165lb now, and 5'9, and I’m 17% Body fat. (Can some who KNOWS their body fat try this link and see if it's right? http://www.he.net/~zone/prothd2.html) (Thanks)

I want to get down to 8% BF, and stay around 160lbs. I run 3 times a week, 20 minutes at a time, keeping my Heart rate between 145 and 160. I will be upping my run time to 30 here soon.

Here is my typical meal plan:

6am: 1 scoop protein in 8oz of fat free milk. 200 calories. I THINK
8am: 1 190 calorie Power Crunch bar (taste GREAT:www.BNRG.COM)
10am: a snack of chicken and fruit. Some times just fruit (strawberrys, banana, apples)?? Calories. How do I find out?
12pm: 1 weight watchers smart one meal. About 210 calories
4pm: snack at home. Handful of trail mix. Around 200 calories
6 or 7pm: Dinner. Last 2 weeks meals have come from Eating for life book (http://www.eatingforlife.com) about 400 calories a meal.

How do I find out my % of protien/carbs/fat ? :confused: (math has always been my weak subject!! :o )

Should I be eating more? I plan on working on my bowflex T/T/S and run M/W/F. Sunday I'll take off.

any advice whould be great. thanks!! :nod:

Ok, I believe I'm taking in 1200 to 1300 calories a day. I'm at 165lb now, and 5'9, and I’m 17% Body fat. (Can some who KNOWS their body fat try this link and see if it's right? http://www.he.net/~zone/prothd2.html) (Thanks)

I want to get down to 8% BF, and stay around 160lbs. I run 3 times a week, 20 minutes at a time, keeping my Heart rate between 145 and 160. I will be upping my run time to 30 here soon.

Math: Make Excel do it. Here's my spreadsheet (http://forums.johnstonefitness.com/showpost.php?p=2128&postcount=1). You can discard the menu sheet if you like, and the templates, the big blank one will do the math for you automagically.

The USDA (http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/cgi-bin/nut_search.pl) has a database of nutrient info for non-boxed stuff (like apples and such).

The general suggestion here is 10x your bodyweight in calories to lose weight. More advice: use the search feature. There's tons of stuff here already (the number of posts has exploded) so you've got some reading you can do!
:gl:

Thanks for the info Brownguy. I wasn't even thinking about the math as far as body fat and weight are concerned, but if taking my weight down takes me to that much bodyfat, that's fine.

As far as milk goes, I only drink one cup a day with my morning cereal. And, with food intake, I haven't noticed any problems with my workout coming from lack of nutrients. I did my cardio yesterday and I broke a sweat, but afterwards I didn't feel any worse for wear.

Either way, I'm going to look into alternatives. I got some whey protein yesterday to supplement after cardio and weight training, so that will probably add those last few calories I need a day while helping keep the muscle loss down (I also got some glutamine caps).

Once again, thanks for the help!