Why does a fatter/larger person need more calories?

Wowzers.

I have trouble understanding exactly how many calories I'm supposed to eat. I am 187 pounds. I eat about 1200 to 1500 calories a day. I guess I'm doing it wrong!

Any idea how much I'm supposed to eat? MyFitnessPal says 1,200, but thats never enough for me. So like I said, I eat a little more.

Even if its fat you don't want...all your body mass takes calories to maintain and feed and hydrate. If there's more of you, it takes more to keep all those cells healthy, as best as your body can. When you lose weight, some of those cells are "sacrificing" their energy potential content (fat) to fuel the rest of you, since you're at a deficit to maintain all of them.

Try not to stress out. Stress hormones tell your body to hold onto its fat because something bad is gonna happen!

Yes, it sucks that as you get smaller, your caloric needs decrease, but it's a fact. I like the premise of the fat2fit way where you eat maintenance for your goal weight so you basically eat the same amount of calories forever!

What I think is obnoxious is that when me and boyfriend run together, he burns more calories even though I have shorter legs so I have to work harder to keep up! And since he has a higher allowance, sure he is hungrier, but a 1.5k binge would be all my calories on a low active day and like half of his! So much more room for mistakes. Oh well! I love this body much more than my old one, even if it is more work to keep!

WELL U CREATE A CALORIE DEFICIT TO LOSE DA WEIGHT AN AFTER U HV GOTTEN 2 WHERE U WANNA B N UR WEIGHT LOST U START BUILDING MUSCLE SO U CAN MAINTAIN DAT WEIGHT LOST BT ALSO U WILL NEED 2 BOOST UP UR CALS. MUSCLE BURNS THRU THOSE CALS SO U WILL B FINE. ITZ VIRTUALLY IMPOSSIBLE 2 LOSE FAT & PACK ON MUSCLE @ DA SAME TIME. U WUD HV 2 CREATE A CALORIE SURPLUS 2 GAIN MUSCLE & A CALORIE DEFICIT 2 LOSE WEIGHT, SO MY TEAM BEACHBODY COACHES TOLD ME ABT DAT. THEY R PRETTY SMART & SO AM I.

you need more calories because it takes more effort to move a 250 pound 5'5 body around than it does to move a 150 pound 5'5 body

you should eat as many calories as possible (but still enough of a deficit to lose) because it helps you preserve muscle mass. most people especially newbies, think they are packing on all this muscle when they exercise, but they aren't, especially the female ones. you simply dont have the chemical makeup or the training schedule and definitely not the necessarily calories if you're only eating 1200 calories to build muscle. if all it took to build muscle was a 5 pound weight, a dvd and 30 minutes on the elliptical then why would some bodybuilders need to work out hours and hours targeting specific muscles, eating specialized diets and taking supplements?

you also should eat as many calories as you can because it reduces the risk of you gaining the weight back once you've taken it off. there's only so long you can eat way below your BMR and not damage your metabolism. it takes months to take significant weight off, so you're essentially going to force your body into a somewhat starvation mode. once you get off your diet. your body is going to respond from its recent famine by reducing your BMR and storing as much fat as possible in case there's another similar famine in the future

1. Blanket statements like the one that person made in that thread are almost always wrong.

2. In addition to what everyone else said, also recognize that fatter people can tolerate larger deficits/quicker weight loss

when you carry around more body fat your body has to work harder supplying blood, and removing waste. fat cells are cells too. narrowing arteries and veins make your heart work harder to pump the blood through. if you have fat deposits on your organs, your organs work harder.


you breath harder, and your muscles ( including heart) work harder during physical activity.

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.

Muscle actual helps burns fat, you need it. It may weight more but it helps burn it better. I forgot about this when I asked why my bf can eat like a pig and be in better shape than me, well I forgot he lifts heavy bags of ice during the summer n builds tons of muscle, then over the winter hes laid off, eats like a horse, and only gains like 15 pounds. I know, lucky dog.

I have a reaccurring agrument with my girlfriend at the gym while on the treadmill. We will both run for an hour. She will run faster and farther but I will always have more calories burned than her. Facts are facts. It takes more energy to move my 190 lb frame than it does to move her 135 lb frame. Like the comment above, this is applied to all daily activities.

The reason you burn more is because your heart has to work harder, not directly because you have more fat but indirectly because your body had more work to do to flail around. Plus she may be more in shape than you.

You're point is correct, but you can't trust a treadmill! Those things are notoriously inaccurate. Get a Heart Rate Monitor if you want to be accurate.

Wrong. I have about 8% body fat and run 4-5 marathons a year. I burn more energy because I have more mass. It simply takes more energy to move a larger frame compared to a smaller frame. Treadmills are inaccurate? I never once said that in my first comment. I agree that they are but I think you missed the point.

most people especially newbies, think they are packing on all this muscle when they exercise, but they aren't, especially the female ones. you simply dont have the chemical makeup or the training schedule and definitely not the necessarily calories if you're only eating 1200 calories to build muscle. if all it took to build muscle was a 5 pound weight, a dvd and 30 minutes on the elliptical then why would some bodybuilders need to work out hours and hours targeting specific muscles, eating specialized diets and taking supplements?

That tells me not to bother with any sort of weight lifting at all. Wish you'd told me 4 hours ago before I did my 40 minutes. Thank you.

Try not to read the over explanations especially when you are new to the whole weight loss process. The reason why people who weight more need to eat more is because you have a lot more of everything (blood, tissue, weight in the form of body fat and muscle etc.) than an average size person. Your body needs that many calories to make sure that everything is in working order this is going to be your BMR-Basal Metabolic Rate which is the number of calories that you need to eat for your body to function if you are in a coma. On top of that you have more mass that you carry around which allows you to burn more calories than the average person. Those two things are the reason you eat more than a smaller person

About the strength training- It is suggested to have some form of strength training in your routine to MAINTAIN muscle. When you lose weight you do lose fat, but the smaller you get, the less muscle you need to carry around your body weight there for you lose muscle. If you have strength training you will be able to better preserve that muscle you already have and lose as little as possible.

If you don't strength train you run into the problem of being potentially "skinny fat" because you will lose a lot of muscle and not as much fat and be just skinny instead of skinny and fit.

Edited to say: It is extremely difficult to gain muscle while cutting calories. your body needs a large amount of protein extra to get a big gain from muscle. most gains with women are from water weight.

you can use this to get an idea of your BMR: http://www.fat2fitradio.com/tools/bmr/

There are other calculators that are good on this website as well. Message me if you have any questions.

I hope this makes sense.