Maintenance Calories

I have been going through some processes to determine my current maintenance calories as I have reached a point where I am sick of pretending to train and eat properly and now want to actually do it properly…

I have used a 4 different calculations to determine my maintenance calories and so far they vary signiicantly.

The method in Massive Eating gives me a figure of about 3800 kcal a day and one of the other ones have been as low as 2100 kcal with the average at about 2800 kcal.
I am 6’2" and currently weigh 209 with about 18% bf. My main goal at the moment is to reduce my body fat % but I want to do it right, so getting the diet sorted out is my main priority. From reading the articles here I reckon that I can get the diet sorted out pretty well once I know my maintenance calories.

I guess after all of my babble I am more confused now as I have a range of maintenance calories from 2100 to 3800.

My question is Have people here used Berardi’s calculations for maintenance calories and does that work for you?

Massive Eating is not a calculation of maintenence calories. At your height and weight wherever you got 2100 from is a load of bollocks. It will be higher than that.

For the average guy maintenence is between 2500-3000; depending on your current lean body mass and activity levels. Anyhow you say you want to drop bodyfat, to do this try training parameters such as Chad Waterburys 10x3, and try to eat between 2500-3000 CLEAN calories a day. Also remember to get lots of rest.

You can track your calories on fitday.com

Man Honestly no matter what you use Is a estimate and has to be adjusted to you.

I find the T Dawg II equation before the subtraction for wieht loss is pretty close for me. But it also depends on whats going in as well.

have fun finding it. I say weight yourself biweekly

Hope that helps,
Phill

Thanks for the feedback guys. It has certainly helped me out.

CT’s recent carb cycling article has a complex formula to help find your ideal calorie ranges, too.

the correct formula is 16 cal.* current body weight in lbs. to lose fat deduct 500-1000cal daily from this figure to lose 1-2lbs and for every lbs lost deduct another 100 cals daily.if your goal is to gain muscle add 100-300cal a day. ive used this formula on myself and 13 people i know. it works.

[quote]ironmanlives79 wrote:
the correct formula is 16 cal.* current body weight in lbs. to lose fat deduct 500-1000cal daily from this figure to lose 1-2lbs and for every lbs lost deduct another 100 cals daily.if your goal is to gain muscle add 100-300cal a day. ive used this formula on myself and 13 people i know. it works. [/quote]

This is the second time I’ve seen you post this like Moses brought it down the mountain on a stone tablet. That may be a fair guess for an athletic or in shape male, it hardly is universal in its correctness.
Women,percent of fat,obese,medical conditions, individual variances all pla a part.
There is NO single # that works for all.

[quote]ironmanlives79 wrote:
the correct formula is 16 cal.* current body weight in lbs. to lose fat deduct 500-1000cal daily from this figure to lose 1-2lbs and for every lbs lost deduct another 100 cals daily.if your goal is to gain muscle add 100-300cal a day. ive used this formula on myself and 13 people i know. it works. [/quote]

It’s still just an estimate, just like Phill said. Pick a number and weigh yourself once a week. If you’re at the same weight, that’s your maintenance. Adjust as needed.