Why does a fatter/larger person need more calories?

will010574

Because bigger people burn more calories doing simple daily activities.

Why do I burn more calories? Because I'm carrying around so much weight? If so, then why bother building up muscle?

I know these are ridiculously stupid questions, but I'm sick wondering.

You won't likely put on much muscle. Weight training in a calorie deficit is more about preservation of your muscle because it is metabolically active, so if you lose a pound of muscle instead of a pound of fat, you will lose less volume because a pound of fat takes up less space than a pound of muscle, and you will lose more metabolic activity.

No a pound of muscle is roughly the size of a baseball a pound of fat is the size of a softball. Fat takes up more space than muscle.

peacefulsong

I don't understand... And never will understand and may get banned but here I go.

Why are we pushing food onto an already over fat body? Seriously do you think even at 300 pounds a person who lifts 2-3 times a week and does moderate cardio need all those extra calories that frankly their body can supply to fuel their exercise?

People are fat for this reason! People will not change for the better when people are overfeeding others on here every day. Why do people go for gastric bypass surgery??? To make their stomachs smaller when their mouths and minds are the ones to blame. Go on people eat more...

If someone strapped 100 pounds of weights on your back, you'd need more energy to carry it around all day than you would if you were just walking around normally, right? Someone who weighs more needs more energy just to go through the day, not even taking into account exercise. As the weight drops those caloric requirements drop. It's not that hard to understand. It's not a matter of eating more, it's a matter of eating ENOUGH. It's a balance, finding the right level to give yourself the energy you need to get through the day while at the same time making sure it's low enough that the weight starts coming off.

lilojoke

Oh I understand completely... But exactly what is enough? 3000 calories is never enough for me! if a 50 year old woman That weighs 300 pounds who is 5'4 and worksout three times a week needs 2700 to maintain and 2300 to lose I still think this is way too high for the average person who loves to workout and is serious about shedding body fat.

Jlwebb07

Bump...interesting

tig_ol_bitties

This topic got me thinking:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/580240-not-hungry-listen-to-your-body-with-no-results

In the OP, he says, "the minimum someone should eat is "bodyweight * 10" in calories. Multiply your weight by 10, if you're eating below that number, you're not eating enough."

Ok, to me that would be 2670 cals a day to lose weight. The underlying question is why? Why does a fat/large person need to eat so many calories?

First off, that bodyweight x10 is not accurate for everyone, so just erase that from your memory completely.

When I have patients that are confused about why they need to eat more, I explain it this way:

My smartcar gets 50 miles to the gallon. It's small, compact and light.
My boyfriend's Police SUV gets about 19 miles to the gallon. It's larger, bigger and heavier.
It takes more energy to move something larger than it does for something smaller. A calorie is a unit of energy, much like a gallon of gasoline. I can get a really high burn doing an exercise that someone else who is smaller than me burns less doing. This is why you need to eat more.

Jme2012

bump

Tzippy7

imagine walking with a 50 lb backpack all day. you would burn more

hesn92

the more you weigh, the more calories you burn. So you need to eat more.

As you lose weight, the amount of calories you need will go down.

amy32lynn

I read you should eat 10X of your goal wieght...so say my goal is 140 then i should eat 1400 to loose 2 pounds per week. Has Anyone ever tryed this?

mmapags

The body weight x 10 calories is for MAINTAINING that weight. So if you want to weigh 200 lbs then you should be eating 2000 calories a day.

This is not accurate. I read the original thread this was posted in and am familiar with the theory that is espoused by the original poster. 10X body weight is the MINIMUM one should safely consume. This does not nessesarily apply to those severely overweight with a lot to lose. These folks can handle a higher deficit as thier body has sufficient energy reserves. For the rest of us, approximately 15x body weight is maintenance. 12x is a jump off point for weight loss deficit. If losing after a couple of weeks, great. If not adjust downward by 10%. Nothing is set in stone. Whether at maintenance or deficit, if you are not getting the result you want, adjust in small incrments. Activity level is assumed. No need to add calories for exercise. It's just a simpler way to accomplish the same thing and a somewhat healthier one as it won't give you 1200 calories or less as MFP will. In this thread as well as in the original one, for some reason, the fixation goes to the 10x number as though that's a recomendation. It was not. Just like on MFP 1200 calories is a minimum not a recomedation but how many threads do you see where people just default to that number???

To the OP, it's been explained, sometimes very well, why a heavier person needs more calories. At 267, you can also afford a higher deficit. That said, you should lose at 2670 to 3000 calories. You can possibly do alright at 2400 to 2500 for awhile yet. When you get closer to your goal weight the ratios will change. Right now, your body has enough stored energy to tolerate a larger deficit.

lilojoke

Carrying 50 lbs extra will help you burn more but it certainly does not make you magIcally need to eat more.

