Determining Daily Cals

[BuckSpin]

I am posting this here in that its my guess most if not all of you have this part of your training established.

Is this a fair/accurate way to determine the average daily cals one burns?

http://www.johnberardi.com/articles/nutrition/masseating_1.htm
http://www.johnberardi.com/articles/nutrition/masseating_2.htm

I admit I have a very selfish interest in this topic in that 1) I am going to really step things up a notch very soon and don't want to be wasting time, money & sweat and 2) recently my metabolism has just gone incendiary and I need to really get on top of this ASAP.

Any & all replies, suggestions, thoughts, opinions, other sources, etc welcome from one who is just beginning a long journey to a stage.

[Blazed]

The only way to determine your Daily maintenance calories is to track!

www.fitday.com

No magical formula will tell you how much too eat.

A super broad range maybe. Whatever the calc says it could be off by +/- 1000+

I would track, that way you know how much to bump or drop exactly to get the results you want.

[BuckSpin]

The only way to determine your Daily maintenance calories is to track!

I do track. I use CalorieKing's Manager & like it very much. I was looking for info on whether anyone thought the link & formula were accurate for a starting point.

[Blazed]

I don't think so. But you can start anywhere that is reasonable and then make adjustments as progress is made.

Yea I love tracking cals, I think I can make that the number one reason I was successful in losing 90lbs of fat so far.

[jked4life]

Honestly, for me this one from Calorie King works well and is pretty accurate

http://www.calorieking.com/tools/weight_maintenance.php

Obviously, if I workout hard I can add a couple hundred to what they give me. For me, it's pretty accurate for daily life though.

A lot of people on this site (not in this section so much) overestimate how many calories they need to maintain. I know I did for a long time. I've lost 50 lbs in the past year. I've made a lot of changes but I'd say the biggest one has been to get honest with myself about my caloric needs :cool:.

[BuckSpin]

A lot of people on this site (not in this section so much) overestimate how many calories they need to maintain. I know I did for a long time. I've lost 50 lbs in the past year. I've made a lot of changes but I'd say the biggest one has been to get honest with myself about my caloric needs :cool:.

I dropped 70 in 13.5 weeks. Lately my metabolism has literally gone infernic (pretty sure that is not a word but hey it describes it). I'm down to 186.6 as of this AM. I'm eating more & more, including some non-clean choices, I'm not doing cardio, and last week was my off week training. This is getting out of hand.

[AustrianOakJr]

I am posting this here in that its my guess most if not all of you have this part of your training established.

Is this a fair/accurate way to determine the average daily cals one burns?

http://www.johnberardi.com/articles/nutrition/masseating_1.htm
http://www.johnberardi.com/articles/nutrition/masseating_2.htm

I admit I have a very selfish interest in this topic in that 1) I am going to really step things up a notch very soon and don't want to be wasting time, money & sweat and 2) recently my metabolism has just gone incendiary and I need to really get on top of this ASAP.

Any & all replies, suggestions, thoughts, opinions, other sources, etc welcome from one who is just beginning a long journey to a stage.

I think Blazed has hit it on the head.....there is so much variation in metabolic rate from person to person....it might get you a ball park, but thats it.....a very big ball park.

I just went through all the calculations and I was wayyyy above maintenance calories by the time I hit step 3. I did my RMR plus my daily activity and I was over before I calculated exercise and thermic effect of food, and blah, blah, blah. The only way to know for sure is to calculate, eat and weigh yourself over time, make adjustments, weigh yourself etc. Really, in the end, its all guess work anyways.....day to day energy spent is different, calorie totals arent exact, etc. I know how much food I take in and its approximate calorie density and I just adjust it up and down (by estimating) as I need to gain and lose weight.

[BuckSpin]

I think Blazed has hit it on the head.....there is so much variation in metabolic rate from person to person....

I took this advice & reviewed my dailys from when I was making slow, steady gains culking (about 10lbs over 6 months) without getting fat. Amazingly, I was taking in over 200g of sugar a DAY. Safe to assume my metabolism likes/burns high carbs (close to 50%)?

[Joe Go]

Post your diet in detail.

[BuckSpin]

Post your diet in detail.

