So I watched Chris Powell on Dr. Oz recently. He wants everyone to multiply their weight by 12 to find out the maximum calories to eat. He says if we eat under that amount we'll lose weight.

That's garbage!!! I weighed 319 lbs this morning. So multiplying by 12 gives me 3828 calories. There is no way that I would maintain my weight at that level of caloric intake! I'd be gaining on a daily basis! Even on my worst PMS eating days I don't eat that much! In the last month I averaged 2250 calories per day and I still didn't lose any weight.

So I did a bit more math. I had a DEXA recently that told me my lean body mass was 152 lbs. Multiply that by 12 and I get 1824 calories. And that's about where I actually start losing weight.

I am going to do a fast from watching Dr. Oz. I think it'll do me a lot of good to get my stress levels down.

Don't pay any attention to Dr. Oz he has a new diet that he is promoting every day.
To lose you multiply by your goal weight by 12 if you are moderately active.
If you get no exercise at all multiply your goal weight by 10 to get the calories needed to lose.

That makes so much more sense, B! Thanks!

Hey - I also think the body mass he's referring to (don't know that guy, but I'm familiar with that rule of thumb) should be measured in kilogram - which would put your calorie allowance at 1737 / day - sounds much more reasonable

That gave me 2676. That would be pretty close to maintaining right now for me. My goals are to eat 2000 calories per day and burn 2750 calories per day. Last week was my first week wearing the bodybugg again, but I averaged that over the week, and yup, 1.5 lbs off on weigh in day. So bumping my calories up to 2676 would be maintaining. I'm pretty active though, so that probably makes a difference.

This made me smile. And I totally agree with everything bargoo wrote!

Someone quoted that figure to me the other day as well. Like all figures, it's a ballpark estimate and it probably becomes even less accurate for people at heavier starting weights. For me it's inaccurate the other way: I weigh 145 lbs, so according to the equation I should require 1,740 cals to maintain. My actual maintenance requirements are at least 2,000 cals, though.

Freelance

I doubt that. Dr. Oz operates out of the U.S., where kilos are not used. I've also heard about similar equations (using pounds) from other sources. Finally, most people who weigh over 300 pounds can lose weight eating a lot more than 1,737 cals/day.

Freelance

I am so glad you said this! I have been racking my brain trying to figure out how many calories I should really be eating, this helped A LOT! Thank you!