CaroSeraMince

Christ on toast...

Thank you for my new favorite exclamation.

lilojoke

the more you weigh, the more calories you burn. So you need to eat more.

As you lose weight, the amount of calories you need will go down.

Not necessarily!!!

dlwyatt82

I don't understand... And never will understand and may get banned but here I go.

Why are we pushing food onto an already over fat body? Seriously do you think even at 300 pounds a person who lifts 2-3 times a week and does moderate cardio need all those extra calories that frankly their body can supply to fuel their exercise?

People are fat for this reason! People will not change for the better when people are overfeeding others on here every day. Why do people go for gastric bypass surgery??? To make their stomachs smaller when their mouths and minds are the ones to blame. Go on people eat more...

There is practically no end to the amount of information available on this very forum on that topic, if you care to look. Eating at too high of a deficit for long periods of time screws with your metabolism, causing you to burn fewer calories than you otherwise would, impeding weight loss. As long as you are eating less than you burn (and not excessively so), the weight will come off gradually. There is no need to rush it.

Taking an unhealthy low amount of calories and bringing it up to the proper level for an individual is not "overfeeding".

Sabine_Stroehm

In the OP, he says, "the minimum someone should eat is "bodyweight * 10" in calories. Multiply your weight by 10, if you're eating below that number, you're not eating enough."

^ This is not accurate!

I don't know if it is, or isn't, but interestingly, it ends up being almost exactly my BMR.

dlwyatt82

In the OP, he says, "the minimum someone should eat is "bodyweight * 10" in calories. Multiply your weight by 10, if you're eating below that number, you're not eating enough."

^ This is not accurate!

I don't know if it is, or isn't, but interestingly, it ends up being almost exactly my BMR.

Just coincidence, I'm afraid. I weigh 318, but 3180 calories would put me slightly over TDEE on days where I don't work out (BMR is 2434, desk job).

Sabine_Stroehm

In the OP, he says, "the minimum someone should eat is "bodyweight * 10" in calories. Multiply your weight by 10, if you're eating below that number, you're not eating enough."

^ This is not accurate!

I don't know if it is, or isn't, but interestingly, it ends up being almost exactly my BMR.

Just coincidence, I'm afraid. I weigh 318, but 3180 calories would put me slightly over TDEE on days where I don't work out (BMR is 2434, desk job).

Makes sense! (Being math and all lol). Thanks

keiraev

How on earth did this simple question turn into 4 pages of waffle?? :noway:

fionarama

i have always been a bit surprised at just how much larger people are supposed to eat and still lose weight. Part of the reason people get big is because they don't have a good understanding of portion size etc. So I do think although they do need more, they should eat nearer to "normal" size people just to get their appetite used to eating a normal diet. If that makes sense!

jsapninz

In the OP, he says, "the minimum someone should eat is "bodyweight * 10" in calories. Multiply your weight by 10, if you're eating below that number, you're not eating enough."

^ This is not accurate!

Agree. VERY much off. Use your BMR and TDEE as a guideline, not some ridiculously blunt formula. I get SO FRUSTRATED about people posting crap on MFP that is contrary to the whole MFP system.

A large person needs more calories because there is MORE of them for the body to keep alive. It is really quite simple.

BerryH

i have always been a bit surprised at just how much larger people are supposed to eat and still lose weight. Part of the reason people get big is because they don't have a good understanding of portion size etc. So I do think although they do need more, they should eat nearer to "normal" size people just to get their appetite used to eating a normal diet. If that makes sense!

Yeah, I often say everyone joining MFP should track what they eat in a normal week before changing anything (measuring portions too) just to get an idea of how many calories they were eating before trying to lose weight.

mdsjmom98

Putting in my stats when beginning on MFP and telling what my desired goal was, MFP assigned me 1200 calories. I started at 249, yet it still gave me 1200 as my intake amount. Since I've lost 30 lbs so far, in recalculating, it upped it to 1600, which I will not do. I will continue down the 1200 path, as I am pretty content with how my loss is going.

mfpcopine

I've put on more muscle than I had 40 pounds ago, so why am I not burning more? .

I've read that the calorie burning advantage of extra muscle has been greatly exaggerated, at least for ordinary people, or maybe it was people trying to lose weight.

I'm not saying to give up strength training, only that the idea that extra muscle is going to burn up a zillion calories is not correct.

valeriebpdx

Because bigger people burn more calories doing simple daily activities.

Why do I burn more calories? Because I'm carrying around so much weight? If so, then why bother building up muscle?

I know these are ridiculously stupid questions, but I'm sick wondering.

Because muscle will help you do those daily activities, while fat is just dead weight we are carrying around.

mfpcopine

In the OP, he says, "the minimum someone should eat is "bodyweight * 10" in calories. Multiply your weight by 10, if you're eating below that number, you're not eating enough."