As of lately:

Upon waking (while making breakfast):
1 multi-grain bagel
2 glasses of ice water

Breakfast:
2 extra large whole eggs & 4 egg whites scrambled with 1/8 cup skim milk
3/4 cup steel cut oats
1 tbsp raw honey
1 stevia packet
1/2 tsp cinnamon
8 almonds & 2 walnuts
1 medium grapefruit
22oz black coffee

Handful of supps:
multi-vitamin
Vitamin D
Glucosomine
Selenium
Chromium Picolinate
B-12

Morning snack:
1 6oz greek yogurt
1 stevia packet
1 medium apple
1/4 cup granola or a granola bar

Lunch:
9-12oz lean protein (usually BSCB, sometimes whitefish or canned tuna)
12oz fresh veggies
8 almonds & 2 walnuts

Afternoon snack:
1 6oz greek yogurt
1 stevia packet
1/4 cup granola or a granola bar
8 almonds & 2 walnuts

Dinner:
9-12oz lean protein (usually BSCB or whitefish)
12oz fresh veggies

Pre-bed:
3/4 cup FF no salt cottage cheese
2 tsp non-akaline cocoa powder
1 tbsp natty PB

Training days I will have 2 of these shakes (either 1 prior or during, 1 after):

Sweet Potato Pie Smoothie PWO Shake

1 cup sweet potato puree (IE an overbaked sweet potato scooped out)
1 TBSP non-akaline cocoa powder
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup skim milk
1g L-glutamine
1 scoop vanilla creme whey protein isolate
dash of cinnamon, pinch of nutmeg & clove
splash of vanilla extract
1 stevia packet
1 whole tray of ice cubes

I will "graze" on granola & nuts, and lately have loosened up and had a pumpkin muffin every now & then, maybe a slice of cheese pizza 1x week. Ironically, these seem to have had an incendiary effect on my metabolism, but they are on top of the above & not in place of.

Of course water throughout the day.

[imccarthy]

I will "graze" on granola & nuts, and lately have loosened up and had a pumpkin muffin every now & then, maybe a slice of cheese pizza 1x week. Ironically, these seem to have had an incendiary effect on my metabolism, but they are on top of the above & not in place of.

Of course water throughout the day.

Sounds like you have some great carbohydrate tolerance and BMR... just because you get fat doesn't mean you have poor genetics for leanness.

[BuckSpin]

Sounds like you have some great carbohydrate tolerance and BMR.

This is my gut (bad joke) feeling as well. I just have a feeling my body burns carbs quickly & routinely. It shocked me when I noticed I was eating 2 GRAMS of sugar a day and wasn't getting porky (all sugar from food sources, very little if any processed ones...mostly dairy) I've cut back on those.

I also think my insulin sensitivity is relatively high, and I'm daily believing more & more in somatotypes to explain a lot of this.

I'd love to know my body chemistry & how it works via some blood tests.

[Joe Go]

You have a great diet plan. Time start upping some things.

Breakfast-you should have all the eggs yokes.

If your still having problems.

Add about 1.75 pounds of potato's to the morning snack.

If your still having problems.

Add about 1.75 pounds of potato's to the afternoon snack.

If your still having problems.

Increase the nuts at both snack times. Add raisins to make them more enjoyable.

If your still having problems.

Increase milk intake through out the day.

This is a great problem to have. You should be able to lift like a maniac.

[imccarthy]

You have a great diet plan. Time start upping some things.

Breakfast-you should have all the eggs yokes.

If your still having problems.

Add about 1.75 pounds of potato's to the morning snack.

If your still having problems.

Add about 1.75 pounds of potato's to the afternoon snack.

If your still having problems.

Increase the nuts at both snack times. Add raisins to make them more enjoyable.

If your still having problems.

Increase milk intake through out the day.

This is a great problem to have. You should be able to lift like a maniac.

No offense, but you have some very, very strange food habits.

You could just tell him to eat more... that's all that matters.

[BuckSpin]

This is a great problem to have. You should be able to lift like a maniac.

Thanks! Its been a work in progress. I will have some extra sweet potato occasssional, or as a treat I'll make my own brown sticky rice and do salmon & avocado sushi as far as a carb boost, usually dinner before Leg Day. When I start craving a slice of cheese pizza I figure my body is telling me it wants a lil' extra sat fat.

I am still coming to grips with eating "dirty" (say a 90/10 rule) after eating 100% clean for almost 9 months and actually LOSING weight.....weird.