[Steve]

Originally Posted by William Wallace

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't part of the point of eating more meals a day more of a mindset help than anything, as eating smaller more frequent meals will make you feel like you're eating full, and will help you prevent yourself from overeating

Sure, it can help with satiety. It also helps with hormonal regulation and micronutrient utilization. I was simply commenting on it's lack of association to metabolic rate.

Plus, there seems to be a boat-load of people out there trying to lose weight, and they are fretting b/c they believe that they have to eat 5+ meals per day in order to lose, and they just can't seem to fit that into their schedules.

Newsflash: You don't have to.

If you can, happily.... certainly do so. There are benefits not directly associated to weight loss, but health in general

If you can't, don't worry about it.

Is this because the body will burn fat over muscle when fat is available, but for those who are thinner and still trying to trim down, the body may start burning muscle as well for fuel?

MMMM, I guess you could say that. The body is a very complicated system. The real reason for this is mainly associated with hormone levels that are associated with fat. If you are really interested, do some research on the hormones I listed in the above post.

Really? Everything I have read says 1lb of muscle burns 35-50 calories a day at rest. What you said contradicts everything I have ever read. Is there an article or study I can read that explains this better? I'm curious why this 35-50 calorie a day myth is floating around.

Yea, and?

There are a million and one myths floating around with regards to the fitness industry. Why is it hard to believe that this one is any different?

I will try and find the most recent literature on the subject.

However, I am a prime-example of how flawed it is. I keep maticulous tracking of my nutrition and I've had some pretty impressive bulks over my "career." Most recently, I gained 15 lbs of lean body mass. If your numbers were accurate, that would mean my metabolism now expends 750 more calories per day.

Haha, I don't think so.

Take more extreme examples, such as a few friends/associates I have in the biz who juice. It's nothing for them to gain 30-50 lbs of muscle in a year.

Just curious, for someone like BigBoydMan trying to lose weight at his size, what is a good protein/fat/carb ratio and how many calories should he eat a day?

I don't ever use ratios or percentages. I rather use cals and grams.

Typically, maintenance caloric levels can be estimated to be around 14-16 calories per pound. However, I've worked with some obese people and I've found their maintenance to be around 11-12 lbs on average. Suppose you have a 400 lbs individual. This would equate to a 4800 calories maintenance level.

Normally, you should use *sane* caloric deficits to invoke weight loss. However, again, when dealing with obese persons, the playing field changes. They are able to maintain a much larger deficit. A good starting point would be something like 50% of maintenance if tolerable. This would be 2400 calories.

It's about finding the path of least resistance though. Many would be hungry on this. Our friend here says he was only eating 200 calories per day and barely losing weight. I don't see how that is humanly possible at his size.... but so be it.

Then I work on protein requirements. Someone like me, when I am dieting, I shoot for 1.5 grams per pound that I weigh. This certainly wouldn't be the case for a 400lb individual. It's better to base it off of LBM. Figuring that out though, at that size, can be a challenge. I've also used goal weight. Suppose this individual wanted to weigh 200 lbs. That will give you a reasonable protein intake, assuming 1 gram per pound of goal weight.

This could be close to his LBM anyhow.

I would next figure out my fat intake, which too, would be based on this number. Something like .25-.5 grams of fat per pound of LBM of goal weight would work. This should be comprised primarily of the good stuff.

The remainder can come from either more fats and/or carbs. Certainly fruits and veggies.