^ This is not accurate!

Agree. VERY much off. Use your BMR and TDEE as a guideline, not some ridiculously blunt formula. I get SO FRUSTRATED about people posting crap on MFP that is contrary to the whole MFP system.

A large person needs more calories because there is MORE of them for the body to keep alive. It is really quite simple.

It's not a bad rule of thumb for me, a fairly low weight person who is sedentary. It's also in the same ball park as what Fitbit thinks I should be eating, although Fitbit's estimate starts a little lower.

What MFP "system"? The site provides guidelines to be modified as necessary.

dlwyatt82

What MFP "system"? The site provides guidelines to be modified as necessary.

MFP does a lot of the work for you behind the scenes to make it easy for people, but at its core, it's still a system based on figuring out your BMR and estimating how many calories you burn beyond that (based on what you input for daily Activity Level, and what you put into your exercise diary).

jsapninz

In the OP, he says, "the minimum someone should eat is "bodyweight * 10" in calories. Multiply your weight by 10, if you're eating below that number, you're not eating enough."

^ This is not accurate!

Agree. VERY much off. Use your BMR and TDEE as a guideline, not some ridiculously blunt formula. I get SO FRUSTRATED about people posting crap on MFP that is contrary to the whole MFP system.

A large person needs more calories because there is MORE of them for the body to keep alive. It is really quite simple.

It's not a bad rule of thumb for me, a fairly low weight person who is sedentary. It's also in the same ball park as what Fitbit thinks I should be eating, although Fitbit's estimate starts a little lower.

What MFP "system"? The site provides guidelines to be modified as necessary.

It may work for some people, but that is just due to coincidence not because it is a good rule. It fails to take into consideration activity level, age, and height, all of which affect how many calories a person needs.

MFP's system is based on calculating your metabolic rate based on age, weight, height and then using your daily activity to create your TDEE, and then cut from there. That is how the site is set up. Yes you can manually ticker with it but this basic idea is the foudation of this entire website.

birdlover97111

In the OP, he says, "the minimum someone should eat is "bodyweight * 10" in calories. Multiply your weight by 10, if you're eating below that number, you're not eating enough."



I should be eating 2,200....If the above is true, then why doesn't MFP start me at the correct calories..??...It has me eating 1,200....

Never mind, just read the answer above.......

1fbg

Very well put!

ArroganceInStep

Mostly I'm very frustrated with myself for not understanding how all this math and ideas fit in with me losing weight. I've put on more muscle than I had 40 pounds ago, so why am I not burning more? If I burned more at 313 and doing nothing, why am I burning less at 267 and exercising 5-6 times a week, and why does the latter not lower my weight?

I'm eating more fruits and veggies, drinking enough water (about 80 ounces) that I have to get up and pee 3 times a night, exercising, and building muscles. I cut back on portions, measure and weight foods, and pushed out my delicious BBQ chips. Sadly, I can't forget what I've learned and go back to that stressless time when I didn't know about BMR, TDEE and Jillian Michaels.

TDEE - Total Daily Energy Expenditure - This is basically the number of calories you burn in a day. It includes everything, the 200 calories on a treadmill you banged out, the 0.02 calories you burned having a bowel movement, the calories you're burning right now just by breathing.

BMR - Basal Metabolic Rate - This is essentially your TDEE minus the calories you burn through exercise. It's the energy your body needs just to survive.

A bigger person, for both TDEE and BMR, will burn more calories. Jog a 5k, gauge your exhaustion level. Now jog a 5k carrying a 50 lb ruck sack. It's much more difficult because your body needs to burn more calories to generate the additional energy required to move those 50 lbs. If you weighed 50 lbs more, your body would need to burn those additional calories at all times, for every step or breath or bite you take, and not just for exercise.

A good rule of thumb is to make sure you eat above your BMR, but below your TDEE. This is why a larger person needs more calories to lose weight in a safe and healthy fashion. Their BMR is higher than a smaller person, so that's a higher minimum calorie intake they need to consider. People with more weight to lose can sustain larger calorie deficits safely, but starting small and adding more stringent measures as necessary is, in my opinion, your best bet.

If you are eating less than your TDEE, you will lose weight. It won't be a linear process (I had a 3500 calorie deficit, why am I not 1 lb lighter?) because of bodily functions like water retention and such. You will, however, over time, lose weight.

The biggest problem that I think people have is that they don't accurately estimate calorie intake and/or expenditure. The formulas touted are just estimations, as are the numbers spewed out by your HRM or what have you. Eyeballing measurements for estimations of food intake is also notoriously inaccurate. Starting with the calculations given to you, and then adjusting from there to find what works for you, is a safe (albeit slightly longer) way to go.

Good luck.