Calories per meal

[maniax]

I am looking to finally start weight lifting. I spent the last year losing weight and so far went from 230 to 170 and want to start getting ripped. The only problem i have is figuring how many calories i should be intaking. I plan to eat about 5-6 meals a day. I don't want to eat too many or too little calories. Any help please.

[vdub232]

Congrats on losing all that weight! At school, my professors use the "Harris-Benedict Formula" to calculate caloric needs. First you need to figure out your basal metabolic rate (BMR).

1. BMR (for men) = 66.5 + (13.75 x kg) + (5.003 x cm) - (6.775 x age)

2. Multiply this number by your activity level (your best estimate).
1.2 = sedentary
2.0 = heavy activity

3. This number equals calories/day

Suggestion - key in "Harris-benedict formula" in google and several sites will allow you to simply plug these numbers in and it will calculate the number for you. Also, there are several formulas you can use to calculate caloric intake, but I like this one the best!

Hope this helps. good luck!

[maniax]

I checked my BMR, does 2755 calories sound about right? I am 5'7 24yrs 170lbs will be working out hard 5-6 times a week have sort of physical job

[vdub232]

yeah that sounds about right. keep in mind that 2755 cal's is the amount you need to consume to stay in equal energy balance. This means calories consumed = calories burned. If you want to add muscle mass you need to stay in positive energy balance! This means you should consume no less than that amount of calories or it will be difficult to increase lean muscle.

Just in case you didn't know... BMR is the amount of energy your body requires to do normal functions such as digestion, respiration, and other chemical reactions that take place every second of life. You then add the activity factor to the BMR to see how much extra calories you need to have adequate amounts of energy to perform exercise.