how many carbs do i need ?

T

thedon

New Member
It says when sitting and lieing down you burn 60cal and hour and walking was about 250 i think.
So i burn about 15 hours x 60 +100 for walking to the fridge :)
So i burn 1000 cals a day not including sleep time .
I was consuming 280 a day and 355(50g dextose post workout am 11 sets and 25g post workout pm 5 sets) on workout days but i seem to be gaining alot of fat.

Since i burn only 1000 cals a day how many carbs do i need ? i thought carbs were for energy and since i do nothing but my 2 am/pm workouts 3 times a week i don't think i need as many cals as someone who plays sports etc.
How many do i need ?
 
You are way off in your calculations. The simplest daily caloric expenditure equation is to multiply your bodyweight with 15-16.

So a 200lbs guy would be at 3000-3200kcal/day in order to maintain his bodyweight.

Read the Eating for Size article to get pointers on how to construct your diet.

As for carbs, "fat" gain may actually be water-retention - you'd have to get way over 3g/lbs of BW to have any significant carb-to-fat conversion I think. It depends on macronutrient composition and overall caloric intake.
 
But different ppl have different needs..
Someone who has a busy work life would burn more cals someone who plays sports would need more too..
Most of those x cals are for active ppl where as i am really inactive and apart from the 3 workouts i do nothing so i see no point for extra carbs cause i don't use any energy .
Why would i need 16x bw and someone who plays sport or does work or sport etc need x16 .
Makes no sense.
 
Look at it this way --
If you are totally inactive your maintenance calorie needs are:
Bw in pounds X 12. We are talking laying in the hospital bed.

If you are active and want to maintain (working out 2 to 3 times per week):
Bw in pounds X 15
If you are active and want to lose:
Bw inpounds X 12

Bw in pounds X 18-20 to gain weight at your activity level.
An athlete would need even more than this.

Hope this helps. There are variations between people but with your activity level you need your wt x 15 to maintain or X 12 to lose fat.

Elle
 
You should think of it this way

Basal metabolic rate = something you can do little about usually around 10kcal/lb

the rest of the energy is rated by the activity factors (range 1.1-2.2 area) which includes the thermic effect of foods, neat, and all other daily activity.

THe bare minimum would be basal x 1.1

there is little chance in the world that you would only burn 1000kcal/day unless you weigh 90lb
 
Alright, there is a complicated formula to calculate REE (Resting Energy Expenditure) - the calories needed for the body to sustain itself at complete rest, which works out to 11kcal/lbs for men, and 10kcal/lbs for women.

So for a 200lbs guy:

11 x 200 = 2200kcal

The next step in the calculation is TEA (Thermic Effect of Activity). Multipliers:

Sedentary 1.15
Lightly active 1.3
Moderately active 1.5
Very active 1.7
Extremely active 2.0

Moderately active people, exercising at moderate intensity 3 times per week, is in the range of 1.5-1.6. If you want to be conservative, go with 1.3 (full-body workouts dramatically increase 24hr caloric expenditure - up to 600+kcal)

So for the 200lbs guy:

2200 x 1.3 = 2860kcal

The final step in the calculation is TEF (Thermic Effect of Feeding), which represents the slight increase in metabolic rate which occurs when food is ingested. Protein has the highest TEF, burning off 20-25% of its total calories during digestion. If 100 calories of protein are eaten, 20-25 calories
are burned during digestion. Carbohydrate is slightly less, having a SDA of 15-20%. Fat has the lowest SDA, approximately 3%. As an average, TEF will increase caloric requirements by roughly 10% per day.

So for our 200lbs guy:

2860 x 1.1 = 3146kcal

...which divided by 200lbs gives 15.7kcal/lbs.

You could of course also adjust calories based on daily requirements, but it's calories over the long term that matters. Carb is the primary fuel, but protein and fats are also utilized at different rates by your body - so counting carbs alone is rather useless and needs to be in context of the other macronutrients as well as total calories.
 
elle i told you my activity is just workout 3 days a week am/pm and apart from that think of me as bed ridden . so i don't see how i'd need 15x when i know someone who plays football and he does 15xbw and gain 25lb in 6months.

That formula just tell me the total cals i need and not specificly how many carbs.
right now i'm doing

on non workout days
280 carbs
280 protein
70 fat
2800 cals
on workout days
355 carbs
360-80 protein
70 fat
about 3450 cals
I was told in another post here to have more on workout days i just add 2 post workout drinks.
 
Oh and blade i doubt it's water weight i havn't started my creatine yet and i only get water from my 2 ltrs of whole milk a day i dunno how much water is in that but i was drinking that much before anyway.
 
thedon,
What's your height weight and age? Maybe we can help you with that information.

As far as carbs go, you will get lots of different answers -- some people beleive in low carbs, but I am not one of them. I need a minumum of 40% of calories from carbs a day to be able to function and perform my workouts well. I take the majority of my carbs in the morning and after my workout. After working out I take 40 gms of carbs (that is around .7 gms per kg bodyweight). I personally don't like to get less than 150 gms carbs a day.

Elle
 
5'8 170lb last time i checked , 21 .
my current is
first 4 meals 48g carb 40g protein 10g fat per meal
workout is after meal 1 and i sip the post workout shake 25-30 min into my workout around 50g carbs 40-50g protein
My last 3 meals are 30g carbs 40g protein and 10g fat and 25gcarb 40g protein after my pm workout which is only 4-5 sets.
non workout days = -the 2 workout shakes with no added meals.
 
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