Weight loss question

carolinep426
carolinep426 Posts: 1 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I weigh 82 kg, my gym told me that I have to multiply my weight by 22 to get my lowest number of daily calorie allowance, is this correct?

Replies

  • Lietchi
    Lietchi Posts: 6,100 Member
    No, that's not correct. 1800 could be a good number for you, or a bad one, depending on your height, age, sex, non-exercise activity and exercise activity, elements that this too basic formula isn't taking into account.

    Have you set up your profile on MFP and entered your personal stats?
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,811 Member
    No, it's an absolutely dumb and lazy way for anyone connected to the internet to basically guess a number that could be miles out for different people the same weight.
    (Same target for a construction worker and a sedentary office worker, same target for some who does no exercise or someone doing two hours a day as examples...)

    The trainers should be ashamed of giving such awful simplistic advice to clients when far more nuanced estimates are so easy to find and use.
    I would also raise an eyebrow at aiming for the minimum instead of the optimum.

    Beware that gym personnel should be qualified to give fitness advice but often have had no training or even common sense around dietary matters.

    Either use MyFitnessPal as designed to get a calorie goal (one that intends you to add exercise calories on the day you workout) or go to a good TDEE calculator like this one - https://www.sailrabbit.com/bmr/
  • claireychn074
    claireychn074 Posts: 1,325 Member
    Crikey if I multiplied my weight by 22 I’d be 1000 calories short each day 😮
  • nsk1951
    nsk1951 Posts: 1,294 Member
    claireychn074 wrote: »
    Crikey if I multiplied my weight by 22 I’d be 1000 calories short each day 😮
    You weigh 45 pounds? Gain some weight!

  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,811 Member
    claireychn074 wrote: »
    Crikey if I multiplied my weight by 22 I’d be 1000 calories short each day 😮

    Current weight = 75kg.
    x22 = 1650
    Actual calorie goal today to hit a 250cal deficit = 3425

    Makes it even more bizarre for a gym to use a formula that ignores exercise.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 31,966 Member
    What they said. ^^^^

    I'm 57kg, so 57 x 22 = 1254.

    When I started on MFP around 70kg (down from 83), 1200 calories plus all exercise calories was way too low for me - got weak and fatigued, took multiple weeks to recover even though I corrected quickly. Even now, I'd lose around a kg a week at 1254 calories, way too fast for someone my size!

    And that's for someone sedentary (other than the exercise) and then 59 years old! (Heaven knows what terrible result there would've been if I'd had an active job then or something like that.)

    Yes, use an MFP estimate, or one from Sailrabbit, depending on whether you want to add exercise explicitly (MFP approach) or average it into a consistent single daily goal (Sailrabbit or other TDEE approach).

    And don't eat the minimum calories. That's not a good idea, for sustainability or health. Yikes!
    nsk1951 wrote: »
    claireychn074 wrote: »
    Crikey if I multiplied my weight by 22 I’d be 1000 calories short each day 😮
    You weigh 45 pounds? Gain some weight!

    WTHeck? Where did you get 45 pounds? At 5'5" (165cm) and mid-120s pounds (57kg), now age 66/F, 22 times weight in kg is 1000 calories short each day.
  • claireychn074
    claireychn074 Posts: 1,325 Member
    edited May 2022
    nsk1951 wrote: »
    claireychn074 wrote: »
    Crikey if I multiplied my weight by 22 I’d be 1000 calories short each day 😮
    You weigh 45 pounds? Gain some weight!

    A) rather judgemental as some short people might naturally weigh 45kg (I did say KG not pounds) and b) just wrong (I’m short but not THAT short 🤣).

    I’m 55-56kg, x22 = max of 1232. I maintain on 2200 per day.
  • Xellercin
    Xellercin Posts: 924 Member
    People say a lot of crap, especially at gyms.
  • westrich20940
    westrich20940 Posts: 873 Member
    edited May 2022
    1. So weird to use a formula that doesn't take into account all of the other factors (other than current weight) that affect caloric need, especially activity level since this is a gym.
    2. If I used that same formula I'd be eating lower than my BMR. So, no it's not good advice.
  • JBanx256
    JBanx256 Posts: 1,471 Member
    holy crap, I was eating more than that at the depths of photoshoot prep...the trainers/staff at your gym are either:

    A. lazy AF
    B. ignorant AF
    C. some combination of both A&B

    Regardless, I wouldn't listen to a single word out of them for dietary/nutrition advice.

Categories