Is 3400 calories a day unreasonable for me?
Was reading one of the answers to this question that based on the calculation suggests I intake 3400 calories a day.
I have a scale at home that measures body fat and also calculate about the same number of calories.
Last year when I was counting my caloric intake, the number of calories I needed to maintain my weight was averaging 1800 calories. So I can't see how I can maintain my current body weight, or even gain only muscle at 3400 calories a day.
Could someone explain this to me?
Well here are my stats:
Weight: 201 lbs
Height: 5'10"
Gender: Male
Age: 41
Activity: 4 hours of
salsa dancing a week, 3 hours of
weight lifting, 5 hours of private
dance lessons.
1 Comments
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The estimated BMR for a male of your height/weight/age is 2000 calories/day. This is how many calories you'd burn if you stayed in bed all day long. Your daily activities, including going to work, doing chores, taking care of kids, reading, etc, will burn a few hundred calories on top of that, more if your job isn't sedentary. Finally, any exercise you do - you seem to average almost 2 hours a day - will burn even more. Add that all up and you get your maintenance calories: the number of calories you need to eat to maintain body weight. It wouldn't surprise me at all if your maintenance calories were in the 3k range. For reference, a few years ago I dropped from 223lbs -> 180lbs (I'm male, 5'11") and was losing 1-1.5lbs/week while eating 2500 calories per day (implying my maintenance calories were over 3k). My activity levels were actually less than yours: sedentary job, 3-4 hours of weight lifting a week.
Of course, all calorie counting is just an estimate and genetic differences can mean that your exact BMR and maintenance levels are a bit different than other people. Fortunately, you can hone in your estimates by using something that you can measure: your bodyweight. If your bodyweight is changing at the rate you are expecting - e.g. losing 1lb a week on a 500/day calorie deficit - then your estimates are accurate. If not, you'll have to tweak them until they match reality. Note: bodyweight can fluctuate quite a bit on a daily basis due to unrelated factors (e.g. water retention), but if you pay attention to your bodyweight trend over a week, the fluctuations should average out.
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