I've been thinking a lot about this 10-12x guideline we are supposed to follow in relation to the number of calories we eat each day. As a BIG person that seems like so many...too many! I know mileage varies from person to person, but in general terms I would like to know some experiences following this guideline. I was thinking that maybe that's why I didn't lose as much on induction, because I didn't *eat* enough (as foreign a concept as that is!) I'm still doing induction, though.

Do you eat 10-12x your body weight in calories every day? Do you subtract a certain amount from that (say 500 cals a day to lose a pound a week)? Do you find you lose more easily if you eat more?

Edited to add: FitDay says my body burns 3000 cals a day and www.mybodycomp.com says 2600 calories a day...

Thanks for taking the time to answer these questions. Just push the dead horseflesh to the side after you're done beating it. And then you can browbeat me for being obsessive.

As a sedentary male over 50, I average close to 3000 calories a day. On MY diet I have gone as high as 4400 calories and as low as 800 (I was sick).

I believe age, weight, activity level and sex have a bearing on how much you can eat and still lose weight. And then there are some nebulous things like "basal metabolic rate" and other genetic influences.

If you are active, I would believe you can do 10X body weight and lose.

No, I don't.

Those numbers were originally conceived by and for serious bodybuilders, who have extremely high metabolisms due to their muscle mass.

I think a more accurate rule of thumb for heavy folks would be 10-12X LEAN BODY MASS, why feed the fat? Since my lean mass is around 170 lbs (30% BF), that would put me in the range of 1700-2040 which is what I stick to.

This certainly makes more sense to me! Does anyone know if there has been any real research done on this? For me 10-12x lean body mass is a bit low. But 10-12x body weight is way too high. I definitely don't eat that much.

I always figure 10X my body weight is to maintain so ANYTHING under that is fair game I dont know if there's anything scientific to that but I am trying not to stress about calories much anymore.

I shoot for 10 to 12x my GOAL WEIGHT. I think the 10 to 12 times thing in MANY cases will just make you maintain your weight.

If you are very overweight(in comparision to your goal) and don't think 10 to 12 times your goal is enough....how about 10 to 12 times a mini goal. Then when you reach that goal, readjust.....

I hope you don't mind my popping in here, since I'm not a member of this forum, but the title of the post caught my eye since I'd been wondering the same thing. It seems to be 10-12X GOAL weight, from what I've seen.

I have seen many posts sayng 10-12 x, and it seems everyone has just come to accept and promote that. I am yet to find any scientific evidence to support it, and wondered if it was just something someone came up with one day and the notion stuck. I would say the figure seems reasonable for smaller people (under 180 pounds), but it seems way to excessive for larger people. Having said that I am probably eating 2500 cal a day, I expect I would lose more if i dropped it to 2000.

Sex would definitely have a bearing on how much you could burn!!!




well, dang...I mean if you were getting any....<sigh>