Is This Really Right?

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Hi there. I recently tried to research how to calculate the basic amount of calories my body would need in a day simply to operate normally without any exercise as if I was completely sedentary. The site I looked at claimed the calculation was as follows:


For adult males - Multiply the body weight by 10; add double the body weight to this value.

[i.e., for a 150 lb male, 1,500 + (2 x 150) = 1,800 cal/day BMR]

So this means as I'm somewhere in the region of 320-330lbs (let's be kind and assume 320) I would need to eat 3280 calories per day? Now I'll be the first to admit that I'm ridiculously overweight but I'm fairly sure this can't be accurate? Nobody is going to maintain their weight without working out by consuming 3280 calories...

Luckily I'm trying to lose weight anyway so I'm eating around 2000-2200 but I was looking for a little more info' on this if anybody has some!

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  • Stage14
    Stage14 Posts: 1,046 Member
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    Hi there. I recently tried to research how to calculate the basic amount of calories my body would need in a day simply to operate normally without any exercise as if I was completely sedentary. The site I looked at claimed the calculation was as follows:


    For adult males - Multiply the body weight by 10; add double the body weight to this value.

    [i.e., for a 150 lb male, 1,500 + (2 x 150) = 1,800 cal/day BMR]

    So this means as I'm somewhere in the region of 320-330lbs (let's be kind and assume 320) I would need to eat 3280 calories per day? Now I'll be the first to admit that I'm ridiculously overweight but I'm fairly sure this can't be accurate? Nobody is going to maintain their weight without working out by consuming 3280 calories...

    Luckily I'm trying to lose weight anyway so I'm eating around 2000-2200 but I was looking for a little more info' on this if anybody has some!

    Yep, that's probably relatively close, though it may be a little high, since most calculations I have seen include your height, age, and activity level. Remember, that is saying that is what you would need to eat to REMAIN obese and since it doesn't include activity level as a factor, I assume it means without exercise as opposed to truly sedentary, which are two different things. As your body weight goes down, so does that number. My husband weighs about 100lbs less than the weight you gave, but has a relatively active job. His TDEE at maintenance level when calculated by a nutritionist was 2870. He's eating a 2400 calorie diet and losing 1-2lbs a week steadily. Heck, I'm a 5'3 female who weighs around 165 and if I started eating at maintenance right now, it would be about 1850 for completely sedentary and 2300 for my activity level.

    However, I would recommend using an online calculator before designing a plan around this. Scooby's workshop has a pretty good one that will give you maintenance and weight loss goals.